The Film Experience

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of a rather amazing Oscar lineup, here's Ben Miller...

There have been several iconic Oscar nominee lineups throughout the years. Best Actor 1967, Best Actress 1939, Best Director 1975... a wholly fearsome lineup comes around but once every couple of decades or so. One of them is celebrating its 25-year anniversary this season: the 1993 lineup for Best Supporting Actor.

Before we get to the nominees, look at who just missed the lineup...

Sean Penn was nominated for a Golden Globe for his crooked lawyer in Carlito’s Way, but that performance has not aged well. At the time it was a “you have arrived” nomination, as that was the first major nomination Penn had received up to that point, despite being a critical darling for some time before that. He also received a nomination from the Chicago Film Critics Association, but that was about it.

On the prestige front, Ben Kingsley in Schindler’s List was the closest thing to a missed opportunity. He acts as an audience surrogate to the atrocities committed, as well as the face of righteousness when viewing Oskar Schindler’s moneymaking schemes. Critically, his snub might seem the most egregious.

The most iconic of the mainstream supporting actor roles in '93, which strangely received zero precursor attention, was Val Kilmer in Tombstone. The film itself is almost a legend in mismanagement, but despite its missteps, Kilmer tunes up Doc Holiday and sends him throughout the narrative with zippy one-liners and an undeniable presence. Kilmer has had a sticky relationship with awards bodies, but the exclusion of Doc Holiday is appalling

…until you see the actual lineup.

Best Supporting Actor 1993

Leonardo DiCaprio, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?
Ralph Fiennes, Schindler’s List
Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive
John Malkovich, In the Line of Fire
Pete Postlethwaite, In the Name of the Father

I mean, who do you kick out of there?

Fellating a gun onscreen long before James Franco thought of it

Let’s start from the “bottom” with Malkovich. You need to put his career in perspective at this point as he was on quite the run. From 1984-93, he made Places of the Heart (his first Oscar nomination), The Killing Fields, the huge TV movie version of Death of a Salesman, The Glass Menagerie, Empire of the Sun, Dangerous Liaisons, Shadows and Fog, Of Mice and Men, and Alive. Whatever you think of the film itself, a few things to remember about In the Line of Fire: Clint Eastwood was on a career resurgence following Unforgiven, Malkovich’s role was memorable and required a bunch of gimmicky disguises and shouting, plus the film made over $100 million and was a major box office hit (7th for the year). There is no way he wasn’t getting nominated.

Postlewaite might be the least-seen of the nominees (he missed the Globe lineup before the Oscars), but if you have had the privilege of seeing In the Name of the Father, his nomination is undeniable. They say the hardest position in basketball is being a teammate to LeBron James. If that’s true, then the hardest position in film is to be a co-star to Daniel Day-Lewis. You can count on one hand how many times Day-Lewis has been upstaged in a film. Postlewaite more than holds his own, never Day-Lewis's physical equal, but overpowering him regardless. Any other year, he might have pulled off a win.

baby's first oscars!The other three nominees are all-timers in the history of Best Supporting Actor.

DiCaprio’s performance is that classic “this could go very wrong” performance, but he handles the disability role with the subtlety, precision, and heart needed to make it all sing. The nomination both announced his arrival and foreshadowed his near-future superstardom. Despite DiCaprio arriving quickly on the Oscar scene, it still took another 20+ years to get him the Oscar many felt he deserved in 1993.

Fiennes is the winner in my book. Humanizing evil is not a new idea, but Fiennes walked such a fine line, toying with being a better man while refusing to apologize for his inherently evil nature, and he walked away with the film. In addition to being the runaway Best Picture winner, Schindler’s List was the 9th biggest hit of the year and Fiennes was its MVP. 25 years on, it’s still criminal that Fiennes didn’t win his Oscar right then. He's still waiting.

The eventual statue went to the only performance that wasn’t really supporting. Jones has been characterized as Hollywood’s favorite curmudgeon, but the role of Deputy Samuel Garrard perfectly suits his style. The Fugitive acts as a true two-hander, with the film split between the titular fugitive in Harrison Ford and Jones hot on his trail. Jones took home a bushel of precursor awards, with the Academy ultimately crowning him as well.

The best thing about this shortlist is its longevity. None of these performances have aged badly, none of the actors have shamed themselves, and the films themselves are impressive. If any of these performances had walked away with the statue, the legacy of the lineup is unchanged.

Every category has its signature year, and 1993 might be it for Best Supporting Actor. 25 years on, it has aged like a fine wine. Let’s hope 2018's eventual lineup will age just as well.

What say you, Oscar buffs? Do you think 1993 is the best Supporting Actor lineup ever?