As we do every year on this here blog, Oscar nominations lead to my Case Of series. What are they? Glad you asked. These are 35 posts covering the nominees for Picture, Director, and the four acting contests. For each one, I give you the case for the movie/director/actor winning and the case against it with a verdict tidying it up. It’s like a trial, but no one goes to prison.
It began with the ten BP contenders and now it alternates alphabetically between the hopefuls in the five other big races. Today we arrive at our fifth performer in Best Actor and that’s Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction. Let’s get to it!
Previous Oscar Acting Nominations:
None
The Case for Jeffrey Wright:
The veteran thespian and Tony and Emmy winner for Angels in America finally gets into the Academy’s mix with Cord Jefferson’s dramedy. The Globes, SAG, and Critics Choice all included him. The film itself easily matched expectations with 5 nods (including for Wright’s costar Sterling K. Brown) and it could get honored somewhere.
The Case Against Jeffrey Wright:
That somewhere is likely to be in Adapted Screenplay and not Best Actor where Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) is favored with Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) as runner-up. BAFTA didn’t bite and he won none of the precursors.
The Verdict:
You’d be wrong to bet on Wright.
My Case Of posts will continue with Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers…
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