Marielle Heller‘s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood “is not a Fred Rogers biopic,” THR awards columnist Scott Feinberg has stated. “Rogers, in fact, isn’t even the central protagonist — that’s Matthew Rhys, playing a magazine writer based on Esquire’s Tom Junod, whose 1998 profile of Rogers inspired the film. But make no mistake about it: this is Hanks’ film.”

Which is what everyone has been saying, and is why Feinberg’s article is titled “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Could Propel Tom Hanks to First Oscar Nom in 19 Years” — fine.

But Feinberg doesn’t say whether he’s talking about Hanks as a contender for Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor. Shouldn’t he clarify?

I’m asking because of a claim by Indiewire‘s Anne Thompson that Sony has decided to run Hanks in supporting and Matthew Rhys as a lead. Thompson wrote that campaigning Rhys as a lead is “fair,” considering that he plays an Esquire writer who profiles Hanks’ Fred Rogers. “The movie is really about him,” Thompson asserts.

The bottom line is that it shouldn’t and doesn’t matter how much screen time a performance occupies. If an actor dominates the film like Hanks does in A Beautiful Day or like Anthony Hopkins did in Silence of the Lambs, he should certainly be pushed for Best Actor.

Currently posted: Indiewire‘s Anne Thompson has reported that as far as an awards campaign for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is concerned, Sony intends to push Matthew Rhys in lead and Tom Hanks in supporting?

Hollywood Reporter critic Todd McCarthy is claiming that A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is “ultimately Hanks’ show, and Hanks’ show alone.”

Jordan Ruimy said this morning that Rhys “is in practically every scene and Hanks isn’t, but Rhys’ story is the weak part…the movie lags whenever Hanks isn’t on-screen.”