Next Actor to 10 Oscar nominations

I feel this poll might've been designed as a self-fulling prophecy, but Washington nonetheless is the correct answer given that he's gotten in the last three times he went "prestige" with relative ease. With Roman J. Israel being particularly notable, given the fact that it had middling reviews. Unless High and Low is a disaster, or the year is just too stacked, that could very easily be his #10.

* Washington will get to 10 and top out ~ 11 I think the question is "when".....that's where I see him maxxing out particularly if he wins on 10.....I am not sure about Gladiator 2....but maybe....

* Pacino I think is done at 9....I don't think Lear is the one because right off the bat half the critical aggregate will hate it and that's IF he does it (he may not)......I do NOT expect the rest of the cast to be up to the Pacino / Chastain marquee but if it is he is going to be calling in A LOT of Actors Studio favors.........he knows a lot of people......if Pacino can get 1 more........it's going to be a left-field one.......but Lear is the BIG one - Oscar nod or not.......

* De Niro has at least one more in him and is more castable than Pacino now......but maybe they both finish at 9 which would be kind of cool and verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry homoerotic

* If Washington stumbles or is temporarily stalled........maybe Blanchett can sneak in 2 before he sneaks in 1......she certainly will be at 10 by the time she's 60 which is astonishing actually.........though Ronan may do it before 50........

As everyone has noted, Denzel is the obvious answer considering the pedigree of his upcoming projects and the relative ease with which he's nominated when he goes prestige. If Blanchett had a baity film out this year, I think she might be in the running ( especially if Gladiator 2 doesn't work out for him). But Borderlands this year won't be helping her.

Pacino does have a load of films coming up. Several in the can. Most of them don't have a high element of prestige attached or even notable directors, but the the one he's done with Julian Schnabel might put him in a real position to get nodded, depending if he gets the most standout notices for all the supporting actors ( which is going to be Pacino's biggest problem. A pretty stacked cast). Schnabel has a solid track record with AMPAS. 

DeNiro has potential for at least one nod coming up with Alto Knights, where he's playing both Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, which is the kind of acting stunt that might get him invited back if he pulls it off. Which is a big if, as I don't know if anyone other than Scorsese can get his juices flowing again.  I don't see him getting to 10 though. 9 maybe.

From most likely to least likely

1. Denzel Washington (Biggest real chances being Gladiator 2 and Highest 2 Lowest, but i'm not sure after seeing Ridley Scott and Spike Lee's recent track record and the latter deciding to remake one of Kurosawa's greatest works. These two movies could easily not succeed in giving him nominations).

2. Cate Blanchett (She will be back, but there's not a promising project at the moment, what happened with Almodovar??).

3. Al Pacino (Weirdly enough, i would put him in first position if i knew more about the upcoming projects, because there may be potential, especially in three films: Modi with Johnny Depp, In The Hand of Dante by Julian Schnabel, and King Lear, which, if done right, could even win him an Oscar, since it's generally considered as the Mount Everest of acting roles alongside Hamlet).

4. Robert DeNiro ( I'm not sure he Will be nominated again. KOTFM will probably be Scorsese's last film with him, and David O'Russell has fallen out of favor).

5. Glenn Close (She should win at least two Oscars, if they let some Emma Stone do that, she very well should win at least three, but it doesn't seem to me that anyone in Hollywood among great filmmakers Is interested in giving her those opportunities sadly).
She's sadly going to be Oscarless unless something radical happens.

Almodovar dropped out of the project.

Denzel