Following the announcement of the 97th Academy Awards nominees on Thursday, our attention now transfers from the main focus of who will be seen attending the ceremony, to who will be seen on stage at the ceremony.
And within the Best Supporting Actor category, the award is there to be taken.
The 5 names in contention for the Oscar, as read by Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott on Thursday morning, are the following:
Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)
Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)
Yuriy Borisov (Anora)
Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)
Every awards season, there seems to be that one acting category that possesses no question in terms of who will be crowned winner. And although this category doesn't follow this exact essence, it does seem to be the closest of the bunch.
Following last year's Emmy win for his work in season 4 of 'Succession', Kieran Culkin is fully expected to make it to the halfway point of an infamous 'EGOT' status with an Academy Award win here for his work in Jesse Eisenberg's 'A Real Pain'.
There are various reasons as to why Culkin is currently the clear favourite to win this award and his recent Golden Globe win is the newest addition to this long list. Throw in the fact that he is one of the few actors to be nominated at every pre-curser awards ceremony this year, and you've got a pretty compelling case.
But also, the timing just feels right for Culkin to win this award.
The final season of HBO's 'Succession' in 2023 left the world wanting more from Kieran Culkin. And just a mere 18 months later, we received exactly that through the form of his career-best performance in this film.
It's very rare these days that we actually see a supporting actor/actress winner in a film that doesn't have an extensive amount of screen time, an amount that almost matches that of their leading co-star. Because, all cards on the table, 'A Real Pain' is a film with two protagonists. But there's no argument for this that doesn't favour Culkin's chances.
There are a couple of performances in this category that are at least worthy of a mention, with Guy Pearce's performance in 'The Brutalist' likely hosting that #2 slot behind Culkin. If the Academy decide to award 'The Brutalist' within every category it is nominated for, including Best Picture (which is a real possibility), then a Pearce win could seem feasible.
Although, Guy Pearce's lack of inclusion at the Screen Actors Guild nominations certainly doesn't bode well in his favour.
The fact that 'A Real Pain' isn't even nominated for Best Picture this year does slightly damage Culkin's chances. But a secondary nomination in the Best Original Screenplay category shows that it wasn't just the actors' branch that were fond of the film.
Although Yuriy Borisov and Culkin's fictional brother, Jeremy Strong, are unlikely candidates to throw him off of top spot within this category, Edward Norton's portrayal of Pete Seger has been quietly going under the radar throughout this year's awards season.
The veteran actor has not only missed no major pre-curser nominations, but is officially the most over-due actor for an Academy Award on this list. Norton is 4 nominations deep now and still winless, if 'A Complete Unknown' over-performs on Oscar night just as it did at the nominees announcement, an Edward Norton win wouldn't be out of the question.
Who do you think will take home the Best Supporting Actor award at the 97th Academy Awards?
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