In Defense of Denzel Washington in "Roman J. Israel, Esq."
By Spencer Coile
Last year’s Best Actor race was highly contentious. Due to an influx of coverage surrounding sexual harassment charges, many people became uncomfortable with Casey Affleck's frontrunner status. This led some Oscar gurus to prognosticate a spoiler victory for Denzel Washington for his Fences passion project. How close the voting was we'll never know but Washington and Affleck were considered to be neck-and-neck at the end.
Still, Affleck was victorious, leaving many (most notably, Brie Larson) unhappy or furious. While the narrative is not exactly the same for the new Best Actor race, there is one common denominator: Denzel Washington.