OVP: Best Supporting Actress (2012)
The Nominees Were...
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
My Thoughts: My computer is giving me a bit of a headache (actually, scratch that, the internet is being slow-Word is just fine), so my patience in writing this may be up after a while, and I might have to take a break before I pile into writing the lead categories.
But for now, I'll tackle the supporting players, and we'll start out with the supporting player who is the lead in her film, Helen Hunt. Like Philip Seymour Hoffman in Supporting Actor, which we just discussed (click the Supporting Actor link below to peruse), this puts me in a bit of a quandary when it comes to ranking these performances, as Hunt is quite good in her movie, perhaps the best she's been since Mad About You, and better than her work in As Good As It Gets, but it's a bit unfair to compare her screentime with that of someone like Jacki Weaver, who is fifth lead at best in her movie.
But I digress, and will use Hunt's presence as a lead as a tiebreaker against her if I need to do so. In the meantime, let's revel in the excellence on display here. Forget for a second that there was definitely something brave about doing nudity at Hunt's age (or at least that's what the press said-personally if I looked as good as Hunt does, I'd be at the beach all the time, and it would have nothing to do with bravery). What we have with Hunt is a miracle of filmmaking-an actress that gets to play a sexually-charged character who doesn't have to fall into romantic love or sacrifice a part of herself for a true character arch. The best acted scene of the film was Hunt's breakdown in the car, with her crying about something she doesn't quite understand, and Hunt letting that abandon fly with little regard for comprehension. Why this scene works, though, is because Hunt has established this woman as independent, as professional, and as someone who has done her job for many years and will continue to do it for many more. The majority of films want to completely reinvent a person in a movie, but life doesn't work like that. Hunt's performance understands this, and shows small shifts but no great leaps, and that makes her work so much richer.
Sally Field, on the flip side, may have wanted a bit more leaps in her character. There was a lot to admire in Field's consummate work as Mary Todd, driven primarily by the fact that we so consistently underestimate Field as an actress. She's a strong performer, but because we frequently associate her with Gidget and the Flying Nun and her cheerful, perky demeanor, we forget that she can do great things in front of a camera when she has opportunity, and that's apparent in her many duet scenes with Day-Lewis. What I didn't like about this character, though, was the way that she tried too hard to rewrite Mary Todd Lincoln. We are aware that the depictions of the "Mad Mary Todd" may be historically inaccurate, but her melancholy becomes far too ambitious, far too minute for the audience (it also bugged me to no avail that they rewrite Mary Todd but kept Lincoln a saint, though that's something I discussed rather handily in the review of Lincoln, so check that out if you're curious). It's nice to have Field back in a great film (and to have an actress of a certain age getting cast for a role that could have gone with a much younger actress), but this is fine, not necessarily great.
Anne Hathaway is, in a lot of ways, very similar to Sally Field. Both actresses had beginnings in wholesome, commercial-but-not-necessarily art fare (Princess Mia, anyone?), and both are far better actresses than their reputations have allowed. I know that it is all the fashion to diss Anne Hathaway these days, but she's an actress of great talent despite her punching bag status, and her work in Les Miserables is proof of that.
Fantine is a killer part for anyone to play, and likely would have resulted in an Oscar nomination for almost anyone considering the prestige behind this project-she gets to play a prostitute, a destitute mother, gets a killer solo ballad, and gets to die. That's the stuff that Oscar dreams are made of, and so Hathaway was almost always going to get nominated here. What sets her apart, and allowed her to stampede over Field and Adams (her nearest competition), was that she sells the work, body-and-soul. That gut-wrenching performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" finds the pain in the character, and with Marshall so wisely deciding to have her do it live, it allows for little imperfections in the execution and emotional baggage to land in the character. Fantine is far too saintly for my liking, but Hathaway's performance is not-it gets to the woman behind the saint, and shows us a flesh-and-blood person.
Amy Adams, on the other hand, is not playing a saint, and may in fact be playing the devil, a change of pace for an actress that also has her perky baggage (Princess Giselle, anyone?). Adams is a bit of a divisive figure amongst Oscar critics (she's been nominated four times in less than a decade), having been so rewarded and everyone has at least one performance they feel didn't deserve to be included of hers (for the record, that performance is never Junebug, still her best work). I was of the camp that her portrayal of Peggy Dodd deserved inclusion. Adams character choices are so calculated, but so is her character. This is a woman who has a backbone of steel and the conscience of a sociopath-she's willing to stamp out all in her way, but you don't realize that until it's too late. It helps that Anderson cast Adams, an actress whose characters always deserve the benefit of the doubt, to make her late decisions as a character, when Freddie has been used to her advantage and is now going to be tossed aside, all the more sinister. A brava performance, and one of my favorite pieces of work from her.
The final nomination was our surprise inclusion of the acting races, Jacki Weaver. Every year one actor gets in despite no precursor buzz, and this year it was Weaver. The nomination was oddly reminiscent of Alan Alda's in 2004 for The Aviator, where a Best Picture frontrunner manages to scoop along a nomination for one of its lesser performances in a category that was fairly confused about who should be the final nominee.
I did enjoy Weaver's work here, I have to say, but there's nothing remotely special about it that warranted an Oscar nomination. She plays the feeble side wife, who has dealt with mental illness for years (probably decades) and is used to her routines, and her crabby snacks and homemades. Weaver is a welcome presence in everything she does (she's intensely watchable as an actress), but aside from her chastising Cooper in the car in the film's opening scenes (the scene that clearly won her the nomination, with a lot of help from Harvey), there's nothing that stands out about this performance. Hopefully this nomination leads to more people giving Weaver great work (she was spectacular in Animal Kingdom, after all), but it's a nomination that never should have happened.
But for now, I'll tackle the supporting players, and we'll start out with the supporting player who is the lead in her film, Helen Hunt. Like Philip Seymour Hoffman in Supporting Actor, which we just discussed (click the Supporting Actor link below to peruse), this puts me in a bit of a quandary when it comes to ranking these performances, as Hunt is quite good in her movie, perhaps the best she's been since Mad About You, and better than her work in As Good As It Gets, but it's a bit unfair to compare her screentime with that of someone like Jacki Weaver, who is fifth lead at best in her movie.
But I digress, and will use Hunt's presence as a lead as a tiebreaker against her if I need to do so. In the meantime, let's revel in the excellence on display here. Forget for a second that there was definitely something brave about doing nudity at Hunt's age (or at least that's what the press said-personally if I looked as good as Hunt does, I'd be at the beach all the time, and it would have nothing to do with bravery). What we have with Hunt is a miracle of filmmaking-an actress that gets to play a sexually-charged character who doesn't have to fall into romantic love or sacrifice a part of herself for a true character arch. The best acted scene of the film was Hunt's breakdown in the car, with her crying about something she doesn't quite understand, and Hunt letting that abandon fly with little regard for comprehension. Why this scene works, though, is because Hunt has established this woman as independent, as professional, and as someone who has done her job for many years and will continue to do it for many more. The majority of films want to completely reinvent a person in a movie, but life doesn't work like that. Hunt's performance understands this, and shows small shifts but no great leaps, and that makes her work so much richer.
Sally Field, on the flip side, may have wanted a bit more leaps in her character. There was a lot to admire in Field's consummate work as Mary Todd, driven primarily by the fact that we so consistently underestimate Field as an actress. She's a strong performer, but because we frequently associate her with Gidget and the Flying Nun and her cheerful, perky demeanor, we forget that she can do great things in front of a camera when she has opportunity, and that's apparent in her many duet scenes with Day-Lewis. What I didn't like about this character, though, was the way that she tried too hard to rewrite Mary Todd Lincoln. We are aware that the depictions of the "Mad Mary Todd" may be historically inaccurate, but her melancholy becomes far too ambitious, far too minute for the audience (it also bugged me to no avail that they rewrite Mary Todd but kept Lincoln a saint, though that's something I discussed rather handily in the review of Lincoln, so check that out if you're curious). It's nice to have Field back in a great film (and to have an actress of a certain age getting cast for a role that could have gone with a much younger actress), but this is fine, not necessarily great.
Anne Hathaway is, in a lot of ways, very similar to Sally Field. Both actresses had beginnings in wholesome, commercial-but-not-necessarily art fare (Princess Mia, anyone?), and both are far better actresses than their reputations have allowed. I know that it is all the fashion to diss Anne Hathaway these days, but she's an actress of great talent despite her punching bag status, and her work in Les Miserables is proof of that.
Fantine is a killer part for anyone to play, and likely would have resulted in an Oscar nomination for almost anyone considering the prestige behind this project-she gets to play a prostitute, a destitute mother, gets a killer solo ballad, and gets to die. That's the stuff that Oscar dreams are made of, and so Hathaway was almost always going to get nominated here. What sets her apart, and allowed her to stampede over Field and Adams (her nearest competition), was that she sells the work, body-and-soul. That gut-wrenching performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" finds the pain in the character, and with Marshall so wisely deciding to have her do it live, it allows for little imperfections in the execution and emotional baggage to land in the character. Fantine is far too saintly for my liking, but Hathaway's performance is not-it gets to the woman behind the saint, and shows us a flesh-and-blood person.
Amy Adams, on the other hand, is not playing a saint, and may in fact be playing the devil, a change of pace for an actress that also has her perky baggage (Princess Giselle, anyone?). Adams is a bit of a divisive figure amongst Oscar critics (she's been nominated four times in less than a decade), having been so rewarded and everyone has at least one performance they feel didn't deserve to be included of hers (for the record, that performance is never Junebug, still her best work). I was of the camp that her portrayal of Peggy Dodd deserved inclusion. Adams character choices are so calculated, but so is her character. This is a woman who has a backbone of steel and the conscience of a sociopath-she's willing to stamp out all in her way, but you don't realize that until it's too late. It helps that Anderson cast Adams, an actress whose characters always deserve the benefit of the doubt, to make her late decisions as a character, when Freddie has been used to her advantage and is now going to be tossed aside, all the more sinister. A brava performance, and one of my favorite pieces of work from her.
The final nomination was our surprise inclusion of the acting races, Jacki Weaver. Every year one actor gets in despite no precursor buzz, and this year it was Weaver. The nomination was oddly reminiscent of Alan Alda's in 2004 for The Aviator, where a Best Picture frontrunner manages to scoop along a nomination for one of its lesser performances in a category that was fairly confused about who should be the final nominee.
I did enjoy Weaver's work here, I have to say, but there's nothing remotely special about it that warranted an Oscar nomination. She plays the feeble side wife, who has dealt with mental illness for years (probably decades) and is used to her routines, and her crabby snacks and homemades. Weaver is a welcome presence in everything she does (she's intensely watchable as an actress), but aside from her chastising Cooper in the car in the film's opening scenes (the scene that clearly won her the nomination, with a lot of help from Harvey), there's nothing that stands out about this performance. Hopefully this nomination leads to more people giving Weaver great work (she was spectacular in Animal Kingdom, after all), but it's a nomination that never should have happened.
Other Precursor Contenders: As Jacki Weaver wasn't nominated by any of the precursors, we saw at least one additional name in all of precursor awards. At the Globes (where Hathaway won), Weaver's place was taken by Nicole Kidman's bawdy work in The Paperboy. At the BAFTA Awards, the adage "never underestimate Judi Dench" stuck quite nicely, with Dame Judi getting cited for her work in Skyfall (again, Hathaway won). And at the SAG Awards, where Hathaway was again victorious, both Weaver and Amy Adams were left out, with Kidman and Maggie Smith in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel both making the cut. Smith, Kidman, and Ann Dowd in Compliance were the frontrunners for Weaver's spot, and considering her upswing career lately, my gut tells me it was Smith who was in sixth place.
Films I Would Have Nominated: The most egregious snub was for Dowd, as she was the only one of the women that was hunting for the nomination that I would have nominated without hesitation. One could make the argument that she's the lead (a fair argument, to be sure), but either way she deserved inclusion for her naive fast food manager with low self-esteem. Dowd's lack of a nomination is particularly depressing because we saw what a fifth place Oscar nomination did for Jacki Weaver's career a few years back for equally deserving work in Animal Kingdom. I also find that Emma Watson is slowly becoming one of the actresses to watch of Gen Y, with her work in Perks of Being a Wallflower being so real and lovely.
Oscar’s Choice: Hathaway walked away with the category so handily it's hard to decide whether it was the obvious contender of Field or one of the other three women who came in second place (since Hathaway likely grabbed 70% of the vote, I would buy the argument that anyone other than Weaver was in second place).
My Choice: I'm sad I don't get to be a contrarian, but I'm going with Hathaway as well-it's too good to ignore. In second place, I'll break the tie with Adams trumping Hunt's leading work, followed by Field and then Weaver.
We now have just the Big 4 to go! What did you think about the Supporting Actress Oscar race? Is anyone still Team Anne, and if you aren't, who were you rooting for (and please don't say "Anyone but Hathaway")? Is there anyone out there who was cheering for Weaver? And with a nail-biter sixth place race, who do you think was the closest to taking the final slot? Share in the comments!
Also in 2012: Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature Film, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Animated Short, Live Action Short, Previously in 2012
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