Oscar Best Supporting Actor Nominees 2009

OSCAR RACE 2009 ~ commentary by Nathaniel R

statistics: reflect acting categories only, # of films is approximate and excludes tv, shorts and voicework

Best Supporting Actor
WINNER: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds)
He's the fifth actor to be nominated from within Quentin Tarantino's filmography and the first to win. The previous nominees were Thurman, Travolta and Jackson in Pulp Fiction and Forster in Jackie Brown.

READER'S CHOICE: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
NATHANIEL'S CHOICE: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds (the only one of the nominees to make my ballot)

discuss @ the blog

Matt Damon "Francois Pinnear" Invictus	Woody Harrelson "Capt. Tony Stone" The Messenger	Christopher Plummer "Leo Tolstoy" The Last Station	Stanley Tucci "George Harvey" The Lovely Bones	Christoph Waltz "Col. Hans Landa" Inglourious Basterds

39 years old 34 films 2nd nomination	48 years old 43 films 2nd nomination	80 years old 80(ish) films (not including a ton of tv and voice work) 1st nomination!*	49 years old 56 films 1st nomination!	53 years old 21 (?) films (mostly television work) 1st nomination!
Other Awards none Release Dec 11th Box Office $37 Role Real Person Alert! Francois Pinnear, athlete and champion, trying to inspire South Africa and his team More On... Damon \| Invictus	Other Awards NBR, Indie Spirit Release Nov 13 Box Office $1 Role a senior casualty notification officer and recovering alcoholic More on... Woody \| Messenger	Other Awards none Release n/a Box Office $3 Role Real Person Alert! Russian icon, novelist and movement guru More On... Plummer\| Last Station	Other Awards none Release Dec 11th Box Office $43 Role a serial killer of young girls. Unfortunately he's also the neighbor across the street More On... Tucci\| Lovely Bones	Other Awards Globes, SAG, BAFTA, BFCA, NY, LA and 14 minor critics awards Release Aug 21st Box Office $120 Role Nazi, vicious "Jew Hunter", and multilingual chatterbox More on... Waltz \| Basterds
How'd They Get Nominated?
29% Eastwood historical drama = instant traction. 29% Voter apathy. Didn't think to look elsewhere when film met with shrugs 28% Performance & Role: Earnest real person, Accent and sweaty shirtlessness. 5% I repeat: sweaty shirtlessness 4% Clint Eastwood 3% Matt Damon 2% Morgan Freeman	38% Performance: Effective and moving 33% Role: Alcoholism and grief are classic Bait. Plus: Plenty of screentime 11% Career endurance. Props for that. 9% Topical film 6% Timing: late enough to be fresh in memory, not so late that it got trapped in December glut 2% weed-lovers unite! 1% Zombieland	41% Career Honors. They've ignored him for decades and he's 80 years old. Times a wastin. 33% Role: It's a lead and you know about the endless Oscar allure of the biopic 9% Performance 8% Helen Mirren 7% Sorry about The Insider. No, we don't know what we were thinking either. 2% Bird noises	38% Role: Voters are hot for psycho killers 25% Performance: Big, sweaty, underlined, scenery chewing 22% An "it's time" nod. Early traction won from 'He's turning 5o. He's done great work in the past. He's having a big year.' 10% Voter apathy. They didn't think to look elsewhere once Bones met bad reviews 5% Julie & Julia	55% Performance: witty, funny, scary 27% Role: big and very well written 7% "That's a Bingo!" catchphrases that enter public discourse are gold. 5% Hit film and BP nominee 3% WW II factor... even if it's a fantasy version of same 2% Tarantino 1% Fine acceptance speeches all season
Will Win / Should Win
Christoph Waltz has it in the bag. There was no sentimental "career" swell for Woody or Plummer, apart from their nominations. It's a good place to reward the entertaining Tarantino film.
Who Got Robbed?
Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) can't catch a break, can he? Despite repeatedly solid work in Oscar nominated films (8 Mile, Half Nelson, Million Dollar Baby) and now a large role in a Best Picture frontrunner they've never noticed him. What will it take, do you think? Christian McKay (Me and Orson Welles) worked a typical Oscar-Bait role (famous person mimicry) to great reviews and "major debut!" buzz but in the end his film was too small to register with voters.

READERS CHOICE:

poll by twiigs.com