• Colin Firth talks royalty and “The King’s Speech.” [Awards Campaign]
• Alexandre Desplat named composer of the year. [Variety]
• Scott Kraft chats with “Fair Game” star Naomi Watts and subject Valerie Plame. [Los Angeles Times]
• RE: “For Colored Girls,” Anne Thompson notes that “Lionsgate’s ‘award season push’ for Tyler Perry’s reach toward mainstream credibility reeks of a distributor making nice to a favorite house director.” [Thompson on Hollywood]
• Jeff Wells, meanwhile, thinks Perry supporter Stu VanAirsdale should step in as the film’s savior amid less than favorable reviews. [Hollywood Elsewhere]
• David Carr sits down with “Client 9” director Alex Gibney. [New York Times]
• Steve Pond reports that one of the potential animated feature saviors we’ve had our eye on, “Summer Wars,” has been submitted for consideration, making the total number of submissions (not qualifying titles, mind you) 14. [The Odds]
• Tom O’Neil talks to “Hereafter” star Cecil De France. [Gold Derby]
[Photo: Los Angeles Times]
Comments
7 responses to “10/25 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Desplat honored, Watts and Plame on ‘Game,’ animated feature hopefuls reach 14”
“Anne Thompson notes that “Lionsgate’s ‘award season push’ for Tyler Perry’s reach toward mainstream credibility reeks of a distributor making nice to a favorite house director.”
Not to be mean but one could make a similar argument about Paramount and Scorsese (not that I’m equating him with Perry but you probably know what I mean).
I know what you mean, and I understand the logic, but it’s not true. First and foremost because Scorsese isn’t a “house director” at Paramount. Other than his recent docs on the Stones and Dylan, I think the only other time Scorsese has worked with Paramount on a film was Bringing Out the Dead.
“Favorite” not equal to “Great.”
Kris, everything that you’ve mentioned was in my mind when I wrote my post, and, in a weird way fell under the whole not equating Scorsese with Perry thing. I considered making it explicit, but, in the end, decided not to overburden with details I suspected were obvious and non-essential to the bigger point I tried to make. I now understand it came at the expense of making my position clear. And this time, I think we are 100% on the same page.
Clearly, Scorsese is a favorite in a different sense than Perry. Wheres Perry is first, and foremost, fiscally important, Scorsese, while his current films make more money then before, is more of a source of prestige for the distributors he works with.
But both are important in their own ways and thus the companies they work with may feel the need to show them the necessary amount of respect.
*To say nothing of the aforementioned fact that Socrsese is not a “house director” at Paramount.
If you knew what Scorsese’s camp thinks about Oscars, you might think otherwise. Paramount isn’t doing this as a favor. It’s a legitimate push.
Fair enough. Just out of curiousity, does this extend to Scorsese’s directorial nod or just the film itself?
To me it’s an important and somewhat telling difference.