Let the Negative Campaigning Begin!
Here it starts, folks. This is the time when contenders must literally duke it out in the ring as various stories pop up here and there, some valid, some not so valid. Beware the frontrunner. We are now seeing a plentiful array of “David Fincher is an asshole” stories sprouting up like weeds. Let’s see who’s next. There aren’t a lot of films who can win this baby. Basically two films, as far as I can tell right now, have the power to win: Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire. No one is going to take shots at Slumdog, not the way they did with Juno and Little Miss Sunshine. Maybe the whole “faux Bollywood” idea could be floated. If The Dark Knight were even the remotest threat it would be sliced and diced so easily. Frost/Nixon can be poked and prodded as not being historically accurate and Milk could be just “too gay.” So you know, there’s something for everybody in the grab bag of dirty tricks.
And negative campaigning is an annual tradition, in case you were wondering if it really exists.
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[...] is minding their manners. Writing in Awards Daily, Sasha Stone says that if it’s Oscar season, then the outlook for flying mud is high. But she thinks that “Slumdog” will be wearing some fairly effective Teflon for the coming [...]
James says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 7:13pm
Bring on the Clint Eastwood/Gran Torino slander ads ^_^. Since it looks like the year’s most uproarious comedy, I’m all for it <3.
Flapp says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 7:17pm
Let they start!
Let they try atack “TCCOBB”.
Huhauhauhauhuhahua!!!!
It would be funny, but is just ridiculous.
Desespeate measures from losers.
Matthew Lucas says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 7:19pm
And just when we thought the political season was over…
dela says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 7:21pm
I have already read things about Frost/Nixon, Mickey Rourke and David Fincher. Melissa Leo had to endure it as well.
Simone says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 7:33pm
Nah, Slumdog ain’t gonna win. It *may* get nominated, but an American film will win.
Rob Y says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 7:48pm
Um, wait? Milk is about gays? Oh the humanity!
Rob Y says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 7:49pm
Simone brings up a good point. How many non-American films have won BP? There are some British period pieces. But any outside that?
qwiggles says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 8:23pm
“No one is going to take shots at Slumdog, not the way they did with Juno and Little Miss Sunshine.”
Hm. I feel Slumdog has a lot more to explain for itself re: the crummy central romance centred on winning the girl out of her chattel bonds than either Juno or Sunshine. Let’s just say that there’s plenty to attack, if one were so inclined.
Osbourne Cox says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 8:23pm
I don’t know if they (whoever they are) will go after Milk but they will go after Sean Penn.
The Jack says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 8:46pm
That’s strange, because I assisted at a photo shoot of David Fincher the other day, and he was one of the nicest “celebrities” I’ve ever met.
Marty-o says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 8:57pm
I think, just for this one example, “not historically accurate” is a far better argument (if well-explained and so on) against a film than it being “too gay”.
Yes, sometimes (okay, often) the hate-on borders on (and goes way beyond the border of) irrational, but some points can be valid, and dismissing them automatically can verge on ‘insistant fanboy/fangirl/fanperson’ territory.
In the end, it’s true that none of us truly knows anything, and we may as well just go with our “gut instincts” (which in my case seems to be reading, agreeing, and following the general thinking of, say, the carpetbagger a lot :p) and (respectfully) rooting for who we want as frontrunners.
Tangent: I’m glad Fincher is being talked about at all (still vaguely sore from the Zodiac snub).
It's a CURIOUS CASE that RRA was 0 for SEVEN for his ZODIACs, your hometown FIGHT CLUB team in THE last GAME, don't push the PANIC button in the ROOM yet! says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 9:19pm
Well, stories of Fincher being an asshole aint anything new, if at least they usually come from the set.
But so what? He’s probably the closest we’ve got to a Stanley Kubrick these days, someone worth waiting years for a new film, and someone that gives studio execs migraines with his perfectionism and is quite expensive, but fuck it we usually get something special from him.
sartre says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 10:09pm
Ha! Sasha, at first I laughed at your reference to Milk being negative campaigned against as “too gay”. Then I recalled a much championed Oscar contender that depicted a gay lover story. It lost out to something fairly forgettable. What was it called now? Rash? Trash?
Ryan Adams says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 10:10pm
Haggash
Chase Kahn says:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 10:21pm
SLUMDOG is already getting major pushback once people realized its a major Oscar contender…
Paul Outlaw says:
Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 12:03am
There is absolutely no reason to “go negative” against Gran Torino. It does not stand a chance of getting nominated for Best Picture…unless we enter the Twilight Zone.
Phil says:
Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 12:03am
How exactly could TDK be easily sliced and diced?
The only bad decision made was casting Maggie Gyllenhall. Everything else is golden. Slumdog was really good, but that dance sequence during the credits was baaaaaaaaddddddd.
Osbourne Cox says:
Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 12:41am
Phil, I’d add Christian Bale to the bad decision list. He as Batman did absolutley nothing for me.
David says:
Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 3:13am
Hmmm… funny how Sasha could be the author of this post when last year she was the main proponent who was trash-talkling There Will Be Blood and how it will never get Oscars. Oh the irony! Or is this the case of “it’s okay if i trash talk, but it’s not okay if others do”? Hmmmm….
Paulo says:
Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 3:49am
The negative campaingn against Changeling and Jolie performance was quite evidente. I just dont understand why the US critics gave it mixed reviews and biased reviews against Jolie while the UK and French critics raved her and the movie. Are the European critics stupids?
TTitan says:
Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 7:14am
Paulo
December 4th, 2008 at 3:49 am 20
The negative campaign against Changeling and Jolie performance was quite evident. I just dont understand why the US critics gave it mixed reviews and biased reviews against Jolie while the UK and French critics raved her and the movie. Are the European critics stupids?
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It didn’t help that former (???) tabloid writer Tom O’Neil wondered out loud in his pundit column whether or not Angelina could get a nod because she’s such a “tabloid magnet”. I believe the movie hadn’t even been released here, but received rave reviews in Cannes in May. Did Eastwood re-edit the movie between May and October to warrant the low and downright unprofessional reviews it received in the US???
There is no doubt in my mind that O’Neil chummed the waters for the fanboys and others to reject anything that Angelina does that could garner award recognition. Seems like the folks overseas reviewed the movie and didn’t inject personal bias or agendas in the review of the film.
That NYT piece didn’t do Angelina any favors either! And was it just a coincidence that Jennifer Aniston’s Vogue and NYT magazine covers came out then???
Kyle says:
Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 8:41am
Osbourne,
Different strokes I guess, Christian Bale is by far the best Batman/Bruce Wayne we’ve ever gotten on screen, gravelly Batman voice or not.
He’s a talent that AMPAS has overlooked for years and years.
Simone says:
Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 10:10am
Christian Bale IS the best Batman ever! And he’s got over $700 million US box office receipts to prove it.
Flapp says:
Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 12:57pm
Bale is a great actor.
The best Batman.
But Batman won´t give a nom to him.
To nobody, I hope.
Paul Outlaw says:
Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 1:37pm
Christian Bale in anything = perfection.
(Not to gush or anything.)
Alison Flynn says:
Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 1:38pm
I have to agree with and chime in on the Christian Bale love. One of the most underrated actors working these days.