Five Biggest Oscar Boosts from Toronto

Dave Karger at EW has compiled his list of the top five Oscar boosts from the Toronto Film Fest.  As follows:

1. Up in the Air.
2. Gabourey Sidibe.
3. Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.
4. Clive Owen.
5. Joel and Ethan Coen.

Karger believes that the relatively weak year for original screenplay puts the Coens front and center with their personal (serious) film. He also points out that Firth has never been nominated, despite his brilliant performances throughout his career (more on this later).   Clive Owen could potentially be nominated, provided there is enough interest in the film. The actor, like Firth, has long been overlooked in the lead actor category. And of course, what we already knew, Sadibe and Up in the Air plunged ahead.

But from where I sit, other Toronto bumps would include:

Bright Star — the early word on this was wrong and it turns out to be quite a formidable contender.
Precious the film — having Oprah and Tyler Perry show up put it in a whole different league, and then the audience award finished the job.
Get Low – now sitting pretty with Sony Pictures Classics as its distributor, certain to have some prominence in this year’s race, I’d say Best Actor nod for Robert Duvall and Supporting for Bill Murray, perhaps others.