OVP: Best Supporting Actor (2020)
The Nominees Were...
Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Leslie Odom, Jr., One Night in Miami
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
Lakeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah
My Thoughts: We are moving into the Big 6, and with that, we're starting as ever with Supporting Actor (we always do the same order, but we've done this 18 times now, so you probably caught that). Supporting Actor in 2020 was weird for me. Generally, I fall in love with at least a couple of performances each year-let's say, 6-7 roles onscreen. It's not uncommon for Oscar, though, to skip most of them, and so I'm left with a category that I felt uninspired by. This category, though...I can honestly say that there wasn't TRUE love for any of the performers, either the ones that Oscar chose or, quite frankly, the five I chose for our upcoming My Ballot. While there was good work here, this was a weak year for this category, staggeringly so...which should honestly make our conversation about it a bit of a hedge maze, trying to figure the best way out.
Part of the problem with the lineup is that the best performance of the bunch (I'm showing my hands early here) is Daniel Kaluuya. Three years after his breakout work in Get Out he got a second nomination for playing slain Black Panther leader Fred Hampton. Kaluuya is excellent in this movie, totally inhabiting the complicated leader and making him feel both unknowable and seen. It's a tricky part, requiring a lot of magnetism without letting the audience fully into what is bravado and what is confidence. The problem for me is that this is 100% a lead performance-there's nothing supporting here. And per OVP rules, that means we have to knock off one star...he can still win, but he needs to play with a handicap.
His costar LaKeith Stanfield is also a lead in his performance, and one of the weirder nominations we've seen in a while. Even Stanfield was perplexed by being nominated in the category (he famously put on Instagram "I'm confused too but fuck it"), assuming he was the lead, which he certainly is. Stanfield's character, unlike Kaluuya's, doesn't give us enough as an audience. Stanfield, a very gifted actor, underplays him, particularly given the addendum over the credits where it appears that his character continued to be an informant, making some of Stanfield's sympathetic portrayal of him feel juxtaposed with the message of the picture.
Paul Raci underplays his role in Sound of Metal more successfully. Similar to Stanfield, the screenplay denies him a lot of big moments, but that honestly works better for his character here. The subtler work allows us to project on him a little bit, and then have Raci upend that. We're meant to assume he's a fully-supportive mentor, but he's not-he's a bit hard-nosed, which keeps their relationship and the course of this portion of the movie a surprise for me. Notice the pacing of Raci's speeches, as if he's spent his whole life explaining things over-and-over...he's tired, and a bit worn, but still believes in what he's done. Bravo to Oscar for not needing to go for the bombast here...because he certainly did for our final two nominees.
Both Sacha Baron Cohen & Leslie Odom, Jr. are not the best supporting actors in their films, and in Odom's case, isn't a supporting actor (category fraud abounds). Odom's role as Sam Cooke should be the easiest of the four parts in his movie-he gets to play a cliche (a struggling musician, which is basically all biopics are these days), but he can't find a sense of this guy. All of the other actors have given their performances & this long meditation clarity, but Odom plays Cooke too loud, too underlined, too free of evolution as a character. You don't believe that he's changed as the film continues, as he's the emotional crux of the film's final act, the movie collapses under the weight of his bad acting.
Cohen is a better actor than Odom, and the performance in his film isn't entirely his fault. As we've mentioned before, this is one of the worst screenplays that Aaron Sorkin has pulled together, and making him sound exactly like Jeremy Strong or Eddie Redmayne isn't really helping his cause here. But Cohen's work is all ticks & clicks. You can practically see him thinking of the next way to tackle this part. An actor who has largely made his fame with improvisation, he doesn't handle the rapid-fire pace of Sorkin's dialogue well, and seems to visibly struggle under this constraint. This honestly feels like a "we need to nominate one of these actors, and Cohen hasn't gotten an acting nomination" style mentality from the Oscars...but it doesn't work.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes went with Kaluuya (a song you're about to become familiar with) against Odom, Cohen, Jared Leto (The Little Things), and Bill Murray (On the Rocks), while SAG favored Kaluuya against Odom, Cohen, Leto, & Chadwick Boseman (Da 5 Bloods). BAFTA went six-wide and got a bit more creative, though again Kaluuya won here atop Odom, Raci, Barry Keoghan (Calm with Horses), Alan Kim (Minari), & Clarke Peters (Da 5 Bloods). In terms of sixth place, I am going to assume it was Boseman-there was a lot of momentum at the time to get him the double nomination as a sendoff to a rising actor brought down too young...though if you remember Jared Leto getting potentially nominated for his heinous work in Little Things was a real possibility.
Performances I Would Have Nominated: I am shocked that none of the guys in Mank were able to get off the ground here. Particularly Charles Dance, who has that "I've been a character actor forever, but never been nominated" sort of vibe to him, and unlike a lot of the also-rans here, gets a really big "Oscar monologue" scene toward the end of his picture. I also think that had Inside come out before Promising Young Woman, the critical acclaim would've gotten Bo Burnham a nomination for his tricky work in that picture.
Oscar’s Choice: I think initially Cohen seemed like a possibility, but once the Kaluuya train started, it was not going to stop.
My Choice: Kaluuya, as I said, is the best of this bunch, and would normally win easily, but given the category fraud, I have to deduct points. Still, I think even with that caveat he's just a bit better than Raci, so I'll give him the trophy with Sound of Metal at silver. Behind them are Cohen, Stanfield, & Odom.
Those are my thoughts-what are yours? Does everyone side with Oscar & I in picking Kaluuya, or do you want to vouch for one of the other actors? Who do you think are the best supporting actors in the One Night in Miami and Trial of the Chicago 7 ensembles? And when will precursors stop subjecting me to Jared Leto nominations? Share your thoughts below in the comments!
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