Mike Birbiglia

Top 10 Most Oscar-Worthy Actors of 2012

Which of this year's actors are worthy of the industry's highest honor?

If the screenplay is the backbone of a movie and the director its eyes, the actors and actresses who bring the characters to life on screen are its heart and soul. A bad script in the hands of wonderful actors can still make for a pretty decent movie, but give a wonderful script to bad actors and you're gonna get a bad movie every time. This year, there were a considerable number of exceptionally well written movies starring talented actors and actresses released by both independent studios and the majors so there are almost too many eligible candidates to consider for Academy Award nominations. We already asked you to tell us which actresses deserve consideration come Oscar time — so far, you've chosen Jennifer Lawrence for her leading role in Silver Linings Playbook and Anne Hathaway for her supporting role in Les Miserables — now tell us which actors are worthy of the movie industry's highest honors, whether Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor.

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• Joaquin Phoenix
• Dwight Henry
• Philip Seymour Hoffman
• John Hawkes
• Daniel Day-Lewis
• Bruce Willis
• Tom Hanks
• Christian Bale
• Ben Affleck
• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Christoph Waltz
• Mike Birbiglia
• Denzel Washington
• Matt Damon
• Alan Arkin
• Michael Fassbender
• Robert De Niro
• Suraj Sharma
• Javier Bardem
• Bradley Cooper
• Jean Louis Trintignant
• Anthony Hopkins

Sleepwalk With Me's Ira Glass and Mike Birbiglia Discuss Their "Feud" With the Avengers' Joss Whedon

The comedy Sleepwalk With Me opened last weekend to $68,801 in one theater, which, while impressive, doesn't hold a candle to The Avengers' $1.4 billion, and yet there's a feud between Avengers director Joss Whedon and Sleepwalk With Me's director, co-writer and star Mike Birbiglia. Well, sort of.

Based on Birbiglia's one-man show about his career in comedy, love life, and all-too-real sleepwalking affliction, Whedon shot a personal video a few weeks ago that urged fans to "stop" Birbiglia's Sleepwalk With Me and "boycott" the movie when it opens in some 30-odd theaters before it could affect The Avengers, which is now down to less than 500 theaters. "We're about to beat Joss Whedon, who declared war on us," joked Birbiglia to Hollywood Dailies. Or was he joking? Check the clip above to find out.

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• Sleepwalk With Me
• The Avengers
• Mike Birbiglia
• Joss Whedon