By Lori Vernon
THE ACADEMY SAYS...
Spotlight
T
he 2016 Academy Award nominations
will be announced on January 14, and
with so many possible contenders this
could very well be one of the most exciting
Oscar races in recent years. The previously
announced Golden Globe (airing Jan. 10),
Screen Actors Guild (airing Jan. 30) and Film
Independent Spirit Awards (airing Feb. 27)
nominations have proven that while there
are many viable candidates, it’s still anyone’s
game.
With several films consistently mentioned for Best Picture, there isn’t one particular standout that dominates the category
this year the way that Birdman and Boyhood
did in 2015. We also see fluidity in the acting categories, especially for Supporting
Actor and Actress. The Golden Globes have
separate nominations for Drama and
Musical/Comedy in the Best Film, Best Actor
and Best Actress categories so we can’t compare apples to apples when it comes to the
Oscars, but this broadens the field of possible
nominees that could receive nominations
because the Oscars only have one award for
the top acting honors and best film.
The top contenders for Best Picture Spotlight, The Big Short and Room, seem to be
14 illinoisentertainer.com january 2016
guaranteed nominations, but the rest of the
field is wide open. The Academy allows up
to ten nominations for best picture (but can
go with as few as five), but trying to pick one
winner is a tough job. Here is a list of potential Oscar nominees (and other top awards
they are currently nominated for) in the
major categories:
Potential Best Picture Nominees
45 Years, 99 Homes, Anomalisa (Independent
Spirit – Best Feature); Beasts Of No Nation
(SAG – Cast; Independent Sprit – Best Feature);
Brooklyn, The Big Short (Golden Globe –
Musical/Comedy; SAG – Cast); Black Mass,
Bridge of Spies, Carol (Golden Globe – Drama;
Independent Spirit – Best Feature), Concussion
Creed, The Danish Girl Joy (Golden Globe –
Musical/Comedy); The Hateful Eight, Inside Out
Joy, Love & Mercy, Mad Max: Fury Road
(Golden Globe – Drama); The Martian (Golden
Globe – Musical/Comedy), The Revenant
(Golden Globe – Drama); Room (Golden Globe Drama); Sicario Son Of Saul, Spotlight (Golden
Globe – Drama; SAG – Cast; Independent Spirit
– Best Feature); Spy (Golden Globe –
Musical/Comedy), Star Wars: The Force
Awakens, Steve Jobs; Straight Outta Compton
(SAG – Cast); Suffragette, Tangerine
(Independent Spirit - Best Feature); Trumbo
(SAG – Cast), and Ex Machina, Youth.
The Best Actor races are also wide open,
with a multitude of names being bandied
about. However, my money is on DiCaprio,
Fassbender, Redmayne, Damon and
Cranston to make the top 5, with Will Smith
being a good possibility as the Academy
grapples with broadening their horizons to
better represent greater diversity. While this
is by no means set in stone, there are many
actors in outstanding films that could also
make the cut. Many folks are wondering if
this is finally Leo DiCaprio’s year to capture
the little gold man? I guess we’ll just have to
wait and see. Here is a list of acting contenders:
Potential Best Actor Nominees
Christian Bale – The Big Short (Golden Globe –
Musical/Comedy Lead); Steve Carrell – The Big
Short (Golden Globe – Musical/Comedy Lead);
Michael Caine - Youth, Bryan Cranston –
Trumbo (Golden Globe – Drama Lead; SAG –
Lead Actor) Matt Damon – The Martian
(Golden Globe – Musical/Comedy Lead); Johnny
Depp – Black Mass (SAG – Lead Actor);
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant (Golden
Globe – Drama Lead; SAG – Lead Actor);
Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs (Golden
Globe – Drama Lead; SAG – Lead Actor),
Samuel L. Jackson – The Hateful Eight,
Michael B. Jordan – Creed, Ian McKellan –
Mr. Holmes, Al Pacino – Danny Collins
(Golden Globe – Musical/Comedy Lead); Eddie
Redmayne – The Danish Girl (Golden Globe –
Drama Lead; SAG – Lead Actor), Géza Röhrig
– Son of Saul, Mark Ruffalo – Infinitely Polar
Bear (Golden Globe – Musical/Comedy Lead);
Will Smith – Concussion (Golden Globe –
D