in-depth look at the top categories. Today, Best Actor - or as we seem to be calling it

this year, The Leonardo DiCaprio Award! Yes, while this year’s Oscars has sparked quite

the debate regarding diversity, it seems everyone can at least agree that this is finally Leo’s

year. Do you agree? You can voice your opinion in Beyond The Trailer’s annual Oscar poll!

There’s a link in the video description, and right now let’s take a look at DiCaprio

and his bridesmaids…

Bryan Cranston - Trumbo

There are few actors who have squandered their fan bases quite like Bryan Cranston. White

hot after playing Walter White, he followed up that legendary award winning run with a

bate and switch role in Godzilla, voicing Po’s father in Kung Fu Panda 3 aaaand Trumbo.

Trumbo is actually a nifty little film that’s much more than the “TV movie” it appeared

to be in the trailers - and while critics didn’t seem to appreciate it, thankfully

newbie distributor Bleecker Street Films did a better job with one of their very first

awards campaigns than Open Road did with Nightcrawler last year. Trumbo took off like a rocket after

it rocked the SAG nominations, but with the Golden Globes and then the Oscars its nominations

got whittled down to just one for Cranston. And to top it all off, it has yet to actually

win anything. Yes, it would seem that Cranston - who’s been working since the 1980s - is

not having a JK Simmons moment. Come to think of it, I bet Simmons and Cranston find themselves

in competition for the same roles a lot these days - and are even BOTH in Kung Fu Panda

3. Hmm, seems Oscar WIN and ICONIC TV CHARACTER balance each other out…

Matt Damon - The Martian

If anyone’s going to snag Leo’s Oscar, it’s THIS guy! Lucky for Leo though, Matt

Damon’s already got an Oscar for co-writing Good Will Hunting, so the odds are still in

DiCaprio’s favor. Interestingly enough, The Martian and The Revenant aren’t actually

that far off from one another, with both actors portraying men stranded in unforgiving yet

majestic environments. Plus both have to solely command the attention of the audience for

long periods of time, so to anyone else who wants an Oscar, I hope you’re taking notes!

Damon’s role is more optimistic - which is why he won Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical

at the Golden Globes - while DiCaprio’s role is more tragic - which is why he won

Best Actor in a Drama at the Golden Globes. But the Oscars only gives out one Best Actor

award, and one guess as to which they gravitate towards more - optimism or tragedy. But while

it’s unlikely Damon will win, that he’s such a tough challenger for DiCaprio only

proves he’s still one of the biggest stars in Hollywood - almost twenty years after he

burst onto the scene…at the Oscars!

Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant

Now if you think twenty years is a long time, that’s nothin’ to DiCaprio. While he got

his big break on Growing Pains, he got his first Oscar nomination just shortly afterwards

in 1994 for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape at just twenty years old. And while DiCaprio

initially seemed to be embarked on a impressive artsy career with The Basketball Diaries,

Romeo & Juliet and Marvin’s Room, he indadvertedly became a heartthrob movie star with James

Cameron’s Titanic - a film which got a slew of Oscars nominations and wins, yet Leo was

totally shut out. And thus began DiCaprio’s love-hate relationship with The Academy. See,

despite collaborations with Danny Boyle, Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes, Clint Eastwood and Quentin

Tarantino, DiCaprio could not win a freakin’ Oscar despite his box office success - or

perhaps because of it. Sometimes The Academy likes to see big stars humbled, and with The

Revenant DiCaprio might have finally sacrificed enough - yes, The Revenant’s awards campaign

is largely composed of sharing horror stories from the set. But DiCaprio is said to have

campaigned particularly hard this year and - in a year when moviegoers have little interest

in the nominees - the only reason for many people to tune in is to see fan-favorite DiCaprio

finally accept his Oscar…

Michael Fassbender - Steve Jobs

Ah-ha! This nomination is sweet revenge for Fassbender who was, like, Sony’s EIGHTH

choice for this role. Not to mention that when Sony was hacked, an email leaked where

screenwriter Aaron Sorkin wondered if Fassbender was capable of putting butts in the seats.

Although, Sorkin likely feels that any actor starring in one of his films is guaranteed

an Oscar nomination, and the fact that Fassbender isn’t really a genuine contender to win

only further proves his initial reservations - and Sorkin might be right about that. But

in Fassbender’s defense, Steve Jobs has been a bit of a disappointment all around,

and certainly not worth all the real life drama it caused between Sony’s Amy Pascal

and producer Scott Rudin. The Social Network, it is not. But Fassbender should just be grateful

to have landed the nomination - his Macbeth was totally ignored - as this is his second

one, and establishes him as the type of actor that “gets nominated”, which will certainly

help him continue to get more prestige work. And with all his blockbuster work like X-Men,

Alien and Assassin’s Creed, odds are he’ll end up pulling a Peter O’Toole, winning

an Honorary Oscar when he’s in HIS seventies. Which would be pretty ironic considering his

David is modeled after O’Toole’s iconic Lawrence of Arabia…

Eddie Redmayne - The Danish Girl

Well it’s a good thing Redmayne won last year, because his chances this year are ZERO.

See, last year rumor was that Michael Keaton would win Best Actor for Birdman because the

industry was already buzzing about Redmayne’s performance in The Danish Girl which had just

begun filming. Everyone felt Redmayne was sure to win in 2016 so let Keaton win in 2015

- until he didn’t. And again, Redmayne is very lucky that’s the way it went down because

The Danish Girl suffered an unforeseen turn of events. First, instead of leading the transgender

movement it suddenly found itself lagging behind, as REAL transgendered individuals

stepped into the spotlight. In fact, The Danish Girl came under heavy criticism for not casting

a transgender actress in the lead role. But is that the lead role? When The Danish Girl

began screening at film festivals - i.e. the road to the Oscars - many felt it was really

Alicia Vikander’s movie. And in keeping with that initial reaction, Vikander is this

movie’s best bet for an Oscar win. Yes, like Carol, this film was supposed to be very

forward thinking. But while Carol ended up just coming across as antiquated, The Danish

Girl has come across as being out of touch - not a good look for Oscar.

And those are the 2016 nominees for Best Actor! Do you agree that Leo has it in the bag? Be

sure to leave your comments down below, as well as vote in Beyond The Trailer’s annual

Oscar poll via the link in the video description. I’m Grace Randolph, and I hope you’ll

check out the rest of BTT’s Oscar coverage - right now!