Awards Daily

These posters that say “if best picture nominees told the truth” does sort expose movie marketing for what it is as it also reminds me of people who say things that drive me crazy on a daily basis, not just in the comments section of this site and others, but “out there in the world” too. ¬†Some are funnier than others; some are just plain dumb. ¬†Some are downright mean. ¬†I suspect that they do reveal some of what people really think, though. ¬†I give up. ¬†I think I’d rather be a janitor, dude.

More after the cut.

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The USC Scripter Award goes to Aaron Sorkin, screenwriter of The Social Network and Ben Mezrich, author of The Accidental Billionaires.

The USC Scripter Awards will be live webcast tonight, Friday, according to their website, so make sure to tune in for all of the fun. It essentially comes down to True Grit vs. The Social Network vs. Winter’s Bone for the Scripter.

Last year, Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner won the Scripter. The year before it was Slumdog Millionaire, and the year before that it was the easiest one to call in their history: No Country for Old Men. Capote took the one before that. You can see more Scripter history here, going all the way back to 1988.

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I joked on Twitter just now that the next thing you know, God Himself is going to come down to earth and endorse The King’s Speech. Last night, the Huffington Post’s Arianna Huffington threw a special party just for the film. And now, Queen Elizabeth, featured as a child in the film about her father gives her endorsement of it — “I now bequeath you – BAFTA and Oscar’s Best Picture winner for 2010!”

Srsly, peeps, this shit can’t lose.

The Weinstein Company (TWC) is honored to learn that Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth, has enjoyed a private screening of THE KING’S SPEECH, as reported by Duncan Larcombe, Royal Editor, in today’s edition of The Sun. The film, directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler, tells the story of Her Majesty’s father, King George VI, as he struggles to overcome a crippling speech impediment while grappling with his sudden, unexpected ascension to throne and the mounting danger of Nazi Germany.

I’m chuckling a little at the inclusion of the word Nazi. Not the more dry “England’s participation in WWII” but pitting the nice King George VI against Hitler. Where is Christoph Waltz when you need him? Juuuuuust kidding.

There is, believe it or not, going to be a tiny bit of a battle between writers when the Scripter and the WGA play out tonight and tomorrow night. [Sorkin & Meznier won the USC Scripter Friday night]

On to the WGA. Those wacky writers. My favorite joke about writers is a Polish joke. And those have been selected out due to (justified) political correctness (I am part Polish so I don’t mind making the joke). But suffice it to say it has something to do with coming to Hollywood, being Polish, and sleeping with the writer to get ahead.

God only knows what the WGA will do. One thing we know for sure, though: This is one award The King’s Speech can’t win since it was ineligible. So, let’s look at the nominees for this:

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“Academy Governors Honor Francis Ford Coppola, Jean-Luc Godard, Eli Wallach, and Kevin Brownlow”

Hang on… wrong headline. Look who we get instead!

Press Release (or, on my remote control: Press Mute)

Zachary Levi, Alan Menken, Mandy Moore, Randy Newman,
Gwyneth Paltrow, A.R. Rahman and Florence + The Machine
to Perform at 83rd Academy Awards

Beverly Hills, CA – Eighty-third Academy Awards telecast producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer today announced the artists who will perform the nominated songs on the Kodak Theatre stage on Oscar Night®.

Gwyneth Paltrow will perform “Coming Home” from the film “Country Strong.”

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It really did come to pass that the race came down to two movies. They sit on opposite sides of the world. They impact us in completely different ways. They will face off in history as far apart as two movies can get. The King’s Speech is now the film that can’t lose. The Social Network was once the film that couldn’t. Since the critics groups formed in mass — going back twenty or so years, but even earlier if you count only the National Board of Review, the New York Film Critics Circle and the Golden Globes — you have rarely seen such a complete disconnect between the film the critics went for unanimously, and the film the larger guilds, and most likely, the Academy will go for. It has never happened to this extreme. What does that mean ultimately? Nothing, really. This is how the Oscar race has gone for 83 years with a respite here or there. The problem isn’t with the Academy itself. The problem is with those of us who think we can make them act differently.
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