What if Ralph Fiennes really is a contender for the Best Actor Oscar?

Do you guys know how few Oscar categories are locked up right now? It’s basically just Best Supporting Actor, which I’m sure will go to Keiran Culkin. But the other acting categories? Who will win Best Actor? Best Actress and Supporting Actress? I genuinely have no idea. I want to believe that Ralph Fiennes is a contender for Conclave, and if not Ralph, I would not be mad if Timothee Chalamet won. I want to believe that Best Actress isn’t going to Demi Moore for The Substance, although it’s looking like she might soon have it locked up. I want to believe that Isabella Rossellini has an outside shot in supporting.

Anyway, I’m not sure if the London Critics Circle Film Awards will have any bearing on the race, but they were held last night and I’m including some photos from the event in this post. The Brutalist took home Best Film (overall), and Conclave won Best British/Irish film. Ralph won best actor, and Daniel Craig was given a special award (the Dilys Powell). Craig didn’t even get nominated for an Oscar, and now I wonder if Ralph will win Best Actor at the BAFTAs. It would be well-deserved if he does.

What else? Marianne Jean-Baptiste – who was also snubbed for an Oscar nom – picked up the Best Actress prize, while Mikey Madison received the Breakthrough award. Jesse Eisenberg won for screenplay, and he also picked up Keiran Culkin’s award for supporting actor. Also, in an interesting twist, Zoe Saldana won supporting actress for Emilia Perez. I kind of wonder if her Oscar campaign is dead in the water right now though, mostly because of Karla Sofia Gascon.

PS… Can someone please convince Mikey Madison to skip the satin dresses? Where is her stylist?

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

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17 Responses to “What if Ralph Fiennes really is a contender for the Best Actor Oscar?”

  1. Lady Digby says:

    This year apart from Best Supporting Actor, I do think things care up in the air for the major awards and I prefer to be surprised rather than know in advance who is definitely going to win. It is a lot more exciting when you just don’t know until the winner is called out!

  2. Jackson says:

    I hope he does! His performance was magnificent.

  3. Jenny says:

    He deserves it. His performance in Conclave was very good, and he’s missed out on winning for other deserving roles previously. I’m always surprised to remember he doesn’t have an Oscar already. Even if this is more of a “sum total of everything he’s done” award I’m fine with it here.

  4. Lady Digby says:

    Can I just commend Ralph Fiennes for giving an acting workshop to Liverpool drama students studying Shakespeare for A Level. He began a tour of Macbeth in Liverpool back in late 2023 and budget seats for students were priced at a tenner to give maximum opportunity to attend. We went and the entire cast were brilliant but I loved seeing a major star determined to bring Shakespeare to the masses and being so generous with his time.
    https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/ralph-fiennes-teaches-acting-class-28278262
    Some people are talented, generous and encourage and inspire others.

  5. Sumodo1 says:

    Demi Moore was fantastic. Kaiser, you didn’t like The Substance? Who else was better in the category?

    • Arizona says:

      I personally thought Mikey Madison was a lot better. Karla was terrible (and also her and Zoe’s nominations should have been swapped). Cynthia was very good. I haven’t seen I’m Still Here yet.

      honestly I didn’t feel like Demi did anything that impressive and I think her potentially winning has got more to do with her being a legacy actress who was willing to get naked at an older age and wear gross prosthetics than anything special she did as an actress. 🤷 I also didn’t care for the movie though.

      • sevenblue says:

        @Arizona, wow. Demi was excellent in the Substance. She acted a straight famous woman who is losing control of her own body and did a brilliant job. You don’t get oscar nomination just being naked as a woman. One of the best of Demi was her fully clothed, removing her makeup. The writer and the director of the movie is also a woman who understands what aging means for women in the entertainment industry. Maybe go watch the behind the scenes video of the movie to see how much they worked on creating this movie. It wasn’t just being naked in front of the camera.

    • Lia says:

      Fernanda Torres.

  6. Honey says:

    I watched Conclave least night and Ralph was excellent. He is and should be a serious contender. While I love Isabella Rossellini and her amazing career, she was only in the movie for a few minutes — not sure it’s a best supporting actress role. Almost a cameo. (Just my opinion.) And yes, satin looks lousy on everyone — even on the most fantastic figures.

  7. Enza says:

    Ralph Fiennes was ROBBED for Best Actor Oscar for The English Patient. He was exquisite and heartbreaking in that role. (Geoffrey Rush won for Shine.)

    • Ula1010 says:

      As much as I loved Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive, Ralph should have won for Schindler’s List. He was mesmerizing.

    • Square2 says:

      “Ralph Fiennes was ROBBED for Best Actor Oscar for The English Patient.”

      Agree, he should’ve won for that film (so was KST for best actress). And Chalamet should’ve won for “Call Me By Your Name”.

      All the British Awards tend to give the win to Britians. Especially for any year that has no clear front runners. Even some years there’s some clear front runners but not Brits, BAFTA & other Brits Awards would still gave the win to Brits. Oh, they don’t care if the actors are racists or have problematic past behaviors. Hey, this is a country which Monach is good friends with pedophileS and rejects his black DIL.

      • Holly says:

        I thought KST and Juliette Binoche both had the same amount of screen time. Putting Binoche in supporting unfairly robbed Lauren Bacall of her Oscar for A Mirror Has Two Faces. And yes I am still salty about that all this time later, LOL

  8. Lau says:

    Hey maybe if we cancelled Karla Sofia Gascon for being a racist bigot we could at least talk about the fact that Ralph Fiennes was saying that JK Rowling was a victim of abuse ?
    https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/oct/25/ralph-fiennes-defends-jk-rowling
    I know it was from 2022 but he never walked it back.

  9. Just Me says:

    I’ve never wanted an actor to win Best Actor as much as I want Ralph to win for Conclave. He has been so consistently marvelous in everything for 30+ years, and he literally disappears into his role in Conclave.

    When his character finally broke down sobbing, I felt it so keenly, I also shed tears. Only a remarkable actor can turn such a quiet role into something so potent.

  10. a mascarada says:

    YES! For how long his talent should be denied?
    Amon Göth in The Schindler list.
    The Compte Lazslo Almasy in English Patient.
    Lord Voldemort!!!
    Justin Quayle in The Constant Gardener.
    M. Gustave in The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson. And while we’re at it, Tony Revolori was a bomb as well.

    I haven’t seen the Conclave yet, but if he’s any good as he’s been before I hope he gets it.

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