Best Supporting Actor
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Ezra Miller, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Sam Rockwell, Seven Psychopaths
Ben Whishaw, Cloud Atlas
So many great performances to choose from. I think Robert De Niro’s warm, multidimensional work in Silver Linings Playbook – his best in well over a decade – hit me the hardest, but I could just as easily give Ezra Miller the top spot for his charismatic and complex performance in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Tommy Lee Jones is an obvious but deserving nominee for Lincoln, in which his powerful, thoughtful acting occasionally steals the entire show, and Ben Whishaw earns his spot as my favorite performer from the wildly talented Cloud Atlas ensemble. Finally, Sam Rockwell, one of cinema’s most undervalued talents for years now, possibly gave his best performance yet in Seven Psychopaths with a part perfectly tailored to his dark, zany, and above all else, profoundly human tendencies.
Dream Winner: Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Tough Omissions: Jim Broadbent, Cloud Atlas; Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained; Christopher Walken, Seven Psychopaths; Edward Norton, Moonrise Kingdom; Bruce Willis, Moonrise Kingdom; Bruce Willis, Looper; Ian McKellan, Andy Serkis, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Best Supporting Actress
 Amy Adams, The Master
Emily Blunt, Looper
Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Bella Heathcote, Not Fade Away
Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a WallflowerÂ
This has, unfortunately, been a rather thin year for great female roles, but that in no way lessens the impact of these and other remarkable performances from supporting actresses. The clear inclusions, to me, are Anne Hathaway – who stole the show, if not all of 2012, in just a few minutes of Les Miserables – and Amy Adams, whose career best work in The Master overshadowed the rest of the film. Both are locks for actual nominations, and both deserve to win.
For the other three slots, I have picked some under-the-radar performances I feel deserve attention. Emily Blunt’s work in Looper is absolutely integral to that film’s creative success, and she more than rose to the occasion with one of her most three-dimensional, deeply felt performances to date. As with all the Perks main cast members, I think Emma Watson is 100% deserving of a nod; she is miraculous, and I find it incredible how quickly she is branching out and away from Hermione Granger. Finally, there were quite a few good picks for that fifth slot, but I ultimately chose Bella Heathcote’s surprisingly resonant work in Not Fade Away. David Chase wrote her an extremely intelligent and thoughtful part – a young woman gradually realizing she is part of the first female generation to have actual opportunities – but there is an intense, gripping naturalism to Heathcote’s work that elevates both the writing and the film.
Dream Winner: Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Tough Omissions: Judi Dench, Skyfall; Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises; Emma Stone, The Amazing Spider-Man
Continue reading on the next page…
