Here's abstew with this weekend's profile of an outside Oscar contender. While this weekend's release is not quite as buzzy as other contenders, Rockwell is always worth celebrating.
Sam Rockwell as Craig in Laggies
Born: November 5, 1968 in San Mateo, California
The Role: Lynn Shelton's latest film (the director's previous work include mumblecore films Humpday and Your Sister's Sister), that premiered at Sundance this year, takes on a story of a woman with arrested development. Megan (Keira Knightley) is in her late 20's and all her friend's are doing adult things like getting married. But when Megan's own boyfriend proposes, she freaks out, goes into a quarter life crisis, and ends up hanging out with a teenage girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), while finding herself drawn to the girl's divorced father (Rockwell).
Rockwell took over in the role of Craig, which was originally supposed to be played by Paul Rudd. (Knightley also took over for Anne Hathaway who had to drop out due to filming of Interstellar.) And due to an illness that left him in the hospital, came in at the end of the shoot to film his part. He said that his recent hospital stay brought a more subdued nature that worked for his character.
Previous Brushes With Oscar: Rockwell has appeared in supporting roles in two Best Picture nominated films, 1999's The Green Mile and 2008's Frost/Nixon. (His performances in both films also brought SAG Best Ensemble nominations.) For Martin McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths (2012), Rockwell received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Male. And he has received various nominations from critics groups and awards bodies for Moon (2009), Conviction (2010), The Way, Way Back (2013), and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002).
What Critics Are Saying:
The best thing about the film – which is true of most of his roles – is Rockwell, as a guy who’s as surprised to find himself a divorced single dad as he is to find an adult woman hiding out in his daughter’s bedroom.
-Sara Stewart New York Post
Rockwell meanwhile, as he has done so many times before, steals every single moment he’s onscreen. His playful charm feels so effortless, and that casual nature makes his character’s moments of personal pain that much more effective.
-Rob Hunter Film School Rejects
On a performance level, “Laggies” is exemplary; Rockwell tones down his more Rockwell-like (for lack of a better phrase) notes and still makes Craig a smart, fun guy struggling to raise his daughter properly.
-James Rocchi Film.com
(Actually, every scene with Rockwell is a highlight. He’s a national treasure.)
-A.A.Dowd A.V.Club
My Take: Even with his very adult job as a divorce attorney and his responsibilities as a single parent to a teenage girl, Rockwell's Craig Hunter is just as lost and confused as Megan. And much like how Megan takes comfort in befriending someone much younger, Craig's interest in the younger Megan sort of completes a cycle. After his wife left without much reasoning, Craig, constantly armed with a glass of his favorite boxed wine and spending his evenings at singles mixers, isn't afraid to convey his loneliness, allowing Megan in. And Rockwell and Knightley's scenes together (particular when he investigates why exactly a grown woman is hanging out with his daughter) have a charming sweetness to them. Rockwell is capable of finding moments of humor amd unexpected delight in any character and situation and with Craig he's also found a way to tone down his kooky tendencies without losing his playfulness.
Fun Fact: Although Rockwell has appeared in a variety of different genres, he has not had luck with military-set movies. He was fired/dropped out of G.I. Jane (1997) for not being able to scuba dive and he filmed for one day on Sam Mendes' Jarhead (2005), but his scenes were cut from the final film.
Probability of a Nomination: Extreme Longshot. But as Nathaniel was just saying yesterday, Best Supporting Actor is proving to be hard to pin down this early in the race. And if people are throwing around names like Tyler Perry and still naming Robert Duvall for a film that came and went without notice, it's anyone's game. And Rockwell is one of those actors that is always great in everything and he seems like the type that will eventually be nominated, especially in this category. But if he couldn't get much traction for The Way, Way Back last year (which EW seemed to take on as their personal mission to get him an Oscar nom), it's probably not going to happen with this quirky little indie.
Laggies opened in NY, LA, and Seattle yesterday and opens nationwide November 17