92nd Academy Awards: Best Actor Preview

The possibilities for the Best Actor Oscar are numerous this year, and somebody is bound to be a surprise snub. Unlike Best Actress (which I'll talk about shortly) there is no clear front-runner.

Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory. In Pedro Almodovar's film about a director, Banderas is said to be tremendous. He has an added intangible of this being a career nod, as he has been in high profile films for about thirty years but never been nominated before. But he may also be the first one out if a film pops up with someone new.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Right now this seems a given, but I can also see him ending up empty-handed, as the film opened in summer and he just won a few years ago. He certainly deserves it, if only for a couple of scenes: his tantrum in his trailer, and his scene in Lancer (when the young actress Julia Butters tells him it's the best acting she's ever seen). The love may be shifted to Brad Pitt in Best Supporting Actor.

Adam Driver, Marriage Story. Driver is one of those actors you can be certain will win an Oscar some day. He's going to be ubiquitous this fall and winter, as he has this domestic drama by Noah Baumbach, in which he is said to be intense, and The Report, not to mention the finale of the the Star Wars trilogy.

Michael B. Jordan, Just Mercy. Jordan was overlooked for his fine work in Black Panther, and won the Best Actor award at TIFF for this courtroom drama. The more diverse voting body may make sure there is equal racial representation in these categories.

Joaquin Phoenix, Joker. He could be called the front-runner--after all, this would be his fourth nomination without a win, and he is said to be brilliant (the film opens this weekend) but will Oscar voters bestow a second award for this character, a comic book villain? In the long history of the Oscars, only one character has had two different actors win for it--Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro).

Also possible: Robert De Niro (The Irishman), Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes), Taron Egerton (Rocketman), Ian McKellen (The Good Liar), Mark Ruffalo, (Dark Waters)