Best Supporting Actor 2018

For the films of 2018
Post Reply

Who was best among Oscar's Supporting Actor nominees?

Mahershala Ali - Green Book
4
24%
Adam Driver - BlackKklansman
1
6%
Sam Elliott - A Star Is Born
0
No votes
Richard E. Grant - Can You Ever Forgive Me?
12
71%
Sam Rockwell - Vice
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 17

Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Best Supporting Actor 2018

Post by Big Magilla »

Beautiful Boy is currently free with Amazon Prime.
Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8637
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: Best Supporting Actor 2018

Post by Mister Tee »

Those linked pieces illustrate pretty clearly the limitations of screen-time in determining lead/support. Randy Quaid has more screen-time in The Last Detail than Pacino does in The Godfather, but you'd have to have a head full of gumballs to consider Quaid a lead. In fact, I'd say he and Kim Hunter (also cited there) make it clear that it's possible to be on-screen a whole lot of time and still be unmistakably supporting. The clock-time on Quaid isn't terribly surprising -- all three guys are on-screen almost the entirety of The Last Detail -- but the story is clearly centered on Buddusky, with Meadows a classic supporting role. As for Kim Hunter -- Blanche is the indisputable female lead in Streetcar, Stanley the undoubted male counterpart, and Stella/Mitch are no-doubt support. The fact that Kim Hunter is visible for a fractional amount longer than Brando does nothing to offset that judgment. Sometimes it comes down to understanding the different functions of a lead vs. a supporting role.

A pretty thin field in the category this year. I haven't seen Beautiful Boy (Amazon appears to have blocked the film from Netflix), so I can't comment on Chalamet. The clear omission was Yuen, but, as we noted at nomination time, de Tavira was only the second performer to score a supporting nod from a foreign-language film, and it took her being associated with a 10-nomination film. A film like Burning, that (sadly) couldn't even make the foreign film list, clearly had no hope.

Sam Rockwell barely seems to be in Vice, and can count himself lucky to have racked up this carryover nomination.

I'm very happy for Sam Elliott that he scored this late-in-life recognition -- he's been deserving for films like Grandma in the recent past. It was too small a role to really compete, but he makes a creditable nominee.

As I said in the post-Oscar wrap-up, Ali can lay claim to having won his two-near-in-time Oscars for quite different performances (something Christoph Waltz can't say). He's easily the best part of the execrable Green Book, but the dreariness of the film in general makes me flinch from honoring it for anything. Oh, yeah: and the fact that he clearly IS a co-lead.

Which I wouldn't say about Adam Driver in BlackkKlansman. To me, Washington is clearly that film's protagonist, with everyone else serving in support. As most of you know, I've been resistant to Driver in his career so far, but I found his work here impressive, especially the monologue about feeling Jewish that Sabin cites. He's my runner-up.

My only quibble about Richard E. Grant is, he's playing a role well within his wheelhouse -- it's pretty much Withnail & I, 30 years on. But he's such a pleasure to watch, funny and then moving, that he towers over the rest of the pack, and makes for an easy pick.
User avatar
Precious Doll
Emeritus
Posts: 4453
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:20 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Re: Best Supporting Actor 2018

Post by Precious Doll »

Very interesting. It really illustrates what dws stated below. Thanks for posting.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Best Supporting Actor 2018

Post by Big Magilla »

This one is even more interesting:

https://letterboxd.com/cinematthew/list ... es/detail/

Who else knew that Tatum O'Neal's Oscar winning performance was only the 11th longest nominated supporting performance of all time, or that Mahershala Ali's second win was the 12th and Timothy Hutton's the 19th?
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Best Supporting Actor 2018

Post by Big Magilla »

Thanks, Miguel.

I found this observation especially interesting:
https://letterboxd.com/cinematthew/list ... ho/detail/

Who else knew Robert Strauss had 19 minutes and 2 seconds more screen time than William Holden in Stalag 17?
mlrg
Associate
Posts: 1747
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:19 am
Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Re: Best Supporting Actor 2018

Post by mlrg »

Precious Doll wrote:Thats really interesting. Does anyone know of some site that lists the amount of screen time. Its funny how some people can feel like they dominate a film when in fact have very little screen time.
There is a guy in Letterboxd that has a list for each of the acting categories indicating the screen time of each winner since the inception of the award. It only lists winner for each year, not the nominees.
https://letterboxd.com/cinematthew/tag/ ... ing/lists/
User avatar
Precious Doll
Emeritus
Posts: 4453
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:20 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Re: Best Supporting Actor 2018

Post by Precious Doll »

Thats really interesting. Does anyone know of some site that lists the amount of screen time. Its funny how some people can feel like they dominate a film when in fact have very little screen time.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
dws1982
Emeritus
Posts: 3790
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 9:28 pm
Location: AL
Contact:

Re: Best Supporting Actor 2018

Post by dws1982 »

Precious Doll wrote:I cannot vote for Mahershala Ali or Adam Driver. Driver was outstanding and Ali rose above the material he had to work with but I do consider both actors lead performances (ironically co-lead with another male actor) and therefore will not consider them.

Richard E. Grant is the easy winner here anyway. Exactly, as other have pointed out, giving a magnificent performance in what is a SUPPORTING role working in perfect harmony with his leading lady.
Here's the surprising stat from the Twitter screentime tracker: Richard E. Grant and Adam Driver are both onscreen for about 29% of their film's runtime, and Grant actually appears in a (slightly) higher percent of Can You Ever Forgive Me? than Driver in BlacKkKlansman, although in terms of minutes on screen Driver comes out on top with about 38 minutes to around 30 for Grant.

Driver definitely seems like much more of a lead than Grant, whose performances seems like a classic supporting performance. My guess it's because most of Grant's scenes are shared with McCarthy, who is very much the lead and focus of the film, while Driver is the anchors several scenes and sequences on his own, and is pretty much on equal footing with Washington's character in scenes they share.
User avatar
Precious Doll
Emeritus
Posts: 4453
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:20 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Re: Best Supporting Actor 2018

Post by Precious Doll »

I cannot vote for Mahershala Ali or Adam Driver. Driver was outstanding and Ali rose above the material he had to work with but I do consider both actors lead performances (ironically co-lead with another male actor) and therefore will not consider them.

Richard E. Grant is the easy winner here anyway. Exactly, as other have pointed out, giving a magnificent performance in what is a SUPPORTING role working in perfect harmony with his leading lady.

Both Sam's had little to do in their films.

If there is a snub on a major scale in this category it is Steven Yuen. He did give the best supporting actor performance of the year but much like Ethan Hawke he will have to take solace in his very deserving LA and NSFC wins. Gee, the major critics awards pretty much meant zip this year with only Richard E. Grant winning New York making to the Oscars.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
dws1982
Emeritus
Posts: 3790
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 9:28 pm
Location: AL
Contact:

Re: Best Supporting Actor 2018

Post by dws1982 »

Elliot and Rockwell both have less than ten minutes of screentime. According to a Twitter user who tracks these things, this is the first time that the Supporting Actor lineup has nominated two performances that were less than ten minutes. Elliot is actually the shortest of the two by over a minute, although I never would've guessed that, because I truly think that Rockwell makes next to no impression at all in Vice. (I also think that a good bit of Rockwell's screen time may be in one of those control room scenes where he's just there in the background.) According to that same Twitter, Ali's performance, with an hour and six minutes of screen time, is the longest Best Supporting Actor performance in terms of minutes on screen. (But not the longest in terms of percentage of time on screen.) Ali is fine, a damn sight better than Mortensen in the same film, but not much of the character rings true. And it was uncomfortable having to watch Ali show up to collect trophies at every awards show while acting vaguely embarrassed over it.

I like Elliott, Driver, and Grant a great deal and I think any of them would've been a great winner. Neither quite made my top five, but they were all in the next tier. Not sure who I'll ultimately vote for.
nightwingnova
Assistant
Posts: 516
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2011 4:48 pm

Re: Best Supporting Actor 2018

Post by nightwingnova »

Richard E. Grant. The definition of a featured actor, and a delicious and complex performance at that.
Last edited by nightwingnova on Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sabin
Laureate Emeritus
Posts: 10747
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 12:52 am
Contact:

Re: Best Supporting Actor 2018

Post by Sabin »

Pretty simple for me. Not a great lineup by any stretch and Richard E. Grant gave the kind of performance that would have stood a better chance of winning in 1988, if not 2018. We've seen this mix of tragedy and flamboyance in our GBFs before but it's a truly supporting performance and Grant finds enough genuine notes. I think he's my choice because he makes the most clichéd role of the bunch seem the most lived-in.

Mahershala Ali does everything he can with the part. My biggest reservation is that he's building up a more interesting character than he is ultimately allowed to express on the screen. Green Book isn't a good film but there are moments of pleasure in it simply by watching Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali bounce off each other, which is more than I can say for the rest of the nominees.

Adam Driver has quietly been building the most impressive resume of any actor this decade. I've really started to come around to him recently. He has quiet a bit more range than I initially suspected. He has one terrific scene in BlacKkKlansman where to talks about how being Jewish is something he never used to think about and now he does all the time. It's masterfully underplayed. But it feels strange to single him out of an ensemble with John David Washington (whose comic timing I totally under-appreciated) and Topher Grace (whose David Duke may not be David Duke but it's at least very memorable and it conveys a very strong idea about white nationalism being a barely-committal hoax).

It's great that Sam Elliott has an Oscar nomination but his role as Bradley Cooper's brother is a stretch at a conceptual stage. He has some of the film's strongest, most emotional moments but they're just that... moments. Writing about his performance, all I can think about is how much more I prefer his acting in the "The Other Ron" episode of Parks and Recreation.

I think I like Sam Rockwell's portrayal of George W. Bush more than any other I've seen if only for its simplemindedness. Putting him as a dopey satellite with daddy issues around Cheney's orbit was a strong choice. But not worthy of a nomination.
Last edited by Sabin on Fri Apr 05, 2019 9:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"How's the despair?"
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Best Supporting Actor 2018

Post by Big Magilla »

This one's a tie for me between the two guys named Sam - not for the win, but for which one needs to go first.

Sam Rockwell was passed over for awards recognition so many times that this nomination for the previous year's winner seems solely given to make up for all those missed opportunities. The best that can be said for his portrayal of George W. Bush in Vice is that it is not bad, but since when do they give Oscar nominations for not being bad?

Sam Elliott's nomination is likely attributable to his having been around a long time, but his performance in A Star Is Born was not the best among this this year's older brother/father/mentor category of which there were two sterling candidates in Robert Forster in What They Had and Russell Hornsby in The Hate U Give.

Both Sams surprisingly got in over Timothée Chalamet in Beautiful Boy,

The other three nominees were all deserving.

Adam Driver has given interesting performances in films for several years, of which his undercover cop in BlackKklansman is his best.

If Richard E. Grant has ever given a bad performance it must have been in something I've never seen. He's at his best in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and if it weren't for Mahershala Ali in Green Book would have been a slam dunk choice.

But Ali is in the race, and in Green Book he gives a performance that could have been a caricature in lesser hands. He gets my vote.
Post Reply

Return to “91st Academy Awards”