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| /Radio Times |
Best Actor
Steve
Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley
Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict
Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael
Keaton, Birdman
Eddie
Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Going
back only five years, would you have thought any of these guys would be
nominated for Best Actor in 2014? Carell was busy 22 episodes a year on The Office. Cooper was fresh off of two
modern (Razzie) classics, All About Steve
and Valentine’s Day. Cumberbatch was
an obscure British actor on the cusp of Sherlock
fame. Redmayne was transitioning from theatre and modeling to film and
television. And Keaton was, well, nowhere to be found.
Let’s
put it another way: who would have thought that in a Best Actor Oscar lineup,
Bradley Cooper would be the only one of the five to be a previous nominee? It’s
been a full decade since this category featured only one former nominee – the
year of the first nominations for eventual winners Philip Seymour Hoffman and
Heath Ledger (Joaquin Phoenix was the returning nominee). To say the least,
this is an unusually light field in terms of prestige.
But
enough about superlatives. Redmayne, with SAG, BAFTA and Golden Globes under
his belt, is probably going to win this thing. It’s the kind of performance the
Academy loves to reward, and this is a category without a
you-can’t-not-give-it-to-them performance as has been the case in the past.
Qualitatively, it really depends on preference. Redmayne is not the best actor
on this list, but his physical transformation as Stephen Hawking is undeniable.
Keaton gets to show more range, Cooper demonstrates more levity and Carell does
the polar opposite of what we’re used to him doing. I like all of these
performances, but the Academy went too safe with its selections among a field perceived
to be excessively-crowded. David Oyelowo’s MLK in Selma and Timothy Spall’s J.M.W. Turner in Mr. Turner left easily the most lasting impressions of the year
with fiery, embodied and humane performances. Also sadly overlooked were Ralph
Fiennes’ sensational comedic turn in The Grand
Budapest Hotel, Jake Gyllenhaal’s
exercise in lunacy in Nightcrawler and
Oscar Isaac’s Pacino-esque slow-burn in A
Most Violent Year. The Academy didn’t go with five bad performances, per
se, but going with these five would have made for an infinitely more interesting,
and dare I say more impressive, lineup.
Among
the five we have to work with here, Cumberbatch would be my personal choice.
His work in The Imitation Game just
wrecked me, and given the material he had to work with, he did one hell of a
job. Ironically, despite the fears of many that Imitation could push itself to a Best Picture win, Cumberbatch has
long been low on this totem pole. If anybody can beat Redmayne, it’s certainly
Keaton, who has the comeback narrative of the century. And Bradley Cooper is a
wild card; on his third consecutive nomination for the smash hit American Sniper, he’ll at least disrupt
the status quo. That could help Redmayne, Keaton or Cooper himself. Right now,
though, it’s a fool’s game to bet against the man who played Stephen Hawking.
Will win: Eddie Redmayne
Could
win: Michael Keaton
Should
win: Benedict Cumberbatch
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| (Sony Classics) |
Best Actress
Marion
Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity
Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne
Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund
Pike, Gone Girl
Reese
Witherspoon, Wild
For
every piece about how crowded Best Actor was looking, there were two about the
anemic state of Best Actress. And, it’s true – I can’t quite come up with an
alternate fives actresses that would make as suitable a lineup.
But
Cotillard and Moore are some of our best actors working right now, each
contributing (arguably) career-best performances in 2014. Cotillard went bigger
in La vie en rose; Moore dug deeper
in Far From Heaven. But both Two Days, One Night and Still Alice showcase these actresses at
their best, in range, in impact and in authenticity. Moore is an absolute lock
to win, and that fact is a great thing: she’s ridiculously overdue. I want
Moore to win, though if I were checking down the best performance in this
category, it’d be Cotillard in a walk – seriously, her Two Days performance is an absolute stunner by just about every
measure.
Of
the rest of the category: I wasn’t a big fan of the three movies represented
here, but each stood out with terrific performances. They’ve earned their
spots. With Witherspoon, I noted that the deafening talk around her work in Wild felt backhandedly insulting: we
know she’s capable of being this good, and she didn’t surprise me all that
much. But that’s not an insult. Similarly, I think a better script and more
cohesive vision would have allowed Pike to land in Gone Girl with more of a thud, but she’s tremendous with the
material she’s given. And Jones, who did even better work last year in a
remarkably complex role as The Invisible
Woman, is always a worthy candidate.
Andrew
and I have both beaten the Babadook
drum before, and it’s true that Essie Davis should be here. She’s so good, in
fact, that even though she’s in a small-time Australian drama, she may have had
a shot if the film wasn’t in the most un-Academy genre around: horror. And it’s
hard not to see Mommy and lament Anne
Dorval’s absence here (and yes, Mia Wasikowska in Tracks digs deeper than Witherspoon in Wild). But this category is better than it gets credit for, and may
actually outrank Best Actor in terms of the quality of acting on display.
Different choices can always be made, but Julianne Moore will finally triumph
in a slate of solid nominees. That’s okay by me.
Will win: Julianne Moore
Should
win: Marion Cotillard