Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009: Results

5. Christian McKay in Me and Orson Welles - McKay recreates Orson Welles effectively unfortunately the film fails to give him the opportunity to truly delve into the man.

Best Scene: Welles's outburst on stage.

4. Nicholas Tse in Bodyguards and Assassins - A fairly simple and small role, but Tse makes his character very endearing and in turn makes his final scene very moving.

Best Scene: Si tries to slow the assassin down.

3. Michael Fassbender in Fish Tank- Fassbender combines the right amount of sleaze and charm to his character, although this is not his best performance from 2009.

Best Scene: Connor takes advantage of Mia.

2. Peter Capaldi in In The Loop - Capaldi gives a extremely entertaining and properly intense performance as the foul mouthed fixer Malcolm Tucker. Every scene he is in is a treat, and when the film asks a little more of him Capaldi is more than up to the task.

Best Scene: Malcolm's introduction. 

1. Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Watchmen- Good Predictions Koook and Kevin. The film adaptation of Watchmen did not get everything right but one thing it did which was genius was casting Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian. The Comedian is a complex character and Morgan does not simplify any aspect of him. He gives a powerful performance that is unflinching in the realization of a brute, but also manages to believably allow the man some charm with a semblance of a soul somewhere in him.

Best Scene: The Watchmen's meeting.

Overall Ranking:

1. Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds
2. Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Watchmen
3. Jackie Earle Haley in Watchmen
4. Peter Capaldi in In The Loop
5. Michael Fassbender in Inglorious Basterds
6. August Diehl in Inglorious Basterds
7. Tom Hollander in In The Loop
8. Robert Duvall in The Road
9. Michael Fassbender in Fish Tank
10. Denis Menochet in Inglourious Basterds
11. Timothy Spall in The Damned United
12. Paul Higgins in In The Loop
13. Nicholas Tse in Bodyguards and Assassins
14. Woody Harrelson in Zombieland
15. David Rasche in In The Loop
16. Christian McKay in Me and Orson Welles
17. Fred Melamed in A Serious Man
18. Woody Harrelson in The Messenger
19. Michael Gambon in The Half-Blood Prince
20. Steve Buscemi in The Messenger
21. John Malkovich in The Great Buck Howard 
22. Billy Crudup in Public Enemies 
23. Richard Sammel in Inglorious Basterds
24. Michael K. Williams in The Road
25. Peter Sarsgaard in An Education
26. Wang Xueqi in Bodyguards and Assassins
27. Mark Strong in Sherlock Holmes
28. Jim Broadbent in The Half-Blood Prince 
29. Daniel Bruhl in Inglourious Basterds
30. James Gandolfini in In The Loop
31. Sam Shepard in Brothers
32. Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes
33. Alan Rickman in The Half-Blood Prince
34. Val Kilmer in Bad Lieutenant 
35. Donnie Yen in Bodyguards and Assassins
36. Karl Urban in Star Trek
37. Colm Meaney in The Damned United
38. Zach Woods in In The Loop
39. Tom Felton in The Half-Blood Prince
40. Shea Whigham in Bad Lieutenant 
41. Brad Pitt in Inglourious Basterds
42. Chris Addison in In The Loop
43. Brad Dourif in Bad Lieutenant 
44. Robbie Coltrane in The Half-Blood Prince
45. Matt Damon in Invictus
46. Liev Schreiber in X-Men Origins: Wolverine
47. Xzibit in Bad Lieutenant
48. Guy Pearce in The Road
49. David James in District 9
50. Jason Bateman in State of Play
51. Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
52. Steve Coogan in In The Loop
53. Mengke Bateer in Bodyguards and Assassins
54. Scott Bakula in The Informant!
55. B.J. Novak in Inglourious Basterds 
56. Simon Pegg in Star Trek
57. Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
58. Patrick Wilson in Watchmen
59. Ben Affleck in State of Play
60. Liam Cunningham in Harry Brown
61. Alfred Molina in An Education
62. Eric Bana in Star Trek 
63. David Thewlis in The Half-Blood Prince
64. Til Schweiger in Inglourious Basterds
65. Oliver Platt in 2012
66. Danny Huston in X-Men Origins: Wolverine
67. Ben Cross in Star Trek 
68. Tom Hanks in The Great Buck Howard
69. Gedeon Burkhard in Inglourious Basterds
70. Eric Tsang in Bodyguards and Assassins
71. Richard Kind in A Serious Man
72. Zhang Hanyu in Bodyguards and Assassins 
73. J.K. Simmons in Up in the Air
74. Robert Duvall in Crazy Heart
75. Christian Bale in Public Enemies
76. Stephen Lang in Avatar
77. Billy Crudup in Watchmen 
78. Michael Imperioli in The Lovely Bones
79. Eddie Marsan in Me and Orson Welles
80. Wang Po-chieh in Bodyguards and Assassins
81. Leon Lai in Bodyguards and Assassins
82. Gary Oldman in A Christmas Carol
83. Rupert Grint in The Half-Blood Prince
84. Hu Jun  in Bodyguards and Assassins
85. Mike Myers in Inglourious Basterds
86. Jason Bateman in Up in the Air
87. Colin Farrell in Crazy Heart
88. Paul Giamatti in The Last Station
89. Colin Firth in A Christmas Carol
90. Jonah Hill in Funny People
91. James Tupper in Me and Orson Welles
92. Woody Harrelson in 2012
93. Ben Chaplin in Me and Orson Welles
94. Leo Bill in Me and Orson Welles
95. Nicholas Hoult in A Single Man
96. Geoffrey Arend in 500 Days of Summer
97. Robert Wisden in Watchmen
98. Eli Roth in Inglourious Basterds
99. Matthew Goode in Watchmen
100. Anton Yelchin in Star Trek

Next Year: 1961 Lead

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Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009: Nicholas Tse in Bodyguards and Assassins

Nicholas Tse did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Deng "Si" Sidi in Bodyguards and Assassins.

Bodyguards and Assassins tells the story of democratic revolutionary Sun Yat-Sen and his followers attempt to stave off assassination. The film is many things in that it is telling a real story yet has the purposefully stylistic action scenes. It is shaped into two halves one that basically introduces all of the bodyguards of Sun and their back stories, then the second half is a long haul as assassins attack the bodyguards who are defending Sun. In turn it is a bit of a mixed bag as the first half is a bit crowded, but the second half quite entertaining and effective.

Nicholas Tse plays one of the followers of Sun who drives a rickshaw and seems to be friends with pretty much everyone. Si is a relatively simple part in the first half as Si is just a lighter part there for a little comic relief and pleasantness among all the fighting and death. Well Tse certainly fulfills this duty as he is incredibly endearing in every scene he is in. He just has this warmth and energy in these scenes that he makes Si quite likable. Tse very skillfully plays the part making sure that Si never becomes precocious, but rather just earns Si's whole bright demeanor. His screen time is relatively scattered but he does a good job of making himself known whenever he is on screen with his enjoyable presence that does well to make the proceedings seem a bit less bleak.

The second half of the film basically is when every bodyguard takes their turn protecting the decoy Sun  used to distract the assassins. In turn each of the bodyguards get their own very dramatic death scene as they sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Si is not exactly a bodyguard really rather he is just driving the rickshaw that the fake Sun is hiding in. For most of the journey though Tse is very moving in his portrayal of Si's reactions to the deaths of his compatriots as well as seeing one of his friends taking up the dangerous job as the fake Sun. Tse role is still relatively simple but he makes the most of basically every quick reaction shot he is allowed, bringing a great deal poignancy to each moment of the gauntlet.

Eventually the numbers are thinned to such an extent that Si himself must attempt to stop the head assassin even though he is obviously not a fighter, and certainly is no match for the man. All Si really can do is grab the man's leg in his futile attempt to stop him and Tse makes the scene very affecting because of how much passion he puts in the moment, and Si's sacrifice is truly felt. It only makes it more heartbreaking because of how much he made you care about Si before this point. This is a fairly simple performance and because of the large ensemble nature of the film his screen time is brief. Tse more than fulfills the needs of the part though and even with those limitations  he manages to give a good performance that manages to be one of the most memorable aspects of the film.

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Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009

And the Nominees Were Not:

Michael Fassbender in Fish Tank

Michael Fassbender in Inglorious Basterds

August Diehl in Inglorious Basterds

Peter Capaldi in In The Loop

Christian McKay in Me and Orson Welles

Nicholas Tse in Bodyguards and Assassins

Jackie Earle Haley in Watchmen

Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Watchmen

For the Prediction Contest:

Fassbender in Fish Tank

Capaldi

McKay

Tse

Morgan

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