Moving on to the list's second actor playing a famous 20th century genius, Eddie Redmayne's performance as Stephen Hawking is one of the few Best Actor contenders this year that is an absolute lock for a nomination. The performance, beyond being quite good, checks a number of boxes that are helpful to securing acting nominations from the Academy. First, Redmayne plays a well known historical figure. Biopics are a goldmine for Oscar nominations and many an actor has received their first ever Oscar nomination by playing someone Academy members are familiar with. Second, not only does Redmayne play a famous historical figure, but he happens to play a famous historical figure who was afflicted with a debilitating disease. Hawking is one of the more famous people to have ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease, an infliction that slowly takes away voluntary muscle control, leaving the individual almost totally paralyzed. The film's primary focus is on the hardships both Mr. Hawking and his wife, Jane, had to deal with due to his condition, and, without trying to be too cynically grotesque about it, the Academy's Actors Branch tends to eat this type of stuff up. To be fair to Mr. Redmayne though, his performance as Stephen Hawking is anything but a reductionist portrait of a man with a disability. Both Redmayne and the film capture the personality and spirit of Hawking, an obviously brilliant man with a dry wit and sardonic sense of humor who occasionally lets his ego get the better of him. Beyond the psychical mechanics of mimicking someone with ALS, a technically difficult task which Redmayne achieves flawlessly, Redmayne is able to draw out Hawking's personality through his expressive use of his eyes, making the performance much more than an impressive parlor trick. It is this breadth so apparent in Redmayne's performance that makes his nomination one of the few sure things in this year's Best Actor race. Even those who dismiss the film as middle-brow Oscar fluff admit that Redmayne's performance is one to be commended. This is why, as stiff as this year's Best Actor competition is, Redmayne will be among the nominees, no question.
A film fanatic at a very young age, starting with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and gradually moving up to more sophisticated fare, at around the age of ten he became inexplicably obsessed with all things Oscar. With the incredibly trivial power of being able to chronologically name every Best Picture winner from memory, his lifelong goal is to see every Oscar nominated film, in every major category, in the history of the Academy Awards.
