Charles Melton won his first-ever major acting award on Monday night (27 November), leading many Riverdale fans to predict an Oscar win.
The 32-year-old, best known for playing Reggie Mantle on the popular CW series, won Outstanding Supporting Performance at the 2023 Gotham Awards for his role in Todd Haynes’s dark comedy May December.
Find the full list of TV and movie winners at the 2023 Gotham Awards here.
Melton’s portrayal of docile and naive Joe beat out several heavyweights, including Ryan Gosling in Barbie, Claire Foy in All of Us Strangers and Rachel McAdams in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Visibly stunned by his win, the Sun is Also A Star actor made his way to the stage to accept the award, where he repeated, “Oh wow” into the microphone.
“Bradley Cooper, go Birds!” he said, throwing out an American football reference. He proceeded to thank his co-stars, “iconic legends” Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, director Haynes and others who worked on the film.
Following news of his victory, several fans sent their congratulations on social media and called for Melton to win an Oscar. “Everyone getting behind the Charles Melton Oscar campaign,” one fan said.
“When Charles Melton wins the Oscar,” a second wrote, alongside a fingers crossed emoji. “Charles Melton Oscar nominee has the perfect ring to it,” another added.
The Gotham Awards, presented by New York’s Gotham Film & Media Institute, kicked off the 2024 film awards season, with its winners providing film fans a hint of what might be nominated for the 2024 Oscars.
Last year’s Best Feature Gotham winner, Everything Everywhere All At Once, went on to win the 2022 Oscar for Best Picture.
It’s worth noting that the Gotham Awards typically only recognises independent films, which is why some of this year’s biggest pictures – Killers of the Flower Moon and Oppenheimer – were excluded from the nominations.
May December tells the story of a tabloid romance between an age-gap couple, who open their lives and home to an actor (Portman) eager to tell their story in an upcoming movie.
The film has received positive reviews from critics, including The Independent’s Geoffrey Macnab who praised it as a “daring black comedy”.
“Haynes has directed a film with so many deliciously clashing styles that it’s as much a trashy soap as it is a torrid, probing melodrama,” he wrote in his four-star review.
May December will be released on Netflix on 1 December.
