The Envelope has just posted a piece on Oscar bait ’08, beginning with Revolutionary Road (no pressure or anything):
Imagine “Titanic’s” Jack and Rose all “growed up,” married and living in the American burbs in the 1950s.
The winking parallels are unavoidable in Sam Mendes’ “Revolutionary Road,” based on Richard Yates’ 1961 novel and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as Frank and April Wheeler (pictured). But rather than two teenage star-crossed lovers, the Wheelers are bored Connecticut parents eager to flee their lives and pursue their artistic ambitions abroad.
In addition to his luminescent cast, Mendes has stacked his production team with Oscar regulars such as cinematographer Roger Deakins, editor Tariq Anwar and production designer Kristi Zea. The film is to be released Dec. 19, at the height of Oscar season.
Anyone looking for a Titanic redux will be sorely disappointed and quite bummed out.
This, like all work by Richard Yates, is no walk in the park. The Envelope also looks at Australia, Benjamin Button (people keep trying to stuff David Fincher into Oscar’s little box but so far to no avail), The Changeling – Eastwood alert! The Duchess with Keira Knightley (who has somehow become Oscar bait – oh yeah, young, pretty and British – that’s Oscar bait, all right), Valkyrie (can Tom Cruise reinvent himself?), Crossing Over (Paul Haggis alert, Wayne Kramer directs, Harrison Ford alert, Weinstein Co alert, Sean Penn alert), Seven Pounds (Will Smith – three Scientologists in a row, oh my), Defiance (Holocaust alert, but Ed Zwick – always a bride’s maid never a bride – third time’s a charm?), Body of Lies (a Scott and Crowe joint, maybe), and Doubt (with Meryl Streep leading a very SAG ensemble-friendly cast).
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I ‘m waiting for ” Revolutionary Road ” , there will be surprises
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thespian Cruise has two gears and two only; cocky/grinning and super-intense/furrowed brows. if this German character possesses those qualities, he’ll be just fine.
I agree that American Gangster suffered the ill fortune of being released a year after The Departed. As you note, elessar, AMPAS was disinclined to go in that direction so soon. I’m surprised they went for a crime drama at all, honestly, but fortunately they did, for No Country for Old Men. 🙂
I’m glad to see that there are folks out there like you elessar, who is not blind to Tom Cruise’s talent as an actor for whatever reasons many people do. He’s not Brando or Olivier but he’s a solid leading man with some underrated qualities. I suspect he’ll bring his A-game to Valkyrie.
Alexander: American Gangster (an excellent film BTW) had two major problems: 1) it had to follow on the heels of The Departed, and AMPAS was probably not yet ready to nominate another gangster drama. 2) It went through so many director and cast changes in its struggle to reach the screen that some loss of luster was inevitable. Plus, AMPAS does tend to reward Leo’s films even if he personally isn’t nominated.
I think Tom will do fine, but I’m more keen on Kenneth Branagh (who, I felt, really shined in the trailer), the supporting cast, and Chris McQuarrie’s screenplay. Those are what are drawing me in. Plus, it’ll be good to see Tom take a stab at the serious drama he used to do so impressively (Magnolia, Rain Man, Born on the 4th of July).
I think that, in pushing Valkyrie back to October, UA was trying to achieve 3 objectives: 1) position it for awards, 2) remove it from the summer glut to avoid being overshadowed by the big blockbusters, and 3) to allow time to film the opening battle, in which Cruise’s character is wounded, which had, at the time of the pushback, had not yet occured.
So nice we have a forum where we can discuss our differences like grownups. 😉
BTW, Xavi, I noticed an omission in your description of Brothers. You neglected to mention the director, Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father).
For my part elessar, Cruise’s eyepatch has nothing to do with my reservations, or the film being in English. My reservations are about Cruise pulling off the performance believably after watching the trailer.
Hopefully it and he will be good, but my first impressions from watching the trailer are that it may be difficult for me to see him as his person and not himself, meaning his star power will be a disadvantage for him for me, not because he speaks English and wears an eyepatch.
From everything I’ve read, it does indeed look like The Lovely Bones is coming out in March, just about one year from now. Strange.
I’m feeling a Kate Winslet win this year. She’s way overdue and if Revolutionary Road is even a minor contender, then I think she’s going to blow the doors off the competition.
Save for the first time director, Doubt would seem to be a major contender. A first-rate cast with meaty material is great, but don’t count out the contributions of Scott Rudin and Roger Deakins (!!!)
The Duchess looks rancid. Costumes are the only hope here (yawn).
Synechdoche, New York is being overlooked
And are we certain that “The Lovely Bones” got pushed back to 2009? That is going to be a humdinger in whatever year it is released.
If Valkyrie is seen as a mainstream thriller/vehicle for Tom Cruise, it won’t get too much traction. But if it can somehow transcend that, it could be a player. The studio moved it from August to October for a reason. Either it was to lessen box office expectations for Cruise’s benefit or they think they have something kind of special. Or maybe a combination of both…?
What you say about Body of Lies is probably true, elessar, but then again, American Gangster–with Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Ruby Dee and many other fine actors and actresses directed by Ridley Scott–was just about shut-out this past year. Could happen to Body of Lies, though DiCaprio’s mojo seems strong these days and the subject matter may be “fresher” to AMPAS folks.
Defiance looks pretty bad, even with Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber. Ed Zwick has a lot of trouble not using the broad brush every single chance he gets. It’s what sunk Blood Diamond (at least for me).
Marc: Having read the Body of Lies screenplay (or roughly half to avoid spoiling the end), it is so far from a flop that your mere suggestion of it is laughable. Plus, a project involving Leo, Russell, Sir Ridley, and Bill (Monohan) sounds like a strong contender.
To all those complaining about Valkyrie, like it or not, foreign language films (with some exceptions) do not do well in the US so this being in English should not be surprising. Secondly, I recall another film set during WWII in which Germans spoke English. I believe it was Schindler’s something or other ;-). I have no trouble seeing Tom as Clause von Stauffenberg. Save for a height difference, they look very much alike. As for the eyepatch, Clause lost his freakin’ eye! OF COURSE he’ll wear an eye patch (or a glass eye in some scenes). Sorry if I’m a little testy, but the eyepatch complaint really rankles me.
BTW, thanks for mentioning those other films, Xavi. I’m looking forward to many of those.
“Defiance (Holocaust alert, but Ed Zwick – always a bride’s maid never a bride – third time’s a charm?)”
– – –
Actually. Ed Zwick has won an Oscar! So he has been a bride 😉 He was one of the producers on Shakespeare in Love.
This article just goes to show that all this Oscar prognostication is just based on star power… and hoping said star power can carry on a film to Oscar glory (e.g. CWW). And when told of this fact, they become defensive and make all known excuse to make their “analysis” “legit.” Then they’ll say “relax, it’s just for fun,” but when assailed for the incredulity of their laughable predictions they get mad. Bwahahaha! Cheers! I bet EVERYBODY will be rooting for that Clint Eastwood film with Jolie… yep… like flies to rotting meat. hehehe.
The Duchess looks like crap to me and Revolutionary Road sounds like it will be the biggest disappointment of the year.
In all I think this years movies will turn out many good surprises. I am hoping for first timne nominees in the form of Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway. Can’t wait to see Jonathan Demme return to making good movies.
It may be me, personally, but Valkyrie looks like it would be hard to believe Cruise is his character, and not just Tom Cruise with an eyepatch.
I don’t want to build up any one film, especially not this early, because we just got out of one of the best years ever, and it’s going to be damn hard to beat. At this point, the only film I have high hopes for right now is THE DARK KNIGHT.
Anon, if it is any good, Valkyrie being spoken in American accent shouldn’t be any problem. Though I agree with you it should be in German. As someone who grew up in non-English speaking household (despite my parent’s perfect English) I am always surprised that movies that are set in non English speaking countries feature accents, yet they are made in English. Ideally, a movie about germans in Germany should be in German. When they make a moive in English it is up to the viewer to imagine that characters on screen are infact speaking a different language. Therefore, accent doesn’t matter. But when we see movies about foreigners in a foreign country then accent matters because they are conversing in a non-native language, such as Streep in many of her roles.
The trailer for The Duchess provoked laughter in the theater when I saw it. Keira needs to step away from the wigs and period garb for a year or two.
Will Smith is not a scientologist. He has taken a course or two he said, but he likes to study all kinds of religion. He still calls himself a “christian” in spite of what the gossip columns what you to believe. In fact Jada recently thanked “God” after winning an award from Essence Magazine.
Taken out of context is an excuse? That’s the media’s entire job, we would all be pissed off to be on the receiving end of that.
Ryan I would be happy to do a Awards Daily Book club…when is our first meeting? I’ll get started on reading “The Reader” immediately.
Yeah Will Smith is a Scientologist, I just looked it up. How disappointing. Oh well.
“taken out of context” is the oldest excuss ever she said that and meant it it’s just a celebrity realizing they said something stupid that offened people
Marion Cotillard:
“On February 16, 2007, I appeared on a late night French television program,’Paris Dernière.’ In the last 48 hours, my statements on that program have been taken completely out of context and been crafted into a story that has no merit. The conversation on the talk show included a dialogue about conspiracy theories. At no point did I intend to contest the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001, one of the most tragic days in all of history. Nonetheless, I sincerely regret if my comments offended or hurt anyone.”
Publicist Bastien Duval to The Times (we don’t know the cues that prompted these answers, nor do we know whether this is all Mr. Duval said):
Marion is “still in shock” at the angry reaction to her comments in the United States. Mr Duval said that the interview was filmed after a broadcast on Coluche, a French comedian killed in a motorcycle accident in 1986, and she had simply made clear that she intended to form her own opinion about the events of September 11 rather than follow the official version, that it was a terrorist attack led by al-Qaeda.
“This reportage has been taken out of context and one can only condemn such practices. Marion deplores that. She is currently filming in Chicago and has a lot of work. She is in an ocean of happiness and voila, this row blows up. It’s rather strange. It’s an old report, not at all current. Why bring it out now? I talked three times to Marion overnight. This is worrying her. She is still in shock and does not really know how to react. She doesn’t have to apologise for a badly presented and badly interpreted reportage. She hopes that the Americans will have enough distance to understand, but her career is not just American. She can make films everywhere.”
Leslie Unger, Spokeswoman for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:
“The opinions expressed by Academy Award winners are solely their own. Ms Cotillard is free to express whatever views she has, but they have nothing to do with the Academy or the Academy Awards. Oscars are not revoked in light of any expressions of opinion. The Oscar is recognition of work done in film; nothing more and nothing less.”
I don’t know. Defiance doesn’t look like it’ll be very good. And The Duchess and Body of Lies sound like flops to me. I would say the same for Australia, but it looks epicesque so it might be one of the heavy hitters this season or it may be an epic flop.
Will Smith is a Scientologist?
Oh that’s right, Emily Blunt is a thousand times better and prettier actress than Keira. I hope she deserves unleast the nomination.
I forgot:
*Brothers: An american remake of Susane Bier’s famous film with Jaek Gyllenhaal, natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire.
*Grey gardens/Life before her eyes: Two roles for four actresses. Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange play Jackie Kennedy’s niece in an adaptation of a sucessful musical Grey gardens. Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood receives good reviews in Toronto Festival last year.
*Aussie films: Great performances for Eric Bana in “romulus my father” and Joan Chen in “the Home Song stories”. Weird but possible
*The Reader: A beloved book and an expected adaptation. Ralph Fiennes, Kate Winslet, Bruno ganz and Stephen Daldry=Oscar gold? It’s very possible
I’ve been hearding good reviews (not so great) about Blindness especially for Julianne Moore’s performance (Some say she deserves a nomination)
The trailer for the Duchess sucks and the Young Victoria is supposed to be released this year. I’ve been hearing mixed reviews for the Blindness test screenings.
If The Young Victoria is released this year I’d say it’s got as a good a chance as the Duchess. Emily Blunt is just as young, pretty, and British as Keira. And probably a thousand times more talented.
The Reader.
We should do an AwardsDaily/Oprah’s-Book-Club thing for The Reader. Anyone interested?
I’m only 54 pages in, but loving it.
Valkyrie can NOT be an oscar contender, for the simple facts that a. the cast speak with american or english accents and b. in a movie about nazi germany its just a little odd that none of the characters actually speak the german language. This may have worked 50 years ago but does not today.
I’d like to see Kate Winslet win an Oscar…finally. Maybe the sixth time is the charm. Not sure if it will happen or not, though. They may wait until she’s old and grey to give her one.
Where the love to:
*Blindness: Nobel prize winner’s novel, with a respect latinamerican director and a intersting cast: Julianne Moore (I hope she’ll win the Oscar this season) Gael garcia Bernal (His nomination right now), Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, Sandra Oh (If Ruby Dee did it Why not her?) and Alice Braga
*State of play: Maybe in 2008 or maybe in 2009. Intersting cast, especially to the AMPAS. Affleck, Crowe, bateman, McAdmas, Wirght and Mirren.
*The Dark Knight: This year’s the bourne ultimatum? I hope so. Technical nominations (Editing, Cinematography, Sound, Sound Editing, make Up) and I expect a poshtumous nomination to Heath Ledger.
*The comedy of the year: Follow the steps of Juno, Little miss sunshine and Sideways we have: Leatherheads (With George Clooney and Renee Zellweger), Choke (Sucess in Sundance. Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Hsuton alert), Hamlet 2 (It’s possible) Burn after reading (Too soon or just perfect, Malkovich alert) Dancing with Sheba (With Demme, Hathaway and Winger alert) Miss Pettigrew lives for a day (Most possibilities to the actresses McDormand and Adams)…
*The Soloist: A new film by Joe Wirght (Foxx and Downey jr. alert)
*appaloosa: Ed Harris’ second film (Well remember the surprise debut Pollock)
Doubt made a great play, but how it will unfold onscreen I am not sure. Body of Lies looks promising, as does Revolutionary Road (Leo’s year? maybe…)
Keep your eyes on my “One Category at a Time” columns over at The Oscar Nazi (no Tom Cruise relation).
Not very excited this year from the films on paper, but we’ll see.
sorry but where is the love for Blindness?
Hey it’s Dan Craig!
Sam Mendes: American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead….all bad movies: MY OPINION.
However, Never say Never. Alan Parker only made one good movie and it is a MASTERPIECE: SHOOT THE MOON.
Doubt.
It will be fabulous!
Um, Crossing Over is directed by Wayne Kramer (The Cooler), not Paul Haggis.
BTW, Leo’s the lead in Body of Lies (and a really good one too, judging from an early draft of Monohan’s screenplay), so you’d think he’d get a mention along with Scott and Crowe.
Other than that, a pretty solid list.
Defiance.
Defiance – I had to look too
pardon my ignorance, but what does the picture above with Daniel Craig represent? what film? nothing in the accompanying copy identifies it.