The category of Best Leading Actor of the Oscars is one of the most disputed at the gala this Sunday, with Brendan Fraser as the favorite for his moving interpretation of a reclusive professor of literature with morbid obesity in “The Whale” closely followed by Austin Butler, who garnered widespread acclaim for his biographical impersonation of Elvis in the film of the same name.
Fraser leads the online sportsbooks to win the award, with Butler hot on his heels, while other relevant point risk indicators are somewhat split: The interpreter of “The Whale” he prevailed in the awards ceremony of the Actors Guild but whoever played Elvis Presley took the statuettes in the galas of the Golden Globes and the British Baftas.
Another factor that could be gravitating in terms of forecasts is to identify which of all the trio interpretations pays more to the insatiable commitment of the Hollywood Academy with political correctness and what they consider adds points for diversity or promotes “causisms” motivated by the climate of the time.
In this sense, considering that the contestants are heterosexual white Americans and from the British Isles, the starting point is the same for all and the only factor that could sneak in to add progressive points is the theme that orbits around “The Whale”, Since the recent addition of the fat activism to the list of lockers for diversityin the event that the Academy considers that the film is not about a terminal illness and is about that and judges that the approach is not “fat-phobic.”
Obese people are often portrayed as evil or punchline and we wanted to create a fully fleshed out character that has both good and bad parts.”
Darren Aronofsky, director of “The Whale.”
The question is that the tape of the always controversial Darren Aronofsky that brought Fraser closer to his nomination treats the theme not as something positive or as a topic of the so-called body diversity, but rather traces a story of a disease that anticipates a tragic end from its first sequence and presents that case of morbid obesity as a slow suicidein the same way that Nicolas Cage won his Oscar in 1995 for playing an alcoholic in “Goodbye to Las Vegas” without anyone complaining that alcohol consumption was being stigmatized.
It is for this representation of a disability that some critics criticized the film, although, strictly speaking, “The Whale” is about morbid obesity and not about fatness or beauty standards. Another less wise objection was challenging the use of a prosthetic suit and makeup work to portray a morbidly obese rather than using a morbidly obese actor.
On that outlandish point, Aronofsky made the obvious clear: “Actors have used makeup and prosthetics since the beginning of acting: they’re their tools. And the dimension of what we did in that area was never seen. The obese are generally portrayed as malignant or punch line and we wanted to create a fully fleshed out character that has good and bad parts. The criticisms are meaningless; Brendan Fraser is the one for this role and the film is an exercise in empathy.”
The truth is that even those detractors did not point out dislike for Fraser’s versatile performance but rather for the approximation of the film, since the actor who was one of the greatest sex symbols in Hollywood around the turn of the millennium leaves with “The Whale” an interpretation that not many dared to drill.
Austin Butler and the challenge of “being Elvis”
In the case of the other favourite, Butler, his songwriting for the king of rock and roll was exhaustive and at all times credible in the outstanding production of Australian Baz Luhrmann.
«I worked a lot, it was two full years of my life, like an obsession, I tried to manage different aspects such as the change in her voice and find those tones that marked different moments in her life to get to the deep and true human nature of Elvis,” Butler said.
Preparing for the role also involved studying many hours of unpublished videos that the production brought to him from Presley’s presentations and interviews on television.
The third Oscar contender in terms of chances is Irishman Colin Farrell for his role in “The Spirits of the Island”by the British Martin McDonagh, in which he plays a simple and carefree man whose best friend suddenly decides to cut the ties.
Being the first nomination of his career in these awards, Farrell already took a Golden Globe for his role as an actor in the category of Comedy, but in a category in which he did not compete with his contenders next Sunday.
I worked a lot, it was two full years of my life, like an obsession, I tried to manage different aspects such as the change in his voice and find those tones that marked different moments in his life to get to the deep and true human nature of Elvis. ».
Austin Butler, lead actor in “Elvis.”
Getting the best out of their acting chemistry, the duo that makes up Farrell with Brendan Gleeson share the day to day of the fictional and quiet island of Inisherin between beers and inconsequential anecdotes while from the coast you can see the bombings that explode during the Irish Civil War in the 20s.
From your role, Farrell combines his comedic facet and his dramatic skills in the same character who, at the same time, despairs and provokes affection with his innocence and manages to transmit the humanity of an ordinary man and beaten not only by the distance from his friend but by the complex of feeling inferior to others.
On the other hand, Paul Mescal, Farrell’s compatriot, is among the nominees with a great performance that deserves to be awarded in «Aftersun», the debut of the Scottish Charlotte Wells, that he only obtained that mention at the Oscars ceremony despite having had merits to score in more areas.
Probably one of the best films of the past year, the independent production that deftly handles a very warm and experimental style tells the story of a dedicated and loving estranged father who goes on vacation in the early 2000s with his 11-year-old daughter to Turkey.
To prepare for the role, the 27-year-old actor spent time at a vacation resort with his co-star, Frankie Corio, to develop an authentic father-daughter dynamic, considering the film’s heartfelt autobiographical significance for Wells, who also wrote the story. .
Finally, British actor Bill Nighy, 73 years olds, sneaks into the shortlist thanks to his composition as the bureaucrat Williams in the British drama “Living” by Oliver Hermanus.
Set in London, the remake of “Living” (1952), by Akira Kurosawa, describes the way in which a gray man decides to deal with the news that he has a deadly disease in a city undergoing reconstruction after the Second War.
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