This continues to be my favorite category to watch, usually giving me some really good performances and interesting films. Not much else to say except I'm looking forward to this one!
2001 Best Supporting Actor
Jim Broadbent - Iris
By now, it has become cliche for me to say that a nomination/win like this is merely the Academy's attempt to reward an aging actor for their distinguished career. I've said it often and I'm sure I'll say it a lot more as I keep going with my project. It's also clear that the Academy likes to nominate actors that have a year in which they appear in a bunch of highly thought of, possibly Oscar nominated films. We see it time and again, like in 2002 with John C. Reilly, and it also applies here with Jim Broadbent. He had quite the year starring in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, and Bridget Jones's Diary, all of which received some Oscar love. So with that double whammy, it's no surprise he was nominated and surely no surprise he won. Those two things alone are something that can give a win but his performance in Iris was touching to boot. He plays the husband of an aging writer that begins experiencing Alzheimer's and goes through the difficulties associated in dealing with a loved one who has that disease. He's a doting, caring, concerned husband that does his best to keep Iris lucid and cared for but ultimately gets frustrated and resentful of the disease that took his wife from him. He still loves her but is unable to stop the deterioration of her once razor sharp mind. Broadbent attacks the role in a sprightly manner, showing good charisma in the early days of Iris' condition. His performance is buoyed, however, by the younger version of his character played by Hugh Bonneville (who looks exactly like Broadbent) who equals and at times surpasses Broadbent in ability. The two together make a wonderfully whole performance and while Broadbent does a great job, there's still a bit lacking in his singular role. His struggle to come to the realization that the Iris he fell in love with is gone and accept that truth is very convincing. It's just not an overwhelming performance which again I think works better in tandem with Bonneville's younger part.
Ethan Hawke - Training Day
I used to not really like Ethan Hawke awhile ago, but lately I've warmed up to his acting. Not sure why exactly other than I guess I've seen more of his work and come to appreciate it a bit more. For a while I didn't know what to say about this performance. I'm fine with it being nominated although it always seemed like a co-lead to me since the film mostly focuses on Hawke's first day in the narco unit and he's in almost every single scene. Him being in Supporting is a bit disingenuous but, hey that's Oscar. I just never felt super strongly in support of it but I would never say it was boring or bad or anything. I think maybe some of that is due to Denzel being so overpowering in the film that we see Hawke's performance as being a little muted and overshadowed. One blogger described it as reactionary and I'd agree with that term. I think that's mostly by design as we see Hawke interact with Denzel on his first day of training and that's to be expected. He does come off as a meek, straight laced, cowardly figure but shows flashes of brilliance when he stops to save a young girl from getting raped and of course the whole ending. It seems people equate characters that are essentially squares like Hawke's as not being good performances. Hawke plays his cop honestly and let's Denzel do the big acting, which seems far more accurate for his character. I wouldn't want Hawke to all the sudden flip a switch out of nowhere and be like Denzel's character. His character develops naturally and Hawke does a good job of getting that across. Hawke's character is basically a conduit for the audience starting out nervous and then disbelieving what is truly going on in the narco world to eventually being fed up with doing things he feels are not right and taking action. Hawke makes his character easy to identify with. It's a good, effective effort by Hawke.
Ben Kingsley - Sexy Beast
Another film that I knew nothing about before this project (this year has been great for these types of films for me!). It's an interesting little film, just an hour and a half long, and is a highly entertaining performance from Sir Ben. It's immensely fun and I think what makes it such a riot is that this is the guy who also played Gandhi and would eventually play a strict, no-nonsense Iranian military man. So this is totally antithetical to what we understand Kingsley to be, that sort of serious actor who does serious stuff. Kingsley plays a British gangster who recruits guys for jobs and is a seriously sadistic sociopath. His character crashes through the film like a tornado that zigs around and never lets up in destructive power. He's a man that overpowers every one - and every scene - he comes into contact with. I must say that it does make the film more enjoyable when he's around and it's never an uncomfortable tone to his performance, just a crazy British gangster that you come to expect from these types of films. It's both funny and engaging and has just the right amount of insane to it. I think this is a performance that most people will overlook and never get to experience but if someone seeks it out, they'll find a nice little gem.
Ian McKellen - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
This is a sort of all encompassing nomination. I feel that it represents not only the entire cast of the film (and even the whole trilogy) but Ian McKellen's career up to this point as well (this being his second nomination with the first happening back in 1998). Here is the Academy knocking out two birds with one stone. I for one think it's a very well deserved nomination both for the film and for McKellen. I mean, can you really picture anyone else as Gandalf? I certainly can't and that's because McKellen does such an outstanding job of inhabiting the character. Even thinking of someone else as Gandalf seems sacrilegious. It is odd that McKellen is nominated in Supporting because Gandalf is the driving force behind Fellowship even though we are following Frodo on his journey. He's present throughout most of the film and has some of the most memorable and gripping scenes of the first film. His departure at the end of the film is emotional and that's all because McKellen has endeared the character to us as a powerful, yet grandfatherly old wizard. It's an iconic role that clearly belongs here and represents the trilogy well.
Jon Voight - Ali
When it comes to the 5th spot in some of these categories, I don't know what happens to the Academy, it's like they lose their mind. Often times voting in veterans or people that have a ton of nominations because god forbid they go out of their comfort zone. I'd rather the 5th spot, assuming it's truly just for well we don't know what else to nominate, go to up and comers or some really out there performances or maybe comedy or even just a safe, but legit, pick. Voight seems to occupy the veteran nom spot unfortunately. He plays Howard Cosell but it's really nothing more than an impression of Cosell. It's an uneven one at that. It wavers between decent Cosell and Voight forgetting that he's Cosell. The makeup and all that is spot on and really impressive but his impression of Cosell lacks. He's also not in the film all that much, though he does have some key scenes with Will Smith's Ali. He doesn't have any scenes of his own, however, and shows up mostly just for the fights and does some announcing voice over work. I can't honestly understand what made this Oscar worthy. I mean, okay, it's a somewhat fine impression but it's not good or great. Cosell is tied to all the impactful scenes with Ali where it's designed to make him more human or to comment on Ali's inner thoughts but it's so thin. It's like drive by acting and it shows. Not worthy of a nomination and definitely not a must see.
Ahhhhhh, I love when my favorite category delivers. Sure we got one head scratcher in Jon Voight, but the other 4 all pretty good to fantastic. It says a lot when Oscar's winner is my 4th best option! My win goes to Gandalf because, let's face it, Gandalf rules and I feel that LotR should have been rewarding with at least one representative acting win, so why not McKellen? It makes a lot of sense to me especially because Broadbent's performance isn't exactly something that's gonna wow you. No doubt he wins because of his body of work that year plus the whole veteran thing. The highlight of this group, and probably the whole year for me, is Kingsley. That was an exceptionally fun performance to watch and any other year would have probably been my winner. Glad the project introduced me to it. And Hawke is a solid 3rd and middle guy here, definitely not shabby. Can't wait to see what 2000 brings!
Oscar Winner: Jim Broadbent - Iris
My Winner: Ian McKellen - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Ben Kingsley
Ethan Hawke
Jim Broadbent
Jon Voight
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