This year’s Oscars are coming in hot. We have survived COVID and the actors’ strike. Let this year bring us joy. The ceremony is set to take place on March 2^nd (March 3^rd in Europe) at 1 a.m. As always for us European film lovers, it is a morning routine, a fresh start to the day. This article focuses on a very exiting topic – Best Supporting Actor. 

Sometimes overlooked and considered less important, yet there aren’t any secondary Oscars. Like many other nominations this one has its unique flair and charisma. Supporting Actor isn’t something strictly laid out. You could be almost on par with the main character —  Donkey in Shrek is one example, Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain another one. Sometimes, you are really on the background, like Scarecrow from Howl’s moving castle or Edward Norton from A Complete Unknown. You could even be bigger then the movie itself —  which shouldn’t be considered as a compliment, but rather a mere fact —  as it happened with Jeremy Strong in The Apprentice. They all are different, and yet we are here to make an overview and make a few predictions…  

Yura Borisov, Anora   

Credits: Anora, a film by Sean Baker

Yura Borisov is well-known actor in Russia who, in what is only his second international appearance, claims an Oscar nomination. Sean Baker notices him after his main role in Compartment No. 6, and the rest is history. This comedy drama that turns into an adventurous road-movie takes the character of Igor, portrayed by Borisov, on a trip to a land of political instability and poverty.
A lot of memes and shorts are flying around this nomination, as Yura appears to have gotten the nomination for his bat-throwing and absent look. But let’s not forget that all roles are different and require different skill set to execute. There are no doubts about the performance of beloved Kôji Yakusho in Perfect Days by Wim Wenders, so let’s see if the academy has any about Borisov.  

Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain 

Credits: A Real Pain, a film by Jesse Eisenberg

A role in a well-written road movie. Just a few minutes short for the main actor role to co-actor/director/writer Jesse Eisenberg. So they move together through Poland to run away from anxiety and to visit their grandma’s house, even though, truthfully, they never leave the airport. But we are here not to discuss the clever writing of Eisenberg which still wont be enough to beat Sean Baker.
Kieran Culkin feels right for the role. By the end of the film, you start to feel all kinds of emotions towards him. He seems to deliver, with a few monologues that he is given, not only the message in the script but also the bitter nuances of his struggles. He never talks about them but you get them. And yet, while this film might be too overwhelmed by its script, Kieran has got a chance for a proper fight.  

Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice 

Credits: The Apprentice, a film by Ali Abbasi

You either step over the impersonation or you end up with theatre. Jeremy Strong did not end up in a theatre. As a matter of fact, the only one who didn’t in that film. For us, Europeans, he represented a weird guy. Not much not less. We all spotted Andy Warhol, yes, but who was Roy Cohn? The more I tried to find out more a recurring thought kept flowing into my mind: Jeremy Strong perfectly answers the question. Selfish, ruthless but also devoted and… his performance is not only structural for his character but for the whole film. It is the kind of character you wait to appear again on the screen. Center for the film and a candidate for the Oscar.  

Guy Pearce, The Brutalist 

Credits: The Brutalist, a film by Brady Corbert

Deep in the second hour of the film, around the time one start to wonder what this film is about, the anger comes. What this old allusion to Van Buren is even doing? Evil guy. Or evil system. Hard role to pull, representing both and individual and the whole class. A few can do that, Guy Pierce and Daniel Day-Lewis can. Pearce really traps us so profoundly that we start to question whether we are being fooled or not. The heartwarming scene in the cafe works not only because of Brody but thanks to both Brody and Pearce. Great performance with a chance to the prize.  
Coming back to the discussion of how different could supporting roles be: with more screen time than some main roles in others films it is again proof that a supporting role actor is just as flexible as any other. There is no secondary Oscar. 

Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown 

Credits: A Complete Unknown, a film by James Mangold

Timothee Chalamet is very beautiful. There is no second opinion about that. Let’s however, try to focus on his mentor. Someone who, as we know from a great interview, knows him very well. Despite a scarce appearance on screen, he still delivers a few great monologues and his key role in the last scene of the festival is obvious.  
In a biopic, it is generally very hard to be not the main one. It’s all revolves and centers on the idea of inspiration around the main character that blurs out everything else. Yet there is life around. Harder to appreciate we follow the stream and look at how well supporting actor of a biopic highlight the main guy. We look and judge.

Viktor Smolkin