5. Vanessa Redgrave - Foxcatcher
Vanessa Redgarve, the veteran actress and daughter of acting royalty (her father being the esteemed stage legend Michael Redgrave), has had a fairly success career when it comes to her relationship with the Oscars. She has received a total of six nominations from the Academy in her lifetime and won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as the titular character of Fred Zinnemann's Julia. It has been some time though since her path has crossed with Oscar's (the last time was in 1992 as a Best Supporting Actress nominee in Howard's End), but the stars may be aligned this year to gain Ms. Redgrave her seventh Oscar nomination, an impressive feat that would put her in an elite club of only seven other actress to receive so many numerous Oscar nominations. (The other actress being Ingrid Bergman (7), Jane Fonda (7), Greer Garson (7), Geraldine Page (8), Bette Davis (10), Katherine Hepburn (12), and of course, Meryl Streep (17), just in case you were wondering). The role that may enshrine Ms. Redgrave into this vaunted club is that of Jean Liseter Austin, the wheelchair-bound mother of paranoid schizophrenic multimillionaire, John du Pont (Steve Carell). Apparently, assuming the script was not drastically altered during filming, the role is a relatively small one, but this is a category that once nominated an actress for a role that lasted a total of 2 minutes and 32 seconds (Hermione Baddeley in Room at the Top (1959)). What matters then is not so much screen time, but dramatic presence, and Ms. Redgrave and this role are likely to have plenty of both. Plus, there may be a certain guilt factor that may work in Ms. Redgrave's favor. Just two short years ago, Redgrave gave a performance in Ralph Fiennes' adaptation of the relatively obscure Shakespeare play, Coriolanus, that received many critical plaudits around the cinematic wing of the web. Many critics and Oscar pundits alike were extremely vociferous in their support of Ms. Redgrave's bid for a Best Supporting Actress nomination and were severely disappointed when she failed to receive the nomination. If her performance is anywhere near Oscar-worthy, and given it is a significant enough part of the film to merit a legitimate campaign, you best believe the vocal supporters of her performance in Coriolanus will be eagerly reminding voters of the "injustice" done to her two years ago. Guilt, as has been often proved in the past, can be an effective campaign tool (for the Oscars and beyond), so don't be surprised to see the card played if Redgrave's chances look promising.