The Gotham Awards were last night in New York, or as I like to call them, the extremely early Oscar predictors. The Gothams aren’t a great bellwether for the Oscars, but the awards are decided by juries of actors and filmmakers, some of whom are Academy members, so it’s not NOT a good predictor, either. Mostly, it’s an interesting cross-section of awards season. For some, this is the biggest honor they’ll get on the trophy trail; for others, this is the first hill to climb on the Oscar rollercoaster. So let’s start with a couple of fellas who got a HUGE Oscar bump last night: Sing Sing’s Colman Domingo and Clarence Maclin.

 

Colman we’ve been talking about all season. With the Gotham bump, I’m confident calling him the frontrunner for Best Actor, unless and until Daniel Craig and/or Ralph Fiennes decide to play the “it’s his time” card. Adrien Brody is in the mix, too—he showed his face along with Georgina Chapman last night—and A Complete Unknown has started screening just at the edge of eligibility for many awards groups, so Timmy-Bob is waiting to pounce. But Colman is almost certainly going to get a second Oscar nomination for Sing Sing, and right now, he’s the one to beat. Everyone else has to catch him.

 

We have not spoken about Clarence Maclin, though, who plays himself in Sing Sing. He was incarcerated at age 29 and participated in the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program depicted in the film; he is an executive producer and made a story contribution on Sing Sing, too. This is Maclin’s first film role as an actor, so in terms of garnering industry support for an awards run, he has no name recognition. What he does have is one HELL of a good story, and Academy voters cannot resist a comeback or a rags to riches tale (remember Captain Phillips’ Barkhad Abdi and all the “limo driver to movie star” jokes?). The Gothams do what the Gothams do—raise his visibility and get everyone googling “who is Clarence Maclin”. I expect to see him become a much stronger contender in the supporting actor category over the next couple weeks, especially if he picks up a nomination next week at either the Golden Globes or the Critics Choice Awards.

 

The current frontrunner for Best Supporting Actor is Kieran Culkin, who was also at the Gothams. I love the chaotic energy he brings everywhere he goes, and I hope he doesn’t lose that if he loses some momentum as the frontrunner. Also losing momentum is Sebastian Stan. People are just not touching The Apprentice with a ten-foot pole, and A Different Man is too weird for the Oscars—but not the Gothams, where it won Best Feature. Stan and his co-star, Adam Pearson, were at the Gothams, but they’re a perfect of example of “this might be your biggest night of the season”. The Independent Spirit Awards are another option, but that’s looking as far as the Different Man team will go. Would love to be wrong!

 

And then there’s the Timmy-Bob of it all. Timothee Chalamet and director James Mangold were on hand last night to receive the Visionary Tribute for their collaboration on the film. I feel like Mangold gets consistently good work out of actors but rarely is it their most brilliant performance but sure. A Complete Unknown will undoubtedly rewrite the awards race over the next week, being early on the Timmy-Bob train won’t hurt. A Complete Unknown is only just slipping in under the wire for eligibility this year, but I expect it to upend the Oscar race by this time next week—those starf-ckers at the Golden Globes won’t be able to resist multiple nominations for this film.

 

Oscar Isaac showed up to honour Timmy with an empathic endorsement of his performance and preparation. It was basically the best night ever for Club Chalamet. 

 

Because there was also this moment between Timmy and Oscar, and it’s not just Club Chalamet popping off over it.