As awards season heats up, there are a number of deserving performers who haven’t been making the cut
With the most recent Oscar ceremony having taken place abnormally late in April, it feels like we barely had a break before the machinery of awards season started cranking up again. It began at the Venice film festival at the tail end of summer and is now in full cry, with major critics’ groups and more dubious collectives like the
Golden Globes having already weighed in – and a gaggle of apparent frontrunners establishing themselves in major categories. In the acting fields, we’re already pondering the likelihood of victories for stars like Kristen Stewart, Benedict Cumberbatch, Will Smith and Rita Moreno – though there’s still plenty of wiggle room for surprises. Last year’s extra-long season yielded an almost entirely unforeseen nomination for Lakeith Stanfield and an against-the-odds win for Anthony Hopkins: never make the mistake of taking the pundits’ word as gospel.
With that in mind, we’re highlighting a few outlying performances that ought to be in the mix, but haven’t yet generated the buzz they deserve. Some of them are just outside the perceived top tier of contenders, others are long shots that we can merely dream about. But there’s still a long way to go – Oscar nomination ballots only go out toward the end of January, for one thing. And the season would be more interesting for having all these names invited to the party.