Richard Jenkins, calmest wild card

 

Richard Jenkins thought talk of an Oscar nomination was presumptuous and, well, downright preposterous. This was several months ago while he was doing a whistle stop tour to promote his art house drama "The Visitor."

What he still couldn't believe, he told your resident Gold Rusher at the time, was that filmmaker Tom McCarthy was able to get financing to make "The Visitor," especially with the decades-in-the-business character actor in the lead.

We love this kind of "we told you so!" Jenkins' nod this morning warms the cockles of the Gold Rush heart. Couldn't happen to a nicer, more gracious man.

A word about Brad Pitt here. Spoken by our movie buddy after we watched "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" yesterday (she for the first time, your Gold Rusher as a repeat viewing): "I'd watch Brad Pitt in just about anything. Hell, I saw 'Troy!' But this was more about the story and less about him."

Couldn't agree more, which is why we'd held fast in our Leonardo DiCaprio pick here instead of Pitt. But the voters didn't agree.

Here are the best actor contenders:

Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"

Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler"

Sean Penn, "Milk"

Richard Jenkins, "The Visitor"

No, Clint Eastwood didn't pull a last-minute Hail Mary, as some predictors thought could happen. With an overwhelming consensus, it seems to be Sean Penn all the way. But could the emotional comeback story of Rourke steal that thunder?