For Your Consideration: Jake Gyllenhaal for Best Actor for Southpaw (2015)

Hello, Bloggers, here is another FYC post for a performance that the Academy should highly consider to nominate. This performance is Jake Gyllenhaal's transformative turn in Southpaw. 

As I mentioned in my review, the film itself is very standard and by the books. But the only reason that it works and that I would highly recommend anybody to go and see it is for Jake Gyllenhaal's performance. Much like in Nightcrawler, he loses himself in the role body and soul. While in Nightcrawler, he is very gaunt, here, he is very ripped and his commitment to a role could very soon put him among the likes of Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio.

But the genius of his performance is not just the physicality of it, but how he even acts out the boxing scenes and makes you feel the fury behind his punches. He hardly even requires any dialogue to showcase the gauntlet of emotions his character goes through and how he struggles to prevent his fury in the boxing ring from leaving it once he is instigated by a rival fighter. His Billy Hope is like a ferocious animal that acts on instinct and defends and nurtures his pack that is his family.

Compare that to his Lou Bloom in Nightcrawler. Lou Bloom is a different kind of animal as his skinny appearance makes him seem like a starving coyote that will devour anything in his path for personal gain. Almost everything that comes out of his mouth sounds like a sales pitch and as his high-putched voice breaks, his aggression and drive slowly start to build up. Yet Gyllenhaal creates a gray area that has you looking at his character in disgust yet still hooing he gets the job done. Billy Hope wouldn't come within a mile radius of this guy.

So I not only think Jake Gyllenhaal should be rewarded for his master class work in Southpaw, but also for his versatility that he has proven. Gyllenhaal has been knocking it out of the park and he should be justly recognized for that. To any AMPAS voter in the acting branch that may stumble across this, I hope that you consider putting Gyllenhaal's name on your ballot.

Also, to any blogger reading this that has seen Southpaw, whether you agree or disagree that Gyllenhaal is worthy of Oscar consideration, please feel free to write your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for reading!