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Oscar buzz for Tom Hanks, Casey Affleck

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Mon, 09, 16

While the 73rd edition of Venice Film Festival kicked off with Damien Chazelle’s musical La La Land starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone and lots of other stars (with their respective films), this past week, another film festival (Telluride Film Festival), happening miles away in Colorado, US, is generating some serious Oscar buzz for a handful of leading men.

While the 73rd edition of Venice Film Festival kicked off with Damien Chazelle’s musical La La Land starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone and lots of other stars (with their respective films), this past week, another film festival (Telluride Film Festival), happening miles away in Colorado, US, is generating some serious Oscar buzz for a handful of leading men.

Among them is Tom Hanks, whose film Sully had its first screening this past weekend. Directed by Clint Eastwood, the film tells the story of Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the US pilot “who famously crash-landed a plane in New York’s Hudson River” in 2009. Hanks, who plays the role of the pilot, is generating some serious Oscar buzz as a result of his performance in the film. Having been overlooked for his recent efforts in Captain Philips and Bridge Of Spies, Sully could get finally get him a third Oscar nod.

The other actor worth discussing is the underrated Casey Affleck whose performance in the upcoming Matt Damon-produced film, Manchester by the Sea, has  put him on the short-list for a Best Actor nod. In the film, Affleck plays Lee Chandler who becomes legal guardian to his nephew after the death of his older brother and is forced to deal with his community and ex-wife, essayed by Michelle Williams.

Having delivered beautiful performances in films like Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (for which he landed an Oscar nod in Supporting Actor category), this year could fetch Affleck a Best Actor nod for the first time. Though Ryan Gosling could dance his way to the Oscar with La La Land, but who knows? Maybe the Academy just might redeem itself this year by not going for the most obvious or most popular choice.