![]() |
"What would you have done?" Kate Winslet in The Reader. |
To lead or not to lead, that is the question. Whether ’tis
nobler in the mind to go lead or supporting is the fuss of many a campaign ev’ry
Oscar season. Each award period usually sees at least one case of a contender
gaining extra traction (or even a win) by smartly slipping his or her name
through the loopholes of Oscar glory. It’s hard not to see the farce in the
whole affair when one looks at years such as 2001 when Best Supporting Actress
winner Jennifer Connelly probably had more screentime in A Beautiful Mind than Best Actress winner Halle Berry did in Monster’s Ball. That’s hardly here nor
there, since both actresses gave a performance worthy of the award, but it’s always
good to note how easily category confusion can shake things up. Case in point:
Academy voters can smell a fraud and vote correctly, as they did for 2008 when
Best Supporting Actress front-runner Kate Winslet swept the early awards in
that category, but ended up winning the Oscar for Best Actress for her
performance in The Reader. (Keep in
mind that’s it’s generally the studios that do such risky business.)
As a result of 2012 being a strong year for movies—one of
the best ever, I think—the fields are crowded and actors could either get lost
in the mix or come out on top depending on how their names are placed. The
supporting categories, however, have considerably more wiggle room, so the old
switcheroo could turn an also-ran into a contender. For example, Scott Feinberg notes that Warner Bros. will push Amy Adams as a lead actress in Trouble with the Curve, presumably in order to capitalize on the popularity of her supporting turn in The Master. Especially for some
underdog indies, the baby-kissing for lead or for supporting could really make
an impact on the contest. Therefore, here’s a look at a few contenders who could
have an impact on the Oscar race of 2012:
![]() |
Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman star in The Master. Courtesy of eOne Films |
Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master
Hoffman’s performance in The
Master is arguably the most contentious of the ones listed here. He’s an
absolute powerhouse as the larger-than-life title character of Paul Thomas
Anderson’s acclaimed film. Hoffman is a commanding presence in a very large
role, so many film fans deem him worthy of a Best Actor nomination; however, is
it really the lead role of the film? Hoffman arguably has a role secondary to
Joaquin Phoenix in the film and Phoenix favored to win in the lead actor race above
Hoffman, so a loose interpretation of the word “supporting: might let The Master double dip. However, Phoenix’s
recent dismissal of the Oscar race could open up a spot for Hoffman to
become the dark horse in the Best Actor race if one believes that it’s
politics, not performances, that drive the race.
Verdict:
Supporting. People are bound to quibble with whichever category Hoffman pops
up, but he stands a better chance with Phoenix in the lead. It’s a large role,
but not as large as Phoenix’s. Hoffman has ample screen time, but, like a true
master, the strength of his performance makes him seem omnipresent.
![]() |
Helen Hunt with John Hawkes in The Sessions |
Helen Hunt in The Sessions
Helen Hunt’s miraculous performance in The Sessions shows how easily consensus can change. It seemed like
Hunt was in the running for Best Actress after the film played at Sundance,
then her named was bounced around for supporting circa TIFF, after which she
seems to be a front-runner. (See: The
Playlist) One could call Hunt the lead in The Sessions, since she has the largest female role. She doesn’t
appear until the film’s second act or so and she has little screen time in the
final act (but those few moments are among her best), so could rightly be seen
as a supporting player in the John Hawkes show. Like Hoffman, the strength of
her performance makes the role seem bigger than it is on paper, so she could justifiably go either way. It’s really
just a matter of whichever category voters submit her name.
Verdict:
Supporting. I’m rooting for Helen Hunt regardless, but maybe even for the win
if she’s nominated here.
![]() |
Pauline Collins and Maggie Smith in Quartet |
The cast of Quartet
A true ensemble film, Quartet
boasts four excellent performances from Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy
Connolly and Pauline Collins as a quartet of retired actors. Much of the
pre-festival buzz focused on Maggie Smith’s role as the central diva of the
quartet; however, like Hunt in The
Sessions, she doesn’t appear for the first little bit of the film. (Once
she does, though, she takes centre stage.) Quartet
also has Tom Courtenay give a fine understated performance as Smith’s former
lover, with Connolly and Collins giving more comedic roles. Like the best
actors in the business, the four stars of Quartet
complement each other and play off their co-stars to work accentuate their own
work. It’s not a Carnage situation
where all four actors are together for the whole film—one would probably need a
stopwatch to separate the screentime—so the marketing department at The
Weinstein Company just needs to get a feel for their contenders. They’re all
great and they would all be nominated if I could cast a ballot. (One would be
ranked #1 at this point, too.)
Verdict: Smith
and Courtenay = lead, Collins and Connolly = supporting.
![]() |
Dwight Henry and Quvenzhane Wallis star in Beasts of the Southern Wild. Courtesy of eOne Films |
Dwight Henry in Beasts of the Southern Wild
Dwight Henry gives an excellent performance in Beasts of the Southern Wild as the
father to young Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis), but if there’s one case of
blatant category fraud so far in 2012, it’s this performance. Henry appears in
virtually the entire film, so he is arguably the male lead of Beasts. Wallis is so impressive as
Hushpuppy, though, that Henry’s strong work almost becomes an afterthought, as
you’ll note in my own review of the film. It’s seems like he’s a secondary
player in Beasts, even though he
carries much of it. Additionally, he might have more chance of succeeding in
the supporting category since he’s an unknown actor.
Verdict: Lead. He
gives award-worthy work, but it’s no bit part.
![]() |
Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle |
Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises
Twitter was recently a-flurry when Warner Bros. unveiled the
category listings of it’s For Your Consideration pages for voters and listed
Anne Hathaway as a lead for her role as Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises. Hathaway got strong notice for her take on
the female feline of the third installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman
trilogy, with some people tossing her name around as having the potential to
follow-up The Dark Knight’s Heath
Ledger as a nominee for the franchise. Hathaway has long been presumed to be a
strong contender in this category for work in Les Misérables, though, (have you seen that teaser?!), so her good
notices for Batman will probably only help a push for Universal’s campaign for Les Mis. On the other hand, The Dark Knight Rises could provide a
decent back-up plan for Hathaway if Samantha Barks steals Les Mis in her role as Éponine, as some writers are speculating.
Verdict: It’s a
supporting role. WB is just being greedy by putting her as lead.
![]() |
Ann Dowd in Compliance. Courtesy of eOne Films |
Ann Dowd in Compliance
I was skeptical of Ann Dowd’s chances in the Oscar race before
I saw Compliance. A little movie like
Compliance is a hard sell to the
Academy, especially if the film itself isn’t all that great itself; moreover,
when they have a small distributor like Magnolia, they really need to work hard
to be noticed. (Case in point: the distributor’s mishandling of Julia and Tilda Swinton’s Oscar chances
in 2009.) Ann Dowd, however, has received strong notices since the film
premiered at Sundance and has gained more support in the months since. Dowd
carries most, if not all, of the film with her performance as the manager of a
fast food restaurant that is tormented by a prank caller. It almost feels
dismissive of Dowd’s work to call it a supporting role. Awards Daily, for example, gives
a strong assessment of the actress’s work and shows how this indie darling
provides a breakout role for a veteran character actress. A supporting
nomination might be an easier gamble since the field is less crowded and the
lead race has some big names. On the other hand, though, a strong campaign for
a worthy performance could easily change Dowd’s career. Just look what happened
to Melissa Leo with Frozen River.
Verdict: Lead,
but will probably appear on the supporting ballots.
![]() |
Julianne Moore, Onata Aprile, and Alexander Skarsgard in What Maisie Knew |
Julianne Moore in What Maisie Knew
Moore’s performance in What
Maisie Knew easily ranks among the best performances that I saw at TIFF
this year. Thanks to the considerate, sensitive reading that Moore brings to
her character, Maisie’s mother is hardly the one-dimensional monster that
appears in the novel by Henry James. I think it’s a strong performance that
deserves comparison to the work that should have won Moore Best Supporting
Actress for Boogie Nights. Moore
could finally win the statue that has long eluded her depending on the
marketing for Maisie. As the biggest
name in the production, Moore receives top-billing in What Maisie Knew, but the lead actress of the film is arguably
Maisie herself, played by then six-year-old Onata Aprile. The wide support for Beast of the Southern Wild’s Quvenzhané
Wallis certainly has people rethinking the rule on child actors, so it might
not be such a stretch to give Aprile the spotlight. She’s in virtually every
frame of the film, too. Although Moore the meatier part, she’s in only half the
film. I hope that What Maisie Knew
gets the notice it deserves because Moore’s final scene is a clincher.
Verdict: Supporting, but has this release been pushed back to 2013? (At least we’ll see Moore
collecting trophies for Game Change!)
![]() |
Laura Linney and Bill Murray in Hyde Park on Hudson. (Photo: Nicola Dove) |
Laura Linney in Hyde Park on Hudson
I haven’t seen Hyde
Park on Hudson, so I was surprised to see Laura Linney’s name in the
supporting category on Focus Features’ FYC listing (which has strangely
disappeared…. The trailer makes it seem like a big part (perhaps she just has a
lot of voice-over), and much of the advance hype suggested that Hyde Park could finally make Linney an
Oscar winner. Then the film played at Telluride and TIFF and received polite
but unremarkable praise, although the performances by Bill Murray, Laura
Linney, and Olivia Williams were generally noted as being above the stiffness
of the film itself. (Ex: The
Film Experience) Many people felt that Williams deserved a nomination
for Ghost Writer a few years back, so
perhaps her ballsy turn as Eleanor Roosevelt could put her in the hunt. (She’s
also good in a minor role in Anna
Karenina.) Could the film wind up empty handed, however, if Hyde Park on Hudson leaves its banners
without a leading lady and dubs Linney a supporting role?
![]() |
Jessica Chastain is the new Jack Bauer in Zero Dark Thirty |
Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
This performance is another that I haven’t seen, but it’s
one that I’m very excited to watch.
Readers will probably recall my Meryl-Streep-grade excitement for Jessica
Chastain’s outstanding body of work last year, and I am more than eager to hop
aboard the Chastain Train once again. Chastain hasn’t had as prolific a year as
she did in 2011 (damn you, Terrence Malick!), but she gave a notable turn in
John Hillcoat’s Lawless this summer
and it looks like she packs a doozy in Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama Bin Laden film Zero Dark Thirty. Chastain looks like a
one-woman Taliban exterminator in the film, so it’s hard to tell if she’s the
central character or part of an ensemble. Nobody has seen the film yet, or they
are keeping mum if they have, so there’s little else to go on besides a hunch. However,
Chastain is consistently a powerhouse and she has a baity-looking Jack Bauer-ish
role. Zero Dark Thirty could also resonate
strongly in American culture in such a politically charged year, so maybe
Chastain will be actress of the year once again.
UPDATE: Awards Daily's Sasha Stone reports that Chastain will be going lead for Zero Dark Thirty.
UPDATE: Awards Daily's Sasha Stone reports that Chastain will be going lead for Zero Dark Thirty.
Do you agree with some of these verdicts?
Or do you think there are other performances worth discussing?
Also: updated Oscar predictions will be coming soon!