Premature Oscar Predictions: 2018 Best Actor & Best Actress Nominees - Page 2 of 2

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Best Actress
Rooney Mara – “Mary Magdalene”
Five years on from her nomination for “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” and it feels only a matter of time until Rooney Mara wins an Oscar. She was unlucky not to get one for “Carol,” in some respects, and could have figured with a supporting nod for “Lion” last year if the film had given her anything to do, but has a couple of potential chances coming up this year that could well see her in the mix again. Our heart says that even if Brady Corbet’s “Vox Lux” is ready in time for fall festivals, it’ll be a bit too Euro-weird to figure into the mainstream awards conversation, but it’s possible that Mara makes it in for that. More likely is her reteam with “Lion” director Garth Davis on “Mary Magdalene,” in which she plays the title role. Unless it’s as forgettable as something like “Son Of God,” or as controversial as “The Passion Of The Christ,” it should be a doozy of a role, and with The Weinstein Company behind it, it’s sure to get a big push.

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Daniela Vega – “A Fantastic Woman”
From “Tootsie” to “Albert Nobbs” and “The Danish Girl,” actors playing cross-dressing or trans characters is a common occurrence with the Oscars, but we’ve never properly seen a trans performer nominated, despite a push for the stars of “Tangerine” two years ago. Could Daniela Vega be the one to break through that particular glass ceiling? The Chilean newcomer stars in Sebastián Lelio’s “A Fantastic Woman,” which won rave reviews (including from Jess) at Berlin last month. And while international fare can sometimes struggle in the category, the film (which is produced by Pablo Larraín and Maren Ade, which undoubtedly helps its cause) has been picked up by Sony Pictures Classics, who have succeeded against the odds in recent years in winning nods for Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert for tough, not necessarily Oscar-friendly movies in “Amour” and “Elle.” “A Fantastic Woman” is in some ways more accessible than either, and if the film continues to play well on the festival circuit and with audiences, it’s possible that Vega could shatter records this year.

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Jessica Chastain – “The Zookeeper’s Wife,” “Molly’s Game” or “Woman Walks Ahead”
Despite being as prolific an actress as we have right now (she’s appeared in 20 films since breaking out in 2011), and having worked with all kinds of acclaimed directors and usually won rave reviews for her turns, surprisingly, she’s only been nominated twice, for “The Help” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” and has been passed over the past four years. True to form, she’s got multiple possibilities landing in 2017, and may have her best chance at a return this year (which is almost a shame, as watching her live-tweet the ceremony was pretty fun). Perhaps the least likely, in part because it lands in just a few weeks, is Niki Caro’s “The Zookeeper’s Wife,” which is on paper a very Oscar-friendly piece of material, but its March release suggests it’s more ‘Woman In Gold than “Sophie’s Choice,” if you know what we mean. The fall should provide at least one major shot, though, with both Aaron Sorkin’s “Molly’s Game” (Sorkin having helped actors like Jesse Eisenberg, Michael Fassbender and Philip Seymour Hoffman to nominations over the years) and Susanna White’s “Woman Walks Ahead,” in which Chastain plays a Swiss-born woman who became an activist for the rights of Native Americans and the confidante of Sitting Bull. Neither have firm release dates, and it could be that, as with last year’s “Miss Sloane,” the films prove to not quite have the goods, but we’re reasonably confident.

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Amandla Stenberg – “Where Hands Touch”
What we were saying earlier about female ingenues in the Best Actress category? It probably goes without saying that that mostly applies to white people. Twelve white 20-something actresses have been nominated in the category in the last decade, whereas Gabourey Sidibe and Quvenzhané Wallis are the only African-American women under 30 to do the same in that time period (and a reminder that Halle Berry is still the only black woman to win Best Actress). Which is to say that, if the film works, Amandla Stenberg could be primed to make waves in 2018. The outspoken 18-year-old actress, best known for “The Hunger Games,” is toplining “Where Hands Touch,” the new film from “Belle” director Amma Asante, playing a 15-year-old mixed-race German girl who falls for a young Hitler Youth member in Nazi Germany. It’s a topic that should be a fascinating (and already controversial) one, and Stenberg’s immensely talented. That said, the film’s currently without distributor, and Asante’s never quite cracked the awards race before (Fox Searchlight pushed “A United Kingdom” into 2017, where it got rather overwhelmed by the Oscar-nominated competition), so this is probably a longer shot, at least for now.

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Kate Winslet – “Wonder Wheel”
Daughter-marrying writer-director Woody Allen isn’t quite the Oscar force he was in the 1980s and 1990s, due to 90% of his recent output being quite bad, but he’s still capable of bringing in the voters when his films are deemed “a return to form,” with Penélope Cruz and Cate Blanchett both winning Oscars in the last decade for Woody roles. So particularly with “Blue Jasmine” in mind do we consider “Wonder Wheel,” which sees him team up for the first time with Oscar-winner Kate Winslet. The actress has seven nominations but only one win (for “The Reader”), and hasn’t been nominated for Best Actress since. As with Blanchett, Allen could help her to a second Oscar if the film, a 1950s-set drama also starring Justin Timberlake, garners a positive response from critics. That said, Allen’s more miss than hit lately, and Winslet will have another contender in play with “The Mountain Between Us,” so it’ll be touch-and-go unless it’s a turn of “Blue Jasmine”-level greatness.

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If They’re Ready In Time…
Viola Davis – “Widows”
While we’re obviously delighted that Viola Davis finally has the Oscar that’s long been due to her, there was a certain amount of cheekiness involved from Paramount, who campaigned for Davis in Supporting Actress although she’d already won a Tony for Lead Actress for the same part (frankly, it was a rather self-defeating bit of category fraud, as we think she probably would have won Best Actress anyway). So the idea that she could get a second in a row (a feat not managed since Katherine Hepburn in 1968) is a tempting one, and Steve McQueen‘s “Widows” certainly seems like it could provide her such an opportunity. If it stays true to the miniseries it’ll be based on, it should be a meaty role, one that lets her have a little more fun than “Fences” did — again, as is the case with much of this film, the only real question is whether the film’s done in time.

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Michelle Williams – “Untitled Janis Joplin Biopic”
Now that Leonardo DiCaprio has one, the most overdue acting nominees without a win are all women: Glenn Close has 6, Amy Adams 5, Annette Bening 4. And though she’s the youngest of the bunch, Michelle Williams is very much among their number: her “Manchester By The Sea” nod was her fourth nomination, joining ones for “Brokeback Mountain,” “Blue Valentine” and “My Week With Marilyn.” Biopics are often a good way to clinch the win, and Williams has a doozy of a role coming up, starring in a Janis Joplin movie (a part once coveted by Adams as well) directed by “Martha Marcy May Marlene” director Sean Durkin. The only problem right now (unless Durkin turns in something very austere) is that it hasn’t shot yet — filming was meant to get underway in spring, but there’s been no news since Amazon were reported to be leading a bidding war in January. If Durkin can get it ready to bow in the fall, though, Williams could end up being a real force.

Also In The Running
Again, there are plenty of big hitters waiting in the wings that could figure in. As well as Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams in Todd Haynes’ “Wonderstruck” (Moore also has George Clooney’s “Suburbicon” coming up), there’s also young, deaf actress Millicent Simmonds as one of the leads of the film; while either Brie Larson or Naomi Watts will be lead for “The Glass Castle” (Larson is mostly in a framing device, we believe, so could be supporting in the end). Nicole Kidman could be back for “The Beguiled,” as could defending champion Emma Stone as Billie Jean King in “Battle Of The Sexes.

Three-time nominee Jennifer Lawrence has “mother!” and spy thriller “Red Sparrow” on the way, while Isabelle Huppert could have another shot for Michael Haneke’s probably misleadingly titled “Happy End,” and Supporting Actress nominee Sally Hawkins leads Guillermo Del Toro’s “The Shape Of Water.” Keep an eye on Annette Bening playing Gloria Grahame in “Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool,” while Carey Mulligan is probably the lead in Dee Rees’ “Mudbound” (by all accounts, Mary J. Blige is virtually a lock for her supporting turn in the same film).

Previous nominees and winners like Saoirse Ronan, Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Emma Thompson, Jane Fonda, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz and Debra Winger could make the cut again for, respectively, “On Chesil Beach” (and also Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird”), “Tully,” “Three Billboards Outside Of Ebbing, Missouri,” “The Children Act,” “Our Souls At Night,” “Annihilation,” “The Mercy” and “The Lovers”; while Rebecca Ferguson, Kristen Wiig, Katherine Waterston, Margot Robbie or Elle Fanning could be headed for their first nods for “The Greatest Showman,” “Downsizing,” “The Current War,” “I, Tonya” and “Mary Shelley.” Anyone else? (Before you ask, Meryl Streep appears to be sitting this season out for once…). Let us know in the comments.