1.
Samantha Barks for Les Misérables
Born: October 2, 1990 - Isle of Man
Previous Oscar acting recognition: none
Oscar snubed performances: none
Oscar chances comment: She's the girl contending for the breakthrough performance in the Best Supporting Actress category and her character, the dreamy Éponine, is one of hearts of Les Misérables alongside Fantine, being a very sympathetic (but tragic) character and she has a couple of the most symbolic moments in the musical: "On My Own" song and her death. Barks received raves for portraying this same character in the West End production of Les Misérables some years ago, so portraying Éponine again will be "easy" for her, which may allow her to pull her performance to the next level. She has a wonderful voice and making a big-screen debut in such an high-caliber production may impress the AMPAS members who may want to see her as part of its family. In fact, I can see Barks as one of the Oscar contenders with most potential to an Oscar win, but a nomination would already be a wonderful start in her cinema career. If Les Misérables gets strong critical praise, I can see her as a finalist in this race... and as a winner too! The Academy members just love a young promising beauty debut an Oscar winning performance in a musical (Jennifer Hudson comes to my mind)...
2.
Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables
Born: November 12, 1982 - Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 2009 - Best Leading Actress for Rachel Getting Married (nom)
Oscar snubed performances: none
Oscar chances comment: In Les Misérables, Hathaway plays the tragic Fantine (a prostitute mother who dies, leaving her child under Jean Valjean's cares), who may be considered "the heart of Les Miz". Hathaway has a huge natural acting talent, she has a wonderful voice and she has a key moment in the movie: "I Dreamed a Dream". She will only be in half of the movie, but Hathaway is a kind of a more talented Julia Roberts (an extremely sympathetic presence), so people will feel her absence and, according to paparazzi pictures, she cut her hair really short to play the character - this girl wants Oscar recognition and I believe she'll have it! There's always the risk of Les Misérables not getting enough critical acclaim, but with all the talent involved, I bet it will be epic and one of the most well-reviewed movies of the year. Anne already has an Oscar nomination in her curriculum vitae and I believe Fantine will give her the second one and put her in the fight for the win!
3.
Vanessa Redgrave for A Song for Marion
Born: January 30, 1937 - Greenwich, London, England, UK
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 1967 - Best Leading Actress for Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (nom); 1969 - Best Leading Actress for Isadora (nom); 1972 - Best Leading Actress for Mary, Queen of Scots (nom); 1978 - Best Supporting Actress for Julia (win); 1985 - Best Leading Actress for The Bostonians (nom); 1993 - Best Supporting Actress for Howard's End (nom)
Oscar snubed performances: 1987 - Prick Up Your Ears; 2007 - Atonement; 2011 - Coriolanus
Oscar chances comment: I don't know how the Academy feels about not seeing (one of) the best female acting performance(s) of 2011 being snubed, but Redgrave seems to want to be back to Oscar race by playing a woman dying with cancer in what promises to be one of the most heart-warming movies of the year. Playing a dying woman who has cancer is an instant Oscar buzz generator (Do you remember Christopher Plummer in Beginners?) and Redgrave is one of the best actresses alive, an acting reference for a lot of people. So, will she be snubed again this year? Well, I do not believe the AMPAS members will ignore her performance two years in a row and if A Song for Marion gets good reviews (because her performance will be great, as always), I can see the movie drawing some Oscar traction in the acting categories and Redgrave will get her 7th Academy Award nomination. The Academy just wouldn't like to loose its credibility...
4.
Annette Bening for Imogene
Born: May 29, 1958 - Topeka, Kansas, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 1991 - Best Supporting Actress for The Grifters (nom); 2000 - Best Leading Actress for American Beauty (nom); 2005 - Best Leading Actress for Being Julia (nom); 2011 - Best Leading Actress for The Kids Are All Right (nom)
Oscar snubed performances: 1991 - Bugsy; 2009 - Mother and Child
Oscar chances comment: Well, everybody loves a trashy mom and Annette Bening plays one in Imogene. She is a terrific comedy actress and if she's used as a kind of a scene-stealer, I believe an Oscar nod will be easy to her to get. The movie is directed by American Splendor's directors and they know how to direct an actor/actress, so I believe that Bening will benefit from a good acting direction. Plus, she is considered to be overdue for an Oscar win and maybe there are enough people who want to see her taking a golden man home, so why not nominated her again? She may not win, but at least she has the chance of winning! She was terrific in the comedy/drama territory of The Kids Are All Right and I believe she has a meaty role in Imogene and she'll spread some magic on-screen!
5.
Jennifer Lawrence for The Silver Linings Playbook
Born: August 15, 1990 - Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 2011 - Best Leading Actress for Winter's Bone (nom)
Oscar snubed performances: none
Oscar chances comment: Lawrence is the girl of the moment, due to her fantastic and raved performance in The Hunger Games. But, in spite of all the success of her last movie and the respectable buzz around her leading performance, Lawrence Oscar dream may become reality because of her part in the upcoming David O. Russell movie. In The Silver Linings Playbook, she plays a depressed ex-wife around her 30's, playing a character much older than herself, which may impress Oscar voters. It has been a hell of a year for Lawrence and we aren't in June yet! But there's always the chance of Jennifer not being placed in the Best Supporting Actress category but in the Best Leading Actress instead, which wouldn't help her Oscar chances, because the Best Leading Actress is always most competitive than this one. But no matter what, Lawrence is living one of the higher points of her young career and she is one of the best and one of the most promising in the cinema business
6. Jessica Chastain for Lawless
Born: March 24, 1977 - Sacramento, California, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 2012 - Best Supporting Actress for The Help (nom)
Oscar snubed performances: 2011 - The Tree of Life
Oscar chances comment: She came from "nowhere" last year and she delivered multiple great acting performances and she's having a great momentum in her career. Lawless may not have a meaty role for her, but she has an incredible acting talent, which may turn her part in something memorable... If Lawless gets a strong Best Picture buzz, I can see all the love for Chastain explode again and she will be in the Best Supporting Actress race, for sure.
Oscar chances comment: She came from "nowhere" last year and she delivered multiple great acting performances and she's having a great momentum in her career. Lawless may not have a meaty role for her, but she has an incredible acting talent, which may turn her part in something memorable... If Lawless gets a strong Best Picture buzz, I can see all the love for Chastain explode again and she will be in the Best Supporting Actress race, for sure.
7. Helena Bonham Carter for Great Expectations
Born: May 26, 1966 - Golders Green, London, England, UK
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 1998 - Best Leading Actress for The Wings of the Dove (nom); 2011 - Best Supporting Actress for The King's Speech (nom)
Oscar snubed performances: 2007 - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Oscar chances comment: Miss Havisham is one of the most interesting characters from Great Expectation (the Charles Dicken's novel) and Helena Bonham Carter is just an outstanding acting performer. The AMPAS seems to like her outside her husband's movies (Tim Burton) and she got nominated recently for her performance in the Oscar-winning The King's Speech, which may be as a plus in the Oscar voters... The role and the movie have the potential, Mrs. Burton has all the talent.
Oscar chances comment: Miss Havisham is one of the most interesting characters from Great Expectation (the Charles Dicken's novel) and Helena Bonham Carter is just an outstanding acting performer. The AMPAS seems to like her outside her husband's movies (Tim Burton) and she got nominated recently for her performance in the Oscar-winning The King's Speech, which may be as a plus in the Oscar voters... The role and the movie have the potential, Mrs. Burton has all the talent.
8. Kristen Stewart for On the Road
Born: April 9, 1990 - Los Angeles, California, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: none
Oscar snubed performances: none
Oscar chances comment: She can deliver a very good performance when she has the right material and, in spite of not being a fan of her acting in Twilight movies, I think she was electrifying in movies like The Cake Eaters, The Runaways or Welcome to the Rileys. Plus, the last Twilight movie comes out this year and the AMPAS may want to recognize the beggining of a new cicle in her career and she seems to have an interesting role in On the Road.
Oscar chances comment: She can deliver a very good performance when she has the right material and, in spite of not being a fan of her acting in Twilight movies, I think she was electrifying in movies like The Cake Eaters, The Runaways or Welcome to the Rileys. Plus, the last Twilight movie comes out this year and the AMPAS may want to recognize the beggining of a new cicle in her career and she seems to have an interesting role in On the Road.
9. Amy Adams for The Master
Born: August 20, 1974 - Vicenza, Veneto, Italy
Previous Oscar acting recognition: 2006 - Best Supporting Actress for Junebug (nom); 2009 - Best Supporting Actress for Doubt (nom); 2011 - Best Supporting Actress for The Fighter (nom)
Oscar snubed performances: none
Oscar chances comment: To be honest, I'm not a big Amy Adams fan. I think she's a nice actress but she has an overrated status (but let me say she was wonderful de Junebug!). While, there are no details about her role (I didn't find), Paul Thomas Anderson's movies tend to be full of electrifying acting performances and Adams is capable enough to deliver a good performance and hold herself alongside Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. People love her, the Academy loves her and so do the critics - a third Oscar nomination is likely to happen to her if she gets considerable praise in The Master.
Oscar chances comment: To be honest, I'm not a big Amy Adams fan. I think she's a nice actress but she has an overrated status (but let me say she was wonderful de Junebug!). While, there are no details about her role (I didn't find), Paul Thomas Anderson's movies tend to be full of electrifying acting performances and Adams is capable enough to deliver a good performance and hold herself alongside Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. People love her, the Academy loves her and so do the critics - a third Oscar nomination is likely to happen to her if she gets considerable praise in The Master.
10. Kirsten Dunst for On the Road
Born: April 30, 1982 - Point Pleasant, New Jersey, USA
Previous Oscar acting recognition: none
Oscar snubed performances: 1994 - Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles; 2011 - Melancholia
Oscar chances comment: Dunst was incredible in last year's Lars von Trier's Melancholia and she got some serious Oscar buzz, but she did not get her first Oscar nomination. Maybe she has a chance this year for Walter Salles' On the Road: her part may be a memorable flashy one and you know how the AMPAS members love scene-stealers. I think she has nice chances - she's overdue for a first nod.
Oscar chances comment: Dunst was incredible in last year's Lars von Trier's Melancholia and she got some serious Oscar buzz, but she did not get her first Oscar nomination. Maybe she has a chance this year for Walter Salles' On the Road: her part may be a memorable flashy one and you know how the AMPAS members love scene-stealers. I think she has nice chances - she's overdue for a first nod.
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