Friday For Your Consideration: Nicholas Hoult

Welcome to a new weekly feature here at Movies with Abe, Friday For Your Consideration. As every year nears to a close, there are a number of actors nominated for Golden Globes, Oscars, and countless other awards. There are so many spots and there are so many deserving contenders, yet some inevitably get left out. Each week, I’ll be spotlighting one performance from this year which deserves a second look but might not get it. This doesn’t mean I don’t want Carey Mulligan and Christoph Waltz to get their first nominations. They don’t need my help. As luck would have it, these actors do. I’ll be running this feature until Oscar nominations are announced at the beginning of February, so leave your choices in the comments and I might feature them over the next couple of weeks! I’ve written at greater length about these performances in the reviews of the films, so make sure to read those for a more detailed look at why these actors deserve an Oscar nomination.

Nicholas Hoult, “A Single Man”
Where you’ve seen him before: The young British actor was a few feet shorter but just as great in “About a Boy” opposite Hugh Grant and Toni Collette back in 2002, and has since appeared on the TV series “Skins.”

Why he deserves it: Hoult is marvelously sedated and held back as a young student of George who expresses an interest in getting to know the depressed professor. He’s mature and intellectual, and immediately stands out from the pack of students as someone with his head on his shoulders. Hoult utters few lines, and it’s the looks that he gives George that really say the most. Most impressively, Hoult holds his own against established actors Colin Firth and Julianne Moore and delivers an exceptional performance that never quite breaks down his true intentions but is magnificently enrapturing.

Standout scene: (Minor spoilers) Hoult’s Kenny runs into George at a bar and listens to him talk about all the things he used to do and want to do. Not satisfied to sit around and talk, Kenny encourages George to throw caution to the wind and run into the ocean. It’s a marvelous scene that involves so much bonding through exchanged looks and shared joys.

Why he won’t get it: He’s not anywhere near close to a contender, tragically. For starters, “A Single Man” didn’t really catch fire with audiences as much as it could have. Sometimes when a lead actor is excellent, a supporting star slides in under the radar as well because the performances complement each other well. An example is Ethan Hawke in 2001 for “Training Day,” which was a film that didn’t otherwise do particularly well awards-wise but afforded Hawke his one and only Oscar nod for acting. Hoult also didn’t earn any kudos for “About a Boy,” despite delivering an incredible performance before the age of 13. Besides the lack of mentions for Hoult’s work in the film, the most significant reason he won’t make it in is that there are enough viable contenders in the running. Last year, bit player Michael Shannon slid in for “Revolutionary Road” because, well, there was no definitive fifth nominee. This year, that’s not a problem. There are five relatively safe bets, plus a few more who could take their spots, and unfortunately, Hoult won’t be one of them.

Read the review here, and come back next Friday for a look at another performer who deserves a shot at Oscar.