90th Academy Awards: Daniel Kaluuya is a Legit Dark Horse For Best Actor

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With a second theatrical release, dark horse Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) could earn the Best Actor statue at the 2018 Academy Awards.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Gary Oldman, Denzel Washington, and… Daniel Kaluuya?

One of those names is unlike the others, but that could very soon change in the near future.

DDL is arguably the greatest actor ever. Oldman is beloved for his ability to transform himself. Denzel Washington was Alonzo Harris, so I don’t have to add shit to that.

Timothee Chamalet, even, could theoretically be viewed as a prodigy of sorts due to his training at the Manhattan’s Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and his family ties to the industry.

Then there’s Daniel Kaluuya, a relatively unknown British actor who made his bones in the theater and an episode of BBC/Netflix’s Black Mirror back when it was still a small niche show (rather than the phenomenon it has become). He had stage experience and talent, but to most of the world, he was this random actor who was plucked from obscurity by comedic actor/writer Jordan Peele for his new indie horror film.

Let this sink in: He earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor based on work in a low-budget ($4.5 million) horror movie that was put together by a first-time director (Peele).

None of it made any sense; it seemed more like Mad Libs than anything else.

Nevertheless, he was cast as the lead and the film received insanely positive reviews (99 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and made $250 million worldwide.

Part of the acclaim was due to the story, which poked and prodded into the nightmares of Black America in a White World, and part of it was due to Kaluuya’s performance.

When the movie first began, I was stunned by how much I disliked Kaluuya’s character and how mad it made me.

He conversed in a short, conversational tone with little enthusiasm or heart.

It was almost as if he was devoid of charisma and energy and anything else that would possibly make you want to watch him for a second longer.

And that was really tough to swallow because I had seen him in the aforementioned episode of Black Mirror, where he was a powder keg of hate and anger that finally exploded. The episode displayed everything I wanted him to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHjIXCCHh3s

I knew there was more in him, and I began to wonder if I had bought into some strange Daniel Kaluuya hype.

I didn’t understand, so I just kept watching.

Around the halfway mark, I began to understand what I missed earlier.

This wasn’t a traditional Best Actor performance, where someone would gain 50 pounds and wear damn near that weight in make-up.

He wasn’t going to be transforming himself into this canonized version of someone who has already existed.

He wasn’t going to use his words to captivate the audience.

His role was that of the silent actors from the days of yore, like Buster Keaton or Max Schreck, even Charlie Chaplin.

Daniel Kaluuya’s eyes, mouth, nose, and cheeks created far more emotion that his words ever would.

There was a horror displayed through him as he gradually began to understand the depths of his situation. Fear perpetuated through him and into the world around him, causing unrest and anxiety for the viewer.

When violence becomes his only option, hate stains his face. His mouth twists with rage; his eyes scream out against the unjust, and his face becomes the face of death.

Even Get Out’s Twitter account shows the iconic image from the film, Daniel Kaluuya coming to grips with his reality, unable to stand or even move, mouth agape in fear, tears falling as his only form of rebellion or reactionary outburst. It is one of the best moments of any film that came out this year.

The image has been used in virtually ever poster made for the movie and for a very good reason — it demonstrates to perfection the chops which carry his performance.

There’s a subtlety to Kaluuya’s performance that is rarely seen in film today.

He didn’t need a lengthy monologue or catchy dialogue to hypnotize viewers.

All he needed was his facial features, something so few actors put the time and effort into perfecting.

It is a lost art that Kaluuya has helped bring back to the forefront.

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Now, with the Academy Awards still over a month away, his performance can be witnessed again as it was meant to be seen.

The same buzz that pushed Get Out to record-breaking heights has returned now that it will get a second run in theaters.

Daniel Kaluuya was shunned by the foreign press for a Golden Globe nomination, but he was rightly awarded by the academy. There are a lot of years where nominating an actor from a horror film would have been unheard of, but this time the most pretentious group of people in the world actually nailed it.

At the moment, Gary Oldman is the clear betting favorite at -2000, but if you wanted to put some money on it early, jump on Daniel Kaluuya at +1800 before the next Get Out-run shows everyone just how powerful old-style acting can be.

Complete odds for Best Actor, per Bovada:

  • Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour (-2000)
  • Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name (+900)
  • Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread (+1500)
  • Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out (+1800)
  • Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq. (+3000)

For Bovada’s complete Oscar odds click here.

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