Oscars: 5 reasons why Willem Dafoe (‘Poor Things’) will receive Best Supporting Actor nomination

Four performers appear to be near locks for nominations in the Best Supporting Actor category at the upcoming Oscar ceremony, according to Gold Derby’s odds. They are: Robert Downey Jr. for “Oppenheimer,” Ryan Gosling for “Barbie,” Mark Ruffalo for “Poor Things” and Robert De Niro for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Many are predicting a variety of actors to take the fifth place slot, such as Charles Melton for “May December,” Dominic Sessa for “The Holdovers” and Holt McCallany for “The Iron Claw.” However, I believe the nomination will go to Willem Dafoe for his spectacular performance in “Poor Things,” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Why? Here are the top five reasons.

1. He is an academy favorite, with four nominations behind him.
The most important reason Dafoe is going to make it into the Best Supporting Actor category is that he is adored by the academy, having received four Oscar nominations to date. His first nom came in 1987 in the Best Supporting Actor category for his performance in Oliver Stone’s “Platoon,” which won the Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards. He was next nominated in 2001, again in the Best Supporting Actor category, for his transformative turn in “Shadows of the Vampire.” In 2018 he received another Best Supporting Actor citation for “The Florida Project,” and then he was nominated again a year later, this time in the Lead Actor category, for “At Eternity’s Gate.” It seems unlikely Dafoe could receive this much recognition at the Oscars and somehow be ignored for his memorable performance in “Poor Things.”

2. “Poor Things” is going to dominate the upcoming awards season.
The Searchlight Pictures film is a dazzling emotional and visual masterpiece that is going to compete with “Oppenheimer” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” for the most Oscar nominations next year. Emma Stone is the current frontrunner to win the Best Actress Academy Award for her brilliant lead performance as Bella Baxter, and “Poor Things” also has a good shot at winning Best Picture, even if Christopher Nolan takes Best Director for “Oppenheimer.” With “Poor Things” likely dominating the next awards season, Dafoe will be swept up in the film’s success and make it into Best Supporting Actor, first at many of the precursors and then finally at the Academy Awards. Some might argue voters will want to recognize only one person from “Poor Things” in Best Supporting Actor and go instead with Mark Ruffalo, but earlier this year both Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan got into Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars for “The Banshees of Inisherin,” so why can’t both Ruffalo and Dafoe be nominated?

3. He has a remarkable physical transformation.
Something the academy loves to reward year to year in the acting categories is an impressive physical transformation. Just this year, Brendan Fraser won the Best Actor Oscar in part because of how different he looked in “The Whale,” and Austin Butler came close to winning the same prize for “Elvis” in part for the same reason. Part of Dafoe’s narrative heading into awards season will be how much work went into portraying the Frankenstein-like Dr. Godwin Baxter, whose face is permanently disfigured. Dafoe’s transformation was no easy feat, a report in Variety saying, “The process of getting into character and out of it ended up taking six hours each day, with Dafoe waking up just in time for a 3 a.m. call time.” The stories Dafoe will share about becoming Dr. Baxter will play a role in being Oscar-nominated for his performance.

4. He’s been nominated in recent years for under-the-radar films.
Another reason Dafoe will receive an Oscar nomination for “Poor Things” is that the academy recognized him in recent years for two under-the-radar independent movies that received nominations in no other category. Although “The Florida Project” received positive reviews and appeared on lots of critics’ top ten lists of 2017, it only received one Academy Award nomination—Best Supporting Actor for Dafoe. The same thing happened a year later, when “At Eternity’s Gate” received acclaim from critics but only got a single Oscar bid, Dafoe making it into the crowded Best Actor race. I feel like if Dafoe could get in for those two smaller films, how could he miss for a movie like “Poor Things,” which is going to be a major player throughout awards season?

5. Dafoe simply delivered an incredible performance.
He is a respected actor in the industry who delivered one of the best performances of his career in “Poor Things.” This is so much more than an amazing physical transformation; his character has a compelling emotional arc that shows change and growth in a person who could’ve easily been a one-dimensional monster. Dafoe gives a spectacular performance as Dr. Godwin Baxter, and no Best Supporting Actor category this award season will be complete without him. As Clint Worthington says in his review in Consequence, “The supporting performances [in ‘Poor Things’] hold their own naturally, Dafoe a suitably dry, crabby father figure whose own shell softens as his love for Bella grows in her absence.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

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