The Best Actor category at this weekend’s Oscars is set to be a close race, but it’s unlikely to go Timothée Chalamet‘s way, the anonymous ballots suggest.
Adrien Brody has long been considered the frontrunner for his performance in The Brutalist, having dominated the Best Actor category at the vast majority of this year’s ceremonies.
However, in a major shock, Chalamet ended Brody’s winning streak when he took home the lead actor prize at the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards for his role as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, making him the youngest actor to win the category.
Despite Chalamet’s surprise SAG win, the anonymous Oscar ballets suggest Brody is still the frontrunner, with Ralph Fiennes and Colman Domingo being the most likely to challenge.
After speaking with anonymous Academy voters, Variety‘s Clayton Davis wrote: “An interesting conundrum is, I didn’t find as many Chalamet voters that would suggest he’s brewing for an upset, but voters would tell me, ‘I know a lot of people who voted for him.'”
“Some suggested that those voting for Dune: Part Two in multiple categories are checking Chalamet’s name off. But I didn’t find as many that would convince me he’s about to pull it off. What I did see was a decent amount of Colman Domingo (Sing Sing) and especially Ralph Fiennes (Conclave).”
“I’d go as far as to consider that, if Brody were to lose, it would happen in favour of Fiennes.”
Davis noted, however, that some voters chose not to vote for Fiennes because they believed he had already won an Oscar for 1993’s Schindler’s List, which he didn’t. The award that year instead went to Tommy Lee Jones for his performance in The Fugitive.
“’Oh shit!’ one chuckled after being corrected. Coincidentally, they voted for Brody, who actually won an Oscar for The Pianist (2002). As you can tell, sometimes these things tend not to make much sense.”
According to the bookies, Brody is still the runaway favourite for Best Actor, while Chalamet is actually in second place.
As for Best Picture, Anora is currently odds-on to win the main prize. Sean Baker’s sex worker drama has received six nominations ahead of the forthcoming 97th Academy Awards ceremony, including Best Film, Best Director Best Actress, and Best Original Screenplay.