Internal Competition - Acting Categories by Studios

SONY not only has a lot of viable contenders in every acting category, they also face internal competitions in several cases. If they downgraded a few co-leads (one of the Carnage-couples, Knightley and Fassbender), suddenly they would have a much better case...it would only cost their integrity...but hey, if that's what needs to be done in order to secure nods for all these amazing actors, then who am I to judge ?

PARAMOUNT is looking good, they have exactly one strong contender in each acting category and thanks to the lack of internal competition (within the studio), all four could make it. Hopefully Charlize Theron will shine in Young Adult, and the children of Hugo Cabret will deliver, as well. I know Ben Kingsley will.

WARNER BROS has a few very solid contenders on paper (DiCaprio, Watts, Dench, Hanks, Bullock, Fiennes), the mystery is whether the Academy will embrace ANYONE from Contagion or not. The film features one of the most impressive casts of 2011...but then again, Inception had an equally great ensemble and the Academy still ignored the actors...so sci-fi-s and acting categories probably don't mix that well.

FOX could have a very succesful year, at the moment they have two – on paper – strong contenders in each acting category thanks to the directors behind them, who are very succesful when it comes to pulling brilliant performances out of their actors. For now, I consider Brad Pitt the frontrunner in the supporting actor category...

BUENA VISTA has The Help, the film that'll feature probably several outstanding female performances and War Horse, that might be considered more of a spectacular family film than an acting showcase. On paper the three ladies from The Help are co-leads, but in reality I'm fairly certain only one of them will be campaigned lead (Emma Stone or Viola Davis), all the others (including Octavia Spencer, Cicely Tyson and Bryce Dallas Howard) will end up in the supporting category. Meanwhile it looks like War Horse's best shot at an acting nomination is two-time nominee Emily Watson, who has the grateful role of „the worrying mother”, although the stunning ensemble could easily hide other standouts AND the unknown lead could surprise, as well.

THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY might not have a lot of contenders, but the ones they DO have, are remarkably strong at the moment, so the brothers have a good shot at getting several of their contenders in all 4 categories.

FOCUS FEATURES is a big question mark at the moment when it comes to the acting categories, because they have several critically acclaimed performances (Wasikowska, Fassbender, Ronan, Blanchett, Plummer) that could easily get in, but the early release dates hurt them considerably, meanwhile we still don't have any early word on the contenders who are in films with MUCH more Academy-friendly release dates (One Day, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy).

SUMMIT's problem that they have 3 films with potential acting contenders and the first might be too early (A Better Life has a June release date), the second might be too light (a comedy about cancer ?) and the third – the one that COULD be a strong player (The Impossible) – doesn't even have a release date yet...or a trailer...or even a promotional still.

UNIVERSAL has a shot at getting rave reviews for Jim Sheridan's Dream House, and especially its performances (Craig, Weisz, Watts), the problem is the genre might not be the Academy's cup of tea, and ALL three actors have other potential Awards-campaigns this year. Although there is a slight chance, the summer comedies (Larry Crowne, Crazy Stupid Love) will break out in a big way, acting nominations would be still highly unlikely.

FILMDISTRICT has the privilege to be able to focus all their energy on ONE acting contender, and that's Johnny Depp. That is definitely a good start considering other studios will not only have several actors' campaigns on their hands, but in a lot of cases, they'll have contenders competing against each other.

	BEST ACTRESS	BEST ACTOR	BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS	BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
SONY	JODIE FOSTER	DANIEL CRAIG	MARION COTILLARD	CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
	KATE WINSLET	CHRISTOPH WALTZ	KATHY BATES	STELLAN SKARSGAARD
	KEIRA KNIGHTLEY	JOHN C. REILLY	MARISA TOMEI	VINCENT CASSEL
	ROONEY MARA	VIGGO MORTENSEN	EVAN RACHEL WOOD	PAUL GIAMATTI
	ELENA ANAYA	MICHAEL FASSBENDER		GEORGE CLOONEY
	MIA WASIKOWSKA	RYAN GOSLING		PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN
		BRAD PITT		PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN
		SEAN PENN		JONAH HILL
		ANTONIO BANDERAS		JAN CORNET
PARAMOUNT	CHARLIZE THERON	ASA BUTTERFIELD	CHLOE MORETZ	BEN KINGSLEY
	FELICITY JONES	ANTON YELCHIN
WARNER BROS	MARION COTILLARD	LEONARDO DICAPRIO	SANDRA BULLOCK	TOM HANKS
		THOMAS HORN	NAOMI WATTS	ARMIE HAMMER
		MATT DAMON	JUDI DENCH	RALPH FIENNES
			KATE WINSLET	JUDE LAW
			GWYNETH PALTROW	BRYAN CRANSTON
				LAURENCE FISHBURNE
				JOHN HAWKES
FOX	SCARLETT JOHANSSON	MATT DAMON	ELLE FANNING	BRAD PITT
	ELIZABETH OLSEN	GEORGE CLOONEY	JESSICA CHASTAIN	SEAN PENN
	MAGGIE SMITH		SHAILENE WOODLEY	BILL NIGHY
			AMANDA SEYFRIED	DEV PATEL
			JUDI DENCH	TOM WILKINSON
BUENA VISTA	EMMA STONE	JEREMY IRWINE	EMILY WATSON	DAVID THEWLIS
	VIOLA DAVIS		CICELY TYSON
	OCTAVIA SPENCER		BRYCE D. HOWARD
THE WEINSTEIN CO.	MERYL STREEP	JEAN DUJARDIN	VANESSA REDGRAVE	JIM BROADBENT
	MICHELLE WILLIAMS	RALPH FIENNES	JULIA ORMOND	KENNETH BRANAGH
	ANDREA RISEBOROUGH	EDDIE REDMAYNE	JESSICA CHASTAIN	GERARD BUTLER
	ABBIE CORNISH
FOCUS FEATURES	MIA WASIKOWKSA	MICHAEL FASSBENDER	CATE BLANCHETT	CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
	ANNE HATHAWAY	GARY OLDMAN	MELANIE LAURENT	COLIN FIRTH
	SAOIRSE RONAN	JIM STURGESS		TOM HARDY
	HELEN MIRREN	EWAN MCGREGOR
SUMMIT	NAOMI WATTS	EWAN MCGREGOR	ANNA KENDRICK
		DEMIAN BICHIR
		JOSEPH GORDON LEWITT
UNIVERSAL	RACHEL WEISZ	DANIEL CRAIG	NAOMI WATTS
	JULIA ROBERTS	STEVE CARRELL	JULIANNE MOORE	RYAN GOSLING
		TOM HANKS	EMMA STONE
FILMDISTRICT		JOHNNY DEPP	AMBER HEARD	GIOVANNI RIBISI
		RYAN GOSLING	CAREY MULLIGAN