2009 Reader Awards: Best Actor
February 17, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com

Such a jaunty vest

How much did you like Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight? He got more votes than the second and third place choices combined. Of course, we agreed with you on the subject, as Ledger had more votes than the second and third place selections in our Supporting Actor category as well. We agreed with you on the second, third and fourth place performance of the year, with your only quibble being that you thought Sean Penn was slightly better than Mickey Rourke. The real difference of opinion comes with your fifth place selection Frank Langella, who you know by now was our choice for Best Actor. We're inclined to write this off as being caused by Frost/Nixon having not gone wide by the time Reader Awards voting ended.

The other issue, of course, is the fact that we divide the categories into Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. You don't get to do that, which is why Robert Downey Jr.'s work in Tropic Thunder was our second favorite, but placed only sixth in your voting. We had three other differences of opinion from you, as you lauded Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Aaron Eckhart for The Dark Knight. None of these guys were selected in either of our acting categories.