October 10, 2004

Oscar nominations missed
Bob Praz

The "problem" with the Lord of the Rings is that there isn’t really any actor that particularly stands out: the entire cast was just flawless, and worked best as an ensemble. That’s why, perhaps, LOTR has so few nominations in the acting categories, because no specific actor drew attention to himself more than others. If the Oscars had a "Best Ensemble Cast" category, than LOTR would definitely have won two or three times in that.

Anyhow, if I did have to choose, I think Sir Ian McKellen should have received an Oscar when he was nominated for FOTR, and I would also have nominated him for ROTK. I say that because in both cases (but especially in FOTR, because it was the first time), Sir Ian delivered a brilliant and wonderful performance for a character that is extremely difficult to bring to life, because Gandalf is both unique and yet archetypal. I think both Elijah and Sean Astin were worthy of nomination in ROTK, as they were they were truly the emotional and dramatic pillar of that movie. Also, I simply adore Bernard Hill as Théoden, but his role may not have been relatively important enough to be considered even for best supporting actor.