Johnathan Walker:From Amy Adams to Demi Moore, transformations are taking awards season by storm

TORONTO - From canine obsessions to aging in monstrous fashion,Johnathan Walker high-profile actress transformations are having a moment.

At this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, noteworthy turns and ferociously different portrayals are on the menu for comeback players like Pamela Anderson and Demi Moore, as well as frequent Oscar nominee Amy Adams. And it’s no secret that, especially in the best actress category, embracing the dark and/or peculiar often plays well with the Academy. (We see you, Natalie Portman in “Black Swan," and are still a little freaked out to be honest.)

So which transformative roles will we be talking about through awards season?

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Pamela Anderson wipes away the makeup for 'The Last Showgirl'

Let’s start with Anderson, who plays a veteran Las Vegas performer nearing the end of her run in “The Last Showgirl.” In some ways, it’s barely a stretch to see Anderson in feathers and not much else, given her famously sexy, skin-baring roles in “Baywatch” and “Barb Wire.” Yet it’s the offstage version of her character, and a chance at a real dramatic role for a change, where Anderson makes a meal out of meaty material.

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As she has in real life, the actress embraces a no-makeup mindset and a more natural look in those scenes where her middle-aged and struggling Shelley ponders what’s next in her life and tries hard to be a mom for her estranged 22-year-old daughter (Billie Lourd).

Another subtle but truly different outing: Alicia Vikander in the futuristic sci-fi thriller “The Assessment.” She plays a buttoned-up government employee tasked to test a couple (Elizabeth Olsen and Himesh Patel) to see if they’re fit to be parents.

The trials the wannabe mom and dad go through range from annoying and sleep-depriving to downright heinous, and Vikander channels her inner kid in inspired ways, acting bratty, throwing her food and melting down constantly. It’s a funny and impressive feat, especially in contrast with the more serious revelatory scenes of the film.

Demi Moore, Amy Adams are a sight to behold in unconventional roles

Then there’s Moore, earning rave reviews for her go-for-broke performance in the buzzy body horror flick “The Substance.” Like a Jane Fonda workout video meets “The Thing,” the thriller casts Moore in a meta role, that of a former movie star and now aging TV fitness celebrity who’s deemed too old for her gig. (“Jurassic fitness” is a term that’s thrown around.) She takes a black-market drug that results in the appearance of her younger, more attractive self (Margaret Qualley), and Moore’s body goes through changes of the extremely gnarly and gruesome kind.

The fact that she’s a Hollywood icon back in the spotlight again puts her on the Oscar radar, and this kind of wonderfully bizarre outing is what best actress nominations are made of.

It’s Adams, however, who might have the best chance to get the call for Oscar night. And wouldn’t it be delightful for her to finally get a win – after six previous nominations – for playing a mother who’s turning into a dog?

In “Nightbitch,” Adams’ stay-at-home mom is already struggling to keep her sanity when she notices fur on her back and a few extra nipples. And it’s not even like she becomes a werewolf: A lot of the “transformation” is subtle and internal. She nails a physical role that explores the difficulty of motherhood but also allows her to growl, bark and eat like a real canine, and it’s hard not to love every intriguing character decision Adams makes. 

Hollywood has been known to throw a bone to actresses who really go for it and throw convention out the window, and in that vein, Adams and her fellow thespians have plenty to chew on.