BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Not having seen Les Miserables makes it a little hard to determine just where the chips will fall, but as right now I have two ladies from the film making the Best Supporting Actress nominee field, one of which the current front-runner.
Anne Hathaway has been nominated for an Oscar once (Rachel Getting Married), but it feels like she’s been a contender for so, so long and the steam Les Mis is already gaining, sight unseen, paints it as quite the formidable Oscar juggernaut and it’s hard not to take note. However, there is a little someone named Amy Adams with three nominations to her name and a man named Harvey Weinstein behind her that could prove a powerful opponent.
Adams’ performance in The Master is the one that has stuck with me most so far this year in terms of a performance that didn’t knock me over upon first seeing it, but on reflection certainly stands out. A critic friend referred to her as the Lady Macbeth of that film, an apt comparison and as the year pushes on it’s a performance that could gain steam and ultimately make The Master this year’s The Fighter.
Helen Hunt‘s work in The Sessions simply must be recognized and while she’s really the female lead in that film, all signs point to Fox Searchlight pushing her in Supporting to make way for Quvenzhané Wallis in lead. If positioned properly with Academy members, The Sessions is a film that could earn several nominations and perhaps cause a little firestorm of “can it be a major contender?” chatter if it earns some early kudos. Hunt really nails this role and, if you ask me, gives a far more affecting performance than she did in the overpraised As Good as It Gets for which she won the Oscar.
Samantha Barks is my second Les Mis contender and this, right now, is merely a hunch more than anything else. I’d love to slide Ann Dowd (Compliance) into my top five, but I’m just not sure Magnolia will be able to do enough for Dowd to get her enough Academy attention to make much of a dent.
Finally, I think Jacki Weaver is a pretty safe bet as a last-in-line nominee as I expect both she and Robert De Niro will earn supporting nods for their performances as Bradley Cooper‘s parents in Silver Linings Playbook.
As for the list of seven below-the-bubble contenders, beyond Dowd the only name I wrestled with including was Maggie Smith for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I’ve yet to see the mid-year box-office surprise and don’t have any way to determine if it’s a project that will gain enough attention at the end of the year to remain a contender. Once I see how Searchlight is positioning it, perhaps I’ll have to give not only Smith, but more of the esteemed cast a bit of attention as well.
I have included my top five Best Supporting Actress contenders below and you can check out my full field of twelve contenders right here.
- Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)
- Amy Adams (The Master)
- Helen Hunt (The Sessions)
- Samantha Barks (Les Miserables)
- Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook)
You can check out all of my 2013 Oscar predictions right here and keep checking back as I’ll be adding predictions for more categories shortly and they will be updating throughout the season.
