The Double Hitter Oscars?

Never before in all the years I've been watching the Oscars have I seen anything like the potential number of double nominees this year. We have not one, not two, not three, but FOUR actors who are battling themselves in Oscar potential!

George Clooney is the one who stands to get the most Oscar nominations next year. He's a strong contender to be nominated for Best Actor in “The Descendants” and Best Supporting Actor in “The Ides of March.” He also is favored to get nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for “The Ides of March,” and that film is looking like a Best Picture candidate (of which he is one of the producers). Left untouched, Clooney could be looking at FOUR Oscar nominations next year!

Another actor who could pull off a double nomination is Brad Pitt, who is getting rave reviews in his starring role for “Moneyball” and his supporting role in “The Tree of Life.” I think he's got a better chance at winning Best Actor, but a renewed interest in “The Tree of Life” could give this film an unexpected come awards time (and Pitt a Best Supporting Actor nomination).

Philip Seymore Hoffman is also on a role as he delivers two stand out performances in “Moneyball” as a skeptical coach, and in “The Ides of March” as a campaigner who values loyalty above all else. Since both these performances could be run in the Best Supporting Actor category, he can only be nominated for one. If it comes down to it, I think his performance in “The Ides of March” is the juicier role (and Jonah Hill is getting more praise for his supporting role in “Moneyball”).

The true wild card in all this is Ryan Gosling though. He delivers two star making performances in “Drive” and “The Ides of March.” While I believe his performance in “Drive” is the better performance, both performances are so loved that he might split the vote and wind up getting nominated for neither film.

 

There's some talk that Jessica Chastain could be nominated for Best Supporting Actress for either “The Tree of Life” or “The Help,” but I'm not completely buying it. Her performance in “The Tree of Life” is poetic, but since its silent the Academy could rule that Terrence Malicks direction is giving the real performance there. As for her performance in “The Help”...its more likely, but Octavia Spencer is running away with the Oscar talk here, so I'm skeptical. Either way, its going to be VERY interesting to see how this all plays out!

Ryan Gosling To “Drive” To Oscar

Well folks, there's another movie to keep an eye on: “Drive.” This action film has opened soft at the box office (a little over $4 million on the opening day), but the rave reviews are piling up. It appears to be a “love or hate it” film, but so far more people seem to love it than hate it. It's not even polarizing female audiences, which is amazing since “Drive” is being advertised as a more mature version of “The Fast & The Furious” (though I still conclude that “Fast Five” was the most pleasant surprise for me this year). The general praise from all the reviews Rotten Tomatoes picked up on is “a hyper-stylized blend of striking imagery and violence, Drive represents a fully realized vision of arthouse action.”

So what we have is a summer movie that was so artsy, that the studios decided to release it later in the year to capitalize more on the awards than the summer crowds. Did the studio do this because they trusted the more serious movie fans to carry this better than the teenage summer crowd that normally abandons movies after their opening weekend? Who knows. Aside from people commenting on how artful the film is though, the main praise is going to Ryan Gosling. His performance is considered the driving force behind this movie (no pun intended...if you want to believe me), and though he's young, there are few major performances so far this year that are challenging it. So far his biggest competition is George Clooney (ironically, his co-star of the upcoming “The Idles of March”) in “The Descendants,” Jean Dujardin in “The Artist,” and Michael Fassbender in “Shame.”

So what chance does he stand of winning? So far...hard to say, the movies listed above have yet to be seen by the audiences, so its hard to decide how this will swing. Here's a few things to consider though. First of all, George Clooney is clearly the biggest threat because his film HAS been seen by a good chunk of critics, and the buzz is already building! That said, he's won an Oscar, and that (sadly) sometimes counts against you). Jean Dujardin is riding high on the praise of “The Artist,” but he's largely an unknown, and that could hurt him. Michael Fassbender is known to audiences as Magneto from “X-Men: First Class,” but his role in “Shame” is that of a sex addict, which might be a rather challenging film for members of the Academy to go for.

One thing seems certain though: Gosling is in for a Best Actor nomination. Maybe more performances will come along, but this seems like a safe bet. “Drive” also seems to be in a good position for supporting nods, art direction nods, and even a Best Picture nod doesn't seem out of the question at this point. It will all come down to a couple big things: Whether the Academy and audiences embrace the film, and whether or not they “like” it enough to give it the nominations.