Oscars 2022: 10 Fan Favourite Category Nominees Ranked From Least To Most Likely To Win

Sam Elliot's tone-deaf, reactionary response to The Power of the Dog has helped the film's awards prospects far more than hurt them. It wouldn't be at all surprising if the actor's homophobic response to Jane Campion's film about closeted male lust in the old west saw it make a late surge forward in the Fan Favorite votes.

Benedict Cumberbatch probably also helped the film during the vacuous social media popularity competition. He's got a passionate and dedicated fanbase, fostered through his role as Sherlock Holmes for the BBC update. It's the best performance of his career so far, and he deserves to be awarded for it this Sunday.

The Power of the Dog is the film that best distils the strangeness of the Fan Favorite category. Benedict Cumberbatch gives this nuanced and complex portrayal of masculinity while also being the same actor that plays sarcastic mystic Doctor Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home. That very fact is testament to the broad canvas of cinema, which is exactly what the Academy should be celebrating. By placing these things in silos or "Best Picture" v.s "Fan Favorite" categories, it chips away at the universality of the medium.

This will be evident for all to see when The Power of the Dog wins Best Picture and a very different film wins Fan Favorite.