5 Oscar-Worthy Female Roles This Fall and Their Place in Academy History

Though the Oscars aired just six months ago, we're already gearing up for next year's decadent -- perhaps Gervais-aided -- ceremony. In scanning the release list for this fall, Movieline picked out five female roles that are shoo-ins for Academy attention. How can we be so sure, you ask? Because every role is a combination of past nominees and winners. Let's divvy up the gold!

[Note: We're actually discussing four upcoming films and one that already came out in summer. There's no denying the Oscar potential of that anomaly.]

Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs

Role: A Englishwoman disguises herself as a man and works as a butler in the patriarchal world of 19th-century Ireland.

Oscar Math: Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry + Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria + Felicity Huffman in Transamerica

Close needs that first Oscar win after securing five nominations in the '80s, and she has a real shot here. She first starred in Albert Nobbs as a stage production in 1982, and that surely adds to her chances. Her role comprises the urgency that propels Hilary Swank's gender secrecy in Boys Don't Cry, the period piece crossdressing of Julie Andrews in the unforgettable Victor/Victoria, and likely the unassuming male mannerisms of Felicity Huffman in Transamerica.

Charlize Theron in Young Adult

Role: A steely, morally questionable woman who returns home to find her high school boyfriend happily married to someone else.

Oscar Math: Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married + Geraldine Page in The Trip to Bountiful + about 1/4 of Louise Fletcher in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Yes, Theron already scored an Oscar for Monster, but that only further legitimizes her role's place in this patchwork of previous winners/nominees. The Jason Reitman/Diablo Cody collaboration combines the downtrodden nature of Anne Hathaway's sole nomination, the odd homecoming of Geraldine Page's 1985 triumph, and a fraction of Louise Fletcher's relentless ferocity in Cuckoo's Nest.

Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady

Role: Polarizing former prime minister Margaret Thatcher

Oscar Math: Helen Mirren in The Queen + Meryl Streep in The French Lieutenant's Woman + Meryl Streep in A Cry in the Dark

Hear me out: Streep's performance in The Iron Lady will undoubtedly recall Helen Mirren's personalized, but fair treatment of that other British doyenne, Queen Elizabeth II -- but it will also recall two of Streep's previously nominated roles. In The French Lieutenant's Woman, Streep played a Victorian Brit and a contemporary actress, and some might say Thatcher is a veritable Venn Diagram of those two roles. In A Cry in the Dark, Streep played a woman thrust into the spotlight whose actions, inaction, and intentions were endlessly analyzed and interpreted in the media.

Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin

Role: Exasperated mother dealing with a sociopath child and the terror he wreaks

Oscar math: Ellen Burstyn in The Exorcist + Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole + Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People

If anyone is capable of handling a demonic child, it's the unflappable Tilda Swinton. She'll be taking up Ellen Burstyn's old horror in The Exorcist, of course, as her unholy spawn terrorizes the locals. She'll also be borrowing personality from Nicole Kidman's fabulous and underrated work in Rabbit Hole as a hardened, bereft mother, and Mary Tyler Moore's conniption-encroaching role in the still-awesome-and-I-don't-care-what-you-think-about-Raging Bull family drama Ordinary People.

Viola Davis in The Help

Role: Aibileen Clark, a middle-aged, African-American maid living and working in Mississippi

Oscar math: Sally Field in Norma Rae + Hattie McDaniel in Gone with the Wind + Diahann Carroll in Claudine

The more time passes, the more Viola Davis is seeming like a very sure thing for this year's ceremony. Say what you will about the quality of The Blind Side, but the feel-good nature it affixed to not-so-feel-good issues became intoxicating to voters around nomination time. Viola Davis's fine performance in The Help combines the upstart fire of Sally Field's first Oscar-winning role, the uniform and legacy of Hattie McDaniel's win for Gone with the Wind, and Diahann Carroll's titular role as the poor, but savvy housekeeper in the comedy Claudine.