7. Emma Thompson - Saving Mr. Banks
Remember the 1990's? Grunge music was popular, Nickelodeon still had great television programming, the internet was still a novelty, and the term "reality TV" had no meaning. If you remember this decade fondly, your not the only one, but one person who might be feeling especially nostalgic for the 90's is Emma Thompson. Ms. Thompson had an incredible hot streak with the Academy in the mid 1990's. In a four year span, Emma Thompson managed to receive five Oscar nominations, including three Best Actress nominations with one win for Howards End (she was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress and won a second Oscar for writing the adaptation of Sense and Sensibility). Since that time though, Ms. Thompson has never been able to rekindle her romance with the members of the Academy, receiving a grand total of zero nominations. Thompson though is poised for her best chance at a comeback yet with her role as Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers in the upcoming Saving Mr. Banks. The film is said to chronicle Walt Disney's relentless courting of Travers to let him turn her work of fiction into film, something she was wary of doing, as well as the filming of the movie itself. It may not be quite as promising a role as playing Mary Poppins herself (the role that won Julie Andrews an Academy Award), but it may be the next best thing. Playing a historical figure is always a plus when in comes to Oscar nominations, but when you throw in the bonus that the film addresses part of Hollywood lore, that may just be the needed cherry on top to edge Ms. Thompson into a nomination slot (although Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren may beg to differ). The key to whether Emma Thompson can regain her Oscar groove back will likely depend on how the film is received overall. Saving Mr. Banks is being directed by John Lee Hancock, who has done mostly nondescript middle-brow films (including The Blind Side, which managed to get a Best Picture nomination despite the aptness of these adjectives), and given the already schmaltzy nature of the subject matter, this could be a dangerous combination. With Tom Hanks playing the iconic Walt Disney, his performance, whether good or bad, may distract to the point of overshadowing Ms. Thompson's performance as well. If Ms. Thompson can get the significant British voting block behind her though, the only thing she'll need to do is deliver a solid performance.