9. Michael Fassbender - Twelve Years A Slave
We all know at some point, Michael Fassbender will get an Oscar nomination. He's just too damn good not to. This is why I included him in the tail end of my list of ten potential Best Actor nominees for his role in the upcoming Cormac McCarthey-penned and Ridley Scott-helmed, The Counselor, but I'm a little skeptical on that film's Oscar potential given Mr. Scott's recent output. I am more confident however in Fassbender's chances at receiving a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his third collaboration with director Steve McQueen in McQueen's third feature film, Twelve Years a Slave. The film is based on the memoirs of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a mid-19th Century Africa-American man living in upstate New York who was tricked and then forced into involuntary servitude in the Deep South for twelve years of his life. During his dozen years as a slave, Mr. Northup was forced to serve many different owners, including one by the name of Edwin Epps, which is the character Mr. Fassbinder is tasked with portraying. Edwin Epps had the reputation of being a particularly cruel slave owner and he made Northup the plantation's "driver", which was a slave supervisor of sorts charged with overseeing that slaves did their work properly and punished those that did not. While the subject matter may sound appealing to Academy types (as evidenced by Django Unchained's success at the Oscars last year), I worry from early reports that the film may be too stark and bleak for the Academy's decidedly middle-brow taste. Director Steve McQueen's uncompromising vision in chronicling taboo subject likely already cost Mr. Fassbender one Oscar nomination for his performance in Shame, although the Actors branch illustrated they're not totally adverse to nominating strong performances in films a tad austere for their liking as proven by the three acting nominations for Paul Thomas Anderson's chilly L. Ron Hubbard riff, The Master. There is also the issue of Fassbender's performance not being substantial enough to merit nomination or being obscured by his fellow cast-mates potentially strong performances. When a film has a myriad of terrific supporting performances (which with a cast that includes Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti, Benedict Cumerbatch, Scoot McNairy, Paul Dano, and Michael K. Williams, is a strong possibility), the Academy's typical response is to simply nominate no one (Killing Them Softly anyone?), which would be unfortunate for Mr. Fassbender. Given these very real possibilities, it may be a case of wishful thinking, but I still like Fassbender's odds.