The 2014 Best Actor field is already looking strong and there are still a lot of movies to see. Today I’ve updated my 2014 Oscar predictions in the Best Actor category and the largest leap finds one contender moving from #32 to #2 while the top five sees three new names and my overall list has added four new contenders since it was first released back in March.
To begin at the top, Leonardo DiCaprio is still my predicted #1 for The Wolf of Wall Street. Even those that didn’t like The Great Gatsby cited DiCaprio as one of the film’s strongest aspects and the thought he is “due” and the fact he’s once again working with Martin Scorsese certainly works in his favor.
As I already said, my #2 is a new one as Robert Redford looks like a very strong possibility to receive what would only be his second Oscar nomination for acting and his first since being nominated for The Sting in 1974. The film is J.C. Chandor‘s All is Lost and while he only has a small fraction of lines in the nearly wordless feature, his performance sustains the 100 minute feature, which received raves out of the Cannes Film Festival, including an A+ from me, which you can read right here.
Redford moves Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips) down a notch to #3 and at #4 is another Cannes standout, in fact the Best Actor winner from the fest, Bruce Dern, acting in Alexander Payne‘s Nebraska as a crotchety old man whose son tags along with him to Lincoln, Nebraska as he believes he’s a million dollar winner in the Publisher’s Clearing House sweepstakes. Reviews on the film were muted, but Dern is solid and I think once the film is seen by the stateside critical masses the reception will be even stronger than it was in Cannes. You can read my review of the film right here, though don’t look for much commentary on Dern’s performance from me, I wasn’t as moved as others.
Finally, at #5 is one of my favorite performances of the year so far in one of my favorite films, Michael B. Jordan in Ryan Coogler‘s Fruitvale Station. The love for this film started at Sundance and continued in Cannes and Jordan’s performance is one of the main reasons why. You can read my full review right here, but trust me, this is one you won’t want to miss.
Just to recap, here’s my top five in order as of right now:
- Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
- Robert Redford (All is Lost)
- Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips)
- Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
- Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station)
As for the new contenders I’ve added, you can see the full list of 38 right here, but the newest names on the list include Mark Wahlberg for Lone Survivor, which I wrote about just yesterday, Ethan Hawke for Before Midnight, Joaquin Phoenix for The Immigrant (a performance I didn’t particularly like, but I think others will love it) and I’ve added George Clooney for Monuments Men even though I’m still unsure as to how the actors in this ensemble piece will be campaigning.
Like always, you can see my full chart of what are now 38 ranked contenders right here. You will need to be a logged in member of RopeofSilicon to view any rankings beyond the top five, but registration is free so that shouldn’t be too much trouble.
