For Your Consideration: Jonah Hill, Best Supporting Actor

 There is no one other than Jared Leto that is winning the Oscar for Supporting Actor this year. This is the one category, save for Best Actress, that I feel confident that it is locked up. I recently re-watched Dallas Buyers Club, and I think it cemented in my head how amazing Jared Leto's performance was. The competition for Supporting Actor is not as strong as it normally is, but I cannot find a performance in it that I disliked. Barkhad Abdi, was fantastic in Captain Phillips, and like Lupita Nyong'o, it was his film debut. Michael Fassbender also gave a fierce performance, like the rest of his cast members, in 12 Years a Salve. His character is one you hate, which makes it hard for him to win. Bradley Cooper, another great supporting performance in American Hustle, turned in some more awesome work following his lead actor nomination last year. That leaves one more nominee, Jonah Hill in The Wolf of Wall Street. 

Say what you want about The Wolf of Wall Street. Tear the movie down for objectifying women, the usage of drugs and alcohol, the lying and scheming, the sexual content, or the 506 times the "f-word" was used and I would probably be on your side. There are just three things you cannot take from the movie: the brilliant performances, Martin Scorsese's fearless direction, and Terence Winter's no-holding-back screenplay. It is not a movie that makes you feel good, in fact, I thought of getting up and walking out of the theatre a couple of times, just to stand against the inappropriateness of the film. Every time the thought came in my head, the performances would shine through and I had to see what happened to the characters. I will likely never watch the movie again, and it is not a movie I would recommend. My mind though is still shocked at the range the actors went, and how Martin Scorsese can still surprise me in his direction. I just wanted to make these thoughts clear before I go any further in promoting Leonardo DiCaprio, and now Jonah Hill's astonishing work. 

Now on to Jonah Hill, who has been shocking everyone with his film choices over the past few years with Moneyball and his cameo in last year’s Django Unchained. Go back to circa 2006-2010, and I do not think anyone would have ever thought that Jonah Hill would ever give an award worthy performance. All he had to his name were teen/adult comedies and a couple of animated films, and then 2011 came along and there he was in Moneyball. He was nominated at every big award show for Supporting Actor for the film. Most people did not even know he could be a serious actor. From that moment on, he has continued with successful work. When it came time for The Wolf of Wall Street, no one really wanted to consider Hill's performance, many people wrote him off as not good enough or just completely underestimating his work. Not me. From the moment I saw the trailer I thought he would get nominated, and ever since, even after seeing Hill get left off of all the award nominations, I continued to advocate that he would get nominated. I was in the minority, but I proved to be right. I just could not understand The Academy not at least nominating him for such a performance: he does an accent, does something completely different in terms of depth in his acting, he is working with Leo and Scorsese, and when he is not on screen you want him to be. That is a prime example of a good supporting actor. 

You cannot deny the greatness of a performance when it is clear that without it in the movie, the movie feels incomplete. That is how much the movie depends on Hill. Like Leo's character, Hill's just wants a new luxurious life and will stop at nothing to have it. He plays Leo's best friend, and helps aid him through the whole movie. If ever there was someone who holds up the lead actor, that is what Hill does. You simply can't watch the movie and not be in awe of Hill, more so Leo, but Hill too. Hill pushed the plot further and further, and Leo's character would be nothing without Hill. Hill taps into a new realm of himself to pull this performance out of thin air. He goes back and forth between being comedic and dramatic, probably better than most actors, which is saying something huge for Hill. This is not anything that he has ever done before, and it is something I am glad the Academy, of all people, noticed. In a film that makes you feel gross about yourself and society, it is somehow refreshing to see Hill act. His recognition is deserved, and I do not care what anyone has to say against it. 

Had it been any other year, I believe Jonah Hill could have received a lot more recognition than what he has gotten for this performance. I am happy that the Academy saw what every awards group missed, and that was Jonah. I understand the high praise for Jared Leto, but that should not cause us to forget the other nominees. If Leto was not nominated, Barkhad Abdi would probably be the frontrunner, and that would be deserved as well. My whole point of these For Your Consideration posts is it to draw attention to performances like Hill's. He should at least be considered worthy of his nomination by those who have looked past him, and those who have already found him worthy should keep him in the discussion for Best Supporting Actor. He does more work in his time in The Wolf of Wall Street than most of the other nominees, and to me it shows. I hope Jonah Hill continues to impress people, and show the world and The Academy that he is a great actor!