Road to the Oscars, Part 4

2008′s Best Lead Actor Winner — Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

For Your Consideration, Vol. 3:
Comedy & Tragedy

Actors are what audiences most associate movies with. Sure, people remember bits of dialogue, how beautiful a scene looked, cues of the score, or how cool the special effects were, but none of that can compare with the power of the almighty actor. Hollywood publicity and tabloid absurdities aside, actors can make or break a movie. I’m not just talking about in the financial sense, which of course is true, but I’m speaking strictly from a standpoint of quality. Without the right actor to recite the lines of the script or emote with the guidance of the director, your film will never connect with audiences in the way that it could. Instead of listing off a group of movies that I hope the Academy won’t ignore when it comes time with nominations, I want to pitch the actor that I think has already won and why they beat out their closest competition.

Lead Actress — Natalie Portman, Black Swan

The lead actress award is perhaps the most obvious choice for me. This is Natalie Portman’s year. With her performance in Black Swan, it’s signed, sealed, and delivered. Everyone can go home, because Portman’s portrayal of ballerina Nina Sayers, a young performer that’s obsessed with perfection is a career best for Portman. Not only did she pull a Christian Bale and drop 20 pounds (from somewhere!) to “perfect” her character, but she is unapologetically intense. Each step she takes toward perfection pushes her closer to the edge of her own grip on reality. Just like the ballerina of the modified Swan Lake in the movie has to embody both the white and black swans, Portman — going back to her Star Wars roots — turns to the dark side and embraces what it’ll actually take to achieve her goal, leaving her family, friends, and old life (figuratively and literally) behind. Her emotional transformation is amazing, and I honestly don’t care about whom else is nominated in this category, because this one’s done. If you look at the critic awards, Portman is in a dead heat with Annette Bening and her performance in The Kids Are All Right. Bening’s her closet competition in the category, but this year is going to be another example of when momentum is in your corner and you just can’t be stopped.

Lead Actor — Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Unlike the lead actress category, the nominations and inevitable win for the lead actor Oscar isn’t as cut and dry. This was by far the hardest to decide, because 2010 was a year with many standout performances from men. I immediately think of Robert Duvall’s crotchety turn as the hermit with a mysterious past in Get Low, Ben Affleck as a bank robber who wants to get out of the life after one last score in The Town, or James Franco’s turn as Aron Ralston, a mountain climber with a difficult choice to make to save his own life, in 127 Hours. Those are three great performances that could easily be acknowledged on Oscar night, but, for me, this category comes down to another set of three performances: Leonardo DiCaprio as the dream-invading Cobb in Inception, Jeff Bridges’ re-invention of Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, and Jessie Eisenberg as the young billionaire and Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network.

Let’s be honest: Jeff Bridges isn’t winning. His turn as Cogburn is a staggering transformation, because of how far away from “typical Bridges” he gets. Unfortunately, it’s nigh impossible to win Oscars back-to-back or to win for a character that’s already been awarded the statue that another actor portrayed. A nomination for Bridges is an attempt to do both. Now, I expect a nom and it’ll be deserved, and if Bridges walks away with his second statue I’ll be elated, because it’s a great performance that should be recognized in some way, but Jeff has Oscar history against him here.

In Inception, DiCaprio’s Cobb is brooding, driven, mysterious and damaged; a compelling case right there, but throw in dream espionage and you have a winner. Inception has a near-perfect cast that does a phenomenal job of selling the science that the world of the movie exists in. It’s a bizarre, if not ridiculous and cool, premise that relies heavily on writer/director Chris Nolan and his cast. A lot of movies pray that the audience will suspend their disbeliefs for a couple of hours so that the movie can actually work with minor explanation; relying strictly on assumption. Inception couldn’t care less about your ability to buy the science, because it’s a bullet train that’s heading toward the next station, and you can get on or not. DiCaprio emotionally spends himself in the film. He’s fierce and manipulative; every action he takes has a second motive, but it’s the look in DiCaprio’s eyes that sells it. He’s losing the battle against his own mind, and the ramifications are apparent on his worn, exhausted face. Every moment toward the final confrontation with his ex-wife & manifestation of his subconscious, Molly, he dreads.

Regardless of how much history is riding against Bridges, or how powerful DiCaprio delivered this year, I’d still be pulling for Jessie Eisenberg. As the brilliant loner, Mark Zuckerberg, Eisenberg’s rapid-fire performance steals the spotlight from seemingly more deserving or recognizable actors. There’s so much pain in the character; the torture of having 500 million “friends” and billions in the bank, but never being able to connect with the one person that really mattered. That’s not just solely brilliant writing, because you need an actor to sell it. Eisenberg is awkward, witty, erratic, and determined, if not to the point of being backstabbing. During the moments where he’s trying to justify his actions in front of a myriad of lawyers, the Winklevoss twins, and his former best friend, Eduardo, he knows he’s been caught, but he’ll fight to the death to keep that truth from being revealed. He knows that he screwed over everyone, but that fuel — his survival instincts — keep the words flowing from his mouth and that’s why Eisenberg wins in my book. To encapsulate all of that emotion (all of the depth of the character that’s pent up) is an impressive feat, and with all of the hype in The Social Network’s corner this year I wouldn’t be surprised if the Best Actor statue goes to Eisenberg in the end. I mentioned in Part 1 that I haven’t yet seen The King’s Speech, but if Colin Firth is as phenomenal as I’ve heard, then perhaps Eisenberg doesn’t have a shot, but until I see the film for myself, I have to side with Zuckerberg in this category.

Supporting Actress — Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Best Supporting Actress is another difficult category, because of the great performances from a plethora of women. They range from intense to downright impressive. Whoever wins in the end will be a surprise.

Mila Kunis has caught eyes since she first chased around Ashton Kutcher on That 70′s Show. And while she also stole the spotlight in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in Black Swan, Kunis plays for keeps. Her subtle, conniving, lusty performance as rival dancer Lily is the catalyst that causes Portman’s Nina to let herself go. Kunis doesn’t care about perfection. She’s in it for the stardom and progression of her career, but she doesn’t mind screwing (with others) to get there. It’s hard to standout when you’re co-starring with Natalie Portman’s career-topper, but without Lily to help push against Nina’s reservations, to guide her down a road of self-destruction, without a performance to sell that, then the transformation of Lily wouldn’t be as impactful.

The women of The Fighter, who pull Mark Wahlberg’s Micky Ward in two separate directions, are two standout performances in this category. I loved Amy Adams in the movie. She’s the best defense and support system that Micky could possibly have in his corner. Adams is feisty and strong-willed. And while it’s a well-acted performance, I don’t know if there’s enough behind it to be nominated. However, on the flip side, I absolutely hated Melissa Leo as Micky’s mom. I loathe her character so much, and that’s why the performance is brilliant. Everything about her reeks of pride, manipulation, favoritism and determination. It’s disgusting and compelling. It’s a powerful concoction, and Leo may definitely be the front-runner in the category because of it.

I hope and pray that Hailee Steinfeld takes this from her competition, because her performance in True Grit as 14-year-old Mattie Ross floored me. I haven’t seen a kid act circles around their co-stars since Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense. Steinfeld’s venom-tipped line delivery is perfect and leaves both the audience and on-screen characters speechless. Her ability to harness the motivations of her character and apply them effectively is just as impressive as any other performance this year. The only thing on her mind is vengeance, and you would think that such an adult mindset would be wasted on a child actor, but that’s not the case here. Mattie’s out for blood and Steinfeld doesn’t hold back. It might be too bold to suggest, but Steinfeld may have out-acted Jeff Bridges’ Cogburn. Melissa Leo may be the one taking home the golden statue at the end of the night, but Hailee Steinfeld provided the best performance in the category, and I’m not afraid to say it.

Supporting Actor — Christian Bale, The Fighter

In regards the Supporting Actor category, it’s another no-brainer. I was torn between Michael Douglas’ reinvention of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Jeremy Renner’s brash, thug of a bank robber in The Town, and Andrew Garfield’s compelling take Facebook co-founder Eduardo Severin. And then I saw The Fighter.

Christian Bale is one of the most intense method actors working today, but his amazing work is always overshadowed by his more audience-friendly performances. Now, everyone knows Bale as Batman, but before he donned the black cowl, he was Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. As a kid he out-shined most of the adults in Empire of the Sun. And if you meet those films right in the middle, he was Jack “Cowboy” Kelly in Newsies. Bale has a background of great performances, but I think he’s finally set the bar for himself. Immediately bringing to mind his ghoulish physique in The Machinist, Bale has emaciated himself for our viewing pleasure (and his obsession with acting) to play former lightweight boxer and meth addict Dickie Ecklund in The Fighter. Bale not only transformed into the character but caused me to forget the man behind the baggy T-shirt and sunken eyes of Ecklund, which isn’t an easy thing to do. Ecklund is broken and desperate for a change, but at the cost of his pride, which is a price that could easily be too high for him to afford. But it’s his desire to change his own life and help his brother, Mark Wahlberg’s Micky Ward, do what he wasn’t able to achieve that is absolutely compelling. Christian Bale is the one to beat, if that’s at all possible.