10 outside-the-box considerations as the Academy votes
Performances that could use a look
Elle Fanning in "Ginger & Rosa"
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With ballots in Academy members hands as of yesterday, the great settling is off and running. Various critics groups and top 10 lists have narrowed the pile enough that voters have a pretty good idea of the landscape in each category. More than that, "frontrunners" have staked their claim on the race, leaving precious little space for dark horses to maneuver.
Then again, even dark horses have their champions. Denis Lavant isn't likely to get his due recognition for one of the year's best performances in "Holy Motors," but at least he's on the radar. His film, after all, is faring well on the top 10 circuit and he pops up enough on the critics circuit (albeit in the form of a "runner-up"). The same could be said of a few stragglers, the contenders Academy members know are there, they just aren't getting much of the focus.
But what about those who don't even get the benefit of an afterglow for also-ran status? What about the truly outside-the-box players that could use a modicum of attention. Well, that's where we'd like to step in.
Guy and I put our heads together and cooked up a list of 10 performances we feel deserve to at least be on the periphery of the Academy's attention as they sit down to fill out ballots. No one wants a collective pulled from the same, tired, whittled down pools, so we're looking to expand those pools again. In some cases it might be a film we feel need only be seen to understand the power of a performance. In others, it might be a performance in a film that's surely on the radar but might get lost in the shuffle.
In all cases, we're just looking to beef up the slate. It's always a good thing to expand horizons, no? So click through the gallery below for a look at our picks, and feel free to offer up your own in the comments section below.
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2012-2013 OSCAR PREDICTIONS
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
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Best Supporting Actress
Best Adapted Screenplay
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupJLPatt
December 18, 2012 at 6:42PM EST Reply to CommentMine:
- Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller in "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"
- Kacey Mottet Klein and Léa Seydoux in "Sister"
- Keira Knightley, Alicia Vikander, and Domhnall Gleeson in "Anna Karenina"
- Jim Broadbent and Ben Whishaw in "Cloud Atlas"
Matthew Starr
December 18, 2012 at 6:48PM EST Reply to CommentI'm always confused about this so someone help. Bullhead was nominated for best foreign film last year but came out in the U.S this year. So if he was going to have a campaign for best actor would it have been last year or this year for that performance? As good as he was in Rust and Bone, I liked him more in Bullhead.
Some performances I really enjoyed that could use more discussion.
Frank Grillo - The Grey
Ezra Miller - Perks
Tommy Lee Jones - Hope Springs (Yeah he was very good in Lincoln but he is as good if not better in this)
James Spader - Lincoln
Michael Pena - End of Watch
Alicia Vikander - Anna Karenina
Michael Fassbender - Prometheus
Eva Green - Dark Shadows
These are just off the top of my head. Also in terms of body of work I like what both Scoot McNairy (Argo, Killing Them Softly) and Dane DeHaan (Lawless, Chronicle) did this year.
Kristopher Tapley If Bullhead had NOT been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film last year, it would be eligible in all other categories this year (per release date). Since it WAS nominated, and films cannot be nominated for Oscars in subsequent years, it is therefore ineligible for any consideration this year.
December 18, 2012 at 6:52PM ESTGuy Lodge Yeah, what Kris said. Not particularly logical or fair, but that's how it works.
December 18, 2012 at 9:16PM ESTI agree Schoenaerts is terrific in Bullhead, by the way. He's the year's brightest discovery, I think.
Matthew Starr No wonder I never remember the rule, it's horrible. I guess if a studio feels they have a film that can compete in other categories they would make sure to release the film in the U.S the same year it opens in its home country but yeah, silly rules.
December 19, 2012 at 12:01AM ESTmeep Completely agree with Guy about Schoenaerts' star quality and potential. I hope we see more from him soon.
December 19, 2012 at 2:42PM ESTLiz
December 18, 2012 at 7:09PM EST Reply to CommentHuge yes on Jude Law. His best performance since "Cold Mountain," and maybe even since "The Talented Mr. Ripley."
My suggestions:
Rosemarie DeWitt in "Your Sister's Sister"
Cecile de France for "The Kid with a Bike"
Daniel Henshall for "The Snowtown Murders"
Kristen Scott Thomas for "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"
Edward L. I second Cécile de France in The Kid with a Bike, but unfortunately it appears the film isn't eligible.
December 18, 2012 at 7:59PM ESTSome other performances I would support more attention for:
Isabelle Huppert in Amour
Rory Kinnear in Skyfall
Logan Lerman in The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Alex Pettyfer in Magic Mike
Omar Sy in The Intouchables
Charlize Theron in Prometheus
Grubi
December 18, 2012 at 8:01PM EST Reply to CommentI realize many people will think that this is going too far, but of the movies I've seen this year (which is about 25), Logan Lerman's performance in The Perks of Being a Wallflower is easily in my top three, if not my top two. He was spectacular.
Laura Stewart
December 18, 2012 at 8:08PM EST Reply to CommentI have to agree with you Guy- I really liked Hope Springs and I thought Streep was terrific. Too bad it came a year too late... really could have done without her winning the Oscar for the truly atrocious The Iron Lady.
/3rt Overdue Oscars generally arrive ugly.
December 18, 2012 at 11:00PM ESTLaura Stewart She was and is not overdue. I think 2 gold men on her shelf is more than enough.
December 19, 2012 at 3:17PM EST/3rt The inscription factor. 1 Supporting; 1 Actress — sure that's a career best for anyone but for Meryl Streep she needed at least an additional Actress statuette — Hilary Swank and Sally Field aren't her superiors are they?
December 19, 2012 at 3:56PM ESTWhat I hated is that her win came at the expense of Viola Davis and that once again Glenn Close is a bridesmaid. Poor Glenn Close.
Joe7827 This might be a minority opinion, but... why can't Swank and Field be her superiors? Streep may have had a more consistent career, but Swank's and Field's high points are pretty darn good. And your second point is exactly why it doesn't matter... it's hard to get worked up about Streep's third Oscar when so many great actresses don't even have one yet.
December 20, 2012 at 10:25AM ESTLaura Stewart Swank needs a good director to give a good performance IMO. She's been pretty awful in everything else. Even when the movie fails, Streep is a standout. As for Field, I couldn't tolerate her in LINCOLN, so I'm confused as to why she's considered a threat to win. She had a few good moments, but inconsistent and unbelievable performance IMO. So, no- they can't be her superiors :)
December 30, 2012 at 1:49AM ESTMatt
December 18, 2012 at 8:24PM EST Reply to CommentAs much as a I loved the script, I found Logan Lerman's performance in Perks merely serviceable.
Aaron
December 18, 2012 at 8:42PM EST Reply to CommentMichelle Williams in Take this Waltz is the unsung lead actress contender this year, in my opinion. Truly fearless, inspired work--and frankly much more inspired and truthful than her Marilyn performance last year (even though she was very good). I second Logan Lerman and the rest of the cast in Perks. Really has been a banner year for child/teen actors.
RichardZ Yes on Williams, but more for Polley for Director and screenplay.
December 19, 2012 at 1:20AM ESTLaura Stewart But the movie is such a CHORE to sit through. I was the biggest champion of Blue Valentine but I could not take another lip-biting-sad moment from Williams in TTW.
December 19, 2012 at 3:18PM ESTJoe7827 I have to agree with Laura Stewart. Michelle Williams is good, but the movie just felt like a lighter version of "Blue Valentine". She really needs to get cast in something where the whole movie isn't about her marital troubles.
December 20, 2012 at 10:23AM ESTGeorge
December 18, 2012 at 9:12PM EST Reply to CommentWell, for my opinion the acting of Marion Cotillard is better than Matthias Schoenaerts
Silvana
December 18, 2012 at 9:35PM EST Reply to CommentI hate the treatment that critics groups give to Marion Cotillard when she gave the best female performance of this year. It's all so unreal, so fake, reward Jennifer Lawrence of Jessica Chastain when they don't overcome to Marion Cotillard or Naomi Watts. And that happen just because Zero Dark Thirty is one of favorite film to win Oscar and Silver Linings Playbook is promotioned by Weinstein Company, but clearly the performance of Marion Cotillard overcomes Chastain and Lawrence's did.
And this incomprehensible treatment that critics group give to Marion we can see the last year when almost all critics group rewarded the same actresses like if there were other actresses around the world. Cotillard in Midnight in Paris was better than Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain (both of The Help), Melissa McCarthy,Shailene Woodley. And with Nine Marion should be nominated but the critics group no personality rewarded the same actresses, Mo'Nique or Kendrick when Cotillard (Nine) or Julianne Moore (A Single Man) deserved more that Oscar than mo'nique, anna kendrick or farmiga.
And with La Vie en Rose Cotillard won few critics group, really I don't understand the criterion of some critics or seudo critics.
Liz Are you going to post this on every article from now until the Oscars? Because that's going to get tiresome very quickly.
December 18, 2012 at 10:55PM ESTAlso, isn't it possible that some people just disagree with you about who gave the best leading actress performance of the year? It's not a conspiracy. It all comes down to opinion, and some people's opinions are different than yours. That's life.
Kristopher Tapley Plus: Cotillard is clearly doing just fine.
December 19, 2012 at 3:12AM ESTSilvana Cotillard isn't just fine, she is wonderful in Rust and Bone, beggin' Jennifer Lawrence to make the same performance of Cotillard in Rust and Bone, simple she can't.
December 21, 2012 at 2:22PM ESTLiz You misunderstood. He's not saying that Cotillard's performance is only "fine." He said that she's doing fine in terms of getting enough recognition to make sure that she gets a nomination. He wasn't insulting Marion Cotillard, for crying out loud.
December 21, 2012 at 2:47PM ESTSilvana I think he can reply for himself, don't think? But my comment goes so far, especially with little recognition that is receiving Marion Cotillard for Rust and Bone in critics group. I really understand that critics groups haven't important to Oscar nominations but it's shame to see how forget her favoring Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain o Quvenzhané Wallis that don't overcome Marion did.
December 21, 2012 at 2:54PM ESTDuncan Houst
December 19, 2012 at 12:16AM EST Reply to CommentAll necessary candidates which will nonetheless be given the shaft by the Academy. For my two cents, I'd throw in Kaya Scoledario's self-destructively sharp-toothed work in "Wuthering Heights", Nathan Lane's preciously pusillanimous turn in "Mirror Mirror", and Berenice Lin Marlohe's consciously doomed, but sensuously subservient appearance in "Skyfall".
COREY
December 19, 2012 at 12:42AM EST Reply to CommentChristopher Walken- Seven Psychopaths.
show some love.
COREY
December 19, 2012 at 12:43AM EST Reply to CommentIf only they'd replace Alan Arkin with
Christopher Walken- Seven Psychopaths.
Show some love.
RichardZ
December 19, 2012 at 1:22AM EST Reply to CommentIf you're looking outside the box of the singing sensation of Les Miz, take a look at Perfect Pitch.
Guy Lodge Pitch Perfect, you mean? I love Anna Kendrick in that -- her best work, I think.
December 19, 2012 at 5:51AM ESTEMANUEL
December 19, 2012 at 3:30AM EST Reply to CommentI have only seen 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' and Liam Neeson - 'The Grey'.'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' i like and the list is missing Pitch Perfect .
Laura Stewart
December 19, 2012 at 3:19PM EST Reply to CommentSam Rockwell for 7 Psychopaths!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
/3rt I'm just reminded he has yet to receive a nomination. Yet Jonah Hill has one. And Fisher Stevens is an Oscar winner.
December 19, 2012 at 3:59PM ESTAD Rockwell was a standout in that film
December 19, 2012 at 4:11PM ESTJoe7827 If Sam Rockwell produced a film about dolphins (or penguins, for that matter) he might have an Oscar too.
December 20, 2012 at 10:20AM ESTLaura Stewart /3RT- And Cuba Gooding Jr. too. Blegh.
December 30, 2012 at 1:51AM ESTAD
December 19, 2012 at 4:10PM EST Reply to CommentTo add to the stellar performances of young actors Elle Fanning and Logan Lerman (these two should do a film together)veteran Liam Neeson and European finc Shoenaerts (gripping in last year's Bullhead), I think Sam Rockwell, superbly manic, outpsychoes everyone in 7 Psychopaths even Christopher Walken. And Melanie Lynskey from Hello, I must be going - are certainly deserving of some attention
JMC
December 19, 2012 at 4:22PM EST Reply to CommentCompletely agree on Logan Lerman's performance. It's at least as worth of recognition as his supporting players if not more so.
Also ditto Guy's thoughts on Streep. It's so against her personality, previous roles...she completely immersed herself as an aging woman from Omaha. While the film was horrendously flat to me, I actually think it's one of her best performances...ever.
Harmonica
December 19, 2012 at 9:44PM EST Reply to CommentChanning Tatum- 21 JUMP STREET
Kristin Scott Thomas- SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN
Jim Broadbent and Ben Whishaw- CLOUD ATLAS
Edward Norton- MOONRISE KINGDOM
Chris L.
December 20, 2012 at 2:24AM EST Reply to CommentWhen exactly is Ginger and Rosa being released to qualify? Only official date I can find is Feb. 1.
Levi
December 20, 2012 at 5:47AM EST Reply to CommentI agree with everything mentioned here, even the enduring recognition of Meryl Streep for "Hope Floats" (though the qualifier that Streep was horribly overlooked for "The Hours" could not be more succinct and true). What I will not give credence to in the slightest is that in "Rock of Ages", "Cruise, [gave] his most electric star turn in over a decade". Of course, Guy, you are entitled to your opinion, but you have to (or not) admit that for some, Cruise's performance in that film was skin-crawling, as in Hammy-Hamster slithering through-out one's veins with a whoopee cushion sort of BAD. I understand that some of us have unexpected and confounding notions of brilliance when it comes to film (I do have credentials in the area), but certain emphatic protestations do not make them true. I, for one, thought that Robert Pattinson gave one of the best performances of the year in "Cosmopolis"; however, I would not put that in print! Oh wait!
brenda trenton
December 30, 2012 at 7:00PM EST Reply to CommentLaura Stewart, I couldn't agree more about Michelle Williams. She plays the same depressing and tedious characters in all her movies, and people call her a great actress. I find her limited and not versatile. Not one moment did I buy her as Marilyn Monroe. She needs to break out the box big time, before it starts to hurt her career.
The only actor in the average Perks of Being a Wallfower that deserves consideration is Ezra Miller. Everyone else is forgettable.
Matthew Star, I will always support James Spader. He was such a livewire in Lincoln. I wished he had the box-office clout of Robert Downey Jr., so we can see him in more films.
I have not seen 'Anna Karenina', but I did see Jude Law do Hamlet on Broadway. He was stupendous, and he is even more dynamic on stage.
Silvana, I don't understand the Jennifer Lawrence love, because she was only passable in Silver Linings Playbook. Plus, Jennifer didn't bring any heart to The Hunger Games.
Laura Stewart, I concur that Sally Field's acting in Lincoln was laughable. She didn't have the proper handle on role, and you could feel her awkwardness. Also, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, surprisingly, was too contemporary for his and he was very subdued.
AD, Sam Rockwell is always a standout in my book.
Harmonica, Channing Tatum in 21 Jump Street was only okay, and his so-called comedy always felt forced.
Now, my choices:
Emily Blunt from Looper - She ran all the gamut of emotions with ease and credibility. Blunt is always wonderful with acting with her eyes. Seriously, she is underrated, and Emily deserved an Oscar nomination just for stealing scenes from Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada.
Mark Ruffalo & Tom Hiddleston easily out shone everyone in The Avengers. They brought so much humor, intelligence, and complexity to their roles.
I know Anne Hathaway will not be nominated for Best Actress ( Selina Kyle) for The Dark Knight Rises, but she was such a happy surprise. She pulled-off the arduous and impressive task of making the iconic Catwoman fresh and new again without chewing the scenery, and she had to follow in the footsteps of Michelle Pfeiffer, Eartha Kit, and Julie Newmar. Plus, she stole the show from Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman. Hathaway has given the best performance by an actress in a comic book movie in years-maybe since Pfeiffer's turn in Batman Returns.
I know it is only five slots for Best Supporting Actor Oscar category, but if I could nominate most of the actors in the congressional scenes in Lincoln I would. I mean Lee Pace, Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader,etc.. It was like watching masterclass of acting .