The never surprising Best Supporting Actor/Actress race! No, not really. This award has been given to surprise recipients Marisa Tomei, Cuba Gooding Jr., Kim Basinger, and Jennifer Hudson. However, this does mean that you’d better be able to back this thing up with some stunning post-award greatness in order to ever land the top prize. This can happen! If not, though, you may be associated with the following comment, “Oh, yeah, Catherine Zeta-Jones won an Oscar! I totally forgot about that.” Or “Hey, whatever happened to so and so, didn’t they win an Oscar? See how this works Supporting Actor/Actress nominees?
So who will it be this year?
Best Supporting Actor Nominees
- Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
- Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
- Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
- Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
- Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Who will win: Christopher Plummer who starred as a man who for the first time embraces his sexuality and comes out as gay post-middle age. Critics and audiences loved the sensitive and emotional performance that was full of heart and laughs. He’s also long overdue for an award having been nominated once before for The Last Station , and who has forever been ingrained in our collective movie consciousness since he first uttered those soft strains from “Edelweiss” in The Sound of Music.
Top competition: Max von Sydow, another octogenarian, whose understated role in the effusive Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close was a surprising standout. Unfortunately, while the movie is nominated for Best Picture, critics and audiences found the movie more than a bit lackluster, and the topic a bit too maudlin. This may not impact his chances but stranger things have happened. As far as critics are concerned both von Sydow and Plummer are running neck and neck in the race.
Long Shot: Well, it’s probably pretty obvious. Jonah Hill. He should be on list given his surprising performance as the sort of schlubby math nerd who helps in saving a baseball team, but we’re pretty sure this won’t be his year. He will probably fall squarely into the “Honor to be nominated” category. Yet, this will be something he may be able to use to do a more full transformation into drama. So, it’s not a total loss.
Best Supporting Actress Nominees
- Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
- Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
- Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
- Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
- Octavia Spencer in “The Help”
Who will win: Octavia Spencer’s raucous and sensitive portrayal in The Help will probably land her the Oscar. She’s won pretty much all other awards this season so there’s no reason to believe that she won’t nab the Oscar too. Whatever your opinion of the movie itself, Spencer fought for every moment of her screentime, and it showed. This is something the Academy acknowledges frequently and also awards.
Top competition: Bérénice Bejo’s performance as a silent performer in one of the most heralded movies of a generation puts her in top contention, and it may be hard to beat someone who helped carry a completely silent film to rave reviews. That’s setting a bar like no other, and she could actually walk away with the award, but our money is still on Spencer.
Long shot: Melissa McCarthy who stole every scene she was in during the acclaimed Bridesmaids may not get the award here, but she managed to say to the Academy that comedy should be nominated for big awards, and that says a lot for the genre and the women who made that point this year.
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