Oscars 2023: predictions for the best actors

We continue to update these predictions throughout awards season, so keep checking IndieWire for all of our 2023 Oscar picks. Nominations voting takes place January 12-17, 2023, official Oscar nominations being announced on January 24, 2023. Final voting will take place March 2-7, 2023. And finally, the 94th Academy Awards telecast airs Sunday, March 12 and airs live on ABC at 8:00 p.m. ET/ 5:00 PM PT.

The state of the race

Familiar faces lead the Beat Actor fray. Oscar winners include Daniel Kaluuya ("Judas and the Black Messiah") as a rural horse trainer facing off against an alien threat in his "Get Out" director Jordan Peele's "Nope" (Universal); Colin Firth engages with Olivia Colman in Sam Mendes' cinephile romance "Empire of Light" (Searchlight Pictures), Christian Bale joins the world of director David O. Russell in the crazy comedy "Amsterdam" (20th Century Studios), and also finds his favorite collaborator Scott Cooper as a detective who meets young Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling) in "The Pale Blue Eye" (Netflix). And Brad Pitt teams up with his 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' co-star Margot Robbie in Damien Chazelle's look at Old Hollywood, 'Babylon' (Paramount).

Running for their early wins are 'Les Miserables' nominee Hugh Jackman, who stars as a beleaguered parent in Florian Zeller's adaptation of his play 'The Son' (Sony Pictures Classics); and Adam Driver, who follows his nomination in Noah Baumbach's "Marriage Story" with their latest film together, "White Noise" (Netflix), in which Driver plays Don DeLillo's cocky teacher.

“Hustle”

Netflix

Several actors whose films have screened at Sundance and Cannes are hoping for their first Oscar nominations. In Sundance's debut album "Living" (SPC), British comedian Bill Nighy plays a life-changing character from Akira Kurosawa's "Ikiru" in the face of death; Austin Butler won accolades as the king of rock n roll in Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis" at Cannes (Warner Bros.); and Park Hae-il plays a homicide detective in love with a murder suspect in Park Chan-wook's "Decision to Leave" (Mubi).

Meanwhile, never-nominated comedy star Adam Sandler (although he did come close with 'Uncut Gems') raved about sports comedy-drama 'Hustle,' which Netflix is ​​promoting for the awards , although she skipped the festival circuit.

Many movies will complicate the fall festival season. These include the likely entry of A.G. Inarritu at the Mexican Oscars "Bardo (or false chronicle of a handful of truths)" (Netflix) starring Daniel Giménez Cacho as an artist returning to his country of origin; "Parasite" star Song Kang-ho, who plays an adoption agent in Hirokazu Koreeda's "Broker" (Neon), which premiered at Cannes and will next head to TIFF; Brendan Fraser as an obese man trying to connect with his daughter in Darren Aronofsky's "The Whale" (A24); Colin Farrell reunited with 'In Bruges' star Brendan Gleeson in Martin McDonagh's 'The Banshees of Inisherin' (Searchlight); with "Chevalier" (Searchlight Pictures), "Cyrano" star Kelv...