{"id":511337,"date":"2026-01-12T17:46:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T17:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/511337\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T17:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T17:46:16","slug":"the-five-most-exciting-head-to-head-battles-in-the-oscars-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/511337\/","title":{"rendered":"The five most exciting head-to-head battles in the Oscars race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Winner of the best actor award at\u00a0<a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/culture\/tags\/cannes-film-festival\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"noopener\">Cannes<\/a>, he was widely considered a sure thing for an Oscar nomination until the Actor awards (previously the\u00a0<a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/topics\/c01k1v82p0kt\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"noopener\">SAG awards<\/a>) nominations were announced last week and Moura, along with every other performer in a film not in the English language, was left out. Since actors are the largest voting block among Academy Awards voters, that wasn&#8217;t a great sign. It&#8217;s true that Globes members (who are international journalists) are more likely to embrace a performance not in English, but still: that win puts Moura firmly back in the running.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765809022_894_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/p0mtjy25.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Getty Images (Credit: Getty Images)\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Getty Images<b id=\"3-and-4.-supporting-actor-and-actress:-shaking-up-the-races\" class=\"sc-d16436d-0 gnUCoQ\">3 and 4. Supporting actor and actress: Shaking up the races<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Some years, one performer easily swoops up every major predictor award en route to the Oscars, the way Kieran Culkin did last year as supporting actor in A Real Pain \u2013 Golden Globe, Bafta, SAG award and Oscar, he got them all. This is not one of those years. The Globes&#8217; supporting categories are, in fact, similar to the Oscars because they are not separated into drama and comedy. And this year&#8217;s Globes blew both supporting races wide open.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">There was no real consensus about supporting actor going in, with Benicio del Toro considered slightly more likely to triumph for\u00a0<a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/culture\/article\/20250917-one-battle-after-another-review\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"noopener\">One Battle After Another<\/a>\u00a0over Jacob Elordi in\u00a0<a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/culture\/article\/20250830-giving-him-a-makeover-is-like-having-a-vegetarian-count-dracula-why-jacob-elordis-frankensteins-monster-is-wrong\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"noopener\">Frankenstein<\/a>. Del Toro had several critics&#8217; groups awards and Elordi the Critics&#8217; Choice. Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd&#8217;s Globes win for the Norwegian film\u00a0<a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/culture\/article\/20250523-why-sentimental-value-is-being-called-the-best-film-you-might-see-all-year-cannes-film-festival\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"noopener\">Sentimental Value<\/a>\u00a0adds a new twist. As with Moura, the international Globe voters may have been partial to a non-English-language performance. But Skarsg\u00e5rd now has &#8220;winner&#8221; written all over him and momentum moving forward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Just four days before the Globes, the awards site\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goldderby.com\/film\/2026\/amy-madigan-best-supporting-actress-oscar-odds-weapons\/#:~:text=Since%20the%20August%20release%20of,out%20of%20the%20Top%205.\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"noopener\">Gold Derby<\/a>\u00a0wrote that Amy Madigan &#8220;jumps to No 1 in best supporting actress odds&#8221; for the horror film Weapons, after her wins at the Critics&#8217; Choice Awards and with the New York and Los Angeles film critics groups. And after Teyana Taylor&#8217;s Globes win for One Battle After Another, a cheeky but accurate post on\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/golden-globes-2026-live-blog-updates-reactions.html#rip-to-amy-madigan-being-the-oscar-frontrunner-2025-26\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"noopener\">Vulture<\/a>&#8216;s live blog read, &#8220;RIP to Amy Madigan being the Oscar frontrunner (2025-26)&#8221;. Those swerves make the supporting races the least predictable of the year.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765809022_894_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/p0mtjy6p.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Getty Images (Credit: Getty Images)\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Getty Images<b id=\"5.-best-picture:-one-battle-v-hamnet?\" class=\"sc-d16436d-0 gnUCoQ\">5. Best picture: One Battle v Hamnet?<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Paul Thomas Anderson gives acceptance speeches that are modest, smart, generous and short, which is handy, because he has been winning a lot. After its Globes victory in the best musical or comedy category, One Battle After Another is still the Oscar frontrunner for best picture. And Anderson&#8217;s wins for both director and screenplay (unlike the Oscars, the Globes don&#8217;t separate the screenwriting category into original and adapted) is such a sign of strength that One Battle is the safest Oscar bet of all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Winner of the best actor award at\u00a0Cannes, he was widely considered a sure thing for an Oscar nomination&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":511338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-511337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115883382312301089","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}