The Spire

Jake Ruderman ‘26

Sports Editor

As we near ever closer to the 2024 Academy Awards, predictions fly all over the place, and questions swirl surrounding what makes a performance an Oscar-worthy one. But putting all of that aside, let’s go through and discuss in detail each of the lead acting nominees (with some light predicting). 

The Best Actress in a Leading Role category is always one of the most stacked awards, displaying intense, often emotion-filled performances that powerfully ‘steal the show’ of whatever movie they reside within. This year, there’s an incredibly wide amount of range within the five nominated performances, with displays of serious physical acting, incredibly powerful acting, and subtleties that fall in between. 

While Carey Mulligan seems to have been lost in the shuffle, her performance in Maestro couldn’t be further from it; Mulligan catapults herself to the forefront of the film, continually reasserting that Leonard Bernstein’s wife is as deserving of attention as Bernstein himself. Her versatility and depth are on full display throughout, as her character exerts an incredibly wide range of emotions, from pure elation, to sheer disappointment, to defeat at the hands of sickness. Mulligan’s presence is felt in every scene she’s in, and while she may not be the titular character, she certainly commands the audience’s attention from start to finish. 

Emma Stone gives undoubtedly the most unique, fascinating, and at times, perplexing performance of the year with her role in Poor Things. Without revealing key plot points of the film, Stone’s character undergoes an experience which leaves her with the mind of a child in the body of an adult – very bizarre if you haven’t seen the movie, still bizarre if you have. Regardless, Stone is tasked with navigating this oddity through her incredibly intricate, high-degree-of-difficulty performance that necessitates both extreme physicality and expression in her movements, as well as conveying a sense of mental aging through her mannerisms as the film progresses. While undeniably wacky, Stone is remarkable in a seriously arduous role and should be commended for her abilities as well as her choice to take the funky part. 

Annette Bening is the odd one out on this list, with her nomination for Nyad coming in somewhere between surprise and utter shock. While Bening is quite solid in her portrayal of the legendary Diana Nyad, it’s hard to distinguish her performance from the unique individual it’s based on. Biopics are tricky to navigate – sometimes they go off without a hitch (think Oppenheimer), while other times the sheer challenges of recreating a real person’s life bog it down. This aside, it’s undeniable that the Academy loves a good biopic – six of the ten lead acting nominees this year are from biopics, and it’s incredibly likely that biopics will produce one, if not both, winners. While Bening’s portrayal is spot on, and the swimming-heavy nature of the part makes it a challenging one, it’s no stretch of the imagination to say that she has no real chance of winning this award. 

Lily Gladstone’s incredible accomplishment got lost in some of the craze surrounding Barbie’s lack of Oscar nominations, but it won’t be forgotten here; with her nomination, Gladstone became the first ever Native American actress to be nominated for Best Leading Actress at the Academy Awards. Gladstone’s performance in Killers of the Flower Moon is nothing short of breathtaking, as she expertly radiates unspoken emotions through incredibly nuanced and subtle displays. Her relative lack of screen time works to her benefit in this regard, allowing her to assert her power every time she takes the screen as the true main character of this incredibly harrowing tale. A win for Gladstone would be a remarkable achievement, but one that won’t come easy, given the talent of her competitors.

Sandra Hüller rounds out this category with her impeccable performance of a woman on trial for the murder of her husband in Anatomy of a Fall. From the opening scene, Hüller dominates this movie, imposing herself in every interaction she has and navigating the audience through the film largely through her eyes. As the film progresses, Hüller displays a wide range of personas, from the comforting mother, to the mysteriously on-guard defendant, to the confused and adrift widow. Above all, Hüller commands attention and respect in every scene she’s in, and her incredibly realistic portrayal prohibits the audience from looking away, even for just a second. While she may not be a household name for most Americans (yet), Hüller has cemented herself as one of the world’s premiere actresses, and a Best Actress win is well within the realm of possibility. 

In as stacked a category as this, it’s never easy to predict who will come out on top. That being said, the trail of awards shows leading up to the Oscars tend to offer a good idea of what critics, professionals, and audiences are thinking. To date, it’s clear that Emma Stone holds the advantage over Lily Gladstone, with Best Actress wins at the Golden Globes (for comedy/musical), the BAFTAs, and the Critics’ Choice awards. Gladstone did win the Golden Globe as well (for drama), but hasn’t picked up any other major wins. Picking today, I feel that the Academy is far more likely to reward Emma Stone for her work, although I’d be happy to be proven wrong by a triumphant Lily Gladstone.

Turning now to the Best Leading Actor category, the conversation starts (and ends, really) with Cillian Murphy. Few performers ever get to star in an incredible movie, and fewer still ascend to be able to carry an entire movie on their back; Cillian Murphy does both in Oppenheimer, expertly portraying an incredibly complex figure while simultaneously accounting for 95% of the screen time of the three hour epic. Murphy embodies Oppenheimer across the span of four decades, his career triumphs and pitfalls, and his omnipresent debate over the morality of his life’s work, engrossing the audience in his inner dilemmas and immersing himself in the role like the veteran he is. Christopher Nolan, the director of Oppenheimer, is known for only employing the best of the best to work on his projects, and entrusted Cillian above all other performers to carry the weight of this seriously complex film on his shoulders – that’s all you really need to know. 

The only potential threat to Cillian Murphy’s Best Actor win resides in a grumpy, old curmudgeon (who’s actually a wholesome, sweet guy): Paul Giamatti. Giamatti’s performance in The Holdovers is phenomenal, as he thoroughly anchors the film’s tone and setting, and fully embodies its heartwarming arc. Giamatti elicits strong audience feelings, from hatred and disdain to deep love and empathy; his performance really makes you feel something, which is somewhat of a rarity nowadays. While not the sexy pick, Giamatti is incredibly deserving of such an esteemed accolade; if anyone could break the traditional awards mold, it would be him.

Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of Leonard Bernstein in Maestro is draped in the kinds of problems biopics usually encounter: what is Cooper’s true rooted interest in embodying this part? What details are being left off-screen? Why should I care about this person? etc. etc. But, Cooper’s performance tenders one other, interesting problem: he’s not the star of his own movie. While his performance is truly incredible and breathtakingly accurate, Cooper is outshined in his own movie by Carey Mulligan, as mentioned above. In a complex part that doesn’t quite know what it’s trying to do, Cooper does his best to rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic. And while he’s great in his own right, he has almost no chance of genuinely competing for this award. 

Jeffrey Wright is the unsung acting hero of 2023. While still not a mainstream actor for many, Wright had a remarkable 2023 which saw him star in American Fiction, Asteroid City, and Rustin, all on the heels of his performance in 2022’s The Batman. And, while his roles in Asteroid City and Rustin were minor, his performance in American Fiction is remarkable. Wright so perfectly embodies the middle-aged, cynical, confused writer in every essence of the phrase. His incredibly funny, surprisingly emotional, and just straight-up awesome performance is the glue that holds together one of the most moving and poignant movies of the year. Wright’s first true leading-man performance is a rousing success, and one that will hopefully bestow upon him the respect he deserves, though he’s got a serious uphill battle for this category.

Rounding us out is Colman Domingo, who portrays Bayard Rustin, the oft-forgotten key figure of the Civil Rights movement who was instrumental in planning the March on Washington. While Domingo embodies yet another important figure in a biopic, he’s able to elude much of the usual criticism with his charm and flair, really bringing the part off of the screen and standing out amongst a crowd of talented actors. While there’s likely not much to be said for Rustin’s success at this year’s Academy Awards, Colman Domingo does a fantastic job, and is worth watching in his own right.

Copy edited by Lauren Backstrom