Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2001: Results

5. Justin Theroux in Mulholland Drive - Theroux gives an enjoyable turn by providing a reality of sorts within the film's mad dream as his hapless director.

Best Scene: Meeting the cowboy.

4. Ian Holm in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Holm manages to give a terrific balance between the warm father-figure and the pained man weighed down by a peculiar burden.

Best Scene: Letting go of the ring.

3. James Gandolfini in The Mexican - Gandolfini steals his film wholesale through his humorous, moving and surprisingly nuanced portrayal of an atypical hit man.

Best Scene: Reacting to the suicide. 

2. Paul Bettany in A Knight's Tale - Bettany gives a terrific turn that manages to find a proper mix between a classic orator and a barker cutting a wrestling promo.

Best Scene: *Scenes deleted*

1. Anthony Hopkins in Hearts in Atlantis - Hopkins delivers an especially moving turn showing his remarkable range in creating such a quietly warm character while also showing his great ability with child actors through his chemistry with Anton Yelchin. 

Best Scene: Helping Carol. 

Updated Overall

Next Year: 1952 Lead/Supporting (Not sure I'm going to do a lineup)

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2001: Justin Theroux in Mulholland Drive

Justin Theroux did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Adam Kesher in Mulholland Drive.

Mulholland Drive is a masterful film seemingly about a Hollywood hopeful trying to solve a mystery surrounding a woman with amnesia she befriends.

Justin Theroux runs parallel to that story, as a director also living in Hollywood, though certainly not the dream. Theroux is an actor I haven't covered before, however mentions in the past haven't been particularly favorable. Theroux however is in the hands of David Lynch, who knows his way around finding the right actor for a given part, and Theroux seems onto the right part here. Although I should for a moment drift the eventual reality of the film, where we see Theroux in the traditional role of a Hollywood director. He's fine, he's confident with an expected undercurrent of smugness. That's all there really is to him, in that nightmare, or truth, but it is the dream that is more fun, or more remarkable as Theroux is concerned. Although Theroux must meet the requisite need to be within the moment of Lynch's world. Although Laura Elena Harring and Naomi Watts in particular do more of the heavy lifting in this regard, Theroux does do his part in offering sort of the reality in the surreal. This in two pivotal moments, one meeting the very mysterious and seemingly otherworldly "the cowboy" and spotting Watts's Betty as he tests actresses out for the central role in his film. Theroux's work in each is effectively straight forward in granting the very real anxiety and fear to the strange man, and the needed awe to the greatness that seems to be Betty. As always with Lynch, this grounding is essential to the effectiveness of these moments and Theroux more than delivers in these scenes.

The main crux though of his work involves Theroux obviously breaking reality himself a bit for predicting, or perhaps inspiring the existence of J.J. Abrams, who at the time this film was mostly unknown having not yet adopting his existence as Adam Kesher. Perhaps call me illogical myself for presenting this theory, however it is the truth, and I think Abrams himself is trying to tell us all that with his consistent mention of his "mystery box" storytelling ways. What film also features a mystery box, well Mulholland Drive of course, coincidence, I'll let you, and any local municipal psychiatric workers decide that. I believe my theory though holds true within Theroux's portrayal of the director that is Adam within the "dream", where he's not exactly having the best of days. This is obviously reflective of J.J. Abrams own lauded career of doing often hollow recreations of other better films, in that we see Adam experiencing of well weathered scenes though as a person, though also a bit more twisted than usual. We have the director having his dreams of control of his project rejected by coffee snob gangsters, not unlike a visionary director who in fact simply lives within the whims of a preconceived vision of other true visionaries and corporate overloads. Theroux's performance though works in capturing this weak willed disobedience in the moment with his flustered delivery of his objections. This is even as he physically wrecks the car of the men, via stealing a technique from Jack Nicholson, Theroux's way of running away from his vandalism isn't of some passionate artist, but of a child trying to get away with his pettiness. Theroux's performance works as this hilarious, near parody, of this sort of false artistry. This is continued as he lives through another tired scene, given vibrant life through the Lynch madness, of the director coming home to find himself cuckolded by a mulleted dude bro. Again Theroux's performance works in how underwhelming he is in his attempted act of defiance as he tries to ruin his wife's jewelry. There's no confidence, no strength, just this pathetic and very comical manner of a very weak man. Theroux's performance working as proper overwhelmed fool, who in the end falls in line delivering the expected despite claims to the contrary.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2001

And the Nominees Were Not:

Paul Bettany in A Knight's Tale

Mark Addy in A Knight's Tale

Ian Holm in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Justin Theroux in Mulholland Drive

Anthony Hopkins in Hearts in Atlantis

James Gandolfini in The Mexican 

Bettany for prediction purposes.

And a review of:

 

Hayden Christensen in Life As A House