Welcome back to the Supporting Actress Smackdown.
In this monthly series we pick an Oscar vintage to explore through the lens of actressing at the edges. This episode takes us back 25 years to the landmark year of 1997 when Titanic and "Matt & Ben" were all rage.
Aside from an encore showing for comedic genius Joan Cusack, a surprise nominee in 1988 for Working Girl, the Academy went with all first-timers for 1997's Supporting Actress roster. Not that the actresses were "new" to the scene. There were two "comeback" narratives: Kim Basinger had been a leading lady for over a decade before LA Confidential but she'd taken a three year break from the movies (amidst multiple financial and legal troubles). Meanwhile Gloria Stuart who began in the early days of sound cinema was being celebrated in a way she hadn't been since 1932. The "breakthrough" nominations, were also two-fold. One went to Minnie Driver (who had two films out, In & Out and Grosse Point Blank). The other went to ubiqutious Julianne Moore who kicked off '97 with a Sundance hit (The Myth of Fingerprints), and continued making news with a blockbuster (Lost World Jurassic Park) before her career-elevating role arrived in the fall in the unlikely package of an epic ensemble drama about the 1970s porn industry from a filmmaker barely anyone had heard of.
Here to talk about these five films and performances are (in alpha order) author and entertainment jourmalist Kyle Buchanan (The New York Times, "Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road"), podcaster Chelsea Eichholz (Cinema Gals), and comedian / podcaster Louis Virtel (Keep It!, Jimmy Kimmel Live). The Smackdown is hosted by the founder and editor of The Film Experience, Nathaniel Rogers.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST
LET'S BEGIN...
KIM BASINGER as "Lynn Bracken" in L.A. Confidential
Synopsis: A Veronica Lake styled sex worker becomes romantically entangled with a rough cop investigating a multiple homicide.
Stats: 44 yrs old, 20th film, 3rd billed. First nomination and win (to date). 17 minutes of screen time (or 12% of the running time)
Kyle Buchanan: In 1997, Basinger was the undisputed face of L.A. Confidential: She earned by far the most real estate on the film’s poster and was the only member of this impressive acting ensemble to nab an Oscar nomination, as well as one of the film’s scant two wins. But unlike Spacey, Crowe, and Pearce, she doesn’t get a POV character to play — instead, Basinger’s Lynn Bracken is forever regarded from afar, remaining a mystery for men to untangle (and become entangled with). Fortunately, Basinger gives great intrigue and her introduction shot, where her face is half-hidden by a dramatic hood, offers a deep jolt of dark glamour. Later, she can make lines delivered as softly as a whisper sound hard as steel. ♥♥♥♥
Chelsea Eichholz: Basinger gets a lot of unwarranted hate for this film when she really understood the limited assignment she was given. She's supposed to be this mysterious woman that we only get to know through the eyes of all of these men and Basinger plays that note perfectly. I don't think the film particularly cares about her though and if she did have her own POV or agency then maybe her win would be more favorable. Basinger did provide us with one of the best Oscar moments when she called out the Academy for snubbing Do The Right Thing though, so she deserves a win just for that. ♥♥♥
Louis Virtel: Of all the Best Supporting Actress wins, this one that makes me shake my head the longest. Kim Basinger is meant to be enigmatic, even inscrutable in LA Confidential, but what passes for dispassionate subtlety really feels like confused and awkward whispering over the course of this movie. However, she is perfect physical casting for the Veronica Lake femme fatale they keep referencing — I feel like voters remembered that (and the image of her on the poster) and considered that an iconic enough showing for a win. ♥
Nathaniel R: I go back and forth on this performance regularly, though always in the admittedly small range of "She's good! But how good?" One things for certain though: The Oscar win was bad for its reputation. Whether or not Basinger is elevating the material is a big question mark, but this is an fine example of truly savvy casting. Bracken as a character is a perfect fit for Basinger's undeniable glamour and even for the artifice of her onscreen sexuality (which often felt heightened and male-gaze serving rather than, say, innate; like a performance in and of itself). Lynn Bracken even benefits from Basinger's sometimes nervous / sometimes expressive physical energy as an actor. Where does the character end and the actress begin? Who knows but it works... as does just about everything in this very compelling film. ♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "A Mobius strip of "Is the essential remoteness an indication of her thespian ceiling, or is it the CHARACTER"? But she does linger in the memory." - Sean O. (Reader average: ♥♥¾)
Actress earns 13¾ ❤s
JOAN CUSACK as "Emily Montgomery" in In & Out
Synopsis: A school teacher with low self-esteem is thrown for a loop when her fiancé of three years is outed during an Oscar ceremony, days before their wedding
Stats: 35 yrs old, 23rd film, 6th billed. Second and final nomination (to date). 19 minutes of screentime (or 21% of the running time)
Kyle Buchanan: Cusack is a master practitioner of the farcical arts, able to play hurt and hilarious at the same time, and for all of her iconically bellowed lines, the best moment is a bit of physical comedy where she folds into her wedding dress like a crumpled Kleenex. My only real complaint is that the movie doesn’t quite know where to land her at the end: She makes such a forceful impression as this movie’s co-lead and then basically cedes the entire third act to Matt Dillon! ♥♥♥♥
Chelsea Eichholz: In my mind, Joan Cusack has three Oscar wins, the best being for Addams Family Values. She's the rare actress that gets nominated for comedies and it's so refreshing to see genuinely great comedic performances recognized and an actual supporting performance. She's not the focus of the film and a lesser one would make her a villain, but she makes you care for her and she brings so much heart to this character that never wins. ♥♥♥♥
Louis Virtel: In & Out is a pretty funny movie with a couple of huge laughs provided by the venerable Joan Cusack, who performs comic exasperation as deftly as anyone since Madeline Kahn. Her huge gasps, slack-jawed silences, and bilious eruptions add up to kind of a kooky you just don’t see anymore. If Addams Family Values proved anything, it’s that Joan Cusack was born to dispense Paul Rudnick dialogue with a harrumph and acid breath. But this movie gives her too little space to wail and weep; I wanted three or four more scenes to cement this performance as something more than a fun gag. ♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: Cusack is such a singular comedienne as a film star. Her work in In & Out isn't as bonafide cuckoo genius as her star turn in Addams Family Values (the best work of her career) or as "real" as her loveable clown in Working Girl (the first Oscar nominated role), but it's still hilarious and endearing and just-right for this. She goes cartoonishly large as Emily, attacking funny lines by shouting them and adding flailing arms for good measure. It's like her voice and body aren't content with selling the jokes but want to play the cymbal crash to punctuate them. And yet she always finds the humanity. Her take on Emily is so forceful that we just accept that this poor woman's nervous anxiety and (justified) confusion have nowhere to go but out of her, hence the vocal bursts, crazy arms, and bulging darting eyes. Cusack's confidence and Emily's utter lack of it make for a thrilling juxtaposition. ♥♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "This role would have gone so wrong in anyone else's hands, but Cusack brings the perfect combination of humor and heart" - Drew C. (Reader average: ♥♥♥¾)
Actress earns 18¾ ❤s
MINNIE DRIVER as "Skylar" in Good Will Hunting
Synopsis: A Harvard student falls for a townie who just happens to be a mathematical genius. But does he love her? Why is he so cagey with her?
Stats: 27 yrs old, 6th film, 4th billed. 1st and only nomination (to date). 24 minutes of screen time (or 19% of the running time).
Kyle Buchanan: Driver is so winning in this movie that she completely flips the script on Matt Damon: You start to believe that he’s the underwritten love interest, because Driver is so funny and captivating that Damon doesn’t do much in their scenes besides straight-up beam at her. I love how thoroughly Driver enjoying herself here, I love how dialed into the moment she is at all times, and I especially love how often she cracks herself up in the middle of a line reading. Even when things grow serious later in the story and she and Damon must act out a wrenching breakup, the camera stays squarely focused on Driver — no small feat, given that Gus Van Sant and cinematographer Jean-Yves Escoffier have spent the rest of the movie in the thrall of their leading man’s golden-boy looks. This role should have earned Driver a career on par with Sandra Bullock’s, but at least she got the Oscar nod she deserved. ♥♥♥♥
Chelsea Eichholz: Listen, I really hate this film but Driver SHINES in this garbage male fantasy role. The character is so thinly drawn and this woman would not care about Damon's character in real life but there's never a false note in Driver's performance. It should not work but she elevates what's on the page. Sadly though, she doesn't have much to do and it just feels like a waste of her talents. ♥♥♥
Louis Virtel: A character that seems like nothing on paper comes alive with Minnie Driver’s cool self-possession. Even the way she murmurs “Freak” after slamming down a mysterious phone call feels like a welcome dose of reality. She never rests on her abundant charm alone: She’s inquisitive, funny, and even sentimental; I’d watch a whole movie built around this character. ♥♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: Among the rewatches, Driver was the big surprise. I had foolishly written off this performance as "nominated only for being 'the girl' in a popular guy's movie". Sure that helped with votes (see also Kim Basinger and many many others throughout time) but that disregards her specialness! Driver manages to play within the movie but stand apart from it, too (exactly as the character does, dramaturgically). Whether or not it's true it feels as if she's improvised every scene, every line, and every emotional beat because it all comes out of her in such surprising ways. She's savvy enough to run with the elements of the character that could be deemed male fantasy (the dirty jokes, the camaraderie, the easy sexuality) but talented enough to make those aspects feel uniquely "Skylar" rather than 'Fantasy Girlfriend'. Even the way she tries (and fails) to study when Will is around is convincing and fun. ♥♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Give or take Robin Williams, she may be the best part of this movie 25 years later?" - DrG (Reader average: ♥♥¾)
Actress earns 17¾ ❤s
JULIANNE MOORE as "Amber Waves" in Boogie Nights
Synopsis: A porn star and mother-figure to co-workers, struggles to win back custody of her child while a new rising co-star implodes.
Stats: 37 yrs old, 16th film, alphabetical order billing for the principal 16 cast members "Julianne Moore played Amber Waves"). 1st nomination (of an eventual five, with one win to date). 28 minutes of screentime (or 18% of the running time.)
Kyle Buchanan: What I love about Moore in Boogie Nights is how she can convey different things about the self-invention that is Amber Waves depending on her scene partner. Opposite Burt Reynolds, she is as limp and accommodating as the lamé dress draped on her frame, suggesting the conciliatory way Amber moves through her industry. In scenes with Mark Wahlberg or Heather Graham, Moore plays subtly different shades of surrogate motherhood: Amber is filled with maternal pride as she teaches Wahlberg’s Dirk the ropes of porn, and more of a needler with Graham’s Rollergirl, who she coaches like her mini-me. And then, after a brutal custody hearing with her ex-husband, Amber’s facade appears to crack and she sobs alone. But is that a more “real” version of the character we’re seeing, or is the real Amber the one that she’s willed herself into being? Moore is so three-dimensional in the role that she beguiles from any angle. ♥♥♥♥♥
Chelsea Eichholz: This is really the Julianne Moore lookbook of films. We see the blueprint of all her tricks yet they fit perfectly in this chaotic and sometimes messy film. She's tricked us all into thinking Mark Wahlberg is a good actor! Her best scene though is when her and Heather Graham are on a coke binge and Graham asks her to be her mom. This sincere, loving moment in the middle of a tormented act of the film really is a balm. I'm the rare person that loves her Still Alice win because she wouldn't have that lead Oscar if she won here. And the Oscars would never be cool enough to award her for this kind of film. ♥♥♥♥
Louis Virtel: In a movie that makes desperation and loneliness seem as inherent to LA life as parking tickets, Amber Waves is the indisputably loneliest character. Her bottomless vulnerability is both familiar and unsettling, and images of her spiral stay with you long after this amazing movie ends — namely the weeping after her custody battle and the nodding as she agrees to “mother” Rollergirl. Moore is sublime at portraying helpless characters and this tragic figure is no exception. ♥♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: This performance quite literally changed my life; I became a writer to celebrate Julianne's take on Amber Waves, starting a print zine that would eventually become The Film Experience! This is a perfect piece of acting and the kind of triumph that the Oscars should always be seeking out given that "Best" is in the category names. Whenever an actor can seize everything of interest from a screenplay about their character (not just their own highlighted lines - that's the kiddie table of acting) you have to applaud. And then if they can magically convey all those discoveries to audiences and breathe life into it in such a way that a fully dimenstional character you can't stop thinking about emerges? It's time to bow down. Amber Waves is so fully imagined by Julianne (the way she walks, talks, fucks, stares, cries, relates, laughs, gets high) that we can imagine Amber existing before Boogie Nights, after it, and all during the movie, even when the camera is following someone else in the sprawling cast. ♥♥♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "The heart of the film and a DEVASTATING turn. From the minute Moore appears on screen you feel the weight this woman is carrying with her it's hard/fascinating to watch. Robbed." - Zach S. (Reader average: ♥♥♥♥½)
Actress earns 22½ ❤s
GLORIA STUART as "Rose" in Titanic
Synopsis: A 100 year-old survivor of the RMS Titanic is whisked back to her vivid memories of her time onboard when a drawing of her as a young woman is unearthed from the ship's wreckage.
Stats: 87 yrs old, 50th film, 6th billed. 1st and only nomination. 13 minutes of screentime (or 7% of the running time)
Kyle Buchanan: Here’s the tricky thing: Despite all of the little grace notes that Stuart sneaks into this performance, I never quite bought her as an older version of Kate Winslet. Even if you allow that several decades are meant to have passed between the two portrayals, these actresses just don’t have enough in common physically, vocally, or cinematically. It’s said that James Cameron didn’t want a major name to play Old Rose because it might have been too distracting, but Winslet delivers such an ambitious star turn that I think the movie could have used an actress with more Hollywood oomph to better sell this cosmic bond. ♥♥♥
Chelsea Eichholz: It's amazing watching all three hours of Titanic specifically for Stuart and realizing that she really does not have much to do. The narration is helped by the fact that Kate Winslet is perfectly acting out every emotion she speaks and it almost tricks us into thinking the older version is there more than she really is. Stuart does well in the quieter moments where she's looking at her possessions that were brought back from the ship and the pain in her eyes when others talk about her trauma. The narration does not match this version of the character and feels disconnected from the young Rose we know. She does what she's asked but a more sensitive director would've painted her character a little more carefully. ♥♥♥
Louis Virtel: You certainly remember Gloria Stuart in Titanic (and celebrate Cheri Oteri’s impersonation thereof — RIGHT?) but what exactly does she do in this movie? The answer: one or two introductory lines before the bubbles of nostalgia transport us to the real story (with real acting). What we get from Stuart is placid, even flat recitation of her 87-year-old memories (“But inside I was screaming” is particularly unconvincing) but also a warmth that transcends the dialogue. I think this slot belongs to Kathy Bates, whose Molly Brown is noble without being hokey and teems with Shelley Winters-like gusto. ♥♥
Nathaniel R: It's easy to love Rose without really considering this an acting accomplishment. There's always a thrill in seeing Old Hollywood actors reimagined for contemporary cinema (a thrill which will soon be over given that there's almost no one left alive now who was a star in the Golden Age). That was enough in 1997 though a nomination stiil feels overly generous given the competition. Gloria does do some sly things with her eyes here, cueing us into how much Rose is withholding about what she's remembering, but her narration is generic. The role mostly comes to life via Kate Winslet's vivacity. ♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Is this nomination more of a stunt than anything? Yeah, kinda. However, something is awoken in Rose at the end of her life, and Stuart dramatizes that wonderfully." - Christopher J (Reader average: ♥♥½)
Actress earns 12½ ❤s
OSCAR RESULT
Though the comeback girls, Gloria Stuart and Kim Basinger, tied at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Kim Basinger pulled ahead on Oscar night winning the coveted trophy for her glamorous throwback to the femme fatales of noir.
SMACKDOWN RESULT
"Yes, honey"It's a decisive win for Julianne Moore for her mainstream breakthrough performance though the panel also got a kick out of Minnie Driver's charisma and the mad comic skills of Joan Cusack.
THE FULL PODCAST CONVERSATION
You can download right here 👇 or listen on Spotify or iTunes or Stitcher to hear the in-depth discussion with our panelists. Because the conversation went long, we'll share a few outtakes later in the week, too. [All Previous Smackdowns]
UP NEXT: 1951 hits at the end of August so watch The Blue Veil, Detective Story, The Mating Game, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Death of a Salesman this month for maximum enjoyment. Stay tuned for dates and panelist announcements!