Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Ranking Every 96th Academy Award Nominee
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
This article is a part of the Academy Awards Project, where Andreas Babiolakis from Films Fatale ranks every Oscar nominee from worst to best, and goes through every category once a day five days a week.
Welcome back to another edition of the Academy Awards Project, where I rank every single Oscar nominee in each category, point out the biggest snubs that needed to be honoured, and also state who — at this point in time — I think will win the award come Oscars day March 10th, 2024. We’re going to start with the categories I always kick off with in typical Academy fashion: the supporting acting groups.
The nominees for Best Supporting Actor this year are a pretty strong bunch, but I think that they are quite easy to rank. While I don’t think any of these candidates are bad by any means, I will go into my rationale with each entry. How do these performances best serve the films they are a part of? Do they enhance the lead performances they are meant to “support”? Do they ever steal scenes or entire films? Are they even on screen for long enough (believe me, this can be an issue at times throughout the years with this category)?
Here are your nominees for Best Actor in a Supporting Role ranked from worst to best.
Biggest Snub: Charles Melton-May December
The collapse of May December’s award season campaign is a tragic one. Perhaps voters got nervous once enough articles about the precarious nature of the film’s stance on real life versus fiction, particularly when those who were a part of the real events replicated in May December started speaking out. In a film with two acting titans (Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore) trying to out-cheese one another (intentionally), the quiet, authentic performance by Charles Melton sneakily steals the entire film. As he embodies an adult who never mentally grew out of being a teenager (and yet he has to be the leader of an entire family), Melton gave me goosebumps and broke my heart for the entire film. I know it may be “hip” to dismiss this film now, but Melton’s omission here is one of the most egregious snubs of the awards season; there was a sliver of time where he could have won this category.
5. Mark Ruffalo-Poor Things
I think Mark Ruffalo is hilarious in Poor Things as Duncan Wedderburn, and nothing will make me feel otherwise. Having said that, he is the weakest of the five nominees, in my opinion (between the two Poor Things supporting roles that had Oscar buzz surrounding them, I would have gone with Willem Dafoe’s eerie “God”, myself). At times, Ruffalo’s accent is so thick and obnoxious that I don’t know that I can call it good acting despite how much it amuses me (and, believe me, it does). While Ruffalo feels so dissimilar to anything we’ve ever seen him do before, he seems to serve one tonal point here: being a slimy jackass. Narratively, Wedderburn embodies multiple thresholds for protagonist Bella Baxter, and Ruffalo is quite good at making each checkpoint matter (when he is the initiator of the next chapter as a master deceiver, or when he becomes Bella’s primary antagonist). All things considered, Ruffalo is good here, even with the minor flaws. I found him perhaps the funniest character in the film. It’s still the weakest performance of the five nominees present here, in my opinion.
4. Ryan Gosling-Barbie
At times, Ryan Gosling’s Ken (just Ken) stole the show in Barbie, but that’s through irony. Gosling evokes the lack of awareness Ken has so well; I can easily see Ken being a lame parody when played by the wrong actor, but Gosling works so well here. Having said that, Ken still feels rather limited in terms of his range of tones (intentionally, of course: he’s meant to be a dumbass), so I feel like Gosling only gets so far with Ken here. Did I laugh? Absolutely. It’s a playful side of Gosling that I wish got to this level of ridiculousness more often. I still think Gosling and Ken hit a bar: it’s high enough for it to be a great performance, but it’s low enough that other performances this year will easily surpass it. All things considered, I’ll never forget Ken’s angry stare as he marches clumsily backwards: the moment that I knew Gosling was the only person for this dorky take on toxic masculinity. I’ll also point out how Gosling being nominated for Ken and not Margot Robbie for the titular Barbie is indicative of what Barbie was trying to point out…
3. Robert De Niro-Killers of the Flower Moon
I have been dying for Robert De Niro to have more meaningful roles in the twenty-first century. Here we are with his silently ferocious William King Hale in Killers of the Flower Moon. Not once does De Niro scream or cry for attention in this nearly four-hour endeavour, and yet you still feel his power and abilities to manipulate any situation in his favour; even when he scrambles to regain the upper hand, he is relatively soft-spoken. Sure, he reveals his anger when appropriate, but De Niro is so restrained in this film (which pairs up nicely when compared to how outwardly Leonardo DiCaprio acts alongside him). You sense every ounce of his corrosiveness and monstrosity just from his internal thoughts and feelings; he somehow lets you know everything about him without ever telling you these characteristics. I think this is De Niro’s best performance in years, and I am thrilled that it got acknowledged here (when one of the only other comparable performances of his, in The Irishman, was snubbed five years ago).
2. Sterling K. Brown-American Fiction
Sterling K. Brown was likely a surprise for many. Not me, who saw his swift ascent to this Oscars nomination happen from a mile away. Rightfully so: Brown is phenomenal in nearly every scene he has in American Fiction. As the carefree and chaotic Cliff Ellison, Brown’s entire purpose is to exemplify the rigidness of his brother Monk and the fragmentation and trauma within the Ellison family after numerous crises. He succeeds every single time. Brown is hysterical when he needs to be with his sass and quick-tempered attitude. However, the film also needs that This Is Us pathos that Brown has specialized in for years, and we get these emotional tidal waves precisely when needed. If I’m not mistaken, Brown’s involvement with American Fiction is the shortest screen time of all five nominees, but that’s also a testament to how effective he is when we see him. Despite his selfish, self-destructive ways, I light up every time I see Cliff on screen because of how much life Brown puts into him. Brown fully deserves to be a part of this conversation, and I’m glad that the Academy thought so as well.
1. Robert Downey Jr.-Oppenheimer
Even though many people have championed Cillian Murphy for his career-defining turn as the titular physicist in Oppenheimer, I feel like Robert Downey Jr. is a major scene stealer as the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission figurehead Lewis Strauss. This is impossible to not feel for a multitude of reasons. Strauss is such a two-faced snake throughout much of Oppenheimer, and Downey makes this apparent to us but not readily obvious to those within the film (a feat in and of itself). Downey makes every single word so captivating, which is a tall order given how much of his scenes involve both politics and science (and, as usual, Christopher Nolan doesn’t dumb down any of these discussions). Finally, the final act of the film rests almost entirely on Downey’s shoulders, as if Nolan threw him a curveball by saying “The first two hours were Murphy’s. Time to step up!” Naturally, Downey pulls off the challenge with flying colours. This is a perennial performance by Downey who has been in the acting game for decades; it looks like he’s still capable of reaching new highs when presented with the right project.
Who I Want To Win: I’m honestly fine with any of these performances winning. I’m a fan of each of these actors. Having said that, I’ve been blown away by Robert Downey Jr. ever since Oppenheimer was released and was rooting for either him or Charles Melton to take this award for months. Seeing as Melton’s not here, I’m continuing to champion Downey.
Who I Think Will Win: Even outside of my own preferences, Robert Downey Jr. has been cleaning up for his role in Oppenheimer. I don’t think that’s going to change. Expect him to win his first-ever Oscar this March. I don’t even think there’s a slim chance — at this point — that anyone else can overtake his odds.
The Academy Awards Project will continue tomorrow with another category. We’re going to rank every single nominee in every single category, Monday through Friday. You don’t want to miss it!
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.