Supporting Actress 2003

The dreaded Best Supporting Actress category. Gulp!

2003 Best Supporting Actress

Renee Zellweger - Cold Mountain

So I have no idea if this was the Academy's way of saying "Here, you've been nominated 3 years in a row so here's an Oscar" or if they would have voted for it even if it was her first nom. That's the peril of going backwards in time on this Oscar journey and also being unable to read Academy members' minds from the past. As soon as Zellwegger's character is first introduced to us, we know this is a showy, Oscar-y role. She takes over the scene, and every scene she's in really, and becomes the most interesting thing about the film. Before she comes along, it's a basic and boring Nicole Kidman yearning for some love in Jude Law kinda film. Zellwegger is gruff, loud, manly, and also matter-of-fact. I'm pretty sure most actresses would have loved to have had this role. It's a juicy character for a woman, they don't have to be locked into a romantic lead. Zellwegger plays Ruby, a ranch hand so to speak, helping out Kidman's character on her farm, doing all the manly things. She has her delicate moments in the film and I think that's what makes this role so appealing. This nomination seems like it would have been a winner even back in the 40s-50s, it just has that sort of loud acting (for lack of a better description), rapid fire delivery feel, but that's not to denigrate Zellweger or say it's a bad performance. It's snappy and perfectly right up the alley of the Academy. The fact that it kinda harkens back to the olden days of Hollywood seems to just fit. Plus, it's the best of the bunch and the clear favorite. I think it's especially impressive to the Academy and others that this followed Bridget Jones's Diary and Chicago, which were two very different roles from this one. Zellweger showed her range and got rewarded for it. I'm totally okay with the win, especially given the competition. It's a performance you can't really hate.

Shohreh Aghdashloo - House of Sand and Fog

This is a quintessential Supporting Actress nomination. There seems to be a few different recurring types of nominations for this category that I've encountered so far. You have nominations that get swept along with a film that gets a bunch of nominations and captures the zeitgeist of that year, maybe not entirely deserving but enough people saw the film and remembered so and so was also in it. Then there's the good to outstanding performances for little seen films, where sometimes the nomination itself is a reward for the actress/film. And then you have nominations like this one. Perfectly supporting. What seems to be primarily for minority roles where the Academy respects the actress's work and can hail themselves as being progressive for bucking the typical middle aged white women trend. Not to say these nominations are purely so the Academy can say the nominate minorities or anything. I think these noms are great and much needed and I'd rather have these instead of Meryl Streep's 80th nomination any day. Aghdashloo is a strong actress and does what's needed of her character in this film. She is the supportive wife to Kingsley's character. And, well, that's about it. So it comes down to minority and yes, I agree to that. Should this have won? No. But the fact that it is nominated is spectacular. Good for the Academy. I'm sure they wanted to be progressive, but they could have done way worse.

Patricia Clarkson - Pieces of April

This is a movie that I had never heard of until I started this project. I know as I keep going back in time, that I'm going to run into a ton more of movies just like this one. And that's part of the fun of this undertaking, being exposed to all kinds of movies I would have never heard of or actually watching some I would have not watched. This is a very small indie film with a bunch of noteworthy stars like Katie Holmes, Oliver Platt, and of course Patricia Clarkson. Holmes is a woman living in NYC that is cooking Thanksgiving dinner for her estranged family who are coming from the suburbs. The movie follows those journeys of cooking and traveling and it's a lighthearted dramedy that's supposed to make you feel good about family and all that stuff. It's not a movie I would have watched on purpose and after watching it, it's not one that I particularly care for though I can see the appeal of it. It's just not something that's really in tune with my tastes. Plays the estranged mother who has breast cancer and is quite frankly a bitch. It's obvious that she uses the cancer as a means to getting away with acting however she wants. Each scene we see her in changes how she is, whether it's her just being mean or puking in a bathroom or getting high to ease the pain or impulsively trying to hitch a ride back home because she realizes she hates her daughter. The character arc is obvious and not surprising that at the end the mother decides to go to her daughter's run down apartment and enjoy the dinner and try to heal those old wounds. It's some pretty cliche stuff that falls flat for me because of those previous scenes. She's not keen on going on this trip but then suddenly loves her daughter very much. It's an unrealistic arc that's not really helped along by Clarkson. I never felt the change should happen only that it was going to happen because I've seen a bunch of movies just like this one. There was no want to see her change, we weren't given that emotional investment. That mostly falls on the script but somewhat on Clarkson. Just another average or worse performance for this category.

Marcia Gay Harden - Mystic River

Talk about a one note performance. Harden plays a woman who starts to believe her Husband (Tim Robbins) has killed Sean Penn's daughter who is sort of related to her through marriage. She does a lot of sitting and worried staring which accurately sums up the extent of her performance in this film. There might be something about not being able to trust your loved one or at least giving them the benefit of the doubt kinda thing that's supposed to be layered into the character but none of that really comes through. Her character is just simply a worrisome woman who is unsure if her husband committed a terrible murder. Harden is fine in this one note performance and I'm not sure what else she could have done with the character but it still is just that one track. I would have wanted more from the character so that we could have gotten more from Harden but it is what it is. She's a previous Oscar winner and I believe this one probably got swept in along with the other Mystic River nominations. That speaks to a lack of quality roles for women, sure, but also the Academy's lack of ability to look elsewhere to find stand out performances. We see a little bit of that with nominating Hunter and Clarkson in small movies this year but it's been a problem for awhile for the Academy. This was definitely not something I enjoyed focusing on. Instead, it left me a bit bored for an Oscar nominated performance.

Holly Hunter - Thirteen

This is an awful, awful, awful (x13) movie. I guess it's supposed to be one of those coming of age movies but it just feels so damn fake. I was in high school in 2003 and this movie shows some supposed high school freshman girls and the vibe is totally a Hollywood one. Everyone seems to be doing drugs, stealing, drinking, fucking, etc. and the people at the high school seem straight out of some 40 year old screenwriter's version of what high school in 2003 is like. It's quite ridiculous. So you can obviously tell what I think of Holly Hunter's performance. She's a recovering alcoholic mother that let's her kids' actions slide and it continues into worse things. Hunter wants to remain the cool mom but it comes at a price. She's an enabler with her own problems. The performance isn't as terrible as the movie but it definitely doesn't rise above that mess, either. There's nothing about it that makes me want to champion it as something career defining or as a bit of good or great acting. It's a serviceable performance that gets drowned out in the overwhelming shock value of Thirteen.


Again this is a kind of underwhelming group for this category. I love being exposed to films I wouldn't have ever thought to watch but I just wish doing so would reap some nice Oscar watching rewards. Zellweger definitely stands head and shoulders above the rest of the group and is the obvious choice for a winner, even given her status as being due for an award. From there, it just becomes typical supporting stuff. Aghdashloo is decent enough but doesn't particularly stand out. It's good to see minority women getting some love, though. And then after that you could almost make it a toss up between the remaining 3. I definitely didn't like Hunter the most and was dissatisfied with Harden. Clarkson left me meh so in 3rd it goes. One of these times, I'm going to get a great group in this category. It has to happen sometime!

Oscar Winner: Renee Zellweger - Cold Mountain
My Winner:  Renee Zellweger - Cold Mountain
Shohreh Aghdashloo
Patricia Clarkson
Marcia Gay Harden
Holly Hunter