We’re nearing the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and it has been a month-and-a-half since I released my early, 2015 Best Picture predictions so it’s about time we start looking at the rest of these categories, or at least putting together an early list of contenders.
First up, Best Actor and what an interesting early lineup we have as I’ve come up with 26 contenders to start things off and I’m sure there are some I’ve missed and some that will pop up out of nowhere. As for my top five…
At the top I had to go with Steve Carell in Bennett Miller‘s Foxcatcher, which Sony Classics delayed until this year and will premiere, in competition in Cannes. Looking over the crop of this year’s films, it seems the decision to delay, whether it truly was because the film wasn’t finished or not, paid off and a good showing at Cannes could really jump start a year long campaign as the film will surely hit the Fall film festival circuit as well in advance of its November release.
Next I’ve gone with what is presumed to be a major Oscar contender, Angelina Jolie‘s Unbroken, which is toplined by newcomer Jack O’Connell. The anticipation for this one is high, and perhaps too high for the film to sustain its awards momentum all year, but at this moment this seems the right place for O’Connell’s possible breakout performance.
Chadwick Boseman starring as the Godfather of Soul in Get On Up for Tate Taylor (The Help) is next. Hard to tell with this one and whether or not enough risks will be taken to get any kind of real momentum behind this picture, or if it will be nothing but a bland biopic, but in the last two years we’ve had two actors take home the trophy for their musical performances — Jamie Foxx (Ray) and Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) — could Boseman make it three?
Another Cannes premiere from Sony Classics comes in at #4 with Timothy Spall taking the title role in Mike Leigh‘s Mr. Turner. Spall has had a wonderful acting career and more than one great collaboration with Leigh (Secrets & Lies anyone?) and yet he’s never been nominated for an Oscar. Could this finally be his time?
Speaking of never having been nominated, Michael Keaton comes in fifth for his highly anticipated performance in Alejandro Gonzalez Innarritu‘s Birdman. Should the nomination field end up as I’ve predicted it here, which it won’t, but if it did, it would mean five first time nominees. Chances of that? Slim, so who else is there?
You can see my full field of 26 contenders right here. Among them I have Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Oscar Isaac (A Most Violent Year), Joaquin Phoenix (Inherent Vice), Tom Hardy (Locke), Jeremy Renner (Kill the Messenger), Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler), Robert Downey Jr. (The Judge), Ben Affleck (Gone Girl), Mark Wahlberg (The Gambler), Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar) and many more. As I said, click here for the full field.
