# The Oscars: Best Actor **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939 "2015-02-17T18:43:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/1 "2015-02-17T18:43:25Z")
If you had an AMPAS ballot, which performance would get your vote? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/2 "2015-02-17T19:54:04Z")
Michael Keaton gave the performance on the year. Definitely him. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/3 "2015-02-17T20:05:49Z")
Of the nominees in this category, I’ve only seen \*Birdman \*and _American Sniper_ and thought both leads gave great performances, but Keaton was amazing. He’s got my vote. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/4 "2015-02-17T20:13:59Z")
Keaton was great in **Birdman**. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/5 "2015-02-17T22:13:42Z")
Cast for Cumberbatch. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/6 "2015-02-17T23:07:38Z")
Oscar loves a guy in a wheelchair. ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/7 "2015-02-17T23:13:10Z")
Keaton, but not enthusiastically - I’d have taken Isaac from _Violent Year_ or Oyelowo from _Selma_ on him in an instant. But we deal with the cards we’re dealt, and Keaton was the best of the nominees. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/8 "2015-02-17T23:16:32Z")
> [@Kiros](#): > > Keaton, but not enthusiastically - I’d have taken Isaac from _Violent Year_ or Oyelowo from _Selma_ on him in an instant. But we deal with the cards we’re dealt, and Keaton was the best of the nominees. I’d add Spall in TURNER or Hardy in LOCKE to that excluded, vote-worthy list. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/9 "2015-02-18T00:29:26Z")
Definitely Cooper, but we all know the Academy won’t give a film about a venerated Iraq War veteran the nod. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/10 "2015-02-18T23:31:13Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Definitely Cooper, but we all know the Academy won’t give a film about a venerated Iraq War veteran the nod. We don’t know any such thing. Cooper was nominated, and that’s a helluva “nod” considering all the worthy actors left out in the cold (ask Jake Gyllenhaal how he feels not being nominated after giving the finest performance of his career). The movie was nominated for Best Picture, beating out dozens of extremely BP-worthy movies. Though not not the favorites, if AS & Cooper don’t win it’ll have nothing to do with politics. Btw, Kyle [isn’t quite as "venerated"](http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/06/real-american-sniper-hate-filled-killer-why-patriots-calling-hero-chris-kyle)as teabaggers would like to imagine. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/11 "2015-02-20T05:13:55Z")
Ok, I’ve seen American Sniper now and I’m sorry I didn’t wait to vote. If I could, I’d change my vote from Michael Keaton to Bradley Cooper. No matter what the real Chris Kyle was like, and no matter how this movie might have changed/softened him, Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of the character _as written for the movie_ was perfect. I’m as bleeding-heart a liberal as they come, but I thought it was an excellent movie. It was tense, harrowing, moving and very very sad. Excruciatingly sad. It wasn’t the “America, FUCK YEAH!” rah-rah bullshit I’d thought it was going to be. Yeah there was a bit of that, but mostly it was about a soldier trying to protect his fellow soldiers, and the heavy price the war took on his (the movie character) psyche. Mostly it made me hate George Bush and Dick Cheney even more than I already did for starting the war, and I didn’t think that was possible. But getting back to the movie, IMO it absolutely deserves its Best Picture nomination and Bradley Cooper’s Best Actor nomination. If Cooper were to win, I wouldn’t be upset at all. He was great. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/12 "2015-02-22T18:44:13Z")
Oscar day bump ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/13 "2015-02-23T05:37:37Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Oscar loves a guy in a wheelchair. Like I said… I would have made good money betting this year. I predicted all the top prizes except director. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/14 "2015-02-23T22:46:47Z")
I wasn’t really qualified to answer as I’d seen only one of the performances (Michael Keaton’s) but when I went downstairs to watch the end of the show last night and saw a quick recap of the nominees for Best Actor when the guy playing Stephen Hawking came up I looked over at my wife and said, “It might very well end up being him.” (I based that on the perception that playing somebody with a debilitating disease and coming off as _convincing_ must’ve been VERY difficult. Notice that both top acting awards went to actors who were playing people with ailments) We both were pulling for Michael Keaton (partly because he’s the one we saw but also because we figured he’ll have fewer chances to win that sort of award at this point in time than the guy playing Stephen Hawking will) but I guess we can’t be _too_ unhappy with the guy who was chosen. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oscars-best-actor/712939/15 "2015-02-23T23:24:25Z")
We were sure it would be Michael Keaton and when Redmayne was named: “My Left Foot syndrome”. (Julianne Moore too although I am happy she won.)