AFT Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role

This is the first category of the 11th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them and drawn from a pool of approximately 149 films. Click here to see previous years of this category.

Honorable mentions:
Adam Pally (Band Aid), Adam Sandler (The Meyerowitz Stories), Alden Ehrenreich (The Yellow Birds), Ali Fazal (Victoria and Abdul), Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver), Asa Butterfield (The Space Between Us), Ben Mendelsohn (Una), Ben Stiller (The Meyerowitz Stories), Burt Reynolds (The Last Movie Star), Christopher Plummer (The Exception), Claes Bang (The Square), Dan Stevens (Beauty and the Beast), Dan Stevens (Permission), Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Daniel Radcliffe (Jungle), David Oyelowo (A United Kingdom), Hugh Jackman (Logan), Igal Naor (The Women's Balcony), Jacob Tremblay (Wonder), Jon Hamm (Marjorie Prime), Joseph Cross (Tilt), Kyle Mooney (Brigsby Bear), Logan Lerman (The Vanishing of Sidney Hall), Martin Landau (Abe and Phil's Last Poker Game), Matt Bomer (Walking Out), Matt Damon (Downsizing), Nicholas Hoult (Rebel in the Rye), Peter Dinklage (Rememory), Ricky Gervais (David Brent: Life on the Road), Roland Møller (Land of Mine), Ryan Gosling (Blade Runner 2049), Shady Srour (Holy Air), Shahab Hosseini (The Salesman), Steve Carell (Battle of the Sexes), Thomas Mann (Some Freaks), Tom Hanks (The Post), Tye Sheridan (The Yellow Birds), Woody Harrelson (Wilson)

Runners-up:
Christopher Abbott (Sweet Virginia)
Menashe Lustig (Menashe)
Sam Elliott (The Hero)
Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name)
Josh Wiggins (Walking Out)

The winner:
Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) was unrecognizable, buried under so many layers of makeup, but he didn’t let any of that mute his entirely committed performance as a leader and orator hell bent on getting his way.

Other nominees:
James Franco (The Disaster Artist) constructed a magnificent portrait of the enigmatic Tommy Wiseau, mimicking his mannerisms but also getting at who he truly is. Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick) played himself in a story all about him, bridging his comedy past with moving, heartwarming drama. Jake Gyllenhaal (Stronger) embodied a survivor who had to both recover and contend with the unwanted status of being a hero. Jon Bernthal (Sweet Virginia) took a break from punishing others to be the good guy for once in a typically dark and violent film.