Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2006: Results

5. Sergi López in Pan's Labyrinth - López gives an appropriately imposing portrayal of his sadistic character, but there just always felt like there was something missing.

Best Scene: Vidal's first torture session.

4. Mads Mikkelsen in Casino Royale - Mikkelsen gives an appropriately slick villainous turn, but also manages to bring more depth than one might expect from such a character.

Best Scene:  A most painful torture session. 

3. Steve Carell in Little Miss Sunshine - Carell gives a rather assured portrayal of his suicidal character who gradually finds some will to live.

Best Scene: Frank tells Dwayne to suffer.

2. Michael Caine in Children of Men - Caine gives a great supporting work where he gives a enjoyable off-beat yet still poignant turn. It's the sort of work that seems like he has more screen time than he does because of the impact he makes with the little he has.

Best Scene: Jasper says goodbye to his wife. 

1. Ben Affleck in Hollywoodland - He'd be my supporting win but I can't quite agree with that placement. In either category though Affleck gives a great performance. He brings to life the charisma yet weakness of Reeves brilliantly to life, and gives a heartbreaking portrayal of a man who never felt he soared high enough.

Best Scene: Reeves's wrestling footage. 

Overall Rank:

1. Michael Caine in Children of Men
2. Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children
3. Steve Carell in Little Miss Sunshine 
4. Mads Mikkelsen in Casino Royale
5. Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine
6. David Bowie in The Prestige 
7. Robert Downey Jr. in A Scanner Darkly
8. Rob Lowe in Thank You For Smoking
9. Michael Caine in The Prestige 
10. Toby Jones in The Painted Veil
11. Alec Baldwin in The Departed 
12. John Hurt in V For Vendetta
13. Sergi López in Pan's Labyrinth
14. Martin Sheen in The Departed
15. Morgan Freeman in Lucky Number Slevin
16. Bob Hoskins in Hollywoodland
17. Joe Pesci in The Good Shepherd
18. Ben Kingsley in Lucky Number Slevin
19. Giancarlo Giannini in Casino Royale
20. Mark Wahlberg in The Departed
21. Noah Emmerich in Little Children
22. Richard Sammel in OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
23. Ray Winstone in The Departed
24. Liam Cunningham in The Wind That Shakes the Barley
25. Ulrich Tukur in The Lives of Others 
26. Paul Dano in Little Miss Sunshine
27. Jeremy Piven in Smokin' Aces
28. Padraic Delaney in The Wind That Shakes the Barley
29. Jeffrey DeMunn in Hollywoodland 
30. Stephen Rea in V For Vendetta
31. Woody Harrelson in A Scanner Darkly
32. Alex Angulo in Pan's Labyrinth
33. Michael Clarke Duncan in Talladega Nights in The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
34. Tsuyoshi Ihara in Letters from Iwo Jima
35. Chris Pine in Smokin' Aces
36. Boubker Ait El Caid in Babel
37. Gary Cole in Talladega Nights in The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
38. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Mission Impossible III
39. Rufus Sewell in The Illusionist  
40. John C. Reilly in Talladega Nights in The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
41. Brad Pitt in Babel
42. J.K. Simmons in Thank You For Smoking
43. Paul Newman in Cars
44. Andy Serkis in The Prestige
45. Ray Liotta in Smokin' Aces
46. Chiwetel Ejiofor in Children of Men 
47. Leslie Phillips in Venus
48. Sam Elliot in Thank You For Smoking
49. Michael Gambon in The Good Shepherd 
50. Stephen Fry in V For Vendetta
51. Bill Nighy in Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
52. David Oyelowo in The Last King of Scotland
53. Thomas Thieme in The Lives of Others
54. Ryo Kase in Letters From Iwo Jima
55. Ben Affleck in Smokin' Aces
56. Peter Mullan in Children of Men
57. Arnold Vosloo in Blood Diamond
58. Koji Yakusho in Babel
59. Liev Schreiber in The Painted Veil
60. Robert De Niro in The Good Shepherd
61. Stellan Skarsgaard in Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
62. Alfred Molina in The Hoax
63. Dustin Hoffman in Stranger Than Fiction 
64. Gael Garcia Bernal in Babel
65. Paul Giamatti in The Illusionist 
66. Ben Foster in X-Men The Last Stand
67. John Turturro in The Good Shepherd 
68. Nestor Carbonell in Smokin' Aces
69. Michael Sheen in The Queen
70. Chiwetel Ejiofor in Inside Man
71. William H. Macy in Thank You For Smoking
72. Bill Nighy in Notes on a Scandal
73. Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls
74. Terry Crews in Idiocracy
75. Burt Young in Rocky Balboa
76. Charlie Hunnam in Children of Men
77. Simon McBurney in The Last King of Scotland
78. Stanley Tucci in Lucky Number Slevin
79. Anthony Mackie in Half Nelson
80. Willem Dafoe in Inside Man
81. Tom Hollander in Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
82. Stanley Tucci in The Devil Wears Prada
83. David Koechner in Thank You For Smoking
84. Kevin Spacey in Superman Returns
85. James Badge Dale in The Departed
86. Alec Baldwin in The Good Shepherd 
87. Greg Kinnear in Invincible
88. Billy Crudup in The Good Shepherd
89. James Cromwell in The Queen
90. William Hurt in The Good Shepherd 
91. Richard Griffiths in Venus
92. Ian McKellen in X-Men: The Last Stand
93. Jack Davenport in Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
94. Mike Starr in The Black Dahlia
95. Stanley Tucci in The Hoax
96. Bruce Willis in Lucky Number Slevin
97. Jack Nicholson in The Departed
98. Tony Burton in Rocky Balboa
99. Larry The Cable Guy in Cars 
100. Dax Shepard in Idiocracy
101. Danny Glover in Dreamgirls  
102. Kelsey Grammer in X-Men The Last Stand
103. Frank Langella in Superman Returns 
104. Jaden Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness
105. Dick Van Dyke in Night at the Museum  
106. Patrick Stewart in X-Men The Last Stand
107. Kevin McNally in Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
108. James Marsden in Superman Returns
109. Milo Ventimiglia in Rocky Balboa
110. Jeff Daniels in RV
111. Jamie Foxx in Dreamgirls 
112. Alan Arkin in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause 
113. Robin Williams in Night at the Museum
114. Aaron Eckhart in The Black Dahlia 
115. Martin Short in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause 
116. Mickey Rooney in Night at the Museum
117. Dan Castellaneta in The Pursuit of Happyness
118. Andrew Simpson in Notes on a Scandal
119. Andy Garcia in Smokin' Aces
120. Rory Cochrane in A Scanner Darkly
121. Spencer Breslin in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
122. Vinnie Jones in X-Men: The Last Stand
123. Tristan Lake Leabu in Superman Returns
124. Eddie Redmayne in The Good Shepherd

Next Year: 1965 Supporting

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2006: Sergi López in Pan's Labyrinth

Sergi López did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Captain Vidal in Pan's Labyrinth.

Pan's Labyrinth is an effective film, even though I do have a few reservations, telling the story of a little girl Ofelia dark adventure involving a fantasy world while she lives with her pregnant mother on a Spanish military base intent on weeding out the remaining rebels after the Spanish Civil War.

Watching the film again I have to say it would not be hard for me to put Sergi López as co-lead in the film. This is due to the fantasy side of things being told from Ofelia perspective, but the scenes of reality being mostly told through the eyes of Captain Vidal. Vidal in addition to being the head of the military base he also is Ofelia's stepfather having been the one who impregnated her mother. Although Captain Vidal is the most prominent character on the reality side of things he might as well be the big bad wolf since Vidal is written to be a personification of an organized evil, usually even in the cases of this type there may be a bit of humanity found, after all there is some even in the case of Ralph Fiennes's Amon Goeth in Schindler's List, that's not really the case for Vidal. Even in his personal life Vidal shuts down any discussion of those things known as feeling and the only thing he seems to care about is the birth of his son, but mostly as though it is a possession more than anything else.

As written Vidal certainly could have been extremely over the top and almost ceaseless in his obvious evilness, but to his credit that's not really the way López plays him. The few chances he gets to explore any other side of Vidal López tries to make something out of them. This includes the brief moment where he greets his wife as López gives a nicely feigned charm although this is shortly undercut by his particularly rude treatment of his Ofelia. His unpleasantness at the dinner table where he ignores all personal questions is given some sense by López suggesting more of his uncomfortableness with interpersonal interactions than simply evil motivating him. There is also the running idea of his father's watch which originally had the exact time his father died, and he was some how given the message to show him how a brave man dies. The whole watch idea I feel is a bit underdeveloped in terms of the writing and López can't quite make up for it. He's not bad in these scenes, but it never has the impact that direction seems to imply that it should have.

The main point of his performance though is the scene of Vidal being a murderer and torturer of rebels, their conspirators, and anyone unfortunate enough to be accused of such. López is very good in these scenes by not playing them as a crazy psychopath but rather an official soldier of death. López plays Vidal as particularly relaxed in these scenes as though this is when the man is truly in his element. López does not scream or yell but rather has such a viciousness simply in the way he casually way he portrays his manner in the killings. López brings such a comfort in Vidal as he takes his hammer to men, or shoots them down. It is not that of a man seeking gratification really, but rather as a man going about his job in the fashion he knows best. López makes the character the most cruel by portraying the efficiency of his method at all times. López, if he must be the big bad wolf certainly earns the title. As good as he is in these scenes I do feel something is missing and there may have been a little more to explore with the character. López does find some depth but in the end the character still feels fairly simple. He's certainly never lacking in the needed menace for the character, but I could never shake the feeling that something is missing.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2006

And the Nominees Were Not:

Mads Mikkelsen in Casino Royale

Michael Caine in Children of Men

Ben Affleck in Hollywoodland

Sergi Lopez in Pan's Labyrinth

Steve Carell in Little Miss Sunshine