Amy Adams: 2015 Best Actress contenders
Today I’m continuing with another of the biggest categories of them all…this time it’s Best Actress.
Here are the ten lovely ladies that I have in play for Best Actress, with the top five cracking the lineup at this point:
1. Amy Adams (Big Eyes) – I don’t know that there’s an actress who more clearly seems to be next in line for an Oscar win than Adams. She probably came the closest in her career so far last year with American Hustle, so she’s basically the de facto number one right now. The material is right up the Academy’s alley, early word is strong, and the timing is right. Everything is set up for Adams to almost steamroll through the season, so stay tuned to see if she actually does!
2. Jessica Chastain (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them) – In a rather short span of time, Chastain has become basically an awards mainstay. Just about every project she joins is labeled a contender and she’s got a pretty solid batting average so far, in terms of nominations at least. She’s beginning to seem due for a win, and it’ll likely happen sooner rather than later. This project is very ambitious and could wind up staying under the Academy’s radar, but if they see it, she most likely will get nominated once again.
3. Michelle Williams (Suite française) – Another overdue actress, Williams always seems to be close to an Academy Award win before someone else winds up becoming the flavor of the season. That could again be the case this year, though she’s starting out not being considered the frontrunner, so maybe this will be a good luck change of pace for her? Time will tell here.
4. Reese Witherspoon (Wild) – I have a hunch that this is a bigger player than many are expecting. The director of Dallas Buyers Club, the writer of An Education, and baity source material will give Witherspoon her best chance at another nomination since she won this category for Walk the Line. The rest is up to her now.
5. Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) *Could go Supporting – Currently I have Pike as a Supporting Actress contender, but I’ve heard that she’ll at least initially be going Lead, so here she is. Up until this week Pike was my Supporting Actress winner, and while that doesn’t translate into a win here, it does likely mean she’s in for a nomination if the film turns out to be top notch.
6. Shailene Woodley (The Fault in Our Stars) – With the massive financial success of her movie, Woodley has to be considered as a possibility. In fact, I have a hunch that she’s going to pop up more during this year’s precursor season than she did during last year’s for The Spectacular Now. It’ll be a hard road to get her nominated here, but stranger things have certainly happened.
7. Hilary Swank (The Homesman) – Before her film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, Swank was becoming another of the trendy early picks to make among prognosticators. Well, the decent but unspectacular reviews for the movie have quieted that down somewhat, but she’s certainly still in play here. There might be some residual Swank fatigue that hurts her chances, but if voters take to the film, she’ll be heavily in the conversation, if nothing else.
8. Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night) – Meanwhile at Cannes, Cotillard announced herself as a contender once again in a well received foreign flick. Those last two words make a return to Academy glory a longer shot than for most, but Cotillard is due another nomination pretty soon, so this could very possibly be it for her. My guess is voters wait for a more traditionally appealing film for them, but time will tell in this regard…
9. Emily Blunt (Into the Woods) *Could go Supporting – Provided it’s any good, someone from this musical will make a play for a nomination here. Blunt is the favorite so far, though obviously someone like Anna Kendrick or Meryl Streep could just as easily be hanging around here. I’m not as high on the musical as some are, so I’m keeping a contender from the film a bit lower than most, so perhaps take this with a grain of salt?
10. Jennifer Lawrence (Serena) – I know some folks aren’t wild about this project, but the track record of Lawrence speaks for itself. She’s an Oscar darling already, so as long as this isn’t a disaster, the baity nature of the work will keep her heavily in play all season long. I see no reason not to expect her to continue to get nominated quite a bit going forward. She’s got the goods, delivers them, and does so in a way that voters love.
Next in line I’d have these ten contenders (just sans commentary here) for Best Actress:
11. Scarlett Johansson (Under the Skin)
12. Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)
13. Kristen Stewart (Camp X-Ray)
14. Meryl Streep (Into the Woods) *Could go Supporting
15. Emma Stone (Magic in the Moonlight or Cameron Crowe’s Untitled Project)
16. Kate Winslet (A Little Chaos)
17. Julianne Moore (Maps to the Stars) *Could go Supporting
18. Helen Mirren (The Hundred Foot Journey)
19. Keira Knightley (Begin Again)
20. Mia Wasikowska (Madame Bovary or Tracks)
Finally, here are ten more women to give us a top 30 to cull from, just sans commentary as well:
21. Juliette Binoche (The Clouds of Sils Maria)
22. Rooney Mara (Trash)
23. Cate Blanchett (Carol)
24. Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle)
25. Zoe Kazan (The Pretty One)
26. Imogen Poots (Squirrel to the Nuts)
27. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Alex of Venice)
28. Nicole Kidman (Queen of the Desert)
29. Bérénice Marlohe (5 to 7)
30. Charlize Theron (Dark Places)
That’s what the Best Actress race could very well be made up of folks. Stay tuned next week for my look at the Best Supporting Actor race!
Tags: academy award, Actress, Amy Adams, anna kendrick, Best Actress, Cate Blanchett, charlize theron, Cinema of the United States, emily blunt, Emma Stone, Entertainment/Culture, Felicity Jones, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, helen mirren, hilary swank, Human Interest, Imogen Poots, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Julianne Moore, Juliette Binoche, kate winslet, keira knightley, kristen stewart, Marion Cotillard, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Meryl Streep, Mia Wasikowska, michelle williams, Military brats, Nationality, nicole kidman, oscar, reese witherspoon, Rooney Mara, Rosamund Pike, scarlett johansson, Shailene Woodley, television, Zoe Kazan
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