Alternate Best Actor 2001: Results

5. Heath Ledger in A Knight's Tale - Ledger delivers a winning star turn that balances the tone of the film nicely through his charismatic turn.

Best Scene: Seeing his father.

4. Liu Ye in Lan Yu -Liu Ye delivers a moving portrayal of absolute honesty and vulnerability that works well in contrast to the primary protagonist's life of repression.

Best Scene: Pondering the pain of the relationship.

3. Anton Yelchin in Hearts in Atlantis - Yelchin delivers a terrific performance by just completely being genuine in his portrayal of this kid both in moments of joy and sorrow.

Best Scene: Reacting to the attack.

2. Jim Carrey in The Majestic - Carrey successfully evokes the needed earnestness in his attempt to replicate the great Capra turns of James Stewart, even if doesn't quite reach the heights of those earlier performances, partially due to working with lesser material.

Best Scene: Saying goodbye to his "dad"

1. Jake Gyllenhaal in Donnie Darko - Gyllenhaal gives a convincing portrayal of mental illness, a captivating portrayal of a man's journey into metaphysical madness, but also just a moving portrayal of a young man finding a bit of joy and enlightenment in his journey on Earth we think we know.

Best Scene: Final enlightenment. 

Updated Overall

Next Year: 2001 Supporting

Alternate Best Actor 2001: Liu Ye in Lan Yu

Liu Ye did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying the titular character in Lan Yu.

Lan Yu is an interesting though I wouldn't say wholly successful film following the homosexual relationship between a closeted older man Han Dong (Hu Jun) and a young student, the titular Lan Yu.

Liu Ye plays the younger man and is technically the secondary role within the film. This is as the perspective of the film is mostly told within Han's view of his relationship with Lan Yu, but how each stage of interaction with him leaves this impact. Liu Ye's performance then is many ways essential as he has very limited screentime, even though I would say it is still a leading role, to realize Lan Yu's character. This being a particular challenge since as written the role could've easily become one note in one way or another. This being that Lan Yu almost seems a specter at times in his appearances and it likely would've been a mistake to make the role too ethereal in nature. Thankfully Liu Ye makes no such mistakes approaching the role with a strict honesty. This forgoing any false mannerisms or posturing to make Lan Yu into the "young lover" to stand out, but instead strives to do so by just offering a very human portrait of this young man. This is evident from one of his earliest moments where we see the men's initial tryst. This is a key scene for the film, and expressed through Liu's performance that creates the sense of discovering in the moment. He doesn't make is just this physical act, but rather this powerful moment within his eyes of conveying this being an essential moment in his life.

Liu Ye's performance is then one about consistency but a consistency of a note that is rather remarkable. This being granting the importance of the relationship within the character of Lan Yu, who does not see it as a meaningless fling, affair or otherwise. This is rather a life changing experience. That is evident in their first tryst but also from then on. Liu grants the needed dynamic with Hu Jun's more guarded performance by portraying Lan Yu as someone who doesn't hide his emotions and wears them most evidently. Liu's work then is powerful through how blunt it is, however this must be said is notable in the restraint he shows within this once again. There is one of his greatest moments of his work is simply in reaction to hearing Han's more muted or at lest compromised emotions regarding their relationship. Liu captures the despair so effectively by portraying as this searing distress. This as his work emphasizes above all that for Lan Yu this relationship is for him the love of his life and an ever life changing experience. Liu Ye, even when he has certain periods of being absent from the narrative, always leaves the lasting impression on the film.

This all the while Han cannot forget about him neither does the viewer due to what Liu Ye accomplishes when we do see Lan Yu. His portrayal manages to create a particularly needed authenticity within the realization of Lan Yu's struggle. This is even with these technical "jumps" in places based on when Han meets him again. Liu Ye is terrific in portraying this certain maturation within Lan Yu. Liu's work again excels though by making this impressive impact in such a calm yet potent way. When Lan Yu essentially stakes his emotional claim around the idea of the relationship, Liu's delivery is reserved yet piercing. This as within every word there is this concise emotional intensity, that doesn't come out in anger, but rather a vulnerability. A vulnerability that reveals Lan Yu really is only seeking this happiness with the one he loves without exception. Liu excels in portraying Lan Yu's lack of compromise through his portrayal as just this raw emotion of someone trying to find his happiness. Liu's work manages to earn the place of Lan Yu as this nearly haunting presence in the film, not by making Lan Yu this dreamlike idea of perfection, but rather this honest portrayal of a purity of an soul that will not bargain with his truth. Lie Ye gives a fantastic turn here as even though he's not the main focus, he in a way makes himself as such with such ease. This in creating his own separate, and technically far more poignant portrait, not of a man refusing to be himself, but rather a man who can only be who he is.

Alternate Best Actor 2001

And the Nominees Were Not:

Heath Ledger in A Knight's Tale

Jake Gyllenhaal in Donnie Darko

Jim Carrey in The Majestic

Anton Yelchin in Hearts in Atlantis

Liu Ye in Lan Yu