By
Peter Knegt
|
Indiewire
Wed Nov 12 14:35:00 EST 2014
Oh, the problems of Jessica Chastain. Back in 2011 she had 4 performances in contention ("The Tree of Life," "Take Shelter," "The Help," "Coriolanus") during what was really her first year in the spotlight, eventually getting a nod for "The Help." A couple years and another nomination later (for "Zero Dark Thirty" in 2012), she faces a similar problem. It's not so much a matter of will she got nominated, but for which film. At one point, she seemed like a potential contender for "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby," though that film's poor box office and lack of buzz seems to have left it to her two other 2014 releases: "Interstellar" and "A Most Violent Year." Good-but-not-amazing reviews for "Interstellar" suggest that maybe her best shot this year is indeed "Year," though there's been a loud rumor mill suggesting "Interstellar" director Nolan has said the actress can only campaign for his film until November. But "Year" is arguably Chastain's best shot at a third-time-is-the-charm Oscar win. Will she miss out all together?
Whether that's the case also depends on whether she can beat out a formidable group of women also looking very good for nominations: Patricia Arquette and Emma Stone seem close to locked in for potential Oscar heavyweights "Boyhood" and "Birdman," respectively, while Keira Knightley ("The Imitation Game"), Laura Dern ("Wild"), Sienna Miller ("American Sniper"), Kristen Stewart ("Still Alice"), Carrie Coon ("Gone Girl") and Rene Russo ("Nightcrawler") all stand reasonable chances as well. Standing in their way is none other than Meryl Streep, who is looking for her whopping 19th Oscar nomination for what could be a show-stopping performance in Rob Marshall's musical "Into The Woods." Or perhaps this will be one of those years -- they do happen every so often -- where Streep sits things out. We're not betting on that just yet, however.
Check out our predictions in other categories here.
Best Bets From What We've Seen:
1. Patricia Arquette, "Boyhood"
2. Keira Knightley, "The Imitation Game"
3. Jessica Chastain, "A Most Violent Year"
4. Emma Stone, "Birdman"
A Very Strong Contender On Paper:
5. Meryl Streep, "Into The Woods"
Could Definitely Move Up:
6. Laura Dern, "Wild"
7. Sienna Miller, "American Sniper"
8. Kristen Stewart, "Still Alice"
9. Rene Russo, "Nightcrawler"
10. Carrie Coon, "Gone Girl"
11. Carmen Ejogo, "Selma"
12. Jessica Chastain, "Interstellar"
13. Julianne Moore, "Maps To The Stars"
14. Jessica Lange, "The Gambler"
15. Katherine Waterson, "Inherent Vice"
