Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009: Results

5. Christian McKay in Me and Orson Welles - McKay recreates Orson Welles effectively unfortunately the film fails to give him the opportunity to truly delve into the man.

Best Scene: Welles's outburst on stage.

4. Nicholas Tse in Bodyguards and Assassins - A fairly simple and small role, but Tse makes his character very endearing and in turn makes his final scene very moving.

Best Scene: Si tries to slow the assassin down.

3. Michael Fassbender in Fish Tank- Fassbender combines the right amount of sleaze and charm to his character, although this is not his best performance from 2009.

Best Scene: Connor takes advantage of Mia.

2. Peter Capaldi in In The Loop - Capaldi gives a extremely entertaining and properly intense performance as the foul mouthed fixer Malcolm Tucker. Every scene he is in is a treat, and when the film asks a little more of him Capaldi is more than up to the task.

Best Scene: Malcolm's introduction. 

1. Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Watchmen- Good Predictions Koook and Kevin. The film adaptation of Watchmen did not get everything right but one thing it did which was genius was casting Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian. The Comedian is a complex character and Morgan does not simplify any aspect of him. He gives a powerful performance that is unflinching in the realization of a brute, but also manages to believably allow the man some charm with a semblance of a soul somewhere in him.

Best Scene: The Watchmen's meeting.

Overall Ranking:

1. Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds
2. Fred Melamed in A Serious Man
3. Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Watchmen
4. Paul Schneider in Bright Star
5. Jackie Earle Haley in Watchmen
6. Guillermo Francella in The Secret in Their Eyes
7. Peter Capaldi in In The Loop
8. August Diehl in Inglorious Basterds
9. Tom Hollander in In The Loop
10. Robert Duvall in The Road
11. James Gandolfini in Where the Wild Things Are
12. Michael Fassbender in Inglorious Basterds
13. Pablo Rago in The Secret in Their Eyes
14. Michael Fassbender in Fish Tank
15. Adel Bencherif in A Prophet
16. Denis Menochet in Inglourious Basterds
17. Fan Wei in The City of Life and Death
18. Won Bin in Mother
19. Timothy Spall in The Damned United
20. Shahab Hosseini in About Elly
21. Sam Neill in Skin
22. Daniel Bruhl in Inglourious Basterds
23. Javier Godino in The Secret in Their Eyes
24. David Rasche in In The Loop
25. Klaus Maria Brandauer in Tetro
26. Adam Arkin in A Serious Man
27. Paul Higgins in In The Loop
28. Nicholas Tse in Bodyguards and Assassins
29. Niels Arestrup in A Prophet
30. Stanley Tucci in Julie & Julia
31. Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
32. Zhang Fengyi in Red Cliff Part II
33. Woody Harrelson in Zombieland
34. Nakaizumi Hideo in City of Life and Death
35. Christian McKay in Me and Orson Welles
36. Hilmi Sözer in Jerichow
37. Boman Irani in 3 Idiots
38. Tom Waits in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
39. Billy Crudup in Public Enemies 
40. Woody Harrelson in The Messenger
41. Jin Goo in Mother
42. Michael Gambon in The Half-Blood Prince
43. Steve Buscemi in The Messenger
44. Anupam Kher in Wake Up Side
45. Takeshi Kaneshiro in Red Cliff Part II
46. Colin Farrell in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
47. Hichem Yacoubi in A Prophet
48. John Malkovich in The Great Buck Howard 
49. Brendan Gleeson in Secret of Kells
50. Omi Vaidya in 3 Idiots
51. James Caan in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
52. Richard Sammel in Inglorious Basterds
53. Michael K. Williams in The Road
54. Chris Cooper in Where the Wild Things Are
55. Peter Sarsgaard in An Education
56. Verne Troyer in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
57. Wang Xueqi in Bodyguards and Assassins
58. Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Boat That Rocked
59. Paul Dano in Where the Wild Things Are
60. Mark Strong in Sherlock Holmes
61. Jim Broadbent in The Half-Blood Prince 
62. Rhys Ifans - The Boat That Rocked
63. Wallace Wolodarksy in Fantastic Mr. Fox
    
64. Keith David in The Princess and the Frog
65. Chris O'Dowd in The Boat That Rocked
66. Omar Doom in Inglourious Basterds
67. James Gandolfini in In The Loop 
68. Ralph Brown in The Boat That Rocked
69. Fyvush Finkel in A Serious Man
70. Hrant Alianak in Pontypool
71. Bill Nighy in The Boat That Rocked
72. Kevin Spacey in Moon
    
73. Sam Shepard in Brothers 
74. David Strathairn in Cold Souls
75. John Paisley in City of Life and Death
76. Mick Lally in The Secret of Kells
77. Michael-Leon Wooley in The Princess and the Frog
78. Allen Lewis Rickman in A Serious Man
79. Rüdiger Vogler in OSS 117: Lost in Rio
80. Jason Schwartzman in Fantastic Mr. Fox
    
81. Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes
82. Alan Rickman in The Half-Blood Prince
83. Val Kilmer in Bad Lieutenant 
84. Donnie Yen in Bodyguards and Assassins
85. Karl Urban in Star Trek
86. Colm Meaney in The Damned United
87. Zach Woods in In The Loop
88. Peyman Mooadi in About Elly
89. Tom Felton in The Half-Blood Prince
90. Shea Whigham in Bad Lieutenant 
91. Brad Pitt in Inglourious Basterds
92. Saber Abar in About Elly
93. Chris Addison in In The Loop
94. Brad Dourif in Bad Lieutenant 
95. Robbie Coltrane in The Half-Blood Prince
96. B.J. Novak in Inglourious Basterds 
97. Robbie Coltrane in The Brothers Bloom
98. Alfred Molina in An Education
99. Willem Dafoe in Fantastic Mr. Fox
    
100. Mani Haghighi in About Elly
101. Bill Murray in Fantastic Mr. Fox
     
102. Matt Damon in Invictus
103. Maximilian Schell in The Brothers Bloom
104. Til Schweiger in Inglourious Basterds
105. Xzibit in Bad Lieutenant
106. Guy Pearce in The Road
107. David James in District 9 
108. Ernst Jacobi in The White Ribbon
109. Michael Gambon in Fantastic Mr. Fox
     
110. Benoit Poelvoorde in Coco Before Chanel
111. Sven-Bertil Taube in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
112. Jason Bateman in State of Play
113. Eric Anderson in Fantastic Mr. Fox
     
114. Steve Coogan in In The Loop 
     
115. Peter Haber in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
116. Mengke Bateer in Bodyguards and Assassins
117. Scott Bakula in The Informant!
118. Christian Friedel in The White Ribbon
119. Simon Pegg in Star Trek
120. Peter Bartlett in The Princess and the Frog
121. Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
122. Patrick Wilson in Watchmen
123. Ben Affleck in State of Play
124. Jim Cummings in the Princess and the Frog
125. Gedeon Burkhard in Inglourious Basterds
126. Liam Cunningham in Harry Brown
127. Burghart Klaußner in The White Ribbon
128. Eric Bana in Star Trek 
129. David Thewlis in The Half-Blood Prince
130. Oliver Platt in 2012
131. Liev Schreiber in X-Men Origins: Wolverine
132. Ben Mendelsohn in Knowing
133. Danny Huston in X-Men Origins: Wolverine
134. Gregoire Colin in 35 Shots of Rum
135. Ben Cross in Star Trek 
136. Tom Hanks in The Great Buck Howard
137. Ulrich Tukur in The White Ribbon
138. Eric Tsang in Bodyguards and Assassins
139. Michael Rapaport in Big Fan
140. Andrew Garfield in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
141. Christos Stergioglou in Dogtooth
142. Christos Passalis in Dogtooth
143. Richard Kind in A Serious Man
144. Zhang Hanyu in Bodyguards and Assassins 
145. J.K. Simmons in Up in the Air
146. Kevin Corrigan in Big Fan
147. Robert Duvall in Crazy Heart
148. Tom Brooke in The Boat That Rocked
149. Christian Bale in Public Enemies
150. Stephen Lang in Avatar
151. Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
152. Billy Crudup in Watchmen 
153. Nick Frost in The Boat That Rocked
154. Michael Imperioli in The Lovely Bones
155. Walton Goggins in That Evening Sun
156. Eddie Marsan in Me and Orson Welles
157. Wang Po-chieh in Bodyguards and Assassins
158. Leon Lai in Bodyguards and Assassins
159. Paul Schneider in Away We Go
160. Gary Oldman in A Christmas Carol
161. Kenneth Branagh in The Boat That Rocked
162. Matt Servitto in Big Fan
163. Rupert Grint in The Half-Blood Prince
164. Hu Jun  in Bodyguards and Assassins
165. Mike Myers in Inglourious Basterds
166. Thomas Brodie-Sangster in Nowhere Boy
167. Jim Gaffigan in Away We Go
168. Eli Roth in Inglourious Basterds
169. Johnny Depp in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
170. Jason Bateman in Up in the Air
171. Chris Messina in Julie & Julia
172. Colin Farrell in Crazy Heart
173. Jude Law in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
174. Paul Giamatti in The Last Station
175. Alessandro Nivola in Coco Before Chanel
176. Colin Firth in A Christmas Carol
177. Jonah Hill in Funny People
178. James Tupper in Me and Orson Welles
179. Woody Harrelson in 2012
180. Justin Bartha in The Hangover
181. Ben Chaplin in Me and Orson Welles
182. Ray McKinnon in That Evening Sun
183. Rhys Darby in The Boat That Rocked
184. Leo Bill in Me and Orson Welles
185. Nicholas Hoult in A Single Man
186. Geoffrey Arend in 500 Days of Summer
187. Robert Wisden in Watchmen
188. Matthew Goode in Watchmen
189. Anton Yelchin in Star Trek
190. Rob Riggle in The Hangover
191. Ken Jeong in The Hangover

Next Year: 1961 Lead

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009: Jackie Earle Haley in Watchmen

Jackie Earle Haley did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Rorschach in Watchmen.

Watchmen I may call an admirable failure or at least an intriguing misfire. It has some pretty dreadful elements in it. One thing that hurts more scenes than I would like to count is the horrendous sound effects Zach Snyder decided to use in the fight scenes, which makes all of them sound at least slightly silly. Another is the nature of the performances many which are terrible such as many of the several supporting roles like the Nixon impersonator for example, but also unfortunately two of the major roles are underwhelming. The awfully wooden Malin Akerman makes nothing out of her role and even worse, for the film anyway, is Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt known as Ozymandias. Goode is a black hole in terms of charisma and makes a potentially fascinating character into just a woefully inadequate and obvious villain, shame they did not get Michael Fassbender as he would have been perfect for the role.

The film though is not all bad though and its sheer ambitious does come through in a positive fashion as there are definitely some great scenes within it especially the opening credits sequence. There are also good performances to be seen including the almost lead, but not quite, Jackie Earle Haley who plays Rorschach. Rorschach for much of the film is are point of view character as he narrates, via his diary, his investigation into the death of the former superhero known as the Comedian. For much of the film Haley is in a full costume including the white mask with ever changing Rorschach tests that cover his face. This does not seem to limit Haley in the slightest though, going right down to his physical portrayal of Rorschach. There is a certain introverted, and peculiar style of movement that Haley employs which really makes him stand out. In his ever so slightly erratic movement Haley suggests the state of mind of the man as well as the violent capabilities of the man.

Haley in the role uses a voice that is rather similar to the one used by Christian Bale when he was in costume as Batman. Although the voice technically is extremely close with the extra gruff and grit Hale's is far superior in this case for two reasons. One being that Haley frankly articulates better to begin with making it actually bring some menace rather than letting the voice be overly distracting all by itself. The other reason being that it alludes well to the truth we learn about Rorschach later on. Haley never allows Rorschach to be simply an image as he easily could have been. Haley makes himself engaging every moment he is onscreen and makes Rorschach a compelling character to follow through the investigation, and his performance actually roped me along even through some of the rougher patches in the film, and by rougher patches I do not mean violent scenes.

Eventually through the investigation Rorschach falls into a trap and right into police custody where his mask is taken and the real Rorschach is revealed. Jackie Earle Haley actually appears out of the costume in a few other scenes before it is shown that he is Rorschach. He appears in the background many times as a man holding an "The End is Near" sign, but it is a complete revelation that this seemingly meek man is in fact imposing vigilante. This change in Rorschach is technically quite extreme and Haley is rather masterful in portraying this rather extreme transition for the character as we meet Walter Kovacs the man behind the mask. The mask is in question though as Rorschach refers to the mask as a face as the police rip it off and we see that Rorschach is not the most mentally stable of men. The particular twist involves what Rorschach exactly is in regards to Kovacs.

Haley as Kovacs brings a blank almost timid face as if without his "face" he might as well be naked in the world. Haley presents Kovacs as a man who seems almost lost in this state, and portrays the fact that really Kovacs and Rorschach are two different entities. In his Kovacs Haley gives a quieter more realistic voice, and presents Kovacs as particularly meek in his physical manner as well. In this Haley shows that Rorschach was something that was created at one time by Kovacs therefore explaining the put on nature of Rorschach, yet was created for so long that what he created become its own entity that dominates over whatever Kovacs may have been before hand. Haley very effectively shows that whenever Kovacs is threatened the Rorschach voice and manner returns as almost a safety mechanism that emerges whenever the Rorschach personality is needed.

Jackie Earle Haley's performance is excellent as he really let's us into the deranged mind of Rorschach and his execution of the revelation of Rorschach is almost flawless through the way he had set up the character in all of the scenes proceeding that moment. Haley's best scene though I think comes at the end of the film when the watchmen learn why the comedian was killed and are forced to keep silent about a mass murder in order to avoid nuclear annihilation. Rorschach's own philosophy refuses to leave a crime unpunished and he is forced basically to die due to this belief. Haley is surprisingly heartbreaking in this scene as he so powerfully combines the two sides of the man together for his end. He begins with the Rorschach character as he states his beliefs with conviction, then so delicately reveals the man understanding that he must die for this, which is most pronounced in the way Haley makes the growl waver and we seem to finally see Rorschach and Kovacs meet. This is a fantastic performance by Jackie Earle Haley, one that I found only grew stronger on re-watch, and honestly I could not imagine anyone in the role but Haley.  

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009

And the Nominees Were Not:

Michael Fassbender in Fish Tank

Michael Fassbender in Inglorious Basterds

August Diehl in Inglorious Basterds

Peter Capaldi in In The Loop

Christian McKay in Me and Orson Welles

Nicholas Tse in Bodyguards and Assassins

Jackie Earle Haley in Watchmen

Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Watchmen

For the Prediction Contest:

Fassbender in Fish Tank

Capaldi

McKay

Tse

Morgan

Best Supporting Actor 2006: Results

5. Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls- Murphy throws a great deal of energy into his role, but for me I could never separate this from his earlier comedic performances.

4. Djimon Hounsou in Blood Diamond- Hounsou is only ever really loud or really quiet, which is acceptable for much of his performance, but when his limits are noticeable they are very noticeable.

3. Mark Wahlberg in The Departed- Wahlberg is enjoyable enough as the loud abrasive police officer, it is not a complex performance but it serves its purpose.

2. Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine- Arkin gives a strong performance that is both consistently humorous, but Arkin also effectively brings a great deal of his heart to his performance.

1. Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children- In a part that could have portrayed in an overly cinematic or stylized fashion, Haley always keeps his portrayal far more effective by playing it truthfully to his character.

Deserving Performances:
Ben Affleck in Hollywoodland
Michael Caine in Children of Men

Best Supporting Actor 2006: Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children

Jackie Earle Haley received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Ronald "Ronnie" James McGorvey.

Little Children is another film about the various stories of troubled suburbanites.

Jackie Earle Haley was originally a child actor in film like Breaking Away and Bad News Bears and its many sequels. He like so many child actors though soon disappeared after growing up, after appearing in less and less films of any sort of note. Haley though came back almost out of nowhere with  All the King's Men and then he fully made a come back by not only appearing in this role in a fairly prominent film, but also being nominated for an Academy award for his performance. Haley was nominated for, which actually is not a particularly popular Oscar character, portraying a man described as a child molester who served time for indecent exposure to a minor.

Ronnie is naturally ostracized by the community and constantly harassed by a former Police Officer, and the only person who offers him any sympathy is his mother. Jackie Earle Haley portrays this role, which very well could be portrayed in a numerous ways many which could be very over the top, for an entirely realistic fashion. Haley never for a moment tries to throw any sort of flash into his performance, like say Stanley Tucci did in the Lovely Bones. Haley instead tries to play the part as close to the bone as possible, much like in the same way Stuart Whitman portrayed a similar but also very different character in the Mark.

Haley never overplays or underplays any aspect of Ronnie in the film. He never tries to make him into an overly creepy character, even though Ronnie certainly guilty of acts deserving of such creepiness. He also does not ever try to make him into an overly sympathetic character even though he faces such harassment and only has a single person who cares for him. Haley does not try to make him either just a sympathetic or just a creepy man, instead he tries to show him as just a man with a serious dysfunction. Throughout the film, and every act of Ronnie's Haley only ever tries to show it as the natural actions of this man no matter what.

Ronnie actually is not used all that much in the film it takes him a great deal of time to appear in the film, and even after this he only has a few scenes of length that are devoted to his character. No matter what the scene is though Haley stays true to his portrayal of Ronnie. Whether it is one of his scenes that are to be more sympathetic with his mother, or one of his creepier scenes such as the end of his date. Haley always shows the same man either way. He always shows that whatever does this is just Ronnie as the complex man he is whether he is doing something horrible, or just being the son of a loving mother. Haley is consistently good in the role because he never tries to portray his character incorrectly to be more sympathetic or creepier. He never tries to make him a villain or a victim, and instead consistently is completely believable in the role and finds the truth of the troubled Ronnie. Haley is always believable in the role playing his role in the right fashion.

Best Supporting Actor 2006

And the Nominees Were:

Djimon Hounsou in Blood Diamond

Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls

Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine

Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children

Mark Wahlberg in The Departed