Academy Awards Preview :: Going for the Gold

The announcement of the 87th Academy Award nominations on January 15th featured now-traditional snubs (notably Jennifer Aniston, who gives a truly transformative performance in "Cake" that every other major awards group recognized) and flubs (the Academy's president initially mispronounced the name of acclaimed cinematographer Dick Pope as "Dick Poop"). Such surprises as these, each year, are what make it all the more worth waking up at 5:30 a.m. on nominations day.

Last year's Oscars seemed the gayest it could ever possibly be, what with gay producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan running things, Ellen DeGeneres hosting and the AIDS drama Dallas Buyers Club dominating the acting awards.

Well, Meron and Zadan are returning for this year's presentation on Sunday, February 22 and they've enlisted out, multi-hyphenate, Neil Patrick Harris, as host (check out the added section below). If that isn't enough, the gay-themed historical drama "The Imitation Game" is one of the leading contenders, with eight nominations. Gay fave/perpetual nominee, Meryl Streep, is once again going for the gold as "Into the Woods"' not-so-wicked witch.

The Rage Monthly's editor encouraged me to write about who I would like to see win in the major categories, which is certainly more fun than making my semi-objective predictions as to what or whom I think will win. So, without further ado...

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

I don't consider myself a "Cumberbitch," as his fans are known, but British actor Benedict Cumberbatch stands out for me here as Alan Turing, the real-life persecuted gay mathematician credited with both shortening World War II and creating the first computer in "The Imitation Game." His fellow nominees Eddie Redmayne, Steve Carell, Bradley Cooper and Michael Keaton all give physically expressive, deeply felt performances in their respective films but Cumberbatch's work is more subtle and that much more heartbreaking as a result. He'd get my vote.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

I had been championing Aniston, so I was disappointed that she was passed over for Marion Cotillard, Felicity Jones, Julianne Moore, Rosamund Pike and Reese Witherspoon. Unlike most, I consider presumptive winner Moore's performance in "Still Alice" overrated. I love Moore, but her movie struck me as standard-issue, degenerative disease drama (which multiple nominee "The Theory of Everything" wisely was not), and her role consists primarily of forgetting words and the location of the nearest bathroom. I'm now rooting for Rosamund Pike, who is deliciously twisted as the allegedly abused and murdered wife in "Gone Girl."

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

This is actually the toughest category for me to decide, since I love nominee Mark Ruffalo in anything (what gay man doesn't?). Pretty much ditto regarding Edward Norton, and I was more frightfully impressed in two hours by J.K. Simmons in the terrific drummer drama "Whiplash" than during his entire multi-season run as a neo-Nazi on HBO's superb "Oz." Robert Duvall's turn in "The Judge" has eluded me, as of press time, but I'm nevertheless inclined to go with Ethan Hawke in "Boyhood." For me, his performance as the main character's emotionally maturing father is the glue that holds Boyhood's impressive, 12-year storytelling arc together.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

I haven't been a big fan of Keira Knightley, not in "Love Actually," "The Pirates of the Caribbean" series or her previously nominated turn in "Pride & Prejudice." Suffice it to say, I was blown away by her turn as Joan Clarke, Turing's intellectually gifted teammate and would-be wife in "The Imitation Game." As written by the deservedly nominated Graham Moore, [Joan] is a great part for any actress, but Knightley invests in it fully and makes it her
own. I admired the work of her fellow nominees Streep, Patricia Arquette, Laura Dern and Emma Stone but, to me, Knightley was a revelation.

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

"Selma" director Ava DuVernay was controversially snubbed in this category, although she was recognized as Best Director by our Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (GALECA). That leaves here a handful of undeniably talented, if predominantly white, men: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Richard Linklater, Bennett Miller, Wes Anderson and Morten Tyldum. Longtime indie auteur Linklater is the standout for me, and likely for the majority of Academy voters, in light of his masterful cinematic odyssey, "Boyhood."

BEST PICTURE

"Selma" did make the cut in this category, along with seven other features: American Sniper (the biggest surprise); "Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)"; "Boyhood"; "The Grand Budapest Hotel"; "The Imitation Game"; "The Theory of Everything"; and "Whiplash." The ground-breaking "Boyhood" gets my vote here, and will likely win the Oscar, barring a "Birdman" or "Grand Budapest" upset.

THE HOST WITH THE MOST

Neil Patrick Harris had a memorably successful 2014. He won a Tony for his rockin' trans performance in the Broadway revival of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," played a creepy heterosexual stalker in the blockbuster "Gone Girl," sang and danced on the big screen in Seth MacFarlane's "A Million Ways to Die in the West," published a bestselling autobiography, and ended his nine-year run as lovable womanizer Barney on TV's "How I Met Your Mother." If all that wasn't enough, Harris and longtime partner David Burtka finally tied the knot last year.

Having previously served as host of both the Tony and primetime Emmy Award presentations multiple times, the entertainment industry's go-to gay will be hosting the 87th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, February 22. The commercials airing for the event suggest Harris will be employing his skills as a magician in addition to his comedic and musical gifts. He actually serves as president of the board of directors of Hollywood's famed Magic Castle.

Harris rose from humble beginnings in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico (where he was born in 1973), to being named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in 2010. He initially found fame at the age of 16 in the title role of TV's "Doogie Howser, M.D.," and has subsequently traveled easily between television, web series, theatre and movies. Harris was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011.

In 2006, Harris became one of the bigger-name celebrities up to that point, to declare that he was gay. To be specific, he said: "I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest." It will be a true pleasure to watch Harris host this year's Oscars.