Benedict Cumberbatch - "Sherlock Holmes", Sherlock
Idris Elba - "John Luther", Luther
William Hurt - "Henry Paulson", Too Big to Fail
Ed Stoppard - "Sir Hallam Holland", Upstairs, Downstairs
Bonneville and Stoppard both excelled in their master-of-the-house roles, projecting the kind of warmth and magnanimity that can make a viewer really want to glorify old modes of class stratification. (I kid, mostly. But they were pretty delightful). Cumberbatch and Elba fall under their own umbrella, that of the preternaturally intuitive detective; Cumberbatch embraced his character's quirks and made the modern-day update of Holmes work, while Elba drove Luther with his charisma even when its narrative arc faltered. Hurt projected calm and anger in presenting Paulson as the both the meteorologist and the eye of the storm that drives Too Big to Fail.
Honorable Mention: Jim Broadbent, Any Human Heart
I wouldn't be surprised to see: Kenneth Branagh, Wallander II: The Fifth Woman; Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood; Samuel L. Jackson, The Sunset Limited; Tommy Lee Jones, The Sunset Limited; Greg Kinnear, The Kennedys; Ian McShane, The Pillars of the Earth; Edgar Ramirez, Carlos; Patrick Stewart, Macbeth
1 comment:
I actually thought the Upstairs, Downstairs reboot was fairly mediocre. I wish PBS had submitted South Riding (only so that Anna Maxwell Martin could get the nom she deserved for Bleak House) instead. I'd imagine, though, that Upstairs, Downstairs will get nominations in miniseries/movie and supporting actress (for both Eileen Atkins and Jean Marsh). It was a strong season for Masterpiece, though, and they'll give HBO -- who had a comparatively weak year -- a run for their money here.
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