Oscar voting begins today.
One of the tightest races is the Best Actor category. Austin Butler (Elvis) won the Golden Globe, Brendan Fraser SAG and Colin Farrell (The Banahees of Inisherin) practically swept critics prizes.
Fraser received an assortment of standing ovations that went viral at various fall film festivals, a sort of redemptive acknowledgment of what he went through. Yes, critics were very mixed on the film, but, much like Yeoh, Quan and Bassett, they love Fraser (the person).
Buzz for Austin Butler’s performance started to heat up again recently. It felt like Cannes all over again, where you couldn’t pass by a person who didn’t talk about the young actor. This was a performance that was so good that it’s kind of hard to forget about it, even nine months since the film’s release.
And so, we are left with three actors who will duke it out for the the biggest male acting prize in the works: Fraser, Farrell and Butler. My gut tells me that Austin Butler has this one. Just a hunch.
Farrell is the best of the three, but his work in ‘Banshees’ is so subtle and incredibly meticulous in its insistence to not be overtly stylized that some voters might look past his wonderful work. And, while we’re at it, the same can be said of fellow nominee Paul Mescal, whose nomination for “Aftersun” should already be seen as a major “win.”
Meanwhile, Bill Nighy was great in “Living,” a richly subdued performance. But not winning the BAFTA basically killed his chances. It’s really too bad, I wouldn’t mind him getting that Oscar.