3) Miles Ahead
Potential nominations: Best Actor
Did you know Don Cheadle had made a Miles Davis biopic? It’s even played at festivals already, but got drowned out by higher-profile biopic contenders like Steve Jobs and The Danish Girl. Still, there’s no ruling the film out of Oscar 2016 – as a biopic about a troubled yet brilliant artist, it ticks just about every Oscar box. If it’s too small to get a Best Picture or Director nom, it could still very easily play in the Best Actor category.
Cheadle plays Davis himself in what is reportedly an above-average bio. The actor’s been here before, but never won; now there’s a good chance the Academy will nominate Cheadle again, for a few reasons, namely being: playing Davis will probably be a career high-point for Cheadle, the actor at age 50 may not get a chance in this category again, and he’s one of the more well-liked people in Tinseltown.
Hollywood likes to reward nice guys.