AFT Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role

This is the third category of the 11th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them and drawn from a pool of approximately 149 films. Click here to see previous years of this category.

Honorable mentions:
Alan Cumming (Battle of the Sexes), Alessandro Nivola (One Percent More Humid), Anton Yelchin (Rememory), Anton Yelchin (Thoroughbreds), Aviv Alush (The Women's Balcony), Ben Daniels (The Exception), Ben Mendelsohn (Darkest Hour), Bill Pullman (Battle of the Sexes), Bob Odenkirk (The Post), Bryan Cranston (Last Flag Flying), Charles Dance (Despite the Falling Snow), Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World), Christopher Rivera (The Florida Project), Cillian Murphy (Dunkirk), Clancy Brown (Stronger), Clark Duke (The Last Movie Star), Craig Robinson (Table 19), Daniel Bruhl (The Zookeeper's Wife), Dave Franco (The Disaster Artist), David Sullivan (Deidra and Laney Rob a Train), Dustin Hoffman (The Meyerowitz Stories), Dwayne Johnson (The Fate of the Furious), Elijah Wood (I Don't Feel at Home in this World Anymore), Ellar Coltrane (The Last Movie Star), Emil Belton (Land of Mine), Ewan McGregor (Beauty and the Beast), Francis Guinan (Abundant Acreage Available), François Arnaud (Permission), Fred Armisen (Band Aid), Garrett Hedlund (Mudbound), Greg Kinnear (Brigsby Bear), Ian McKellen (Beauty and the Beast), Jack Huston (The Yellow Birds), Jamie Foxx (Baby Driver), Jason Sudeikis (Colossal), Jon Bernthal (Baby Driver), Jon Hamm (Baby Driver), Justin Timberlake (Wonder Wheel), Kenneth Branagh (Dunkirk), Kevin Spacey (Rebel in the Rye), Louis Hoffman (Land of Mine), Lucas Hedges (Lady Bird), Mark Hamill (Brigsby Bear), Mark Rylance (Dunkirk), Matthew Shear (The Boy Downstairs), Max Gail (Abundant Acreage Available), Michael Stahl-David (LBJ), Nick Offerman (The Hero), Noah Jupe (Wonder), O'Shea Jackson Jr. (Ingrid Goes West), Oskar Belton (Land of Mine), Patrick Stewart (Logan), Paul Sorvino (Abe and Phil's Last Poker Game), Paul Sparks (Thoroughbreds), Richard Jenkins (LBJ), Sam Claflin (Their Finest), Sebastian Stan (I, Tonya), Stephen Dillane (Darkest Hour), Stephen Merchant (Table 19), Steve Coulter (Abundant Acreage Available), Terry Kinney (Abundant Acreage Available), Tim Blake Nelson (Deidra and Laney Rob a Train), Tim Robbins (Marjorie Prime), Tom Hardy (Dunkirk), Tony Revolori (Table 19), Tracy Letts (Lady Bird), Tyrese Gibson (The Fate of the Furious), Wyatt Russell (Table 19), Zachary Quinto (Aardvark)

Runners-up:
Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)
Ruben Niborski (Menashe)
Jason Mitchell (Mudbound)
Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name)

The winner:
Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water) was essentially the only true bad guy in a movie filled with sweet-natured people, and he managed to deliver a commanding, terrific performance without veering towards the cartoonish and over-the-top.

Other nominees:
Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) was the element that worked best about his dark but comedic film, imbuing his sheriff with an amusing comic outlook on life. Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water) was a lovely neighbor for his film’s protagonist, valuing her happiness as his own and even investing his energy into her success no matter the consequences for him. Ray Romano (The Big Sick) turned arguably his film’s least interesting character into an entertaining and worthwhile part of it, delivering an honest and genuine turn. Bill Nighy (Their Finest) hammed up every single one of his scenes to just the right degree, earning his character’s stripes as an actor.