5 days ago
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LIKE Cillian Murphy and Jessie Buckley before him, Andrew Scott has emerged as early hot favourite to land a Best Actor Oscar.
If the Dubliner pulls off a remarkable treble for Ireland, he will become the first openly gay man to a win a leading actor Academy Award.
And while he is seen as a dead cert for his critically acclaimed performance in Elsinore, some critics are predicting that Scott – who has also won rave reviews for his role in the Second World War blockbuster Pressure – could become the first person in a century to be nominated twice in the same category at the Oscars.
The possibility of a double nomination has come about as a result of a rule change for the 2027 awards, which allows actors to be nominated in the same category for more than one film.
In Pressure, 49-year-old Scott plays meteorologist James Stagg, whose expertise helped plan the D-Day landings.
In the as-yet unreleased Elsinore, he takes on the role of the late Chariots Of Fire star Ian Charleson, alongside Olivia Colman as his doctor.
If the Dubliner pulls off a remarkable treble for Ireland, he will become the first openly gay man to a win a leading actor Academy Award
Critics raved about Scott’s performance in Elsinore following its Toronto film festival premiere last month, with the Guardian saying the Irish actor ‘seems a dead cert’ to win Best Actor in March. And critics were wowed again after the movie’s screening at the London Film Festival this week.
Pressure, which also stars Tipperary’s Kerry Condon, has garnered less commotion, though some critics tipped Scott for gongs early next year, including the Hollywood Reporter, which called his performance ‘award-worthy’.
In a one-line summary of Pressure’s critical reception, movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes describes it as a ‘brainy war film that derives most of its thrills from Andrew Scott’s simmering performance’.
The possibility of a double nomination has come about as a result of a rule change for the 2027 awards, which allows actors to be nominated in the same category for more than one film
Entertainment journalist Olivia Fahy, who posts on social media as Press Play With Olivia, told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘All of the talk has been with Elsinore, and that’s the one that everyone’s saying is going to be his big Oscar push. But I definitely feel like we can’t discount Pressure, because it is such a powerful performance.’
Scott vs Scott
Title: Pressure
Character: James Stagg
Plot: Days ahead of D-Day and US president Eisenhower, growing nervous about potential weather conditions, calls on Scottish meteorologist Stagg. Stagg heads the British-US team tasked with predicting the weather on one of the most pivotal days of the 20th century.
Notable cast: Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon, Damian Lewis
Budget: $30million (€26.5m)
Title: Elsinore
Character: Ian Charleson
Plot: Scottish actor Charleson prepares to play Hamlet at the National Theatre in London in the final months of his life, while seriously ill from Aids. Olivia Colman plays his doctor, right.
Notable cast: Olivia Colman, Billie Piper, Monica Dolan
Budget: Unannounced, though Scott – who was also a producer – has said there ‘wasn’t a lot of money’ for the ‘very big passion project’.
The new rule change allows actors and actresses to be nominated for more than one film in both the lead and supporting categories, for the first time since the third Academy Awards in 1930.
That year, three men were double-nominated in the Best Actor category, while two women had a double chance in Best Actress.
Asked if it could happen again next year, Ms Fahy said: ‘Andrew Scott could definitely have that feather in his cap by the time the nominations come out at the end of January.
'The only other lead actor buzz that I’ve been hearing is Tom Cruise for Digger, and the way that he’s been carrying out his press tour is certainly giving the impression that he is gunning for an Oscar. But Andrew could definitely do a double in the same category next year.’
Ms Fahy said Pressure contains ‘not a lot of action’ and is instead ‘all talk… about the weather’.
She said: ‘It’s a very understated performance until he has to be big. Stagg himself lets his work do the talking, whereas when he’s around all these Americans, they’re very loud and bombastic. But when he needs to turn up the volume, he certainly does.’
The new rule is the most striking of several changes to Oscars voting for the 2027 awards, which also formalises against AI creations being considered at the world’s glitziest ceremony.
It is hoped the rule will end so-called ‘category fraud’, a common gripe when studios release their ‘for your consideration’ slate to voters each year. Actors and actresses who ostensibly played lead roles are often put forward in supporting categories, and vice-versa.
The new rule change allows actors and actresses to be nominated for more than one film in both the lead and supporting categories, for the first time since the third Academy Awards in 1930
This is to give them a better chance of being nominated or picking up a statuette, or to avoid two actors from the same film competing in the same category.
The new rule could have helped Paul Mescal last year, who had two ‘arguable lead performances’ in The History Of Sound and Hamnet, but entered the supporting category for the latter. Under the new rule, that fear might have been alleviated, allowing Mescal to campaign in lead for Hamnet.
English (US) ·