Next year's Oscars race has officially kicked into gear following the announcement of the 2019 National Board of Review winners.
The annual trophies usually help experts steer predictions of who will win the big awards at the Oscars months later, but one of this year's victors has placed an unexpected actor front and centre of the Best Actor race.
Adam Sandler won the award for his role in new Safdie brothers filmUncut Gems, which also stars Idina Menzel and Lakeith Stanfield.
Sandler beat out favourites Joaquin Phoenix for Joker, Robert De Niro for Best Film-winner The Irishman and Adam Driver for Marriage Story.
Interestingly, statistics now predict that this particular win means Sandler will go on to earn his first ever Best Actor nomination at the 2020 Oscars, considering that eight of the last 10 winners have gone on to battle in the category.
The only two stars who failed to secure nominations despite being named National Board of Review's Best Actor are Tom Hanks (The Post) and Oscar Isaac (A Most Violent Year).
Sandler was also nominated at the 2019 Gotham Independent film Awards, which – according to IndieWire – "often plays a key role in elevating films into the overall awards conversation." Driver won for Noah Baumbach's Netflix drama, Marriage Story.
This all stacks the Oscar nomination odds in Sandler's favour, though, something the actor – better known these days for his critically-maligned Netflix comedies – has been discussing.
He told Howard Stern it would be a “funny big thing” if he were to receive an Oscar nomination, adding that he would be “there to win”.
Sandler also quipped that he'd make a bad film on purpose if he didn't win.
Uncut Gems will be released on Netflix in January. The Oscar nominations will be announced 6 January.
