In stumping for Oscars, studios are increasingly proposing as candidates for best-supporting-actor or -actress nominations performers who in some cases are on screen longer than those proposed for the best-actor or -actress nods, the Wall Street Journal observed today (Friday). The newspaper noted, for example, that although Jennifer Connelly is up for best supporting actress for her performance in A Beautiful Mind, she's actually on screen as much as Sissy Spacek, who's up for best actress for her performance in In the Bedroom. Best-supporting-actor nominee Ethan Hawke is actually on screen 13 minutes longer than best-actor nominee Denzel Washington in the same movie, Training Day. And Jim Broadbent is onscreen only two minutes less than Judi Dench in Iris. Asked about the Hawke-Washington anomaly, Warner Bros. marketing chief Dawn Taubin told the Journal: "I think that Ethan's character is more reactive to Denzel's character." However, the newspaper raises the question of whether it is fair to pit an actor who has only a few minutes on screen with another who's on screen throughout the film. The WSJ also noted that Jennifer Connelly is up for a best actress award at this Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards -- something the studio attributes to "a clerical error."
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