Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2018: Linus Roache in Mandy

Linus Roache did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Jeremiah Sand in Mandy.

Mandy is the psychedelic revenge fairy tale about lumberjack Red (Nicolas Cage) seeking justice after a cult steals his girlfriend, fittingly named Mandy (Andrea Riseborough).

Linus Roache, who is perhaps best known for his quietly respectable turn as Thomas Wayne in Batman Begins, unleashes a complete 180 in his portrayal of Jeremiah Sand the cult leader, of a handful of people, with obviously more than a few delusions in his head. Roache initially appears in the film as his cult rides along in their mystery van passing by Mandy to whom Jeremiah takes a keen interest in. Roache's performance is initially as what you'd expect from the cult leader in his casual lean looking off into the distance as though lives with this greater perspective on the world. His physical performance having this burden in the way he leans as though he is posing for a renaissance painting of Christ being taken off the cross, though Jeremiah would probably consider this to be a self-portrait. When he first speaks to one of his disciples, requesting the addition of Mandy to his disciples, Roache speaks in an excessively calm, spiritual tone, as though he is a new age healer. Roache exuding the theoretical zen state of a man who just is simply beyond the normal human, or at least that's what he'd tell you. Of course this setup makes Roache's break down of this absolutely hilarious as whines in a decidedly more earthly fashion, and his performance is more akin to a spoiled teenager than a messiah. The lack of eloquence in Roache's shift is comic gold, just as it is effective in revealing the hollowness of his act.

Sand steals away Mandy, by naturally making a blood sacrifice of one of his followers to a group of demonic bikers, as one does, who kidnap her for him. Of course before meeting her he naturally has her sufficiently drugged up before "witnessing him". Roache is quite simply amazing in this scene in every thing he does is absolutely brilliant here. This is in his whole presence he concocts up with his posture, and pose of a man so cocksure (pun intended), in his place of his delusion of grandeur in his moment. Nearly every delivery, Roache infuses such an overload of confidence through his way of milking every nonsense phrase in his own personal testament towards his own greatness. Now I write nearly, because my favorite element of Roache's work is how he doesn't really make Sand even that good at being a z-rate cult leader. He brings these little cracks in his portrayal of this that again illustrate his true nature, but also are quite simply funny. In this moment initially when he plays a song, written and sung by Sand himself of course, about himself to Mandy by prefacing that it's like the Carpenters but better. In that moment, Roache shifts nicely just for a second from a man selling himself as a demi-god, to briefly just trying to sell his single, which is simply wonderful. Roache though is a magnificent mess in the moment, that by the time he decides to show us, and Mandy his full Roache, that what becomes so laughable is the sheer unearned confidence that Roache infuses into the moment of *ahem* exposure.

Jeremiah's show doesn't impress Mandy, even when under the influence, leaving again Roache to reveal just the spoiled brat. This is brilliantly portrayed though by Roache as the intensity he brings in the sense of pathetic desperation as she laughs him, becomes frightening even if pathetic, as he reveals the danger of breaking his delusion.  The viciousness then he brings is this horrible mix of trying to have moments of his false spiritualism with just the outrage of a weak boy. Roache capture the sheer horror of the moment as he enacts his vengeance on Mandy and Red for the "slight" in his snide delivery, and in his eyes that seem mesmerized by the cruel punishment he is delving out. In the moment he expresses almost this jubilation whiel trying to recapture his "glory" in the moment, and Roache makes it a terrifying moment of Jeremiah lusting to recreate his ego by his terrible act. Of course after that Jeremiah essentially becomes the "final boss" that Cage's Red makes track down once he destroys his series of henchmen. Thankfully though we get one more magnificent scene with Linus Roache's performance. This being when Red slowly confronts him. This beginning with Jeremiah trying to take control by espousing his nonsense that Roache unleashes as a zealot in fear, trying hard to hold onto his face. When this obviously does not work as Red begins to physically assault him, Roache is amazing he melts to Jeremiah at his most "normal" as he begs for his life just like any man would, well weak man, only to become a bit more pathetic as he offers a sexual favor in return. It's a fantastic moment though as there is no surface ego, or even the petulance of the brat, just a very scared fool. When that too doesn't appear to work, Roache's final desperate attempt to return to the egomaniac is glorious as he is able to express such venom while attempting, and failing, to reach some mental upper hand. Mandy is a film with an utterly insane tone, and I don't think any performer rides this madness better than Linus Roache. His portrayal of Jeremiah is simply incredible as he wholly convincing in creating the cult villain the film needs, doing so with all the appropriate pomp and circumstance, while also managing to just being extremely entertaining in revealing the many cracks within this facade.