After a kinda weak Best Actress race last year, 2020's race looks insane to me!
On the top of my predictions: Viola Davis for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom! She's starring another adaptation of an August Wilson play (the last being Fences, which earned her an Oscar back in 2016/17), but this time she'll be playing not an wife in crisis but Ma Rainey, the Mother of Blues. While not much is known about the project, it will be directed by Broadway veteran George C. Wolfe and early word on the project say Davis delivers an amazing performance - the hype is here and the buzz is strong at such an early stage! Up next: former Oscar darling Kate Winslet, who plays Mary Anning, a real-life self-taught palaeontologist who falls in love with another woman in Ammonite - it's a Francis Lee directed movie (the man who brought us God's Own Country) and considering how great he is with actors PLUS Winslet's talents, I'm expecting nothing less than brilliant (and the movie trailer looks sublime). In third place (right now), one of AMPAS' biggest crushes, the electric Frances McDormand, who plays a nomad woman who explores America after losing everything in the Great Recession in the upcoming Nomadland (waiting for the Fall film festivals reviews!). It looks like a juicy role and it has a very talented director behind the camera (Chloe Zhao, 2018's The Rider) who also wrote the screenplay... I'm expecting something special from McDormand - something more quiet and subtle, the exact opposite of her work in 3Billboards. Next, I've placed Vanessa Kirby in what seems to be her breakthrough performance on film - after her electrifying turn as Princess Margaret in The Crown TV series, she's collecting rave reviews for her performance in Pieces of a Woman at Venice Film Festival the moment we speak. Kirby's critical acclaim reminds me of Natalie Portman's for Black Swan back in 2010... Will she take home the Volpi Cup for Best Actress and take the lead as the Best Actress frontrunner? It can happen, specially considering she has another raved acting turn in The World to Come that can elevate her Oscar chances! Finally, GoldDerby included The United States Vs. Billie Holiday in its predictions forum, which means there's some confirmation about this movie being released in time for the Academy Awards 2021 - so, I'm all the way for Andra Day's performance as Billie Holiday. It will center around her heroin addiction times and legal issues because of that and I'm expecting something big from her. Yes, I know it's her acting debut, but Lee Daniels is terrific with actors and he has already proved us he can pull award caliber performances from its ensemble casts (Sidibe and Mo'Nique from Precious, Kidman from The Paperboy or Oprah Winfrey from The Butler). Day has the voice, the look and some dramatic gravitas (judging from her music videos), so I'm confident.
I really don't know where to place (the living legend) Sophia Loren for La Vita Davante a Sé / The Life Ahead, where she portrays an Holocaust survivor who bounds with an immigrant - I was hoping Netflix would postpone this movie for 2021/22 Oscar race, 'cause I really want a Loren comeback and this year feels too crowded, but it seems it will be released in time for the next Oscar race! She was directed by her own son in this one and it is said he was very pressing with her - but the final result is a tremendous performance according to some internet gossip (I know it's just gossip, but still...)! Will the AMPAS pass this chance to honor a major name for (maybe) the last time? Next, the great Michelle Pfeiffer, who has been asking for an awards vehicle since her comeback to work a couple of years ago - can the role/performance of a grieving socialite with almost no money in The French Exit give this big star the 4th Oscar nomination of her career? A lot of members of the predictions foruns say it's possible: it seems the source material is juicy and Pfeiffer might have a golden role in her hands - plus, she excels herself in comedies! And then, I've Jennifer Hudson, who protrays the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin in MGM's Respect: we all know how brilliant Hudson can be while expressing feeling through a musical performance (she won that Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Dreamgirls, remember?) and the fact Franklin herself picked Hudson to portray her just plays in Hudson's favour! But it really looks like a "straight & squared & cheesy biopic" made to display Hudson's talent so it earns her award glory - to much alike 2019's Judy? Halle Berry might have an awards comeback this year: her directorial debut Bruised has met some very positive early word (with some TIFF's gurus saying it features Berry's best performance since Monster's Ball). She was one of the most relevant African-American actresses of the 90's and early 2000's but then, after her Oscar win (she became the first actress of color winning Best Actress), she just fell from grace (kinda like Renée Zellweger). Can the role of a MMA fighter (who tries to be back at the top of her competitive game and try to be a good mother at the same time) bring Berry some Oscar/awards love? Maybe! It's under my radar and I feel it can work! She's overdue for a 3rd Oscar nomination, for sure: Jessica Chastain has been mentioned has a big contender for her portray of Tammy Faye in the upcoming The Eyes of Tammy Faye. After an atrocious snub for 2014's A Most Violent Year and being overlooked for her terrific turn in Molly's Game, the "we should nominated her again" thing might be on her side...! Or maybe her first two nods were the result of voters being so excited about her killer 2011 and 2012!
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