Unlike the battle for the five Best Actress spots, the race for Best Actor feels pretty locked up. Adrien Brody (The Brutalist), Ralph Fiennes (Conclave), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown), and Daniel Craig (Queer) all scored nominations from the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics Choice Awards. That wraps it up, no?
Well, maybe. Someone has emerged late in this race who also scored GG and CCA nominations and it’s someone who I didn’t even have listed as a contender in last month’s piece. Whoops. That would be Hugh Grant (Heretic) whose creepy performance in A24’s religion-based horror might score the veteran actor his first Oscar nomination. Do I actually see it happening? Eh, probably not. Who do you possibly take out to make room for Grant? But if he manages to nab a SAG nomination, it could be on the cards.
BEST ACTOR PREDICTIONS:
1. Ralph Fiennes – Conclave (Focus Features) – CCA, EFA, GG
2. Adrien Brody – The Brutalist (A24) – Gotham, CCA, GG
3. Colman Domingo – Sing Sing (A24) – Gotham, CCA, GG, Spirit
4. Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown (Searchlight Pictures) – CCA, GG
5. Daniel Craig – Queer (A24) – EFA, CCA, GG
IN CONTENTION
Jesse Eisenberg – A Real Pain (Searchlight Pictures) – GG
Andrew Garfield – We Live in Time (A24)
Hugh Grant – Heretic (A24) – CCA, GG
Paul Mescal – Gladiator II (Paramount Pictures)
Jesse Plemons – Kinds of Kindness (Searchlight Pictures) – GG
Glen Powell – Hit Man (Netflix) – GG
Peter Sarsgaard – September 5 (Paramount Pictures)
Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice (Briarcliff Entertainment) – GG, Spirit
Sebastian Stan – A Different Man (A24) – GG
John David Washington – The Piano Lesson (Netflix)