OVP: Best Supporting Actor (2008)
The Nominees Were...
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road
Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road
My Thoughts: We have finally arrived-the Big 6. The categories where even if you haven't seen the films, it's more-than-likely that you'll have an opinion on the actors that are nominated. And why shouldn't you? In many ways this category represents best the five men you were most likely to have seen on big screens in the past decade or so. There's the highest-paid actor in Hollywood (at least it feels like it), there's an omnipresent character actor, another omnipresent character actor, and then two actors who were considered amongst the best of their generation until they tragically died. Yes, this is one of two times that Philip Seymour Hoffman and Heath Ledger strangely competed against each other for an Oscar (they emerged 1-1 from the battles), and yet both died tragically from drug use before they could break the tie. Since they're clearly the focus as we start discussing, let's start with them.
Hoffman's Father Flynn is, let's be honest here, a leading character in Doubt. In the same way that Ledger's Joker is questionably in this category, Hoffman probably has a bit too much screen-time to qualify as a "supporting actor" (you might remember that that didn't stop me from giving him the OVP in 2012, though). I also have to admit that in general I wasn't wild about Hoffman in this role. PSH is a great stage actor (I had the incredible honor of seeing him in Death of a Salesman, which I found spellbinding), but that rarely translates well onscreen which is why I've only once been a huge fan of him in a movie role (again, click that link). There's too much over-the-top with Father Flynn when I feel like he could have been quieter and taken better, more cautious choices. This is my opinion in general with Doubt, which doesn't really know that it's stopped being a play and gain from a little subtlety, but it's Hoffman's work as Father Flynn that takes the biggest heat-his yelling over Streep makes both of them a little careless with their impressive acting instruments, and the film suffers as a result.
Ledger, on the other hand, finds a way to bring an oversized character to life in The Dark Knight. So much has been written about this role, both how it became larger when Ledger died prior to the film's release, as well as how fanboys flocked to its instant iconography, but who can blame them? There's really no false notes here-Ledger creates a ruthless, menacing villain who steals the film from out from under the rest of the cast, but yet doesn't seem to be committing highway robbery with the film. The movie simmers with electricity both when he's onstage, constantly creating a character that is unknowable yet instantly feared, and when he's offstage you are always waiting for if the Joker might arrive and create a moment of tragedy. All-in-all, it's the sort of performance that cannot be denied the title of great, and one that weirdly lives up to the almost insurmountable hype.
Robert Downey, Jr. completes this trio of over-the-top performances, and I have to say that I love Tropic Thunder more every time that I see it, particularly due to Downey's work. The film borders frequently on the distasteful, but Downey knows how to milk the comedy out of every single line, and I adore the way that he consistently finds ways to mock both the character that he's playing as a real-person and the character he's playing as the fake actor onscreen. There's so many wonderful layers of comedy here you might expect you're in a Mel Brooks film. In the years since I've felt like Downey was slouching, and some might say this nomination was in part due to Iron Man, but that doesn't mean it wasn't wholly worthy of a citation, and I like that this strange little comedy (starring Ben Stiller and Jack Black of all people) managed such an unusual Oscar nomination for acting.
Josh Brolin by this point in 2008 was bound to be getting an Oscar nomination (he had been in SO many Oscar-nominated films in the three years prior), and thankfully it was for arguably his best work, bringing Dan White to the screen. I think the best part about what Brolin does here is not just that he creates yet another villain for this category, but that he makes Dan White confused as to why he is the villain. You see that in the looks on his face and his reactions to Harvey-he's the one who the institution should favor-the straight, white man with the family, and yet it's the gay man from the Castro who is getting all of the glory. I like that Brolin comes at the prejudice from a point of privilege and confusion rather than just hate as it makes Dan White a far more interesting and complicated foil.
I distinctly remember the shock on everyone's (figurative) face that Michael Shannon scored an Oscar nomination for Revolutionary Road when Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes both were skipped over; James Franco or Dev Patel had seemed more likely scenarios for the fifth slot. I particularly remember being floored as I wasn't particularly taken with Shannon in this role. The entire concept of his John in the film seems wholly unnecessary-the story is Frank and April's, and his angry "crazy" man next door isn't really conducive to the plot and feels added-on and occasionally distracting. It doesn't help, though, that Shannon is frequently milking the scenes and chewing on them-the performance is over-the-top. I like what it did for Shannon's career (he would go on to much better work, like Boardwalk Empire), and I'm always rooting for a shock nomination, but this wasn't really a worthy one.
Hoffman's Father Flynn is, let's be honest here, a leading character in Doubt. In the same way that Ledger's Joker is questionably in this category, Hoffman probably has a bit too much screen-time to qualify as a "supporting actor" (you might remember that that didn't stop me from giving him the OVP in 2012, though). I also have to admit that in general I wasn't wild about Hoffman in this role. PSH is a great stage actor (I had the incredible honor of seeing him in Death of a Salesman, which I found spellbinding), but that rarely translates well onscreen which is why I've only once been a huge fan of him in a movie role (again, click that link). There's too much over-the-top with Father Flynn when I feel like he could have been quieter and taken better, more cautious choices. This is my opinion in general with Doubt, which doesn't really know that it's stopped being a play and gain from a little subtlety, but it's Hoffman's work as Father Flynn that takes the biggest heat-his yelling over Streep makes both of them a little careless with their impressive acting instruments, and the film suffers as a result.
Ledger, on the other hand, finds a way to bring an oversized character to life in The Dark Knight. So much has been written about this role, both how it became larger when Ledger died prior to the film's release, as well as how fanboys flocked to its instant iconography, but who can blame them? There's really no false notes here-Ledger creates a ruthless, menacing villain who steals the film from out from under the rest of the cast, but yet doesn't seem to be committing highway robbery with the film. The movie simmers with electricity both when he's onstage, constantly creating a character that is unknowable yet instantly feared, and when he's offstage you are always waiting for if the Joker might arrive and create a moment of tragedy. All-in-all, it's the sort of performance that cannot be denied the title of great, and one that weirdly lives up to the almost insurmountable hype.
Robert Downey, Jr. completes this trio of over-the-top performances, and I have to say that I love Tropic Thunder more every time that I see it, particularly due to Downey's work. The film borders frequently on the distasteful, but Downey knows how to milk the comedy out of every single line, and I adore the way that he consistently finds ways to mock both the character that he's playing as a real-person and the character he's playing as the fake actor onscreen. There's so many wonderful layers of comedy here you might expect you're in a Mel Brooks film. In the years since I've felt like Downey was slouching, and some might say this nomination was in part due to Iron Man, but that doesn't mean it wasn't wholly worthy of a citation, and I like that this strange little comedy (starring Ben Stiller and Jack Black of all people) managed such an unusual Oscar nomination for acting.
Josh Brolin by this point in 2008 was bound to be getting an Oscar nomination (he had been in SO many Oscar-nominated films in the three years prior), and thankfully it was for arguably his best work, bringing Dan White to the screen. I think the best part about what Brolin does here is not just that he creates yet another villain for this category, but that he makes Dan White confused as to why he is the villain. You see that in the looks on his face and his reactions to Harvey-he's the one who the institution should favor-the straight, white man with the family, and yet it's the gay man from the Castro who is getting all of the glory. I like that Brolin comes at the prejudice from a point of privilege and confusion rather than just hate as it makes Dan White a far more interesting and complicated foil.
I distinctly remember the shock on everyone's (figurative) face that Michael Shannon scored an Oscar nomination for Revolutionary Road when Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes both were skipped over; James Franco or Dev Patel had seemed more likely scenarios for the fifth slot. I particularly remember being floored as I wasn't particularly taken with Shannon in this role. The entire concept of his John in the film seems wholly unnecessary-the story is Frank and April's, and his angry "crazy" man next door isn't really conducive to the plot and feels added-on and occasionally distracting. It doesn't help, though, that Shannon is frequently milking the scenes and chewing on them-the performance is over-the-top. I like what it did for Shannon's career (he would go on to much better work, like Boardwalk Empire), and I'm always rooting for a shock nomination, but this wasn't really a worthy one.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes couldn't help but do a little bit of movie star plucking, skipping character actors Josh Brolin and Michael Shannon and instead going with Ralph Fiennes in The Duchess and Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder (another performance under a whole lot of makeup-remember when Les Grossman was a thing?). The SAG Awards ,which don't have a choice over which category you submit yourself for, picked the clearly lead Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) in place of Michael Shannon, while the BAFTA Awards skipped both Brolin and Shannon to go with Brendan Gleeson in In Bruges and Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading. While Heath Ledger won all three trophies, I'm curious over who was in sixth-for years now I've thought Dev Patel, but considering Shannon probably got in with minimal support, there's a chance that one of the Best Picture contenders (Michael Sheen, Ralph Fiennes, James Franco) may have also been able to slide in for a nomination. Fiennes, in particular seems likely, but for which of his three film contenders?
Performances I Would Have Nominated: This was a solid year for this category, which makes me a little bummed at some of the category fraud and that Michael Shannon managed the surprise. Ralph Fiennes was doing brilliantly funny work in In Bruges, James Franco was wonderfully sexual in Milk, and Brad Pitt was comically inept and over-the-top in the underseen Burn After Reading. I would have preferred any of these contenders (all of whom were at least in the conversation) over Hoffman or Shannon.
Oscar’s Choice: Heath Ledger became only the second actor to win an Oscar posthumously, likely taking out Hoffman and Brolin, in that order.
My Choice: There's just no denying Ledger. For second place, I'm going to go with Brolin in a slight nod over Downey (they're close, though), as I think Dan White is a harder stand-out. Hoffman and Shannon finish out the five.
Those are my thoughts-what are yours? Does anyone out there want to make a case for Heath Ledger to lose? Are you with me that Michael Shannon's nomination seems strange not just for the surprise but also because the performance just isn't that good? And who do you have in second place here? Share in the comments!
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