Best Supporting Actor: Ranking Every Nominee of the 98th Academy Awards
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Welcome to another year of the Academy Awards Project here on Films Fatale! We rank all of the nominees in each category every day.
What makes a good supporting actor? Someone who elevates the lead and side performances around them while enhancing the film they are within. Okay, I am not going to beat around the bush too much. My ranking below is probably going to piss you off. I already thought that the five nominees that would be featured in this category at this year’s Academy Awards were tremendous; once Delroy Lindo was tossed into the mix (overtaking who many predicted with Paul Mescal and Hamnet, who is also sensational, I might add), the category began to feel impossible to figure out. I want to preface this article by stating that each and every performance here is excellent. They are all major highlights of their respective films. I consider each performance to be separated by fractions of molecules. I am mad at myself for who I have placed last. However, I never want to cower and not commit to what I do every year when I rank every nomination of every category. Try to see this list less as an authoritative command that some performances are worthwhile while others are not. See this as a celebration of five great actors. If anything, my thoughts could change tomorrow and the order would be drastically different. I’m sticking to how I feel today, and I hope I justify my placements well enough. Here are your nominees for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, ranked from worst to best.
5. One Battle After Another-Sean Penn
I am so, so, so sorry. Yes. Sean Penn as Col. Steven Lockjaw is presently last here. I want to remind you that I think Penn is sensational here. He steals many scenes that he is in. He is the continuous force of fear and anxiety throughout the film. His complete transformation — with his jutting jaw (hence his name) and his stiff limp — renders him not just a monstrous villain but an idiosyncratic one at that. This is some of Penn’s best acting in years. So, why have I placed him last? While I feel like some of the other nominees have turned in their best performances to date (that shouldn’t penalize Penn, mind you), Penn is consistently excellent in the majority of his career; I do think that he is the teeniest bit a bit too cartoonish in One Battle After Another — not to the point of being detrimental to the performance or to the film, but enough to notice that he is marginally over-the-top. I’m just splitting hairs here, but I did not see a similar matter with the other four nominees, so, naturally, Penn had to be placed last despite a bombastic performance being nominated in a near-perfect category this year.
4. Sinners-Delroy Lindo
Well, this was a pleasant surprise, was it not? While millions of us feel like Delroy Lindo not being nominated for Da 5 Bloods is one of the biggest snubs in recent memory (or even of all time), it almost feels like a makeup decision to have Lindo’s performance as harmonica player Delta Slim in Sinners be nominated. Lindo doesn’t get nearly as much time or opportunity to shine here like he does in Spike Lee’s film, but Lindo sure makes the most with what he has in Sinners. Consider how secondary Delta Slim is as a character — to the point that his role only barely matters. Now, remind yourself of how irreplaceable Lindo makes this musical legend: as if his spirit will never die no matter what happens. Lindo isn’t in Sinners much, but he — like he always is — is impossible to ignore or forget. I have Lindo placed fourth because I feel like the film is less indebted to him than the other nominees (although he is higher than Penn for the aforementioned reasons: I never felt like Lindo overacted in his performance, even slightly). However, this is still a very welcome nomination for an actor who is long overdue of at least two wins by now.
3. One Battle After Another-Benicio del Toro
It’s Sensei Sergio! Benicio del Toro has always been an actor who I respect, and I did look forward to his turn in One Battle After Another. When I watched the film the first time, I felt like he was really good and everyone else towered around him. However, it was after the film that I couldn’t get him out of my mind, as if he was secretly the scene stealer of many moments; he is so deceptively calm and passive throughout the film that it’s easy to not get caught up in the brilliance of his performance during your initial viewing. On my second watch, del Toro’s excellence was much more obvious. He makes the actors around him stronger — especially Leonardo DiCaprio, whom he shares much screen time with (Sergio helps ground DiCaprio’s character quite a bit). Del Toro doesn’t have to try to make moments like his now-viral “few small beers” retort resonate with audiences. He kind of just becomes everyone’s best friend because of how unassuming and believable he is. The bulk of One Battle After Another isn’t indebted to del Toro, but the cool breeze of a spirit that combats all of the noise around it (and acts as the sole line of sanity amidst chaos) is due to his sublime performance.
2. Sentimental Value-Stellan Skarsgård
I have two trains of thought with Stellan Skarsgård’s performance as filmmaker Gustav Borg in Sentimental Value (well, actually three: congratulations on Skarsgård for finally being nominated!). First, this can be seen as category fraud, I suppose: much of the film relies on Gustav’s storyline, and I have seen many proclaim that Skarsgård’s performance is a co-lead with Renate Reinsve. I cannot argue heavily against that, but I think that his presence is heavily contingent with Reinsve’s character, Nora Borg, and her perspective of her father; we are seeing the side she is missing out on because she wishes to not be in touch with him (through Skarsgård’s storyline) while also knowing why they are estranged when they unite. His character benefits the debatable lead’s narrative. Now, onto Skarsgård’s actual performance which is touching, complex, and so intrinsically emotional. You can see why it is hard to forgive a character like Gustav for his negligence while also seeing how hard he is trying (while arguably falling short) to win his daughters over this time around. You understand how much his film means to him at the tail end of his life, and how easily he gets caught up in his passion to the point of blindness. Skarsgård renders a flawed person human, captivating, and honest with one of the most moving performances of the year (he does so without ever demanding that you care for him with his humanistic-yet-nuanced work).
1. Frankenstein-Jacob Elordi
One of my favourite performances of last year is Jacob Elordi as Dr. Frankenstein’s creature in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. I recall so many people writing off this casting choice as a mistake before the film came out (I felt like it was a no-brainer myself), so I was pleasantly correct when I caught a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival and saw how extraordinary Elordi was in this role. If anything, Elordi even exceeded my expectations. The first half of the film is based on the mystery of what the creature is like (now, I have seen many iterations of Frankenstein and consider Mary Shelley’s novel amongst the greatest ever written, so I knew what the creature was going to be like, but, even so…). The film is decent around this point, but it truly shines when we get to the half from the creature’s perspective; part of the reason why is that it is a fantastic hour by del Toro. The other reason is because Elordi is transcendent. He is so gripping when the creature hasn’t any way to communicate; you can read so much in his expressions (even under all of that makeup). It’s akin to a great mime performance, a silent star’s draw, or a minimalistic performance like Johnny Depp’s work in Edward Scissorhands. Then, the creature evolves, and Elordi makes each and every step believable; the creature winds up being a well-spoken, commanding force who dominates every situation and sequence. This is an otherworldly performance that I was worried wouldn’t be nominated, yet here we are. I also hope that this leads to Elordi being cast in many other roles that aren’t just him being a toxic and abusive male, because he clearly has much more range to him than his past typecasting implies.
Who I Want To Win: I’d say any of these performances are worth their trophy. I will narrow my picks down to Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein (who is a sensational younger star) or Stellan Skarsgård in Sentimental Value (who has been long overdue); hell, toss in Delroy Lindo for Sinners here as well while we are on the topic of overdue actors (at least both One Battle After Another stars have won Oscars before; Penn even has two).
Who I Think Will Win: This is a tough one. The race is kind of wide open right now, and I can imagine anyone winning (maybe Delroy Lindo the least, but him being nominated wasn’t expected either, so you never know). I can see why either of the One Battle After Another men could win (maybe Benicio del Toro more than Sean Penn, simply because the Academy refrains from giving any actors a third Oscar win unless they deem it essential). I can see a marginal chance for Jacob Elordi after his Critics’ Choice Award win for Frankenstein. However, I feel like Sentimental Value won’t win many Oscars, and the Academy tries to get each Best Picture nominee at least one win, and I do think that there is a story behind Stellan Skarsgård being long overdue, so I can see a tribute award going towards him as the film’s potential sole win. My opinion may change, but I am going with Skarsgård for now (he also did win the Golden Globe, which doesn’t mean too much right now but it is a sign of sorts). We shall see how the awards season plays out with this one because it is still too tough to tell.
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.