People already want Timothée Chalamet to win an Oscar for Dune

The new Dune movie doesn’t come out for months, but people are already pretty sure Timothée Chalamet should win an Oscar for it.

Dune, Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic, isn’t due out in theaters until December 18, and that’s if the coronavirus permits it. The way things are going, there’s a very real chance that theaters won’t be open by then and that the release date will be pushed back, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. The point is that Dune isn’t coming out for a while, and yet people are already clamoring for star Timothée Chalamet to win an Oscar for it.

Chalamet plays lead character Paul Atreides, who finds himself thrust into some very precarious situations when his noble family is charged with governing of Arrakis, a desert planet known locally as Dune. It’s a meaty role that could guarantee Chalamet a steady gig for movies to come, and according to awards site Gold Derby, people already think he should be rewarded for it.

Gold Derby put together a poll asking readers what actors who’d previously lost in the Best Actor category deserved to win. Chalamet, who was nominated for her performance in 2017’s Call Me By Your Name but lost to Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour, ran away with 37% of the vote. The next highest vote getter was Benedict Cumberbatch, who was nominated for his performance in 2014’s The Imitation Game; this year, he’ll star in the spy drama The Courier. And Matt Damon, who’s lost out on two Best Actor Oscars — for 1997’s Good Will Hunting and 2015’s The Martian — came in third with 11%. This year, he’ll star as an oil rig worker in Stillwater and as a 14th century Frenchman in The Last Duel.

Other actors in the mix include Michael Keaton, Bill Murray, Michael Fassbender, Liam Neeson and George Clooney, but they were in the single digits so we don’t need to talk about them. (Just kidding, guys.)

So is Chalamet’s performance in Dune good enough to win him an Oscar? I have no idea; I haven’t seen the movie, although the few who have can’t say enough nice things about it. I just hope we actually get to see the thing this year. The Oscar eligibility period has been extended through February 28 of 2021, with the actual ceremony happening on April 25. But for all we know the coronavirus could rage into the new year, and Dune may not even be eligible for this year’s show.

We must not fear, though. Fear is the mind-killer. See you in December.

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