Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1986: John Goodman in True Stories

John Goodman did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Louis Fyne in True Stories. 

True Stories tells various offbeat stories in a Texas town. 

John Goodman plays one of the people in the town, and honestly you couldn’t ask for a better performer for the very specific tasks of this film, which has an unusual tone to say least, so who better than Goodman who can go from dramatic to comedic roles with such ease…often being comedic while dramatic and vice versa. Something that comes to play almost immediately where in the early scenes of the film he is more of a seeming random point in a pseudo documentary element, as we are greeted by him as one of the workers in a factory. Where Goodman delivers an overly familiar greeting with a Texas, fitting for the over enthusiasm of someone thinking they’re on TV. Goodman naturally maneuvers this to slightly more subtle when Louis starts talking about himself a little bit with a certain bashfulness, where Goodman is indeed funny when speaking about his woes in his dating life. Something we also see in a quick montage of some failed dates, where we get some perfect comic timing from Goodman, first in his squeamish reaction to rowdy kids of one date, to his great physical maneuvers as he suffers various yoga positions of another. Goodman is equally effective on another ill-fated one, where his date mentions that she had a tail, and Goodman’s reactions to this very unexpected revelation are absolutely hilarious in the subdued shock and disbelief as he tries to maintain a “I’m on a date” face. 

We see Louis again in a “real” situation at a club where he bemoans the dating scene, and Goodman's natural modification of his performance is done so naturally. Goodman doesn’t overplay the note of his frustrations, but just lays it out with a quiet bluntness and a low key dejectedness of just stating that his situation seems bleak. Goodman balances the frustrations with a sincerity in his performance of speaking his genuine interest in finding a life partner in a woman and the bright spark he brings to his eyes, that Goodman creates a person within the silliness. As we also get him awkwardly lip synching, where Goodman is wonderfully fumbling in his ways, or his completely sincere, though in this instance now hilarious, delivery of explaining about how he cares about his appearance. Goodman isn’t in the film for awhile, but he comes back very much as the climax of the film in a way where we get a few different scenes of Louis still on his quest for romantic happiness. Something that includes a whole different angle to play as we get Louis doing one of those 80’s dating videos, where Goodman’s excellent in playing the comedic note of the certain stiffness and general awkwardness of describing himself as some sort of sales pitch, including his maintenance of a consistent “panda bear” shape, which Goodman’s delivery is truly comic perfection how directly he says something so strange. 

Goodman’s better than just being funny in that moment though, as silly as the scenario is, as in his eyes there is still the very real subtle need within his performance that as much as the situation is comical, there’s a real person within it. Goodman takes this balance even further in another failed date scene, however this one more merging the comedic and the dramatic. As when he states his love of country music, Goodman brings such genuine passion in naming his favorite artists, even while still bringing this nervousness behind every word, that he still struggles to share himself going so far as to share his unfinished song. In this version the song is “People like Us”, is the work of a master of tone, because he is able to make it funny in his stumbling around in the song, but there’s also such real pain in moments of the lyrics where you can see they are truly personal to Louis. Which leads to a heartbreaking moment where the woman rejects him for the song being sad, Goodman’s truly great in his initial pride in having shared himself, that he articulates such desperate unease within himself as he realizes that she is rejecting him on a fundamental level, with his delivery of “I’m sorry” being filled with just so much pathos of a guy who has learned to apologize for being himself. Something that follows is when he’s seeking help from a mystic, where Goodman is amazing in his fully dramatic moment of stating his “I want to share my life” with such moving vulnerability in the words, and as much as Louis had been used for comic vignettes he makes you truly feel for him. Thankfully the mystic seems to give him an amulet and some words of wisdom, which maybe breaks down to be confident in one’s self, which leads to Goodman’s full performance of “People Like Us”. Where now Louis believes himself, and Goodman is outstanding in just bringing forth this in every moment of his musical performance. There’s no shame in himself, instead someone putting his passion for country music and singing for everyone to see. Goodman puts so much heart into every word of a song and creates what is absolutely the standout segment of the film. As Goodman doesn’t just sell the song, he succeeds in giving such pitch perfect climax to his character that creates a true ownership of the film’s tone in the best way possible, because he is funny, he is sad, but he’s also something so much more than either of those two things alone.