With one week left until the film industry’s top event — the Academy Awards — hands out its first award, some categories already have their winners set in stone and are just waiting to hand the Oscar statue out to seal the deal. Others, however, are still up in the air, with possible upsets looming in the background.
The race for Best Picture has become a battle between “12 Years a Slave” and “Gravity.” Both films have won their share of awards, and with the buzz for “American Hustle” cooling off considerably, it’s becoming clear that either the slavery opus or the science-fiction space survival story will take home the top prize. While the widespread acclaim for “12 Years a Slave” may be enough to give it the win, the awards already garnered by “Gravity” director Alfonso Cuarón in the Best Director category could tip the scales in its favor.
Like Best Picture, the Best Actor category is still far from locked in. While Matthew McConaughey’s comeback performance in “Dallas Buyers Club” has cemented him as the frontrunner, earning him Best Actor from the Golden Globes, Screen Actors’ Guild, Critics’ Choice and several other associations, two other actors have hit the campaign trail hard and picked up a few awards to keep themselves in the race. “12 Years a Slave” star Chiwetel Ejiofor, who has benefitted from the film’s massive overall acclaim, took Best Actor at the British Academy Film Awards, and has won over McConaughey at several other smaller associations’ awards. At the same time, Leonardo DiCaprio’s ferocious, unhinged turn as a Wall Street stockbroker in “The Wolf of Wall Street” earned him a Golden Globe and a BAFTA nomination over McConaughey. DiCaprio has ardently supported the film at industry screenings, which may give him the leverage he needs to take home his first Oscar.
In Best Actress, the winner is unquestionable. Having essentially swept the awards season and reached “overdue” status to win her second Oscar, Cate Blanchett only has the Oscar statue left to take home before the awards season ends. Barring a last-minute upset from Amy Adams for “American Hustle” or Sandra Bullock for “Gravity,” Blanchett’s remarkable performance as a Manhattan socialite on the verge of a nervous breakdown after losing everything should earn her yet another much-deserved Oscar.
Best Supporting Actor is also locked up, with McConaughey’s co-star Jared Leto poised to take the golden statue. Except for a missing nomination at BAFTA, Leto has been nominated for every major guild and critics’ association, and, like Blanchett, has essentially swept them all. With “Dallas Buyers Club” bringing Leto back to the big screen for the first time after a six-year hiatus, the attention he’s received for this performance – and impending Oscar triumph – may bring him back to Hollywood.
Finally, in Best Supporting Actress, the race is pared down to two: newcomer Lupita N’yongo in “12 Years a Slave” and last year’s Best Actress winner Jennifer Lawrence in “American Hustle.” While N’yongo emerged as the critical favorite for her role as a young woman who becomes the object of a plantation owner’s (Michael Fassbender, a Supporting Actor nominee) attention – winning the Screen Actors’ Guild and Critics’ Choice prizes, among others – Lawrence has won her fair share of hardware for her follow-up to her Oscar-winning role in “Silver Linings Playbook.” Playing an unpredictable Long Island housewife whose loose-cannon antics put her husband (Best Actor nominee Christian Bale) in danger, Lawrence tears up the screen and steals “American Hustle” from right under the other members of the star-laden ensemble. Her wins at the BAFTA and Golden Globes show support for her performance, but N’yongo has matched her at every turn. This is a race that will come down to the wire.
On March 2, all questions will be answered as the race for the Oscars comes to a close. With possible upsets waiting in the wings, the ceremony is sure to be an entertaining and potentially surprising one.
