Lead vs. Supporting Conundrums: 2024 Edition

January 13, 2025

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Respect. (CREDIT: Golden Globes/Screenshot)

You may have noticed that trophies are being handed out more than usual lately. You may have also noticed that the organizations that deliver those awards may be making questionable categorization decisions.

Around this time of year, I like to assess the situation and offer my own take on certain dilemmas, in particular whether a certain movie performance was a Lead or Supporting role. To be fair to the Oscars and other awards ceremonies, these decisions are subjective and not always clear. Reasonable people can disagree on these matters. But I’m not one to have my enthusiasm dampened my ambiguity!

Ergo, here is a selection of performances from 2024 getting awards attention and whether I think they should be considered Lead or Supporting.

(There are still a few movies in the awards conversation that I haven’t seen yet, so I may update my thoughts if I feel compelled to.)

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Lead vs. Supporting Conundrums: 2023 Edition

March 9, 2024

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Take the Lead? (CREDIT: IFC Films/Screenshot; Apple TV/Screenshot)

Whenever the Oscars come around, I like to enter the discussion about whether certain acting performances should be categorized as Lead or Supporting. There’s not too many I felt compelled to talk about this year, just a couple:

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Lead vs. Supporting Conundrums: 2022 Edition

February 27, 2023

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A Lead Actor and a Supporting Actor? Or 2 Lead Actors (CREDIT: Jonathan Hession/Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2022 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.)

Every awards season, there’s a bit of discussion revolving around certain movie performances that straddle the line between Lead and Supporting roles. Sometimes, actors are blatantly submitted in the wrong category, perhaps to avoid competition with a co-star, or because of perceived lack of competition with other movies. And other times, it’s not always easy to say for certain which category is the right one. So I’m here to offer my assessment! It’s a little late this year, seeing as the Oscar nominations have already been announced, but I still felt like chiming in.

(Feel free to chime in with your own takes on this topic if you have any.)

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