  The acting races continue to shape up as Oscar fever builds.
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HOLLYWOOD — It has been a tough year for actors — and not just because studio belt-tightening has pretty much put the kibosh on those $20-million, A-lister paydays.
Where 2009 has been an uncommonly rich one in showier roles for female actors (as discussed in last week’s Oscar preview), so far we’ve seen scant evidence of the sort of attention-grabbing performance from the dudes that demands Academy consideration.
Sure, there’s been no shortage of sturdy stuff, but nothing along the Oscar-winning, physical transformation lines of a Sean Penn in Milk, or a career comeback turn on the order of Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler.
Instead, we’ve got George Clooney doing arguably his best work since Michael Clayton as a career transition consultant (as in, guy who fires people) in Jason Reitman’s swell Up in the Air.
And Colin Firth, doing some of his most effective work to date as an early ’60s-era, grieving gay college professor in fashion designer Tom Ford’s impressive directorial debut, A Single Man.
Both are committed, complex performances that are certain to make the cut when the nominations are announced on Feb. 2.
Also expected to be there (although it has yet to be officially shown to anybody), is Morgan Freeman’s portrayal of Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood’s upcoming Invictus.
But knowing Freeman’s usual style, it will likely be another dignified, contained turn, as opposed to one that cranks up the physical or emotional volume.
Personally, we prefer the more studied styles of the above three pros over the acting equivalent to an American Idol belter, but there’s still always room for something more unexpected.
Maybe that would be perennial Oscar fave Daniel Day-Lewis, who adds singing and dancing to his remarkably diverse body of work, playing the role of a truly Fellini-esque renowned filmmaker suffering major mid-life crisis.
But given his penchant for never repeating himself, you’d sort of expect that.
Then there’s Matt Damon, who packed on the pounds to play a corporate whistleblower in Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant!
Maybe, but that whole dramatic weight-gain thing feels so been there, eaten that.
There’s also been some talk that hitherto unheralded Jeremy Renner will get a nod for his acclaimed portrayal of a gung-ho bomb disposal expert in Kathryn Bigelow’s equally acclaimed Iraq war drama, The Hurt Locker.
Could be, but for our money, one of 2009’s Oscar worthiest performances can be found in a last-minute awards season addition.
The film is called Crazy Heart, which was originally slated to be released next spring but was suddenly bumped up in the schedule by distributor Fox Searchlight after its Amelia quickly vanished from the Oscar radar.
And the reason for the burst of Crazy Heart enthusiasm?
Old reliable Jeff Bridges, playing a bearded, down-and-out, once famous country singer named Bad Blake, who gets a shot at personal salvation via his relationship with a younger journalist, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Although we haven’t even seen it yet, the prospect of four times-nominated, never-won Bridges crooning his own hurtin’ tunes has Comeback Story of the Year written all over it, don’tcha think?
Granted, Bridges, who turns 60 on Dec. 4, never went away.
Welcome back, anyway, Bad Blake!
Michael Rechtshaffen, a Canadian entertainment writer based in Los Angeles, appears Wednesdays and Sundays
