Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Denzel, Casey squaring off for an Oscar
Competing for best actor
LOS ANGELES: Denzel Washington plays a talkative, bombastic, largerthan-life dad whose personality leaps off the screen.
Casey Affleck, by contrast, plays an introverted father, taciturn, mumbling and depressed.
Both are competing for best actor at tomorrow’s Oscars in what award watchers say is the ceremony’s biggest cliffhanger after weeks of campaigns and show-business accolades.
While musical La La Land is expected to win the top award – best picture – Washington’s performance in black family drama Fences and Affleck’s role in the heart-breaking Manchester by the Sea are going down to the wire.
“There’s a lot of affection for Denzel Washington and there’s also the # OscarsSoWhite controversy from last year that has to be on Oscar voters’ minds,” said Matt Atchity, editor in chief of review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com.
If all goes well for Washington, 62, he would join the likes of Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson among a rare group of actors who have won three Oscars.
Affleck, 41, Ben Affleck’s younger brother, is seeking his first Oscar. He had swept 90% of prior awards and critics prizes until losing to Washington at the Screen Actors Guild ceremony last month.
Affleck’s early wins came despite 2010 sexual harassment allegations that resurfaced as his Oscar prospects gathered steam. Two civil lawsuits alleging unwanted advances were filed by female crew on an earlier Affleck film, and were settled out of court. His lawyers denied the allegations.
The other lead actor contenders – Andrew Garfield ( Hacksaw Ridge), Viggo Mortensen ( Captain Fantastic) and Ryan Gosling ( La La Land) – were thought to be long shots as voting by the 6 600 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences closed on Tuesday.
Tomorrow could bring surprises also in the lead actress race with a surge of support for French actress Isabelle Huppert, the star of psychological thriller Elle. Experts at awards site Goldderby.com expect Emma Stone to take home her first Oscar for her role in La La Land.
The Academy Awards ceremony will be shown live on ABC television at 10pm local time. – Reuters