Awards Daily

One of those casting rumors we like to repeat because the internet makes it true. Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth are in talks to appear together in Stoker, a family suspense thriller by Korean director Park Chan-wook (Oldboys, Thirst). Scheduled by Fox Searchlight to begin shooting as soon as early this Spring, Stoker involves a girl and her mother who are visited by a mysterious uncle after the girl’s father dies. Local residents begin to go missing and the girl suspects her uncle may be the cause. (Shades of Shadow of a Doubt?) Colin would play the uncle with Nicole as the mother and Mia Wasikowska as the girl, India Stoker.

With all the surnames in the world to choose from, am I twisted for wishing that somehow these mysterious disappearances might somehow be related to creepy happenings explored by another Stoker over 100 years ago? Screenwriter Wentworth Miller says, Not quite:

It‚Äôs got a lot of elements of the Dracula mythology in its story… It‚Äôs not a vampire story. It‚Äôs not about vampires at least with the teeth and the desire to suck your blood but it is a thriller and it is about an individual who preys on the innocent.

The¬†nominee slate¬†of the 17th Annual Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film Awards is¬†topped this year by Winter’s Bone with eight mentions, including Best Movie, Director, Adapted Screenplay and three acting nods. The King’s Speech is sitting pretty, too,¬†with five nominations. Chlotrudis Award winners will be announced March 20, 2011.

Best Movie
I Killed My Mother
Jack Goes Boating
The King’s Speech
Mother
Undertow
Winter’s Bone

Best Director
Tze Chun – Children of Invention
Banksy – Exit Through the Gift Shop
Xavier Dolan – I Killed My Mother
Joon-ho Bong – Mother
John Cameron Mitchell – Rabbit Hole
Debra Granik – Winter’s Bone

(more…)

BEST PICTURE
The Social Network

BEST NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM
A Prophet

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan

BEST ACTOR
Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine

BEST ACTRESS
Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine

(more…)

[note]Two supportive coaches, boxing & voxing. A comprehensive guest analysis by Pierre de Plume weighing the Oscar chances of Geoffrey Rush and Christian Bale in the light of SAG precedent and other significant signals.[/note]

This Year’s Oscar Race for Supporting Actor:
Comparing SAG and Oscar Winners
(and other factors)

Most people – even many film fans – would consider Oscar prognosticating to be a rather meaningless waste of time. A core of Oscar fans, however, become just a bit obsessed this time of year with many of the awards races. Always looking (and hoping) for a surprise win or upset to make Oscarwatching more interesting and fun, fervent fans enjoy dissecting the competition through statistics and anecdotal evidence.

Of the year’s acting races, the supporting categories appear more fluid. This article focuses on the supporting actor field, where Christian Bale (The Fighter) presumably holds the lead, primarily because of critical dominance and the SAG and Golden Globe awards he recently received.

Some prognosticators of late, however, have been suggesting a potential win for Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech), citing a recent groundswell of support for that film. Let’s take a look at the numbers and some of the anecdotal evidence that might conceivably support such a call, focusing primarily on what many consider to be the strongest pre-Oscar indicator in the acting races, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards.

(more…)

2010 Film Categories

FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR

• THE GHOST WRITER, music by Alexandre Desplat
• HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, music by John Powell
• INCEPTION, music by Hans Zimmer
• THE KING’S SPEECH, music by Alexandre Desplat
• TRON: LEGACY, music by Daft Punk

(more…)

Ebert has put both his predictions (thanks Ryan) and his Outguess Ebert contest online. ¬†I think there are more than a few smarty pants Oscar watchers out there who could make this a fair fight (“not unless we get out and swim”). ¬†GO FOR IT. ¬†In his predictions, Ebert goes for The King’s Speech to win — but makes a subtle, effective play for you-know-what:

If I were still doing ‚ÄúIf We Picked the Winners‚Äù with Gene Siskel, my preference for best film would be ‚ÄúThe Social Network.‚Äù It was not only the best film of 2010, but also one of those films that helps define a year. It became the presumed front-runner on the day it opened, but then it seemed to fade. Oscars often go to movies that open after Thanksgiving. It’s called the Persistence of Memory Effect.

There’s another factor. A lot of academy voters don’t choose the ‚Äúbest‚Äù in some categories, but ‚Äúthe most advantageous for the movie industry.‚Äù Hollywood churns out violent crap every weekend and then puts on a nice face by supporting a respectable picture at Oscar time. I mean that not as a criticism of ‚ÄúThe King’s Speech,‚Äù which is a terrific film, but as an observation. A British historical drama about a brave man struggling to overcome a disability and then leading his people into World War II looks better to the academy than a cutting-edge portrait of hyperactive nerds.

Worth noting: Ebert and David Carr were the only two I know of who accurately predicted (and famously predicted) the Crash upset.

Ebert’s other predictions:
Actor: Firth
Actress: Portman
Supporting Actor: Rush
Supporting Actress:  Steinfeld
Original Screenplay: The King’s Speech
Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network
Foreign Language: Incendies
Animated: Toy Story 3
Doc: Inside Job
Cinematography: Deakins

The rest from Ebert are here.

On Twitter, both Anne Thompson and Kris Tapley have been talking about the possibility for an Annette Bening upset over Natalie Portman on Oscar night. ¬†It’s really been down to these two actresses since the start of Oscar season. ¬†It will be interesting to see how Oscars 2011 go down – they’ll either be the most predictable Oscars ever or the least predictable. ¬†Will there be winners that come out of nowhere, like Adrien Brody did the year The Pianist almost swept the Oscars? ¬†Everyone had been heavily focused on the two favorites – Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York and Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt. ¬†Looking back on it now, it seems like Brody would have won based on the performance alone. ¬†As someone who championed his performance like crazy back then — and The Pianist, I might add (I was ridiculed then as I’m ridiculed now for being an advocate) — it was one of the highs of the time I’ve spent covering the race.

(more…)