#Oscars2018: Sam Rockwell wins maiden Oscar for Three Billboards
Sam Rockwell won the Academy Award for the "Best Actor in a supporting role" for his portrayal of a racist-yet-redeemable police officer in Martin McDonagh's "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri". This was also Rockwell's first Academy Award nomination. Rockwell, who was wearing a "Time's Up" pin, thanked his film's team, director McDonagh, fellow nominees, and co-stars, calling Woody Harrelson and Frances McDormand his "heroes".
Rockwell won Golden Globe, SAG awards for Three Billboards performance
Rockwell, who earlier bagged a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the critically-acclaimed performance in the Three Billboards, concluded his award season journey as he walked home with his first ever golden statuette. While accepting the award, the 49-year-old actor said, "This is for Phil (Philip Seymour) Hoffman," paying tribute to him in a short speech.
Who were the other nominees?
Other nominees for the "Best Supporting Actor" category were Willem Dafoe for "The Florida Project", Richard Jenkins for "The Shape of Water", Christopher Plummer for "All the Money in the World", and Rockwell's Three Billboards co-star Woody Harrelson.
Three Billboards, the third Rockwell-McDonagh collaboration
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" was the third collaboration between Rockwell and McDonagh. The director-actor duo first worked together in 2010 Broadway production "A Behanding in Spokane". They followed it up with 2012's black comedy "Seven Psychopaths", which featured Rockwell in the role of psychopath/hitman, Billy Bickle. The 2012 film also starred Harrelson, Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken and Abbie Cornish.
Rockwell played a racist cop in Three Billboards
In Three Billboards, Rockwell played the role of racist cop Dixon, who has a past record of showing brutality towards black people. His character arc, however, takes a turn for good. After being burnt and beat up, Dixon is shown getting sympathetic to the people and offers a helping hand to the protagonist, Midred Hayes, in the search for her daughter's killer.
Why were some critics unhappy with Three Billboards?
Rockwell's "Three Billboards" character is redeemable, which didn't go down well with many, including critics who thought the film was tone-deaf in its portrayal of racial issues in a small town. They said the film trivialized the experiences of abused and tortured blacks in order to humanize a white character. But all of this wasn't enough to stop Rockwell's dominance during the award season.
Rockwell acted in over 60 films till date
In his close to three decades long career, Sam Rockwell has acted in more than 60 films. The 49-year-old made his Hollywood debut in 1989 with "Clownhouse". Over the years, he has appeared in popular as well as money-minting projects such as "The Green Mile", "Charlie's Angels", "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind", "Matchstick Men", "Frost/Nixon", and "Iron Man 2".
Rockwell's performance in space drama Moon considered his best
Duncan Jones' space drama "Moon", considered Rockwell's best film till date, saw critics warming up to him and putting faith in his acting prowess. Many critics batted for Rockwell to get a Best Actor Oscar nod for his role of Sam Bell, a struggling astronaut who is entirely alone on the Moon apart from a robot; but he missed out on the nomination.
