Johnny Depp Strongest Best Actor Contender So Far

Gold Derby’s predicting pundits have placed Johnny Depp at the top of the list of what will likely be one of the most competitive Best Actor Oscar races since, well, last year. Best Actor is always going to be this competitive because it seems that Hollywood really likes to make sure bets on male-driven narratives. The Derby folks have Leonardo DiCaprio second but that’s because no one has yet seen the performance. They’re banking on his cred and what is already a buzzed about performance to win him that Oscar at last. He’s going to have to go head to head with his Gilbert Grape and Basketball Diaries pal, Johnny Depp, whose Whitey Bulger is his best performance and easily one of the year’s best overall. Depp is mesmerizing, terrifying as Bulger. There isn’t a moment where he slips out of character and once the film begins we are no longer watching Depp — we’re talking a seamless metamorphosis into a murderous psychopath. He also nails the accent, which is no easy feat.

Depp is already popular with the actors branch, given that he won the SAG and an Oscar nomination for his work in Pirates of the Caribbean, not to mention his lifelong friendships with big time legends like Jack Nicholson, for starters. He is well respected by his peers and uglies up his good looks here enough to remove that stigma the mostly male voters have against rewarding pretty boys.

Best of all for Depp, though, is his comeback story. Sure, many in the media have resisted the story. There is no resisting it. They should know this by now. Just like the “Leonardo DiCaprio wants an Oscar” story, the Depp comeback story is powerful stuff.  The reason being, he’s known lately for being a Johnny Paycheck, trading off creativity for his island and his new wife, Amber Heard. Most of his recent paycheck films have bombed anyway. The thing about him, though, is that he’s a great actor and everyone knows it. He’s best at doing what he does here: disappearing into a role completely.

To win Best Actor these days it’s always good to star in, at the very least, a Best Picture contender. That means Black Mass will have to become one. Can Depp win without that? Sure. Jeff Bridges recently won for Crazy Heart (also directed by Scott Cooper); overdue status can override the Best Picture/Best Actor rule. But it certainly helps to be in a BP nominee.

Eddie Redmayne – Theory of Everything
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Jean DuJardin – The Artist
Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
Sean Penn – Milk
Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
Forest Whitaker – Last King of Scotland

It was once much easier to win without a role a BP nominee, but these days it certainly helps.

Can Black Mass be popular enough to earn Scott Cooper his first Best Picture nomination? It’s hard to say. Depp’s force of nature might ram it through.  It has everything a BP nominee needs. It will depend mostly on what’s coming next. For now, though, Depp has set the bar very high. Whoever wins will have to deliver a performance better than Depp’s.