For a couple of weeks now we’ve been talking about Oscar nominees and how, typically, it’s more fun to be a nominee who isn’t a frontrunner because there’s no pressure, you can just enjoy the ride. There are exceptions, of course, as we’ve been seeing with Ariana DeBose, but for the most part, the ones who don’t think they’re going to win and probably won’t win can be a lot looser on the campaign circuit and through the process. They don’t have anything to lose.
This is where we find Andrew Garfield who is nominated for Best Actor for his performance in tick…tick…BOOM! He was on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night, just one day before Oscar voting begins, to talk about his nomination and, of course, Spider-Man: No Way Home, which certainly hasn’t hurt his visibility and even though it’s been a non-stop conversation for three months now, he’s clearly not tired of it. Whenever Spider-Man comes up, Andrew talks about it with such affection and warmth, it reminds me of what he was like when he was the reigning Spider-Man and how earnestly responsible he was with the title, popping up for surprise appearances at Comic-Con, telling people about his childhood dreams…
Some of that had soured by the end of his run but it seems like all the good feelings have been restored now with No Way Home, a success on so many levels.
To go back to the Oscars, in the Best Actor category, Will Smith is the overwhelming favourite. At this point, if Will doesn’t win, it’ll be a major f-cking shock. But what’s great about Andrew the nominee who probably won’t win is that, well, he can talk about this. Which is what happens towards the end of his Kimmel interview when Jimmy askes Andrew if he’s prepared an acceptance speech and he’s like… this is so awkward, and then proceeds to reveal that, yes, people in Hollywood pay attention to the Oscar race standings, pay attention to the mood of the race – Andrew calls it a certain “energy” about who the frontrunners are; he even admits to looking at the betting websites…
So when we talk about predictions, when we talk about industry buzz, when we talk about the scorecard, so to speak, this is not just the media creating the atmosphere, it’s coming from inside Hollywood itself. They’re following it closer than anyone else. Also he looks so great in this rust-coloured suit.
