As soon as the wheels started turning on 2011 Oscar season considerations, I was thinking Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” could be a big player. Fox Searchlight could have another healthy slate this year and the studio has clearly caught and maintained its prestige stride. The trailer for the film dropped recently via Apple. Check it out by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump (and maybe clear off a spot for George Clooney in your Best Actor predictions).
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27 responses to “‘The Descendants’ trailer”
I’m a little disappointed to be seeing a face from the cast of “Secret Life of the American Teenager” in a mainstream film, especially one that otherwise looks good.
Looks alright but, I just can’t buy Clooney as a father.
What are you doing watching Secret Life of the American Teenager? LOL.
The Oscarness of this trailer is overwhelming, but it did remind me to get around to seeing About Schmidt.
This looks like Clooney trying really hard to break away from his smooth-talker typecasting. I have a very hard time buying him as a loser, It’s just to much of a stretch. But who knows, mabye he’ll pull it off. Payne is a great Director, who I’d say has yet to make a bad film, though I must say this looks rather sappy and sentimental for him.
I’m not trying to sound overly dismissive, but to me it looks like a generic Fox Searchlight movie. Perfect, idyllic suburban life ruined by a dysfunctional love.
I’m not particularly excited or moved by it, but let’s see how it plays out.
This movie would have to be extremely bad for Clooney not to get a nomination…the academy loves Clooney.
Doesn’t look too bad. Typical Payne. But such a shame that there’s no Judy Greer in the trailer. Clooney seems good. Not great, but good. The real surprise of the trailer was Shailene Woodley, who looked very intriguing.
“I have a very hard time buying him as a loser, It’s just to much of a stretch.”
He was a struggling actor for years. A loser? Every television pilot he started in except for ER tanked. He couldn’t get arrested let alone a break. He was on the final season of The Facts of Life — and the TV version of the movie Look Who’s Talking called Baby Talk.
Not buying an actor in a role before they’ve seen the performance is ignorant or just plain close-minded. The world is a big place. People don’t fit into little boxes.
I imagine it’d help his chances in director for Ides of March than anything else. Best Actor will be SO crowded this year — DiCaprio, Fassbender, Oldman, Gosling, Banderas, Mullan, Shannon, Reilly, Depp, Penn, Pitt, etc. But Clooney’s definitely in that list of contenders at this early point by name recognition alone.
/3rtfu11: I’m not talking about a young actor struggling to get TV parts when I say “loser”, I’m talking about a schlubby, middle-aged man without meaning in his life. I can’t help but see Clooney as being too charasmatic, suave and good-looking to go this far in that directon.
tony: I’m simply expressing skepticism, not writing a performance off before even seeing it in full. I think It’s natural to ponder about the potential of a performance before seeing it (especially after leaked footage). I’m still going in with an open mind, and will be the first to applaud him if he does (as I suggested he might) pull it off.
I was saying basically the same thing about Amy Adams last year when she started getting pre-release awards buzz for “The Fighter”. When I saw the trailer, I didn’t see a whole lot of potential, but after watching the film, I was amazed and was rooting for her to get nominated.
Meh. Payne’s always worth looking out for but this does look a little thin.
Might be a breakout for Shailene Woodley, who looks like she might pack a punch here.
Don’t let her resume influence your opinion of her ability. She’s getting work. A lot of our great actors have come from not-so-auspicious beginnings.
Jake D: Might we look at Michelle Williams, a now two-time Oscar nominee who’s big break came from “Dawson’s Creek”, as a fine example of this.
The original trailer for “Sideways,” while cute and funny, did nothing to reveal just how good the end product was. I’m hoping the same goes for this trailer, because I was a bit underwhelmed…seemed very straight-forward, which is atypical of Payne’s movies. But Payne is a great director, so this will remain one of my most anticipated of the year despite the trailer’s quality.
Pissed that the trailer saw fit to reveal a seemingly big plot twist, then again someone who read the book told me it was a bit of an open secret there, too.
Dude/Hamer, in regards to that “Sideways” trailer, not only did it not suggest how great the end product might be, it also gave away pretty much every story turn up until the last 15 minutes. Go back and look at the trailer for that, “About Schmidt,” even “Election” — his movies have never been easy to encapsulate in 2.5 minutes, and the trailers themselves were all underwhelming at the time.
That said, I’m actually surprised that this one seems to suggest real potential for the finished product (at least in my opinion).
If good, this will SURELY be an Oscar play.
Its too bad that Clooney gets nominated for just doing prestigy stuff yet some of his best work (The American) gets handily ignored. It was the one time that I felt that Clooney truly really actually deserved a nomination and he did not even have a prayer in heaven.
I think it looks absolutely wonderful. Both Payne and Clooney can in my book do nothing wrong. They really are that good.
Color me surprised. I went into this trailer expecting ‘meh’ based on the comments here; and also for the fact that I am not a George Clooney fan (regarding his acting).
But I think this trailer is solid. And it has made me want to see it. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that it’s a Payne film. ‘Sideways’ was my favorite of 2004.
This looks terrible to me but I’m not a huge Alexander Payne fan, so I guess I’m not really the target audience here.
Although he did direct the most wonderful segment of Paris je t’aime…… so I know there’s got to be a director I like in there somewhere.
I thought this movie was about the band. I am less interested.
It looks like a bad movie, but he made Sideways, so I will give it a chance.
I thought it looked good, and Shailene Woodley surprised me as well. I’ll admit to having seen some of her show (horrible…but hilarious) and I had a feeling that maybe she’d be capable of more than what she’s allowed, so I’m interested in finding out. Movies like this always run the risk of being too sentimental, but trailers are deceiving so I’m willing to give it a chance.
Does George Clooney ever not play George Clooney in a movie?
The next Sideways?