Recognition for Downey Jr. and Jenkins

Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus as Sgt. Osiris in Tropic Thunder (NY Daily News)

As pre­dicted here back in August, Robert Downey Jr has been nom­in­ated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his fant­ast­ic work in Tropic Thunder. He won’t win it, of coure, for the simple reas­on that act­ors nom­in­ate act­ors but the entire Academy then votes for the win­ner. Actors know how amaz­ing that Tropic Thunder per­form­ance is – the tech­nic­al abil­ity, the con­trol, the detail – but when the entire Academy votes sen­ti­ment will trump everything and Heath Ledger will romp home. But I stand by my opin­ion – Downey Jr’s was the best per­form­ance I saw last year in anything.

I’m also pleased to see Richard Jenkins get a nod for The Visitor. I was lucky enough to inter­view him last year for the Capital Times and he was a delight – mod­est, charm­ing and generous.