Awards Daily

The two producers behind Shutter Island, Mike Medavoy and Brad Fischer, talk with fearnet.com about Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming thriller:

Can you talk a little bit about Black Swan? Can you talk about what stage of production you’re at?

Fischer: It’s shooting right now.* It’s in production, we’re getting kind of toward the end of photography. It’s shooting here in New York City. (I’ll probably pop by the set ‚Äì Mike and I are gonna go by before we head off to Europe.) It’s going great. The dailies look amazing; it’s Darren Aronofsky and Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.

What do you think it offers thriller fans?

(more…)

To be fair, we should try to find videos teasing all the supporting actress nominees. But screw ‘fair’.

Could Streisand be slated to present Best Picture? Or will she have the honor of presenting the Best Director Oscar to the first female recipient after paving the way 25 years ago?

(via AMPAS press release) Past Oscar winners Kathy Bates, Barbra Streisand and Charlize Theron will join former Oscar nominees Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Queen Latifah and John Travolta as presenters at the 82nd Academy Awards®, telecast producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic announced today. Collectively the group has earned 16 nominations and won four Academy Awards.

(more…)

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more cut-throat Oscar season, nor a more demeaning one all the way around. I don’t know if the ten Best Picture slots opened it up to more wild campaigning, or if the sheer amount of Oscar blogs and websites contributed to the mess by providing outlets for the campaigning like never before, or whether it was a deer taking the lead while the lion and the grizzly bear felt they were stronger and faster and therefore belonged on the top of the food chain. Either which way, it wasn’t a pretty picture. We can only hope next year is better.

Back when I started, there were one or two sites doing this. And there was the print media. Since the print media was controlled by journalists and editors there were ethics involved. The blogs are under no such restriction. Moreover, the blogs are in competition with each other for traffic, for comments, for influence. There is no taking away the blogs. That train has left the station. True, there are still some journalists working in the business who do self-police, ethics-wise. But there is an element to this beast that cannot be controlled. And I’m sure it is freaking everybody’s shit right out.

But enough about that. Onward to the race, as it now stands.

(more…)

Michael Giacchino named Composer of the Year by The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA), “an association of online, print and radio journalists who specialize in writing about original film and television music.”

FILM COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
• MICHAEL GIACCHINO

FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR
• UP, music by Michael Giacchino

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM
• A SINGLE MAN, music by Abel Korzeniowski

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM
• THE INFORMANT!, music by Marvin Hamlisch

(more…)

Sent in by reader Daniel (Unlikelihood). What are your Oscar party plans? Or what recipes can you come up with for this year’s slate of films?¬† Daniel’s quiz is at the bottom of the post.

AD was right to call our attention to the unprecedented inclusion of two science-fiction films in the Best Picture nominee list. However, when I first heard the list, my thoughts ran less to the astronomic and more to the gastronomic. As an Oscar party host whose menu is based on the Best Picture nominees, this year’s expanded list brings an unprecedented challenge – which I’ve happily met. What follows is the current menu plan for my party, to be adjusted based on your input. (Unless you suggest I imitate Julia Child…)

First, the menu as it will read on the evite:
Avatar-zers
Up in the Airlines Snak Paks
District 9 Prawns
A Serious Man-ischevitz Deli Platter
Inglourious Pasta
The Blind Side Salad
An Education-al Piece of Fruit
UP with Fenton’s Ice Cream
The Hurt Locker Surprise
and
Precious Drinks Based on the Bombay “Gin” by Sapphire

Second, for AD readers only, the explanations, after the cut:

(more…)

This weekend two of the year’s most acclaimed international films added more trophies to their shelves. A Prophet was awarded 9 C√©sars and The White Ribbon won the top prize from the American Society of Cinematographers. Have these honors influenced your prediction for Best Foreign Language Film?

Not that I’m lobbying for any title in particular, but hey, lookie here! it’s an article about A Prophet by Greg Ellwood at HitFix:

It’s been an incredibly dramatic year for the three men behind France’s acclaimed drama “A Prophet” (or “Un Prophete” as the filmmakers would prefer). The film was generally regarded as the best picture at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, where it made its debut, but lost the prestigious Golden Palm to Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon.” And since then, that’s been a constant outcome for director Jacques Audilard, writer Thomas Bidegian and breakout star Tahar Rahim.

(more…)

Last call to cast your vote! We’re extending the deadline one more day (till 9:00 p.m. PT) to see if we can collect another few hundred ballots.

Thanks to Ladylurks who brings the following stat:

Visual Effects in Effects-driven Motion Picture: Avatar
Supporting Visual Effects: Sherlock Holmes (Avatar not nommed in category)
Outstanding models and miniatures in a feature motion picture: avatar
Outstanding matte paintings in a motion picture: avatar
Single Effect: Neytiri – drinking water from a leaf
Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture: District 9 (!)
Outstanding Animation in an Animated Movie: Up
Effects Animation in an Animated Movie: The balloons in Up
Animated Character in Live Action Movie: Neytiri, Avatar
Animated Character in Animated Movie: Carl in Up
Outstanding Environment – Avatar wins for jungle/biolume (had 3 noms)