OVP: Best Supporting Actor (1999)
The Nominees Were...
Michael Caine, The Cider House Rules
Tom Cruise, Magnolia
Michael Clarke Duncan, The Green Mile
Jude Law, The Talented Mr. Ripley
Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense
My Thoughts: The Best Supporting Actor field of 1999 is one of my favorites. With one exception, I genuinely admire all of these performances. I think that different styles of acting are being represented here in a really cool way, and we get a lot of famous actors at different stages of their careers. It's a tough field, quite honestly, to pick a winner (even Michael Caine seemed a bit flummoxed as to how he had been the one to come out on top in this collection). So to try and end with some happy, we'll start with the one performance that I didn't care for of the bunch.
Michael Clarke Duncan seemed like a nice enough guy (and based on the ceremony, had a blast being an Oscar nominee), but wasn't a good enough actor to really compete with this field. His work in The Green Mile is quite one-note, sympathetic and sweet but lacking in a lot of depth, and not adding to the film itself. I get why this was nominated (it's the type of scene-stealing role that Oscar falls in love with), but that's no excuse given how many really strong achievements were waiting in the wings for this field.
Beyond that, get ready for the superlatives. I mean, look at Jude Law. No, seriously, look at him. Has anyone ever been as beautiful as Jude Law is as Dickie Greenleaf. He doesn't need to be good in this movie-he is such a golden god that you wouldn't care if he wasn't grand, but he is. His breakthrough role gives us a depth-of-range. He is always about protecting himself, Dickie, even when he's trying to help someone else it's always on his terms. Law does a good job of making his carefree attitude nasty whenever that paradigm is shifted. Spoiled, petulant, but violent and irresistible. It's a tour-de-force, and proof that he was going to be a big star, as Caine said in his speech.
Caine's win is ill-regarded, but it's hard for me to really join in on the pile-on, as I love what he's doing here. This isn't a stretch like some of the other men (or as complicated as some of the other figures), but does that matter? Not all great acting needs to come with a thesaurus, and he is carefree and effortless in the way he brings this doctor to existence. I love the little details he puts in, the stubbornness borne out of both always being in charge and also knowing he's about to die. The interactions with the children, teaching but caring in one breath-this is good stuff from one of our finest actors.
Haley Joel Osment's work in The Sixth Sense became the sort of textbook definition of great child acting so quickly, you can honestly be forgiven for forgetting how good he is. But the way that his Cole unfolds, giving us so much knowledge from the opening moments, and how his monologues land every single time (particularly the late-in-film one to his onscreen mother Toni Collette) is magical. I will admit that I don't think he's supporting here. I don't buy that "but it's X's story" nonsense-he's in more than twice the movie compared to all four of his other nominees: he's the lead. So I take a point off for that, but that's it-this is one for the ages.
Tom Cruise has, to date, only gotten three Oscar nominations, and while he got a My Ballot nomination in 2002, I feel like we haven't really talked about him yet in the Oscar Viewing Project. I genuinely think Cruise is a great actor (but an even better movie star), and it feels weird to start that conversation with Magnolia, which is not only spoofing Cruise, but honestly spoofing L. Ron Hubbard (still not sure if Cruise realized that at the time). The performance here is sensational, his take on crumbling toxic masculinity fully-felt and realized. This didn't win an Oscar because it's a very prickly performance, but man is it good.
Other Precursor Contenders: Get ready for some repetition (except BAFTA)! The Globes picked the same lineup as Oscar, but instead went with Tom Cruise for their winner. SAG skipped Jude Law and put in Chris Cooper (American Beauty), but otherwise copied Oscar, and also gave it to Michael Caine. The BAFTA's totally threw their hands in the air, picking Law as the victor atop Caine, Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill), Timothy Spall (Topsy-Turvy), and Wes Bentley (American Beauty). You could maybe make the case for one of the American Beauty actors, but honestly...I think sixth place was behind two men who got no precursors, but whose films were well-liked by Oscar: John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich) and Christopher Plummer (The Insider). Both are well-respected thespians, and make sense given who else got in. If I had to pick who was in sixth I think Plummer's was more conventional (and thus an easier sell), but they both make sense.
Performances I Would Have Nominated: Oscar spent decades ignoring Christopher Plummer, but I am not such a fool. His vain, driven Mike Wallace is one of the best aspects of The Insider.
Oscar’s Choice: In something of an upset, Michael Caine beat both Osment & Cruise (his chief competition) to win his second Oscar (neither of the other two men have been nominated since).
My Choice: Despite losing a point for category fraud, that's not enough to derail Osment, who is giving the best of the 20 performances nominated for Oscar in 1999. Behind him are (in order) Cruise, Law, Caine, and then Duncan.
Those are my thoughts-what are yours? Do you want to hide under your bed with me, or would you rather extend a morphine drip with Oscar? Is Tom Cruise ever going to be nominated for an Oscar again (or for that matter...is Jude Law)? And was it Plummer or Malkovich in sixth place? Share in the comments!
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