Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009: Paul Schneider in Bright Star

Paul Schneider did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite winning NSFC, for portraying Charles Armitage Brown in Bright Star. 

Paul Schneider seems perhaps an actor best outside of the modern world, where his performances seem to make less of an impression, then when crafting a man of a specific time. Just as he was convincing as an outlaw of the old American west in The Assassination of Jesse James, he is even more convincing as a businessman and writer in London during 1818. Trickier I suppose is he's also specifically a Scottish businessman and writer, an accent often butchered, but Schneider merely makes himself seem a Scottish actor all along, as if one were to only listen to his performance without seeing it you might think it were Ewan McGregory in the part of Brown, aka a genuine Scotsman. And while I have often stated that the importance  of accent work can be overstated at times, when one truly thrives with it, it is something well worth noting which is the case here as Schneider's accent makes you just instantly accept his Brown as a man of the period of this place, and just you'd never guess that Schneider was a California born actor, which is most impressive. Schneider's first appearance sets up what will be Brown from the point of view of Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish) who views him as a bit of an overly critical rogue. And Schneider owns this idea and brandishes, even as he insists he wasn't as critical towards her way of dress as presumed, he still puts a bit of criticism even in that. Schneider is wonderful as even his body language here is so very specific in the lack of stiffness in his performance as he arches over his tea. And even in conflict of sorts Schneider's reaction creates a man who loves the idea of it and there is such a sense of delight. As such Schneider has a roguish charm in the way that he presents Brown's manner, that is very direct for the time in particular, as something that he relishes in his methods, even though it doesn't win everyone's favor. Schneider in fact reacts so wonderfully as Fanny is as sharp tongued and in her attack on his writing, Schneider's faux shock suggests a man who lives for the verbal sparring. Schneider creates a man who very much exists in this state as a kind of lifeblood for himself. 

Schneider's performance is an essential sort of bit of id within the film that is so reserved otherwise, including our central characters of potential lovers of Fanny and John Keats (Ben Whishaw), where Brown exists as a certain barrier between the two being able to come together. And every scene that Schneider is in offers a bit of a very distinct energy within this film, because he is so sharp in every sense with his cynical and often irreverent manner. His position is interesting because Brown is Keats's best friend and how he relates to the potential couple is a source of conflict though not in really an obvious way. Schneider brings that chaotic energy that feeds some source of tension, while also being just entertaining within himself by so naturally creating really an alternative sort of man to the period, while not feeling anachronistic from the period. And I think a reason for that is Schneider's performance does evolve, as much as early on he seems there just for that cutting remark that constantly breaks up the potential romantic tension. In the scene when Fanny makes it quite clear she will not be turned off, and that Keats is receptive to this, Schneider presents the inherent burden of jealousy of losing the time with his friend at his beckon call. Internalizing the frustration so effectively, even while his delivery still maintains this certain blunt disdain that at a certain point begins to fake the irreverence. And Schneider modulates his performance to become more pointed towards Fanny and in general his emotions he begins to wear more evidently on sleeve. And Schneider's particularly effective in playing off the emotions and even his vulnerability regarding the importance of his friendship that in his expression denote someone who to a degree begins desperately holding onto it even while trying to maintain his expected manner. And Schneider is excellent in the moment of "warning" Keats more directly, where he couches everything in less cynicism and brings the nervous energy of essentially losing his companion to the situation. 

And Schneider's work finds well the complications of Brown, because as Keats health worsens, the genuine concern in the moment is honest, but he is as much despicable in again his nearly petulant insistence on being the one to take care of Keats. Schneider so naturally segues between the qualities, and we see the way the man kind of loses his power of disregard as the story proceeds. This includes when Brown's sort of roguish manner becomes more obvious when he impregnates a servant woman Abigail, and tries to dodge guilt. Schneider's lying again is so artfully done because he tells the truth by seeing that typical confidence of the character so absent even as he is able to articulate his lies Schneider shows that Brown himself isn't able to entirely believe them. And Schneider is terrific in bringing so much humanity to his faults, I love in particular the scene where he shoos off Abigail during a public discussion where his expression is this remarkable mix of shame while also still having a lack of shame all at the same time. Schneider's work creates such a wonderfully flawed person, who you can write as the villain of the piece, always complicated is he. No moment expresses this better than after he's sent Keats off alone to Italy, and Fanny calls Brown on not being there for his friend. Schneider is amazing in the scene because everything about him is this defense, even his physical manner towards Fanny at first seems to move to avoid her too directly, until she insists on his failure as a friend. Schneider's initial delivery still being this way of the man dodging the truth, trying to obfuscate the truth but in her persistence Brown fully grants the truth. His repeated delivery of "I failed John Keats" is incredible work by Schneider as in every repetition the guilt and the heartbreak reveal themselves more completely, and more painfully, and as much as Brown remains a failure as a friend, we see that deep down he did care, even if that was not enough. And there is a real odd power to Schneider's portrait of a deeply flawed man, where he finds a strange poignancy by so naturally revealing those human flaws even when his repetance remains so tragically limited.