This week’s Oscar predictions will bring the last of my early batch of predictions and if you’ve been paying attention to my Oscar prediction homepage you would have already noticed updates to my Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress predictions since posting them last week. As I’ve said all along, they will be updating far more frequently than they have in the past years so be sure to check back every so often.
As for today, I am going with Best Supporting Actor first since I am seeing Coriolanus here in Toronto in about 90 minutes and I wanted to see Vanessa Redgrave’s much talked about performance before posting those predictions. Of course, Coriolanus includes two other potential Best Supporting Actor nominees in Brian Cox and Gerard Butler, but Redgrave’s is the only one currently getting nomination buzz so I had to make a decision.
As for the Supporting Actor category, I can’t say much has been decided as of yet though I think it includes what may be the only early year performances that will get nominated as Christopher Plummer‘s performance in Beginners currently tops my list. Plummer has been nominated only once before and this year just may be his year as he earned more buzz a couple days ago her in Toronto for his performance in Barrymore.
In second is Kenneth Branagh for My Week with Marilyn where he plays Sir Laurence Olivier and I think we all know how much the Academy loves performances of historical figures and who better to play Olivier than Branagh?
Jim Broadbent occupies my third slot and like Plummer he’s only been nominated once before, which, quite frankly, shocks me considering I rarely see him misstep. He’s got a certain charisma I find quite appealing, but I guess he isn’t bowling the Academy over too often. Question is whether or not he’s overshadowed by Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady or if the two will shine together.
My fourth place pick was a tough one to include at the moment as John Hawkes‘ performance in Martha Marcy May Marlene may hue a bit too close to his Oscar nominated performance in Winter’s Bone only a year ago.
And finally, in fifth I have Tom Hanks for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which is pretty much a crap shoot pick at this time based on the fact Hanks has been nominated five times and won twice and he’s starring in a Stephen Daldry directed film centered around September 11th. The moments for emotional release have got to be through the roof on this one… right?
Just missing the cut for the moment are Nick Nolte (Warrior), Viggo Mortensen (A Dangerous Method) and Jonah Hill (Moneyball). Hill, as a matter of fact, was only added after I saw Moneyball here in Toronto where he played the perfect counterpart opposite Brad Pitt. At the moment I think Pitt is in and it would be a shame if Hill missed out, but for now that’s where I have him. However, of my top five, I have yet to see three of the performances so things can still change.
Below I have included my top five as mentioned above, but you should click here to browse all 19 of my Best Supporting Actor contenders including my comments on each.
- Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
- Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)
- Jim Broadbent (The Iron Lady)
- John Hawkes (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
- Tom Hanks (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)
Tomorrow I will offer up my first batch of Best Supporting Actress predictions, which will close out the first round of early predictions before we begin moving into categories including Original and Adapted Screenplay, Animated Films, Documentaries and all the below the line categories.
If you haven’t yet checked out the new Oscar Predictions homepage click here and be sure to bookmark it as it will be updating frequently over the next several months.
As the season continues any update I make to the predictions will be revealed on that page and as more and more categories are revealed the page will begin to fill up as we head toward Tuesday, January 24 when the Oscar nominations will be announced.
