Robert Downey, Jr. just won his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the movie “Oppenheimer.” He joked about thanking his tough childhood and the Academy as he accepted the award. This is his third time being nominated for an Oscar.
In “Oppenheimer,” Downey plays a character named Lewis Strauss, who is trying to become the Commerce Secretary many years after the atomic bomb was made. While Downey’s performance is great, his part in the movie isn’t as important as other parts. Some people think his storyline isn’t as interesting as the main story about Oppenheimer building the bomb.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph also won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She plays Mary, a cook in the movie “The Holdovers.” Even though Mary’s character isn’t written very well in the script, Randolph’s acting brings her to life.
These two wins make us think about what the Best Supporting categories really mean. Do they reward great acting, or do they reward how well the performance supports the main story? The Academy has had a hard time deciding.
The Supporting categories can be tricky because they’re not clearly defined. Sometimes actors are nominated in the wrong category. For example, Robert Downey, Jr. was nominated in 2009 for “Tropic Thunder,” even though his role was controversial because he wore blackface makeup. The Oscars allow actors to choose which category they want to be in, and the voters decide individually where each performance belongs.
Sometimes, studios try to game the system by entering actors who are actually in lead roles into the Supporting category. This happened with the movie “The Favourite” in 2018, where three leading actresses were entered into the Supporting category to avoid splitting the vote.
On the other hand, some Supporting nominees barely appear in the movie. For example, Hermione Baddeley was nominated for just two minutes of screen time in 1959, and Beatrice Straight won for six minutes in 1977. Judi Dench famously won for only eight minutes of screen time in 1999.
But sometimes, even a short performance can make a big impact. Viola Davis was nominated for about eight minutes of screen time in “Doubt” in 2008, and her performance is still remembered as one of the best.
What matters most in the Supporting categories is the impact the performance has on the story, not how much screen time the actor gets. Da’Vine Joy Randolph succeeded in “The Holdovers,” but some argue that Robert Downey, Jr. didn’t have as much impact in “Oppenheimer.”
Robert Downey, Jr. is a talented actor who deserves an Oscar, but some people think it’s strange that he won for this particular role.
