Reel Society of Film Critics Awards 2015 - The Master List

[Buscemi]

I don't think very many here saw Blue Ruin or Obvious Child. And Redmayne and Jones' work in The Theory of Everything are hardly breakthrough performances. Their breakthrough performances came three years earlier with My Week with Marilyn (Redmayne) and Like Crazy (Jones).

[Geezer]

Two movies no one has ever heard of..... They are definitely breakthrough performances, I had never heard of either of them prior to Theory of Everything.

[Buscemi]

My Week with Marilyn was nominated for two acting Oscars (Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor), had a quality cast and a high-profile release in late 2011. Like Crazy was the big Sundance winner in 2011. Without those two, Redmayne and Jones wouldn't be appearing in movies like The Theory of Everything.

Chien and I were talking about the meaning of the term a while back when the Gotham Awards nominated Riz Ahmed's performance in Nightcrawler in a similar category (though we agreed his breakthrough performance was in Four Lions four years earlier). A breakthrough performance typically means that the actor is either obscure or has never had a big lead performance until critics and/or audiences notice them in a certain movie (the breakthrough period). Redmayne and Jones already had their breakthrough period three years before with those two I mentioned.

[Chienfantome]

Well I kinda agree with Boosch on that one. I did not even consider putting Redmayne in the breaktrough category, I've seen him do solid stuff for quite a few years now.

[Geezer]

To me, a BREAKTHROUGH performance is the performance that gets the general public to KNOW WHO THE FUCK YOU ARE. I guarantee that 90% of the American public had no clue who Eddie Redmayne was before this role, and now he won an Oscar. My Week With Marilyn never played in more than 630 theaters, no one cared. Now, I'm not saying Theory of Everything is some runaway success, but if 5 years from now, we see Eddie Redmayne as a STAR, then everyone will point to this as his true breakthrough performance. We can agree to disagree, but to me that is what a breakthrough performance is. The one that launches your career into the stratosphere. The one that makes you an A-lister. A household name.

[Buscemi]

Based on your logic, only Chris Pratt would be a candidate this year. And winning an Oscar doesn't make you a household name to American audiences (just ask Jean Dujardin, who won for a movie that more people saw than The Theory of Everything).

The breakthrough performance is the role that gets you more work and serves as a stepping stone to getting to the big time. Rarely does someone get to the big time right away or close to it (Audrey Hepburn and Alan Rickman are the few who did). Look at some of today's big stars. Do you really think they only needed one movie get them their calling card?

[Geezer]

I would absolutely consider Chris Pratt. He went from relative obscurity to hottest name in Hollywood. If that is not a breakthrough, I don't know what is. It's certainly not going from completely obscure to slightly less obscure.

Edit: I also know that winning an Oscar doesn't necessarily translate, but it certainly doesn't hurt.

[Chienfantome]

To me, a BREAKTHROUGH performance is the performance that gets the general public to KNOW WHO THE FUCK YOU ARE. I guarantee that 90% of the American public had no clue who Eddie Redmayne was before this role, and now he won an Oscar.

Part of that is right, bu I don't consider ourselves the general audience. I certainly have no intention of nominating and voting a Breakthrough performance according to what American audiences know of an actor. To me this year Jack O'Connell, Ellar Coltrane, Macon Blair and a few others had breakthrough performances in the sense I had no clue who the hell they were a year before and they had a performance this year that suddenly put them not only on my radar, but on the radar of many directors and producers.
But I do agree that there are different kinds of breakthrough, and that it depends of what you've seen of an actor. Of course, if you had no clue who Redmayne was before Theory of Everything, it is a breakthrough performance. That's also what makes it an interesting and rich category. We'll all have different breakthrough perfs to nominate, that's what's exciting about it.

[Ron Burgundy]

Well said Chien.

What we could do for next year is implement some criteria for this particular category, so that we are all on the same page. Ive seen Redmayne in 2010 in Black Death and some of the TV show 'Pillars of the Earth' and i knew that he co-starred in My Week with Marilyn.

But - i understand where Geez is coming from. If you never seen or heard of him, then you would consider that a breakthrough. On the other hand, plenty of us here already have heard of him.

Depending on how far we take this, a simple fix would be actually watching most things, but thats not what we are about, i didnt see the entire master list. However you cant say, oh i missed those back in that year, and verge on ignoring it existed. If even half of the audience noticed this person back then, the term 'breakthrough' would be very loosely tied.

I nominated Miles Teller for Whiplash, though i had seen him in That Awkward Moment and heard about The Spectacular Now.

Then again, its only nominations, so we cant get too dramatic bout this stuff. The winner will reveal all

[Chienfantome]

I agree though that in some cases, it's not just a matter of discovering someone you've never heard of. Like last year, I pushed for Miles Teller as breakthrough for The Spectacular now, because it was a breakthrough as a lead anc coming from a few unnecessary teen comedies. And if there was such a case this year I would go for it too. So I probably won't go for Teller this yea, though

[W]

I had no idea who the Theory of Everything guys were before I watched it. I have no idea who the people Chien mentioned are. I think going from the fifth or sixth lead in a TV series to the most in demand movie star is breakthrough (Pratt). And I think 90% of Americans still couldn't pick Redmayne out of a lineup still.

[Buscemi]

But is this a category from the point of view of Americans who only saw Guardians of the Galaxy and American Sniper? No. There is more to it than that and it wouldn't exactly be considered breakthrough if you were listing actors that you think were breakthrough because of ignorance of more than the same few movies.

[silversurfer19]

I think it is all subjective really, and there isn't a right or wrong answer. Chris Pratt I would consider to be quite famous prior to Guardians of the Galaxy and LEGO. Parks and Recreation is a worldwide hit and I suspect many people would recognise him. However, if you have never watched the show I could understand not knowing who he was. Same with Eddie Redmayne. As a Brit, I have seen him in lots and lots of things over the last five years, so he's hardly breaking through for me, but on a world stage I guess you could pose that question. It's all relative to what extent you have known of an actor before, and what stage you term 'breakthrough'. For me there isn't a right or wrong answer, and in the end the actors voted for most will obviously be what the general consensus deem 'breakthrough'. I won't ignore any nomination, so every nominee, no matter how famous you may regard them, will have a vote.

And talking about voting, I have received exactly half of the ballots for the first round of nominations so far. For the remaining members of the committee there are another 24 hours or so to get your votes in, so please do so at your earliest convenience.

[Chienfantome]

I'm working on my noms right now, you'll have them tonight.

[NSpan]

I still haven't seen Coherence, Boyhood, The Theory Of Everything, Only Lovers Left Alive, or Joe yet...

...but i'm nom nom nom'ing away.