- (United States) awards season 2009–2010 favorites: Meryl Streep, Carey Mulligan, George Clooney, Christoph Waltz, and Mo’Nique are the top picks in the acting categories, while Up in the Air is the no. 1 choice for Best Screenplay.
Awards season 2009–2010 favorites: One clear top selection in most acting categories
Below is the updated list of the 2009–2010 (United States) awards season’s favorites in the Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Screenplay categories.
As in most previous years, one or two performers easily dominated each acting category: Meryl Streep and Carey Mulligan as Best Actress; George Clooney as Best Actor; Christoph Waltz as Best Supporting Actor; Mo’Nique as Best Supporting Actress.
On the Best Screenplay roster, one title is the clear fave: Up in the Air, which Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner adapted from Walter Kirn’s 2001 novel.
Critics, academies, guilds, associations
Included in this article are a couple of dozen U.S.-based critics groups;* two Canadian groups, Toronto and Vancouver; Golden Globe, Independent Spirit, National Board of Review (NBR), Satellite Award, and Writers Guild (WGA) winners; in addition to Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) winners and nominees.
Note: To prevent things from becoming a bit unwieldy, we list only the location of each critics group – not the group’s full name. (Also: NSFC = National Society of Film Critics.)
Lastly, check out: 2009–2010 awards season’s favorites in the Best Film, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director, Best Documentary, and Best Animated Feature categories.
And here we go…
Best Actress – Meryl Streep & Carey Mulligan
Only two actresses delivered outstanding performances in 2009, at least as far as most U.S.-based critics groups are concerned: Veteran Meryl Streep as television chef Julia Child in Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia and relative newcomer Carey Mulligan as a 1960s London schoolgirl in another movie directed by a woman, Lone Scherfig’s An Education.
Here are a handful of exceptions:
- Detroit, Florida, Iowa, and Las Vegas critics opted for big-screen debutante Gabourey Sidibe, who plays an abused, illiterate pregnant teen in Lee Daniels’ Harlem-set, dysfunctional family drama Precious.
- Los Angeles critics and the NSFC chose Belgian-born 2009 César Award winner Yolande Moreau for bringing to life talented but unbalanced artist Séraphine de Senlis in Martin Provost’s Séraphine.
- Austin and Online Society critics chose French actress Mélanie Laurent for her Nazi hater in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.
- San Diego critics, as usual going their own merry way, selected Michelle Monaghan for her portrayal of the title character in James Mottern’s Trucker.
Of the performers mentioned above, only Streep, Mulligan, and Sidibe earned Academy Award, Golden Globe, and SAG Award nominations. Individually, Moreau, Laurent, and Monaghan were bypassed by all three. (Inglourious Basterds turned out to be SAG’s Best Cast winner.)
Below is the list of the 2009–2010 awards season’s favorites in the Best Actress category.
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Central Ohio, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Houston, Indiana, NBR, St. Louis, Utah, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington.
Also: Academy Award and SAG nominations.Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia
Boston, Critics Choice*, Golden Globe (Comedy/Musical)†, Kansas City, New York, New York Online, North Texas, Oklahoma, Phoenix, San Francisco, Satellite (Comedy/Musical), Southeastern.
Also: Academy Award and SAG nominations.
* Tied with Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side.
† Meryl Streep was also shortlisted in that same category for Nancy Meyers’ It’s Complicated.Gabourey Sidibe – Precious
Detroit, Florida, Independent Spirit, Iowa, Las Vegas.
Also: Academy Award and SAG nominations.Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Academy Award, Critics Choice*, Golden Globe (Drama), SAG.
* Tied with Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia.Mélanie Laurent – Inglourious Basterds
Austin, Online Society.
Note: Inglourious Basterds won SAG’s Best Cast Award.Yolande Moreau – Séraphine
Los Angeles, NSFC.Shohreh Aghdashloo – The Stoning of Soraya M.
Satellite (Drama).Michelle Monaghan – Trucker
San Diego.Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Academy Award and SAG nominations.
Best Actor – George Clooney
Selected by groups as diverse as the 74-year-old New York Film Critics Circle and the recently formed Indiana Film Journalists Association, George Clooney is U.S.-based critics groups’ actor of choice in the 2009–2010 awards season. Indeed, Clooney has received the best notices of his career for his performance as a corporate-downsizing expert in Jason Reitman’s timely comedy-drama Up in the Air, currently doing solid business at the domestic box office.
The runners-up are Jeff Bridges for Scott Cooper’s Crazy Heart, Jeremy Renner for Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, and Colin Firth for Tom Ford’s A Single Man.
All four actors received Oscar and SAG Award nominations. Renner is the only one who failed to land a Golden Globe nod, while Firth is the only one who received Best Actor honors at the 2009 Venice Film Festival.
Now, a Jeremy Renner feat: He’s the only 2009–2010 awards season thespian to have been nominated for a major U.S. award for the same performance – a year ago. That’s because The Hurt Locker, which premiered at the 2008 Venice Film Festival (where the Iraq War drama failed to win any of the major awards), was eligible for that year’s Independent Spirit Awards (where it failed to make anything even remotely resembling a splash).
Of note, Daniel Day-Lewis was a shoo-in for the Oscars – until Rob Marshall’s costly musical Nine opened to far-less-than-enthusiastic reviews. Ignored by U.S. critics groups, Day-Lewis did at least manage to land a Golden Globe nod in the Best Actor – Musical or Comedy category.
Below is the list of the 2009–2010 awards season’s favorites in the Best Actor category.
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Central Ohio, Dallas-Fort Worth, Florida, Houston, Indiana, Kansas City, NBR*, New York, North Texas, Oklahoma, Phoenix, Southeastern, St. Louis, Washington.
Also: Academy Award and SAG nominations.
* Tied with Morgan Freeman for Invictus.Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
Academy Award, Critics Choice, Denver, Golden Globe (Drama), Independent Spirit, Iowa, Los Angeles, New York Online, SAG.Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker
Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, NSFC, Online Society, Satellite (Drama).
Also: Academy Award and SAG nominations.Colin Firth – A Single Man
Austin, Detroit, San Diego, San Francisco, Vancouver.
Also: Academy Award and SAG nominations.Nicolas Cage – Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Toronto.Robert Downey Jr. – Sherlock Holmes
Golden Globe (Comedy/Musical).Morgan Freeman – Invictus
NBR*.
Also: Academy Award and SAG nominations.
* Tied with George Clooney for Up in the Air.Viggo Mortensen – The Road
Utah.Michael Stuhlbarg – A Serious Man
Satellite (Comedy/Musical).
Best Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz
Christoph Waltz, whose resumé contains more than 90 big- and small-screen productions dating back to the early 1980s, has finally been discovered by international audiences and critics alike thanks to Quentin Tarantino’s violent anti-Nazi revenge fantasy Inglourious Basterds. As expected, the Austrian-born performer has waltzed away (sorry, we couldn’t resist) with nearly every Best Supporting Actor award in the United States, not to mention his Best Actor win at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival – which, ironically, was a surprise at the time.
For his portrayal of Orson Welles in Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles (the “Me” is Zac Efron), Christian McKay managed to top two U.S. critics lists: San Francisco and Utah. Woody Harrelson was the NBR’s choice. (Note: Harrelson was also the winner at the Independent Spirit Awards, for which the big-budget studio release Inglourious Basterds was ineligible.)
Both Waltz and Harrelson were also shortlisted for the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, and the SAG Awards. McKay, whose film has flopped in the domestic market, was bypassed by all three – though he did at least land an Independent Spirit nomination.
Below is the list of the 2009–2010 awards season’s favorites in the Best Supporting Actor category.
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds
Academy Award, Austin, Boston, Central Ohio, Chicago, Critics Choice, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Florida, Golden Globe, Houston, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, New York Online, North Texas, NSFC*, Oklahoma, Online Society, Phoenix, SAG, San Diego, Satellite, Southeastern, St. Louis, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington.
Note: Inglourious Basterds won SAG’s Best Cast Award.
* Tied with Paul Schneider for Bright Star.Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Independent Spirit, NBR.
Also: Academy Award and SAG nominations.Christian McKay – Me and Orson Welles
San Francisco, Utah.Paul Schneider – Bright Star
NSFC*.
* Tied with Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds.Matt Damon – Invictus; Christopher Plummer – The Last Station; Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Academy Award and SAG nominations.
Best Supporting Actress – Mo’Nique
Cast as Gabourey Sidibe’s abusive mom in Precious, television actress/comedian Mo’Nique (The Parkers) is the runaway Best Supporting Actress favorite throughout the 2009–2010 awards season. In 2009, she had also taken home awards from the Sundance and Stockholm film festivals.
The very, very distant runner-up is Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air, in which she plays George Clooney’s assistant of sorts.
Now, although Mo’Nique was expected to become a top awards season contender following her enthusiastic reception at Sundance, it’s a bit odd that U.S. critics have focused on one single performance when 2009’s potential Best Supporting Actress roster features an array of worthy talent, including Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air, Julianne Moore for A Single Man, Kathy Bates for Chéri, and Kerry Fox for Bright Star.
Below is the list of the 2009–2010 awards season’s favorites in the Best Supporting Actress category.
Mo’Nique – Precious
Academy Award, Boston, Central Ohio, Chicago, Critics Choice, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Florida, Golden Globe, Independent Spirit, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, New York Online, NSFC, Oklahoma, Online Society, Phoenix, SAG, San Francisco, Satellite, Southeastern, St. Louis, Utah, Washington.Anna Kendrick – Up In The Air
Austin, Houston, NBR, North Texas, Toronto.
Also: Academy Award and SAG nominations.Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Vancouver.
Also: Academy Award and SAG nominations.Samantha Morton – The Messenger
San Diego.Penélope Cruz – Nine
Academy Award and SAG nominations.Maggie Gyllehaal – Crazy Heart
Academy Award nomination.Diane Kruger – Inglourious Basterds
SAG nomination.
Note: Inglourious Basterds won SAG’s Best Cast Award.
Best Screenplay – Up in the Air
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner’s Up in the Air screenplay is the no. 1 pick among U.S.-based critics groups.
The runners-up are two original scripts: Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (written by Tarantino) and Marc Webb’s unusual romantic comedy-drama (500) Days of Summer (Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber).
Curiously, even though The Hurt Locker has been U.S. critics’ top 2009 release and Kathryn Bigelow their top director, Mark Boal’s screenplay has been almost invariably bypassed, with Chicago being a notable exception. Clearly, U.S. critics see the generally acclaimed Iraq War drama as a director’s film.
Also worth pointing out, Geoffrey Fletcher’s Precious screenplay is based on the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire. The film had its title changed from Push so as not to be confused with Paul McGuigan’s sci-fi action-thriller of the same name starring Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning.
Below is the list of the 2009–2010 awards season’s favorites in the Best Screenplay category(ies).
Note: A large chunk of U.S. critics groups and the Golden Globes have one Best Screenplay category; some critics groups, the Academy Awards, the NBR, the Satellite Awards, and the WGA, however, split film writing into two categories, Best Original and Best Adapted Screenplay. The Independent Spirit Awards have a general Best Screenplay category, in addition to a Best First Screenplay roster for newcomers.
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner – Up in the Air (Adapted)
Austin, Central Ohio, Chicago, Critics Choice, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Golden Globe, Houston, Indiana, Kansas City, NBR, Oklahoma, Phoenix, Southeastern, Toronto*, Vancouver, Washington, WGA.
Also: Academy Award nomination.
* Tied with Inglourious Basterds.Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds (Original)
Austin, Central Ohio, Critics Choice, Denver, Kansas City, New York Online, Online Society, San Diego, San Francisco, Toronto*, Washington.
Also: Academy Award nomination.
* Tied with Up in the Air.Scott Neustadlter & Michael H. Weber – (500) Days of Summer (Original)
Florida, Independent Spirit, Las Vegas, Oklahoma, Satellite, Southeastern, St. Louis.Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach – Fantastic Mr. Fox (Adapted)
Online Society, San Diego, San Francisco, Utah.Joel and Ethan Coen – A Serious Man (Original)
Boston, Los Angeles, NBR, NSFC.
Also: Academy Award nomination.Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker (Original)
Academy Award, Chicago, WGA.Geoffrey Fletcher – Precious (Adapted)
Academy Award, Satellite.
Also: Independent Spirit for Best First Screenplay.Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, and Tony Roche – In the Loop (Adapted)
New York.
Also: Academy Award nomination.Pete Docter & Bob Paterson – Up (Original)
Phoenix.
Also: Academy Award nomination.Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell – District 9 (Adapted); Nick Hornby – An Education (Adapted); Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman – The Messenger (Original)
Academy Award nomination.
“Awards Season 2009 Favorites” notes
Meryl Streep Julie & Julia image: Columbia Pictures.
Christoph Waltz Inglourious Basterds image: The Weinstein Company | Universal Pictures.
“Awards Season 2009 Favorites Meryl Streep, George Clooney” last modified in May 2026.