Variety‘s Jenelle Riley is reporting that A24 will push “The Lighthouse” actor Robert Pattinson for Best Actor and Willem Dafoe will be relegated to the Best Supporting Actor. Despite both men basically sharing the same amount of screentime together in the film.
That, to my eyes at least, means they have crossed off Pattinson as a potential nominee and are going all-in with Dafoe. Why you may ask? Well, because Dafoe does give the superior performance and his exit from the competitive Best Actor category now propels him to join Supporting Actor contenders Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Tom Hanks (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood), and Al Pacino (The Irishman).
As for Pattinson, a Best Actor nomination is a little murkier, he cannot compete with the likes of Joker‘s Joaquin Phoenix, Marriage Story‘s Adam Driver, The Irishman‘s Robert De Niro, Pain and Glory‘s Antonio Banderas, Uncut Gems‘ Adam Sandler and The Two Popes‘ Jonathan Pryce.
I have the whole list here.