The streak is dead. Long may the streak be dead.
Every year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominates a total of 20 actors in the lead and supporting categories.
For the 2014 movie year, all 20 nominees were white.
Last year, same thing — making for a total of 40 nominations for Caucasians, zero for people of color. That shocking shutout led to a tsunami of criticism and activism on social media, the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, calls for a boycott of the Academy Awards, much soul-searching (some of it even sincere) within the industry and Oscar host Chris Rock welcoming everyone to “the White People’s Choice Awards.”
When this year’s nominations are announced on Tuesday, Jan. 24, there is zero chance of all 20 actors being white. Zero. Point. Zero.
If I’m wrong, I will watch my pick for the Worst Movie of 2016 on a continuous loop for 24 hours.
If I’m wrong, there really WILL be a boycott of the Oscars this year.
As we head into a jam-packed final month of the year (films must play in theatrical release for at least one week in the calendar year in order to be eligible for Oscar), a number of performances by minorities — and at least a couple of films with minority directors and/or mostly minority casts — should and WILL find a place among the nominees.
The African-American Film Critics Association released a statement last Monday saying 2016 was “the best year ever for black people in cinema,” as the Los Angeles Times put it.
Not that this was some sweeping, Hollywood-wide, instant reaction to the lack of awards season diversity. Most of these films were in development or already in production by 2015-2016.
Still. It’s been an exceptional year for movies that more closely reflect the ethnic fabric of our country and our world, from (to list just a few examples) comedies starring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube and Common and Tyler Perry, to serious dramas featuring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer and Taraji P. Henson, to films featuring wonderful performances by Dev Patel, Dwayne Johnson, Gil Birmingham and Edgar Ramirez, to animated adventures such as “Moana” and “Kubo and the Two Strings.”
Let’s handicap the four major acting categories and best picture, and yes, wouldn’t it be nice if scorecards such as this weren’t even a thing someday.
Best actor
Sure Thing:
Denzel Washington, “Fences.” The two-time winner will get his seventh acting nomination for his ferocious, grab-you-by-the-gut performance in “Fences,” the powerful adaptation of August Wilson’s 1983 Broadway hit opening Christmas Day in Chicago. (Washington won a Tony in 2010 for his performance in a revival of “Fences.”)
Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”) is the favorite to win right now. I’d put Washington second, just ahead of Ryan Gosling in “La La Land.”
Best actress
Contenders:
Ruth Negga, “Loving.” Negga’s beautifully nuanced work was the best thing in “Loving,” the fact-based story about an interracial couple threatened with prison time for the committing the crime of getting married in the Virginia of the 1950s.
Taraji P. Henson, “Hidden Figures.” The “Empire” star plays Katherine Johnson, a physicist, space scientist and mathematician who calculated flight trajectories for NASA in the Golden Age of space travel, in the Dec. 25 release.
Best supporting actor
Contenders:
Mahershala Ali, Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes, all for “Moonlight.”
The latter three play the same character: Chiron, a gay African-American at three pivotal periods in his life. Ali is the “lead” when he’s onscreen but he’s in only the first third of the film as a drug dealer with conflicting moral values who takes a paternal interest in the young Chiron.
Dev Patel, “Lion.” The versatile Patel gives the performance of his career in the based-on-a-true-story tale (opening Dec. 9) of a adopted Indian man in Australia who embarks on a quest to find the family from which he was separated as a little boy.
Mykelti Williamson, “Fences.” It’s a tricky thing to play a brain-damaged war veteran who roams about town like some kind of sad mascot, the kind of role that often plays better on stage than on screen. But Williamson brings a ton of heart to his performance without ever coming across as condescending or playing to the audience.
Jovan Adepo, “Fences.” When you’re sharing nearly all of your scenes with Denzel Washington and/or Viola Davis at the top of their game, you better bring it. Adepo does just that playing their son, a smart, determined student/athlete who won’t let his abusive father break him.
Outside shot:
David Oyelowo, “Queen of Katwe.”
Gil Birminghan, “Hell or High Water.”
Best supporting actress
Sure Things:
Viola Davis, “Fences.” Davis gives a magnificent performance in a role that easily could have been categorized as a co-lead alongside Washington. (In fact, Davis won the Tony for best actress for playing the same role in the Broadway production of “Fences.”)
Naomie Harris, “Moonlight.” Another example of an actor taking a potentially clichéd role — crack-addicted single mother in the projects — and making it something special.
Contenders:
Gugu Mbatha-Raw as the survivor of a school shooting now working for a gun control bill in “Miss Sloane,” opening Dec. 9.
Octavia Spencer in “Hidden Figures.”
Outside shot:
Lupita N’yongo and Madina Nalwanga, “Queen of Katwe.”
In the contest for best picture, “Fences” and “Moonlight” are likely nominees, while “Hidden Figures,” “Loving” and “Lion” are contenders. And for best director, Denzel Washington (“Fences”) and Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) are favored to win nominations.
Strides. Big, big strides.
