Every year the Oscar season seems to be getting longer. While it might have once seemed silly to talk about awards handed out in March before the year runs out, these days the battle line is drawn as far back as late August to include not only the guilds, the Globes, the critics groups but also the entire fall festival circuit. And after such heavy-hitters as GRAVITY, BIRDMAN and LA LA LAND all bowed on the opening night of the Venice Film Festival, that date has become the unofficial kickoff of the 6-month (!) hunt for the golden statuettes.
For its 75th edition, that very special opening night slot is reserved for Oscar winner Damien Chazelle’s space drama FIRST MAN, as just revealed by Variety.
The news came unusually late this year (the official announcement is expected tomorrow), suggesting intense behind-the-scenes wrangling between Venice, Telluride and Toronto, all taking place within two weeks of each other and known to battle for exclusive premieres of coveted titles. And there’s certainly no lack of drool-worthy films to fight over this time around. In the past weeks, A STAR IS BORN, SUSPIRIA, THE FAVOURITE and Orson Welles’ THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND have all been name-checked as likely Venice openers.
Now that that honor has gone to Chazelle, these films could still all very well end up premiering or at least screening in Venice (the full lineup will be revealed on July 25). Considering the many high-profile films that did not make Cannes for logistical, political or strategic reasons, the Venice roster is expected to be especially strong this year.
As a reminder, those that supposedly “missed” Cannes included:
- ROMA (Cuarón)
- PETERLOO (Leigh)
- NORWAY (Greengrass)
- RADEGUND (Malick)
- THE SISTERS BROTHERS (Audiard)
- HIGH LIFE (Denis)
- SUNSET (Nemes)
- VISION (Kawase)
- THE DEATH AND LIFE OF JOHN F. DONOVAN (Dolan)
- NON FICTION (Assayas)
- DOMINO (De Palma)
- WHERE LIFE IS BORN (Reygadas)
They join a list of other potential candidates that could have major impact on the upcoming awards season:
- IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (Jenkins)
- WIDOWS (McQueen)
- BEAUTIFUL BOY (van Groeningen)
- OLD MAN AND THE GUN (Lowery)
- AT ETERNITY´S GATE (Schnabel)
- BOY ERASED (Edgerton)
Which of these do you think will be Venice / Telluride / Toronto-bound? Or even New York? And does the road to Best Picture start here for FIRST MAN? Last year’s opener DOWNSIZING turned out to be a non-starter, but the eventual BP winner THE SHAPE OF WATER made its world premiere on Lido the very next day. In any case, we shall be getting our first clues about some of the season’s biggest players in a week’s time.
Visual effects predictions
Black panther
First man
Mary poppins returns
Mortal engines
Ready player one
Visual effect predictions:
Black panther- blockbuster hit a lock
Isle of dogs- cute movie
First man- space drama
Mortal engines- steam punk horror weta digital
Ready player one- science fiction Spielberg
That being said won’t you be my neighbor and eighth grade have 99 percent scores on rotten tomatoes and so does leave no trace with 100 percent on meta critic.
It’s my preference
I’d like to see spike lees movie make a miracle for .black filmmakers he’s overdue for an Oscar just like Martin Scorsese did for white directors for his win for the departed. Widows will be a good movie if it’s well received. I think first man is right up there with the recent spAce movie trend- the Martian, gravity, interstellar, etc…. and sci-fi was rewarded last year by the shape of water. Black panther is this years blockbuster I’m not hesitant anymore about it. People like the movie and its$100 away from going into the $700 million club. Wes Anderson’s movie, have not seen yet but going to this week. That be
I’m still gunning for Wes Anderson to get a Directing nom for Isle of Dogs (it’s time an animated film gets nominated there), Joaquin Phoenix an Actor nom for You Were Never Really Here, Michelle Pfeiffer and Bradford Young to get nominated for Actress and Cinematography (respectively) for Where Is Kyra?, Jesse Plemons and Mark Perez to get nominated for Supporting Actor and Original Screenplay (respectively) for Game Night, Annihilation for a host of tech awards, and American Animals for Original Screenplay and Film Editing.
My BP lineup-
Backseat
BlacKKKlansman
Eighth Grade
First Man
Mary Queen of Scots
Mortal Engines
Widows
Won’t You Be My Neighbor
Is that your preference or predictions? Seriously doubt Mortal Engines or Won’t You Be My Neighbor? will make the BP line-up.
Eighth grade And bo burnham will be nominated for best picture and best director and original screenplay and film editing but I’m thinking spike lees film blackKklansmsn wins best picture. Mortal engines will be nominated for techs. Black panther will also not be ignored.
Mortal engines could surprise us all. Never underestimate peter Jackson and Christian rivers
Mortal engines will surprise us all. Never undererestimate peter Jackson and Christian rivers
Pretty much off topic. I’ll take your abuse. Before Timmy Tim hits us later this month with “Hot Summer Nights” (hopefully-not-too-trashy or, alternatively, hopefully-trashy-as-all-get-out) and then in October once again shreds our hearts in Oscar-nom-bound “Beautiful Boy”, who wants to cast a backward glance? Herewith a “Call Me By Your Name” Pop Quiz. I encourage all to add better questions than mine.
A “Call Me By Your Name” Pop Quiz
01. How many times do we hear the family dinner bell rung?
02. How many times does Elio make a cutting remark about his mother (out of her hearing, of course)?
03. How many times do we see Elio and his mother express physical affection toward one another?
04. Besides his mother, how many women do we see Elio embrace and kiss?
05. How many times do we see Oliver embrace a woman?
06. How many times do we see Elio extend his hand to another person in a peacemaking gesture?
07. How many times does Elio nod his head up and down to answer “Yes” to a question without saying the word?
08. How many dinners at the Perlman household does Oliver miss?
09. Who else misses a dinner there?
10. How many times do we learn that two specific, named individuals are invited to dinner at the Perlman’s?
11. How many times do we see Oliver run his fingers around the mouth of a reclined young male figure?
12. After Oliver moves into Elio’s room, what crucial change is made to that room?
13. How many times do we hear the words “I love you”?
14. How many times do we see Elio speaking on a telephone?
15. How many times do we see the lesion on Oliver’s body?
16. How many erections does Elio have? (I confess this lies beyond my powers of discernment.)
Let’s go! I’m looking forward to this!
Venice is going to open the Oscars season, and what a season it will be.
Chazelle v McQueen v Jenkins v Lee v Cuaron sounds fun as hell
I’m not at all informed about what might pop up here or there so I’ll just remit myself from talking about titles that aren’t mentioned here.
Oh, Boy.
It’s just Domino, High Life, Roma, Radegund and the rest I care little or not at all (more the latter). Optimistic about Boy Erased, I suppose.
BTW the Oscar season looks like shit. Is Peterloo coming out this year?! I need something to root for that has real prospects. Roma is the kind of film that could get that Director nod and little else. Sorry these thoughts are so dispersed but I’m just not paying attention this year. I haven’t even figured out what’s gonna win Best Picture and it’s July already. Smh. Bye.
I’m not at all informed about what might pop up here or there so I’ll just remit myself from talking about titles that aren’t mentioned here.
Oh, Boy.
It’s just Domino, High Life, Roma, Radegund and the rest I care little or not at all (more the latter). Optimistic about Boy Erased, I suppose.
BTW the Oscar season looks like shit. Is Peterloo coming out this year?! I need something to root for that has real prospects. Roma is the kind of film that could get that Director nod and little else. Sorry these thoughts are so dispersed but I’m just not paying attention this year. I haven’t even figured out what’s gonna win Best Picture and it’s July already. Smh. Bye.
I hope we get an out-of-the-blue mega candidate that shakes things up.
Did people forsee The Shape of Water being nominated for Best Picture, let alone winning?
If nothing else, I want Spike Lee to actively promote a film for the Oscars just to see what happens.
Is Domino the Brian De Palma film. Its been forever since he has made a good film. This will most likely be terrible.
Forever is six years?
That’s a long time. Hes made a lot of awful movies since his classics like Redacted and that one with Rachel McCadams. Can’t remember what that is called.
Peterloo is being released in November.
I don’t know if you’re interested in The Favourite, A Star Is Born, Vox Lux, White Boy Rick, The Souvenir, Shadow or Dragged Across Concrete but they’re supposedly also going to play Venice. Variety also seemed very certain that Boy Erased is not playing Venice (although Beautiful Boy is) and rumors have been going around for months that Peterloo is terrible and that Cannes turned it down
But Cannes did accept The Last Face, The Sea of Trees and Redoubtable, so who knows what rejecting a movie means for them.
Fremaux supposedly claimed that it was so that there wouldn’t be two films directed by an “ike Lee” in competition but if they let movies like the one you mentioned premiere in competition because of star power, I don’t see how they could say no to Mike Leigh unless the film is even more embarrasing than them
Crazy. It would have to be Mike Leigh’s…first bad film? Dang. I don’t trust rumours and I trust less Frémaux’s taste. I’m not sure what the other titles are and I already hate A Star is Born.*
*lol just kidding but looks bad
update: Yeah those titles do sound interesting. I was aware of most already earlier in the year, but just forgot.
I thought Boy Erased was about Australians and then they started talking.
Eighth Grade will probably win Best Picture.
Do we know if Radegund is coming out this year?
Suspiria and Beautiful Boy at Venice Film Festival…
Roma has been confirmed to be the NYFF Centerpiece.
I thought that I should mention this: Widows will most likely not play at Venice and probably not any of the other late August/early September festivals as it’s screening as an “international premiere” at the London Film Festival in October (it could theoretically go to only Telluride but a film like this playing only Telluride would be the weirdest awards strategy I’ve seen in years) So if I’d have to predict where that film is going to play, I’d say that it’s probably going to be our NYFF opener
I think it looks great and can’t wait to see it. But I am not on board like so many that think it’s going to be a huge awards player.
I am sure this will be fine but the trailer did nothing for me. Am more excited for High Life and Ad Astra and whether the latter will debut this year or not (James Gray in the awards race would be swell).
I agree. Out of curiosity, how many films with bad or mediocre trailers ended up being great films? I tried to Google that and came up empty.
I got done with Love Simon, and loved it, and those trailers did not sell me at all. So there’s probably a few.
Hugo comes to mind, although that’s probably more because the trailer – rightfully so – reveals almost nothing about the magisterial third act of the movie
I googled “bad trailers great movies” and got many lists — although many of these seem to have copied from each other to some degree, they share a lot of titles – Jennifer’s Body, Star Wars, Hellboy, a few others come up a lot.
https://screenrant.com/bad-worst-trailers-for-good-great-movies/
http://collider.com/bad-trailers-for-good-movies/
https://io9.gizmodo.com/10-terrible-trailers-for-great-movies-1547279856
https://www.ranker.com/list/great-movies-with-terrible-trailers/zack-howe
Of course, it’s far easier to find horrible movies with wonderful trailers
The festival has now officially announced it and revealed that it’s also going to be in competition (which the Variety piece didn’t mention), meaning that it’s probably not going to be another Everest-type opener at the very least
are you guys serious on not posting the BOY ERASED trailer – the movie that will win BEST PICTURE?
Wow, bold prediction! What makes you think so? Why not Beautiful Boy, then?
i absolutely think that i‘ll love BEAUTIFUL BOY and i also have it in my top-5 for this year, but BOY ERASED is the most „timeless“ movie, which concerns a bigger group of people
i expect JOEL EDGERTONs approach to this subject to be absolutely appropriate, he won‘t exaggerate with emotions but nevertheless let everybody feel something while watching the movie
he also won‘t portray the parents of the gay boy as one-dimensionally villains
THE GIFT has already been a masterpiece, now he‘s actor, director and screenwriter all together again, working with the same people (camera and score)
Seriously. I asked the same questions in another thread. Why in the world hasn’t that trailer gotten it’s own post?
I think Roma wins. The lurch of the current WH back to OVERT white supremacy makes Cuaron the logical counterpunch.
I’m not personally sure a black and white Netflix film that’s in Spanish is going to be a best picture winner but at least it’s taking good steps so far: Fremaux supposedly begged to have the film play at Cannes because it was so good and it’s just been announced as the centerpiece at NYFF and the phrasing in the announcement (https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2018/daily/alfonso-cuarons-roma-announced-as-nyff56-centerpiece/) confirms that the film is going to Telluride as well (and why would the film in that case not screen at both Venice and Toronto)
I think the current “climate” about Latinos in America plays into Cuaron’s hands (and frankly I think it helped Del Toro more than people want to admit last year)
TBH this film looks too much like that archetype of LGBT suffering porn that I’ve grown sick of. Moonlight was so incredible partially BECAUSE it wasn’t that – and instead was something much more moving and complex.
I only really got behind A Fantastic Woman last year because Daniela Vega’s performance was THAT incredible, and I am starving for any decent trans representation in movies.
I think Telluride and Toronto will show Leave No Trace.
Why on Earth would they do that? I can’t think of a single film in the recent history of these festivals that played both after its theatrical release, especially since I think Telluride screens only American premieres except as part of their “tributes” and even then they seem to only do it in Manchester by the Sea-type cases where the film feels like too undeniable an Oscar contender to not play Telluride. And as far as Toronto goes, they could theoretically hold something outside the festival like they did with Dunkirk last year but even that seems to be something that they do just for undeniable contenders