Nathaniel over at The Film Experience just published a post discussing the potential confusion over a few Oscar contenders whose performances may be confused for lead performances when they are actually supporting and vice versa. His list, however, doesn’t include one I just watched yesterday, but first for his…
- Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz and Brad Pitt in Inglourious Basterds
- Anthony Mackie in The Hurt Locker
- Woody Harrelson in The Messenger
- Christian McKay in Me and Orson Welles
- Jake Gyllenhaal in Brothers
I don’t think he needs to worry much about Melanie Laurent or Brad Pitt, both of which are obviously supporting if you ask me. Or Jake Gyllenhaal, although I wouldn’t mind seeing Gyllenhaal get a nod for Brothers considering I thought his was the best performance in it… but for what category? Lionsgate has placed him in the Best Supporting Actor category, but in reality all three (Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman) are co-leads in that film if anything, which could cause voting confusion.
Next is Christian McKay in Me and Orson Welles, a performance that should undoubtedly be nominated for an Oscar, and in my opinion in Best Supporting Actor, but will voters look at his commanding (and dominating) performance as a lead perf?
Woody Harrelson earned a Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for The Messenger and he was also awarded in the same category by the National Board of Review. However, according to Gold Derby Woody was upped to lead status by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. for Golden Globe qualification after being submitted for the supporting race. So what is it?
The one performance that currently has me scratching my head and was left off Nathaniel’s list is Helen Mirren’s turn as the Countess Sofya Tolstoy in The Last Station, a film I just watched yesterday and will agree with many that it is good (perhaps not as good as some are saying), but I don’t agree with the decision by Sony Classics to push Mirren in the lead category.
They have it right when it comes to pushing Christopher Plummer and Paul Giamatti in Supporting (both are great and it’s an accurate placement) as well as James McAvoy in the lead. After all, this is McAvoy’s film and his character’s growth is dependent on all the characters that support his story.
I’m actually surprised Sony Classics would go for a Lead nomination for Mirren, primarily because she is an obvious supporting character and on top of that the Supporting category for an Oscar nom is far more wide open at the moment. Of course, I may feel differently after seeing Nine tomorrow night.
As for Nathaniel’s inclusion of Mackie for The Hurt Locker (not sure why Nat thinks there is confusion on that one), I think it is definitely a supporting performance, but what do you say? Any category confusion on your part?
You’ll remember last year there was an uproar over The Reader, not just because it knocked The Dark Knight out of Best Picture contention, but because Kate Winslet was nominated (and won) for Best Actress and not Best Supporting.
