Oscar 2010: Early Predictions – Best Actress
Best Actress
Abbie Cornish, Bright Star
Frances ‘Fanny’ Brawne has a relatively brief but intense love affair with poet John Keats
Carey Mulligan, An Education
In 1960s London, a schoolgirl falls for a man in his 30s
Michelle Pfeiffer, Cheri
An older courtesan introduces a young man to the art of lovemaking
Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
An abused pregnant teen is befriended by a compassionate teacher
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Julia Child joyfully introduces dead poultry into American kitchens
A dozen actresses — female actors if you wish — can be considered as very strong candidates for a 2010 best actress nomination (as long as their movies open in LA until December 31). In addition to the five listed above, there are:
Audrey Tautou as modiste Gabrielle Chanel in Coco Before Chanel; Saoirse Ronan as the dead girl overlooking those down below in The Lovely Bones (above); Renée Zellweger in the road movie My Own Love Song; Hilary Swank as doomed aviatrix Amelia Earhart in Amelia; Helen Mirren as Sofya Tolstoy in The Last Station (The Tempest will apparently be released only in 2010); and Annette Bening as a mother who decades earlier gave up her daughter for adoption in Mother and Child.
Meryl Streep should have had a clause in her contract stipulating that It’s Complicated would open only in 2010. That way she’d likely get her 200th Oscar nomination in early 2011. For this year, it’s gonna be Julie & Julia.
Other strong best actress possibilities are Zooey Deschanel as the object of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s desire in (500) Days of Summer and César winner Yolande Moreau (above) for Séraphine — as long as she gets recognized by US film critics later in the year. (Who is Marion Cotillard’s publicist? Those people should all be calling him/her.)
Cotillard, by the way, may be pushed in the best actress category for Nine. Also in the running are Penélope Cruz in Pedro Almodóvar’s film noirish Broken Embraces (above); Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried in the drama-cum-thriller Chloe; Michelle Monaghan in Trucker; Emily Blunt in Young Victoria; Naomi Watts and Mother and Child; and Rachel Weisz in The Lovely Bones.
Plus Charlize Theron in either The Road or the box-office disappointment The Burning Plain; Samantha Morton in The Messenger; Brenda Blethyn in London River (above); Amy Adams in Julie & Julia; Natalie Portman in Brothers; and Kirsten Dunst in All Good Things.
Pushing it: Sandra Bullock in The Proposal.
Addendum: Someone who should be pushed — Hiam Abbass for her beautiful, resolute, and immensely touching widow in Eran Riklis‘ Lemon Tree.
Addendum II: Lars von Trier’s Antichrist has opened in Los Angeles, which makes Charlotte Gainsbourg a potential Oscar contender. The Academy tends to shy away from films revolving around sex (especially the kind of sex found in Antichrist), but Emily Watson did get a nod back in 1996 for von Trier’s Breaking the Waves — in which Watson’s deeply religious character has sex with just about every available guy in the area. Thus, Gainsbourg, winner of this year’s best actress prize at Cannes, is a possibility — perhaps even a strong one if US critics’ groups decide to send her some love later this year.
And here’s another one: Sophie Okonedo, playing the black daughter of white parents in Skin, set in the South Africa of the 1950s.
Subscribe / Syndicate
7 Comments
Tags: 2010 Oscar, 2010 Oscar Predictions, Abbie Cornish, Academy Awards, An Education, Brenda Blethyn, Bright Star, Carey Mulligan, Film Awards, Julie and Julia, Meryl Streep, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penélope Cruz, Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones, Yolande Moreau
Comments
7 Responses to “Oscar 2010: Early Predictions – Best Actress”
Leave a Reply
NOTE:
All comments are moderated and may take some time before they are posted. Different views and opinions are welcome, but courtesy is imperative. Rude/crass/bigoted comments and name-calling of any sort will be immediately deleted.
Also, please be aware that the Alternative Film Guide has no contact information for the talent mentioned in this blog and no information pertaining to or access to distributors'/producers' film prints.
Ellen Page in WHIP IT!
My vote goes to Penelope Cruz in Abrazos.
I havent seen the movie, but Penelope Cruz is always good.
Yolande Moreau doesn’t stand a chance. She shouldn’t have been included in this article.
Streep, Sidibe and Mulligan seem very likely at this point. I don’t quite buy Cornish, as her performance is very understated until the end (her last two scenes are very good AND very baity). But it is a reasonable prediction. The Helen Mirren film/role seems tailor-made for awards consideration. So, I would pick her slightly over Cornish (and especially Pfeiffer for her D.O.A. film; Mirren seems more likely to take a second veteran spot). Rounding out my top five is Cotillard pushed lead in Nine. Perhaps a stretch and a little bit of wishful thinking, but folks in sneaks seem to really champion her and Cruz (obviously going supporting for Nine because of the Almodovar film).
Sadly Moreau, Abbass and the always wonderful Shohreh Aghdashloo and my favorite so far, Kyôko Koizumi for Tokyo Sonata, will be left out.
I should have mentioned Kyôko Koizumi in my “should be pushed” addendum.
Koizumi was indeed superb.
But I don’t think that the majority of Academy members know that they make movies in Japan…
LOL, what’s Japan!?
Oh, wow, I forgot Tilda Swinton in Julia! Now that is one insane, stylized and fantastic performance. No shot at a nomination, but one that will certainly be loved and admired for years.
I haven’t seen JULIA, though I remember it was screened at one of the big European festivals.