Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2002: Results

5. Richard Gere in Chicago- Gere throws himself completely into the role which certainly offers some entertainment even if he over does it at some points.

Best Scene: Give em the old razzle dazzle.

4. Dennis Quiad in Far From Heaven- Quiad is somewhat restricted by the writing of his character but he excels in his portrayal of a very repressed man.

Best Scene: Frank tells his wife about his early vacation.

3. Andy Serkis in The Two Towers- Serkis creates a unique and very interesting character through his portrayal Gollum and his multiple personalities.

Best Scene: Smeagol and Gollum face off.

2. Robin Williams in Insomnia- Robin Williams gives probably his best performance giving a chilling performance as a killer who seems absolutely genuine in his innocence even while admitting he is completely guilty.

Best Scene: Walter Finch tells why he murdered the girl. 

1. Bernard Hill in The Two Towers- This is another very personal choice but I love Bernard Hill's work in the Two Towers. He takes a character that could have been a complete throwaway but instead brings such humanity and power into his role of King Théoden.

Best Scene: King Théoden mourns his son.

Overall Rank:

1. Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York
2. Bernard Hill in The Two Towers
3. Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can
4. Robin Williams in Insomnia
5. Christopher Plummer in Nicholas Nickleby
6. Paul Newman in Road to Perdition
7. Tom Hanks in Catch Me If You Can
8. Brendan Gleeson in 28 Days Later 
9. Andy Serkis in The Two Towers
10. Brian Murray in Treasure Planet
11. Leandro Firmino in City of God
12. Brendan Fraser in The Quiet American
13. Timothy Spall in All or Nothing
14. Jude Law in Road to Perdition
15. Daniel Craig in Road to Perdition 
16. Brendan Gleeson in Gangs of New York  
17. Tony Leung in Hero
18. Tom Courtenay in Nicholas Nickleby
19. Chris Cooper in Adaptation
20. Min Tanaka in The Twilight Samurai 
21. Forrest Whitaker in Panic Room
22. Thomas Kretschmann in The Pianist
23. Sean Astin in The Two Towers
24. Dennis Quaid in Far From Heaven 
25. Willem Dafoe in Auto Focus 
26. Alan Arkin in 13 Conversations About One Thing 
27. Tatusya Mihashi in Dolls
28. Gabriel Byrne in Spider
29. Matthew McConaughey in Frailty
30. Barry Pepper in 25th Hour 
31. Christopher Lee in The Two Towers 
32. Ralph Waite in Sunshine State
33. John C. Reilly in Gangs of New York
34. Seu Jorge in City of God 
35. Benedict Wong in Dirty Pretty Things
36. Stephen Dillane in The Hours 
37. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Punch-Drunk Love 
38. Eric Tsang in Infernal Affairs 
39. Brian Cox in 25th Hour 
40. Ralph Fiennes in Red Dragon
41. J.K. Simmons in Spider-Man 
42. Philip Seymour Hoffman in 25th Hour 
43. Cliff Robertson in Spider-Man 
44. Anthony Wong in Infernal Affairs
45. Brian Cox in Adaptation 
46. John C. Reilly in Chicago
47. Ed Harris in Buffalo Soldiers
48. Powers Boothe in Frailty
49. Liev Schreiber in The Sum of All Fears 
50. Phellipe Haagensen in City of God 
51. Scott Glenn in Buffalo Soldiers
52. Brad Dourif in The Two Towers  
53. Douglas Silva in City of God 
54. Mekhi Phifer in 8 Mile
55. Kenneth Branagh in Rabbit-Proof Fence
56. Nathan Lane in Nicholas Nickleby
57. Anthony Hopkins in Red Dragon
58. George Clooney in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind 
59. Jim Broadbent in Gangs of New York 
60. Marcel Iures in Hart's War
61. Ian McKellen in The Two Towers  
62. David Gulpilil in Rabbit-Proof Fence
63. Matheus Nachtergaele in City of God
64. Jamie Bell in Nicholas Nickleby
65. Sean Bean in The Two Towers
66. Willem Dafoe in Spider-Man 
67. Dwight Yoakam in Panic Room
68. Dennis Haysbert in Far From Heaven
69. Max von Sydow in Minority Report
70. Joaquin Phoenix in Signs
71. Denzel Washington in Antwone Fisher
72. Liam Neeson in Gangs of New York 
73. Michael Byrne in The Sum of All Fears
74. Stanley Tucci in Road to Perdition 
75. Richard Harris in The Count of Monte Cristo
76. Ciarian Hinds in The Sum of All Fears
77. Timothy Spall in Nicholas Nickleby
78. Billy Boyd in The Two Towers 
79. Richard Harris in The Chamber of Secrets
80. Frank Finlay in The Pianist
81. Noah Huntley in 28 Days Later
82. Kenneth Branagh in The Chamber of Secrets 
83. David Wenham in The Two Towers 
84. Rutger Hauer in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
85. Christopher Lee in Attack of the Clones
86. Richard Gere in Chicago 
87. Nikolaj Lie Kaas in Open Hearts 
88. Barry Pepper in We Were Soldiers
89. Bruce Willis in Hart's War 
90. Harvey Keitel in Red Dragon
91. Brian Cox in The Bourne Identity
92. Luiz Guzman in Punch-Drunk Love 
93. Terence Howard in Hart's War
94. Michael Wincott in The Count of Monte Cristo
95. Matthew McConaughey in 13 Conversations About One Thing
96. Jared Leto in Panic Room
97. Sergei Lopez in Dirty Pretty Things
98. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Red Dragon
99. Jason Isaacs in The Chamber of Secrets 
100. Colin Farrell in Minority Report   
101. Alfred Molina in Frida 
102. Chris Cooper in The Bourne Identity
103. James Cromwell in The Sum of All Fears
104. John C. Reilly in The Hours 
105. Michael Shannon in 8 Mile
106. Rupert Grint in The Chamber of Secrets
107. Morgan Freeman in The Sum of All Fears
108. John Rhys-Davies in The Two Towers
109. Jeremy Irons in The Time Machine 
110. Peter Stormare in Minority Report
111. Alan Bates in Sum of All Fears 
112. Orland Bloom in The Two Towers  
113. John Turturro in 13 Conversations About One Thing
114. Dominic Monaghan in The Two Towers
115. Karl Urban in The Two Towers
116. Tom Wilkinson in The Importance of Being Earnest 
117. Jeremy Davies in Secretary
118. Guy Pearce in The Count of Monte Cristo
119. Gary Cole in One Hour Photo
120. Tim Blake Nelson in Minority Report 
121. Henry Cavill in The Count of Monte Cristo
122. Christopher Eccleston in 28 Days Later
123. James Franco in Spider-Man 
124. Jeff Goldblum in Igby Goes Down
125. Henry Thomas in Gangs of New York 
126. Luis Guzman in the Count of Monte Cristo
127. Rory Culkin in Signs 
128. Orlando Jones in The Time Machine 
129. Martin Sheen in Catch Me If You Can
130. John Noble in The Two Towers
131. Geoffrey Rush in Frida 
132. Ed Harris in The Hours
133. Jared Harris in Igby Goes Down
134. Olivier Martinez in Unfaithful
135. Rip Torn in Men in Black 2 
136. David Hyde Pierce in Treasure Planet
137. Tony Siragusa in 25th Hour
138. Dermot Mulroney in About Schmidt
139. Dylan Smith in One Hour Photo
140. Michael Madsen in Die Another Day
141. Howard Hesseman in About Schmidt
142. Toby Stephens in Die Another Day
143. Eric Lloyd in The Santa Clause 2
144. Johnny Knoxville in Men in Black 2 
145. Ryan Phillipe in Igby Goes Down
146. Rick Yune in Die Another Day
147. Martin Short in Treasure Planet
148. Rob Schneider in Mr. Deeds

Next Year: 1950 lead

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2002: Andy Serkis in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Andy Serkis did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Gollum/Smeagol in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

The Two Towers is the strong follow up to Fellowship of the Rings that basically depicts the separate journeys of the Fellowship members after they have disbanded.

Ah this performance one very often cited as an Academy oversight, although it was unlikely going to happen when the academy no doubt had a hard time understanding the idea of a motion capture performance, or at least refusal to recognize along with purely live action work. This was not just the academy's fault either though as the BFCA rewarded Serkis, but only after separating into a digital performance category where he was nominated along with Dobby and Yoda. BAFTA probably should have been ashamed though since they did not nominate Serkis here despite the fact that they nominated Eddie Murphy for his vocal performance in Shrek just a year earlier.

Well anyway what is there to a motion capture performance anyway? Obviously the voice work all belongs to Serkis that is a given, but then comes the controversy. Some, who probably haven't done a great deal of research in the matter, think it is all the computers and the animators at work. Of course then there is another party that pretty much says it is all Serkis which in itself is just a bit of an overstatement, but its true that the motion capture also allowed Serkis to portray what Gollum does in his face and in his physical movements. The reason I say its a bit of an overstatement though is if it was just Serkis in make up his eyes would not be nearly as large or quite as expressive, and digital artists did contribute to the character as well.

In some ways though this is a form of a very advance make up, and just as make up can aid an actor performance in some way this makes Gollum more of an otherworldly creature than he would have been if Serkis had just been covered in make up instead. Getting that rather heavy baggage out of the way how about I get to the actual performance now. Serkis plays Gollum the creature who has become warped from being the previous bearer of the evil ring of power which is now in the possession of Frodo (Elijah Wood) who wishes to destroy by going through the difficult path to Mordor along with his friend Sam (Sean Astin). Gollum appears the first time as he tries to steal the ring from them, but is quickly caught instead.

Much of what is important about Serkis's performance is his creation of Gollum as a character, and the split personality disorder that he clearly suffers from with the oppressive evil Gollum and the meek sympathetic Smeagol. Serkis is particularly impressive early on when the personalities come in and out almost at random. Serkis is effective in portraying the differences of the sides with the viciousness of his expressive and violent voice as Gollum balanced against the timid expression and the soft voice of Smeagol. What's most impressive is early on how Serkis comes in and out of the personalities randomly yet with a natural flow that makes Gollum's disorder particularly effective in both suggesting what the ring has done to him, but as well setting the tone for his character. 

Gollum ends up with a strange role as he is always a villain of sorts as he wants to steal the ring yet he ends up acting as the guide and almost the guardian to Frodo at the same. It would have been very easy to have gotten Gollum wrong making him too much of a joke, or just a one note creature. Serkis though honestly develops a character with Gollum and makes him the strange, but interesting presence he should be. He finds the right mix of the character from being the blunt guide of information, the sometimes even comic companion, but as well the volatile personality in which you can't quite know what to expect from him and stands as a threat even when it seems like he is trying to help. 

The transition Gollum has through the film actually is fairly blunt one in that the Smeagol personality takes over for quite some time in the film therefore Serkis stays with that character for some time until abuse causes the Gollum personality to come back. The major change is in the Smeagol personality and Serkis is very effective in his portrayal of Smeagol's take over as he finds the strength to overcome his weaknesses, but as well his later manner when he goes back to be subservient to the Gollum personality. His transition is relatively simple but Serkis handles it very well by being convincing through its entirety bringing Gollum naturally to the point of being a full on villain by the end of the film.

This obviously is not a traditional performance in a whole lot of ways, but Serkis should be given a great deal of credit for his memorable portrayal. He makes Gollum a unique creature through his distinct yet always natural feeling facial and physical manner as well as his voice that is just perfect in separating Gollum from all the other creatures found in the film. More than that though Serkis actually brings the right complexity in the part, and manages to mediate the different roles which Gollum fills in film with a terrific consistency. With a part that could have been completely obnoxious, or could have come off at quite a distant character due to the computer generated nature of the character Serkis achieves something rather special as he makes Gollum one of the most compelling characters in the film.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2002

And the Nominees Were Not:

Andy Serkis in The Two Towers

Bernard Hill in The Two Towers

Dennis Quaid in Far From Heaven

Robin Williams in Insomnia

Richard Gere in Chicago

Alternate Best Actor 2010: Results

5. Andy Serkis in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll- Serkis is terrific in his portrayal of Ian Dury reminding me of the real man who I only knew from a brief not very memorable scene in Judge Dredd.

4. George Clooney in The American- Clooney gives possibly his best performance by toning down his usual mannerisms and giving a restrained as well as powerful portrait of an assassin who has seen too many double crosses.

3. Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine- Ryan Gosling gives a very strong performance in both his portrayal of the exuberant charmer as well as the bitter man he becomes.

2. Robert Duvall in Get Low- Robert Duvall once again knocks it out of the park in his portrayal of his old hermit who he creates a beautiful portrait with warmth, humor and sadness all while properly being this man who has exiled himself from the world.

1. Choi Min-sik in I Saw the Devil- This was one very close for me between the top three who all give great performances with stand out moments throughout their films. My favorite though goes to Choi Min-sik for his chilling portrayal of a serial killer who ends up being tortured himself. It is an amazing performance meeting the challenge of his character all the way through even as his character undergoes several extreme changes.

Overall Rank:

1. Choi Min-sik in I Saw the Devil
2. Robert Duvall in Get Low
3. Lee Byung-hun in I Saw The Devil  
4. Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network
5. Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine
6. Ewan McGregor in The Ghost Writer
7. Lambert Wilson in Of Gods and Men
8. Casey Affleck in The Killer Inside Me
9. George Clooney in The American
10. Riz Ahmed in Four Lions 
11. Jakob Cedergren in Submarino
12. Martin Sheen in The Way
13. Damián Alcázar in El Infierno
14. Eddie Marsan in The Disappearance of Alice Creed
15. Christian Bale in The Fighter
16. Paul Giamatti in Barney's Version
17. Michael Douglas in Solitary Man
18. James Rolleston in Boy
19. Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech
20. Andy Serkis in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
21. Joaquin Phoenix in I'm Still Here 
22. Tommy Lee Jones in The Company Men
23. Mads Mikkelsen in Valhalla Rising
24. Jiang Wen in Let the Bullets Fly
25. Peter Plaugborg in Submarino
26. Tyler Labine in Tucker & Dale vs Evil
27. Alan Tudyk in Tucker & Dale vs Evil
28. Ryan Reynolds in Buried
29. Jim Broadbent in Another Year
30. Jim Carrey in I Love You Philip Morris
31. Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception
32. William Jøhnk Juels Nielsen in In A Better World
33. Nicholas Tse in Stool Pigeon
34. William Shimell in Certified Copy
35. Otto Jesperen in Trollhunter
36. James Franco in 127 Hours
37. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Jack Goes Boating
38. Vincent Gallo in Essential Killing
39. Mel Gibson in Edge of Darkness 
40. Mikael Persbrandt in In A Better World
41. Jeff Bridges in True Grit 
42. Bruce Willis in Red 
43. Trond Nilssen in King of Devil's Island 
44. Francois Cluzet in Little White Lies
45. Ge You in Let The Bullets Fly 
46. Aaron Eckhart in Rabbit Hole 
47. Denzel Washington in The Book of Eli
48. Markus Rygaard in In A Better World
49. Ben Affleck in The Town
50. Colin Firth in The King's Speech 
51. Jeffrey Dean Morgan in The Losers 
52. Zachary Levi in Tangled
53. Edward Norton in Leaves of Grass
54. Colin Farrell in Ondine
55. Ben Stiller in Greenberg
56. Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man 2 
57. Jay Baruchel in How To Train Your Dragon
58. Mark Wahlberg in The Fighter   
59. Martin Compston in The Disappearance of Alice Creed
60. Benjamin Helstad in King of Devil's Island
61. Ben Affleck in The Company Men
62. Ryan Gosling in All Good Things 
63. Javier Bardem in Biutiful   
64. Mark Wahlberg in The Other Guys
65. Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows  
66. Michael Cera in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World  
67. Shia Laboeuf in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
68. Sean Penn in Fair Game
69. Will Ferrell in The Other Guys
70. Gleenn Erland Tosterud in Trollhunter 
71. Robert Downey Jr. in Due Date 
72. Leonardo DiCaprio in Shutter Island  
73. Aaron Taylor Johnson in Kick-Ass
74. Skandar Keynes in Voyage of the Dawn Treader
75. Sylvester Stallone in The Expendables  
76. Benicio Del Toro in The Wolfman
77. Logan Lerman in Percy Jackson  
78. Zach Galifianakis in Due Date
79. Jaden Smith in The Karate Kid
80. Nick Cheung in Stool Pigeon
81. Johnny Depp in Alice in Wonderland
82. James Frecheville in Animal Kingdom

Next Year: 2010 Supporting 

Alternate Best Actor 2010: Andy Serkis in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

Andy Serkis did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite being nominated for a Bafta, for portraying Ian Dury in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll.

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll plays more of a tribute to English rocker Ian Dury more than anything else particularly with its abrupt ending. Although it tries a little too hard to be stylish at times, I must say I certainly enjoyed much more than Ray and Walk The Line.

Andy Serkis is best known for his motion capture performance especially as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings, but he managed to get a Bafta nomination for this strictly live action portrayal. He actually was nominated for the year of 2009 before the film actually had a public release date anywhere. The Bafta voters must have loved his performance to be quite so enthusiastic about it, or maybe they wanted to make up for the fact that they did not nominate him for best supporting actor for the Two Towers in 2002 despite having nominated Eddie Murphy for his voice only portrayal in Shrek in 2001.

Serkis plays Ian Dury who was apparently a famous face in Britain although I must admit I never heard of him before watching this film. Serkis takes on the role in a fashion of really inhabiting the role from Dury's accent, to his polio induced limp, and of course a very certain style. Serkis is completely natural in his portrayal and everything he does to become Dury merely feels like he becomes Dury. Never does his performance feel like that and he makes all his mannerisms all part of his total characterization. Serkis despite tasking himself with taking on the role of this very particular man he never seems like he is just trying to play the part like say Jamie Foxx did in Ray.

I have to give Serkis the utmost credit in his characterization as even though I had no idea who Dury was well watching the film, but Serkis did remind me of someone I saw in a film at one time before. I thought and who came to my mind was the shop keeper in a rather brief scene in the film of Judge Dredd. Well it turns out that shopkeeper was in fact played by Ian Dury. I have to praise Serkis a great deal here as he managed to remind me of Ian Dury through his performance even when I did not even recognize the name. That takes some doing, and it quite a testament to the strength of Serkis's portrayal where he so seamlessly establishes Dury's physical traits.

This particular biopic is quite different that the usual one in that it does not follow the rise to success heavy drug period, than either a comeback or death afterwards. This one follows a different approach kind of jumping around to times of success times of failures, times of warmth and times of heartbreak. It does not exactly sit on a single one for great deal of time, and even when it is focusing on one aspect it might cut to another, or at least a musical performance well doing so. Serkis really has to juggle the different directions the film takes to be able to bring out the emotional power in each of them, and actually he does this all fairly well.

Serkis moves from moment to moment all well and whatever he does always seems fitting for Dury. In the performance scenes Serkis really throws himself into them and has the presence he should. The musical scenes all on their own are very entertaining to watch by the way Serkis delivers in each of these scenes and they never feel repetitive as he does something unique in each one of these scenes. Serkis though does show these to be performances and properly dials down Dury in his personal scenes. He actually stays fairly restrained as Dury in his personal life, and really there is not an arc exactly with his performance. Yes there are ups and downs but the film and Serkis really portray them in a more day to day fashion.

Serkis taking the day to day approach for Dury actually works and he makes him just a normal human being through the way he deals with his own past as well as his present issues. Serkis meets the demands of every situation. In the scenes with Dury's family Serkis is very effective showing a great deal of warmth at times that is quite moving, but as well showing a certain self absorption that creates troubles. Serkis plays it all very realistically and makes all of the complexities of his relationships believable. The same goes in the scenes where he is working with his band. Serkis makes the temper tantrums as well as the moments of genuine creativity all work as the methods of one man.

Serkis's best moments come when Dury's reflects on his past involving his father and his troubles due to contracting polio. Again Serkis mixes the emotions brilliantly as he conveys the pain and sorrow in Dury over these matter, but in equal effectiveness shows the perseverance and strength in the man from his experiences as well. Serkis matches every challenge involved in the film's manner of telling Ian Dury's story quite efficiently. He is able to find the rhythm necessary for the part in terms of both Dury's public and private personality. This is very strong work from Andy Serkis showing that he is a capable actor both when he has the aid of computer graphics as well as in this film where he must stand entirely on his own.

Alternate Best Actor 2010

And the Nominees Were Not:

Choi Min-sik in I Saw The Devil

Robert Duvall in Get Low

Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine

George Clooney in The American

Andy Serkis in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll