9. Kate Winslett - Labor Day
Kate Winslett has been a relative favorite of the Academy for some time now. Nominated an impressive six times, including her first victory for her most recent Oscar nominated performance in 2008's The Reader, she has lived a charmed life when it comes to the Oscars. Labor Day sees Winslett teaming up with another Oscar favorite in director Jason Reitman, a man who is currently batting .500 in his career for his movies receiving Best Picture nominations. Mr. Reitman has also managed to direct three of his actresses to Oscar nominations (including two in the same category, Vera Farminga and Anna Kendrick, for Up in the Air), and although Charlize Theron proved unsuccessful in her attempt at an Oscar nomination for her prickly performance in Young Adult, I think it's safe to say that Labor Day will be closer to the Academy's wave length than Reitman's last unapologetically dark comedy. Labor Day, based on the novel by Joyce Maynard, tells the story of a struggling single mother and her son who find and pick up a distressed man for a ride. The man turns out to be an escaped convict on the run from the cops and keeps them as hostages of sorts, giving mother and son a chance to become better acquainted with the man on the lamb. The movie sounds more like a flat-out drama than Reitman's previous work, which have been of the distinctly dramedy variety thus far, so he does have something to prove in this category. Ms. Winslett on the other hand has nothing to prove when it comes to dramatic acting. While nominations for films such as Titanic and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind aren't exactly your bread and butter dramas, her performances for films like The Reader and Little Children are quintessential examples of the genre. Clearly then, Ms. Winslett has the talent and the popularity within the Academy for this to be her seventh Oscar nomination. The question then comes down to how well the film will be liked by the Academy. I feel fairly confident though that the film doesn't need to be wildly successful for Winslett to receive an Oscar nomination. Even if the film misses out on a Best Picture nomination, I could very well see her still having her name called come nomination morning. As long as it is better received than Revolutionary Road, her odds a pretty good.