OUTSTANDING LEAD
ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE
Again I'm leaning into the Limited Series part of
this though there is a strong chance Aaron Pierre will be among the honored for
his work in the film Rebel Ridge. That said there's an overwhelming
front runner and I think the question is who the other four nominees will be? I
will make my predictions:
Colin Farrell, The Penguin
At this point its essentially everyone knows
who's going to win in this category because there's only one remaining award
left for Farrell to win. He's already taken the Golden Globe, the Critics
Choice Award and the SAG Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series. He
prevailed in the race for the Astras in this category last month. I'm not even
sure if Batman showed up at the Emmys he could stop Colin Farrell for
prevailing.
Farrell has always been one of the great actors
of our time for nearly two decades and he wasn't a stranger to comic books
before he took on the role of the Penguin in Matt Reeves's film. But to say he
transformed into his work as Oz Cobb doesn't come close to the kind of
performance he gave. For all intents and purposes this was a crime drama set in
a comic book universe and we got to see one of the most frightening portrayals
of a villains origin story that no comic book writer has ever tried. Did anyone
consider a villain so warped he killed his brothers as a child and his mother
tried to sell him to the mob? Have we ever seen a man trying to be a man of the
people who was so clearly willing to climb over the bodies and the wreckage of
a city to get what we wanted? Oz made the kind of deals and manipulations that
Gus Fring would have admired and was as brutal a killer even at the level
beyond Tony Soprano or Al Swearengen. It was one of the horrifying portrayals,
capped with one of the most painful deaths of all.
Considering just how much fun it has been to
listen to Farrell give so many acceptance speeches over the last few months, he
will almost certainly overcome any stigma of the 'comic book' world for
prevailing here.
Stephen Graham, Adolescence
Despite the issues I have with this series being
ranked as one of the greatest limited series it doesn't extend to the actors. I
have a slight problem with Stephen Graham being considered a lead in this case,
considering he only appears in three of the four episodes and only really has a
present of any kind in the series finale. That said, having seen that last
episode where Eddie is essentially at the center I can't deny that he deserves
the recognition he gets.
As we follow Eddie months after his son has been indicted
and is waiting in pre-trial detention, we watch his family still dealing with
the fallout of everything that has happened. On his fiftieth birthday he sees
that his van has been graffitied, tries to go forward to get paint that will
cover up the sin and regale his family with a story of growing up. When they
get to the hardware story Eddie is recognized and quickly realizes the horrors
have followed him here and he reacts horridly. Then he hears Jamie call and
tell him he's decided to plead guilty. We watch as the family deals with the
repercussions and Eddie can't understand how he could have raised such a child
and what he did wrong all those years. And the image of him in grief at the end
is profoundly moving.
Graham will receive other nominations for his
work, both in direction and writing but he deserves recognition for his
incredibly well done performance.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Presumed Innocent
Gyllenhaal was nominated for both Golden Globes
and other awards in the early lead up the end of year awards but as other original
series have moved up in recognition, his work as Rusty fell somewhat by the wayside.
It shouldn't because it was by far one of the great performances in 2024.
Gyllenhaal was stepping into the shoes of
Harrison Ford's work in the classic movie and it's remarkable seeing what
didn't choose to do. Increasingly we saw a man who was more controlled by his
emotions, who constantly underestimated the evidence against him, whose rage
never went away and who kept thinking he could defeat Tommy Molto, a man he kept
underestimating too many times. That he managed to escape untouched by the law
was remarkable – but as the final minutes of the series unfolded, we realized
he will never truly escape the guilt of his actions and everything that he has
done that led to this horrible tragedy.
Gyllenhaal has always been one of our greatest
actors for more than a quarter of a century and in recent years he has become
incredibly skilled at both heroic and villainous characters. Even if you had
read the novel, his work made you question whether he was wrongfully accused or
whether he was lying even to himself. It's the kind of work that more than
deserves a nomination and in other years, would get the prize itself.
Cooper Koch, Monsters
Cooper Koch once thought he was borne to play
Erik Menendez. Watching him actually do so makes me realize why he might have thought so. At the start of the
series you see a man so mired in the guilt of what he has done that he is
considering suicide, whose sexuality is so buried he's not ready for what prison
can do, who seems to feel the greatest guilt of what happened. It is he who
raised the spectre of the horrendous abuse that befell him to his attorney.
One of the tour de force episodes of last year
was 'The Hurt Man' where Erik essentially delivers a monologue in a single take
revealing the nature of all of the years of molestation and abuse he and his
brother were subject to their entire lives. It is an absolute masterpiece and
you come away certain of his innocence – which is why in later episode he
astounds by watching him in flashbacks and making you question everything he's
told you. When things begin to turn against the brothers – in large part
because of his inept performance on the witness stand during the first trial –
we start to question how much of this is a façade.
Koch has already been nominated for a Golden Globe
and an Astra in this category for his work on this show and deservedly so. In
other years he would be a front runner but his performance is more than deserving
of recognition.
Kevin Kline, Disclaimer
At the end of 2024, it looked like one of the
frontrunners for Outstanding Limited Series would be Alfonso Cuaron's
adaptation of Disclaimer. This recognition seemed certain to go to its
lead actors: Kevin Kline and Cate Blanchett who were both nominated for Golden
Globes, Critics Choice Awards and SAG Awards. The last few months the buzz has
been disappearing: the show was completely shutout by the Astras for
nominations and with so many other exceptional limited series fighting it out
for nominations, it's not clear that the show will make the cut. The cast,
however, is likely to be considered and one of the major forces is one of the
greatest actors of all time: Kevin Kline.
As a widower who sends a novel to a celebrated
journalist that seems to know the darkest secrets of her entire life, Kline gets
to the play the kind of character he rarely got a chance to for much of his
career, someone who knows the deepest secrets of her life and is more than
willing to share them. Kline has been acting less frequently in the past decade:
this is first work in live action in three years and it is one of his most
layered and fascinating performances. Rarely known for his dramatic work this
one of his best performances and deserving of recognition.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Monsters
It's understandable why so much attention was
lavished on Cooper Kock for his work as Erik Menendez. But throughout the
entire series I was drawn far more to Chavez for his work as Lyle, which I
thought showed a far greater range.
Chavez's Lyle was the source of truly hysterical
comedy throughout the season, something because of his delusions about the fame
of the brothers, also because he had so much difficulty adjusting to prison
life particularly the need for dimes. He was superb as the alpha brother, the
man who seemed in charge all the time and who absolutely seemed to driving the
narrative. He was infinitely less sympathetic than Koch's work throughout,
which meant his story was more believable. But perhaps his greatest skill as a
performer came when Lyle took the stand and delivered such an intense monologue
that Dominick Dunne would come to their attorney and confessed he was no longer
certain of the complicity of the brothers. Not long after that we would learn
the depths of the lies that they had told going forward as well the level of
the delusion he held even as things turned against them.
If the category had room for six nominees Chavez
would make it in a heartbeat. But because there's only room for five there's an
excellent chance the Emmys will recognize Koch but ignore Chavez. They should
recognize both and I would definitely advocate for him.
Tomorrow I will move on to Outstanding Lead Actress
in a Limited Series/TV Movie and I might actually have a candidate from a movie
for it.
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