The Best Supporting Actor race this year has been topsy-turvy. Popular upset predictions for an Oscar nomination on Tuesday include Golden Globe nominee Simon Helberg (“Florence Foster Jenkins”) and Critics’ Choice nominees Ben Foster (“Hell or High Water”) and Michael Shannon (“Nocturnal Animals”), but these three face a major obstacle as the Oscars have not nominated two supporting actors from the same film in 25 years, since “Bugsy” (1991). Indeed, Hugh Grant (“Florence Foster Jenkins”), Jeff Bridges (“Hell or High Water”) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Nocturnal Animals”) have better odds on Gold Derby for those respective films.
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Dual nominations are commonplace in the Best Supporting Actress race; five of the Oscars’ nominated lineups in just the last decade have included double nominees: “The Help” (2011), “The Fighter” (2010), “Up in the Air” (2009), “Doubt” (2008) and “Babel” (2006). Two nominations in Best Supporting Actor are not even unusual at precursor awards, but the Oscars have spread the wealth in the Best Supporting Actor category since nominating both Harvey Keitel and Ben Kingsley for “Bugsy.”
It is noteworthy that “The Help” and “Up in the Air” were double-nominated by all of the SAG, BAFTA, the Globes and Critics’ Choice; “Babel” was double-nominated by SAG, the Globes and Critics’ Choice; “Doubt” was double-nominated by SAG and the Globes. This suggests that when a pair of supporting actors from the same film are nominated by the Oscars again, it will be foreshadowed by consistent showings from the precursors.
The “Hell or High Water” supporting actors this year made several appearances together in regional critics’ nominations, as well as at Critics’ Choice, but only Bridges was nominated by SAG, BAFTA and the Globes. Helberg’s only nomination for “Florence Foster Jenkins” this season came from the Globes, where co-star Grant was nominated as a lead. Shannon has received about two dozen Best Supporting Actor nominations across the season for “Nocturnal Animals” and Taylor-Johnson has received four; only the San Diego Film Critics Society nominated both of them.
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The instances in which a film since “Bugsy” reaped multiple Best Supporting Actor nominations from the major precursors are listed below. Performances not nominated at the Oscars are italicized:
Screen Actors Guild
1996 (“The Birdcage”): Hank Azaria & Nathan Lane
2000 (“The Contender”): Jeff Bridges & Gary Oldman
2005 (“Crash”): Don Cheadle & Matt Dillon
2007 (“No Country for Old Men”): Javier Bardem & Tommy Lee Jones
BAFTA
1993 (“Schindler’s List”): Ralph Fiennes & Ben Kingsley
1994 (“Four Weddings and a Funeral”): Simon Callow & John Hannah
1997 (“The Full Monty”): Mark Addy & Tom Wilkinson
1998 (“Shakespeare in Love”): Geoffrey Rush & Tom Wilkinson
2000 (“Gladiator”): Joaquin Phoenix & Oliver Reed
2005 (“Crash”): Don Cheadle & Matt Dillon
2007 (“No Country for Old Men”): Javier Bardem & Tommy Lee Jones
Golden Globes
2006 (“The Departed”): Jack Nicholson & Mark Wahlberg
2008 (“Tropic Thunder”): Tom Cruise & Robert Downey Jr.
2012 (“Django Unchained”): Leonardo DiCaprio & Christoph Waltz
Critics’ Choice
2005 (“Crash”): Matt Dillon & Terrence Howard
2008 (“Milk”): Josh Brolin & James Franco
2016 (“Hell or High Water”): Jeff Bridges & Ben Foster
Watch out for these Oscar underdogs for Best Supporting Actor
In addition to the aforementioned performances, the following supporting actors were nominated by major precursors only without their co-stars who ultimately scored Oscar recognition:
2010 (“The Town”): Pete Postlethwaite at BAFTA over SAG/Globe/Critics nominee Jeremy Renner
2006 (“The Departed”): Leonardo DiCaprio at SAG over Globe nominee Mark Wahlberg
2001 (“Iris”): Hugh Bonneville at BAFTA over SAG/Critics nominee and Globe winner Jim Broadbent
1994 (“Quiz Show”): John Turturro at both SAG and the Globes over BAFTA nominee Paul Scofield
These supporting actors from the same film received nominations from precursors separately, with none going on to Oscar nominations:
2003 (“Seabiscuit”): SAG nominee Chris Cooper & Globe nominee William H. Macy
1999 (“American Beauty”): SAG nominee Chris Cooper & BAFTA nominee Wes Bentley
1996 (“Shine”): SAG nominee Noah Taylor & BAFTA nominee John Gielgud
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Do you think that the curse will be broken and one film will receive multiple nominations for Best Supporting Actor? Make your Oscar predictions now before nominations are announced on the morning of January 24. Also predict the Grammys, SAG and other awards shows.
