When it comes to the award for Best Actor, there are plenty of big names in the running from some of the year’s biggest films. Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, Hugh Jackman, and Tom Cruise are all potential winners for their performances this year, but there are also plenty of newcomers and underdogs that could potentially take home the golden statue.
RELATED: Jimmy Kimmel To Host The Oscars Ceremony In 2023
Austin Butler - Elvis
Baz Luhrmann’s biopic of Elvis Presley saw Austin Butler take on the role of the iconic singer and his rise to global superstardom. The film also focuses on the relationship between the singer and long-time manager Colonel Tom Parker played by Tom Hanks. Taking a ride through 20 years of the life and fame of Elvis with Luhrmann’s characteristic stylistic musical flare present throughout the film. The film plays a little fast and loose with facts, but it does build an impressive spectacle.
What sets Elvis apart from other musicians’ biopics is the central performance by Austin Butler. Initial reactions to Butler’s casting were mixed as he was a relative unknown, acting since 2007 but doing mostly tv work. Butler is dazzling in the film, magnetic and charismatic, and embodies the role perfectly. The fact that he holds his own and shines in a picture with Tom Hanks opposite him is a testament to his talent.
Gabriel LaBelle - The Fabelmans
The Fabelmans is Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical film following Sammy Fabelman (LaBelle) and his journey to find solace and truth in film. Dealing with a dysfunctional family, a secret, and growing up, all with the backdrop of post-war Arizona and the struggle against antisemitism The Fabelmans is an affecting family drama with LaBelle’s performance as Sammy at its core. His computer engineer father (Paul Dano) and artistic and encouraging mother (Michelle Williams) are at odds with each other and through a camera lens, Sammy deals with the upheaval in his family’s core.
The film as a whole has been touted as an emotional tour deforce from Spielberg, and it’s LaBelle that has been drawing attention for his breakout performance. Holding his own against cinema titans like Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, and Judd Hirsch, LaBelle brings nuance and earnest realism to Sammy as he struggles to come to terms with the reality of his parent’s life as well as his need to create.
Harris Dickinson -Triangle of Sadness
The hit satirical black comedy Triangle of Sadness found itself getting an 8-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival and also bagged the Palme d’Or. No small feat for Swedish director Ruben Östlund’s first English language film. Harris Dickinson stars as Carl alongside Charlbi Dean as Yaya, 2 social medial models and influencers who are a couple of convenience in an attempt to expand their social media followings and cement their online identity. The pair jump at the chance of a free cruise in exchange for promoting it on their socials and soon find themselves dealing with an outbreak of food poisoning, pirates, and deserted island survival.
Dickinson gives a cool and changeable performance, adding to the sense of the character’s ability to be whoever he needs to be to get ahead and grow his fame. The threat of aging out of his fame at 24 and the desperate need for attention drive Carl and his disingenuous relationship with Yaya. The film has divided critics, but the performances at the core are what shine brightly.
N.T Rama Rao Jr. - RRR
RRR is the surprise smash hit action film that has taken the world by storm. Directed by S.S Rajamouli, RRR stands for Rise Roar Revolt and stars N.T Rama Rao Jr. as Bheem and Ram Charan Teja as Rama Raju, 2 freedom fighters in India. The characters are based on real people who never actually met, and the film is a fantastical, tiger-filled vision of what their meeting could have been like. Set in 1920s India when British Colonialists were occupying their homeland, the two join forces to fight back and reclaim what is rightfully theirs.
Both leads are spectacular but the quiet and powerful character of Bheem is played with a kind and stoic strength by Rao Jr and steals the show. From the second he is introduced in the forest shirtless and dousing himself in blood to trap a wolf before ending up fighting a tiger it’s clear that he is every inch a hero. His emotional performance and ability to switch from soft and kind to steadfast warrior make him a true contender.
Daniel Kaluuya - Nope
Jordan Peterson’s Nope saw the director reteam with Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer for a horror film unlike any other. Kaluuya and Palmer play the Haywood siblings, OJ and Emerald respectively, who are now running the family business of training horses for Hollywood. They also have to deal with a strange phenomenon that is appearing in the sky above the town of Jupiter Falls and try to catch the “Oprah shot” the one picture that will get them famous.
While Emerald is the tearaway, outgoing sibling, OJ is the quiet and reserved “sensible” sibling. Kaluuya has established himself as a truly phenomenal actor and his performance in Nope is no exception. Kauluuya doesn’t even need words, conveying so much with just a look or a gesture. The quiet, introspective and fiercely intelligent and underestimated OJ is given so much depth by Kaluuya that it’s impossible not to relate to him and the plight of Jupiter Falls.
MORE: The Whale Trailer Teases Brendan Fraser’s Oscar Buzz-Worthy Performance
