Oscar Index: Jennifer Lawrence Is The Best Actress To Beat
Best Actor
Academy members will take note and long remember Daniel Day-Lewis’ gracious and eloquent SAG Awards acceptance speech that no doubt spoke volumes to any undecided voters. "My wonderful colleagues, every single cast member gave their characters the kiss of life. Have no doubt that this is an ensemble award… It was an actor that murdered Abraham Lincoln, and therefore somehow it’s only fitting that every now and then an actor tries to bring him back to life again.” Day-Lewis is on track to become the first to achieve the hat trick of three Oscars for Best Actor. He is certainly the unanimous choice among all 25 Gold Derby pundits. The other candidates? When it comes to Academy Award consideration, as in comedy, timing is everything. So the release of the critically eviscerated Movie 43 couldn’t come at a worse time for Hugh Jackman, who is featured in one sketch as a man with his testicles dangling from his neck. “Congratulations,” hailed The Daily Beast’s Kevin Fallon, “you have your own Norbit.”
1. Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)
2. Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables)
3. Denzel Washington (Flight)
4 .Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)
5. Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)
Best Actress
As with Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lawrence’s acceptance speeches are improving with each win. Recovering from her “I beat Meryl” faux pas at the Golden Globes, Lawrence charmed an audience of her peers at the SAG Awards. “I want to thank MTV,” she began, and hastily added, “I’ll explain that.” “Her heartfelt speech,” observed Deadline Hollywood’s Pete Hammond, “gives her a definite boost.” As did the Silver Linings Playbook and Zero Dark Thirty screener gap, Hammond added: “Sony did not send screeners or make iTunes downloads available for Jessica Chastain…The Weinstein Company did send screeners, movie cash, iTunes downloads, and anything else they could to SAG’s entire 100,000 members.
Which is not to take anything away from Lawrence’s performance, according to New York magazine’s Kyle Buchanan, who considers her the complete package: “Lawrence has the category’s most well-rounded role and the industry’s most full-fledged support. She’s a social charmer and newly-minted box office star that Hollywood hopes to coronate with an Academy Award. In Contention’s Guy Lodge agrees, but with one caveat:
“Jennifer Lawrence has everything going for her…It’s tempting to call this race already, but the 22 year-old star didn’t have to face 85 year-old Emmanuelle Rica at the SAGs or the Globes. And the latter’s performance is just too formidable to count out, particularly with a lot of voters checking out their Amour screeners in the wake of its five-nomination coup.”
1. Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
2. Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)
3. Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)
4. Naomi Watts (The Impossible)
5. Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
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