“Loving”
Focus Features
READ MORE: 2017 Oscar Predictions
It’s one of the most competitive Best Actress races in years.
“Birdman” nominee Emma Stone came out of Venice (winning Best Actress), Telluride and Toronto with raves for her role as a singer-dancer-actress in Damien Chazelle’s TIFF audience-winner “La La Land.” Amy Adams also broke out at Telluride (which gave her a tribute packed with clips of her Oscar-nominated performances in “American Hustle,” “The Master,” “The Fighter,” “Doubt,” and “Junebug”) in sci-fi thriller “Arrival,” ably carrying her starring role as an empathetic linguist able to communicate with alien visitors. She also stars in a more glamorous vein in Tom Ford’s divisive “Nocturnal Animals.”
Breaking out at Venice and Toronto, where Fox Searchlight snapped it up for a December 9th release, was Pablo Larrain’s “Jackie,” starring Natalie Portman as the grieving widow of John F. Kennedy in the aftermath of his killing. Critics raved.
This year’s likely breakout actress nominee is Ruth Negga. Not only is she tearing up the small screen as the badass Tulip in AMC’s “Preacher,” but her first major lead role on the big screen is a safe bet to earn her a Best Actress nomination. As Mildred Loving, Negga provides the film with its beating heart. Under the direction of Jeff Nichols, Negga delivers a low-key performance sans melodrama to deliver a refined portrayal of a woman battling race laws to live in peace with her husband and their children.
The Academy occasionally embraces foreign actors in its acting categories, which bodes well for Isabelle Huppert’s lauded performance in Paul Verhoeven’s taut mystery “Elle” (Sony Pictures Classics), which debuted well at Cannes. The veteran French actress pulls off one of the year’s most challenging characters— a rape victim who refuses to let her abuse define her — as she claims her identity as an entrepreneur, mother and sexually active older woman. Adding heat is another major performance in Mia Hansen-Love’s “Things to Come” (IFC).
Awards perennial Fox Searchlight released “A Bigger Splash” early in the year, but actors’ favorite Tilda Swinton could still sneak into the Best Actress race for her dazzling turn as a temporarily mute pop star wrangling her ex-husband and current lover during a Mediterranean vacation.
These actresses will be joined by a spate of potential contenders, including Oscar winners Marion Cotillard (“Allied”), Jennifer Lawrence (“Passengers”) and Meryl Streep (“Florence Foster Jenkins”), as well as past nominees who are overdue, such as Annette Bening (20th Century Women” and Viola Davis (“Fences”).
Remember, in order to be a frontrunner we need to have seen the film.
Frontrunners:
Amy Adams (“Arrival”)
Annette Bening (“20th Century Women”)
Ruth Negga (“Loving”)
Natalie Portman (“Jackie”)
Emma Stone (“La La Land”)
Contenders:
Marion Cotillard (“Allied”)
Viola Davis (“Fences”)
Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”)
Jennifer Lawrence (“Passengers”)
Meryl Streep (“Florence Foster Jenkins”)
Long Shots:
Amy Adams (“Nocturnal Animals”)
Emily Blunt (“The Girl on the Train”)
Rebecca Hall (“Christine”)
Tilda Swinton (“A Bigger Splash”)
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Check Out More Oscar Races:
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Animated Feature