Ten months out - Best Actor

[ksrymy]

http://www.awardscircuit.com/oscar-pred ... est-actor/

BEST ACTOR

The predicted nominees

1. Joaquin Phoenix - Inherent Vice
They have missed their opportunity to reward him for “The Master” and obviously he’s too talented to be Oscar-less forever. This role is über weird but it may just do the trick.
2. Brad Pitt - Fury
Just winning as a producer on “12 Years a Slave” – I’m sure there are people that feel that he needs an acting win. World War II film could be it from David Ayer.
3. Steve Carell - Foxcatcher
He was being predicted this year until Sony Pictures Classics pushed back the film. The trailer has many excited and it could be the darkest, most rewarding thing Carell has ever done. Both of Bennett Miller’s films have scored Best Actor nominations.
4. Michael Keaton - Birdman
“Clean and Sober,” “My Life,” and “Beetlejuice” are just some of the great things that Keaton has brought to the table with no reward. Teaming up with Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu could put him in line.
5. Robert Downey, Jr. - The Judge
His nomination for “Tropic Thunder” was one of the coolest things that Oscar has ever done. They clearly like him. This piece about a man who returns for his mother’s funeral but suspects his father of murdering her sounds very interesting.

Other top-tier contenders

6. Ben Affleck - Gone Girl
His career has taken a turn around and with “Argo” winning Best Picture, along with him delivering a good performance, Hollywood may believe in him again. Also, the last three Fincher films have scored acting nominations.
7. Timothy Spall - Mr. Turner
Call this our Richard Jenkins/David Strathairn pick of the year. Spall has been in dozens of films including the Oscar-winning “The King’s Speech” and in “Secrets of Lies,” in which he was teamed with Mike Leigh.
8. Michael Fassbender - Macbeth
Fassbender (teamed with Marion Cotillard) in a Shakespeare adaptation sounds too good to NOT be good.
9. James McAvoy - The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby
Another push back from 2013, and picked up by the Weinstein Company, this Ned Benson drama received good word from TIFF and McAvoy is owed one after “Atonement.”
10. Jack O’Connell - Unbroken
The star of this Angelina Jolie-directed film may reap all the benefits if its a home-run.

Also in contention

11. Ralph Fiennes - The Grand Budapest Hotel
12. Chadwick Boseman - Get on Up
13. Tom Hardy - The Drop
14. Tommy Lee Jones - The Homesman
15. Christoph Waltz - Big Eyes
16. Michael Shannon - 99 Homes
17. Bradley Cooper - Untitled Cameron Crowe Project
18. Jonah Hill - True Story
19. Christian Bale - Exodus
20. Tom Hardy - Child 44