Below you'll find some of my predictions on next year's Best Actress contenders. I'll kindly remind you that I correctly predicted 3/5 ladies last year (almost 4/5!), a big step up from my 1/5 the year prior. So statistically speaking, I guess you could conclude that at least two of the below should be expected for next year.
1. JESSICA CHASTAIN, THE ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE / MISS SLOANE
Why She Could Be Nominated: In The Zookeeper's Wife, Chastain is hitting up pure Oscar bait by playing a woman who "helped save hundreds of people and animals during the Nazi invasion" in Warsaw. Miss Sloane essentially sounds like a female-Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, except she'll be dealing with gun control instead of building a boys camp. Either way, two hot prospects tied into the fact that she's one of those actresses who've consistently put in solid work since her debut in 2011, and Oscar may very well feel like rewarding her this year.
2. EMILY BLUNT, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
Why She Could Be Nominated: She leads a film based off of a hugely popular book, one that I'm getting slight Gone Girl vibes from, at least in relation to the overall hot anticipation around the film adaptation. That, and the fact that she's steadily built out her film resume with the likes of Sicario and Into the Woods in recent years, might be a good formula for her to break through with Oscar.
3. AMY ADAMS, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
Why She Could Be Nominated: Girlfriend has been nominated five times now, damn well near getting a sixth nomination two Oscars ago with that horrid Big Eyes, so even in spite of how I feel about her (I think she's kind of bland and not worth the hype of five nominations), I can't shake the fact that she's got a lot of love from a lot of folks in the industry, who'll be more than ready to crown her with the right picture. Could the right picture be Nocturnal Animals? It sounds exciting enough, and I'm actually really anticipating it as I'm such a huge fan of A Single Man. If Adams can put out something that's truly different and resonant from her prior five nominations, she could very well take it all.
4. RUTH NEGGA, LOVING
Why She Could Be Nominated: The story itself, the fact that it's being distributed by Focus Features, who've been on a three year killing now with "important" pictures like Dallas Buyers Club, The Theory of Everything, and The Danish Girl, mixed with the fact that such a vast amount of people got their panties in a tight, coiled bunch over the lack of diversity this year (*yawns* / *eyerolls* / *leaves and slams the door*) very much plays in Negga's favor. Just a funny feeling.
5. VIOLA DAVIS, FENCES
Why She Could Be Nominated: I mean, the only reason why I would be slightly skeptical about her chances is the fact that Fences was greenlit to be turned into a film literally five minutes ago. Under the assumption that Fences is adequately filmed, edited, and ready for distribution by the Fall (which I very well can), I think that Davis might be a major contender for an Oscar. This is a lauded August Wilson play that's somehow managed not to be adapted into a film in its 30+ years of existence after all, with Davis taking on the role that won her a Tony!! I guess my last question here is that having never seen the play, and given the overall weight of the Best Actress competition, could this be a role that could be delegated to the supporting category?
A FEW OTHER TOTALLY VIABLE OPTIONS
6. REBECCA HALL, CHRISTINE
7. MICHELLE PFEIFFER, BEAT UP LITTLE SEAGULL
8. ISABELLE HUPPERT, THINGS TO COME
Things to Come has good reviews and was picked up by Sundance Selects, which has managed to pick up two consecutive come-from-behind nominations for foreign actresses a la Marion Cotillard and Charlotte Rampling. Could it be a three-peat?
9. MERYL STREEP, FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS
It's a crime to not include Meryl Streep in the mix when she's got a vehicle in the works. While I'm not convinced that Florence Foster Jenkins will be the one that will secure La Streep her record 20th nomination, one can never truly rule the woman out!
SEE ALSO:
10. MARION COTILLARD, UNTITLED ROBERT ZEMECKIS PROJECT - juicy project, though she tends to have a hard time getting nominations
11. ANNETTE BENING, THE SEAGULL - overdue actress, famed prestige play...could she pull it off?
12. ROONEY MARA, THE SECRET SCRIPTURE / UNA - juicy enough, might there be some afterglow following her abhorrent Carol category fraud?
13. GLENN CLOSE, THE WIFE - is this happening? once I get some confirmation, I'd be willing to bump her up
I personally really like Adams as an actress, and I actually thought she was good in Big Eyes (although the movie was god-awful). I hope Bluny will finally be nominated (she should have been nominated for Into the Woods, Sicario, Looper and The Devil Wears Prada)
ReplyDelete*Blunt
DeleteI thought Blunt would have (and should have) been nominated for "Sicario". As for Davis, she simply does nothing for me. She cries in virtually everything she does and over-intensifies scenes that could use a lighter touch. She probably gets teary-eyed just opening her mail. Too much.
ReplyDeleteAmy Adams
ReplyDeleteViola Davis
Taraji P. Henson
Emma Stone
Meryl Streep
:) done.
oh come on, I doubt it's going to be 5 previous nominees...yes it happened in '13 but it doesn't usually :P
DeleteI don't know if you've seen "Hello, My Name is Doris" yet, but Sally Fied is great in it! Her performance had amazing reviews when the movie came out of SXSW last year. She might get nominated, if she enough people saw the movie.
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