With the Oscar nominations due to be announced tomorrow, now is the time for me to play my annual game of Who And What Would Jeff Nominate If He Was In Charge Of The Nominations. Keep in mind, these are not the actors and movies that I expect to be nominated. No, these are my own personal nominees for my own imaginary oscars. In other words, the nominations below are totally meaningless.
But they're a lot of fun to think about.
(In case you're interested, last year's imaginary nominees can be found here.)
Since these are my personal nominations, they are limited to the eligible films that I have actually seen. For instance, as someone who never missed an episode of Homicide, I would be thrilled to see Melissa Leo nominated for Frozen River. However, I never got a chance to see Frozen River while it was playing in Dallas and for that reason, I cannot nominate her for one of my imaginary oscars. So, what films are in my nomination pool? In alphabetical order: An American Carol, Blindness, Bottle Shock, Brideshead Revisited, Burn After Reading, Cassandra's Dream, Changeling, Choke, Cloverfield, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Doubt, The Duchess, Elegy, Frost/Nixon, Funny Games, Gran Torino,The Happening, Happy-Go-Lucky, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (or whatever it was called), In Bruges, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Lakeview Terrace, Milk, The Mother of Tears, The Promotion, Quantum of Solace, Rachel Getting Married, Rambo, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Savage Grace, Slumdog Millionaire, Synechode New York, Towelhead, Trans Siberian, Tropic Thunder, Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Visitor, Wall-E, Wanted, and the Wrestler. I'm sure I'm leaving a few off the list but all the important (and most of the not-so important) ones are listed,.
Best Supporting Actress:
Hiam Abbas for The Visitor
Penelope Cruz for Vicky Christins Barcelona
Rosemarie DeWitt for Rachel Getting Married
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler
Kate Winslet for The Reader
This was a hard list for me to narrow down. Along with the final five, I seriously considered Lena Olin (The Reader), Hayley Atwell and Charlotte Rampling (The Duchess), Maria Bello (Towelhead), Patricia Clarkson (Elegy), and Emma Thompson (Brideshead Revisisted).
I'm a bit surprised by the fact that neither Abbas nor DeWitt have played more of a role in the initial Oscar speculation. As the mother of a man imprisoned by the U.S. government, Abbas brought warmth and a steely determination to a role that could have easily become stereotypical. And while DeWitt was the less flamboyant of Rachel's two sisters, she emerged as the true heart of the film. However, it's doubtful that either one will be nominated on Thursday and that's a shame. Winslet and Cruz are guaranteed to be nominated and Tomei should be as well, unless voters are so overwhelmed by Mickey Rourke that they overlook her. For me, the award comes down to a three-way race between Winslet, Cruz, and Tomei with Tomei as the ultimate victor.
Best Supporting Actor:
Robert Downey, Jr. for Tropic Thunder
Ralph Fiennes for In Burges
Brenadan Gleeson for In Burges
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Eddie Marsan for Happy-Go-Lucky
This was another tough category to narrow down. I could have just as easily nominated Fiennes for his work in The Reader or The Duchess. However, I happened to catch a few minutes of In Burges on cable last night and it reminded me of just how brilliantly funny and scary Fiennes's In Burges performance truly was. Considering that Fiennes is not considered, by many, to be a comedic actor, his performance has to be considered a real revelation. Others that I gave serious thought to included Josh Brolin, James Franco, and Emile Hirsch (Milk), George Clooney, John Malkovich, and Brad Pitt (Burn After Reading), Tom Cruise and Brandon Soo Hoo(Tropic Thunder), Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight and Towelhead), Jason Butler Harner (Changeling), Dennis Hopper (Elegy), Bill Irwin (Rachel Getting Married), Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), Michael Pitt (Funny Games), and Haaz Sleiman (The Visitor).
I imagine that, with the exception of Gleeson, we'll see all of these thespians nominated. (Though Fiennes will probably not be remembered for In Burges.) This is unfortunate as Gleeson is one of our most underrated actors (he should have won for his work in The General) and In Burges' featured some of his best work. I imagine that actual Oscar will go to Ledger and I can't really argue with that. That said, my personal choice would be Downey.
Best Actress
Summer Bishil for Towelhead
Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky
Kiera Knightley for The Duchess
Kate Winslet for Revolutionary Road
For me, this was the easiest category to come up with. It's not that there aren't a lot of good actresses working in films at the present as much as it's the fact that they all seem to be constantly getting cast in the same basic role and, as such, there's something rather predictable about even the best performances. That said, before I came up with these five, I gave some serious thought to nominating Rebecca Hall (Vicky Christina Barcelona), Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Frances McDormand (Burn After Reading), Julianne Moore (Savage Grace and Blindness), Meryl Streep (Doubt), and Naomi Watts (Funny Games).
I'm a bit surprised that Knightley's performance in The Duchess has been so forgotten. Perhaps if the film itself had been as strong as her performance, she'd be more of a factor. Bishill gave a good performance in a good film but Towelhead seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it type film and the same seems to be true of Bishil's performance. Hathaway, Hawkins, and Winslet are pretty much guaranteed to be nominated (along with Streep and maybe Jolie). I imagine Winslet will win. However, for me, it comes down to either Hathaway or Hawkins. In fact, it comes down to both of them. That's right, folks! We've got a tie! The imaginary Best Actress Oscar goes to both Anne Hathaway and Sally Hawkins! (That means you've only got half-as-long as everyone else to make your acceptance speeches, ladies...)
Best Actor
Clint Eastwood for Gran Turino
Colin Farrell for In Burges
Richard Jenkins for The Visitor
Sean Penn for Milk
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler
Also considered: Leonardo Di Caprio (Revolutionary Road), Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Synechode, New York), Samuel L. Jackson (Lakeview Terrace), Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon), and especially Robert Downey, Jr. (Iron Man).
Farrell and Jenkins will probably be overlooked by the actual academy. Rourke is the favorite for the actual award but I wouldn't be surprised to see Eastwood win in an upset. Why? Rourke may be incorrectly viewed as simply playing himself and this may be the last chance that the Academy has to give Eastwood an award for his acting (as opposed to his direction). As for my imaginary nominations, this is a tight race with all five nominees deserving to win. Does this mean a five-way tie? Nah. The imaginary oscar goes to Richard Jenkins because he brought tears to my eyes just by sitting in the park and playing a drum.
Best Director
Woody Allen for Vicky Christina Barcelona
Darren Aronofsky for The Wreslter
Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Jonathan Demme for Rachel Getting Married
Martin McDonagh for In Burges
Honestly, my sentimental side nearly convinced me nominate Dario Argento for The Mother of Tears. I also gave serious thought to The Coen Brothers (Burn After Reading), Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino), Jon Favreau (Iron Man), Christopher Nolan (The Dark Night), and Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky).
And the winner is ... Danny Boyle, who runs up to the stage and gives a profanity-laced acceptance speech.
Best Picture
In Bruges
Rachel Getting Married
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
Just missing the final cut: Gran Torino, The Dark Knight, Happy-Go-Lucky, Vicky Chrisinta Barcelona, The Visitor, Brideshead Revisited, The Reader, and Iron Man,
This is probably the category where my own choices will diverge the most from what the Academy actually nominates. Slumdog Millionaire is guaranteed a nod and The Wrestler could sneak in, Otherwise, Rachel Getting Married will have to settle for a nomination for Hathaway and Wall-E will probably win best animated feature. In Burges might get a screenplay nomination but otherwise, it appears it will be ignored. Out of my five nominees, I would select Slumdog Millionaire and I'm sure that the Academy will do the same.
And finally, the award for worst film of the year goes to ... The Happening!
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