I’m finding it harder and harder to pretend like I’m some sort of film expert who can measure out the minimal differences in quality between the many amazing performances of 2017. But, we’ve already come this far so let’s keep this ball rolling as I predict the nominees for Best Actor – a race with perhaps the clearest front-runner of any this year.
Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour
Oldman is the previously mentioned frontrunner for this award because I have the feeling that the Academy has a feeling that he’s due for one, he won the Golden Globe, and his performance as Winston Churchill during the Dunkirk evacuation was probably the best of the year.
Daniel Day-Lewis for Phantom Thread
Look, I could sit here and try to convince you that I’ve seen Phantom Thread – but I don’t want to insult your intelligence like that. So, I’ll make my argument for Day-Lewis’ nomination based on circumstantial evidence. Phantom Thread is, if Twitter is to be believed, one of the best films of the year. He’s been nominated for five Oscars in this category, winning three of them – so he has darling status. It’s also apparently his last film before retirement. So, it has all the hallmarks of a grand send off from the Academy.
Daniel Kaluuya for Get Out
I have a hunch that Get Out will get a lot of love this year, for good reason, and a Best Actor nomination for Kaluuya will become of that. Kaluuya was downright great in Get Out, and he also has the benefit of having performed in what is probably the most important role for an African-American man in 2017. Some have Kaluuya on the bubble, but I’m counting on Franco not getting in on the count of the recent allegations of sexual assault on him and the backlash against Casey Affleck winning last year when under similar scrutiny. This will give way for Kaluuya to get his much-deserved nod.
Tom Hanks for The Post
As a big-time journalism nerd, I found The Post to be extremely underwhelming. But, the performance by America’s Tom Hanks as Washington Post Executive Editor Ben Bradlee was one of the film’s bright spots.
You might not think it to be a particularly bold take to pick an actor with five nominations and two wins to his name, but Hanks hasn’t been in the running since his 2001 win for Cast Away. It’s been a bit of a drought that I think ends this year.
Timothee Chalamet for Call Me By Your Name
Chalamet is the next big thing. If we had a draft of the new crop of talent in Hollywood, he’s my first overall pick. I think when we look back at his performances this year, a double-whammy in Lady Bird and Call Me By Your Name, we’ll consider it the big bang of one of the most talented stars in Hollywood.
I would be not at all be surprised or upset of Chalemet wins the top award for his portrayal of a sensitive, precocious teenager discovering both his sexuality and his capacity to love over a summer in Italy.
Honorable mentions
James Franco for The Disaster Artist
Ryan Gosling for Blade Runner 2049
Hugh Jackman for Logan
Ansel Elgort for Baby Driver
Robert Pattinson for Good Time
Jake Johnson for Win It All
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