Was it inevitable that Robin Williams would triumph at the Academy Awards?:
In addition to three previous nominations in Best Actor and being a beloved industry titan at the time, he was also only one of two Supporting Actors from Best Picture nominees, the other being As Good As It Gets' Greg Kinnear, at the time best known as the host for E!'s Talk Soup, for which he won two Daytime Emmys. L.A. Confidential and Titanic were better represented in the actress categories. And while The Full Monty won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast (or Best Ensemble, as some call it), none of its individual performers were ever able to gain a foothold in the awards race; only the BAFTAs, as one might expect, nominated Mark Addy and Tom Wilkinson, with the latter winning in a category that also included Rupert Everett for My Best Friend's Wedding (also a Golden Globe nominee) and Burt Reynolds for Boogie Nights (the only one of the nominees below so honored by the Brits). Reynolds found himself in the unfamiliar position of being the critics' pick all season, but while Boogie Nights was called his big comeback, Reynolds hated the movie: he fired his agent and publicly dismissed writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson and his experience working on it. The category's other big comeback story, Robert Forster, had a better time with Jackie Brown, praising his experience and crediting it with revitalizing his career (even on Wikipedia, his bio has a section called "Career Slump" before one labeled "Jackie Brown").
The performances, as I rank 'em:
5. Greg Kinnear as Simon Bishop
As Good As It Gets
only nomination; National Board of Review's Best Supporting Actor of 1997; Golden Globe nominee for Best Supporting Actor, SAG Awards nominee for Best Supporting Actor
Well, the main question with any of these performances is, "Do I believe it?" Do I believe Greg Kinnear is a sensitive artist with a sometimes impish sense of humor who tries his best with people who don't like him and is scarred by the rejection of his parents? Sure! He makes a consistent character out of an unevenly written one.
4. Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams
Amistad
past winner, fourth of six nominations; Golden Globe nominee for Best Supporting Actor, SAG Awards nominee for Best Supporting Actor
It's no one-scene wonder. Hopkins (and Spielberg and writer David Franzoni) lay the groundwork by presenting an ancient, intelligent, somewhat bored Adams, politics and law are old habits rather than occupations, yet there's firmness in his speech, a look in his eye that's engaged even as the rest of him disguises his interest. And then it all culminates in that powerful oration, the film's climax.
3. Burt Reynolds as Jack Horner
Boogie Nights
only nomination; Golden Globe winner for Best Supporting Actor, LAFCA Awards winner for Best Supporting Actor, NYFCC Awards winner for Best Supporting Actor; BAFTA Awards nominee for Best Supporting Actor, SAG Awards nominee for Best Supporting Actor and Best Ensemble
When Reynolds as Jack tells you he's an artist, you believe him. He's not just selling you on himself and his business - he's certainly doing that, too, charming you, seducing you, you have something he wants and he knows just how to entice you into giving it - but he believes it is all in service of his art. No one can do what he does, he can spot a star and nurture that talent til they...think they did it all themselves. Hm. Reynolds treats Horner with the gravitas of an auteur, no doubt pulling from men he has known in the industry for decades. Grounding the character makes the laugh lines hit harder (I'm thinking specifically of his solemn delivery of, "Aim it at her tits.").
2. Robin Williams as Dr. Sean Maguire
Good Will Hunting
fourth and final nomination; SAG Awards winner for Best Supporting Actor; Golden Globe nominee for Best Supporting Actor, SAG Awards nominee for Best Ensemble
Feels like he went deep with this one, soft-spoken but full of the same coiled rage that allows him to both butt heads with and get through to Will. The difference is, he's old enough to know where that rage is coming from and how to handle it healthily. For the most part. All that seeps through in his performance, the anger and the empathy, the genuine care that brings him to the seismic emotional shift that is, "It's not your fault."
1. Robert Forster as Max Cherry
Jackie Brown
only nomination
You feel like you're watching Max Cherry, a middle-aged man who's been doing his job too long who finds something he wasn't even looking for with the arrival of Jackie Brown. His chemistry with Pam Grier crackles, why didn't they make 100 movies as love interests? He's calm even when he's doubtful, alarmed, suspicious, keeping everything close, the product of a lifetime spent sizing people and situations up (watch his eyes). He makes it look so effortless. What a great performance.
Next time, the nominees for Best Actor: Matt Damon (Good Will Hutning), Robert Duvall (The Apostle), Peter Fonda (Ulee's Gold), Dustin Hoffman (Wag the Dog), and Jack Nicholson (As Good As It Gets).
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