Jamie Lee Curtis
What Should He Have Been Nominated For? Curtis’ early career is completely iconic, but mostly encompassed roles in two genres the Academy traditionally disdains — first horror, and then comedy. It’s a great shame, because even discounting her run as the queen of the Scream Queens in the late ’70s/early ’80s, Curtis showed real comedienne chops in films such as “Trading Places,” “A Fish Called Wanda,” “True Lies” and more recently “Freaky Friday,” and could have rightly snuck a supporting nomination for any of those, had the Academy the gumption to take comedy seriously. Recently she’s found more of a home on TV, as the linchpin of Ryan Murphy‘s current “Scream Queens” (of course) and with recurring roles on “New Girl” and, erm, “NCIS,” a show that, forgive us, we just don’t understand why the hell it exists, let alone is so popular.
Will It Happen? Her current roster makes it look unlikely, but Curtis is one eye-catching-role-in-a-breakout-indie away from a career renaissance, should she want it.
Ewan McGregor
What Should He Have Been Nominated For? When McGregor’s films are good, they’re very, very good, and when they’re bad they’re “Mortdecai,” as the saying goes. Ok, it doesn’t, but it’s certainly true that the Scottish actor has straddled the quality spectrum quite spectacularly since breaking out in Danny Boyle‘s excellent “Shallow Grave.” So while he might want to forget about “Cassandra’s Dream” or “Amelia” or indeed the ‘Star Wars‘ prequels, Oscar nominations could easily have come for “Rogue Trader,” “Young Adam,” “The Impossible” or the widely beloved “Beginners.” And they should have come for his excellent turn as glam rocker Curt Wild in Todd Haynes‘ uneven but occasionally spectacular “Velvet Goldmine,” and of course for Renton in “Trainspotting,” still the most unforgettable role on his resume and a true masterpiece.
Will It Happen? It feels like it has to, with his prodigious work rate and his admirably courageous approach to role selection. And maybe soon, if Le Carré adaptation “Our Kind of Traitor” works out, or if the ambitious gamble of his own feature directorial debut “American Pastoral” pays off. And if not, there’s always the “Trainspotting” sequel…
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
What Should She Have Been Nominated For? Younger and newer than most of the actors and actresses here, Mbatha-Raw only landed on radars recently, but had two performances in 2014 that were undeniably worthy of nomination. First, she played the mixed-race heiress in Amma Asante’s “Belle,” a performance that didn’t just give her a powerful arc of a sheltered, spoiled girl becoming aware of a place in the world, but also had incisive things to say about racial identity. Then, she might have been even better in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “Beyond The Lights,” as a Rihanna-ish pop star living a life she didn’t want. Both won raves from critics, but despite a weak Best Actress field, didn’t get much support from their studios, and ended up losing out to lesser turns when Oscar nods were announced last year.
Will It Happen? She’s immensely talented (she won raves in London on stage recently too), but she’ll need roles meatier than her underwritten supporting turn in “Concussion” to do it. Hopefully this summer’s “Free State Of Jones” gives her more to do.
