Doesn't this look rather strange? Whenever I think of The Usual Suspects I think of it as Spacey's film. I don't know whether it was a nod to the film and the idea that he wasn't supposed to be the guy in the middle (get it?) but he carries the whole damn thing. Supporting actor, come on!
shareLike Timothy Hutton was nominated for (and won) best supporting actor for Ordinary People. The film was 100% about him, he was the main character, I think he was in almost every scene...supporting actor?
shareI've never really thought of it, but you're completely right. Kevin Spacey does dominate this film, especially when you think or talk about it after having watched it.
On the other hand, there's Anthony Hopkins who was only in "The Silence of the Lambs" for 16 minutes yet won the Academy award for best actor. I don't think anyone would deny that he certainly deserved it.
So who knows what logic is used when deciding these things. Perhaps the fact that "The Usual Suspects" was an ensemble film has something to do with it.
The Academy is famous for this kind of things. As if being in an ensemble cast equaled to being supporting. Or sharing the main parts with a more famous actor made the less known actor go down in supporting (like Jake Gyllenhal in Brokeback Mountain). Sometimes it's the studios who pushed for supporting to maximize the chances of winning (like Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep in Osage). It doesn't make sense at the end because there are no rules.
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