OVP: Best Supporting Actress (2010)
The Nominees Were...
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
My Thoughts: Putting together the pictures of the actors that got nominated, more than any other category, points out some of the oddities of the Supporting Actress awards. It's an extremely bizarre circumstance to put veteran character actors Jacki Weaver and Melissa Leo next to household names like Helena Bonham Carter and Amy Adams, and even weirder, the 14-year-old first-timer Hailee Steinfeld. That is the fun of the Oscars though-every year a new crop of nominees, every category five people that will forever be linked in the public consciousness.
Best Supporting Actress, far more than any of the other acting categories, tends to like to nominate two actors from the same film. In fact, had Samantha Barks or Amanda Seyfried made it in for Les Miserables, it would have been five years in a row with two nominees from the same movie. With The Fighter, Amy Adams was enjoying her second round of competing against a costar (her first being for Doubt against Viola Davis).
Critics and I generally disagreed on this role. On paper, this is a textbook example of a girlfriend role, a role that even at its most generic is favored with Oscar (literally anyone could have done what Minnie Driver did in Good Will Hunting, for example). The question with a stock role becomes how much does the actress rise above it, and here is where I disagree with the consensus. Most of the Oscar pundits out there felt that she was doing something sweeping and mesmerizing here, but all I could see was the stock, stand-by-your-man even when you have to leave for a few scenes character. Yes, there are occasionally sparks-I love the way she acts when Mark Wahlberg is initially trying to pick her up, and the way that she handles his ever multiplying sisters, but as the film becomes more generic and traditional, she loses her speed and starts to become generic and traditional as well. Adams is an actress that generally hits either home runs (Junebug) or strike outs (On the Road), and this seems to be just her getting on base. It hits, but it doesn't do much more than that.
Her costar, however, gets into the end zone (I'm aware that I'm mixing sports metaphors, but this is an Oscar blog, not ESPN-what do you expect?). Melissa Leo just two years prior upset to score an Oscar nomination that put her next to Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie, and Kate Winslet. With this surprise nomination follow-up (proving you never can tell who will be the one-and-done nominees and who will be back for seconds), she made another huge impression. I love the way that her Alice can fly off the handle and manipulate a room by pretending not to know what's going on; that's the proclamation of the shrewd-pretending to know what she doesn't. She can turn her charm on-and-off, so much so that you can't tell whether she loves her son or how her son makes her feel. Leo has gotten a boatload of work since winning this Oscar, but I'm hoping that someday someone gives her something once again worthy of her-despite being a late-bloomer, I maintain she's one of the best actors of her generation, and this was just another brilliant installment in her career.
Helena Bonham Carter, on the other hand, probably needs to get a little choosier with her scripts. Unlike Leo, she's got the credits to land great gigs with Grade A directors, and she even gets top billing. However, since her Merchant Ivory days stopped, she's been intent on playing clown-makeup villains in Tim Burton films and trying her hand at musicals (neither of these are her strong suit). She's best when she's trading on that classically beautiful face in period pieces, even if The King's Speech may seem otherwise. The problem with her role in this film is that she has little to nothing to do. This is the Colin and Geoffrey show-they're Groucho and Harpo and she's stuck playing Zeppo. This isn't to say that she doesn't get a one-liner every now and again, but in a category known for scene-stealing, making a couple of off-the-cuff asides does not qualify as scene-stealing, nor does it qualify as great acting. Bonham Carter needs heartbreak, needs angst, needs something to drive her through to a good performance, and the role of Queen Elizabeth gives her none.
Jacki Weaver pulled a Melissa Leo this past year and ended up getting a surprise second nomination (and is apparently set to star in a CBS sitcom as sexy Jake Lacy's mom, so I'm on-board). Her first was a tough get (you know that Mila Kunis was right behind her), but it was completely earned. Her Smurf is a cunning, calculating mother that knows exactly where she's headed. She has her favorite children, she knows how the game is played, and she thrives off of not pulling out her trump card too often. It is only toward the end of the film that we see her emerge, the true genius in this criminal operation, and strive off of the baser need to survive. It is during these scenes that Weaver uses everything at her disposal, including that Cheshire Cat grin, to make the characters on-screen squirm and the audience churn uncomfortably in the same we did when faced with Mrs. Danvers or Noah Cross. It's not just the line delivery on "you've done some bad things sweetie." It's also the way she says it with a wide smile.
The final nominee is Hailee Steinfeld, an actress who unlike the other four nabbed her Oscar nomination extremely early in her career. I always wonder what adult actors in Hollywood think of child stars like Steinfeld or Abigail Breslin or Saoirse Ronan or Quvenzhane Wallis. Are they jealous of their quick and somewhat inexplicable fame, or do they pity them, knowing that for every Jodie Foster there's a dozen Corey Haim's? This thought has nothing to do with her performance, but it is something to ponder.
Her performance is solid, though calling it supporting is about as far as you can stretch the imagination-she's in nearly every scene, and is in more of her movie than leading nominee Annette Bening is in hers (had Mila Kunis gotten in instead of Steinfeld, this would have been 5/5 on true supporting performances). She has great repoire with Jeff Bridges, and gets better as the film goes along-the Coen Brothers know how to get solid performances out of unconventional performers, and as the film goes and she gets deeper and deeper into the chase for her father's killer, her performance lifts. It never hits the heights of Weaver or Leo, but that's batting in a league no one should be expected to be performing at, even if you're an Oscar nominee. For Steinfeld, her pluck, guts, and solid charm carry her through, and if you confuse it for great acting, you could be forgiven (but it's not quite at that level).
Best Supporting Actress, far more than any of the other acting categories, tends to like to nominate two actors from the same film. In fact, had Samantha Barks or Amanda Seyfried made it in for Les Miserables, it would have been five years in a row with two nominees from the same movie. With The Fighter, Amy Adams was enjoying her second round of competing against a costar (her first being for Doubt against Viola Davis).
Critics and I generally disagreed on this role. On paper, this is a textbook example of a girlfriend role, a role that even at its most generic is favored with Oscar (literally anyone could have done what Minnie Driver did in Good Will Hunting, for example). The question with a stock role becomes how much does the actress rise above it, and here is where I disagree with the consensus. Most of the Oscar pundits out there felt that she was doing something sweeping and mesmerizing here, but all I could see was the stock, stand-by-your-man even when you have to leave for a few scenes character. Yes, there are occasionally sparks-I love the way she acts when Mark Wahlberg is initially trying to pick her up, and the way that she handles his ever multiplying sisters, but as the film becomes more generic and traditional, she loses her speed and starts to become generic and traditional as well. Adams is an actress that generally hits either home runs (Junebug) or strike outs (On the Road), and this seems to be just her getting on base. It hits, but it doesn't do much more than that.
Her costar, however, gets into the end zone (I'm aware that I'm mixing sports metaphors, but this is an Oscar blog, not ESPN-what do you expect?). Melissa Leo just two years prior upset to score an Oscar nomination that put her next to Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie, and Kate Winslet. With this surprise nomination follow-up (proving you never can tell who will be the one-and-done nominees and who will be back for seconds), she made another huge impression. I love the way that her Alice can fly off the handle and manipulate a room by pretending not to know what's going on; that's the proclamation of the shrewd-pretending to know what she doesn't. She can turn her charm on-and-off, so much so that you can't tell whether she loves her son or how her son makes her feel. Leo has gotten a boatload of work since winning this Oscar, but I'm hoping that someday someone gives her something once again worthy of her-despite being a late-bloomer, I maintain she's one of the best actors of her generation, and this was just another brilliant installment in her career.
Helena Bonham Carter, on the other hand, probably needs to get a little choosier with her scripts. Unlike Leo, she's got the credits to land great gigs with Grade A directors, and she even gets top billing. However, since her Merchant Ivory days stopped, she's been intent on playing clown-makeup villains in Tim Burton films and trying her hand at musicals (neither of these are her strong suit). She's best when she's trading on that classically beautiful face in period pieces, even if The King's Speech may seem otherwise. The problem with her role in this film is that she has little to nothing to do. This is the Colin and Geoffrey show-they're Groucho and Harpo and she's stuck playing Zeppo. This isn't to say that she doesn't get a one-liner every now and again, but in a category known for scene-stealing, making a couple of off-the-cuff asides does not qualify as scene-stealing, nor does it qualify as great acting. Bonham Carter needs heartbreak, needs angst, needs something to drive her through to a good performance, and the role of Queen Elizabeth gives her none.
Jacki Weaver pulled a Melissa Leo this past year and ended up getting a surprise second nomination (and is apparently set to star in a CBS sitcom as sexy Jake Lacy's mom, so I'm on-board). Her first was a tough get (you know that Mila Kunis was right behind her), but it was completely earned. Her Smurf is a cunning, calculating mother that knows exactly where she's headed. She has her favorite children, she knows how the game is played, and she thrives off of not pulling out her trump card too often. It is only toward the end of the film that we see her emerge, the true genius in this criminal operation, and strive off of the baser need to survive. It is during these scenes that Weaver uses everything at her disposal, including that Cheshire Cat grin, to make the characters on-screen squirm and the audience churn uncomfortably in the same we did when faced with Mrs. Danvers or Noah Cross. It's not just the line delivery on "you've done some bad things sweetie." It's also the way she says it with a wide smile.
The final nominee is Hailee Steinfeld, an actress who unlike the other four nabbed her Oscar nomination extremely early in her career. I always wonder what adult actors in Hollywood think of child stars like Steinfeld or Abigail Breslin or Saoirse Ronan or Quvenzhane Wallis. Are they jealous of their quick and somewhat inexplicable fame, or do they pity them, knowing that for every Jodie Foster there's a dozen Corey Haim's? This thought has nothing to do with her performance, but it is something to ponder.
Her performance is solid, though calling it supporting is about as far as you can stretch the imagination-she's in nearly every scene, and is in more of her movie than leading nominee Annette Bening is in hers (had Mila Kunis gotten in instead of Steinfeld, this would have been 5/5 on true supporting performances). She has great repoire with Jeff Bridges, and gets better as the film goes along-the Coen Brothers know how to get solid performances out of unconventional performers, and as the film goes and she gets deeper and deeper into the chase for her father's killer, her performance lifts. It never hits the heights of Weaver or Leo, but that's batting in a league no one should be expected to be performing at, even if you're an Oscar nominee. For Steinfeld, her pluck, guts, and solid charm carry her through, and if you confuse it for great acting, you could be forgiven (but it's not quite at that level).
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes managed to make room for Mila Kunis (side note-while Kunis wasn't great by a long shot, she's such a fun celebrity and has such potential that I wish she had landed a nomination, if only because she would have gotten better parts; also of the six real contenders, she was better than Bonham Carter, Adams, and probably Steinfeld), and skipped Steinfeld. The trophy, though, was all about Leo. The SAG Awards also gave Leo their big trophy, but instead skipped Jacki Weaver (again, favoring Mila Kunis). It was the BAFTA Awards, however, that decided to shake things up quite a lot-only Adams and Bonham Carter were included, with Made in Dagenham's Miranda Richardson, Another Year's Lesley Manville, and Black Swan's crazy mother Barbara Hershey all getting citations.
Performances I Would Have Nominated: Like Supporting Actor, there are a few candidates I'd clearly want to cut, and thinking back on it, there are two rather easy nominees I'd want to include amongst the actual lineup. The first would be Dale Dickey in Winter's Bone. In a film that has its share of terrifying creations, none is quite as nerve-wracking as Dickey-she's so confident in this performance, and her character is exactly the type where you can't tell how far she'll go-will she kill someone on-screen, or is she just extremely rough around the edges? The second, and even better prospect was Lesley Manville, whose drunk, lonely middle-aged woman in Another Year was so beautiful, and I partially think that she got skipped over because no one was quite sure if she should be in lead or supporting. I tend to favor supporting, and she easily should have replaced her fellow countrywoman Helena Bonham Carter.
Oscar's Choice: This was the only race that was considered somewhat close headed into Oscar night, with Leo's bold (some would say tacky) campaign putting her under scrutiny. Had the balloting taken place a couple of weeks later, I think we would have seen Steinfeld upset in a "let's give True Grit something" sort of campaign, but Leo lucked out by getting her bad press later in the season.
My Choice: If you can't tell, it's between Weaver and Leo, and I'm going to go with Weaver, who has the more memorable character and the bigger surprise factor. I will say that Melissa Leo is probably my second favorite of all of the nominees in every category, so she should take pride that she could have won Best Actress from me, but there's no beating Weaver in Animal Kingdom-one for the ages. Steinfeld, Adams, and Bonham Carter bring up the rear.
There you have our five supporting ladies-were you on the Academy's side with Leo or my side with Weaver (or did you turn to one of the other three?). Do you also have trouble getting what was so special about Adams work in The Fighter? And will Mila Kunis ever come this close to Oscar again?
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