Secret Oscar Voter #3: Ballot exposed with ‘The Power of the Dog’ for Best Picture, plus Penelope Cruz, Benedict Cumberbatch for leads
Here in the final stages of the 2022 Oscars season, several Academy Awards voters told Gold Derby who they voted for — and why. They asked us not to reveal their identities, but they were otherwise eager to share their views of the year’s best films. Now that voting has concluded, we’ll share a few with you. The comments below by Voter #3 for each category are part of the thought process in choosing these potential winners.
Also, you can click here to see the ballots of Voter #1 and Voter #2 revealed recently.
BEST PICTURE: “The Power of the Dog”
It’s so well-crafted at the highest level and happens to be my favorite movie of the year. All the actors in this movie are amazing! My friends and I have a lot of questions about the ending that we enjoy discussing. Who did what and what really happened to the main character? That’s one of the signs of a great picture. Second place is “Belfast.” Third place is “Licorice Pizza.”
BEST DIRECTOR: Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”)
It’s the year for Jane Campion! I’ve always admired her work all the way back to “The Piano.” Clearly she’s grown even more over the years and did an amazing job here. Visually, it’s a beautiful film with four very well done acting performances.
BEST ACTRESS: Penelope Cruz (“Parallel Mothers”)
I feel like this is a wide open category. It was surprising to me some of these early wins for Jessica Chastain. When I saw it, she was really good but didn’t think it was an outstanding performance. The one I liked the most was Penelope Cruz, who gave an amazing performance. She’s a really underrated actress in many ways. It’s not a “movie star” performance in any way but just a real actress in that movie, and it really touched me.
BEST ACTOR: Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Power of the Dog”)
There are a bunch of great performances, but the one that really struck me the most was Benedict Cumberbatch. That whole movie is so disturbing and is so powerfully done. He plays an unlikable character and is unrelenting; not your typical leading man by any stretch of the imagination. This guy has so many secrets and dark places to go to.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Kirsten Dunst (“The Power of the Dog”)
I know Ariana DeBose has been winning a lot but didn’t think she brought anything different than other Anita’s have done. It came down to a couple of people with a lifetime of great work: Judi Dench and Kirsten Dunst. I lean towards Kirsten because of her many great performances over her career. Now she’s playing a more mature role with great impact, a tragic character filled with them. She stood out to me up against the three male actors.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”)
Troy has been winning most of the awards, and he’s really good. I’m not so sure you can really judge that performance against Kodi’s performance, which is brooding and really internal as an actor. It’s powerful, and you can see the agony he’s going through.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”)
I’ve looked at other things and came down to “Power of the Dog” once again. It’s such a deep movie and so forward. I’ve talked to many members about what we liked and didn’t like. Many of them have had to stop and go back to watch the rest later because it’s so intense and unrelenting. We’ve had a lot of dialogue about that movie.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Kenneth Branagh (“Belfast”)
It’s such a simple little story that I have a place in my heart for. This story focuses on the people of Ireland and is so similar to classic dramatic literature about families and relationships.
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