BEST ACTOR
Updated: 5/21
Top Five Contenders
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| 1. Johnny Depp (The Rum Diary) | 2. Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter) | 3. Robert Duvall (Get Low) | 4. Colin Farrell (The Way Back, London Boulevard) | 5. Andy Serkis (Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll) |
| This is my second year in a row predicting Depp as the year in advance frontrunner. He didn't come close last year but I'll give him a second chance. He is after all one of the most Oscar overdue actors and most talented Oscarless actors. He and Dicaprio are sure to win an Oscar any day, so maybe it will be his year. This is a long overdue project once again based on a Hunter S. Thompson book. | This would be Wahlberg's first nomination since The Departed. I could also see him as a potential winner. Boxing movies tend to get their actors nominated (Stallone, DeNiro, Smith, Swank). And director David O'Russell got a good performance out of Wahlberg before in I Heart Huckabees. So he might be able to dazzle us with his punches again. | This repeatedly delayed film hit the film festivals last year and Duvall's performance was said to be a standout. Duvall has been in a lot of Oscar movies lately like Crazy Heart and The Road, but despite his six Oscar nominations, he hasn't received one in twelve years. Maybe it's time for one last one. | Recently, Farrell has done a good job shedding his party boy image and taking his acting career seriously and great performances in In Bruges and Crazy Heart came out of it. I forsee his first nomination is on the way for one of these two films. I'm leaning towards the Peter Weir epic drama The Way Back. | Serkis' brilliant performances in Lord of the Rings and King Kong weren't nominated because the Academy doesn't understand CGI performances. But this live-action performance that got him a BAFTA nomination could get him his overdue Oscar nomination this year. It's a biopic of the founder of punk rock. |
Close Behind
| 6. Leonardo Dicaprio (Inception, Shutter Island) | 7. Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine, All Good Things) | 8. James Franco (127 Hours, Howl) | 9. Jeff Bridges (True Grit) | 10. Mel Gibson (The Beaver) |
| Like Depp, Dicaprio is sure to win an Oscar any day now. These two supernatural films don't look like the best bets, but with Dicaprio you never know. I'm betting on Inception, but in the unlikely event that it bombs, voters could take another look at his performance in Shutter Island. | Gosling is a talented young actor and he'll likely be nominated again sooner or later. He has two dramas this year so his odds are good. I'm betting on Blue Valentine which was just at the Cannes festival and getting great reviews. | I'm putting a patent on predicting Franco for 127 Hours. It's a story about the guy who sawed off his own arm after getting it trapped under a boulder. Sounds interesting. But he has an equal shot of being nominated for Howl where he plays poet Alan Ginsberg. | Oscar winners often follow up with another nomination in the following year. Bridges plays the role that won John Wayne his Oscar 40 years ago. He's directed by the Coen Brothers who in my opinion got the best performance out of Bridges ever (The Dude). | If the Academy is feeling oddball (and for that matter, forgiving), they might give Gibson a comeback career nomination for his role in this dark comedy where he plays a guy who always has a beaver puppet.... Write your own beaver-punchline because I'm not going there. |
My Original Predix
| Depp | Wahlberg | Duvall | Farrell | Serkis |