Gleeson a ‘dark horse’ for Oscar glory
BRENDAN Gleeson has been tipped to land an Oscar for his acclaimed performance in Calvary. The veteran Irish actor was universally praised by film critics for his convincing role as a doomed Catholic priest in the low-budget movie directed by John Michael McDonagh.
And now influential US film website Indiewire said the talented Dubliner was among its ‘dark horses’ for a Best Actor Academy Award nomination.
Calvary director John Michael McDonagh said the movie — which had a strong opening weekend in the US recently and which is due to be rolled out in dozens of new cinemas there over the coming weeks — would need to continue to do well at the box office to land an Oscar nomination.
He said: “Well, we’ve got great reviews in the US, but it needs to do well at the box office.
“We had a very good opening weekend (last week in the US), but we need to do just as well as we expand the release, to keep it ticking over in the minds of Oscar voters.”
Meanwhile, Mr Gleeson (59) has admitted that Calvary took its toll on him and left him mentally exhausted.
He said: “It was hard. It was just hard. There are no two ways about it.
“It was relentless and, yeah, it took its toll. I was exhausted in a way after that film. I was exhausted after the first read of [the script] with everyone around the table, never mind the end of the film.
“It took me a couple of months to get back to a place... I didn’t recognise it at the time. It took me a while to get back to myself afterwards.”
Indiewire’s other ‘dark horses’ for a best actor nod are the late Philip Seymour Hoffman ( A Most Wanted Man), Alfred Molina ( Love is Strange), John Lithgow ( Love is Strange), Miles Teller ( Whiplash) and Bill Hader ( The Skeleton Twins).
The film website tipped Steve Carell ( Foxcatcher), Ralph Fiennes ( The Grand Budapest Hotel) and Timothy Spall ( Mr Turner) as ‘Three Genuine Contenders’.