Best Supporting Actress:
JB:
Will Win: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Should Win: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Best Supporting Actress seems like it’s all sewn up, but it’s also one of the categories where there’s the biggest chance of an upset. However, I fully believe that it will be going to Nyong’o for her emotionally powerful performance in 12 Years a Slave. First, Nyong’o won the SAG award, showing that she has tremendous support with actors for this category. Second, her closest rival, Jennifer Lawrence, just won the Best Actress Oscar last year. I doubt very much that the Academy is going to give her another Oscar right away, especially for a performance as forgettable as hers in American Hustle. There are those that believe the Academy will randomly give an award to American Hustle given that it’s not in the lead for any of its ten nominations, but I just don’t see that happening in the major categories. Its best chances for a pity Oscar will remain with Production Design and Costume Design, but it will even still have a hard time beating The Great Gatsby there.
JA:
Will Win: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Should Win: June Squibb, Nebraska
Yes, Nyong’o’s performance is a devastating debut and the actor will hopefully find material worthy of her talents in the future. But few things would delight me as much as a June Squibb win, if only to watch the 83-year-old veteran crack some jokes onstage that are worth their weight in Oscar gold. The Academy rarely awards comedic performances, but Squibb’s was stellar. As Bruce Dern’s stubborn, unfiltered wife, Kate, she remained a voice of disgust railing against the unsophisticated family and lifestyle around her, which she did with hilarity and honesty. She also gives the relationship with Dern’s slouched, battered middle-class loser a touching quality, showing both the couple’s struggle and their sympathy toward each other. If Nebraska walks out of the Dolby Theatre with any awards, let us hope it is Squibb’s.
IF:
Will Win: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Should Win: June Squibb, Nebraska
For a while now, Best Supporting Actress has been a race between Nyong’o, for her powerhouse portrayal of abused slave Patsy, and Jennifer Lawrence, for her boozy housewife in American Hustle. Nyong’o is sure to win, given how much more love has been lavished upon 12 Years a Slave (hailed as historical filmmaking of the highest caliber) than American Hustle (dismissed as a diverting lark by many). However, I’d much rather see Squibb, a long undervalued actress, get the Oscar love she deserves for her hilarious, against-type performance in Nebraska. Playing Kate, the acid-tongued, long-suffering wife of Bruce Dern’s Woody Grant, Squibb is comic dynamite, but layers of bitter fury are just visible underneath. We’ve all met (and ran away from) people like Kate before, so it’s some kind of wonder that Squibb is able to make her both highly recognizable and enjoyably horrible.
