Best Actor:
David Oyelowo – Selma
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Brendan Gleeson – Calvary
Ralph Fiennes- The Grand Budapest Hotel
Michael Keaton- Birdman
Right on the Outskirts: Jack O’Connell (Starred Up), Alfred Molina (Love is Strange), Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) and Steve Carell and Channing Tatum (Foxcatcher).
There’s a very great and very sad possibility that all but one of these performances will be nominated tomorrow, and one (Brendan Gleeson) definitely won’t. Much has been made of how this year has been a wealth of riches in terms of phenomenal male performances, and all that chatter is right. It’s just a shame that the more obvious choices are the ones that seem to be handpicked for the Academy’s approval. Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne are both fantastic actors and (particularly the latter) both deliver strong performances, but both feature in by-the-numbers biopics. Michael Keaton is a sure thing and maybe even a destined winner, and it’s deserved – I can’t think of any other actor that could have played the role the way he did, and being irreplaceable goes a long way. Jake Gyllenhaal has been well loved thus far and delivered a positively unhinged performance, but I still worry that he may be ousted by a safer candidate in Bradley Cooper for American Sniper. David Oyelowo should be a frontrunner but due to controversy has been sidelined despite delivering one of the most lived-in performances of the year. Ralph Fiennes is delightful and more than worthy but is very comedy-driven for most of it, and Brendan Gleeson is powerful but doesn’t stand a chance.
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