2017 Oscar Predictions: Best Actress

This year's field is more crowded than usual, from festival darlings Emma Stone, Natalie Portman and Amy Adams to newcomer Ruth Negga. Updated 12/20/16.

“Loving”

It’s one of the most competitive Best Actress races in years.

“Birdman” nominee Emma Stone came out of Venice (winning Best Actress), Telluride and Toronto with raves for her role as a singer-dancer-actress in Damien Chazelle’s  TIFF audience-winner “La La Land.” Amy Adams also broke out at Telluride (which gave her a tribute packed with clips of her Oscar-nominated performances in “American Hustle,” “The Master,” “The Fighter,” “Doubt,” and “Junebug”) in sci-fi thriller “Arrival,” ably carrying her starring role as an empathetic linguist able to communicate with alien visitors. She also stars in a more glamorous vein in Tom Ford’s divisive “Nocturnal Animals,” which doesn’t hurt.

Breaking out at Venice and Toronto, where Fox Searchlight snapped it up for a December 9th release, was Pablo Larrain’s “Jackie,” starring Natalie Portman as the grieving widow of John F. Kennedy in the aftermath of his killing. Critics raved and she won the Critics Choice Award, also landing a Golden Globes nomination.

This year’s breakout contender is Irish actress Ruth Negga. Not only is she tearing up the small screen as the badass Tulip in AMC’s “Preacher,” but her first major lead role on the big screen could earn her a Best Actress nomination. Under the direction of Jeff Nichols, in “Loving” Negga delivers a refined portrayal of a woman battling race laws to live in peace with her husband and their children.

The Academy occasionally embraces foreign actors in its acting categories (see Marion Cotillard, Juliette Binoche and Emmanuelle Riva), which bodes well for Isabelle Huppert’s lauded performance in Paul Verhoeven’s taut mystery “Elle” (Sony Pictures Classics), which debuted well at Cannes. The veteran French actress pulls off one of the year’s most challenging characters— a rape victim who refuses to let her abuse define her — as she claims her identity as an entrepreneur, mother and sexually active older woman. Adding heat is another major performance in Mia Hansen-Love’s “Things to Come” (IFC).

These actresses will be joined by a spate of potential contenders, including Oscar winner Meryl Streep (“Florence Foster Jenkins”), as well as past nominees who are overdue, such as Annette Bening (20th Century Women”) and “Hidden Figures” star and Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”).

Paramount has opted to campaign Tony-winner Viola Davis (“Fences”) in the less competitive Supporting Actress category, which opens up a much-needed slot.

Emily Blunt (“The Girl on the Train”) and Streep landed SAG nominations, which may or may not be repeated on Oscar nominations morning.

Remember, in order to be a frontrunner we need to have seen the film.

Frontrunners:
Amy Adams (“Arrival”)
Annette Bening (“20th Century Women”)
Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”)
Natalie Portman (“Jackie”)
Emma Stone (“La La Land”)

Contenders:
Ruth Negga (“Loving”)
Meryl Streep (“Florence Foster Jenkins”)

Long Shots:
Emily Blunt (“The Girl on the Train”)
Jessica Chastain (“Miss Sloane”)
Taraji P. Henson (“Hidden Figures”)

source

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/12/2017-oscar-predictions-best-actress-1201687987/