One of the things you get a pretty good read on if you start watching the Oscar race early is the planted buzz. It comes usually with the following phrase, “I’m hearing great things about…” Even in Fall that phrase evaporates the moment the film opens to critics. With that in mind, no one right now is more busy than Jeff Wells, who is smartly firming up his awards coverage as he needs to be a player in order to secure ads. We all do, but Jeff is loud and proud about it. In fact, he doesn’t even pretend to be objective; he comes right out and says who should win. This item popped up recently:
A reliable friend in the creative community (i.e., no suspicious agenda) has written two things in response to the 2008 roundup piece: (a) “I’m hearing Doubt is really good and a likely Oscar contender” and (b) “Also hearing excellent things about things about Milk. Everyone is flipping out about how great Sean Penn is.”
Who are these mysterious voices out there feeding the “reliable friend” his information? Perhaps the friend has “no suspicious agenda” but the friend isn’t the one who saw anything. The friend is merely parroting back information he heard from ….
We know that it’s 99% probable that Sean Penn is worthy of people flipping out his behalf. Early Oscar chatter like this is, generally speaking, manufactured at the source. That doesn’t mean the movies or performances won’t be good, because sometimes they luck out. If a category is weak to begin with heading into any particular year, the hard core buzz machine can work for a writer or actor simply by making it all seem very real. Buzz is ever-elusive. 50% of it is true but the other 50% leaves those outside of the game scratching their heads in wonder, “how did that person end up with a nomination?” Well, this is how. Believe it or not, it starts this early.
“Daniel, the Ledger’s buzz for his performance in The Dark Knight was started since the last year when in november the first trailer came out, who looks fantastic, it’s not exclusive about his death.”
Well yeah, I know that, Xavi. I just meant, if somehow the performance doesn’t live up to the buzz or for whatever reason he wouldnt have been nominated, do you think he could be anyway because of his death. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve it, that it will happen the way I’m saying, or that there isn’t already buzz surrounding his performance.
Very true, Karen, but as Leone points out the picture has to have the goods to back up the buzz. Which No Country had in spades. 🙂
Well in some ways, No Country for Old Men had early buzz, but this mostly began at Cannes and remained on the back burner until the film actually opened. Then the rave reviews came, and the rest is history.
I have to agree with Nick. Buzz is not substantive and I think people are savvy enough to recognize that. DOUBT could very well be fabulous. It certainly has a great cast. Or it could feel too “small” or “not small enough” or whatever it is that the media gloms on to that day. Buzz never won anybody anything… it can get the ball rolling but if the picture doesn’t have the goods, it’s gone.
Early buzz does not determine a win. Buzz is manufactured but it is never the deciding factor at all, you should know that. If anything, early buzz does more harm than good. Just because films come out early and have good buzz is not the same as getting nominated just because of buzz. How can buzz win a person an Oscar or at least a nomination? LOL. Seriously.
Daniel, the Ledger’s buzz for his performance in The Dark Knight was started since the last year when in november the first trailer came out, who looks fantastic, it’s not exclusive about his death. Many people have the resemblance of Pacino’s “Dick Tracy”. Plus: Nolan is a down concentrated director who never follow any scandals or excentric things, so if he said something like this it’s for a good reason.
“I came to the 2007 race a bit late, but were there any movies last year that got nominations only because of early buzz?”
Best Actress principal contenders. La vie en rose and Away from her was released in June and May respectly and before started season everyone talked about Christie and Cotillard’s performances. Including in the case of Christie most people talked about her including since Toronto ’06 when many people in IMBd cross fingers to believe in her nomination when the new year started after Toronto, and other ones talked about Cotillard since Berlin ’07, so it’s a perfect example Daniel…
I came to the 2007 race a bit late, but were there any movies last year that got nominations only because of early buzz?
Also, how likely do you people think it is that Ledge will get a nomination because of his death?
How about the talk about Ledger being Oscar worthy in THE DARK KNIGHT, that buzz has been planted for months!
I do agree about the planted buzz phrases, but I have a good feeling about Penn and ‘Milk.’
Also, I am a huge of fan of Fernando Meirelles, Ruffalo and Julianne Moore, but the Blindess trailer doesn’t look very Oscar-friendly to me. It does strike my interest nonetheless.
lol, very sneaky Craig. And admirable to.
I love all this “planted buzz” personally and the “mysterious voices,” at the very least they are good for a laugh. I laugh at Wells all the time, with good reason, and posts like that make me feel so much better about my disregard for the man’s opinions. Why? Because his constant need to make himself seem important makes my dislike for the man seem completely justified. Not that I need a reason.
I’ve started and stopped three different comments about Wells and they were all snotty and horrible so I deleted them.
I mention this so that everyone will know how I feel, yet I’ll still be able to sleep at night, warm and dry on the moral high ground.
Pretty sneaky, huh?