Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa has already taken film critics by storm and is on track to win the Los Angeles Film Critics award for Best Picture (bet ya). It will go head to head with the animated feature favorite to win right now, Pixar’s blockbusting game changer, Inside Out, which currently holds 3rd place among the highest grossing films of the year.
Anomalisa is already the favorite of many who will be voting in the LAFC awards and they’re inclined toward breaking with the typical Oscar frontrunner — as opposed to New York film critics who tend to align with Oscar more frequently. Anomalisa has a 98 on Metacritic and will go down as — I suspect — the film with the year’s best reviews, at least by that site’s math.
You have to hand it to Charlie Kaufman for refusing to color inside the lines. Kudos to Paramount for taking on such a difficult sell.
Press release as follows:
Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom, announced it will distribute worldwide the film ANOMALISA from directors Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson. ANOMALISA has emerged as the most lauded film to debut this Fall, winning near universal critical acclaim. After world premiering at the Telluride Film Festival, the film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival where it screened in competition. It also just screened at the Toronto International Film Festival as a Special Presentation and will next show at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas and at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Domestically, the film will be released on December 30, 2015 in New York and Los Angeles.Said Brad Grey, CEO and Chairman of Paramount Pictures, “The film is a spectacular achievement of artistry, one that we are incredibly pleased to be a part of. Charlie is a filmmaker of immense vision and craft and he and Duke have created a film that stands alone as one of the year’s best”.“ANOMALISA has been a three year labor of love and we are thrilled the film has now found a home at Paramount with people who are passionate about the film and are committed to sharing it with the world,” said directors Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson with producer Rosa Tran.Michael Stone, husband, father and respected author of “How May I Help You Help Them?,” is a man crippled by the mundanity of his life. On a business trip to Cincinnati, where he’s scheduled to speak at a convention of customer service professionals, he checks into the Fregoli Hotel. There, he is amazed to discover a possible escape from his desperation in the form of an unassuming Akron baked goods sales rep, Lisa, who may or may not be the love of his life. A beautifully tender and absurdly humorous dreamscape, from the brilliant minds of Charlie Kaufman (SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK ) and Duke Johnson (“Community” episode, Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas), this stop-motion animation wonder features the vocal cast of Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan and David Thewlis and a stirring strings-based score by Carter Burwell. The darkly comedic and surreal stop-motion journey of a man’s long night of the soul, ANOMALISA confirms Charlie Kaufman’s place amongst the most important of American filmmakers, and announces Duke Johnson as a major creative force.The film, partially funded via a Kickstarter campaign, is a Starburns Industries, Snoot Entertainment production, and is produced by Rosa Tran, Johnson, Kaufman, and Dino Stamatopoulos. The film is executive produced by James A. Fino, Dan Harmon, Joe Russo II, Keith Calder, Jessica Calder, Aaron Mitchell, Kassandra Mitchell, Pandora Edmiston, David Fuchs, Simon Ore, David Rheingold, and Adrian Versteegh.
Charlie Kaufman is indeed a national treasure. One would be hard-pressed to think of another certifiable literary genius that has emerged in the last 20 years in cinema. The Academy liked him enough to give him the screenplay win for Eternal Sunshine, so how is it unfeasible he could beat Pixar for Best Animated Feature?
Looking forward most of all to this, Bridge of Spies, Beasts of No Nation, Joy, and The Hateful Eight. Certainly a more exciting year than last when it comes to big talent filmmakers.
Wow, Paramount of all studios! They don’t really have any films they could put up for attention prestige wise, and although this will be a hard sell, its maybe the most beloved English-language film to come out of Venice/TIFF. Surely this means a wider release sometime in 2016.
I will never stop advocating for a “more than just Pixar and Disney” duopoly on the Animated Feature category. Haven’t seen it, but I want this in.
I also want Shaun the Sheep Movie in because it’s f*cking brilliant. I liked it much more than Inside Out. And I loved Inside Out.
The guys at Gold Derby are still suggesting that there aren’t enough features yet this year to have 5 nominees so the category may only have 4.
Mr E, who is blinded? We here go off the track records of companies like Pixar. Inside Out is a lock. If Good Dinosaur is a lock too then so be it. If you know something about the movie, and how “it promises to be just as good as Inside Out”, please share. If it promises to be just as good as Inside Out then aren’t you, in some way, advocating Inside Out’s greatness and establishing it as a lock?
With Inside Out and Anomalisa (and maybe The Good Dinosaur if Pixar goes 2/2), it seems like we may have a few animated masterpieces this year. As a fan of the genre this is very exciting to see.
I like how everyone’s so blinded by the popularity of Inside Out. Just wait until The Good Dinosaur comes out. Despite the production hiccup, it promises to be just as good as Inside Out..
Knowing the animation branch, this is probably as close to a lock for a nomination as they get. Knowing the Academy, this is probably as far from a win as they get. The only film that could contend Inside Out for that award is probably The Good Dinosaur.
Anomalasia could easily get a Screenplay nod as well, I reckon.
A right and a wrong…I agree Anomalisa is winning the LAFCA for best picture. That’s a smart call. But I can’t see it even coming close to beating Inside Out at the Oscars for best animated feature. It’s not just a Pixar film, it’s widely considered one of the best and after a string of underwhelming movies (underwhelming by Pixar standards) this puts them back in the game in a big way.
But forget Pixar. The big welcome back is to Charlie Kaufman! The man is a miracle. The movies he has written, even though they win Oscars, are not represented the best they could be by AMPAS. So here’s my list of nominations/wins his movies should have received in my all infinite wisdom 😉
Being John Malkovich: (on top of director, supporting actress and original screenplay) picture, supporting actor, editing, production design. Should have won original screenplay, Magnolia was a close 2nd.
Adaptation.: (on top of actor, supporting actress, supporting actor and adapted screenplay) just editing. Picture was a pretty solid lineup. The Pianist was a fine script but Adaptation should have won.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: (on top of actress and original screenplay) picture, director, editing, score. Actor and cinematography are also worthy. Should have won film editing and score, though Finding Neverland’s music was fantastic.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind: No nominations. Though the 2003 best actor lineup is a very good one, I wouldn’t argue seeing Sam Rockwell in that list.
Synechdoche, New York: No nominations. Should have been in for original screenplay, production design and editing.
Basically all of his films play around with time so well they all deserve to be nominated in editing 🙂
Oh yeah just getting on the record now, from what I’ve read about the picture, this will never come a mile from winning Best Animated Feature…I think the branch won’t be able to ignore it (even if they want to; and I’m sure they do) for a nomination because of Kaufman’s name, reviews, critics’ awards, etc. But the win? Nope. INSIDE OUT’s win is been locked in a vault at the Kodak for months now.
It’s never a good idea to bet against Pixar in the Animated Feature category. Although how cool would it be to see “Anonmalisa” win? I definitely could a nomination in the Animated Feature category as well as Original Screenplay. It’s times like these that I wish they had a Voice Over category. Scarlett would’ve cleaned up two years ago for sure. And David Thwelis and Jennifer Jason Leigh would be sure bets this time around. And who knows, maybe her involvement with this film will certainly help her Best Supporting Actress possibilities for “The Hateful Eight”
Nice one Paramount, this makes me hopeful real Americans will actually get to see this most expected picture. Now I’m gonna go offer sexual favors on the net in exchange for A BIGGER SPLASH screeners.