What is typically a jam-packed category at any Oscars ceremony, Best Supporting Actress, looks oddly thin this year. And there isn’t really a breakout frontrunner the same way there typically is – although if any category is used to the upset winner, it’s Supporting Actress, so I guess a frontrunner doesn’t really matter. From Marisa Tomei to Marcia Gay Harden, Best Supporting Actress is more of a crapshoot than any other acting category.
That being said, expect Viola Davis to grab a nomination for her standoff with Denzel Washington in Fences. And, barring any aforementioned upset, it feels like Davis’s time to win, and she deserves it for this role and, well, her entire career of greatness. Beyond Davis, the field opens up considerably, although Naomie Harris should get recognition for her turn as a drug-addicted – and eventually regretful – mother in Moonlight. She could just sneak away with the statue as well.
Michelle Williams is picking up steam as the estranged ex-wife to Casey Affleck in Manchester by The Sea. And she is good, but there simply isn’t enough meat on the bone here for me. That doesn’t mean she won’t get a nomination. Many have been nominated for less, and some have even won for less. I’m looking at you, Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love.
And then there were two, and a handful of hopefuls that will probably serve as mere filler. There are the outside hopefuls like Greta Gerwig for 20th Century Women and Helen Mirren in Eye in The Sky, but 20th Century Women will find its recognition elsewhere and Eye in The Sky may have been too small even for the snooty Academy to notice. Nicole Kidman is picking up steam for her work in Lion, and it feels like she will grab a spot. And then there’s Octavia Spencer for Hidden Figures, the NASA film. She should be noticed for no other reason than she’s Octavia Spencer and don’t we all love her? We should.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS PREDICTIONS
Viola Davis – Fences
Naomie Harris – Moonlight
Michelle Williams – Manchester by The Sea
Nicole Kidman – Lion
Octavia Spencer – Hidden Figures
Up next… Best Supporting Actor
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Adapted and Original Screenplay Predictions
