OVP: Best Supporting Actor (2000)
The Nominees Were...
Jeff Bridges, The Contender
Willem Dafoe, Shadow of the Vampire
Benicio del Toro, Traffic
Albert Finney, Erin Brockovich
Joaquin Phoenix, Gladiator
My Thoughts: And we are back again today with 2000, moving into the acting categories today. At the time in 2000, none of these men had won Academy Awards, but while we're writing it today, three of them have taken Oscars, one sadly died without one (not that he would've shown up for it), and the fifth probably just missed a nomination this year by inches. All of this is to say, the Oscars are snapshots-in-time, but if you can get in once, you probably have a decent shot of getting in again (they love keeping people in the club).
We rarely start with the winner, so let's start with Benicio del Toro. Del Toro's career since his Oscar win has been a mixed bag, from critical darlings like Che and Sicario to a mess of paycheck gigs (The Wolfman, whatever he's doing in the MCU), all of which is a bummer when you remember how sensational he is in Traffic. He brings an unexpected sensitivity to a cop being forced into the world of crime, and not being given a chance to get out (until he forges one). The monologues about baseball, and wanting a better life for himself...there's a reason a previously unknown character actor bested a screen actor who'd been waiting 40 years for his Academy Award in 2000.
Though Finney is not without points in his direction. The reviews of Erin Brockovich usually center around Julia Roberts in her dynamic titular role, but she's not the only one doing bravura work here. The interplay with Finney's good guy lawyer (who still needs to make a buck) is really strong. I love the way he seems impressed with Erin largely from the start, but he has to temper that and the reveal is him showing he knew there was something there from the beginning. It's good, earnest work from a man who had at that point been headlining films for decades, but slid perfectly into the number two spot.
The same could be said for Jeff Bridges, another reliable leading man-turned-character actor who in 2000 was still on the hunt for his Oscar. Bridges' work here is solid. The way that he plays a laid-back, Clinton-esque president who seems to not be in with the sharks like Gary Oldman, and instead proves to be just as cunning as them, using that guise to his advantage, is really strong stuff (kudos to the casting director here). I will say that I wanted something more from Bridges, though that might not be fair because he's doing the part, playing well against the more scenery-chewing acting from Gary Oldman, but it doesn't quite feel complete-more a great idea than a great character. Still good though.
Willem Dafoe is in a similar boat, though in a much lesser film. Shadow of a Vampire sounds great on paper (an actual vampire cast to play a fictional vampire), but it doesn't deliver. It's a horror film that plays like a staid drama, and the seams show throughout. I think Dafoe's work here is good-he owns this part, but it does occasionally feel like his over-the-top attitude looks better because the film around him is such a snooze. I don't think there's enough of Dafoe's trademark grace (for a man who plays villains a lot, he generally has some sort of decency in his best work like Platoon and The Florida Project), and I suspect he won this nomination because of the makeup design (which I also wasn't super impressed by) and the film's final scene (which I was impressed by).
Our final nominee is Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator. Phoenix, I'd like to point out, is a very good actor. I give him back-to-back gold medals in 2012 & 2013 for my My Ballot, the only actor other than Nicole Kidman to have done that to date in our 22 seasons. I say that because two of his Oscar-cited works left me so cold, Joker and today's film. His Commodus swings for the rafters in virtually every scene. There's no baseline here, playing a sniveling, power-hungry figure without any depth. I know I don't love Gladiator, but there are at least 2-3 better supporting actor performances happening in his movie alone...Phoenix got in because he had the biggest part.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes went for exactly the same lineup as Oscar, giving the statue to Benicio del Toro, and del Toro won the SAG Award...but in lead actor (I can't remember if this was a filing error or not...the same thing would happen with Jennifer Connelly the following year, as this was a weird trend with SAG at the time). Supporting Actor instead went to Albert Finney with SAG, besting the Oscar lineup + Gary Oldman in The Contender. The BAFTA also went to del Toro, but with a much different lineup as Finney & Phoenix were joined by Gary Lewis (Billy Elliot) and Oliver Reed (Gladiator), which was a posthumous citation for Reed. In sixth place, I'm guessing it was Gary Oldman or maybe Bruce Greenwood in the now-forgotten Thirteen Days, though there are a lot of supporting actors in the Best Picture lineup (Reed, Richard Harris, Michael Douglas, Johnny Depp) that could've gotten in as well...this being such a set lineup most of the season makes sixth place hard to guess.
Performances I Would Have Nominated: One of the primary reasons that Michael Douglas would become one of my favorite actors in high school was his work in Traffic, some of the best stuff of his career and a grand look at a rich white man who has to solve actual problems, not ones that just present themselves as opportunities.
Oscar’s Choice: Gone were the 1980's, when an aging actor would routinely beat an upstart for a sentimental Oscar win-del Toro bested Finney, and probably by a decent amount.
My Choice: Oscar made the right choice, picking del Toro over Finney (the two best nominated works). Behind them I'd go Bridges, Dafoe, and then Phoenix.
Those are my thoughts-what are yours? Are we all joining Team Benicio, or do you want someone else? Should Albert Finney have won an Oscar, or was he correctly a bridesmaid (and if so, what)? And in a pretty open-and-shut year for the final quintet, who was in sixth place looking in the window? Share in the comments!
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