On the Inevitable Category Fraud Debate Next Oscar Season

A dive into the inevitable debate next Oscar season over category placement.

So, I was going to do a watch list of the upcoming Oscar race for Best Supporting Actress. However, because it’s so early and a lot of the potential contenders haven’t been seen yet, meaning we don’t know which categories the actors in those pictures might be submitted in, I wanted to use the opportunity to talk about the discussion over category fraud and whether an actor is on screen enough for supporting acting contention that is inevitably going to take place.

Bradley Cooper as movie producer Jon Peters in “Licorice Pizza.” (United Artists Releasing)

Because it’s so commonplace for co-leads to be campaigned in Supporting Actor/Actress each season, it bars genuine supporting performances from making the cut to the degree where small screen time becomes considered a detriment to their nomination chances. For instance, we saw that this past season with Bradley Cooper in Licorice Pizza. Despite having about seven minutes of screen time, he still holds your attention each minute he appears in. But, as Variety Awards Editor Jenelle Riley wrote late last year, when talking with those who follow the Oscar race about his chances, there was one reason as to why he apparently couldn’t be nominated. That his role is too small or because he’s not in it enough.

When it comes to honoring supporting performances, the actor’s role being “too small” shouldn’t be a hindrance unless it’s a quick cameo. As a friend and I recently discussed, it’s not about how much screen time a supporting actor has. Instead, it’s about what the actor does with it. They can have one scene, two scenes, five scenes, or even seven minutes. Doesn’t really matter. If an actor leaves a grand impression within the constraints of their small role, then they did their job perfectly.

Ana de Armas as Bond Girl Paloma in “No Time to Die.” (United Artists Releasing)

For example, Ana de Armas had a fairly limited role as Bond Girl Paloma in No Time to Die. de Armas leaves such an indelible impression with her star charisma from the minute she enters the picture to her last that she leaves you wanting more. The fact that she still steals her one scene in a nearly three-hour picture proves, as previously noted, that it matters more what an actor does with their screen time rather than the amount they have.

Then again, one thing that complicates this debate is the performances that blur the line between Lead and Supporting like, for instance, the main acting quartet from Mass. Both Jason Isaacs and Martha Plimpton have the more primary arc. But because the entire film mostly features them, Ann Dowd, and Reed Birney in a room together, one could argue they’re all leads because of screen time or, because they’re all supporting each other, they were all justifiably campaigned in the Supporting categories.

Vincent Lindon as Vincent in “Titane.” (NEON)

There’s also one performance that even I’ve had some trouble with when it comes to category placement: Vincent Lindon in Titane. Even though he doesn’t appear until the picture’s second half, and does offer support for the main character, his character Vincent does have his own individual arc to go through. Because he does have his own B-side storyline, I personally have settled on him being a lead. Yet, because of screen time, I can understand the Supporting argument. If he actually were nominated in Supporting, it wouldn’t have been an “Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl”-level of category fraud.

When it comes to this upcoming season, we don’t know whether Leonardo DiCaprio and Jesse Plemons are being properly placed for their roles in the upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon. Also, even though She Said sounds like a clear two-hander, who knows if one half of the Carey Mulligan/Zoe Kazan duo will be pushed in Best Supporting Actress.

Too early to tell but because decisions like that one will potentially be made, before we praise a scene-stealing performance before saying the actor’s role is too small for Oscar contention or they’re not in it enough, let’s remember what the famed theatre director Konstantin Stanislavski once said:

“There are no small parts, only small actors.”

Now, I’ll toss it off to you. What do you think? Do you agree that’ll be a talking point this upcoming Oscar season? Please share your thoughts!