Oscar Roundtable: Best Actor

Many thanks to Thelma Adams for including me in her Oscar Roundtable.  We began with a discussion of Best Actor nominees — who will win, who should win, and who was left out.  I was sorry that John Hawkes’ performance in “The Sessions” was overlooked.

The subtlety and wit and longing and humanity he brought to that performance was beautifully expressed. And I’d love to see Denzel Washington (my favorite actor of our era) win this year for “Flight.” He is always an actor of breathtaking precision and detail, but in this performance he opened up more than he ever has before, with a vulnerability and fearlessness that was, for me, the best performance of the year. Daniel Day-Lewis was unquestionably brilliant as “Lincoln.” That opening scene showed us his humility, wisdom, patience, and sympathy. Later we saw his strength, his pain, his struggle, his ferocity. I won’t object if/when he wins. But my own best actor award goes to Denzel.