Previously: Animated Features, Foreign Films, Sound & Music, Prediction Index
What will the Supporting Actor race look like this year? Will it be awash in "comebacks" (Al Pacino, John Lithgow, Tim Robbins, David Straithairn)? Perhaps it'll lean into fresh cinematic faces (Aldis Hodge, Jonathan Majors, Kristoffer Hivju, Taika Waititi)? Maybe it'll be a year of long-awaited first nominations for thespians who've had rich careers (Ben Mendelsohn, Bruce Willis, Jonathan Pryce, Antonio Banderas, Tracy Letts)? Most likely, as with each Oscar year before it, it'll be some random combo of all three but determining who the five men will be this early is nigh impossible. Why is that? Well, there are a few reasons...
First, the acting branch notoriously doesn't look that deep into a film year and generally just chooses actors from the Best Picture buzzing films at year's end, as if they've watched nothing before December when their screener arrived.
Second, many films haven't yet revealed which actors are playing which roles (Harriet and that Untitled Todd Haynes Film being chief culprits in that regard)
Third, there are ensembles that are enormous and starry (Once upon a Time in Hollywood, The Laundromat, and The Irishman) enough that even if you do know which characters everybody is playing, it's still difficult to guess which characters will leap to the front, either from narrative attention, great writing, or an inspired performance. All ensemble pictures are essentially super crowded until a film screens and then audiences and awards voters proceed to fall madly in love with only one or two players, the rest fading into one giant blur in the background, however brilliant they individually might be.
There is a TON of information and speculation on the new Best Supporting Actor Chart so we hope you'll devour it with the 'love of possibility' its written with and report back for a robust comment party. While it's true that Oscar's acting branch often completely biffs this category (which could, theoretically, be such a rich one each year) as if they have a total blindspot when it comes to the non alpha male actors, it's always worth hoping that each new year will prove an exception to the rule.