The partner post to yesterday’s Best of the Best Actress nominees was both easier and harder to rank. Easier because it’s no secret that great roles for leading males are more prevalent than those for lead females — more often better written, in movies that are better produced. And harder because the sheer number of outstanding male performances over the past 20 years makes it much tougher to narrow the field to 25. So I couldn’t and didn’t; the actors ranking expands to 35 films. Herewith, my highly subjective and perversely personal favorites:
- 1989 – Daniel Day-Lewis – My Left Foot
- 1993 – Tom Hanks – Philadelphia
- 1997 – Robert Duvall – The Apostle
- 1998 – Ian McKellen – Gods and Monsters
- 1991 – Anthony Hopkins – The Silence of the Lambs
- 2004 – Leonardo DiCaprio – The Aviator
- 2005 – Heath Ledger – Brokeback Mountain
- 1994 – Morgan Freeman – The Shawshank Redemption
- 1993 – Daniel Day-Lewis – In the Name of the Father
- 2007 – Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises
- 1992 – Clint Eastwood – Unforgiven
- 1990 – Jeremy Irons – Reversal of Fortune
- 2002 – Daniel Day-Lewis – Gangs of New York
- 2007 – Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
- 2003 – Sean Penn – Mystic River
- 2008 – Sean Penn – Milk
- 1992 – Robert Downey, Jr. – Chaplin
- 1989 – Tom Cruise – Born on the Fourth of July
- 2006 – Forest Whitaker – The Last King of Scotland
- 1995 – Sean Penn – Dead Man Walking
- 2008 – Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
- 2002 – Adrien Brody – The Pianist
- 1999 – Russell Crowe – The Insider
- 2005 – Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote
- 2001 – Will Smith – Ali
- 2001 – Denzel Washington – Training Day
- 2006 – Ryan Gosling – Half Nelson
- 2005 – Terrence Howard – Hustle & Flow
- 1991 – Robert De Niro – Cape Fear
- 2000 – Javier Bardem – Before Night Falls
- 1993 – Anthony Hopkins – The Remains of the Day
- 1994 – John Travolta – Pulp Fiction
- 2003 – Bill Murray – Lost in Translation
- 1998 – Edward Norton – American History X
- 1996 – Woody Harrelson – The People vs. Larry Flynt
I thought I’d have more trouble weighing the greatest of greats against each other, but it was surprising simple — because I can be shockingly ruthless and arbitrary. Like everyone of you, I know what I like. I know in snap what moves me and what feels false. Putting the Best Actor victors in order of preference required me to do moderately more chin-stroking than I did with the Best Actress winners. But that was no trouble. I had a free hand because I didn’t have to hold my nose as much.
- 1989 – Daniel Day-Lewis – My Left Foot
- 1993 – Tom Hanks – Philadelphia
- 1991 – Anthony Hopkins – The Silence of the Lambs
- 1990 – Jeremy Irons – Reversal of Fortune
- 2007 – Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
- 2003 – Sean Penn – Mystic River
- 2008 – Sean Penn – Milk
- 2006 – Forest Whitaker – The Last King of Scotland
- 2002 – Adrien Brody – The Pianist
- 2005 – Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote
- 2001 – Denzel Washington – Training Day
- 1996 – Geoffrey Rush – Shine
- 2000 – Russell Crowe – Gladiator
- 1999 – Kevin Spacey – American Beauty
- 2004 – Jamie Foxx – Ray
- 1995 – Nicolas Cage – Leaving Las Vegas
- 1997 – Jack Nicholson – As Good as It Gets
- 1994 – Tom Hanks – Forrest Gump
- 1992 – Al Pacino – Scent of a Woman
- 1998 – Roberto Benigni – Life Is Beautiful
It was interesting (for me at least) to find only half the actual Oscar-winning performances made it onto my individual honor roll of roles. Half the certified winners are overshadowed in my eyes by nominees that were inexplicably passed over. That’s the same 50/50 ratio of me agreeing/disagreeing with the Academy that shook out in the same process of elimination with Best Actress nominees yesterday.
Glean from that what you will, but I know what it tells me. It’s a reminder of the internal conflicts we’re all up against whenever we try to match our own tastes and desires against 5500 strangers who are quite a bit stranger than most of the strangers we’ll never know. It tells me that I only halfway approve of anything the Academy does — and it’s fair to assume most of them would approve of what I do even less than that.
Yesterday, the best part of the comments was hearing the names of actresses that never even got a nomination over the past two decades. I hope you guys come up with the same lists of crazy snubs today.
