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Welcome to Beyond The Trailer’s coverage of the 2016 Academy Awards, giving you an
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in-depth look at the top categories. Today, Best Actor - or as we seem to be calling it
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this year, The Leonardo DiCaprio Award! Yes, while this year’s Oscars has sparked quite
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the debate regarding diversity, it seems everyone can at least agree that this is finally Leo’s
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year. Do you agree? You can voice your opinion in Beyond The Trailer’s annual Oscar poll!
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There’s a link in the video description, and right now let’s take a look at DiCaprio
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and his bridesmaids…
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Bryan Cranston - Trumbo
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There are few actors who have squandered their fan bases quite like Bryan Cranston. White
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hot after playing Walter White, he followed up that legendary award winning run with a
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bate and switch role in Godzilla, voicing Po’s father in Kung Fu Panda 3 aaaand Trumbo.
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Trumbo is actually a nifty little film that’s much more than the “TV movie” it appeared
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to be in the trailers - and while critics didn’t seem to appreciate it, thankfully
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newbie distributor Bleecker Street Films did a better job with one of their very first
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awards campaigns than Open Road did with Nightcrawler last year. Trumbo took off like a rocket after
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it rocked the SAG nominations, but with the Golden Globes and then the Oscars its nominations
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got whittled down to just one for Cranston. And to top it all off, it has yet to actually
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win anything. Yes, it would seem that Cranston - who’s been working since the 1980s - is
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not having a JK Simmons moment. Come to think of it, I bet Simmons and Cranston find themselves
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in competition for the same roles a lot these days - and are even BOTH in Kung Fu Panda
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3. Hmm, seems Oscar WIN and ICONIC TV CHARACTER balance each other out…
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Matt Damon - The Martian
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If anyone’s going to snag Leo’s Oscar, it’s THIS guy! Lucky for Leo though, Matt
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Damon’s already got an Oscar for co-writing Good Will Hunting, so the odds are still in
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DiCaprio’s favor. Interestingly enough, The Martian and The Revenant aren’t actually
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that far off from one another, with both actors portraying men stranded in unforgiving yet
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majestic environments. Plus both have to solely command the attention of the audience for
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long periods of time, so to anyone else who wants an Oscar, I hope you’re taking notes!
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Damon’s role is more optimistic - which is why he won Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical
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at the Golden Globes - while DiCaprio’s role is more tragic - which is why he won
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Best Actor in a Drama at the Golden Globes. But the Oscars only gives out one Best Actor
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award, and one guess as to which they gravitate towards more - optimism or tragedy. But while
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it’s unlikely Damon will win, that he’s such a tough challenger for DiCaprio only
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proves he’s still one of the biggest stars in Hollywood - almost twenty years after he
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burst onto the scene…at the Oscars!
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Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant
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Now if you think twenty years is a long time, that’s nothin’ to DiCaprio. While he got
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his big break on Growing Pains, he got his first Oscar nomination just shortly afterwards
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in 1994 for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape at just twenty years old. And while DiCaprio
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initially seemed to be embarked on a impressive artsy career with The Basketball Diaries,
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Romeo & Juliet and Marvin’s Room, he indadvertedly became a heartthrob movie star with James
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Cameron’s Titanic - a film which got a slew of Oscars nominations and wins, yet Leo was
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totally shut out. And thus began DiCaprio’s love-hate relationship with The Academy. See,
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despite collaborations with Danny Boyle, Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes, Clint Eastwood and Quentin
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Tarantino, DiCaprio could not win a freakin’ Oscar despite his box office success - or
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perhaps because of it. Sometimes The Academy likes to see big stars humbled, and with The
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Revenant DiCaprio might have finally sacrificed enough - yes, The Revenant’s awards campaign
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is largely composed of sharing horror stories from the set. But DiCaprio is said to have
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campaigned particularly hard this year and - in a year when moviegoers have little interest
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in the nominees - the only reason for many people to tune in is to see fan-favorite DiCaprio
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finally accept his Oscar…
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Michael Fassbender - Steve Jobs
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Ah-ha! This nomination is sweet revenge for Fassbender who was, like, Sony’s EIGHTH
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choice for this role. Not to mention that when Sony was hacked, an email leaked where
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screenwriter Aaron Sorkin wondered if Fassbender was capable of putting butts in the seats.
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Although, Sorkin likely feels that any actor starring in one of his films is guaranteed
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an Oscar nomination, and the fact that Fassbender isn’t really a genuine contender to win
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only further proves his initial reservations - and Sorkin might be right about that. But
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in Fassbender’s defense, Steve Jobs has been a bit of a disappointment all around,
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and certainly not worth all the real life drama it caused between Sony’s Amy Pascal
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and producer Scott Rudin. The Social Network, it is not. But Fassbender should just be grateful
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to have landed the nomination - his Macbeth was totally ignored - as this is his second
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one, and establishes him as the type of actor that “gets nominated”, which will certainly
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help him continue to get more prestige work. And with all his blockbuster work like X-Men,
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Alien and Assassin’s Creed, odds are he’ll end up pulling a Peter O’Toole, winning
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an Honorary Oscar when he’s in HIS seventies. Which would be pretty ironic considering his
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David is modeled after O’Toole’s iconic Lawrence of Arabia…
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Eddie Redmayne - The Danish Girl
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Well it’s a good thing Redmayne won last year, because his chances this year are ZERO.
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See, last year rumor was that Michael Keaton would win Best Actor for Birdman because the
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industry was already buzzing about Redmayne’s performance in The Danish Girl which had just
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begun filming. Everyone felt Redmayne was sure to win in 2016 so let Keaton win in 2015
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- until he didn’t. And again, Redmayne is very lucky that’s the way it went down because
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The Danish Girl suffered an unforeseen turn of events. First, instead of leading the transgender
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movement it suddenly found itself lagging behind, as REAL transgendered individuals
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stepped into the spotlight. In fact, The Danish Girl came under heavy criticism for not casting
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a transgender actress in the lead role. But is that the lead role? When The Danish Girl
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began screening at film festivals - i.e. the road to the Oscars - many felt it was really
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Alicia Vikander’s movie. And in keeping with that initial reaction, Vikander is this
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movie’s best bet for an Oscar win. Yes, like Carol, this film was supposed to be very
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forward thinking. But while Carol ended up just coming across as antiquated, The Danish
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Girl has come across as being out of touch - not a good look for Oscar.
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And those are the 2016 nominees for Best Actor! Do you agree that Leo has it in the bag? Be
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sure to leave your comments down below, as well as vote in Beyond The Trailer’s annual
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Oscar poll via the link in the video description. I’m Grace Randolph, and I hope you’ll
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check out the rest of BTT’s Oscar coverage - right now!