As another year comes to an end, Academy voters will be looking back on the best performances the silver screen had to offer. Backstage chose a handful of leading male actors who are especially deserving of nominations. Now it’s time to round up the remaining contenders: the actors who surprised us, who delighted us, who made us cry. Some gave the latest in a long line of impressive performances; others seemed to come out of nowhere. Don’t be surprised to hear some of the following names among the Oscar nominations announced Jan. 24.
Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea” (Roadside Attractions and Amazon Studios)
There’s an explosive scene in Kenneth Lonergan’s elegiac family drama that puts Affleck in the running for performance of the year. His character’s eruption of grief and self-loathing resonates in part because the emotions contrast so starkly with the rest of the film, in which Affleck tucks his chin, mutters very little, and studies everyone with a kind of haunted emptiness. That the actor also conveys warmth and even humor throughout is a further testament of his skill.
READ: “Kenneth Lonergan Goes Outside in for ‘Manchester by the Sea’ ”
Adam Driver, “Paterson” (Amazon Studios and Bleecker Street)
Enjoying a performance and a film driven simply by what a character is thinking can be difficult, but Driver makes watching pensiveness compelling in Jim Jarmusch’s “Paterson.” Centered on a bus driver-poet living in Paterson, New Jersey, Driver takes an introvert who’s more likely to eavesdrop on passengers’ conversations than share his poetry and gives him a clear, compelling voice.
Joel Edgerton, “Loving” (Focus Features)
Richard Loving is a man of few words, yet Edgerton provides him some of this film’s most riveting exchanges. As a white man from Virginia who fell in love with a black woman in the 1950s, he becomes a reluctant civil rights activist in his battle to be with her. The Australian actor colors Richard with the intelligent subtleties to elevate a character that could’ve easily been reduced to a boilerplate redneck.
Colin Farrell, “The Lobster” (A24)
Are there awards given out for weirdest performance? What makes Farrell’s performance in “The Lobster” so brilliant is not only credited to the actor’s ability to render a simple line hysterical with his deadpan delivery (although that’s not to be written off), it’s his way of balancing the character’s more deplorable actions—like kicking a child—with the tenderness that drives him to do something like slow dance in the forest.
READ: “Why No One Auditioned for ‘The Lobster’ ”
Ryan Gosling, “La La Land” (Lionsgate)
The Golden Age of Hollywood may be impossible to reclaim, but Gosling makes a pretty darn good case that the new Fred Astaire walks—and tap dances!—among us today. As a jazz musician chasing his dreams in Damien Chazelle’s 21st-century movie musical, he’s a classic romantic lead, a charming triple threat, and the kind of old-fashioned megawatt movie star we still crave, all rolled into one spectacular performance.
Michael Keaton, “The Founder” (Weinstein Co.)
Ray Kroc is mean. Or at least he is in John Lee Hancock and Robert Siegel’s biopic about the origins of fast-food empire McDonald’s. As portrayed by Keaton—his transformation into serious, actorly actor complete—the entrepreneur is coolly ruthless, his determination to capitalize on the McDonald brothers’ product verging on malice. But the actor’s irrepressible charisma enhances what could have been a one-dimensional performance. You may even find yourself rooting for him!
Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic” (Bleecker Street)
His impressive mountain-man beard aside, Mortensen is still a natural as the Cash family “pack leader” raising six children in an off-the-grid, wooded utopia. He brings an edge to Ben that simultaneously serves as an unrelenting drive to educate his children about the world, philosophy, and hunting, and the center of the moral conundrum he wrestles with upon realizing his methods could do more damage than good. Mortensen’s finely tuned performance adds emotional fluency to a man who could’ve been easily reduced to “stern dad” boilerplate.
Mark Wahlberg, “Patriots Day” (CBS Films and Lionsgate)
Wahlberg had a strong outing in this fall’s “Deepwater Horizon,” a real-life thriller about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Between that and “Patriots Day,” another Peter Berg film based on real events in recent American history, the actor has solidified his status as a reliable leading man. We can’t wait to see his gripping portrayal of Tommy Saunders, the police sergeant who led the manhunt following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. To count Wahlberg out of awards season contention would be foolish.
READ: “Denzel Washington Says ‘Fences’ Is the ‘Best Material’ He’s Ever Worked On”
Denzel Washington, “Fences” (Paramount Pictures)
Calling Washington’s work in “Fences” his all-time best may not seem likely given his many onscreen masterpieces. But when he’s in the middle of one of August Wilson’s speeches, laying bare every facet of an oppressed man grappling with his own shame, it’s hard to deny. Opposite his adept co-stars, he listens and responds with every fiber of his being, further hinting at Troy Maxson’s rich inner life. But he’s equally brilliant on his own; Troy’s declaration of war against death chills to the bone.
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