My wildly early first look at the major categories for next year’s Oscars continues with Best Actor! If you missed my posts covering the supporting derbies, they are linked at the bottom.
Quite honestly, I had a hard time shrinking this list down to 15. Leaving out possible contenders such as Benedict Cumberbatch (The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar), Adam Driver (Ferrari), or Michael Fassbender (The Killer or Next Goal Wins) felt odd. Even Matt Damon for Air (out next weekend) is a legit hopeful. There’s plenty of others I could name.
It is worth pointing out that my inaugural projections for 2022 correctly placed eventual winner Brendan Fraser (The Whale) in the top five while Austin Butler (Elvis) and Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin) were both mentioned in Other Possibilities.
A final note (and there’s no great to broach this) is that I likely would’ve had Jonathan Majors (Magazine Dreams) in my quintet instead of in Other Possibilities a week ago. However, his weekend arrest obviously complicates the matter and throws any potential campaign into disarray.
Here’s the premiere forecast for ’23 and Best Actress is up next.
TODD’S MARCH 2023 OSCAR PREDICTIONS: BEST ACTOR
Kingsley Ben-Adir, Untitled Bob Marley Movie
Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers of the Flower Moon
Mike Faist, Challengers
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Other Possibilities:
Colman Domingo, Rustin
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Andre Holland, The Actor
Anthony Hopkins, Freud’s Last Session
Barry Keoghan, Saltburn
Jonathan Majors, Magazine Dreams
Charles Melton, May December
Joaquin Phoenix, Napoleon
Lakeith Stanfield, The Book of Clarence
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