The Oscars are nearly here marking the complete end of what was a great year in cinema and an awards season that has been full of big shows, a lot of awards won - deserved and undeserved - and of course controversy. The list of Oscar nominees has been the most significant source of this, with many feeling that there was underrepresentation alongside deserving performances ignored in place of lesser ones.
Nevertheless, the list of nominees for the annual ceremony is set, and the Best Supporting Actor and Actress awards will be delivered come February 10th. So, here are all the nominees for Best Supporting Actor and Actress ranked by how much they deserve the award.
ANTHONY HOPKINS
The line between supporting and leading performances can often be blurred, and this year that has been made more apparent with Sir Anthony Hopkins’ Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role as Pope Benedict in The Two Popes.
The performance by Hopkins is by no means weak. It is great. It just does not deserve a win in the slightest. Arguably, the performance does not even earn a nomination. It was a familiar performance, and there was a slew of others that were better efforts.
KATHY BATES
Kathy Bates’ Best Supporting Actress nominee for her role as Barbara Jewell in Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell was perhaps the biggest surprise inclusion of the nomination list.
It is a strong performance from Bates. However, it is undeserving of a nomination. Not only is the performance itself pretty one-note, but we have seen Bates do much better and that this performance received a nomination over Lopez’ outing in Hustlers is nonsensical.
TOM HANKS
The Best Supporting Actor category is full of old faces and familiar Oscar contenders, and Tom Hanks sums this up in his nomination for the role of Fred Rogers in the touching flick A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood.
Hanks slides into the role perfectly, providing the warmth needed to make the character as loved as the real man. Despite the heartfelt, if not plain, work throughout the movie, ultimately, Hanks’ first Oscar nomination in 20 years is not deserving of being such.
MARGOT ROBBIE
The front three of Bombshell make the movie, and one of two acting nominations of the said trio comes in Margot Robbie’s Best Supporting Actress outing as Kayla Pospisil.
Robbie takes the stereotypical role of a naive young woman, and that could have so easily been bland, and made it into something that evokes a reaction and emotion from the audience. Nonetheless, Robbie has done better - not even being the best performance in this film - and will do better, and considering the remaining performances, the Australian actress’s performance is undeserving of the award.
AL PACINO
Martin Scorsese’s epic The Irishman showed that Al Pacino still has it and still has the talent to bring it. Even at nearly eighty years old. His portrayal of union boss Jimmy Hoffa which earned him his eighth Oscar nomination and first in almost thirty years, proves this.
Pacino attacked the role with vigor and commanded the screen in his first collaboration with Scorsese. Pacino fits expertly into the movie but, unfortunately, is not only undeserving of the award; he is not the best performance in The Irishman.
JOE PESCI
Twenty-nine years after his win in the same category for Goodfellas, Joe Pesci is again nominated for Best Supporting Actor, this time for his role as Russel Bufalino in The Irishman.
Abandoning the bulldog-esque persona and ferocity he is known for, Pesci is quieter and more methodical in The Irishman with his return to acting being a brilliant one filled with malice in a role that is fit for a man of Pesci’s age and talents. Pesci would not be too bad a choice for the award. The issue is though he does not deserve it, only the man who will win it deserves it this year.
LAURA DERN
Laura Dern will walk away with an Oscar when the ceremony arrives, taking the award home like she has the whole of awards season. Her role as lawyer Nora Fenshaw in Marriage Story has resonated with Hollywood.
Dern is excellent in the movie. She is entertaining and delivers passionate, resonating dialogue so well and overall, just giving the audience some beautiful acting. It was Jennifer Lopez who truly deserved the award, but Dern will take it home, and does earn it, even though there are a couple of performers who have the edge over her.
SCARLETT JOHANSSON
Scarlett Johansson is only the twelfth person in history to be nominated for two acting Oscars in the same year. While she deserves the award for a leading role in Marriage Story a bit more, there could not be much backlash should she win for her role as Frau Beltzer in Taiki Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit.
It can be easy to forget how great of an actress Johansson is, but in 2019 she reminded people with great performances all round. In Jojo, she was charming and brought a radiance to the screen while also giving an emotional punch to make audiences tear up. While not a showy part, Johansson’s role was terrific and, despite Lopez’s exclusion, would be a deserving winner.
FLORENCE PUGH
Speaking of great years, that is what young actress Florence Pugh delivered. While she deserved a leading nomination for her role in Midsommar, Pugh is up for - and deserves to win - Best Supporting Actress for her role as Amy in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women.
In the absence of Jennifer Lopez from the ballot, there is one performance that stands just above the others as deserving for the award, and that is Pugh’s outing as the often disliked, youngest March sister Amy. Pugh brings a performance to the character that resonates with audiences and allows people to understand her and her role. She is fiery and a joy to watch, bringing excitement to the screen when she appears, an excitement that would come from audiences should she win Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
BRAD PITT
The reason the rest of the Supporting Actor nominees fall so low on the list despite their performances is the fact that they do not deserve the Oscar. The man deserving of the statue is the guy that has only ever won an Oscar for being a producer. That being Brad Pitt for playing stuntman and best friend of Di Caprio’s Rick Dalton, Cliff Booth, in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
This performance again blurs the lines between supporting and leading performance, but Pitt is irresistible as the deadbeat stuntman with a shady past. Stealing the show from Leonardo Di Caprio is no easy feat, but Pitt does it. Proving he still has indisputable talent - and abs - Pitt is magnetic on the screen giving the movie star presence that has made him one of Hollywood’s biggest names, and unequivocally deserves his first acting Oscar here.
