Vincent D’Onofrio Should’ve Won an Academy Award for Men In Black (1997)

Note: Today’s issue contains some spoilers for Men In Black, although I don’t think they would hamper your enjoyment of this very good film. But you’ve seen Men In Black, right? (Right?)

It’s the end of June, and you know what that means, reader: It’s the perfect time to discuss the Academy Awards!

When you think of an Oscar-winning performance, what sort of qualities come to mind? Is it a performance where the actor perfectly embodies the character they’re playing, whether real or fictional?¹ Or maybe it’s the transformative nature of the performance—the lengths to which the actor stretched their talents, challenging themselves to go above and beyond the norm? Perhaps it’s simply how memorable it is; if a performance really sticks with you, that has to be a reliable barometer of quality, right?

What if I told you that there’s a supporting performance from a quarter-century ago that checks all three of those boxes but was shamefully ignored by the Academy? Well, you would probably believe me, because the Academy does that all that time.² Especially if it fits in the comedy, action, or sci-fi genres—or in this case, all of the above.

He didn’t stand a chance, of course, but I believe Vincent D’Onorfio should’ve received an Oscar nomination for his performance as a giant alien bug wearing a human disguise—and he should’ve won too.³

Let’s revisit those acting criteria. Now, when we think of an actor “embodying” their character, we usually think of actors playing a real person, and we think about how well they convince us that they’re this real person. The Academy absolutely loves this stuff; many average actors have won Academy Awards simply for doing a decent job of playing a historical figure. D’Onofrio is playing an alien rather than a celebrity, but that shouldn’t matter, right?

This ties into the transformation element. Ask yourself this: “What would it look like if a giant space insect wore a way-too-small suit of human skin and wandered around New York City looking for a very important intergalactic doohickey?” Reader, it would look exactly like what Vincent D’Onofrio is doing here. The way he jerks his limbs like a baby giraffe wearing cowboy boots. The way he screws up his face like he’s perpetually inhaling something stinky. The way he talks like he’s been cursed with an unclearable throat. It’s spectacular.

And is it memorable? You bet your ass it is. If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it about five or six times: A hero’s journey is only as good as its villain. All due respect to William Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, who have really good intergalactic buddy cop chemistry, but this is an average summer movie without the iconic bad guy. Sure, the final showdown between Smith’s character and the big bad bug happens after he’s shed his human disguise and shown his true form, thus removing D’Onofrio from the film altogether. But that encounter is made all the more compelling because of what he did to get us there.

Now, if you recall, Men In Black actually was represented at the 70th Academy Awards. Danny Elfman was nominated for Best Original Score (deservedly so, I think) and Bo Welch and Cheryl Carasik were nominated for Best Art Direction (which I can also get behind). And the film even walked away with one statue: The legendary Rick Baker and his friend David LeRoy Anderson won for Best Makeup.⁴

This, I believe, might be the biggest evidence of D’Onofrio being snubbed. Because if you watch Men In Black, the award-winning makeup hasn’t been applied to Smith or Jones or even Rip Torn, who might’ve actually been an alien. Baker and Anderson won that statue purely for their work on D’Onofrio, whose human suit decays more and more noticeably every time he shows up on screen. It’s remarkable craftsmanship that provides a gnarly and unforgettable complement to D’Onofrio’s work.

And as we all know, sometimes Oscar-winning actors owe a great debt to their makeup team. Consider the last two winners for Best Makeup & Hairstyling, the two three-person teams behind The Whale and The Eyes Of Tammy Faye. Those two films have something intriguing in common. They each won just one other Academy Award that year: Best Actor and Best Actress for their two human canvases.⁵

Now, I love to see the makeup teams get credit like this—especially when the actors really lean on them to execute their performance. But given that Men In Black’s makeup team had a similar individual muse in D’Onofrio, why wasn’t he recognized along with them?⁶

Alas. At least poor Vincent walked away with a Saturn Award that year. (Shouts out to anyone that knows what the Saturn Awards are.)

Men In Black is now streaming on Peacock, and it is available to rent elsewhere.

1. I’m using the gender-neutral “actor” here, which some of my actorly peers seem to prefer. Don’t cancel me.

2. You might be asking who was actually nominated this year. You can review the full list of nominees yourself, but I’ll jump to the part where I tell you who should’ve been booted in favor of D’Onofrio: It’s Greg Kinnear. I mean, come on. Greg Kinnear? Did you remember that Greg Kinnear was an Oscar nominee before reading this? If you did, sound off in the comments so I can call you a liar.

3. I’m not the only one either. New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie calls it “one of the singular performances of the 1990s.” And isn’t that the sort of performance we should be recognizing?

4. I did not know David LeRoy Anderson by name, but he won one other Oscar for The Nutty Professor, which he also shared with Rick Baker. And he has been married to A Nightmare On Elm Street star Heather Langenkamp since 1989. What a cool life.

5. Go back just a few more years and you’ll find another film that only won Best Actor and Best Makeup & Hairstyling in Darkest Hour. Curiouser and curiouser!

6. The real answer, as we all know, is because the Academy doesn’t really care about genre films. I’ve linked to it before, but since I’m still proud of it, I wrote about this phenomenon for Modern Horrors a few years back.