By Ane Howard
HOLLYWOOD,(RushPRnews/Hollywood Today) 02/22/09– Heath Ledger the favorite for a posthumous Oscar win for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his possessed performance as The Joker in “The Dark Knight”, his final note on the short well-lived score that was his life.
Nevertheless he will face some serious competition. Who could forget Robert Downey Jr’s hypnotic performance in “Tropic Thunder†as an white American actor playing an Australian actor playing a black man, so obsessed with academy recognition, that reality becomes completely blurred for the role? And funny to boot.
Michael Shannon seen in “Revolutionary Roadâ€is not a household name but should after this Oscars evening. He was brilliant and yes appropriately disturbing as a mental patient who sees thing, god-all-too-clearly and speaks his mind about it.
Philip Seymour Hoffman will be remembered for his subtle, and nuanced performance of a parish priest under suspicion for questionable behavior in “Doubt,†but then again, is he ever anything else but brilliant.
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
* Josh Brolin in “Milk†(Focus Features)
* Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder†(DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt†(Miramax)
* Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight†(Warner Bros.)
* Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road†(DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)