Awards Daily

Scott Feinberg went and hung out with a prickly director who gave him his honest picks in the various categories. You can tell 2012 is a very strong year because everyone’s “should wins” are all over the place. One thing I can say with a certainty is that I feel a groundswell not for Silver Linings for Best Picture but for Zero Dark Thirty and that will be my No Guts, No Glory for Best Picture. Here is the funniest paragraph but you should read the whole article:

“This is a preferential system. I’m putting Amour at No. 9 because I’m just pissed off at that film. Beasts of the Southern Wild is a movie that I just didn’t understand, so that’s my No. 8. Les Miserables goes in seventh place — it’s not just the most disappointing film of the year but the most disappointing film in many years. Above that I’m putting Silver Linings Playbook, which is just a “blah” film. Django Unchained will go into my fifth slot — it’s a fun movie, but it’s basically just Quentin Tarantino masturbating for almost three hours. Next up is Life of Pi because of how unique it is and for holding my attention up until its irritating ending. Argo is gonna go in third place, but I don’t want it to win because I don’t think it deserves to win and am annoyed that it is on track to win for the wrong reasons. Actually, come to think of it, do we have to put a film in every slot? Because what I want is for my best picture choice to have the best possible shot, so why even give any support to the others? [He has his assistant call the Oscar voting helpline, finds out that voters can leave slots blank and promptly removes all of the aforementioned selections.] I’m basically OK with one of two films winning. Lincoln is going in my second slot; it’s a bore, but it’s Spielberg, it’s well-meaning, and it’s important. Zero Dark Thirty is my No 1.”

One thing we know about the industry now is that they prefer their women naked and on their backs. One they don’t like – women behind the camera. I would add to this consider filmmakers of color. Consider other narratives than those that serve middled aged white males.   Unstick from the romanticized nostalgia of the past: Argo, The Artist, The King’s Speech…in a year where the first black president was re-elected due in large part to the changing tide of women and gay rights, the rise of immigrants the industry has decided to do what it does best: worship the white dudes.  Moreover, to choose a film, Argo, that does nothing to define what’s happening in our world right now but only massages the need to remember when white men ran Hollywood and the CIA. I am happy that (supposedly) Jimmy Carter will be vindicated. But less happy that it’s such a safe choice and evidence of the devolution of the Oscars.

Will a change ever come? I’ve been at this 14 years and I’ve only seen it go backwards. I’m still waiting.  I advocated for Halle Berry to become the first black actress to win. Ever.  She won.  No other black actress has won since. I advocated for Kathryn Bigelow in 2009. She won. But good luck getting close to that ever again.  Why does it matter? Look around you.

Thanks to Women and Hollywood’s Melissa Silverstein.

Contemporary: Jany Temime (“Skyfall”)
Period: Jacqueline Durran (“Anna Karenina”)
Fantasy: Eiko Ishioka (“Mirror Mirror”)

Anna Karenina still looks to be the favorite for Oscar time, though the Costume Guild has a hit and miss record with Oscar.

I will have to start making these contests much harder.

The winners of the DGA, ACE, WGA and CAS after the cut.

(more…)

When Argo wins Best Picture it will be the weakest Best Picture winner since 1932′s Grand Hotel.

Weak because:
Lincoln-12
Life of Pi – 11
Les Mis, Silver Linings-8
Argo – 7 + no director

With no director nomination and at that nominations rank Argo is on the level of Grand Hotel in terms of strength. Best Picture strength is measured by nominations rank and having a best director nomination. It is up to you to decide the film’s worth. I am talking stats.

That’s 80 years since we had a winner with fewer nominations and no director nomination win.  Emmanuelle Riva was five the last time that happened.  Call it a fluke of timing, blame the DGA for not announcing before ballots got turned in, fume at the directors in the Academy for leaving Ben Affleck off their list but no matter, the context will eventually evaporate and we will be left with the stat.

There are two kinds of film fans. Those who zero in on the director and those who don’t. Me, I’m someone who zeroes in on the director. I have always been that way, as a film fan and as a wanna-be filmmaker once upon a time (#humblefail). I grew up studying films through the director – Scorsese, Spielberg, Allen, etc.  Therefore, it always bugs me when a film wins without its director. Brokeback Mountain and Ang Lee should have won, or Crash and Paul Haggis. Shakespeare in Love and whatever that guy’s name was or Saving Private Ryan and Steven Spielberg.  I’m just funny that way. Only kidding about John Madden!

(more…)

Hat tip, ROS

The list, after the cut.  Most are “pretty good” but what you notice about them is that they are, surprise surprise, actor driven. They are about people audiences care about and can relate to.  How visionary they are, how memorable, how pivotal, how brilliant is the least important thing about them.  Remember that if you ever want to win Best Picture.  The history of the Oscars is the history of the internal worlds of the voters as they age over time.

(more…)

The performers have been named to help us celebrate the musicals from the past decade: Jennifer Hudson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe (!), Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmaybe, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks and Helena Bonham Carter.

Earlier this month, the producers announced a planned tribute recognizing the resurgence of musicals over the past decade with performances highlighting “Chicago,” “Dreamgirls” and “Les Misérables.”

Hudson, Zeta-Jones, Jackman, Hathaway, Crowe, Seyfried, Redmayne, Barks, Tveit and Bonham Carter join a stellar list of previously announced performers including Adele, Dame Shirley Bassey, Norah Jones and Barbra Streisand and presenters including Jennifer Aniston, Michael Douglas, Jamie Foxx, Paul Rudd, Salma Hayek Pinault, Melissa McCarthy, Liam Neeson, John Travolta, Ben Affleck, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Mark Wahlberg, Ted and “Marvel’s The Avengers” cast members Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo; returning 2011 Oscar winners Jean Dujardin, Christopher Plummer, Octavia Spencer and Meryl Streep; “Chicago” cast members Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, Renée Zellweger and Zeta-Jones; and special guests Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Daniel Radcliffe, Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron.