In Character: 2017 Oscar Nominees

Following the announcement of the Oscar nominations last week, I offer my thoughts on my favorite work each nominee has delivered. Be sure to share your favorite roles from all the nominees as well!

BEST ACTRESS

Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water

Notable Roles: All or Nothing, Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky, Blue Jasmine, Paddington

Best Role: I absolutely adore her work in Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky, but her silent strength in The Shape of Water wins out.

Frances McDormand – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Notable Roles: Blood Simple, Mississippi Burning, Almost Famous, North Country, Olive Kitteridge

Best Role: It’s hard to think of a time that McDormand was anything less than stellar. Ultimately, her best work remains Fargo’s Marge Gunderson.

Margot Robbie – I, Tonya

Notable Roles: Neighbours, The Wolf of Wall Street, Focus, Suicide Squad

Best Role: Her work in The Wolf of Wall Street was an announcement of arrival, but her work in I, Tonya is a statement that says, “I’m here, and I’m not fucking around.”

Saoirse Ronan – Lady Bird

Notable Roles: Atonement, The Lovely Bones, Hanna, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Brooklyn

Best Role: Ronan is so good at making us believe she is the character she’s playing, which makes choosing her best role so hard. Briony from Atonement is close, but Lady Bird wins the day. For now.

Meryl Streep – The Post

Notable Roles: Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie’s Choice, Adaptation, The Devil Wears Prada, Doubt

Best Role: As I say seemingly every year, you could list damn near any Streep performance as her best. But I’m still stuck on her quiet work in The Deer Hunter. I mean, those eyes.

BEST ACTOR

Timothée Chalamet – Call Me By Your Name

Notable Roles: Homeland, Lady Bird, Hostiles

Best Role: Call Me By Your Name, certainly. But something tells me we’ve just been given a taste of what Chalamet has to offer.

Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread

Notable Roles: My Left Foot, The Last of the Mohicans, In the Name of the Father, Gangs of New York, Lincoln

Best Role: I say There Will Be Blood, but hell, take your pick.

Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out

Notable Roles: Skins, Black Mirror, Sicario

Best Role: Get Out, no question.

Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour

Notable Roles: Sid and Nancy, JFK, Dracula, True Romance, Leon, The Dark Knight, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 

Best Role: Christ, who’s to say? I have to stick with his chilling and ruthless turn in The Contender. Watch it now if you haven’t seen it.

Denzel Washington – Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Notable Roles: Glory, Philadelphia, The Hurricane, Training Day, American Gangster, Flight

Best Role: Malcolm X, always.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Mary J. Blige – Mudbound

Notable Roles: Other than a few amusing cameos as herself, nothing of mention.

Best Role: Mudbound.

Allison Janney – I, Tonya

Notable Roles: The Ice Storm, 10 Things I Hate About You, Juno, Away We Go, The Help, Masters of Sex, Mom

Best Role: Movie: American Beauty, TV: The West Wing. It’s hard to believe this is Janney’s first Oscar nomination. 

Lesley Manville – Phantom Thread

Notable Roles: Topsy-Turvy, All or Nothing, Vera Drake, Mr. Turner, Maleficent

Best Role: Painstakingly difficult to call. Right now, I have to stick with her heartbreaking turn in Mike Leigh’s Another Year. 

Laurie Metcalf – Lady Bird

Notable Roles: Uncle Buck, JFK, Leaving Las Vegas, Scream 2, Horace and Pete, The Big Bang Theory

Best Role: Movie: Lady Bird, TV: Roseanne. But holy shit, her monologue in Horace and Pete was something else.

Octavia Spencer – The Shape of Water

Notable Roles: Bad Santa, Coach Carter, The Help, Snowpiercer, Hidden Figures

Best Role: Fruitvale Station remains her finest work. It’s so odd to me that her performance in that film is rarely discussed.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Willem Dafoe – The Florida Project

Notable Roles: Platoon, Wild at Heart, The English Patient, Affliction, Shadow of a Vampire, Auto Focus, Antichrist

Best Role: The Last Temptation of Christ, but this is not an easy call. Dafoe is always great.

Woody Harrelson – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Notable Roles: Cheers, White Men Can’t Jump, The People vs. Larry Flynt, No Country for Old Men, The Messenger

Best Role: Film: Natural Born Killers, TV: True Detective. I love that Harrelson is getting offered great roles again.

Richard Jenkins – The Shape of Water

Notable Roles: Six Feet Under, North Country, Burn After Reading, Let Me In, Killing Them Softly

Best Role: His star making turn in The Visitor. What quiet empathy he put into his character.

Christopher Plummer – All the Money in the World

Notable Roles: The Sound of Music, Syriana, The New World, Beginners, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Role: Mike Wallace in The Insider. Not an easy choice, but every time I watch that film, I am so taken with Plummer’s effortless charm and subtle power.

Sam Rockwell – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Notable Roles: The Green Mile, Heist, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Matchstick Men, Snow Angels, Moon

Best Role: This is insanely difficult. A few years ago, I chose Matchstick Men, but today I’m going with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. That was the role that turned Sam Rockwell into Sam Rockwell.

You May Also Like

Top 10 Films of 2017
Top 20 Male Performances of 2017
Top 20 Female Performances of 2017

In Character: Willem Dafoe
In Character: Woody Harrelson
In Character: Richard Jenkins
In Character: Gary Oldman
In Character: Sam Rockwell