Best Actor has always been a cool part at the Oscars when legendary actors such as Humphrey Bogart, Jack Nicholson, Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, Marlon Brando and many more made their way to the throne of the highest honours. I have always had a close look at this category and trying to study the acting and reasons for previous nominations in Oscar history. Here is what I think for 86th Academy Awards for Best Actor......
Best Actor winning criteria
If you were an actor striving to win an Oscar, you should note the following pattern. Either you have to play a historical and famous character or a role that has a physical or mental disability and difficulty. These features strongly guarantee a promising win provided that the film has a good story as well as strong reception from critics and the audience.
Previous winners who played a historical, famous character:
- Lincoln (2012) – Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln
- The King’s Speech (2010) – Colin Firth as King George VI
- Milk (2008) – Sean Penn as Harvey Milk
- The Last King of Scotland (2006) – Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin
- Capote (2005) – Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote
- Ray (2004) – Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles
Previous winners with a physical disability and relevant difficulties:
- My Left Foot (1989) - Daniel Day-Lewis
- Scent of A Woman (1991) - Al Pacino
- Ray (2004) - Jamie Foxx
The 86th nominees
Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club
Leonardo diCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street
Bruce Dern - Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years A Slave
Christian Bale - American Hustle
Who will win?
Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club
Before going into the debates for each nominee, here are some interesting features we should take on to compare against previous wins.
Physical disability
Matthew's transformational role in Dallas Buyers Club is physically challenging and his character's struggle against AIDS and the respective measures strike a remarkable thought on the minds of audience and voters. It is similar to what you see from Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot or Colin Firth in The King's Speech. They all have a physical barrier to break through in order to face the various aspects of reality.
Slavery
12 Years A Slave depicts the unpleasant experience of Solomon Northup being abducted and sold for slavery. This character rings a bell when Russell Crowe was betrayed by the kingdom in Gladiator and eventually fought back to gain his freedom.
A deeper look into this year
NO historical characters
Regardless of how heartfelt the performance, there is a
tendency to lose out to the historical characters, except in 2009, Jeff Bridges
(Crazy Heart) winning over Morgan Freeman (Invictus) as Nelson Mandela
and in 2001, Denzel Washington (Training Day) over Will Smith (Ali) as Muhammad
Ali.
None of the nominees this year is playing a
historical and significantly well-known character, so we can pick out the years
when there were no nominees of these features.
2011
Jean Dujardin – The Artist (**Winner**)
Demian Bichir – A Better Life
George Clooney – The Descendants
Gary Oldman – Tinkor Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt – Moneyball
2007
Daniel Day Lewis – There Will Be Blood (**Winner**)
George Clooney – Michael Clayton
Johnny Depp – Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones – In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises
2003
Sean Penn – Mystic River (**Winner**)
Johnny Depp – Pirates of the Caribbean
Ben Kingsley – House of Sand and Fog
Jude Law – Cold Mountain
Bill Murray – Lost in Translation
2002
Adrien Brody – The Pianist (**Winner**)
Nicolas Cage – Adaptation.
Michael Caine – The Quiet American
Daniel Day Lewis – Gangs of New York
Jack Nicholson – About Schmidt
A few more years such as 1997 (Jack Nicholson – As Good As
It Gets) and 1998 (Roberto Benigni – Life is Beautiful) can be compared as
well. Therefore with these quoted years, special features can be noted among
these winners. Their characters hint the sad reality of life and even the cost
of one’s passion and death to pay the price.
In such view, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Matthew McConaughey would stand a chance.
Slave factor – Support for Chiwetel Ejiofor
Movies on slavery are rare and seldom does the lead actor
stand out, for example Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained. However when the lead actor is doing
his job in being the memorable slave that voters would vote for, one cannot discard the power of such
strong performance, such as Russell Crowe in Gladiator.
Best Picture unusually comes in hand with Best Actor –
Against Chiwetel Ejiofor
There are only two recent films that won Best Picture as
well as Best Actor: The Artist and The King’s Speech. Considering how recent
these winners were, Chiwetel’s chance of taking away the Best Actor is quite
high if 12 Years A Slave were to win Best Picture. However, in most years, Best Picture does not go hand in hand with a Best Actor win. Chiwetel appeared in
several films but many did not know of him until 12 Years A Slave.
Speaking of Best Picture, how often does a nominee depicting the lives of the
coloured would take away the Best Picture? None, and historically there are only
losers like The Help, Ray and The Colour Purple. However, on the bright side,
Gladiator, a film on a slave’s struggle to win his freedom, won Best Picture
and Best Actor. Moreover, 12 Years A Slave has recently won at Golden Globes and BAFTA for Best Drama. Therefore, Chiwetel still stands a mere chance to produce a surprising win over Matthew McConaughey.
I personally think the Academy strives to look at something
different in recent years to crown films as Best Picture, such as American
Hustle or Gravity, so history will not repeat itself to honour the struggle of
another slave when it is a ‘coloured’ picture. My sympathies for Chiwetel, but
I will not be surprised if he does not win.
The Black Factor - Against Chiwetel Ejiofor
In 1963, Sidney Poitier was the first Black actor to win an
Oscar Best Actor. Then it was until 2001 when Denzel Washington became the
second Black actor to win this category. If you look at the coloured actors
winning a Best Actor in recent years:
2001 Denzel Washington – Training Day
2004 Jamie Foxx – Ray
2006 Forest Whitaker – The Last King of Scotland
Not all, but some share common features. Although Ray Charles and Idi
Amin are historical characters, Training Day and The Last King of Scotland were
not nominated for a Best Picture which showed the importance of an individual
performance in standing out from the crowd to be crowned Best Actor. Denzel was
previously nominated in acting categories before his final win, but Jamie and Forest were not at
all.
Focusing back on Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years A Slave is very
likely to be Best Picture of the year since it is based on
a true story, however the lead role is not some historical and famous character
that we all know. Therefore, the focus shifts to characters based on real life
events that are not commonly known and was nominated for Best Picture. As you
have seen in recent years, the answer is ‘none’. Will Smith in Pursuit of
Happyness and Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda did not earn the Best Actor title
eventually. So what is there remaining to support Chiwetel, literally none,
because even Denzel’s Training Day playing a purely fictional character was not
nominated for Best Picture, but he was absolutely a bad ass cop and he already
earned several nominations in the past. The evil factor does increase one’s
possibility to win such as Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin, the notorious dictator.
Thus, Chiwetel acting as a ‘nobody’ trying to live the cruelty of slavery is
unlikely to win this category when not everyone knows well of the real story
and its characters.
The wisdom in dealing with obstacles – For Matthew
McConaughey
I can
see the strong love for this film and its actors due to the social message
behind and the uniqueness of the characters. Even if Jared Leto as a supportive
role to Matthew does not win the Best Supporting Actor, his presence has aid
the determination of Matthew’s character in the film and this has demonstrated
the actor’s ability in reverting a situation when the plot dramatises on a real
life scenario with many obstacles. In favour of these fight-backs, the Academy
would honour these films in the acting categories, as Dallas Buyers Club is unlikely to be
the Best Picture. There could be a chance that Matthew and Jared would both win
Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively.
Matthew has appeared in lots of films and when he was the
lead, never was he praised and often criticized instead for being too
pretentious for the sake of acting to win. However, when the time comes, the
Academy would cherish the favourable ‘come back’ performances, for example
Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges. Based on the synopsis of Dallas Buyers Club,
Matthew has picked the right performance for the right win and the film itself
has a modern social value to the audience as well. In comparison with outdated
discussion and value on slavery, which was abandoned in most countries, Matthew
would overtake Chiwetel because of the recent debates on medical supplies that
people would care about more. Matthew has worked himself hard enough to deliver
good performances even in Mud, and the circle of actors could see his efforts.
Other contenders
Bruce Dern in
Nebraska is a promising performance, but
Alexander Payne’s films only win screenplays and never an award in the acting
categories. Considering how likely George Clooney was in the
Descendants, he
still lost out to Jean Dujardin in
The Artist where the Best Picture factor
comes into play.
Leonardo diCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street is a daring performance with the reflection of human insanity and wildness. But this is really not the kind of performance to win an Oscar, considering there are other strong contenders this year. From the voters' point of view, it would be poor choice if they have chosen Leo to win when the look back in a few years' time. The audience have been sympathising about Leo's overdue Oscar and that his performance as Jordan Belfort is the winning one. I really cannot see these sort of roles could win the hearts of voters as much as Matthew McConaughey's role with AIDS and fight-backs. To really win an Oscar, Leo should do what Matthew has done in a transformational character which takes away the image of Hollywood pretty boys. Maybe next time, Leo.
Christian Bale was a rather surprising nomination when there should be other better options. To be frank, he is not bad in American Hustle and his nomination is just there to make the film look good even when it may not win anything eventually. Considering he has won Best Supporting Actor recently for The Fighter, another David O. Russell success, Christian is just pleased to be nominated along with other strong contenders this year. His belly, long hair and shades made the character remarkable and memorable, displaying the extravagance of the 70s and in particular a con artist. Good to see these innovative roles to be nominated after all.
