For our thirteenth Rundown article, we tackle the top male acting category. After the jump, you’ll find our winner and runner-up predictions for Best Actor as well as general commentary about the race. Tuesday, we’ll cover a category that has seldom matched up with Best Picture even when it’s one of the most crucial elements to a film’s visual look.

Best Actor

Winner Predictions

• Timothée Chalamet – Call Me By Your Name
• Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread
• Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out
• Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour (WL O) (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Denzel Washington – Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Runner-Up Predictions

• Timothée Chalamet – Call Me By Your Name (WL O) (PP O)(TL O)
• Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread (TB R) [New]

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Wesley Lovell: There really isn’t much of a doubt that Gary Oldman will finally win the career Oscar he’s long deserved. His abysmal politics seem to have had no bearing on the voters this season as he has barreled through the late awards voting securing every prize possible even if the critics didn’t get behind his candidacy. If there’s an upset, it could well be the critics’ favorite Timothée Chalamet, though even he could face stiff competition from three-time winner Daniel Day-Lewis and fellow first-time nominee Daniel Kaluuya. The only nominated actor I couldn’t see winning is Denzel Washington.
Peter J. Patrick: The performance of the year in this category is without question that of Timothée Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name and he may well pull off a surprise win at the Oscars, but it’s rare for a young actor to win over an established star like Gary Oldman huffing and puffing his way through an historic epic as a beloved public figure such as his Churchill in Darkest Hour.
Tripp Burton: Gary Oldman has won every televised award this season, and there is little need to doubt that he will win the Oscar: an overdue actor with a legendary career giving a regarded performance as a historical figure in a Best Picture nominee. If he loses, it will only be because of the well-publicized retirement of Daniel Day Lewis, although I don’t think people are clamoring for his fourth Oscar.
Thomas La Tourrette: Even though he hasn’t won every precursor, this feels like a slam dunk for Gary Oldman to win. He has been the frontrunner for the award since the summer and has never slipped out of the lead position. The performance was lauded by the critics even if the movie was not as widely praised. It would be one of the biggest upsets of the night if he did not win, though this is a category I could almost imagine it happening in. If someone were to do that, it would probably be Timothée Chalamet for Call Me by Your Name, though he is awfully young to be a Best Actor winner. He is about seven years younger than the current youngest Best Actor winner, Adrien Brody. Another possible upset winner could be Daniel Day-Lewis. Phantom Thread is supposedly his last film and the Academy could reward him for that, though he is young to be a four-time winner. Katharine Hepburn was in her seventies by the time that happened and she had a lot more films to her credit too. I do not believe that Daniel Kaluuya or Denzel Washington have any chance. The race will probably be closer than most people realize, but I still think that Gary Oldman will easily win.

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