Best Supporting Actor

[anonymous1980]

BAFTA nominated him as lead - as he should have been here - but at 18 I guess the Academy felt he was just too young for a Lead acting nomination.

Jackie Cooper was 10 when he got nominated in the lead category and Keisha Castle-Hughes was 13.

I think it's because he's a guy. The Academy tend to discriminate against younger men for nominations and wins. In the past 10 years, only one male below the age of 25 has scored an acting nomination and that was Haley Joel Osment.

[bettestreep2008]

It would be a travesty if Ledger doesn't win. He was the only good thing in Dark Knight - and he out-acted oscar winners like Freeman and Caine!

And I actually predicted Pitt would have been nominated for his "Joey Tribiani" mimickry in the awful "Burn After reading"

Am glad that the Academy didn't get fooled by the campaining of Dev Patel as Supporting. He has as much screentime as Anthony Hopkins did in Silence of the Lambs and his character was the LEAD one in Slumdog!

BAFTA nominated him as lead - as he should have been here - but at 18 I guess the Academy felt he was just too young for a Lead acting nomination.

Ledger should have this one in the bag - and whoever accepts it on his behalf (I hope Michelle and Matilda grace the stage) I am sure the audience will be standing for a long time!

[Zahveed]

Heath Ledger versus Iron Man's Robert Downey, Jr., a man who a few months ago voiced his hate for everything related to The Dark Knight. I sense many instances of irony in this occurrence.

[dylanfan23]

I loved sheen too, along with langella....but this wouldn't have been the place for his performance.

[Franz Ferdinand]

Can I start my Robert Downey Jr. campaign here? lol, what an unlikely nomination. Not unexpected, but still one of the most bizarre performances to get nominated.

Once again this decade, Michael Sheen is completely ignored for a great performance. There should have been a clause that there are no Langella nominations without Sheen nominations.



Edited By Franz Ferdinand on 1232644036

[dylanfan23]

I would love to see ledger, brolin, franco, marsan and irwin...but thats only because i consider hoffman a lead....if i put him in there i guess i would take out...ummm brolin or franco...i guess brolin. I was really impressed by franco...so if i hear marsans and francos name that would be something but ledger, downey, hoffman and brolin are gonna get nominated, so i'll be lucky to hear one of them. And during this whole season i'm a little shocked i never hear irwin's name anywhere, he gave a great supporting performance in a great film. And i do consider patel supporting.



Edited By dylanfan23 on 1232603866

[flipp525]

Incidentally, Mike Kelly is pretty darn good in Changeling and considering how badly acted most of that film is, his character is something of a small movie in and of itself.

We were trying to get back to the Dupont/U Street area after the ceremony for something to eat, however several road closings for the parade forced us to find alternate routes. During our post-Inagural tour of the Mall and surrounding areas, I ran into Michael Kelly from 'Changeling'. He was accompanied by a woman taking pictures. I went up to him and told him that I thought he gave a stand-out performance in the film. He was SO happy. He told me that I was only the second person to have recognized him and that my praise for his performance meant a lot to him. Very cute in person, by the way.



Edited By flipp525 on 1232574047

[The Original BJ]

For what it's worth, there's also a tendency for Mike Leigh films to do better than expected with the Academy: Vera Drake's surprising Director/Screenplay showing, Topsy-Turvy's Screenplay nod (and arguably its down-ballot wins), even Secrets & Lies's Best Picture bid (which wasn't anything like a shock, but nor was it a sure thing).

Sure, it's not like Leigh has always been an Oscar magnet (see Life is Sweet, Naked), but the films which have been on Oscar's radar have often outperformed expectations.

[matthew]

Was it as critically acclaimed in the UK as his previous movies?

I've been under the impression that it was actually very tepidly received in Europe at large. Didn't actually have any desire to see it at all until it started really stiffing up the ranks in U.S. critics' awards and top 10s.

There's a tendency for Mike Leigh films to be far better receieved critically in the US than in other countries. He has a reputation for rambling narratives and pushing actors into charicature.

[rudeboy]

3. Cameron Diaz was snubbed twice, I don't see why Angelina Jolie or Amy Adams wouldn't fit the bill. Especially since I doubt the latter is helped by the way the votes are done (then again, I would've said the same thing about Jennifer Tilly, and look where that got us).

2. The reason I can see Marsan, DeWitt and Tomei making it (to broaden the discussion) is that I can imagine everyone who votes for their leads (who are all "locks") loving them as well and tossing a vote their way (which was Original BJ's logic, so I just filched it).

I think Tilly benefitted from a notably weak supporting actress field that year. Looking at that year's nominees, Dianne Wiest's win seems to have been an easy one - very deserving, but easy. None of the other nominees were really in the running.

Tomei seems pretty safe. She's in a strange position. For years people have been bitching about her surprise Oscar win all those years ago, about what a travesty it was (I disagree by the way - she may not have been the best in show that year, but it was a fresh, very funny, very loveable performance that I stand by as a worthy winner) and every few years since she's knocked a performance out of the park (my favourite is Slums of Beverley Hills, but she's terrific in Unhook the Stars and In the Bedroom too). I think she's in for her third nomination this year.

Marsan has a shot, especially if Dev Patel suffers from category confusion (Keisha Castle-Hughes survived this, but there the passion was for her performance rather than the film as a whole). The lack of any BAFTA attention at all for Happy-Go-Lucky baffles me, though. Happy-Go-Lucky came and went in the UK early last year, warmly rather than ecstatically reviewed, and the fact that Sally Hawkins seems to base her accent and mannerisms on comedienne and Doctor Who actress Catherine Tate probably didn't help, but the Oscar attention it has received should have been enough to propel it to at least nods for the actors. Odd.

I don't think DeWitt has a shot. Supporting actress seems pretty much filled up, with only Taraji Henson as a possibility to knock the Adams/Cruz/Davis/Tomei/Winslet line-up out of shape. If there's a surprise acting contender, I think it will come in one of the lead categories.



Edited By rudeboy on 1232299895

[Okri]

1. Yeah, Happy-Go-Lucky was really tepidly received, especially in the UK. I recall reading a Guardian interview with Hawkins that tried to figure out why. Kiera Knightly missed out for Pride and Prejudice but snuck in at AMPAS, fwiw.

2. The reason I can see Marsan, DeWitt and Tomei making it (to broaden the discussion) is that I can imagine everyone who votes for their leads (who are all "locks") loving them as well and tossing a vote their way (which was Original BJ's logic, so I just filched it).

3. Cameron Diaz was snubbed twice, I don't see why Angelina Jolie or Amy Adams wouldn't fit the bill. Especially since I doubt the latter is helped by the way the votes are done (then again, I would've said the same thing about Jennifer Tilly, and look where that got us).

4. I can see both Patel and Marsan making it, at the expense of Robert Downey Jr. I'm just hoping that most voters have a similar reaction to Mister Tee. Plus I thought Iron Man was mediocre and this whole "Downey's back" thing is incredibly overplayed. And his persona is boring me.



Edited By Okri on 1232296281

[Penelope]

I didn't start hearing all this talk about Eddie Marsen until about 2 weeks ago. That's pretty late in the game for him to make a showing with the Academy, so I'd be genuinely surprised if he makes the list before Dev Patel; the latter, while certainly not "challenged" as an actor could be, is a very likable, charming presence and is, again, part of the reason the movie is doing so well.

[Eric]

Was it as critically acclaimed in the UK as his previous movies?

I've been under the impression that it was actually very tepidly received in Europe at large. Didn't actually have any desire to see it at all until it started really stiffing up the ranks in U.S. critics' awards and top 10s.

[Franz Ferdinand]

Perhaps its box office performance wasn't as good as previous Leigh films? (I have no idea, just conjecture) Was it as critically acclaimed in the UK as his previous movies?

[OscarGuy]

The question that should be on everyone's mind regarding Marsan and Hawkins is why were they not nominated at the BAFTAs? They were both on the longlists and these are not just British actors, but they are British actors in VERY British films.

The screener I received was clearly designed for BAFTA members (as I wrote at the time I received it). Leigh's past films have all done well with the BAFTAs (Vera Drake received 11 nominations, including nods for 3 actors; Topsy-Turvy was nominated for 4 awards, including 2 actors; Secrets & Lies got 6 nominations, 2 for performances), yet there isn't a single Happy-Go-Lucky mention. Could it be that it wasn't as well received as we think it was and that perhaps it might not even get a single Oscar nomination?