The Woody Awards: Best Supporting Actor

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
My Nominees:
Zach Galifianakis, The Hangover
Andrew Garfield, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Jackie Earle Haley, Watchmen
Zachary Quinto, Star Trek
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Oscar Nominees:
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Like Best Screenplay, this was a tough category to narrow down to five. There were a lot of really great supporting performances this year that didn't quite make my list - Mark Ruffalo in The Brothers Bloom, Anthony Mackie in The Hurt Locker, and Woody Harrelson in Zombieland, to name a few. But there can only be five nominees, and those nominees are:

Zach Galifianakis, The Hangover

The Oscars virtually never reward acting in comedy, but that doesn't mean that some of the best performances on film aren't comedic ones. In The Hangover, Zach Galifianakis creates a truly unique character and completely steals every scene he's in. As Alan, the awkward, socially inept, unwanted member of the group, Galifianakis plays it completely straight - rather than camping it up or being outrageous to the ridiculous extent that a lot of comedic actors would have in the role, he simply plays his character with wide-eyed honesty, as a truly weird guy who is totally oblivious to how bizarre the things he says and does are. And the fact that Galifianakis plays this hilarious character with such sincerity makes him all the funnier.

Andrew Garfield, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

In this very strange movie filled with very strange characters, Andrew Garfield's performance as Anton gives the audience someone to relate to. Anton's earnestness, both in his love for the Doctor's daughter Valentina and in his determination to keep the Doctor's failing sideshow afloat, give the story a dose of humanity. Garfield's performance creates a very believable and human character who is both sympathetic and relatable.

Jackie Earle Haley, Watchmen

Watchmen was a very flawed movie, but the one aspect of it which director Zach Snyder managed to get exactly right, the one ingredient which remained perfect for the entire three hours, the one element which very nearly salvaged the film (and did at least make it watchable), was the casting of Jackie Earle Haley as the vigilante Rorschach. Haley embodies the character so well that the fact that he spends about 90% of his screen time with his face completely obscured by a mask doesn't even matter. The gravelly growl with which he narrates from Rorschach's diary is spot-on, and he plays the character with exactly the right kind of energy and passion to make the audience wonder whether Rorschach is truly unstable, or merely extreme.

Zachary Quinto, Star Trek

Not a lot of people can pull off the correct balance it takes to re-create an iconic screen presence without falling into the trap of either straying too far from the original and failing to grasp the essence of the character or following the original too closely and creating nothing but a sad imitation of the original actor. But Zachary Quinto manages to take Spock, one of the most recognized and beloved screen characters in the world, and make him completely recognizable while also making him completely his own. He portrays perfectly the inner battle between Spock's emotional human side and his rational Vulcan side. His relationship and interplay with Chris Pine's James Kirk (another great performance) is extremely well-constructed, and a large part of what makes this movie such a pleasure to watch. Who would guess that this was Quinto's first major film role?

THE WINNER: CHRISTOPH WALTZ, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

Christoph Waltz's performance as SS Colonel Hans Landa is flawless. The character of Landa will undoubtedly take a place alongside Darth Vader and Hannibal Lecter as one of the greatest and most memorable villains in the history of cinema. And while that is thanks, in part, to Quentin Tarantino's superb writing, the real reason is the incredible conviction and energy with which Waltz brings Landa to life. Waltz's performance as the wildly charismatic yet deeply evil "Jew Hunter" is the force that drives the entire film. Waltz creates in Landa a character who, despite his apparent sophistication, intelligence, and geniality, is actually an unspeakable monster. In every scene he's in, Waltz generates a sense of foreboding, even when his character is performing seemingly innocuous acts such as smoking his pipe or eating strudel. He brings such an energy and realism to the character that it is often easy to forget that Landa is, in fact, a creation of Tarantino's imagination, and not a real historical figure. Tarantino has himself said that Landa may be the greatest character he's ever written, and he's probably right - but it wouldn't matter a bit if that character was not portrayed with the depth and complexity with which Waltz plays him.