4. Robert Downey Jr. For Tropic Thunder - Best Supporting Actor (2009 Oscars)
Im not going to try and say the RDJ isnt phenomenal in this film. Comedies are so often overlooked so I love when comedians get nominations (Hello Melissa McCarthy!) This was truly Downey Jrs comeback year with the smash hit Iron Man and of course as the hilarious Kirk Lazarus in the mock blockbuster Tropic Thunder. Its just interesting to me that he was nominated for such an outlandish character. (I mean if youre going with comedy this year, Brendan Gleeson in In Bruges is fantastic). Here are my two theories for why he was nominated: 1) They make a joke about it in the actual movie Tropic Thunder, and so to uphold this hilarious goof the academy gave a nod to ol RDJ to keep the jest alive, knowing full well that he would never win. Hugh Jackman even made the joke at the ceremony, calling Downey Jr. an American, playing an Australian, playing and African-American nominated. 2) Heath Ledger won that year. So there was no way that any of the other candidates would be even considered for the award. Not to discredit the work of the other actors in the category but Ledgers Joker blew the whole group out of the water. It is nice to see comic performances rewarded, I believe its way harder to make some laugh than cry.. and though Tropic Thunder is not the best picture of the year RDJs performance was stellar. It was just a strange choice by The Academy.