Quick summary
- Sam Rockwell is second on Gold Derby’s Best Supporting Actor leaderboard for Wild Horse Nine, behind Paul Giamatti for The Debut.
- Rockwell already won that category for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, also directed by Martin McDonagh.
- A second win would make him the fifth actor to win two Oscars for films by the same director.
- Wild Horse Nine premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where most of the Oscar talk centred on co-star John Malkovich.
Sam Rockwell has a quiet but real shot at an unusual Oscar milestone this awards season. According to Gold Derby, the actor currently ranks second in its Best Supporting Actor predictions for Wild Horse Nine, the latest film from Martin McDonagh.
Where Rockwell stands in the race
Since the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival, Gold Derby reports, most of the buzz has gone to John Malkovich, who is the odds-on favourite to win his first Oscar in the Best Actor category. That has left Rockwell, his on-screen partner, a little in the shadow.
In the supporting race, though, Rockwell is close to the top. Gold Derby places him behind Paul Giamatti, who has never won an Oscar and is tipped for The Debut. Predictions at this stage are opinion, not results, and the leaderboard will shift as the season moves on.
Rockwell has been here before. He won Best Supporting Actor for McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, then earned another nomination in the same category the following year for Vice. Wild Horse Nine would be his third film in the McDonagh orbit to reach Oscar conversation, and a win would be his second statuette.
The four actors who have done it before
The feat is rare. Gold Derby counts only four performers who have won two Academy Awards for films from one director, which is why a Rockwell win would make him the fifth.
The first was Walter Brennan. His first of three Best Supporting Actor trophies came for Come and Get It, a film begun by Howard Hawks and taken over by William Wyler after producer Samuel Goldwyn disliked the rough cut. Brennan later reunited with Wyler on The Westerner and collected his third Oscar.
Jack Nicholson is the second. After a Best Actor win for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, he won Best Supporting Actor for Terms of Endearment, directed by James L. Brooks. Fourteen years later he led Brooks’s As Good as It Gets and took his third Oscar.
Dianne Wiest won two Best Supporting Actress awards for Woody Allen films, Hannah and Her Sisters and Bullets Over Broadway. A nomination for Ron Howard’s Parenthood sat between the two.
The most recent is Christoph Waltz, who won for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained. Gold Derby notes that Waltz has only ever been nominated for Tarantino films and has never lost a bid.
Why it rarely happens
Plenty of actors have won with a director once and then missed the second time. Gold Derby points to Robert De Niro, who has four nominations for Martin Scorsese films but only one win, for Raging Bull. Joe Pesci earned all three of his supporting nominations for Scorsese films and won only for GoodFellas.
Others fit the pattern too. Christian Bale won for David O. Russell’s The Fighter but lost for American Hustle. Emma Stone won her second Best Actress Oscar for Poor Things, yet went home empty-handed for Bugonia two years later. Daniel Day-Lewis, Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks and Dustin Hoffman each hit the same wall on a later film with a director who had already helped them win.
Rockwell’s case is slightly different from most of these. His win and his later nomination came with different directors, and the McDonagh reunion is the test of whether a past winner can repeat with the filmmaker who got him there.
What happens next
Nothing is decided yet. The Best Supporting Actor race is open, with Giamatti ahead of Rockwell in Gold Derby’s current ranking, and Malkovich’s lead performance continues to dominate the conversation around Wild Horse Nine. Precursor awards and nominations will show whether Rockwell closes the gap.
For more on the actor, see everything we publish about Sam Rockwell, including the report that his A View From the Bridge cast is complete, and our Movies coverage.
Frequently asked questions
Has Sam Rockwell won an Oscar before?
Yes. He won Best Supporting Actor for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and was nominated in the same category the next year for Vice.
How many actors have won two Oscars for the same director?
According to Gold Derby, four: Walter Brennan, Jack Nicholson, Dianne Wiest and Christoph Waltz. Rockwell would be the fifth.
Who is ahead of Sam Rockwell in the Best Supporting Actor race?
Gold Derby currently ranks Paul Giamatti first, for The Debut, with Rockwell second for Wild Horse Nine.
One Response