In Contention

Taking questions for Oscar Talk

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You know the drill.  Rifle off your query and we’ll try to address as many as possible.  PLEASE KEEP IT TO ONE QUESTION, and keep it fresh.  The new, interesting stuff will surely be addressed before the old, dead-horse stuff.

Comments

35 responses to “Taking questions for Oscar Talk”

  1. Nicolas Mancuso Avatar
    Nicolas Mancuso

    Putting aside Firth’s “guaranteed” win for a moment, what do you think Javier Bardem’s chances are?

    I know you’ve ranked him last on the Contenders page, but I’m wondering if his “surprise” nomination is indicative of more support than was originally thought.

  2. JJ1 Avatar
    JJ1

    I’m SURE this topic will be addressed thoroughly during the podcast, but …

    Melissa Leo. From what I hear, a lot of voters vote early on in the phase 2 process. So could her late-breaking self-ads really have made that much of a negative impression? Or, have the ads been around for a while and they only broke in the past week?

  3. bluemoon02 Avatar
    bluemoon02

    I am curious but would like to ask Anne as based on her observations , of the 20 actors and actresses nominated which of them are:

    1)Campaigning for themselves slyly and craftily with the help of their publicists in a not-so-obvious manner

    2)Campaigning for themselves actively and fervently

    3)Taking a more zen and slightly nonchalant approach to the awards season a la Monique?

    Thanks!

  4. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    If there was to be an upset in any of the categories, which one would you be happy to see?

  5. JJ1 Avatar
    JJ1

    Fantastic question from bluemoon02.

  6. Andrej Avatar

    ENOUGH OSCAR TALK!! The Grammys are this sunday!

    Do you have anything in mind about Oscar’s younger and trashier sister awards show? I’m hoping Cee-Lo Green’s “Fuck You” gets some recognition, it’s one of my favourite songs from last year. ☺

    (yeah… at this point I’ve run out of Oscar related questions. Sorry!)

  7. Anita Avatar
    Anita

    Going back to Steve Pond’s latest article explaining the preferential ballot system in the Best Picture race, which films do each of you think will be eliminated in the first couple of rounds and which films do you think occupy the number 2 position on those ballots?

  8. Maxim Avatar
    Maxim

    Do you think the Academy will ever seriously consider expanding the Best Foreign Film category to ten films?

  9. Duncan Houst Avatar

    It may be a bit premature, but looking into the distant future, from the 30 sec. look at “Super 8” that we got on Sunday, does it seem like a potential candidate for Best Picture next year to you two?

  10. Dreyer Avatar
    Dreyer

    Is it possible that Nolan wins the screenplay category caused by sympathy votes for not receiving a director nod?

  11. kel Avatar
    kel

    Is the Melissa Leo “controversy” valid or is it just an attempt to gain traffic for websites (IE: goldderby)?

  12. Kristopher Tapley Avatar

    FYI, we’re definitely going to be addressing Leo, as well as Bening’s revving campaign, so no need to go there.

  13. Kristopher Tapley Avatar

    “from the 30 sec. look”

    I think that should answer your own question.

  14. Maxim Avatar
    Maxim

    Don’t see why it should. It’s not like you haven’t made predictions of films you haven’t seen anything from before (especially since it’s understood that it’s just an early stab). It’s all for fun anyway ;) . Personally, I find early predictions like that to be most fun of all.

    And it’s not like that 30 second spot wasn’t enough to make a splash.

  15. Tom Avatar
    Tom

    Oscar winners, particularly for Best Picture, can often be interpreted as a window into a time and place in Hollywood, and where the state of film was at its time. What would a King’s Speech win indicate about our time and current film tastes?

  16. Patrick Avatar
    Patrick

    I know that its a little early to talk about 2012, but I’ve completely lost intrest in this years Oscars: Do you think we’ll see Brad Pitt win next year for Moneyball? We’ve been going through this “Its His Time” era in the catagory, so it would make sense.

  17. twc Avatar
    twc

    your honest to goodness answer please: does Toy Story 3 have any shot at Best Picture?

    I want History to be made!!!!!!

  18. Dempsey Avatar
    Dempsey

    If every Oscar blogger were cast in a movie, who would play who? Annette Bening as Anne Thompson?

  19. Loyal Avatar

    A lot has been made online about The King’s Speech being a Dances with Wolves-Ordinary People-Driving Miss Daisy-Around The World In 80 Days- Greatest Show on Earth type of Best Picture fiasco in the making (for the record, I don’t agree with the labeling of those films nor the comparison).

    Are those thoughts limited to the Oscar blogosphere or are you and Anne hearing similar things in the real world? Assuming it wins, where you do and Anne think The King’s Speech will fall amoungst recent Best Picture winners?

  20. Roy Avatar
    Roy

    Do you feel that True Grit will be a Michael Clayton like situation whereby they want to award it with something, so they reward either Deakins, Hailee or both, or a Gangs of New York situation where it’s simply not liked sufficently to go beyond its impressive number of nominations?

  21. Jim T Avatar

    That 30 sec. spot was indeed nothing to make predictions based on.

    Super early predictions for Best Picture make some sense when we know the story/source material and there is a previous Oscar nominee/winner as the director.

    We know nothing about Super 8’s story and the director hasn’t got any Oscar love yet. The spot just showed that it will be “energetic”.

    But I would be interested in some risky predictions for Best Pic or the acting categories for the next Oscars. I mean, we all know Scorsese’s movie is a candidate as is Michelle Williams as Marilyn but it would be fun if each of you threw in some semi-crazy thoughts for the possibility of future bragging rights and our own amusement.

  22. Jeff Avatar
    Jeff

    How legitimate do you consider the argument that early buzz can lead to a negative outcome? The last two days have seen people going nuts over Meryl’s still as THE IRON LADY – and the movie just started production! Do you think this can/will adversely affect her potential – whether or not the movie/performance works?

  23. Joe7827 Avatar
    Joe7827

    Some of these are really good questions (#10, #15, and #19).

    I’ve always wondered how each of this year’s director nominees is perceived. We’ve heard that Fincher and Russell (and apparently, Nolan) are kind of unpleasant; what has caused these reputations? And I guess Aronofsky and the Coens are sort of the mavericks that get to be in their own little world. And what do we know about Hooper?

  24. The Great Dane Avatar
    The Great Dane

    Kristopher, when you address the Bening campaign, can you please explain why every predictor keeps saying she could win/upset?

    She won the Comedy Globe, but the critics ignored her – a lot of them didn’t even NOMINATE her.

    The year started out with the critics saying “this could be her year”. Then Black Swan arrived, and the critics mostly forgot about Bening. It seems that the only ones who think she can win are the Oscar sites. Why?

    Bottom line: Where is the proof that she is a threat? It certainly doesn’t come from the critics any more… They would have Jennifer Lawrence be the real threat (even though I know she could never win the Oscar).

  25. Dean Avatar
    Dean

    Do most Acadmey members actually watch the nominees? For example I just don’t see people wanting to watch the three films nominated for makeup since they’re just in that category. For those who don’t, for all categories in general, do most of them abstain or vote on what they’ve seen in ads or whoever they like or recognize? And also if they actually watch their Animal Kingdom screeners, could Jacki Weaver win?

  26. THE Diego Ortiz Avatar
    THE Diego Ortiz

    When are the Oscars?

  27. Kristopher Tapley Avatar

    “She won the Comedy Globe, but the critics ignored her – a lot of them didn’t even NOMINATE her.”

    The easy answer is critics don’t vote for Oscars. Just ask The Social Network.

  28. Kristopher Tapley Avatar

    “Where is the proof that she is a threat? It certainly doesn’t come from the critics any more…”

    It never NEEDS to come from the critics. Bening has turned on the campaign this year and not everything is in what you see. Though plenty of it is (national TV appearances, the Santa Barbara tribute, etc.). This is not an atypical scenario, either.

  29. Daniel Avatar
    Daniel

    What in your opinion is the least deserving nominee this year? It can be from any category

  30. Marco G. Avatar
    Marco G.

    What do you think about next year’s Best Actress Oscar race? Are you predicting a potential Streep vs. Close situation as well? If so, who would you want to win?

  31. Cordy Avatar
    Cordy

    Do you guys think anything can beat The King’s Speech at BAFTA? I know that this has been a foregone conclusion for a while that it would have it’s easiest win here, but with the Black Swan love in the nominations do you think it could possibly win director?

    And also, could you guys just address any surprises you think could happen at BAFTA that would alter these last 2 weeks?

  32. Blake Avatar
    Blake

    Most people are predicting Inception will have no problem cleaning up in the sound categories, but I think it’s vulnerable, considering the “film with the biggest sound” has often lost in recent years. Do you think The Social Network or The King’s Speech could pull off an upset in sound mixing?

  33. Kristopher Tapley Avatar

    “Don’t see why it should. It’s not like you haven’t made predictions of films you haven’t seen anything from before (especially since it’s understood that it’s just an early stab). It’s all for fun anyway ;) . Personally, I find early predictions like that to be most fun of all.”

    As noted last year, I’m well over the year-in-advance game. It’s too maddening and silly.

  34. Paul Outlaw Avatar
    Paul Outlaw

    When you discuss Melissa Leo, could you touch on the ramifications her self-campaign might have on the other races, i.e. the TKS big sweep, especially with regards to Bale?

  35. Kristopher Tapley Avatar

    I’ll close it off there. We’ll be recording shortly. Thanks as always.