Double Best Actor Win Potentials for 2010 Films

No male lead has ever won more than 2 best male lead actor nominations. The honor of having won 2 Oscars in the lead acting category is shared among 9 men, most recently as of the 2009 Academy Awards Sean Penn joined this group, winning for Milk and previously winning for Mystic River. The other male leads who share this honor are Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson, and Daniel Day-Lewis.

As I see it, looking towards the 2010 season there really seems like only one of these men who stands a chance of winning a 3rd Lead Actor Oscar, and that is Sean Penn who has a variety of upcoming projects including Terrance Mallick's Tree of Life and Fair Game opposite Naomi Watts. Jack Nicholson also has a James L. Brooks film that is too come out as well, and anything can happen with Brooks' films, the title of that film currently is called How Do You Know? alongside Reese Witherspoon.

And like Meryl Streep's challenge picking up a 3rd win, I imagine Penn and Nicholson will experience similar difficulties with a 3rd win.

Tom Hanks, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Dustin Hoffman do not seem to have eligible projects.

While I certainly don't think the winner's guaranteed to come from this list of five, but I don't think it's completely out the picture to think that a 10th actor could join this list.

Here are performances from previous winning actors that could potential lead to a second golden statue:

Jeff Bridges, True Grit

Previous Win: Crazy Heart, 2009

The Coen Brothers do their take on the classic John Wayne film, based on the Charles Portis novel with the same name. In this version a 14 year old girl persuades an alcoholic US Marshall Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to avenge her father's death. The film also stars Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, and Barry Pepper. Hailee Steinfeld plays the 14 year old girl Mattie Ross.

Forrest Whitaker, My Own Love Song

Previous Win: The Last King of Scotland, 2006

Whitaker plays Joey, a stuttering man who believes in angels. Joey befriends (but also scares) a former singer friend Jane who is wheel chair bound (played by Renee Zellweger). The film also stars Nick Nolte. It is written and directed by French film Oscar winner who led Marion Cottilard to her Oscar win for La Vie en Rose.

Phillip Seymore Hoffman, Jack Goes Boating

Previous Win: Capote, 2005
Hoffman makes his directorial debut by staring in this film, based on and adapted from the play Hoffman stared in in 2007. Jack Goes Boating is written by Bob Glaudini, who also wrote the play. The film is a romantic comedy about a limo driver who likes reggae who changes his life when he meets a Brooklyn funeral home worker (Amy Ryan).

Russel Crowe, Robin Hood
Previous Win: Gladiator, 2000

This performance seems not to far off from The Gladiator win 10 years earlier. So maybe if the field is friendly we could see a nomination, but can you see Crowe stacking a second win up for a repeat performance in a different costume running through the forest? Ridley Scott's retelling of a classic tale stars Mark Strong, Cate Blanchett, William Hurt, Danny Houston, and Max von Syndow.

Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack

Previous Win: American Beauty, 1999
[Supporting Actor Win: The Usual Suspects, 1995]
Kevin Spacey plays in a thriller version of the corruption and take down Washington DC lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The film is directed by George Hickenlooper. The film stars Kelly Preston as Spacey's wife. The film also stars Barry Peppers and Jon Lovitz.

Anthony Hopkins, Hemmingway and Fuentes or... You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger
Previous Win: The Silence of the Lambs, 1991

I feel like the Academy would love to give Hopkins another Oscar for the right film, and once of these could do the trick. In Hemmingway and Fuentes, Hopkins plays the biopic role of Ernest Hemmingway in a film alongside and directed by Andy Garcia. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is a Woody Allen romance Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Freida Pinto, and Antonio Banderas.

Michael Douglas, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Previous Win: Wall Street, 1987

Honestly, I have hard time believing that Douglas could win a second Oscar for a reprise performance, but playing the same character, Gordon Gekko, 23 years later might earn him a credibility. Although Hopkins wasn't so lucky repeating his reprise role as Hannibal Lecter. But somehow I'm optimistic about Oliver Stone's reprise and think the mix of old and new performers might create nostalgia and freshness all in one film. In addition to Douglas, the film features Carey Mulligan, Susan Sarandon, Shia LeBeouf, Charlie Sheen, Frank Langella, and Josh Brolin.

Robert Duvall, Get Low

Previous Win: Tender Mercies, 1983

Duvall performs in one my most anticipated films of the year, a film with a great Oscar pedigree of Duvall, Bill Murray, and Sissy Spacek. Duvall plays a 1930s hermit who throws his own funeral. Duvall is pictured above in this film.