It’s time for the Oscars showdown between Timothée Chalamet and Adrien Brody (Photo Credit – Instagram)
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The 97th Academy Awards can’t come soon enough, and there are oodles of reasons why the contenders eyeing the golden statuette share similar sentiments.
The 2025 Oscars, hosted by Conan O’Brien, are not merely going to honor Hollywood’s fiercest — be it Sean Baker’s Anora, Demi Moore-led The Substance, or Timothée Chalamet’s transformation into Bob Dylan for A Complete Unknown. The ceremony, like its previous segments, would be making and breaking careers altogether.
As far as Chalamet is concerned, while accepting his SAG Award, the Dune actor had been overtly vocal about surmounting the absolute summit of greatness — matching the legacy of Marlon Brando. Understandably, to actualize this dream, Chalamet will need to effectuate his Best Actor nomination into a victory.
And the paramount adversary standing in his path is Adrien Brody, circumventing whom would bring Chalamet not one but two definitive honors. As it happens, Brody’s previous win for The Pianist at the 2003 Oscars, which he emblazoned by kissing presenter Halle Berry, made him the youngest Best Actor winner at the age of 29 years and 11 months.
Now, at 29 years and 2 months, Brody’s The French Dispatch co-star Chalamet has his eyes set on scripting history, not only by shattering The Darjeeling Limited star’s hopes for a second trophy but also by tainting the legacy of his first.
Brody, nominated for Best Actor for his role in The Brutalist, is relishing the award season, exemplified by his triumph at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and Critics’ Choice Awards, whence he vanquished Chalamet thrice. The Wonka actor retaliated formidably, though, delivering a blow at the SAG Awards, which many deem the decisive honor to strengthen surmounting the next step, as multiple SAG members also sit at the Academy.
Curiously, none of the other Best Actor winners have been in their 20s — an incongruous contrast to the many young Best Actress winners, spearheaded by Marlee Matlin, who won at 21. However, there stands one superstar who almost rendered this impossible mission possible — a 27-year-old Tom Cruise.
The closest to having had a shot at winning the Best Actor trophy at an even younger age, Cruise reveled in a campaign not dissimilar to Brody’s. For his outing in Born on the Fourth of July, the actor led every poll in 1990 and even won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama. Unfortunately, Cruise’s shot couldn’t materialize, with Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot) pulling off a staggerment, snatching the golden trophy in the final moments.
Could the race between Tom Cruise and Daniel Day-Lewis see a repeat this year? We will know on Sunday evening when the 97th Academy Awards broadcast live on ABC, Hulu, and JioHotstar.
