Is the Oscar Best Supporting Actor category going to boil down to Philip Seymour Hoffman against Heath Ledger? Warner Bros. has just confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that they are 100% going to campaign Ledger’s enthralling Joker performance for Best Supporting Actor and not Best Actor as some had suggested they might (smart, the other wouldn’tve been a good look).
None of us have seen “Doubt,” yet (the PSH film), but Ledger probably still has the edge, for the sympathy vote at the very least. Seymour Hoffman plays a Priest who diddles kids in “Doubt” and that might be a difficult award to hand over. Well, Jamie Foxx is out of the game now thanks to “The Soloist” push (we figured this one wasn’t quite Oscar worthy; though perhaps schmaltz worthy) effectively telling us that the studio didn’t have much faith in its chances. And Kodi Smit-McPhee, the kid from “The Road,” might be out of the mix too.
That doesn’t leave a lot, but we’re betting Josh Brolin or Emile Hirsch could nab a spot from “Milk.” Vulture picks Michael Sheen from “Frost/Nixon” but he might have enough screen time for Best Actor (and we think that’s already been suggested). InContention has Michael Shannon from “Revolutionary Road,” but he looks so much like a young Angus MacInnes from “Strange Brew,” that we think this will have to work against him in some manner.
We haven’t put too much thought into it, but surely PSH and Ledger are the favorites to earn nominations. But with Fox and McPhee out of the game (and the latter mighta been a stretch), the game has changed. Frankly, the game has changed for almost every category now, aside from the women (which is almost locked down, that’s another piece). Hey, how about Eddie Marsan from “Happy Go Lucky“? Hell, he was as good as Ledger. En Ra Ha!
