Best Supporting Actor: Is double-dipping the new trend?

by Cláudio Alves

For decades, it wasn't unusual to see two thespians from the same film nominated for Best Supporting Actress, but the same couldn't be said about its brother category. That was until recently when double-dipping in Supporting Actor became fashionable. 

It started in 2017, with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri's Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson. In 2019, it was Joe Pesci and Al Pacino for The Irishman, and then Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeit Stanfield for Judas and the Black Messiah in 2020. The following year, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee did the honors for The Power of the Dog, while, in 2022, The Banshees of Inisherin got in with Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan. For comparison, in the same period, Supporting Actress only had two such cases, with The Favourite and last year's Everything Everywhere All At Once. Now, the question is whether the trend will continue at the 96th Academy Awards…

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Oscars: The Five Club

by Eric Blume

It’s always fun when “the conversation” starts to brew for Oscar nominations every year, seeing which actors are gaining traction for a potential nomination. What’s interesting this year is that there are an unusually high number of actors (six, in fact!) who currently have four acting nominations under their belt who all stand good-to-great chances of joining The Five Club with nods this year. Five Oscar nominations is a big deal. Only 22 actors currently have five, and the names are among some of our best from older Hollywood (Olivia de Havilland, James Stewart), to the modern age (Albert Finney, Anne Bancroft, Susan Sarandon) to contemporary (Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams). It’s very nice company to be in. 

Let’s take a look at the actors who stand a very real shot of being a part of The Five Club this year…

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Yes No Maybe So: "Poor Things"

by Cláudio Alves

Vasilis Marmatakis has done it again. Yorgos Lanthimos' preferred poster designer always knocks them out of the park, and his latest creation's no different, hitting that sweet spot between beauty and unease. Poor Things looks impossibly enticing, mixing the lushness of period stylings with bodily discombobulations that hint at the mysteries of Emma Stone's character. She'll be Bella in this adaptation of Alasdair Gray's 1992 novel, a resurrected young woman who pursues personal freedom beyond the will of Dr. Baxter, the scientist who brought her corpse back to life. The original text has been described as funny, cerebral, and dirty, making it sound like the perfect playground for Lanthimos and his particular brand of off-kilter cinema.

Along with this new poster, Searchlight Pictures also released the theatrical trailer for the movie, whose American release is scheduled for September 8th. Considering that date, one wonders if the work might be headed to the Venice Film Festival. While waiting for confirmation, let's delve into the trailer and give it the customary 'Yes No Maybe So' treatment…

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Venice Diary #7 - All rise, maestros are back in the courtrooms

by Elisa Giudici

SAINT OMER could be a prize winner!

Have you missed courtroom dramas? Today Venice heard you, providing two strong movies about remarkable trials (one based on a true story, one fictional), plus an old school western. Also, have you heard? France now has a major contender for the Golden Lion (as usual)...

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April Foolish Pt 4 - Who might be in the 'Best Supporting Actor' discussion?

by Nathaniel R

Barry Keoghan announcing a wrap on Banshees of Inisherin via his social media

We all agree that Best Supporting Actor is the dullest of Oscar's Big Six, right? But it doesn't have to be! Too often the final lineup leaves a lot to be desired. But for the first Oscar predictions of the year, before much is known about the movies themselves, let alone their supporting* characters we can imagine all sorts of possibilities. Whose role are you most intrigued about? I'm most curious which never-nominated actor will join the club this year. Here's to hoping that Barry Keoghan, Brian Tyree Henry, Glynn Turman, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Harry Melling, Idris Elba, Colin Farrell, and even Chris Rock (no, really) MIGHT have the kind of roles that could get them there. They also might not (of course) but these are the April Foolish Predictions so you have to guess while essentially blindfolded.

Check out the new chart / predictions

You may have noticed that neither Leonardo DiCaprio or Jesse Plemons are on this chart. As far as we can tell  Killers of the Flower Moon is a two-lead film. Obviously films don't campaign two leads in the same category anymore (sigh) but we're not about to encourage the powers that be to commit category fraud so until campaigns tell us otherwise our new policy is to put them in the correct category.

Previously
Pt 1 Animated Feature Preview
Pt 2 Screenplays and Music Categories 
Pt 3 Visual Category Discussion