Russell
CroweA Beautiful Mind
The big question on everyone's mind is can Russell do it again? Will he actually walk away with the statue for Best Actor for a second consecutive year?
Odds are the man from down under is going to have a matching bookend for the Oscar he picked up last year for Gladiator. He has also become the first actor since William Hurt to be nominated in this category for three years in a row. This time around, Crowe is being hailed for his almost flawless portrayal of John Forbes Nash Jr., a real life mathematician and Nobel Prize winner who battled schizophrenia.
It's a tour de force performance and one richly
deserving of Oscar gold.
Sean
PennI Am Sam
Oscar loves it when actors portray anyone with a physical or mental challenge. In this case, Sean Penn shows his acting chops with his performance in I Am Sam in which he plays a mentally challenged man fighting to keep and raise his seven-year-old
Penn is a very talented actor who has never won as Oscar, even though he has given us some Oscar worthy performances (i.e. Dead Man Walking, Sweet and Lowdown, and Carlito's Way). He has also been singled out by several critic associations for this performance. There's really only one thing that stands in his way come Oscar night. Although Penn's performance is very good, there may be comparisons drawn to Dustin Hoffman's Rain Man.
Will
Smith
Ali
Will
Smith spent almost a year getting into the mind and body of one of the
greatest boxers of all time, Muhammad Ali. He worked out continuously and
studied countless hours of boxing footage so that he could pay homage to
his hero.
The film chronicles the champ's early days as Cassius Clay and his
rise in politics and sports. Smith performs the role with such verve and
determination it's no wonder Oscar voters have given him this nomination.
While his performance as Ali is strong, he's got lots of time to show us
what he's made of and it's not likely that Smith will be going home with
an Oscar in March.
Denzel
Washington
Training Day
Being
nasty just might pay off for Denzel Washington. Training Day marks
Washington's fifth Oscar nomination, but his very first for playing a
really bad guy. Washington's performance is so convincing you must wonder
if he is going to take a turn with his career and the roles that he will
choose from here on in. His character, Detective Sergeant Alonzo Harris,
is a 13-year veteran narcotics officer who's questionable on-the-job
methods blur the line between what is legal and what is corrupt. He plays
beautifully opposite Ethan Hawke, a rookie police officer who is on his
first day on the job.
In Training Day, Washington plays it up larger than life.
Tom
Wilkinson
In The Bedroom
His
performance is subtle, but Tom Wilkinson's portrayal of a grieving father
whose son is brutally murdered in In The Bedroom is worthy of an
Oscar nod. The British stage veteran is hardly a household name in North
America but is probably best known for his role in The Full Monty.
With In The Bedroom, Wilkinson dug deep into the script to
find the exact way to portray his character's emotions. He did not get the
Golden Globe nomination, which may hinder his chances of taking home Oscar
gold.
