And now let us praise Best Supporting Actress/Actor nominees
-
- January
- 22
The list of 2008 Oscar nominees was announced this morning and, at first, I was fearing the worst: A giant goose egg for the Lower Hudson Valley. Scarsdale’s Aaron Sorkin was shut out of the Best Adapted Screenplay category, Larchmont resident Ang Lee and his film “Lust Caution” didn’t make the Best Foreign Language film crop, and Mount Vernon hometown hero Denzel Washington wasn’t there in any way, shape, or form.
But then a ray of sunshine. Two, in fact.
The first was Ruby Dee, a longtime New Rochelle resident, who was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as Denzel’s slap-happy momma in “American Gangster.” Granted, she’s only onscreen for about five minutes, tops, but it was easily one of the most surprising and riveting moments in the film. I’m not sure I like her odds against Cate Blanchett (for her role in “I’m Not There”) or Tilda Swinton (“Michael Clayton”), but if the Oscar results are any bit as bizarre and unpredictable as the Golden Globes, who knows.
The other nominee may not technically be a LoHud native, but he’s performed on nearby Connecticut theater stages his whole life. And, more importantly, Hal Holbrook’s nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category was just about the most happy-making thing to come out of this morning’s ceremony. As you many have noticed before, I’m a huge fan of Holbrook’s performance in “Into the Wild.” Not embarrased to say it was the only movie of the year that brought me to tears. And honestly, watching the Chris McCandless character (played by Emile Hirsh) bond with Holbrook’s elderly widower, Ron Franz, and then abandon him, I cried a lot. It wasn’t the showiest role of the year, and not the most screentime either (Holbrook doesn’t show up until 3/4 into the movie), but it was extraordinarily tender. Part of that, I learned from this EW profile of Holbrook, was because the actor went through much the same experience with his own son, who apparently also had a chronic case of wanderlust. Fortunately, he didn’t end up the same way as McCandless, and the two ultimately reconciled, but the hurt and pain of the experience comes through in the performance in a deeply moving way. Even Javier Bardem (who I also loved) said the same. As he put it to EW, ”[It] was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. It broke me into pieces.’’
UPDATE: Just learned of one other local nominee. Cynthia Wade, who grew up in Croton, is in the running for the Best Documentary (short subject) for her film “Freeheld.” Go Cynthia!
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 9:46 am by Ted Mann.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
| 
Click here to check out Suburbarazzi's Star Map
