First Looks: Steve Carell in 'Foxcatcher'; Idris Elba in 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom'; Kit Harington in 'Pompeii'

Thanks to Charlize Theron's transformation into the hideous Aileen Wuornos in Monster and Nicole Kidman plastering a huge schnoz on her face in The Hours, we went through a period where beautiful actors "uglying themselves up" was a sure path to Oscar gold. Or at least everybody gave it a shot. It remains at the very least an easy way to gain some attention for a specific role, and as we enter the awards season two major Best Picture contenders have stars undergoing some dramatic alterations, and EW has released new images of them, along with one film that will probably qualify for a Razzie.

The first image is of an unrecognizable Steve Carell in Foxcatcher, sporting one heck of a beak. Directed by Bennett Miller (Moneyball), the film has Carell starring alongside Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum, and Sienna Miller. He plays John du Pont, a multimillionaire and paranoid schizophrenic who built an Olympic-class wrestling facility called Team Foxcatcher on his estate, where his best friend and gold medal-winning grappler David Scultz (Ruffalo) trained. In 1996 du Pont murdered Schultz, claiming he was part of an international conspiracy. It's a bizarre story, and with a December 20th date it's clearly got Oscar aspirations.

On the other hand, Idris Elba is also unrecognizable as an older Nelson Mandela in this photo from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom...but it's because his face looks like wet cement. It's probably not fair to judge it too harshly because it could look better in motion, and Elba does seem to be embodying the South African freedom fighter pretty well in the trailer. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom hits theaters on November 29th, co-starring Naomie Harris and directed by Justin Chadwick.

And finally, here's Kit Harington wearing considerably less than the bulky gear he usually sports on HBO's Game of Thrones. That should please a few people I know. In the first image from Paul W. S. Anderson's Pompeii, Harington has clearly packed on some muscle for the role of Milo, an enslaved arena fighter who must save his noble love (Emily Browning) and his best friend (Adewale Akkinuoye-Agbaje) when the volcanic eruption occurs that will ultimately level the city. Co-starring Kiefer Sutherland, Paz Vega, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jared Harris, and Jessica Lucas, Pompeii erupts on February 21st 2014.