One actor who absolutely deserved an Oscar nomination last year was Daniel Craig in “Queer.” It might just be the performance of his career, playing a man spending his time in Mexico, with a dependence on alcohol and heroin.
Venice Film Festival chief Alberto Barbera is obviously not the best at predicting Oscars. This is the same man who said “The Killer” and “Ferrari” would be major contenders. However, he was not wrong in predicting, this time last year, that Craig could get nominated. The performance was that good.
In a new interview, via Variety, Barbera gets asked what films from this year’s Venice lineup might contend for Oscars. Turns out, he seems to have given up on predicting. Mostly due to the Craig snub.
I’ve stopped making predictions because they often turn out to be, at least partly, wrong […] I was sure that Daniel Craig would have landed a best actor nomination [for Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer”] and that didn’t happen.
Barbera stresses that the Oscar race is far too volatile to pin down with any certainty. He points to the fact that even seemingly sure bets can fall flat, again, citing Craig’s snub.
So, Barbera is now avoiding framing Venice as a guaranteed Oscar launchpad, even though the festival has premiered many recent winners. Just this year, the marquee titles in supposed contention are “Jay Kelly,” “The Smashing Machine,” and “After the Hunt.”
However, we all know how things can change quickly at the flick of a switch, remember “The Son”? Barbera surely hopes there won’t be such a debacle this year.