Sam
Rockwell
today
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".
The
49-year-old
actor,
who
earlier
bagged
a
BAFTA,
a
Golden
Globe
and
a
Screen
Actors
Guild
Award
for
the
critically-acclaimed
performance
in
the
film,
concluded
his
award
season
journey
as
he
walked
home
with
his
first
ever
golden
statuette.
This
was
also
the
first
Academy
Award
nomination
for
Rockwell.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".
"This
is
for
Phil
(Philip
Seymour)
Hoffman,"
he
said
in
a
short
speech.
Other
nominees
for
the
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
co-star
Woody
Harrelson.
"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
film
also
starred
Harrelson,
Colin
Farrell,
Christopher
Walken
and
Abbie
Cornish.
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.
In
other
words,
his
character
is
redeemable,
which
did
not
go
down
well
with
many
people,
including
the
critics
who
thought
the
film
was
tone-deaf
in
its
portrayal
of
racial
issues
in
a
small
town.
They
said
the
film
trivialised
the
experiences
of
abused
and
tortured
blacks
in
order
to
humanize
a
white
character.
But
all
of
this
was
not
enough
to
stop
Rockwell's
dominance
during
the
award
season.
In
his
close
to
three
decades
long
career,
Rockwell
has
acted
in
more
than
60
films.
He
made
his
Hollywood
debut
in
1989
with
"Clownhouse".
Over
the
years,
he
has
appeared
in
popular
as
well
as
money-minting
project
such
as
"The
Green
Mile",
"Charlie's
Angels",
"Confessions
of
a
Dangerous
Mind",
"Matchstick
Men",
"Frost/Nixon" and
"Iron
Man
2".
Duncan
Jones'
space
drama
"Moon",
which
is
considered
Rockwell's
best
film
till
date,
saw
critics
warming
up
to
him
and
putting
faith
in
his
acting
prowess.
Many
of
them
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.