The 2024 Oscar nominations have Robert Downey Jr., Ryan Gosling, Sterling K. Brown, Robert De Niro, and Mark Ruffalo up for Best Supporting Actor. It looks like this awards season has Downey Jr. and Gosling going head-to-head as top contenders. After the Oppenheimer star has had constant luck in that category so far, will the Barbie star beach him off at the Oscars? Here are what the odds are of that happening.
Robert Downey Jr.’s Oppenheimer performance win as Rear Admiral Lewis Strauss has been seen at many awards shows this year. For Best Supporting Actor, he was a Golden Globe winner and the Critic’s Choice Movie Awards to name a couple. But will the Oscars be a totally different ball game against Barbie’s Ryan Gosling? Will the Canadian actor be able to “beach” him off? Gold Derby says that the Drive actor “has a couple of chances” of winning.
The experts predictions website believes Robert Downey Jr. will most likely win at the upcoming SAG and BAFTA Awards. On the other hand, Gold Derby predicts Ryan Gosling could perform an upset with the SAG-AFTRA voters. This prediction is based on three of their Top 24 Users, whose highest scores predicted last year’s SAG Awards, and three of their All-Star Top 24 Users with consistent best prediction scores throughout the years. Even so, Gold Derby editors and expert journalists think Downey Jr. will be the one snagging that Oscars trophy with the La La Land actor still being the second contender to get past him.
It’s also important to remember that contenders who win at the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice aren’t shoo-ins for the Oscars. After all, Angela Bassett won at both of these award shows only for Jamie Lee Curtis’ win to be one of the biggest surprises at last year’s Academy Awards. The same thing happened in 2019 when The Wife’s Glenn Close won at the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild for Best Actress. Lady Gaga, who was also nominated in that category, won at the Critics’ Choice Awards. Ultimately, neither of them won! The biggest bombshell at the Oscars that year was The Favourite’s Olivia Colman going home with a trophy for Best Actress.
It’s a hard stance to know who The Academy will pick for Best Supporting Actor. Robert Downey Jr. gave a chilling performance playing an antagonistic role. Compared to being the loveable superhero Ironman we know him for in Marvel films, we get to see Downey Jr. completely transform himself and further expand his range. Then, we’ve got Ryan Gosling who brought out a “Kenergy” to the Mattel Inc. doll. He was able to make us laugh as Ken while still giving an emotional performance sympathizing with his need to find his place in Barbieland. It will absolutely be a tough competition.
The Gold Derby ultimately believes that Robert Downey Jr. will undoubtedly be this year's Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars. However, it doesn’t mean that Ryan Gosling won’t have a chance at winning either if The Academy decides to pull a surprise twist at the ceremony. We’ll know the answers soon at the 96th Academy Awards on March 10th.
Until then, you decide yourself who will beach who off for Best Supporting Actor by watching both movies before the ceremony. Barbie is available now on your Max subscription and Oppenheimer comes out on your Peacock subscription on February 16th.
