Last year, the same four people won every televised acting precursor en route to Oscar gold for the first time, which made for a very yawn-worthy two-month trot, regardless of how deserving anyone might’ve been. Luckily, we won’t have that relentless rubber-stamping this year, as there’s only one person who can earn a perfect sweep: Mahershala Ali.
The “Green Book” star has taken home Best Supporting Actor honors at the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice, Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA Awards and is the runaway favorite to win his second Oscar. Ali wasn’t even this dominant during his first Oscar rodeo two years ago for “Moonlight,” losing the Globe to Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Nocturnal Animals”) — who wasn’t Oscar-nominated — and the BAFTA to Dev Patel (“Lion”), and only scoring the Critics’ Choice and SAG Awards.
The other three acting frontrunners this year have suffered a loss or snub somewhere. Rami Malek (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) won the drama Globe, SAG and BAFTA, but Christian Bale (“Vice”) edged him for Best Actor at Critics’ Choice. Glenn Close has the drama Globe, Critics’ Choice — which she won in a tie with Lady Gaga (“A Star Is Born”) — and SAG, but BAFTA crowned Olivia Colman (“The Favourite”) Best Actress. And of course, Globe and Critics’ Choice champ Regina King (“If Beale Street Could Talk”) was left off the Best Supporting Actress shortlists at SAG and BAFTA, which were won by Oscar-snubbed Emily Blunt (“A Quiet Place”) and Rachel Weisz (“The Favourite”), respectively.
SEE Mahershala Ali goes to Washington: He may follow Denzel as only the 2nd black actor to win 2 Oscars
If Ali, Malek, Close and King all prevail at the Oscars, that would give this quartet 16 of the 20 possible wins, which was the same record achieved by Ali and his fellow Oscar champs two years ago, Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”), Emma Stone (“La La Land”) and Viola Davis (“Fences”).
A year ago, after not doing that hot with critics awards, Frances McDormand (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”), Gary Oldman (“Darkest Hour”), Allison Janney (“I, Tonya”) and Sam Rockwell (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”) turned the tables when the televised awards started, marching to the first 20/20 sweep. Before that, the most victories logged by an Oscar-winning acting class was 19 four years ago; Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”), Julianne Moore (“Still Alice”), J.K. Simmons (“Whiplash”) and Patricia Arquette (“Boyhood”) had their sweep disrupted by Michael Keaton (“Birdman”), who defeated Redmayne for Best Actor at Critics’ Choice.
On the other end of the spectrum, there have only been two years where none of the four acting Oscar winners swept: the class of 2001 and the class of 2002. In the former, Denzel Washington (“Training Day”) only won the Oscar; Halle Berry (“Monster’s Ball”) had SAG; Jim Broadbent (“Iris”) earned the Globe (he won the BAFTA for “Moulin Rouge!”); and Jennifer Connelly (“A Beautiful Mind”) was missing a SAG supporting actress win because she had been submitted and nominated in lead.
The following year, Adrien Brody (“The Pianist”) pulled a Denzel, winning just the Oscar; Nicole Kidman (“The Hours”) nabbed the Globe and BAFTA; Chris Cooper (“Adaptation”) received the Globe and Critics’ Choice; and Catherine Zeta-Jones (“Chicago”) won everything except the Globe, because she was placed in Best Comedy/Musical Actress instead of Best Supporting Actress.
PREDICT the Oscars now; change them until Feb. 24
Be sure to check out how our experts rank this year’s Oscar contenders. Then take a look at the most up-to-date combined odds before you make your own Oscar predictions. Don’t be afraid to jump in now since you can keep changing your predictions until winners are announced on Feb. 24.
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