AFP-BNS

Timothée Chalamet’s Oscars campaign received a major boost on Sunday when he won the Best Actor award at the Critics Choice Awards for his role in the film Marty Supreme — the first major event of this year’s Hollywood awards season.

In this category, he defeated Leonardo DiCaprio, whose political thriller One Battle After Another won the night’s top prize for Best Picture, as well as Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, both awarded to Paul Thomas Anderson.

In Marty Supreme, a film set in the 1960s, Chalamet plays a highly ambitious table tennis champion.

Directed by Josh Safdie and loosely based on a true story, the film became an unexpected global hit following a unique promotional campaign by the French-American actor.

“Josh, you created a story about an imperfect person with a recognizable dream,” Chalamet said.

“And you didn’t preach to the audience about what is right or wrong, and I think we should all be telling stories like that — so thank you for this dream,” the actor added, addressing the director.

The film is loosely inspired by the life of table tennis star Marty Reisman, who believed he could achieve fame and fortune through a sport that was not particularly popular in the United States.

Chalamet — the Dune superstar and Oscar nominee, who recently portrayed Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown — prepared diligently for the role by training at the table tennis table.

The 30-year-old has previously spoken openly about his ambition to win multiple Oscars and is now considered a leading contender at the awards ceremony scheduled for March 15.

A boost ahead of the Oscars

Awards presented by North America’s largest critics’ groups can provide a much-needed boost to film campaigns as Oscar voting approaches.

This year, the ceremony took place on the coveted first weekend of the awards season, a slot usually occupied by the Golden Globe Awards, which will be held next weekend in Beverly Hills.

Jessie Buckley won the Best Actress award for her tragic portrayal of William Shakespeare’s wife in the historical drama Hamnet.

Jacob Elordi received the Best Supporting Actor award for his role as a monster in Frankenstein, which also won three technical awards. Amy Madigan won Best Supporting Actress for her villainous role in the horror film Weapons.

The globally popular Netflix production KPop Demon Hunters took home awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Song.

The horror film Sinners, also considered a strong contender for many of this season’s major awards, had to settle for wins in Best Original Screenplay, Young Actor, Music, and Casting and Ensemble categories.

In the television categories, the hospital drama The Pitt won Best Drama, the Hollywood satire The Studio won Best Comedy, and the teen murder drama Adolescence received the Best Miniseries award.

Accepting the Best Talk Show award, Jimmy Kimmel joked about his dispute last year with U.S. President Donald Trump, which briefly led to the late-night host being taken off the air.

“Thank you, Mr. President, for all the absurd things you do every single day,” Kimmel said.

“A FIFA peace prize would have been better, but this is nice too,” he joked.

At the start of the ceremony, host Chelsea Handler paid tribute to the late Rob Reiner, described as “the nicest guy in Hollywood.”

The beloved director of When Harry Met Sally and his wife Michele were found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home last month.

“Anyone who ever spent time with Rob Reiner knows that the moment you met him, you felt like an old friend,” she said, prompting thunderous applause from Hollywood’s biggest stars and critics.