Christoph Waltz in a scene from Inglourious Basterds
Nominees:
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
As the purring, pernicious German officer in Inglourious Basterds, Waltz was a front runner from the day of the film's world premiere at Cannes, where he took the Best Actor prize. He has won nearly every Supporting Actor award since. Neither Plummer, in a career-capping turn as Leo Tolstoy, nor any of Waltz's other rivals should get in his way on March 7. Short of declaring that he really is a Nazi, Waltz cannot lose.