Is it enough just to be in the running for an Oscar? Please. A nomination often leads to better roles and bigger paychecks. So who among this year’s crop of Best Actor and Best Actress nominees will walk away the big winners even if they go home empty-handed?
Best Actor Nominees
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Capote ($20.1 million) *
Next: Mission: Impossible 3 (May 5); Strangers with Candy (June 26)
Yes, that is Hoffman issuing very un-Capote–-like death threats in the –M:I3 trailer. This is not the Hoffman art house aficionados know and love. Hey, after years of toiling in obscure, off-kilter dramas and comedies, you can’t blame Hoffman for cashing in for once. Still, when he wins the Oscar, and the studios make tempting offers, it’s hard to imagine Hoffman will ever lose his independent streak.
Terrence Howard
Hustle and Flow ($22.2 million)
Next: Idlewild (Aug. 25), August Rush (TBA); Awake (Sept. 1); Brave One (TBA); The Crusaders (TBA); P.D.R. (TBA)
Everyone wants to do business with this Hustler, from Jodie Foster (Brave One) to Robin Williams (August Rush) to Jessica Alba (Awake). And the fact-based dramas P.D.R. and The Crusaders, about future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, could finally turn Howard into a star. Yes, good things come to those who wait. And Howard’s waited patiently for his shot at fame.
Heath Ledger
Brokeback Mountain ($66.4 million) *
Next: Candy (TBA)
Ledger can’t catch a break. Audiences accepted him as a gay cowboy, but ignored his rather chaste Casanova. Then he lost his status as the Best Actor frontrunner to Philip Seymour Hoffman. No matter: when this new dad returns to work—he shot the drug drama Candy early last year—he’ll receive a golden opportunity to put behind him recent disasters to prove that Brokeback Mountain isn’t a fluke.
Joaquin Phoenix
Walk the Line ($113.6 million) *
Next: We Own the Night (TBA)
Phoenix’s first Oscar-nominated performance, for Gladiator, allowed him to step out of the shadow cast by his late brother, River. Walk the Line’s finally turned Phoenix into a genuine star. Now this Man in Black no longer has to worry about playing backup to Mel Gibson, John Travolta and Mark Wahlberg. Want proof? Now it’s Wahlberg’s turn to lend support to Phoenix, this time in the mob drama We Own the Night.
David Strathairn
Good Night, And Good Luck ($28.1 million) *
Next: The Notorious Bettie Page (April 14); Fracture (TBA); Heavens Fall (TBA); Matters of Life and Death (TBA); The Sensation of Sight (TBA)
At 57, this hard-working character actor’s finally caught our attention. For too long, we’re taken for him granted in supporting roles and virtually ignored him as the lead in independents, especially those directed by John Sayles. Strathairn’s Oscar nomination should generate more interest in his slew of art house offerings and allow him to compete for roles in studio films usually nabbed by Chris Cooper and Ed Harris.
Best Actress Nominees
Judi Dench
Mrs. Henderson Presents ($4.3 million) *
Next: Casino Royale (Nov. 17); Notes on a Scandal (TBA)
Name another septuagenarian–and a woman, at that–who’s as bankable as this dame? This 71-year-old star of stage, screen and TV has done it all. She’s already got an Oscar, and she’s never been more popular thanks to last year’s Ladies in Lavender, Pride and Prejudice and Mrs. Henderson Presents. What else is there for her to do? Ah, that’s right, help break in new 007 Daniel Craig.
Felicity Huffman
Transamerica ($2.8 million) *
Next: N/A
This Desperate Housewife could return to Wisteria Lane from her road trip with a little golden guy buckled into the passenger seat. Huffman pulled off the most impressive physical transformation by an actress since Monster’s Charlize Theron as Transamerica’s sweet but troubled pre-opt male-to-female transsexual. With that in mind, Transamerica could do for the character-oriented Huffman what Fargo did for Frances McDormand.
Keira Knightley
Pride and Prejudice ($38 million) *
Next: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (July 7); Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (2007); Silk (2007)
Last year almost was as brutal for Knightley as it was for Orlando Bloom. Few donned The Jacket, and Domino fell hard and heavy. But then she showed she is as comfortable breaking social taboos in Pride and Prejudice as she is kicking butt. After the Pirates sequels set sail, Knightley should end her violent streak. By taking on more diverse roles, such as the one in Silk, she could emerge as the next Kate Winslet.
Charlize Theron
North Country ($18.3 million) *
Next: The Ice at the Bottom of the World (2007); The Brazilian Job (TBA)
Dressed down or dolled up, Theron can’t turn heads the way she did before her Oscar win. North Country erased doubts that Monster was a happy accident. But few cared. And slinking around in Aeon Flux was a waste of time. The last thing Theron needs is to be cooped up again in a Mini Cooper, but a surefire hit like The Brazilian Job would allow her to continue to take on pet projects like The Ice at the Bottom of the World.
Reese Witherspoon
Walk the Line ($113.6 million) *
Next: Penelope (TBA)
Enough with the romantic comedies: Witherspoon should continue what she started with Walk the Line. Too bad she’s not. She’s taking on a supporting role in Penelope an odd-sounding comedy about a woman (Christina Ricci) plagued by a life-long curse. And in a drama she’s circling, Our Family Troubles, Witherspoon’s convinced that a witch wants to harm her son. As long as it’s not Witherspoon’s career that’s in harm’s way …
*Through Feb. 12
