Michael Fassbender stars in 2 red-hot awards contenders: ‘Next Goal Wins’ and ‘The Killer’

Michael Fassbender has reaped two Oscar bids to date and could well find that third time is the charm this year. He delivers two vastly different performances in Taika Waititi‘s comedy “Next Goal Wins” and David Fincher‘s thriller “The Killer.”

The first film, which debuted at TIFF on September 10 to a warm reception, tells the true story of soccer coach Thomas Rongen, who took charge of the American Samoa squad who coming off an infamous World Cup loss to Australia with a score of 31-0. Fassbender portrays Rongen and the movie marks a return by Waititi to his roots in comedy. Fassbender could well reap a bid at the Golden Globes, where’s he contended three times on the drama side for his leading roles in “Shame” (2012) and “Steve Jobs” (2016) and his featured part in “12 Years a Slave” (2014).

The Irish actor also headlines David Fincher‘s “The Killer.” This taut thriller follows Fassbender as an assassin who survives a near-fatal miss and must take on his employers and himself while he’s wrapped up in an international manhunt.  This one will be more up the academy’s street, for sure. Fincher’s films tend to do well for its actors, too.

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” earned nominations in Best Actor for Brad Pitt and Best Supporting Actress for Taraji P. Henson in 2009; “The Social Network” reaped Jesse Eisenberg a Best Actor bid in 2011; Rooney Mara earned a Best Actress nomination for “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” in 2012; “Gone Girl” landed Rosamund Pike with a Best Actress nomination in 2015; and, in 2012, “Mank” was nominated for Best Actor for Gary Oldman and Best Supporting Actress for Amanda Seyfried. That is a total of seven acting nominations for Fincher’s films, with three of those coming for Best Actor. Fassbender could be the next performer to benefit from starring in a Fincher flick.

Fassbender was nominated for Best Actor in 2016 for “Steve Jobs,” losing to Leonardo DiCaprio for “The Revenant.” Before that, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 2014 for “12 Years a Slave,” but lost to Jared Leto for “Dallas Buyers Club.”

Currently, Fassbender sits just outside of our predicted five nominees in our Oscars odds chart for Best Actor, which is made up of Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”), Colman Domingo (“Rustin”), Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”), DiCaprio (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), and Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”).

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