Poll Results - Oustanding Lead Actor In A Mini-Series Or Movie

Nine votes cast this time around and the result is about what I expected. In fifth place with no votes is John Rhys Meyers in Elvis. In a tie for third place are William H. Macy for The Wool Cap and Kenneth Branagh as FDR in Warm Springs with one vote each. In second place is Ed Harris for Empire Falls with two votes. However the clear winner, with five votes is Geoffrey Rush in The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers.

I can't say much about this category - but I will anyway. I haven't seen any of the performances nominated in this category and have only had the opportunity to see one - John Rhys Meyers in Elvis. I didn't watch it because quite frankly it seems like there's a new project about Elvis every other year and I've been tired of it since the first. The Wool Cap, I'm given to understand, is a remake of Jackie Gleason's 1962 feature Gigot and as good an actor as I think Macy is, I can't imagine that this remake is as good as the original.

This leaves us with an impressive lineup - three of the best actors of this generation. In my opinion Branagh suffers because he's playing another (real) person who has been massively overexposed - Franklin Roosevelt. He will end up being compared with people like Ralph Bellamy, Robert Vaughn Edward Herrman and John Lithgow to name but a few - IMDB lists 49 different incidents in which FDR has been portrayed on film (here's an idea - how about a film about Teddy Roosevelt that doesn't portray him as a maniac, or better yet one about Theodore Roosevelt Jr. who had a fascinating and adventurous life). I don't expect him to win in part because of this. This leaves us with Ed Wood as a small town restaurant manager in Empire Falls, and Geoffrey Rush as the incredibly complex (and probably insane) Peter Sellers. I think either one could win it. People who have rated the film on the IMDB have given Empire Falls a slightly higher popularity rating than The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers but with a far smaller sample. What even those who didn't like the Sellers movie state however is just how magnificent a job Rush has done in the role. I think it could be either.

New poll will be up later this morning.