Could Marion Cotillard Win An Oscar For Rust And Bone?

The race to the Academy Awards is beginning to hot up with movie executives beginning to hobnob with various industry people and drum up support for their respective films. Sir Anthony Hopkins recently explained how he refused to travel to New York just for the sake of speaking to the right people about his movie Hitchcock, and we all know what Joaquin Phoenix thinks of the whole charade.

Though some people really want to win an Oscar. The people behind Denzel Washington's Flight have released a special trailer targeted at Academy voters, and the people over at Team Cloud Atlas would probably kill to just spend five minutes with one of the statuettes, any of them. One actress who would love to get her hands on the Best Actress gong for a second time (though she'd never admit it) is Marion Cotillard, whose turn in Rust and Bone has been winning quiet praise in the lead up to awards' season. The movie focuses on a man's bond with a killer whale trainer, which grows deeper after she suffers a horrible accident. Sounds pretty grisly huh? But the critics loved it, and lauded Cotillard's performance in particular. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, "As an orca trainer who loses her legs, Cotillard is astonishing, as is Schoenaerts as a boxer who helps restore her sexual identity. Audiard's hypnotic film means to shake you, and does." Tim Robey of The Telegraph said, "Cotillard, who's been waiting since La vie en rose for a role this substantial, is at her damaged, devastating best".

For punters, Cotillard represents one of the best value for money bets of awards' season. She's currently available at 8/1 to win Best Actress at the Oscars - seen as a wide open race. Pretty much everyone knew Meryl Streep was going to win last year, though in 2013, Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Sally Field (Lincoln), Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables) Emannuelle Riva (Amour), Ouvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Helen Mirren (Hitchcock) or Cotillard could all scoop the prize.