Jean Dujardin as George Valentin, The Artist
In the Oscar 2012 Best Actor category, Gary Oldman, Demián Bichir, and Brad Pitt are dark horses for, respectively, their performances in Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Chris Weitz’s A Better Life, and Bennett Miller’s Moneyball. That leaves George Clooney, who plays a befuddled father in Alexander Payne’s The Descendants, and Jean Dujardin, who plays a mix of Douglas Fairbanks, John Gilbert, and A Star Is Born’s Fredric March in Michel Hazanavicius‘ The Artist.
This awards season, Clooney has been the US critics’ favorite, and would’ve been the favorite for the Academy Awards as well if it weren’t for Dujardin’s SAG Award victory. Though not exactly a total shock, the outcome was unexpected because Clooney was technically the sentimental favorite — he has never won a Best Actor SAG Award. Then enter Dujardin, a star in France but all but unknown in the United States, to claim the trophy as his own.
So, at this stage, if George Clooney takes home this year’s Best Actor Oscar, that will be an upset. We’re betting on Jean Dujardin to become the first Frenchman to win an Oscar in the acting categories.
Note: In case our Oscar 2012 predictions are accurate, the Best Picture (The Artist), Best Actress (Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady), and Best Actor Academy Awards will all go to The Weinstein Company releases.
Jean Dujardin/The Artist pic: The Weinstein Company.