This year’s Best Actor list is an interesting one. The Academy has pitted Ocean’s 11 buddies George Clooney and Brad Pitt against each other, nominated not one but two dark horses with Demian Bichir and Gary Oldman, and of course, included Jean Dujardin, who didn’t even say a word in his role. While there is a lot of talent on the list, there are also quite a few snubs, but I’ll get to that later. For now, let’s take a look at some sure bets and some not-so-sure bets in the Best Actor category.
The Contenders: Demian Bichir – A Better Life, George Clooney – The Descendants, Jean Dujardin – The Artist, Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Brad Pitt – Moneyball
The Front Runner: The Artist, yet again, leads the race for Oscar glory with Jean Dujardin’s electric performance as George Valentin in one of this year’s best films. So far, he’s won the Best Actor title from the Screen Actor’s Guild, the Golden Globes, as well as at Cannes–so it looks like he’s a shoo-in for taking home the prize on Oscar night. And Dujardin rightly deserves his accolades as well–he managed to make us laugh, cry and cheer for him all without uttering a single word. He was both charismatic and emotive, and the fact that he was able to do so silently makes his performance even more of a triumph. The only thing going against him is that he not well known in the United States and he’s up against three huge Hollywood names. I doubt that this will hold him back very much, though.
Worth Mentioning: The biggest competition Dujardin will have is George Clooney with his role as Matt King, a man living in Honolulu who is about to lose his wife. An Academy darling, many thought Clooney was going to be the one to win the Oscar this year until Dujardin exploded onto the scene. In comparison to Dujardin, Clooney’s performance is more subdued (although there was one pretty tear-jerking scene towards the end of The Descendants that is worth applauding) so he is most likely going to be edged out of the competition this year. Nonetheless, Clooney played his role well and deserves his nomination.
Probably Not Going to Win: People say third time’s the charm, but this probably isn’t the case for three time Oscar-nominee Brad Pitt. That’s not to say that his performance in Moneyball isn’t good (he turned what could have been a relatively mundane baseball movie into something quite touching), but Dujardin and Clooney are going to eclipse him. The same goes for Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Demian Bichir in A Better Life. Oldman is long overdue for an Oscar, but Tinker was low on the Oscar radar and he will most likely be passed over for another person on the nomination list. The same goes for Bichir. The Academy seems to like reserving a spot for actors in lesser-known films (like Javier Bardem in Biutiful last year), so it’s unlikely he will win. All of this Academy exposure can only do his career good, and it looks like he’ll get something out of the Oscars anyway.
Snubs Galore: The Best Actor category this year has its fair share of snubs, including Ryan Gosling, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Michael Fassbender. Gosling was a triple threat, with three critically acclaimed hits this year (Drive, The Ides of March, and Crazy, Stupid, Love), so it’s kind of frustrating that he didn’t get nominated for any one of those performances. While J. Edgar wasn’t exactly a hit in the critics’ circles, most can agree that DiCaprio’s role as the notorious J. Edgar Hoover was powerful and convincing. But perhaps the biggest snub of all in this category goes to Michael Fassbender as a sex addicted New Yorker in Shame . Maybe it was the NC-17 rating that was just a bit too racy for the Academy, but it’s a pity that this up-and-coming talent didn’t even get a nomination.
