Adam Sandler & Robert De Niro Snubbed in Best Actor Oscar Nominations, See Odds for Those Nominated

• Nominations were announced today for the 92nd Academy Awards (Feb. 9th)
• Adam Sandler and Robert De Niro’s absence from the Best Actor category are amongst the biggest snubs
• Both Sandler and De Niro were considered early favorites in pre-nomination odds

Few things the general public talking more than the nominations for the Academy Awards. After this morning’s nominations for the 2020 Oscars (Sunday, Feb. 9th, 6:30 PM ET), the entire movie industry is abuzz.

One of the most talked-about categories is Best Actor. After a year of intense and incredible performances, the nominations for Best Actor were always going to be controversial. After all, there are only five slots in this category and that’s always going to leave someone high and dry.

Here’s who was nominated and their current odds to win.

Odds for Best Actor at 2020 Academy Awards

Odds taken Jan. 13th.

Among the snubs in this category are Eddie Murphy (Dolemite is My Name ) and Taron Egerton (Rocketman). But, even more so, Robert De Niro for The Irishman and Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems have people talking.

things i didn't ever think i would be saying in my lifetime, let alone 2020:

"i was so annoyed about jlo's oscar snub, i forgot about adam sandler's."

— alex (@alex_abads) January 13, 2020

The Academy Awards odds tracker shows an interesting narrative for both actors’ chances to win the statuette.

Since mid-December, interest in Sandler as a nominee increased, and his odds improved well over the course of the month. Immediately before nominations came out, Sandler was sitting at +2750.

In De Niro’s case, his odds have been fading. He looked he would be one of the five contenders early on, but saw his odds fall steeply from +600 in November to +4200 last week.

Best Bets

Of the five actors nominated, Joaquin Phoenix has by far the best odds at -1000.

Long before the nominations, Phoenix was the talk of the town for his dynamic performance in Joker. For a movie that saw so much controversy leading up to its release, Phoenix’s performance did some heavy lifting and quieted all of the naysayers.

It almost feels that the Academy filled the Best Actor category with a random smattering of nominees just for the sake of doing so. Even with A-list performers such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Antonio Banderas in the mix, Phoenix is really the only one worth placing any bets on. He’s already picked up a Golden Globe for Joker.

If you do want to pick a longshot, it would be Adam Driver. His turn in Marriage Story was the next-best thing to Phoenix this year, but he’s still not likely to snag a win.

Considering all of this, you can’t really feel bad for those who were left out of the nominations. Even if De Niro and/or Sandler had been nominated for Best Actor, neither of them would have been able to unseat Phoenix’s blockbuster performance.

At least De Niro and Sandler have the pleasure of being let down now rather than the day of the ceremony.

Pick: Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) (-1000)