Sam Rockwell wins maiden Oscar for 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'

Sam Rockwell PicAFPSam Rockwell on Monday won the Academy Award for the best actor in a supporting role for his portrayal of a racistyetredeemable police officer in Martin McDonaghs Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri The 49yearold actor who earlier bagged a BAFTA a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the criticallyacclaimed 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 Times Up pin thanked his films team director McDonagh fellow nominees and costars calling Woody Harrelson and Frances McDormand his heroesThis 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 Rockwells costar Woody Harrelson Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri was the third collaboration between Rockwell and McDonagh The directoractor duo first worked together in 2010 Broadway production A Behanding in Spokane They followed it up with 2012s black comedy Seven Psychopaths which featured Rockwell in the role of psychopathhitman Billy Bickle The film also starred Harrelson Colin Farrell Christopher Walken and Abbie CornishIn 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 Mildred Hayes in the search for her daughters 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 tonedeaf in its portrayal of racial issues in a small townThey 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 Rockwells dominance during the award season In his close to three decadeslong 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 moneyminting project such as The Green Mile Charlies Angels Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Matchstick Men FrostNixon and Iron Man 2 Duncan Jones space drama Moon which is considered Rockwells 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 nomination90th Academy Awards 2018 Oscars winners listCatch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever