For our eleventh Rundown article, the male, lead counterpart for Friday’s post. 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 the category where creating something from nothing is part of the job.

Best Actor

Winner Predictions

• Bryan Cranston – Trumbo
• Matt Damon – The Martian
• Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant (WL O) (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
• Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl

Runner-Up Predictions

• Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs (WL O) (PP O) (TL R) [New] (TL R) [New]

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Wesley Lovell: For years, people have been clamoring for Leonardo DiCaprio to win an Oscar. He’s failed to get nominated several times, which makes his potential relatively weak. Yet, with The Revenant, he found the right kind of showy, visceral performance that, in the absence of any major competition, will finally bring him his Oscar.
Peter J. Patrick: All of the odds seem to be in Leonardo DiCaprio’s favor for the hardships he went through in filming The Revenant, that and his previous four acting nominations. Few seem to be talking about the merits of his performance. I’m not anticipating an upset, but if there were one, I’d like to think Michael Fassbender’s portrayal of Steve Jobs would be the one to benefit.
Tripp Burton: Leo has this award all sewn up, both on account of his heavy promotional work, the talk of the drama of making The Revenant, and the fact that he is considered by many in Hollywood as overdue for the Oscar. The other four guys need not show up.
Thomas La Tourrette: Leonardo DiCaprio has been the frontrunner so long that it makes one wonder if anyone else has even bothered to campaign. I know of no other category this year where the outcome seems so set. He has turned into a very good actor and has deserved all five of his nominations, but it is more interesting when there is an actual race. He might have been more deserving of the award for one of his earlier roles, but this was a good acting showcase for him. He will be ecstatic to get the award and his peers will cheer mightily for him, but I find it hard to get that excited over this one. Michael Fassbender gave a better performance in Steve Jobs, but the fact that the film bombed at the box office probably killed any chance he had of winning. He probably would have the best chance of pulling off an upset win, but I just do not see that happening. Bryan Cranston looked for awhile like he might be a reasonable threat, but there has been no talk lately of him winning. Neither Matt Damon nor last year’s winner Eddie Redmayne ever seemed to get much traction, so they should be happy to be nominated. DiCaprio wins easily.

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