Among the actors, the British film industry produced three acclaimed film biographies last year and all its stars give highly acclaimed performances. First is “The Imitation Game”, the story of Alan Turing, the father of the modern computer who cracked the German code called Enigma during World War II, helping end the war. Known for being reclusive and anti-social, he was eventually persecuted for his homosexuality.
“Mr. Turner” is a film on J.M.W. (Joseph Mallord William) Turner, considered as England’s best landscape painter who died in 1851. He’s also known as a forerunner of impressionism and abstract painting.
“The Theory of Everything” is based on the life of Stephen Hawking, English cosmologist and physicist who was diagnosed with the debilitating ALS or Lou Gehrig’s diseases 50 years ago and was predicted to die early but is now 72 years old, still alive even if all his motor skills have degenerated. He is best known for his book “A Brief History of Time”.
Turing is played by Benedict Cumberbatch (best known for “Star Trek into Darkness”, “August Osage County”, and “Sherlock” TV series). He already won best actor in the Hollywood Film Awards (with Julianne Moore as best actress for “Still Alice”).
Turner is played by Timothy Spall (Wormtale in “Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows” and Churchill in “King’s Speech”). He already won best actor at the Cannes International Filmfest, National Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Circle, but sadly, the Golden Globes ignored him. We won’t be surprised if he’d also be bypassed in the Oscars.
Hawking is portrayed by Eddie Redmayne (impressive as Colin in “My Week with Marilyn” and as Marius in “Les Miserables”). He already won in the Hollywood Film Awards for best breakthrough performance by an actor.
Will a British bring home the Oscar once again this year, like Colin Firth in “King’s Speech” and Daniel Day Lewis who won his 3rd Oscar for “Lincoln”? Their biggest competitors among American actors is Michael Keaton playing the role of a has been actor making a comeback on Broadway in “Birdman”. Another British actor who might get nominated is David Oyelowo, who got good reviews playing the late civil rights activist Martin Luther King in “Selma”.
