All movie fans know that the start of a new year also means the start of the award show season. And what represents the best of the movie world? Duh. The Oscars.
But, for most Americans, voting on the Oscars isn’t even close to a possibility. How many of us are actually card-carrying members of the Academy? That’s what I thought. I know I’m not. So, which actors and actresses would America pick for the award if they have the choice?
To find out, the Movoto Real Estate Blog went to Facebook and spent some time data grabbing and looking at numbers. Ready for the results? Let’s go. As they say in Hollywood…
Lights.
Camera.
Action.
Ranking The Rankings
Our starting point for this map was pretty easy. We already had the actors and actresses that were nominated for Oscars in a leading role. Easy peasy. We just wanted to look and see who was most popular in each state.
To do that, we went to Facebook and looked at the FB population: how many people who are 18 and up live in each state and use FB.
We then counted up how many Likes each actor/actresses had in each state, and the state’s total FB population (not the state’s full population), to see which person reigned supreme in each state.
The roles were cast. The lights dimmed. Here’s who America picked:
1. Bradley Cooper
And the Movoto 2015 Best Actor in a leading role Oscar goes to…
None other than Bradley Cooper.
It wasn’t much of a contest for the “American Sniper” star, who took first place (or tied for first) in a whooping 36 states. You could say his victory was so strong it was limitless. It’s like Cooper is on a rocket to success. Okay, Okay, I’ll stop.
Cooper’s best states were New Mexico and Wyoming, both where he drew 2.83 percent of the total Facebook population for each state.
“American Sniper” is also up for a Best Picture Oscar, so this could be a big year at the real Oscars for Cooper and the film. Hopefully he doesn’t get distracted by a bachelor party at Las Vegas on the way to the ceremony, though.
2. Steve Carell
Second place this year was funny-man Steve Carell. There’s no silver Oscar, but in our imaginary award show there is. And how can you not want to give Carell something shiny? We all know he loves lamps.
Carell took home (or tied with Cooper in) an impressive 20 states. Carell’s best showing was in Utah, where 3.69 percent of the state’s Facebook population liked him. He also managed to win his birth state of Massachusetts from Cooper, even if it was by a very slim margin, with 1.85 percent of the vote.
Carell was nominated this year for his performance in “Foxcatcher”, which apparently has absolutely nothing to do with catching foxes.
The Runner-Ups
Michael Keaton, Eddie Redmayne, and Benedict Cumberbatch didn’t take home victory in any states, sadly. That doesn’t mean they aren’t awesome, just that they weren’t able to edge out Carell or Cooper in terms of number of FB Likes in each state.
Now if we had looked at Tumblr, Cumberbatch might have been a completely different story. But we’ll leave that for the fangirls to decide.
And as for the actresses…
1. Reese Witherspoon
And the Movoto 2015 Best Actress in a leading role Oscar goes to…
Reese Witherspoon!
Even more a landslide than the Best Actor Oscar, Witherspoon took home 47 of the 50 states. I’m pretty sure some politicians would kill for a electoral victory like that. Or at least start acting in movies.
Congratulations Witherspoon, you have dominated the Likes and minds of the Facebook-using populace of our country.
Witherspoon’s largest victory was Oregon, where she gathered 1.5 percent of the state’s Facebook population, to the sum of 36,000 people.
Nominated this year for her work in “Wild” (her second nomination), if America had to pick, Witherspoon would be walking the line home with an Oscar. Ain’t nothing illegal about that.
2. Julianne Moore
Taking second place for our actress in a leading role Oscar was Julianne Moore. She couldn’t rally enough states to challenge Witherspoon, but she still took home “moore” states than the other three actresses put together, so that’s impressive. At least the world isn’t lost on her, that’s for sure.
Moore took home bragging rights in three states: Hawaii, Idaho, and Nevada. Idaho was also her largest win, with 1.1 percent of the state’s total Facebook population “voting” for her. But she still lost out to Witherspoon in her birth state of North Carolina.
Moore was nominated for “Still Alice”, a film that stars her as a Columbia professor battling early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
The Runner-Ups
Unfortunately, none of the remaining nominees were able to dethrone Moore or Witherspoon in any states.
Just like with the actors, this is nothing to say of each actress’ performance, or their specific performances in the films they were nominated for. They just aren’t that popular on Facebook. Take it up with their social media managers. Or just go Like their pages on Facebook yourself if you think it’s unfair.
Closing the Curtain
Given just how unpredictable the Oscars can be, the actual awards could be wildly different from our findings. We aren’t claiming these as predictions of who will actually win, by any means.
We just thought it would be fun to see what would happen if the general populace of America got to pick. The Academy isn’t always fair or predictable, just ask “The LEGO Movie”, which we still haven’t forgiven them for.
What are your thoughts? Disagree with who Facebook picked to win the awards? Let us know in the comments below!
