I feel like I have to disclose the information passed on to me by predictor extraordinaire, Kris Tapley – who predicted, along with Damien Bona, 21 out of 24 categories last year, but whose crowning moment was predicting Departures to upset Waltz With Bashir. Tapley told me yesterday that Argentina’s Oscar submission, El Secreto de sus Ojos, is the one to...
Monthly Archives: February 2010
From the press release: The 18th Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala (www.movieguideawards.com) wrapped up its awards presentation Tuesday night and handed out more than $300,000 in cash prizes, with the top three prizes sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation. Set at the historic Beverly Wilshire Hotel and attended by numerous actors, executives and producers, the...
A few days ago, right after the BAFTAs, several websites declared the Oscar race over. I hadn’t felt nervous about The Hurt Locker’s Best Picture chances until that moment. You don’t declare a race over before ballots have been turned in. You just don’t. With one week to go and strategists and publicists who are really good at their jobs are angry....
Well, the clusterfuck has finally come full circle. The producer of The Hurt Locker blah blah blah, violated the rules by sending out an email, blah blah blah and cut to — he has had to apologize. He did finally apologize: The academy has not yet issued a statement about how it intends to deal with this severe violation of Oscar campaign rules. Penalties could be...
Nice Vanity Fair piece about the cinematography of the nominated films: The Hurt Locker’s director of photography, Barry Ackroyd, uses Super-16 cameras to create a raw, documentary feel for his sun-drenched canvas in Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraqi War drama. Christian Berger, meanwhile, channels the poignant black-and-white photography of Ingmar Bergman’s legendary...
The Wrap reports that there is a new kid in town in the awards circuit – the 3-D Society awards: ‚ÄúAvatar‚Äù grabbed seven awards, “Up” was named best animated 3D feature, and actor Brendan Fraser received the ‚ÄúBest 3D Talent‚Äù award for ‚ÄúJourney to the Center of the Earth‚Äù Tuesday night at the newly formed International...
We could all learn a lesson from the wise young Gabby Sidibe. When asked about the recent Vanity Fair shoot that advertised “only young white girls are the future of Hollywood,” Gabby kind of shrugged it off: “At first I thought, ‘Hmm, should I be there?” Sidibe recently told Access Hollywood. “Then I very quickly got over it. I think...
Tarantino and Toback at the Black Tieless Event.Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images Vulture follows Quentin Tarantino to a party and discovers that Quentin isn’t much up for campaigning for the Oscar himself.¬† James Toback is firmly in Quentin’s camp, as is Harvey Keitel (at least that is what it sounds like). Here is Toback explaining how and why he...
Mark Lisanti is helping out AMPAS voters who may be a bit confused as to how to do the preferential ballot: Hello, Academy Voter! Thank you for taking the time to fill out your ballot for Best Picture! Simply follow these easy, step-by-step instructions and sooner than you can say, “I’m up in the air for Up in the Air!” your votes will be in the mail,...