Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2005: Ed Harris in A History of Violence
Ed Harris did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Carl Fogarty in A History of Violence.Ed Harris portrays the Philadelphia gangster who comes looking for diner owner Tom Stall who recently killed two men trying to rob his diner..
Best Supporting Actor 2011: Nick Nolte in Warrior
Nick Nolte received his third Oscar nomination for portraying Paddy Conlon in Warrior.Warrior details a winner take all mixed martial art tournament whose two main combatants are estranged brothers (Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton) fighting for their own difficult reasons.
Alternate Best Actor 2011
And the Nominees Were Not:Ryan Gosling in DriveRobert Wieckiewicz in In DarknessMichael Fassbender in ShameMichael Shannon in Take ShelterBrendan Gleeson in The Guard..
Showing posts with label Alec Guinness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alec Guinness. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Best Supporting Actor 1977: Results
Best Supporting Actor 1977: Alec Guinness in Star Wars
Alec Guinness received his third acting Oscar nomination for portraying Obi-wan "Old Ben" Kenobi in Star Wars.
Alec Guinness portrays Obi-wan Kenobi which many people might say is his most memorable role, although I personally say nonsense that most certianly is Col. Nicholson but hey Guinness is one of my favorite actors and I would naturally say his best performance is his most memorable role. Either way though I will agree the old master Obi-wan certainly is a well remembered performance, and a very much iconic performance from Guinness. Of course as always a performance being iconic does not mean it is great.
Obi-wan certainly is less of a challenge for Guinness than so many of his performances. I mean he is not playing eight different characters in the same film, nor is he given a very layered and complex character to handle with absolute ease. Old Ben almost seems like a walk in the park if you look at it among the rest of Guinness' repertoire. Still though even a relatively simple role like this Guinness can still manage to make special in its own way.
Obi-wan is the old Jedi who knows the ways of the force and takes his duty to help young Luke Skywalker rescue Princess Leia as well as teach Luke about his past and the force. From his first scene Guinness is effectively mysterious in his performance. He conveys a past of some sort in every moment of his performance. Guinness with an absolute ease is able to show that Obi-wan is always under full control of the situation, through a quiet intelligence which Guinness is able to show with seemingly no visible effort.
Guinness is able to bring to life the whole idea of the force as well as possible simple through the conviction in his performance. Do to the fact that he shows such a complete belief in his teachings of the force Guinness is actually brings much needed believability to the whole entire concept. Guinness never really winks to the camera or anything like that but instead stands steadfast showing Obi-wan genuine belief in the idea.
Guinness has a strong presence that adds to the film very effectively in his quiet way. He is able to be the mentor perfectly without ever making Obi-wan seem false or forced in his wisdom, but rather actually an honest wise man. There is not anything extraordinary about his performance, but it is a fine effort by Guinness nonetheless. Yes as I said before when it comes to Guinness this character seems hardly a challenge, but credit goes to where credit is due. Guinness shows here that he always seemed to manage to bring life to all of his performances and characters no matter how big or small, or even whether or not he even liked the film itself.
Obi-wan certainly is less of a challenge for Guinness than so many of his performances. I mean he is not playing eight different characters in the same film, nor is he given a very layered and complex character to handle with absolute ease. Old Ben almost seems like a walk in the park if you look at it among the rest of Guinness' repertoire. Still though even a relatively simple role like this Guinness can still manage to make special in its own way.
Obi-wan is the old Jedi who knows the ways of the force and takes his duty to help young Luke Skywalker rescue Princess Leia as well as teach Luke about his past and the force. From his first scene Guinness is effectively mysterious in his performance. He conveys a past of some sort in every moment of his performance. Guinness with an absolute ease is able to show that Obi-wan is always under full control of the situation, through a quiet intelligence which Guinness is able to show with seemingly no visible effort.
Guinness is able to bring to life the whole idea of the force as well as possible simple through the conviction in his performance. Do to the fact that he shows such a complete belief in his teachings of the force Guinness is actually brings much needed believability to the whole entire concept. Guinness never really winks to the camera or anything like that but instead stands steadfast showing Obi-wan genuine belief in the idea.
Guinness has a strong presence that adds to the film very effectively in his quiet way. He is able to be the mentor perfectly without ever making Obi-wan seem false or forced in his wisdom, but rather actually an honest wise man. There is not anything extraordinary about his performance, but it is a fine effort by Guinness nonetheless. Yes as I said before when it comes to Guinness this character seems hardly a challenge, but credit goes to where credit is due. Guinness shows here that he always seemed to manage to bring life to all of his performances and characters no matter how big or small, or even whether or not he even liked the film itself.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Best Supporting Actor 1977
Peter Firth in Equus
Maximilian Schell in Julia
Jason Robards in Julia
Alec Guinness in Star Wars
Mikhail Baryshnikov in The Turning Point
Best Supporting Actor 1988: Results
Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda
Alan Rickman in Die Hard
Friday, November 11, 2011
Best Supporting Actor 1988: Alec Guinness in Little Dorrit
Alec Guinness received his fourth and final acting Oscar nomination for portraying William Dorrit in Little Dorrit.
Little Dorrit is probably the longest film ever to be nominated for an acting award running over six hours in its telling of the Charles Dickens' story of Little Dorrit about a young girl who is born and grows up in a debtors prison.
Alec Guinness plays William Dorrit the father of Little Dorrit. He was the once wealthy man but do to many debts ended up in the debtors prison bringing his family along with him. Guinness in the chronological early moments of his performance shows a depressed man. Guinness shows that William can barely believe that he has ended up in such a place, and has fallen to such a lowly position in which he must raise his children in to.
What amazes me always about Alec Guinness is the way he so naturally portrays almost all of his parts despite the fact there certainly must have been a great deal of calculation below the surface. The part of William Dorrit is no exception for Guinness. In his early scenes where he basically sits in a room rather depressed he shows various facets of William Dorrit. One important facet the fact that he was once wealthy. There is always the indication of Dorrit former situation in the way he talks, and acts, but Guinness shows he has ceased in the same way his luck has.
In the debtors prison he shows different shades of William Dorrit from when he is dealing with two of his less quiet children. In these scenes he still has an attempt of a fatherly strength to mold the children but it is clearly very much weakened because of his overall depressed state. He also when with his brother Guinness suggests that earlier in life William was the more successful brother, whom his brother looked up to, but not he no longer is. Guinness effectively though attempts to show his brother he still is a role model, although in an appropriately weak effort.
Guinness only seems to really show the honest to truth William when alone with Little Dorrit. When with Little Dorrit he is just a sad sad man, who really can barely believe how he has come to be the way he is. Guinness mixes in a great deal of regret and a sort of acceptance brilliantly. Guinness also effectively brings a poignancy to these moments in a quiet subtle fashion. William loves his youngest daughter very much and Guinness shows a genuine love, but it is never only that, because Guinness always adds an underlying shame William feels as well.
Guinness shows almost a complete transition though when William suddenly becomes wealthy again. Guinness is just perfect in his change that is almost instant. It is seemingly unnatural almost, but Guinness makes it work showing that the patrician in William was always there just waiting for the chance to come out. Guinness is no longer somber and modest in his performance, but becomes domineering and always in control. He goes from the perfect poor man to the perfect rich man basically instantly it is a fantastic transformation that few actors could have pulled off with such ease as Guinness is able to.
Although Little Dorrit is much much to long at six hours Guinness managed to keep my attention than managed to hold in my memory better than any aspect of the film. Guinness creates a unique portrait of William Dorrit that in the wrong hands could have been a complete failure, or just fallen into obscurity as much of the supporting cast does in this film. Guinness though instead creates fascinating characterization of man who always a victim of his situation whether he is rich or poor. As with most of Guinness work this performance only improved the more I thought of it, and it really is great work from Alec Guinness.
Alec Guinness plays William Dorrit the father of Little Dorrit. He was the once wealthy man but do to many debts ended up in the debtors prison bringing his family along with him. Guinness in the chronological early moments of his performance shows a depressed man. Guinness shows that William can barely believe that he has ended up in such a place, and has fallen to such a lowly position in which he must raise his children in to.
What amazes me always about Alec Guinness is the way he so naturally portrays almost all of his parts despite the fact there certainly must have been a great deal of calculation below the surface. The part of William Dorrit is no exception for Guinness. In his early scenes where he basically sits in a room rather depressed he shows various facets of William Dorrit. One important facet the fact that he was once wealthy. There is always the indication of Dorrit former situation in the way he talks, and acts, but Guinness shows he has ceased in the same way his luck has.
In the debtors prison he shows different shades of William Dorrit from when he is dealing with two of his less quiet children. In these scenes he still has an attempt of a fatherly strength to mold the children but it is clearly very much weakened because of his overall depressed state. He also when with his brother Guinness suggests that earlier in life William was the more successful brother, whom his brother looked up to, but not he no longer is. Guinness effectively though attempts to show his brother he still is a role model, although in an appropriately weak effort.
Guinness only seems to really show the honest to truth William when alone with Little Dorrit. When with Little Dorrit he is just a sad sad man, who really can barely believe how he has come to be the way he is. Guinness mixes in a great deal of regret and a sort of acceptance brilliantly. Guinness also effectively brings a poignancy to these moments in a quiet subtle fashion. William loves his youngest daughter very much and Guinness shows a genuine love, but it is never only that, because Guinness always adds an underlying shame William feels as well.
Guinness shows almost a complete transition though when William suddenly becomes wealthy again. Guinness is just perfect in his change that is almost instant. It is seemingly unnatural almost, but Guinness makes it work showing that the patrician in William was always there just waiting for the chance to come out. Guinness is no longer somber and modest in his performance, but becomes domineering and always in control. He goes from the perfect poor man to the perfect rich man basically instantly it is a fantastic transformation that few actors could have pulled off with such ease as Guinness is able to.
Although Little Dorrit is much much to long at six hours Guinness managed to keep my attention than managed to hold in my memory better than any aspect of the film. Guinness creates a unique portrait of William Dorrit that in the wrong hands could have been a complete failure, or just fallen into obscurity as much of the supporting cast does in this film. Guinness though instead creates fascinating characterization of man who always a victim of his situation whether he is rich or poor. As with most of Guinness work this performance only improved the more I thought of it, and it really is great work from Alec Guinness.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Best Supporting Actor 1988
Alec Guinness in Little Dorrit
River Phoenix in Running on Empty
Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda
Martin Landau in Tucker: The Man and His Dream
Dean Stockwell in Married to the Mob
