I probably say something similar every year, but right about this time I don’t have much interest in who or what films actually end up winning at the Oscars come Sunday, March 2. There is still some uncertainty over which film is likely to win Best Picture, though it seems many have shifted their allegiance to Gravity while I continue to predict 12 Years a Slave. Either way, whatever…
Best Actress will go to Cate Blanchett and Best Supporting Actor seems to be a Jared Leto guarantee. Best Supporting Actress has a little mystery behind it as Lupita Nyong’o remains the front-runner with Jennifer Lawrence peeking around the corner and then we come to Best Actor, where Chiwetel Ejiofor recently put a stop to Matthew McConaughey‘s reign at the BAFTA awards where McConaughey and his film, Dallas Buyers Club, weren’t even nominated.
The likelihood of a surprise in the Best Actor category seems slim as the winds are all still blowing McConaughey’s way, and maybe I’m just in a weird mood, but I can’t help but hope for some kind of completely unexpected surprise.
The biggest surprise in recent Oscar history I would have to assume is Crash winning Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain and by comparison I would say a win for American Hustle over Gravity and 12 Years would be just about on par, but what if someone other than Ejiofor or McConaughey were to win Best Actor?
When I put together my 2013 RopeofSilicon Awards I included only two of this year’s nominees, one being Ejiofor and the other being Leonardo DiCaprio. I almost named DiCaprio my winner before finally deciding on Mads Mikkelsen and I just can’t help but think about how great it would be should the Academy throw a complete curve ball and go against the predictive winds and name DiCaprio this year’s winner.
I finished watching the three most recent episodes of HBO’s “True Detective” and it got me to thinking if McConaughey’s chances at the Oscars are helped at all by his performance in the show. At first thought I think it may help him something like 1%, which is to say it probably doesn’t help, but it doesn’t hurt.
Then again, in a different world I think it could have actually hurt his chances. His performance as “True Detective’s” Rust Cohle is even better than his Dallas Buyers Club performance and to put them next to one another you see to an even greater degree how far McConaughey has come and boy is his future bright.
For DiCaprio, his The Wolf of Wall Street performance is one many are calling his best ever. Even Martin Scorsese says as much in the featurette below. His balls-to-the-wall performance as Jordan Belfort is one that defies your opinion of the film. Love the film or hate it, DiCaprio became a completely different beast, something unlike we’ve ever seen from him before, doing such an amazing job he, and the film, disgusted members of the audience to the point an Academy member shouted “Shame on you!” at Scorsese following and Academy screening.
While said Academy member’s shout of shame was targeted in the wrong direction, the film and DiCaprio’s performance certainly had an impact and I just can’t help but think, wouldn’t it be great if the Academy were to get it “right” the first time around rather than awarding DiCaprio later on down the line for a performance that is “less than”?
This is all subjective, of course, but I felt it was worth opening the floor for discussion as well as to ask what surprise you’d like to see in the major categories at the Oscars this year.
[yt id=”C2u3WtDKrS4″ width=”610″]
