Jacob Elordi, who’s earning raves for playing Frankenstein’s creature in Guillermo del Toro’s remake of Mary Shelley’s classic horror story, has now jumped into Gold Derby’s Top 5. His gain comes at Adam Sandler’s expense, as the comedian and actor is now down in sixth place for Jay Kelly for his portrayal of Ron, the manager of a famous actor (George Clooney), who travels with him through Europe.
Sean Penn (One Battle After Another) still leads the Best Supporting Actor race with a 94 percent chance of being nominated, followed by Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value) at 93 percent, Paul Mescal (Hamnet) at 92 percent, Benicio del Toro (One Battle After Another) at 72 percent, and now Elordi at 52 percent. Elordi is actually up 9 percent in the Oscar category from last week, while Sandler is down 6 percent.
Elordi started skyrocketing in the odds as soon as Frankenstein arrived on Netflix on Nov. 7 — three weeks after the film select theaters on Oct. 17. If the predictions bear out, the Australian actor’s performance as the misunderstood creation of Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) would be one of the few to compete at the Oscars for playing a monster. One actor who didn’t suffer from that bias was Fredric March, who won the 1931 Best Actor prize as the titular dual role in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; he tied with Wallace Beery for The Champ.
Jay Kelly still hasn’t been widely seen, which might be suppressing support for Sandler. The film began a limited release on Nov. 14, ahead of its grand debut on Netflix on Dec. 5. Comedians-turned-actors occasionally do win Oscars — just look at Robin Williams (Good Will Hunting), Mo’Nique (Precious), and Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost). Sandler, who many, including Timothée Chalamet, feel was unjustly overlooked for Uncut Gems, still has a chance to make that list.
Both Elordi and Sandler recently received nominations at the Gotham Awards in that organization’s non-gendered Best Supporting Performance category. The Gothams were the first to announce their noms for this winter season, with several more nomination opportunities upcoming on the awards calendar, including the Critics Choice (Dec. 5), Golden Globes (Dec. 8), and Actor Awards (Jan. 7).
At the Gotham Awards, Elordi is currently ranks in fourth place to win, while Sandler is in sixth. The other nominees, in descending odds order, are: Stellan Skarsgård, Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another), Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value), Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners), Andrew Scott (Blue Moon), Benicio Del Toro, Alexander Skarsgård (Pillion), and Indya Moore (Father, Mother, Sister, Brother).