Steve Carell By A Nose

This is not the same Steve Carell that made millions of us howl with laughter in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and in The 40 Year-Old Virgin.

His impressive dramatic skills will surprise you in a new film based on a true-life tragedy.

Steve Carell borrowed Nicole Kidman's nose from The Hours for his role in Foxcatcher.

He's almost unrecognizable in this serious character make-up.                                                              

Will he get an Oscar nomination for Best Actor?  I believe he will.  Look at what that nose did for Nicole Kidman.  She put it on to play novelist Virginia Woolf in The Hours and went on to win the Best Actress Academy Award for that performance.

Since its early years, the Academy tingles with glee when actors play real-life characters.  From Spencer Tracy (Boys Town) and Luise Rainer (The Great Ziegfeld) in the 1930s to Susan Sarandon, Julia Roberts, Hilary Swank, Sean Penn, Sandra Bullock, Forest Whitaker, Jamie Foxx, Charlize Theron, Daniel Day-Lewis and Matthew McConaughey in modern times -- all those actors won an Oscar for playing a biographical person.

Oscar loves it when actors play real-life characters.  Like Daniel-Day Lewis as Lincoln.

Oscar loves it when actors known for comedy get serious.  Sally Field, Tom Hanks, the late Robin Williams, Jamie Foxx and Mo'Nique all starred on TV sitcoms and won their Oscars for dramatic performances.  Sally Field was The Flying Nun on ABC.

Her first Oscar victory came for playing the tough Southern factory worker, Norma Rae.  Her third Oscar nomination came for playing the president's wife in Lincoln opposite Daniel Day-Lewis.

Oscar loves it when actors wear fake noses for their art.  Before Nicole Kidman in The Hours, there was the great José Ferrer as Cyrano de Bergerac.

He won the Oscar for Best Actor of 1950 as Cyrano, benefited by a big beak.

Nicole Kidman played a famous biographical character and she wore a fake nose.  That Oscar nomination was in the bag.

As for Carell...not only does the comic performer deliver a memorable dramatic performance as the manipulative millionaire, John du Pont, while wearing a fake nose...he seems to deliver the performance as actor Barry Newman playing the creepy, patriotic member of America's wealthy du Pont family.

See what I mean?  Newman up top.  Carell on the bottom.  They could be brothers.

For Foxcatcher, I believe Steve Carell will win an Oscar nomination for playing the morally corrupt millionaire.  His performance is compelling.  He gives you all the ingredients the Academy loves, mixed with talent.  He'll win a nomination.  By a nose.