2018 Oscar Predictions: BEST ACTOR (September)

Erik Anderson September 5, 2017

For the first time since our 2018 Oscar predictions started way back in March, Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) notches a score of 99 vs his usual perfect score of 100. This despite the film debuting at Telluride this weekend to nonstop chatter of ‘Gary Oldman is the Best Actor frontrunner’ talk (even though we’ve all known that for months). Sometimes though, especially in Oscar predicting, seeing is believing and perceived frontrunners on paper either solidify that position of vacate it after mediocre reviews.

Spots 2-4 remain the same with Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread), Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq.) and Bryan Cranston (Last Flag Flying) holding court. Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) rebounds to #5 but Tom Hanks (The Post) is nipping at his heels. One thing that could hobble Cranston is mumbling that his co-star Steve Carell might be pushed lead as well. Conflicting reports tell two different stories of that placement so we’ll have to wait on Amazon to make an official announcement.

Christian Bale’s debut last month was no fluke and his film, Hostiles, premiered at Telluride to very good reviews. He moves up from #13 to #9 this month even though the film is still without a distributor or release date (but it does have a trailer). The window of opportunity to be picked up and released this year is shrinking by the day and there’s a chance whoever does grab it will hold it for 2018. Not likely Paramount though, which will release Adam McKay’s Backseat starring Bale as former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Most of last month’s lower tier contenders like Andrew Garfield (Breathe), Jake Gyllenhaal (Stronger), Chadwick Boseman (Marshall), Donald Sutherland (The Leisure Seeker) and Javier Bardem (mother!) don’t have much wiggle room. Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) bumps up four spots after debuting last month.

A pair of new entries this month: Jeremy Renner in Wind River (in what I think is the best performance of his career) and Liam Neeson in Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House.

Here are the 2018 Oscar predictions for Best Actor for September from the Gold Rush Gang. Keep an eye on all of the Gold Rush Gang’s 2018 Oscar predictions updated LIVE throughout the month.

Green – moves up from last month
Red – moves down from last month
Blue – debut/new entry

	BEST ACTOR	ERIK ANDERSON	BRYAN BONAFEDE	GREG HOWARD	EVAN KOST	JASON OSIASON	KENNETH POLISHCHUK	DENIZCAN SÜRÜCÜ	RICHARD ANTHONY	ŞÜKRÜ SÖĞÜT	MATT DINN	TOTAL POINTS

1	Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	99
2	Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread	3	3	2	2	3	2	3	3	2	3	84
3	Denzel Washington – Roman J. Israel, Esq.	2	2	6	3	4	3	1	2	3	2	82
4	Bryan Cranston – Last Flag Flying	5	4	4	4	5	4	4	4	4	4	68
5	Timothée Chalamet – Call Me by Your Name	4	5	5	5	2	7	6	6	6	6	58

6	Tom Hanks – The Post	6	6	3	6	8	5	5	5	5	5	56
7	Andrew Garfield – Breathe	7	8	7	7	6	6	7	7	7	7	41
8	Jake Gyllenhaal – Stronger	9	7	10	9	9	10	8	10	8	8	22
9	Christian Bale – Hostiles		9			7			8		9	11
10	Chadwick Boseman – Marshall	8			8		8			10		10
10	Donald Sutherland – The Leisure Seeker	10		8	10			10	9	9		10
12	Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out						9				10	3
13	Javier Bardem – mother!			9								2
13	Benedict Cumberbatch – The Current War							9				2
15	Jeremy Renner – Wind River		10									1
15	Liam Neeson – Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House					10						1

	OTHER CONTENDERS
	Ben Stiller – Brad’s Status
	Colin Farrell – The Killing of a Sacred Deer
	Daniel Craig – Kings
	Domhnall Gleeson – Goodbye Christopher Robin
	Hugh Jackman – The Greatest Showman
	James Franco – The Disaster Artist
	Jamie Bell – Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
	Joaquin Phoenix – You Were Never Really Here
	Jonathan Pryce – The Wife
	Mark Wahlberg – All the Money in the World
	Matt Damon – Downsizing
	Michael Shannon – The Current War
	Steve Carell – Last Flag Flying
	Steve Carell – Battle of the Sexes
	Willem Dafoe – The Florida Project

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.