By Spencer Coile
;)
Lucas Hedges arrived last year with his performance in Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea. His portrayal of Patrick Chandler, a 16 year-old dealing with the loss of his father, was quickly lauded and showered with awards attention -- including a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. He was only 20 at the time!
Now, Hedges is having another banner year with notable SAG nominated ensemble work in Lady Bird and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. While both films are prime Oscar consideration across the board, Hedges' work is being severely overlooked -- particularly his performance as Danny O'Neill in Lady Bird...
If you were anything like me, you swooned over Hedges' Danny, a high school senior who momentarily captures Lady Bird's heart. Danny is sweet and unassuming. Fortunately, Gerwig's screenplay gives Hedges plenty of opportunities to imbue this character with complexity.
We are first introduced to Danny during auditions for Merrily We Roll Along, the fall musical that combines both the boys' and girls' Catholic schools. The second he starts to belt, "There Are Giants in the Sky," both Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan) and Julie (Beanie Feldstein) are awestruck. In fact, Gerwig's screenplay reads:
He's AMAZING. Julie and Lady Bird look at each other. DREAM BOAT CITY.
And he is. It is no wonder that Lady Bird falls for him so quickly -- she's soon writing his name on her bedroom wall. Their subsequent conversations are filled with innocent awkwardness. Hedges makes Danny's adoration of Lady Bird pure and earnest. When she asks him if he wants to dance with her at the Sadie Hawkin's formal, he gives a resounding, "Hell yeah." From that moment, their courtship is instantaneous from their first kiss, to them naming a star that is only theirs ("I love you, Bruce!), to meeting one another's families for the first time. It all feels right.
These scenes are so winning due to the chemistry between Hedges and Ronan. Their attraction to one another is completely believeable, and feels genuine to their age. Hedges, although sweet, still seems immature. You get the feeling that Lady Bird is his first girlfriend, from the way he nervously giggles to the way he tells her that he would never touch her breasts without her consent because he "respects her." This leads to a profession of his love to her. Maybe it's too fast, but they are young and in love, so why not say it?
[Spoilers] Lady Bird's world comes crashing down when she finds Danny kissing a boy in the bathroom stall after a performance of Merrily We Roll Along. And, in retrospect, it all makes sense. It explains his constant nerves and for moving too quickly with Lady Bird -- because he felt like he had to.
;)
In a climactic scene (at least for his character), he confronts Lady Bird and confesses that he is not out to his family yet. He can't. It immediately becomes clear that he felt pressured to find a girlfriend, to follow a very traditional pattern of courtship. Hedges places the weight of this burden on Danny's shoulders with genuine feeling and clarity. After seeing the movie I kept telling my friends, "When Lucas Hedges cries, we all cry," because the pain he experiences in this scene is a pain that many of us may have experienced.When he crumbles into her arms and begins to cry, it becomes apparent that he is finally starting to take ownership of his sexuality -- even if he cannot yet tell his family.
The beauty of Hedges' performance lies in his effortlessness. He never needed to tell Lady Bird that he loved her for us to know this -- and it is unsurprising that Lady Bird loved him too. Danny is loveable and endearing. And still, even after we learn that he was using Lady Bird, we see no malice on his part. He was a scared teenager, doing what he needed to appease his family. Thankfully, Danny and Lady Bird remain friends as a result of his pivotal scene. [/spoilers]
With limited screentime, Hedges manages to craft a character that is equal parts charming and tormented, but always relatable.
While Manchester by the Sea may have been Lucas Hedges' claim to fame, it was his performance as Danny O'Neill in Lady Bird that hit me harder. And if there was such a thing as Oscar justice, he would be in the conversation for Best Supporting Actor this year as well.