2017 Oscar Predictions: BEST ACTOR (June)

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This month, Nate Parker (The Birth of a Nation) widens his lead over former #1 Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) from last month while Denzel Washington (Fences) makes a big jump from #5 to #3, leapfrogging Andrew Garfield (Silence) and Joel Edgerton (Loving). Washington nets the biggest point increase on the list, up 7.

After just one month on, Dev Patel (Lion) falls back down to the Other Contenders list as does Michael Keaton for The Founder. Newcomer Joe Alwyn (Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk) picks up another vote, as does Woody Harrelson (Wilson).

This category feels more open and fluid than most with only the top three here feeling safe. The rest of this category could easily be filled by any of the actors from 4-9 but the Other Contenders list is ripe for upset by the likes of Alden Ehrenreich (either Rules Don’t Apply or The Yellow Birds), Will Smith (Collateral Beauty) or Jake Gyllenhaal (Nocturnal Animals). We could see Bryan Cranston earn an “afterglow” nomination for Wakefield or maybe, Jim Carrey will finally earn an Oscar nod – this time for True Crimes.

Here are the June Oscar predictions for Best Actor from The Gold Rush Gang:

OTHER CONTENDERS
Jim Carrey – True Crimes
Jason Clarke – HHhH
Bryan Cranston – Wakefield
Alden Ehrenreich – Rules Don’t Apply
Alden Ehrenreich – The Yellow Birds
Michael Fassbender – The Light Between Oceans
Ryan Gosling – La La Land
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nocturnal Animals
Michael Keaton – The Founder
Woody Harrelson – LBJ
Ben Mendelsohn – Una
David Oyelowo – A United Kingdom
Dev Patel – Lion
Brad Pitt – Allied
Brad Pitt – War Machine
Chris Pratt – Passengers
Will Smith – Collateral Beauty
Miles Teller – Bleed For This
Jacob Tremblay – The Book of Henry

Follow the updated Gold Rush Gang predictions in other Oscar categories here:

BEST PICTURE
BEST DIRECTOR
BEST ACTOR
BEST ACTRESS
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
BEST FILM EDITING
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
SOUND EDITING
SOUND MIXING
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

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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.

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