HBO’s LGBT History Oscar Break: 1993 Supporting Acting Races
Wednesday, February 17, 2016 at 12:57PM
Manuel is working his way through all the LGBT-themed HBO productions.
Last week we looked at some of HBO’s period dramas to see how LGBT characters fared in ancient Rome, New York in the 1920s, and in the wild wild west. But now, we’re taking a two-week hiatus to play a game I like to call “Oscars What If…”
HBO has been producing great films for decades now and give or take an Elephant, they’ve been content to solely screen their made for TV movies on their network without any theatrical release. (Curiously, their documentary branch has been more eager to nab gold, understanding perhaps that statuettes can do wonders for that genre’s visibility). And, really, some years, you’re just left wondering how certain performances and films from HBO’s roster could have crashed that year’s Oscar race.
The two most obvious recent examples are Grey Gardens in 2009 and Behind the Candelabra in 2013 — the latter you’ll remember was actually eligible at the BAFTAs where Matt Damon scored a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Could they really have pushed Barrymore, Lange, Douglas, or Damon to a nomination? But those races remain much too recent, and have in themselves sparked the type of discussion in their respective comment threads that inspired me to take this detour as we focus on Oscar these weeks. And so, I went as far back as I could find a viable Oscar player which coincidentally features two also-ran nominees from this year.
I landed on Roger Spottiswoode’s And the Band Played On. Released in September 1993, the film, if we allow my fancy, would have joined the Oscar race that would see Spielberg’s Schindler’s List barrel its way to the win as Jonathan Demme's AIDS courtroom drama Philadelphia nabbed Tom Hanks his first Best Actor win. Seeing as the HBO AIDS drama has a sprawling cast, it’d have no doubt been one of those films that could have easily yielded a Supporting Actor or Actress nomination even if it hadn’t found much traction anywhere else. But who gets the MVP status? Awards-wise, the Globes went with the film’s ostensible lead, Matthew Modine, who was quite the hot commodity by the early 1990s, while the Emmys singled out Ian McKellen (not yet a household name), Alan Alda (a TV veteran), and Richard Gere (doing the A-list movie star slums it on TV before that was even a thing) on the actors side and Lily Tomlin (legend then, legend still) and Swoosie Kurtz (another TV regular) on the actress side. Could any of these have angled for a spot in 1993’s Supporting Acting races?
Best Supporting Actor
Tommy Lee Jones – The Fugitive
Leonardo DiCaprio – What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Ralph Fiennes – Schindler's List
John Malkovich – In the Line of Fire
Pete Postlethwaite – In the Name of the Father
Left outside looking in: Golden Globe nominee Sean Penn (Carlito’s Way), BAFTA nominee Ben Kingsley (Schindler's List), and perhaps Denzel Washington (Philadelphia) and Sam Neill (The Piano) whose films earned nods elsewhere and could easily have been coattail nominees.
Jones, Malkovich and Fiennes were pretty much locked into place with those final two spots going to a rare case of Oscar skewing young in a male actor category (DiCaprio) and embracing a character actor (Postlewaite) in a film the Academy liked very much (7 Oscar noms). As for who Oscar might have welcomed from Spottiswoode’s film, my bet would have been on Gere (his involvement was instrumental in getting the film made and he was playing A Chorus Line’s Michael Bennett in all but name) but we all know how Oscar feels about pretty leading men in their prime in non-baitey roles. Alda would come next, but then TV actors usually need showier roles to be in the conversation (see Alda’s own The Aviator nomination). Perhaps McKellen could have made a play — he has the meatiest role of the three — but I wonder if Band would have paled in comparison to that other AIDS movie that year. Wouldn’t it have been amazing to see McKellen nominated for playing a gay character six years before he’d accomplish that same feat with Gods and Monsters?
Best Supporting Actress
Anna Paquin - The Piano
Holly Hunter - The Firm
Rosie Perez - Fearless
Winona Ryder - The Age of Innocence
Emma Thompson - In the Name of the Father
(In case you're wondering, yes, this lineup has been the subject of the always entertaining Supporting Actress Smackdown)
Left outside looking in: NYFCC’s runner-up Jennifer Jason Leigh (Short Cuts) & winner Gong Li (Farewell My Concubine), Golden Globe nominee Penelope Ann Miller (Carlito’s Way), BAFTA nominee Miriam Margolyes (The Age of Innocence) and NSFC’s winner Madeleine Stowe (Short Cuts).
As you can see, the Actress category had more names swirling around with only Paquin and Ryder looking like locks in hindsight, which means Tomlin and/or Kurtz could have found some traction. Tomlin’s presence in Short Cuts would have no doubt helped her momentum. And how great would it have been to see Tomlin nab her second Oscar nomination for such an LGBT-friendly role? As for who she could/might have knocked off, well that’s a bit harder to suss out. It’s such a great lineup as is that I only feel okay suggesting Hunter would have likely been left off seeing as her win over at the Best Actress category was all but inevitable.
Next Week: We try to suss out whether another low-key but beautifully acted HBO film could have nabbed nominations for its once Oscar favorite leading lady and her on-screen partner who paved the way for the Redmaynes and the Tambors of the 2010s.
What do you think? Think this starry ensemble cast could have crashed one or both of these categories?
Reader Comments (25)
I would have give Moore her first nom for Short Cuts,you left her off and she got an indie nod.
the full frontal scene: Moore for the win!
I said this on another thread once -- 1993 is one of the strongest Supporting Actor lineups maybe ever... and I don't even think Jones should be on it. Add Denzel for sure.
For Supporting Actress, ditch Hunter in The Firm and add Moore or Leigh from Short Cuts.
The 1993 acting races were so quality. I don't remember And the Band Played On well but I'm all for more noms for Ian McKellen and Lily Tomlin who are both such unique enduring talents.
Strange that Richard Gere could never make it work for an Oscar nom because he certainly tried.
My shoulda been in '93 will always be GONG LI and Christina Ricci who I true fact think was Oscar worthy in Addams Family Values -- such presence and so absolutely precise a characterization and so goddamn funny. I've never understood the hype around Julianne in Short Cuts truth be told. It's like being naked really does make you stick in the memory. Y'all know how much I love Julianne Moore but Madeleine Stowe was hands down the most fascinating performance in that movie and I think she was naked too, posing for Moore?
Imagine an all Short Cuts lineup..
Lily Tomlin, Short Cuts
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Short Cuts
Madeleine Stowe, Short Cuts
Julianne Moore, Short Cuts
Frances McDormand, Short Cuts
Fiennes was the most deserving. He nailed it and lost to yet another old timer winning for sentimental reasons. Not that Jones wasn't deserving of a nomination (think Eyes of Laura Mars) but Fiennes blew them all away.
I saw And the Band Played On somewhat recently on HBO, it's kind of all over the place. I remember Richard Gere being in it for around 4 minutes, and his character didn't even have a name. I was confused why he was nominated for an Emmy. Maybe it was because he was a movie star and that wasn't really a thing back then for movie stars to do. No way he would be nominated. McKellan and Alda maybe. McKellan was a respected stage actor in a baity role, I think he would have been nominated. He also won the CableACE. Not sure about Tomlin or Kurtz. I don't even remember Kurtz in that film.
I'd like to think that both Behind the Candelabra and Grey Gardens would have been in play, especially Grey Gardens. I wouldn't hate it if Lange and Barrymore knocked out Mirren and Gyllenhaal in their respective category.
Ryan -- we mustn't speak of Grey Gardens. Such a missed opportunity. the last chance for Drew to continue the Oscar history of the Barrymores.
the cableAce awards god. barely remember those.
LimbsKing: An all Short Cuts lineup would have been pretty much all I wanted (and in supporting actor too) when I was teenaged - but I'm in love with Rosie and Winona, and support the Paquin win, so now I'd be happy with two. And Jack Lemmon should have been an easy get among the men.
I was SO obsessed with this movie at the time, and Oscar nomination day was all about finding out who would get nominated from it. My very first Oscar disappointment. It's funny, at the time, I would have predicted Andie MacDowell because a) I had no idea how anything worked and b) she has the big gut-wrenching scene in the bakery and I figured that was the kind of thing that nominations were made from.
I should've known I was gonna leave someone big in my discussion though the Indie Spirits probably had less sway back then than the critical prizes. Oh that the SAG awards had already been a thing; surely Altman's film might have found some love there?
Ryan! Are you really suggesting category fraud for Barrymore? Or Lange? :P Tsk tsk
Overall, it's hard to find fault with these lineups right? Also, it makes me want to watch In the Name of the Father (which Saoirse Ronan name-checked in her recent Time Out NY interview) because how is it I've gone so long without seeing Thompson and Day Lewis in the same film?
Patryk: Jones wasn't exactly an old-timer - he was only in his forties! (...says someone in their forties...)
Barrymore would have gone lead & Lange supporting i think.
This is crazy but I love it! I could see Swoosie Kurtz getting a nod. Her storyline was devastating.
PS Malcolm X is his milestone but Philadelphia is probably my fav Denzel ever.
If Drew Barrymore went supporting for Grey Gardens, she would've actually given Mo'Nique some competition that year, I think. Yes Mo'Nique's performance was undeniable, but also because there was no performance really near her level at all that year.
And if she went lead, she would've given Sandra some competition. America's 90's RomCom sweethearts...would've been interesting.
Sad Drew didn't capitalize on the success of that movie, but it seems she just doesn't really have the passion anymore. She's happy being a mother.
Val Kilmer (Tombstone) and Andie McDowell (Short Cuts) were also left outside looking
Mirko -- ugh. VAL KILMER was so good in Tombstone. And that's coming from someone who hated the movie.
I thought And the Band Played On was far more involving than the preachy Philadelphia. Just looking at all the mentioned contenders in that film, they all did good work but Ian McKellan was the only one with a role that I think would have caught the Academy's attention.
Gere's nod I think was more an acknowledgement of his passion for the project and his willingness to use his star power to get it made.
Lily is fierce as Selma Dritz but both she and Swoosie who is very, very affecting in her brief scene (but it's only one scene-a tough sell) don't have enough screen time to really snag a nom, even in a race where all but one of the nominees (Paquin's a co-lead) were actual supporting performances.
This post certainly makes me wonder what kind of nomination count ANGELS IN AMERICA would have received up against the 2003 Oscar nominees 10 years later.
What about Phil Collins?!?
(no, that would never happen because... just no)
The Life and Death of Peter Sellars is another HBO movie that got an international release (not just England, but Australia got that and Candelabra in cinemas, too).
I just think they would have separated Lange and Barrymore! But yeah, a missed opportunity.
Fiennes should have won in '93, then Jones could have won for Lincoln a few years ago over Christoph Waltz in Django. Anyone who fights me on this is wrong.
@Ryan - you are so right about your Supporting Actor shoulda-beens.
My shoulda been in '93 will always be GONG LI and Christina Ricci who I true fact think was Oscar worthy in Addams Family Values -- such presence and so absolutely precise a characterization and so goddamn funny.
FINALLY, someone who thinks Ricci should've nominated! Such a fun and exciting performance.
Ryan, you're not quite right. ;-)
Based on the nominees, Tommy Lee should have won for '91 and Leo for '93; Fiennes should have won Best Actor for '96 and Philip Seymour Hoffman should have won over Waltz for '12.
The 2009 BA line-up was lame. If Grey Gardens was released in theatre, I've no doubt Barrymore wld've won all the best actress accolades. Sorry Bullock, but The Blind Side wld made a better home movie...Ironic isn't it??? Lol
Paul Outlaw: Lerner's probably the best of the 1991 set. I'd agree someone from JFK should have won, but not Jones, Sutherland. (I'd rank the supporting work in JFK like so: Sutherland, Oldman, Candy, Bacon, Pesci, Lee Jones, Lemmon, Asner, Rooker, O. Sanders, Kirkland, Spacek, Knight, D'Onofrio, Metcalf.)