Oscars 2022: Why ‘The Power of the Dog’ Star Kodi Smit-McPhee Looks So Familiar
The 94th Academy Awards are nearly here. And with them, Hollywood’s 2021-2022 awards season comes to a close. With 10 Best Picture contenders back in the mix, this year’s crop of nominees has pundits and fans alike guessing. Along with past winners like Steven Spielberg, this year’s Oscars feature a ton of first-time nominees. But fans have probably seen Kodi Smit-McPhee — one of four nominated stars from The Power of the Dog — before.
Where fans have seen Kodi Smit-McPhee before
In The Power of the Dog, Smit-McPhee plays Peter, the mysterious son of Rose (Kirsten Dunst). But fans have probably seen him in several of his past roles too. The actor’s first big role came in 2009’s The Road, in which he co-starred with Viggo Mortensen in the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel. The next year, Smit-McPhee starred in vampire thriller Let Me In and voiced the title character in the stop-motion animated ParaNorman.
More recently, Smit-McPhee popped up in franchise entries like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. He also played Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse and its 2019 sequel, Dark Phoenix. That role makes him one of three The Power of the Dog stars to star in Marvel movies. After all, Dunst played Mary Jane Watson in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films and Benedict Cumberbatch plays Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Will the actor win an Academy Award in 2022?
Throughout much of awards season, it seemed as if Smit-McPhee was on a collision course with Oscar. Much of the buzz for The Power of the Dog hinged on his character. Given the way the movie ends, that makes a ton of sense. But over time, some of the enthusiasm for his performance appears to have waned. At this point, CODA star Troy Kotsur is the odds-on favorite to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor this year.
However, Smit-McPhee is only 25 years old. That means he has plenty of time to continue doing great work. If he does, he’ll likely find his way back into the awards conversation at some point. The Academy Awards sometimes chooses to hold back on rewarding an actor, presumably for fear of giving them an Oscar for the wrong role. Smit-McPhee has made it onto the academy’s radar now. So it should theoretically be easier for him to get a second nod.
What is Kodi Smit-McPhee doing after the 2022 Oscars?
Depending on how it’s received, Smit-McPhee could even end up back at the Oscars for his very next movie. He’s set to play pop singer Jimmie Rodgers in director Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis. The film stars Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. It’s set for release on June 24, 2022.
The academy has an ongoing love affair with biopics. So if Elvis is a hit and Smit-McPhee’s role is significant enough, who knows what could happen? Beyond that, the actor’s next movie remains unclear. The X-Men are expected to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) at some point, but it will probably be a full reboot.
