Moments Before The Oscars, One Category is Still Too Close to Call

With just hours to go before the 98th Academy Awards kick off, the Best Actor category is still the most contested race of the night—with two clear frontrunners.

While Timothée Chalamet started this year's awards season with a clear advantage over his competition, Sinners star Michael B. Jordan has entered the race at the final stretch and seems to be posing a legitimate threat.

Back in January, Chalamet picked up the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for his lead performance in Marty Supreme. In the film, Chalamet plays a narcissistic table tennis player looking to make quick cash to fund his travel to the World Championship in Tokyo, Japan.

The film had an enormous press tour and marketing campaign that was largely funded out of Chalamet's own pocket; this involved climbing the Empire State Building, releasing a cryptic dance video on Instagram, and teaming up with UK rapper Esdeekid for an original track.

It seemed like Chalamet was going to sweep his way to the Oscars, but he stumbled at the BAFTAs and lost Best Actor to Robert Aramayo for his lead performance in I Swear. This was a clear setback—but not necessarily lethal to his chances, as Aramayo isn't nominated at the Oscars.

The real blow to Chalamet's campaign arrived just a few weeks ago, when Michael B. Jordan picked up the SAG Actor Award—which is typically considered the most important precursor award for the Oscars' acting categories.

Sinners is experiencing a huge wave of late-stage momentum, with many experts now predicting that it will overtake One Battle After Another to win Best Picture. After all, it did break the record for the most Oscar nominations ever received by a single movie.

It's also important to note that Jordan isn't the only acting nomination that Sinners received: the film also picked up noms in Best Supporting Actress for Wunmi Mosaku and Best Supporting Actor for Delroy Lindo. In combination with the recent Best Ensemble victory at the SAG Awards, it seems like Sinners is picking up serious momentum in the acting categories.

Still, it's hard to deny that Chalamet is the most obvious choice in this category. He's picked up the most precursors, he's campaigned much louder and harder than his competitors, and he was a hair's breadth away from winning the same award at last year's ceremony. That loss will be fresh in voters' minds and could definitely sway them to vote in Chalamet's favor when the race is this close.