Andrew Scott gives incredible cynical cameo in "1917"
And now a semi-tangential train of thought. Over the 20 years of doing the Film Bitch Awards we've noticed that our cameo categories have gone from being a fun place to shine the spotlight on unknown actors who we're curious about to an annual war between not-quite household names or "it" girls and guys who are appearing in everything. The problem for lesser known actors trying to catch a break these days is that we're long past the years when mid-level stars, or even major stars, had egos about the size of their roles. More and more stars will happily become day-players as if everyone wants to be working 24/7 and has never heard of the concept of over-exposure...
She's unrelated to this particular round of awards but Elisabeth Moss has been on our brains. We've lately been seeing her everywhere and had a sudden flashback to that time in the mid Aughts when Jude Law was in every trailer and the audience actually began to laugh when he appeared. You could not escape him! He received some backlash for his overexposure but it weirdly became the norm/desire for the stars of the 2010s. Elisabeth Moss is the current standard bearer. In the past five years alone she's appeared in 18 movies in roles ranging from featured supporting to true headliner, starred in 3 tv series, and even did an Off Broadway play. Some stars realize this can become a trap. Remember that time period where Toni Collette's star appeared to be fading rapidly and she kept doing tiny roles, sometimes without any lines (Tammy, Hitchcock, etcetera). Thankfully she (or new management) curtailed her previous urge to say "yes" to everything and she's back to what she does best: headlining interesting projects and turning out those juicy supporting roles; It's not a coincidence that she's suddenly well-loved again.
Statement of Fact: Danielle Brooks (Clemency) is one of the greatest actors of her generation and phenomenal in all three actors mediums: stage, tv, film. Where are her high profile parts and where is the mainstream awards heat?This is all a long and tangential way of saying we've posted the nominees for the last remaining Film Bitch Awards for 2019. Peppered in with lesser known actors or true unknowns in the finalists, semi-finalists, and nominee lists you'll see actors you are very familiar with and already love and are probably hoping to see a lot more of "hi, Danielle and Andrew!"
But at the same time hopefully we don't see too much of any star that deserves bigger opportunities, lest they too become so ubiquitous that they'll have to worry about backlash. If the modern urge to put the same faces in everything continues in the 2030s only 46 stars will be allowed to act in feature films and they will play every size role and even be digitally inserted as "extras" in their own movies if crowd scenes are required. We kid. But isn't there some truth to it?
This all an even longer way of saying I really wanted to honor unknown actors like India Menuez as "Shooting Star #1" who gave my favourite performance in the very ungainly Under the Silver Lake.
We love Zac Jaffee as Gary, okay?
...Or two terrific actors Zac Jaffee and Alex Breaux, both from Hustlers, who are pitch-perfect in their individual scenes as two very different kind of men at this pocket-emptying strip club we keep returnining to. Sadly all three of these actors got crowded out by familiar names. So perhaps we should really restrict this category to one scene performances only as opposed to two or under to winnow out roles that more obviously verge on "supporting".
Okay on to the chart and nominees: Please enjoy and discuss these actors and performances from Pain and Glory, 1917, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Transit, and more.