Tilda Swinton’s 2007 Oscar for Michael Clayton

She was absolutely brilliant in this. That’s how she won.

Michael Clayton was nominated for Best Film, Director, Screenplay, Actor, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress.

It won for Supporting Actress. Not a huge shock really.

Tilda won the BAFTA, Ruby Dee won SAG for what was essentially a cameo, and Cate won the GG and Independent Spirit.

It was a very divided year. Amy Ryan took most of the major critics' prizes, Cate Blanchett won the Globe, and Ruby Dee won the SAG Award. Only Saoirse Ronan went home without a major prize. She won because she was in the movie that Oscar voters liked the best, and she was the type of actor who felt right as an Oscar winner: an independent film darling who was never above lending her prestige to paycheck roles like the Narnia movie.

And, as R1 wrote, she was brilliant in Michael Clayton.

She should've won for "We Need To Talk About Kevin."

It wasn't at all out of the blue. She was favored that year to win.

What’s the chick flick comedy where Swinton played the boss of the main character? I didn’t even realize it was her until the credits.

That’s Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck R6.

I don’t mind Swinton but she’s a typical pretentious aristo.

"Trainwreck" She was hysterical in that. As well as in "Okja", where she plays a charcater based on Ivanka Trump.

She was by no means terrible in Michael Clayton but her win made absolutely no sense. A fine performance but I don’t think she was even that nomination worthy. I suppose this was a career achievement win even though she really wasn’t that old at the time. Furthermore, there was nothing redeeming about her character. At least Christopher Walz had the winking devil thing going for him.

R5, I think it took Tilda winning the BAFTA for her to really become the front-runner, because she wasn't considered the most likely winner for most of the season. It was kind of like Best Actress from a few years ago when Jessica Chastain won, and the front-runner changed seemingly week to week.

Other nominees could have been

Olympia Dukakis for Away With Her

Julia Roberts for Charlie Wilson's War

Catherine Keener for Into The Wild

Kelly McDonald for No Country For Old Men

Marie-Josée Croze for The Diving Bell And The Butterfly

Allison Janney for Juno

Samantha Morton for Control

Naomi Watts for Eastern Promises

Michelle Pfeiffer for Hairspray

Jennifer Jason Leigh for Margot At The Wedding.

My preference would have been Emily Mortimer or Patricia Clarkson for Lars And The Real Girl. Or even Bianca herself.

^^Well, none of them won, and she did. So that's that.

Tilda had the sympathy vote for having to wear that hideous wig.

The many scenes of her practicing her presentation to the stockholders is inarguably some of the finest I have seen in a very long time. She is in complete command and a full range of emotions is on display, adroitly and thoroughly, playing off herself. Maybe she won because actors dream of having the chance to play a well-written role as the sole focus of the camera.

It feels odd because she doesn’t really support the star. But it’s magnificent nonetheless. I’d put it on a list of times that Oscar got it right.

Michael Clayton is one of the best films of the last 25 years and Tilda Swinton's performance was incredible. She deserved it. The confrontation scene at the end is a master class in subtle acting. You can tell exactly what she's thinking and feeling and she doesn't say much at all, it's all in her face.

SPOILER: Don't watch the scene below if you haven't seen the movie.

Her character, Karen Crowder, was so duplicitous and morally bankrupt yet at the same time you almost pitied her because she was so out of her depth.

The showdown between Tilda and Clooney in Michael Clayton. She deserved her Oscar, and if Clooney were up against anyone but Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood, he would have won, too.

R5 she really wasn’t favored, but it was a great win nevertheless. Aside from BAFTA, r3 is correct. The precursors were all over the place. I think a lot would agree that Dee had the edge, after her win at SAG, plus the career achievement aspect of a potential Oscar win. Very few had seen Blanchetts Bob Dylan, despite her globe win. Ryan was the critic’s darling, but it didn’t translate to farther down the line wins. Ronans prize was just the nomination. Entertainment Weekly picked Swinton, but I still was banking on a Dee win. I think what gave Swinton the edge was she was in a best pic nominated film many had seen and she was respected, with indie film cred.

R18, that Ruby Dee win at SAG was one of those choices where SAG went for pure sentiment over performance. Ruby Dee was a great actress, but she doesn’t do anything in American Gangster but slap Denzel. In terms of short performances, it’s hardly on the level of a Beatrice Straight or Judi Dench. That definitely felt to me like a SAG-only choice that the Academy would never replicate.

I started watching "The French Dispatch" and for quite a while I thought one of the actresses was Cheri Oteri. Turned out to be Tilda. I would never have recognized her. (And she's rocking a caftan to boot.)

She won because people saw the movie.

It holds up as one of their better choices.

I also suspect many academy members knew and despised corporate studio execs who she nailed.

R19 well the Oscars are notorious for going for pure sentiment over performance too. Dee and husband Ossie Davis were pioneers in black cinema and theater, not to mention civil rights activists. In a less competitive year, this alone would’ve guaranteed Dee a win. And if AG would’ve been in the best pic category, Dee would’ve won hands down. I’ve seen worse performances win. I still think the Tilda win was close in that category.

From the short clips to play to introduce every nomination, Amy Ryan is the stand out.

She has that Boston accent as ripe as JFK.