Alternate Best Actor 2025: Results

10. Frank Dillane in Urchin - Dillane gives a compelling portrayal of a very specific cyclical depiction of the life of an addict.

Best Scene: Attempted reconciliation meeting. 

9. David Strathairn in A Little Prayer - Strathairn gives a moving nuanced depiction of a man coming to terms with the nature of his son and struggling with the relationship with his daughter-in-law. 

Best Scene: Bench. 

8. Dylan O'Brien in Twinless - O'Brien gives an effective depiction of the overly confident twin and the struggling twin dealing with grief.

Best Scene: First meeting. 

7. Josh O'Connor in Wake Up Dead Man - O'Connor delivers another great performance here finding both the proper comedic enthusiasm for the mystery and the proper dramatic depth for his character's journey. 

Best Scene: Phone Call

6. Robert Aramayo in I Swear - Aramayo flawlessly depicts the very specific difficult tics of his character while also giving a moving depiction of a man slowly finding personal strength through understanding and acceptance. 

Best Scene: In the car. 

5. Paul Mescal in Hamnet - Mescal delivers some potent words from Shakespeare as Shakespeare, while also giving a moving depiction of the maturation of a man as he deals with the notion of family both the good and the pain. 

Best Scene: Again. 

4. Joel Edgerton in Train Dreams - Edgerton gives a quietly moving depiction that so potently realizes the internal journey of his character through life. 

Best Scene: Second talk with Claire. 

3. David Jonsson in The Long Walk - Jonsson delivers an amazing performance that captures both the visceral horror of his situation but also such a powerful poignant optimism that defines his character.  

Best Scene: Reason for his outlook on life. 

2. Jesse Plemons in Bugonia - Plemons is masterful in his realization of such a specific tone where he successfully depicts the madness of his character but with a deeply human foundation. 

Best Scene: Dinner table.

1. Lee Byung-hun in No Other Choice - Hearing about the concept of the film I knew Lee had the potential to give a great performance, but what he delivered not only was outstanding it was outstanding in a wholly unexpected way from him. Throwing out his expected presence to deliver an absolutely hilarious yet also truly impactful depiction of a man haplessly turning into a cold blooded murderer. 

Best Scene: First "murder".

Updated Overall:

1. Lee Byung-hun in No Other Choice
2. Jesse Plemons in Bugonia
3. Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme
4. Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another
5. Wagner Moura in The Secret Agent
6. Stellan Skarsgård in Sentimental Value
7. David Jonsson in The Long Walk
8. Joel Edgerton in Train Dreams
9. Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein
10. Paul Mescal in Hamnet
11. Robert Aramayo in I Swear
12. Josh O'Connor in Wake Up Dead Man
13. Cooper Hoffman in The Long Walk - 5
14. Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon
15. Josh O'Connor in The Mastermind
16. Dylan O'Brien in Twinless
17. David Strathairn in A Little Prayer
18. Frank Dillane in Urchin 
19. Harry Melling Pillion
20. Sergi López in Sirât
21. Archie Madekwe in Lurker
22. Michael B. Jordan in Sinners
23. Billy Barratt in Bring Her Back
24. Cillian Murphy in Steve
25. Daniel Day-Lewis in Anemone
26. Riz Ahmed in Relay 
27. Everett Blunck in The Plague
28. Oscar Isaac in Frankenstein - 4.5
29. Liam Neeson in The Naked Gun
30. Mads Mikkelsen in Dust Bunny
31. Jacob Tremblay in Sovereign
32. Hugh Jackman in Song Sung Blue
33. Channing Tatum in Roofman
34. Michael Fassbender in Black Bag
35. Denzel Washington in Highest 2 Lowest
36. David Corenswet in Superman
37. Jeremy Allen White in Deliver Me From Nowhere
38. Jackson Yee in Resurrection
39. Josh O'Connor in Rebuilding
40. Robert Pattinson in Mickey 17
41. Miles Teller in Eternity
42. Nick Offerman in Sovereign
43. Theo James in The Monkey 
    
44. Austin Butler in Caught Stealing
45. Matthew McConaughey in The Lost Bus
    
46. Benedict Cumberbatch in The Roses
47. Paul Mescal in The History of Sound
48. Théodore Pellerin in Lurker
49. Filippo Scotti in Le Città Di Pianura
50. Sergio Romano in Le Città Di Pianura
51. Pierpaolo Capovilla in Le Città Di Pianura
52. Pedro Pascal in Fantastic Four: The First Steps 
53. Colin Farrell in Ballad of a Small Player 
54. Keenan Arrison in The Heart is a Muscle
55. Michael Angelo Covino in Splitsville
56. Tonatiuh in Kiss of the Spider Woman
57. Brendan Fraser in Rental Family
58. Ben Whishaw in Peter Hujar's Day 
59. Lee Kang-Sheng in Blue Sun Palace
60. Jorma Tommila in Sisu Road to Revenge -  4
61. Callum Turner in Eternity
62. Jonathan Majors in Magazine Dreams
63. Vahid Mobasseri in It was Just An Accident
64. Miles Caton in Sinners
65. Ishaan Khatter in Homebound
66. Benicio del Toro in The Phoenician Scheme
67. Alfie Williams in 28 Years Later
68. Guillaume Marbeck in Nouvelle Vague
69. George Clooney in Jay Kelly
70. Diego Luna in Kiss of the Spider Woman
71. Paul Walter Hauser in The Luckiest Man in America
    
72. Sean Bean in Anemone
73. Vishal Jethwa in Homebound
74. Tom Hardy in Havoc
75. Bob Odenkirk in Nobody 2
76. Robert Pattinson in Die My Love
77. Brad Pitt in F1
78. Jack Quaid in Novocaine
79. Jason Bateman in Zootopia 2 
80. Christopher Guest in Spinal Tap The End Continues
81. Michael McKean in Spinal Tap The End Continues
82. Kyle Marvin in Splitsville
83. James Sweeney in Twinless - 3.5
84. Ryo Yoshizawa in Kokuho
85. Joaquin Phoenix in Eddington
86. Tim Key in The Ballad of Wallis Island
87. Ben Affleck in The Accountant 2 
88. Ewan Horrocks in Truth and Treason
89. Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
90. Mahershala Ali in Jurassic World Rebirth 
91. Damson Idris in F1
92. Jared Leto in Tron Ares 
93. Will Arnett in Is This Thing On? - 3
94. Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine
95. Tom Basden in The Ballad of Wallis Island
96. Anthony Mackie in Captain America: Brave New World 
97. Yonas Kibreab in Elio - 2.5
98. Tim Robinson in Friendship
99. Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore 2
100. Jonathan Bailey in Jurassic World Rebirth
101. Glen Powell in The Running Man
102. Rami Malek in The Amateur
     
103. Rami Malek in Nuremberg
104. Jack Quaid in Companion 
105. Sam Worthington in Avatar: Fire & Ash
106. Robert De Niro in Alto Knights - 2

Next: Waiting though eventually 2004 Supporting. 

Alternate Best Actor 2025: Joel Edgerton in Train Dreams

Joel Edgerton did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Robert Grainier in Train Dreams. 

Train Dreams tells the life story of a logger who lived from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century. 

I return to the very talented Joel Edgerton interestingly in another role that Robert Duvall probably would’ve knocked out of the park. As Edgerton plays Robert Grainier a man representing history, though not historical but really could be any number of men of the period, who were part of the creation of America as we know it however no one would pay 25 cents to walk in the rooms where he grew up, no children would be named after him, though someone might plagiarize the Assassination of Jesse James to describe the character. Edgerton is constructing a man of a specific time but a specific one in which in many ways must still be universal. Something he achieves frankly with such remarkable ease in terms of the conception of his performance. Edgerton is one of those actors where you’d never think he’s Australian as Robert in reality, in fact you wouldn’t even second guess him as just being this logger. A logger who began his life as a train orphan sent into the west and finding a life for himself largely isolated within himself as he goes about his work as a logger. Edgerton’s work is able to embody silence so potently where he never simply is on the screen and importantly there is the life of the character within the silences. Where Edgerton’s performance alludes to a man already living with an innate sadness as the abandoned child, not as a man overwhelmed by this emotion but one who regardless lives with it. 

The importance of Edgerton’s performance in many ways is the lack of importance of it. Edgerton fashions nothing within Robert to make Robert any more or less than he is. Edgerton instead does not create any semblance of quirk or eccentricity, he is just any old man in so many ways and the way Edgerton can embody and make that compelling is what is the greatness of this performance. Because Edgerton seeks only to present life, and within that, even though technically he doing an accent, technically he is doing much in terms of the physicality of the role, particularly the way Robert is so often turned in towards himself in terms of his body language and so often looks down rather than up, speaks much about who is is as a man isolated in the world, none of it feels like a bit of effort from the performer. Edgerton makes the most essential success in this performance which is simply existing as the man. Never is there a question of performance, he is just this man, and that is the essential truth that needs to exist so we can then just follow Robert in his journey. Edgerton never gets in the way of seeing the man as he is within each moment of it and there is the fundamental great success of this performance from his starting point. 

Edgerton’s performance wears a difficult life, his eyes begin with a weariness, not one that needs to grow and speaks to where the man has already come from and the work he has already done in the dangerous work he performs as a man. With an early traumatic event coming while Robert is on a bridge building crew and a group of men go about casually murdering one of the Chinese workers. Edgerton’s performance in the scene is a pivotal establishment of the observing man as in his eyes we do see the concern even in his ask of “what’s he done?”, however at the same time a man unable to break a general complacency as the murder happens in front him. Edgerton’s reaction in the moment and thereafter showing the haunting vision of the crime still being worn in Robert’s eyes as he must now live with regardless of what he does with his life. Contrasting that an early light comes in the form of his eventual wife Gladys (Felicity Jones) who makes advances towards Robert far more than Robert does towards her. What Edgerton captures with Jones isn’t this red hot sort of romance, but rather a very poignant calm connection between the two. Where Edgerton just exudes a greater comfort, speaking a few more lines than usual, and within those lines Edgerton emphasizes a degree of growth of the man reaching out a bit more by being awoken by his wife. There’s a natural sincerity in their chemistry that makes their connection and initial life together as they make a log cabin home near a river, that powerfully illustrates the importance of being taken away from isolation even more so than love. 

Robert must return to his logging job every year far from Gladys where Edgerton is able to artfully yet quietly reflect the often harsh elements, not in big reactions but little ones that convey the constant threat of death. An element that Edgerton doesn’t portray as a debilitating fear but rather a subdued awareness of the nature of the space. Within this time we see him react to a few people, particularly explosive expert Arn Peeples (William H. Macy), where we get just a bit of camaraderie between them. Edgerton’s performance is notable in his reaching out to the older man with an earnest interest in what he has to say and more importantly an earnest wish to make connection with him. Edgerton, something he does consistently throughout, is putting just enough on a given moment of bringing us quietly within his mental space. Particularly in moments such as seeing a dead man’s boots placed into a tree, where within Edgerton’s performance you see in his eyes how much these losses do follow him, yet within that expression there is also just the quiet resilience of keeping that path. This is even to the point of Arn’s own death from a random fallen branch, where Robert stays with him in his final moments, which Edgerton is able to emphasize the empathy in Robert’s watching and listening but also the powerful sense of a man being unable to know what to say or how to really understand the man’s death. 

The respite being consistently for Robert with his wife and eventually his daughter as well. Where Edgerton brings the beauty of the simplicity of the joys in spending time with both of them and finding the pain of separating from them. Making it so when a massive forest fire ravages his home while Robert is away it is absolutely devastating. And what we see is the true power of his performance, because as much as Edgerton quietly carries the film through so much of it, when he raises his voice it has such a tremendous weight to it. In this instance portraying the penetrating anguish as he looks for his wife and daughter within the ashes of his home. Edgerton’s eyes filled specifically with such a pain of the man being lost and alone as he wanders around the graveyard of his life. Edgerton having one of his most verbal moments as he looks upon the image of the Chinese man who haunts him, where Edgerton’s delivery which is apologetic but with the terrible sadness as he states that his wife and daughter were too much a cost for the “payment” of his past failure. Only finding any respite between frequent visits from local shopkeep Ignatius Jack (Nathaniel Arcand) and finding stray dogs. Edgerton is incredibly moving in creating the small steps away from the sorrow. A sorrow he never entirely loses but finding a man having moments of connections when he can. Finding in particular his interactions with the dogs having a poignancy of a lonely man finding some relief for his isolation.

We follow Robert then as an aging man including one more trip to a logging expedition where Edgerton is almost silent in this sequence, yet amazing work in providing the way that Robert is even more lost than before. Including a moment where he speaks to another former fellow logger talking about Arn, where the older man can’t tie his shoes nor even remember that Arn died. Edgerton’s reactions in these moments are so subdued yet heartbreaking in his reactions of empathy towards the man but while also being struck at seeing his potential future if he were to keep coming back as a logger who no longer has a place on the jobs. Leaving Robert instead as providing essentially a local taxi service via wagon where Edgerton projects in his physical manner so effectively the detachment to his customers even when he’s directly speaking to them. That is until he takes a forest service worker Claire (Kerry Condon) where he finally has a longer conversation. Initially just from her more brazen personality where she leads the conversation where Edgerton’s great in the shyness of his work that grants years of not being the focus of conversation or even having someone to converse with in such an open way. Which eventually leads to a more poignant discussion between the two on their mutual losses including Robert finally talking about having lost his family. 

Edgerton is masterful in this scene bringing such a weighted sense of the life the man has lived in every word, the painful sorrow in every word as he speaks about the pain of his loss at times being too much. There is so much within it that he lets out just a bit, but the amount that we can see in his eyes is almost more than he can bear. Just the way in Edgerton’s voice just a bit, as he doesn’t even entirely lose his composure is so heartbreaking, because you do know the years have past, the nature of the man is to keep it inside, yet the emotions we see still are so raw and honest in every moment of Edgerton’s performance. Love also Edgerton’s consideration of Claire’s words about her own loss and the importance of every little thing. Edgerton’s great because it isn’t a simple comfort, just consideration and attempting to find that meaning in his eyes of man lost. Yet there is something as powerful in his minor chuckle at the idea of him being a hermit in the woods and being of some kind of importance. A meaning though that is Robert’s focus as we follow him in his remaining years. Visiting a phony freak show that promises answers with Edgerton’s quiet breakdown carrying remarkable punctuation of man struggling at the lack of one. The moment of looking at himself in the mirror Edgerton is amazing as you see the man surprised at the years represented by his own face and a man lost even within himself in a way. Contrasting that however is the film’s final scene where he takes a plane ride and while observing the size of the world below him, Edgerton’s reaction is that comfort in the way and even contentment. It is only a reaction yet speaks volumes of the native tongue of silence for Robert. Edgerton delivers an a masterclass in subtlety built upon not noise rather on hushed tones and often silence. Finding so much nuance, so much texture and so much soul in every second we spend with the type of man who wouldn’t be noted by history but is reflective of the history of so many lives. 

Alternate Best Actor 2025

 And the Nominees Were Not:

Lee Byung-hun in No Other Choice

Jesse Plemons in Bugonia

Joel Edgerton in Train Dreams

David Jonsson in The Long Walk

Paul Mescal in Hamnet

Feel free to predict these five, those five or both.

Robert Aramayo in I Swear

Josh O'Connor in Wake Up Dead Man

Dylan O'Brien in Twinless

David Strathairn in A Little Prayer

Frank Dillane in Urchin

Alternate Best Actor 2016: Results

5. Adam Driver in Paterson - I approach the keyboard to write the results of the year. I ponder if I chose Driver because he's the only actor from Silence I left off on the supporting shortlist. I continue to think and realize that this is a performance worth writing about.

4. Michael Keaton in The Founder - Keaton gives an entertaining performance as Ray Kroc but also manages to take his film to the darker places it needs to go in his revelation of the true nature of a cutthroat businessman.

Best Scene: Bathroom meeting.

3. Chris Pine in Hell or High - Chris Pine has an unassuming role yet gives a powerful portrayal of his character's motivations without being overshadowed by his more colorful co-stars.

Best Scene: Final scene.

2. Joel Edgerton in Loving - Edgerton gives a brilliant understated performance internalizing so effectively both the character's turmoil due to his hardship but also the love for his wife.

Best Scene: First meeting with Cohen.

1. Andrew Garfield in Silence - Good Predictions Calvin Law, and Robert MacFarlane. Due to only having five slots this may seem a weaker year, but that's in large pat because the Academy really did their job this year. It was a strong year for lead actor with Andrew Garfield giving the crowning achievement. He gives the most powerful performance of the year. It is an emotionally devastating performance to watch, but so much more in his profound realization of his character's unique journey of faith.

Best Scene: Garupe's test.

Overall Rank:

1. Andrew Garfield in Silence
2. Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water
3. Viggo Mortensen in Captain Fantastic
4. Joel Edgerton in Loving
5. Denzel Washington in Fences
6. Shahab Hosseini in The Salesman
7. Hiroshi Abe in After the Storm
8. Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge
9. Chris Pine in Hell or High Water
10. Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea
11. Ryan Gosling in La La Land
12. Michael Keaton in The Founder 
13. Adam Driver in Paterson
14. Song Kang-ho in The Age of Shadows
15. Tom Hanks in Sully
16. Russell Crowe in The Nice Guys
17. Ryan Gosling in The Nice Guys
18. Robert Downey Jr. Captain America: Civil War 
19. Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 
20. Trevante Rhodes in Moonlight
21. Ethan Hawke in Born to Be Blue
22. Luke Treadaway in A Street Cat Named Bob
23. Adrian Titieni in Graduation
24. Jarkko Lahti in The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki 
25. Julian Dennison in Hunt for the Wilderpeople
26. Lewis MacDougall in A Monster Calls 
27. Ashton Sanders in Moonlight 
28. Anton Yelchin in Green Room
29. Nate Parker in Birth of a Nation
30. Don Cheadle in Miles Ahead 
31. Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Raman Raghav
32. Jesse Plemons in Other People
33. Daniel Radcliffe in Swiss Army Man
34. Paul Dano in Swiss Army Man
35. Oscar Martínez in The Distinguished Citizen
36. Benedict Cumberbatch in Dr. Strange 
37. Jake Gyllenhaal in Demolition
38. Chris Evans in Captain America: Civil War 
39. Jeremy Irons in The Man Who Knew Infinity
40. Jonah Hill in War Dogs
41. David Oyelowo in A United Kingdom
42. Dan Fogler in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
43. Jim Broadbent in Ethel & Ernest
    
44. Bryan Cranston in The Infiltrator
45. Hugh Grant in Florence Foster Jenkins
46. Cillian Murphy in Anthropoid
47. Mark Rylance in The BFG
48. Dave Johns in I, Daniel Blake
49. Michael Fassbender in The Light Between Oceans
50. Sunny Pawar in Lion
51. Dev Patel in Lion
52. Gong Yoo in Train to Busan
53. Mel Gibson in Blood Father 
54. Josh Brolin in Hail Caesar! 
55. Gong Yoo in The Age of Shadows
56. Taron Egerton in Eddie The Eagle
57. Joe Alwyn in Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
58. Eddie Redmayne in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 
59. Miles Teller in Bleed For This
60. David Oyelowo in The Queen of Katwe
61. Diego Luna in Rogue One
62. Dwayne Johnson in Moana
63. Paddy Considine in The Girl With All The Gifts
64. Ferdia Walsh-Peelo in Sing Street 
65. Alex Hibbert in Moonlight 
66. Joe Seo in Spa Night
67. Jean-Pierre Léaud in The Death of Louis XIV
68. Matthew McConaughey in Free State of Jones
69. Michael Shannon in Elvis & Nixon
70. Vicky Kaushal in Raman Raghav 2.0
71. Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Snowden
72. Denzel Washington in The Magnificent Seven 
73. Mark Wahlberg in Patriots Day 
74. Majd Mastoura in Hedi
75. Casey Affleck in The Finest Hours
76. Jason Bateman in Zootopia
77. Ben Affleck in The Accountant
78. Stephen Lang in Don't Breathe
79. Markees Christmas in Morris From America
80. Miles Teller in War Dogs
81. Michael Shannon in Midnight Special
82. Blake Jenner in Everybody Wants Some
83. Peter Simonischek in Toni Erdmann 
84. Matthew McConaughey in Gold
85. Keegan-Michael Key in Keanu 
86. Mark Duplass in Blue Jay
87. Lucas Jade Zumann in 20th Century Women
88. Chris Pine in Star Trek: Beyond
89. Ben Affleck in Live by Night 
90. John Krasinski in 13 Hours
91. Casey Affleck in Triple Nine 
92. James Badge Dale in 13 Hours
93. Mark Wahlberg in Deepwater Horizon 
94. Jamie Dornan in Anthropoid 
95. Jack Black in Kung Fu Panda 3
96. Art Parkinson in Kubo and the Two Strings
97. Jordan Peele in Keanu 
98. Ulrich Thomsen in The Commune
99. Dev Patel in The Man Who Knew Infinity
100. Mungau Dain in Tanna
101. Oakes Fegley in Pete's Dragon
102. Ben Affleck in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
103. Jesse Eisenberg in Cafe Society
104. Kwak Do-won in The Wailing
105. Max Records in I am Not a Serial Killer
106. Ewan McGregor in Our Kind of Traitor
107. Chris Pratt in Passengers 
108. Jaeden Lieberher in Midnight Special 
109. Logan Lerman in Indignation
110. Chris Pine in The Finest Hours
111. Neel Sethi in The Jungle Book
112. Henry Cavill in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
113. Brad Pitt in Allied
114. Eddie Murphy in Mr. Church
115. Jake Gyllenhaal in Nocturnal Animals
116. Will Smith in Collateral Beauty

Alternate Best Actor 2016: Joel Edgerton in Loving

Joel Edgerton did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite being nominated for a Golden Globe, for portraying Richard Loving in Loving.

Loving tells the true story of an interracial couple in the 60's whose marriage would eventually challenge the law against it in the supreme court. Interestingly enough the film is best just when it depicts the people living their life, although I will say this is in part due to whatever Nick Kroll is doing as the Loving's attorney, Bernie Cohen. If director Jeff Nichols needed a Jeff Goldblum surrogate again why not use Adam Driver as he did for Midnight Special, but I digress.

Joel Edgerton is an actor who has flown under the radar for awhile even though his profile has gradually risen with every year. This seems to have happened once again with this film, as he did receive just a few notices for his work though his co-star Ruth Negga, as Richard's wife Mildred, was Oscar nominated for her work. The funny thing about that is though out of all the actors who kind of where in the realm of being potentially nominated this year, Joel Edgerton's work is perhaps the most transformative out of all of them, the problem being it is the kind of transformative work that you need to be a little more known to begin with for most to notice. To explain, Edgerton's work here is a far cry from his performances as the sleazy FBI agent in Black Mass, or the creepy loner in his own directorial debut, The Gift. Richard is nothing like those men, and here Edgerton seeks to embody a different kind of man, far beyond merely his blond hair and crew cut.

Edgerton's work is technically speaking extremely mannered, in his attempt to fully embody this very particular sort of man. This of course relates to his consistent and authentic Virginia accent, but that's only part of it. Edgerton speaks with a low rumble, speaking as a man who only really wants those closest to him to hear him. Even the deliver itself reflects this certain idea in Edgerton's particular contortion of his mouth, fitting to a man who mostly doesn't speak. His physical approach conveys this natural reluctance towards the spotlight, a shyness to ever seek attention. What is most remarkable in all of this is how natural Edgerton makes it all feel. The way he portrays Richard is forgotten just a few minutes into the film as you quickly accept that you just merely are watching Richard. Again it is technically speaking extremely mannered turn yet Edgerton does not make seem fussy at all, strangely enough it seems decidedly non-fussy. Edgerton through his approach never seeks attention which in turn fits this man who never desires attention.

A remarkable aspect of the story is that the Lovings were not what would be considered radical at the time, and in fact didn't really seem to be all that politically minded. Their story is far simpler in nature as the two merely came from the same county of working class people who just didn't really distinguish by race. A central aspect of Edgerton's performance is this idea. He presents Richard's love for Mildred as about as pure as something can be. It is rather fascinating what Edgerton does here in that his depiction of this is so genuine in its simplicity that he even creates an understanding that the idea their marriage would get them in any real trouble never even crossed his mine. In one of Edgerton's earliest scenes we see this as Richard shows Mildred where he is going to build their future home, and where he pledges to marry her. There is something ethereal in the moment, yet it still feels entirely of this earth. Although Richard's words are minor, and Edgerton's delivery unassuming you'll find few declarations of affection that feel as honest as the one in this scene.

Looking at the film is fascinating in that the film itself seems a bit like the Lovings. In that the Lovings just wanted to just be left alone to live their life, happily married in Virginia, and the film seems like it wants most to stay just with these two people doing just that. What interferes with this though are the authorities of Virginia who repeatedly emerge in order to keep the two separated from each other. This is even handled in a fairly low key fashion, even having the racist Sheriff be relatively calm figure all things considered. Nevertheless the two still are arrested for their marriage and presented at trial. Even in the court the two basically let their lawyer do the talking but that is not to say they have nothing to say particularly Richard who only says a scant few words, and performance wise Edgerton quite frankly almost makes Chris Pine in Hell or High Water look like Denzel Washington in Fences times with just how understated he is.

Edgerton does not seem to need words because of how he embodies Richard's personality. In the first trial sequence, where Richard also is not allowed to personally bail his wife out of prison, we see Richard go from one authority to another in order to be reunited with his wife. Edgerton is outstanding in the way he creates the sense of the emotional intensity in Richard without raising his voice. In just the most slightly halted breath, a turn of his brown, and crook in his mouth you can sense the man holding back so much. There is incredible moment where Richard waits outside after a non-fortuitous trial. The distress in Edgerton is so powerful in the scene as he realizes it just in his eyes, and his bones as he is merely just smoking a cigarette. Richard stays together, but Edgerton wears the turmoil in his very being. Richard throughout his and his wife's troubles keeps the idea that above all he just wants to be left to live his life. One of my favorite moments in the film is when Richard explains this fact to Cohen, as he just asks if can just tell the judge that the "won't bother anyone". This could seem silly in its naivety but Edgerton makes it heartbreaking by making this simplicity of the demand so painfully honest.

Again though I think the film thrives most just letting us see the Lovings as they are, and Edgerton thrives within this as well. He's still quite tight lipped, but that is never to say he's not expressive. Something I love is his chemistry with Ruth Negga, which interestingly outside of their initial scene together we do not hear the two of them vocalize their love directly to one another all that often. Their love though is never in question, and not just because of those earlier scenes. I love the physical way in which Edgerton portrays his true devotion to his wife. There is such a comfort in the way they touch other, and interact. They just merely seem right in the others' embrace, they do not even need to say they love one another to each other because it is already evident without a word. Richard is a man who is more or less a constant in terms of personality. The major change in the man is just the frustrations in dealing with law against his marriage. There is something I love about Edgerton work that he realizes in this. In that throughout he does convey the underlying fear in Richard as he watches his family knowing there is a danger, but also the unease as the spotlight is shown on them. Edgerton brings the right difficulty in Richard just to withstand the press and even his own lawyers, reflective of a man who only ever just wanted to live out in the country with his family. When it is all over though, and he finally hears that a court has found in his favor, Edgerton reacts with just a simple smile. That's all he needs though, and it is such a beautiful moment since as the joy feels so genuine to this man Edgerton has shown us. This is a brilliant subtle performance by Joel Edgerton as he realizes this man and his struggle with such eloquence and a true poignancy.

Alternate Best Actor 2016

And the Nominees Were Not:

Andrew Garfield in Silence

Adam Driver in Paterson

Joel Edgerton in Loving

Michael Keaton in The Founder

Chris Pine in Hell or High Water