The top Oscars front-runners and dark horses of 2018 so far

NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 17: Christian Bale speaks onstage during CNN Heroes 2017 at the American Museum of Natural History on December 17, 2017 in New York City. 27437_017 (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for CNN)

Best Actor

He may still be Batman in our hearts (Ben Affleck who?) but Christian Bale is also no stranger to taking on big roles. The actor is known for transforming his body in drastic ways for different roles, such as when he lost 62 pounds for The Machinist to give him a gaunt appearance. This time around, he’s transforming himself into a figure that is well known to American audiences already, former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Bale packed on the pounds and sported a balding gray hairdo to portray the former veep in Vice, and if Charlize Theron’s win for Monster has taught us anything, the Academy loooooves a physical transformation. But they also like a biopic, as we said, and they especially love films about heroic Americans. So Bale has a lot of things in his favor, but we’ll have to wait and see how critics receive the film.

Dark Horse: Four-time Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke might finally get his due. People are already talking Oscars about his role in First Reformed, in which he plays a priest who questions his beliefs after a harrowing encounter with an environmental activist. He got praise for his role in Boyhood in 2014, but lost out the role to Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything for playing Stephen Hawking (we told you, the Academy loves a biopic). He’s well-liked among his Hollywood peers, and this could be his chance at redemption. And don’t count out Bradley Cooper, who is getting serious buzz for A Star Is Born, and Lucas Hedges, who could snatch a trophy for playing a conflicted gay teen in Boy Erased.