What's Next for this Past Season's Actors - Part 2
Sunday, March 6, 2016 at 12:00PM 
Murtada here to continue the conversation about upcoming projects from actors who've just walked red carpets and absorbed whatever limelight got past the Leo coronation. We've dealt with the winners and the actresses, let's turn our attention to the men.
Christian Bale: Coming up first is The Promise with Oscar Isaac and Charlotte Le Bon (The Walk), a love triangle set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire. He recently signed on to star in Scott Cooper’s Western drama Hostiles.
Oscar Chances: Scott Cooper directed Jeff Bridges to an Oscar win and has tried to duplicate that high mark with diminishing returns on his last two pictures (Out of the Furnace and Black Mass). Possible but doubtful.
Bryan Cranston: He reprises his Tony winning play All the Way, in which he plays Lyndon B. Johnson, for HBO.
Oscar Chances: Another Emmy is likely unless an unknown juggernaut airs in the same season.
:
Matt Damon: First up is this summer’s Jason Bourne, then the movie that caused the world to swoon for a ponytail, Zhang Yimou’s The Great Wall. Still in pre-production are George Clooney’s Suburbicon and Alexander Payne’s Downsizing.
Oscar Chances: Yes if we judge by Payne last movie, no if we judge by Clooney’s.
Michael Fassbender: The aforementioned The Light Between Oceans and X-Men: Apocalypse. He reteams with Macbeth director Justin Kurzel and co-star Marion Cotillard for the action game adaptation Assassin’s Creed. He’s currently shooting The Snowman with Rebecca Ferguson and Charlotte Gainsbourg from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’s Tomas Alfredson. He will then reprise his Prometheus android David in Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant.
Oscar Chances: Not immediately. He's heading for more commercial players after Steve Jobs.
Tom Hardy: Hardy set the internet on fire with his nakedness in the trailer for miniseries Taboo. Coming up is Christopher Nolan’s WW2 drama Dunkirk. He’s also attached to star in an Elton John biopic, which was announced 3 years ago so who knows if it will happen.
Oscar Chances: The internet will probably turn to Christopher Nolan as the next most overdue for an Oscar - and maybe Hardy gets swept up in that narrative like he was this year with Leo.
Eddie Redmayne: The Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Congrats on scoring a franchise, Eddie!
Oscar Chances: Unlikely.
Mark Ruffalo: Nothing that interesting if we are being honest. A sequel, Now You See Me 2 and more Marvel with Thor: Ragnarok. Ruffalo would be perfect casting for the role of the main character's husband in Where’d You Go Bernadette? Maybe he can plot a reunion with Cate Blanchett while they are on the set of Thor.
Oscar Chances: None.
Sylvester Stallone: No projects have been announced for Rocky Balboa himself.
Besides Bourne, what are you excited for?
Reader Comments (11)
Don't forget Knight of Cups!
I like that you italicized Marion Cotillard's name as if that alone were a movie title. I think we should forever treat Marion Cotillard with title case.
I'm interested in Hardy and Nolan pairing up again, after their collaboration on Inception -- my second favorite Nolan film after Memento. That said, I think Nolan's weakness is his bloated screenwriting, and since Dunkirk gives him sole screenplay credit, I'm concerned. He also seems to rely too heavily on Oscar nominated/winning actors for casting, leading to some unfortunate choices (Page in Inception, Chastain in Interstellar) or just misused actors (Affleck in Interstellar, Cotillard in Inception).
haha, your note at the bottom re: Bourne was probably a good idea; otherwise that was the only answer you were likely to get.
As far as being excited, it's hard to be excited about films that don't have trailers. So the only film I'm really excited about really is Bourne. With that said, my list would be as folllows:
1) Bourne
2) Dunkirk. Christopher Nolan. Enough said.
3) Alien Covenant: The Martian was so good and the last entry in the franchise had some very solid moments that worked like gangbusters (e.g. Fassbender being one of them)
4) Assassin's Creed - Due to my love for the game. I reserve the right to change my mind if the trailer is dreadful; which is a distinct possibility.
5) The Snowman because that director already has two near-masterpieces under his belt.
@San FranCinema:
>True about Hardy; he really was great in Inception and had a comedic edge that we haven't seen from him elsewhere.
> Page was a bore in Inception.
> Chastain and Cotillard were both quite good in Interstellar and Inception, respectively. So I don't know what you are talking about there.
> Affleck was in Interstellar? lol. I guess not that memorable.
- San FranCinema: Jessica Chastain was easily one of the best casting choices in Interstellar. She understood the emotional arch of Murph without overplaying her or making her one-dimensional. I never read of anyone criticizing her casting in the movie.
- Murtada: Bale has one of the best performances of his career in Out of the Furnace. It's a shame the film was not up to the same calibre. I fully expect Bale to be returning to the Oscars soon. He and Matt Damon seem to be entering the prime years of their careers.
@Annony and Jones. Maybe I'm in the minority but as much as I adore Jessica Chastain as an actress (especially in The Help, The Debt, Take Shelter and A Most Violent Year), I just never believe her in these action/scientist roles. In Interstellar & The Martian I think she seems entirely miscast. ... Cotillard was just underused in Interstellar. Anyone could have been cast in that role. And she has never been worse in Nolan's Dark Night Rises. Her death scene is the absolute worst moment of her otherwise stellar filmography.
" Chastain and Cotillard were both quite good in Interstellar and Inception, respectively."
I thought they were both really good too.
Bale: Scott Cooper and Terry George. Really hope Oscar passes on both. If Oliver Stone is about to enter another high point, maybe Peace Train might be his ticket for nomination #4.
Bryan Cranston: He is in The Disaster Artist (The pitch: James Franco is Tommy "One reason no one went to see Room" Wiseau), but even then it's more likely the Franco brothers will pull the noms if that hits it off with critics. That's his best bet for appearing in the next ceremony.
Damon: Hopefully not for either of those.
Fassbender: Assassin's Creed doesn't sound likely on paper, but it is a Christmas release and, if it's even just "good", the nature of the gimmick (two characters hook) and late arrival release MIGHT result in him getting a surprise fifth slot placement. After all, worse stuff than this has suddenly gotten a nom (Sean Penn over Gene Hackman in 2001, anyone?).
Tom Hardy: Yeah, as much as I kind of get that he's slightly overdue for a nomination, I doubt he's viewed as overdue for a WIN yet.
Eddie Redmayne: He just got a second, painfully undeserved, nomination. After undeserved Academy love, you need to start succeeding at schmoozing the public or your place at the table will be rescinded. Franchise fare is what he needs right now.
Mark Ruffalo: I almost agreed, but, after checking something, I now think no, he's not. See, there are two notable people with the given name Elgin. Elgin Baylor and Elgin James. They're both black. I'm hoping for Lawrence Fishburne or Idris Elba based on that.
Great concise roundup man - definitely agree Nolan is over-due for an Oscar, and I love WW2 stuff, so looking forward to Dunkirk!
I like very much Casey Affleck in Interstellar, even if he hasn't got a lot of screen time. His video message for the spaceman father is actually my favorite moment of the film!