And now it’s time to discuss the Acting awards.
And the nominees are . . .
Best Actor
Richard Jenkins in The Visitor
Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn in Milk
Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler
Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin in Milk
Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road
Best Actress
Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie in Changeling
Melissa Leo in Frozen River
Meryl Streep in Doubt
Kate Winslet in The Reader
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams in Doubt
Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis in Doubt
Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler
The Lowdown:
Oh, there are so many schools of thought for picking these categories, so many things to look for. Is anyone portraying a character with a physical or mental handicap? Think Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot), Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man), Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman), Geoffrey Rush (Shine), and perhaps most memorably, Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God).
Are any of the nominees elderly, respected throughout the industry, but have somehow never won an Oscar? They might be in line for the "Quick-give-it-to-them-before-they-die" award, just like John Wayne (True Grit), Henry Fonda (On Golden Pond), Jessica Tandy (Driving Miss Daisy), or Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby).
Is anyone portraying a celebrity or historical figure? AMPAS loves to reward such performances. Just ask Martin Landau (playing Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood), Cate Blanchett (channeling Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator), Philip Seymour Hoffman (as Capote), Ben Kingsley (Gandhi), and Jamie Foxx (Ray–with bonus points for playing a blind man).
And never underestimate the importance of physical transformation–especially if you’re beautiful, and make yourself ugly for a role, to wit: Charlize Theron (Monster), Nicole Kidman (The Hours), and Robert DeNiro (Raging Bull). Sex changes can be effective, too, like Linda Hunt in The Year of Living Dangerously or Hilary Swank in Boys Don’t Cry.
But really, all you need to know is that actors make up the largest voting bloc in the Academy. Consequently, you can get a pretty good read on the eventual winners in these categories by looking at the Screen Actors’ Guild awards. This will at least help you narrow down your choices.
The easiest pick out of this group, of course, is the late Heath Ledger, for his unforgettable Joker from The Dark Knight. Some assert that his untimely death has added to the mystique of this performance–to which I respond, "Horseshit." This was a truly brilliant, once-in-a-lifetime portrayal by a gifted actor. Just compare his maniacal Joker to his stoic cowboy in Brokeback Mountain. If Ledger were still with us, he would still win going away, just as he did with the SAG award.
Best Actor looked to be Mickey Rourke’s to lose . . . right up to the SAG awards, which honored Sean Penn instead. This is a tight two-man race. Penn’s note-perfect portrayal of Harvey Milk (historical figure) might very well edge out Rourke’s comeback story, especially in a state still reeling from the bitter war over Proposition 8.
Best Actress is another tight race, this time between Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet. Both actresses copped SAG awards for their performances–although SAG considered Streep’s a leading role, and Winslet’s a supporting role. Could that indicate slightly stronger support for Streep? Or will the fact that Winslet has been nominated six times without a win tilt the balance in her favor? Physical transformation might play a part here, too, given that Winslet goes from sexy older woman to just plain older woman in The Reader.
Best Supporting Actress is a category that has been rife with surprises in the past. (Anna Paquin, anyone?) Since the SAG for this category went to Winslet (see previous paragraph), we don’t have much in the way of reliable barometers. Conventional wisdom says that Amy Adams and Viola Davis will cancel each other out, leaving Penelope Cruz as the favorite. But I dunno. I’m not sure this one’s as in the bag as many seem to think. Viola Davis packs a lot of power into her brief role as a mother whose son may have been molested by a priest. She may not win, but she might siphon off more votes from Cruz than experts think, leaving this category pretty wide open. Expect the unexpected here.
Two more categories to go. Stay tuned!
