Much like last year’s race, Best Actor is shaping up as a category with too many deserving contenders to fill just five spots. The only certainty at this point is there will be some painful snubs on nomination day. With two wins each from the critics groups, Chadwick Boseman (Los Angeles, Chicago) and Anthony Hopkins (Boston, Florida) are beginning to cement their nominations and the possibility this will be a two-horse race.
But it’s Delroy Lindo who has proven himself a real contender with critics group wins from New York, Boston Online, and Indiana. With the June release of Da 5 Bloods feeling like an eternity ago, it’s a credit to Netflix they’ve managed to campaign his performance back into contention. Whether that translate into an Oscar nomination is another story.
As it stands, my top 5 features four non-white actors. As much as we’d all like to believe the Academy would pick such a diverse line-up, it’s unlikely to happen. Veteran actors like Gary Oldman and Tom Hanks could easily snatch that fifth spot. There’s also growing buzz surrounding Mads Mikkelsen, and we know the Academy occasionally like to reserve a spot for a non-English language performance (Antonio Banderas, Demián Bichir, Javier Bardem).
The last unknown piece of the puzzle surrounds Judas and the Black Messiah and a possible nomination for Lakeith Stanfield. With Warner Bros. confirming the film will drop in February, it could be the late-breaking dark horse that steals the entire race. But who do you take out to make room for Stanfield?
BEST ACTOR PREDICTIONS:
1. Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
2. Anthony Hopkins – The Father (Sony Pictures Classics)
3. Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
4. Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
5. Steven Yeun – Minari (A24)
MAJOR CONTENDERS:
Ben Affleck – The Way Back (Warner Bros.)
Kingsley Ben-Adir – One Night in Miami (Amazon Studios)
George Clooney – The Midnight Sky (Netflix)
Colin Firth – Supernova (Bleecker Street)
Tom Hanks – News of the World (Universal Pictures)
Tom Holland – Cherry (AppleTV+)
Mads Mikkelsen – Another Round (Samuel Goldwyn Mayer)
Gary Oldman – Mank (Netflix)
Lakeith Stanfield – Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros.)
Jude Law – The Nest (IFC Films)