Oscar Talk: Ep. 80 — The runaway 'Artist' train and Santa Barbara tributes

Posted by · 7:58 am · February 3rd, 2012

Welcome to Oscar Talk.

In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds.

It’s been about a week and a half since we assessed the season immediately post-nominations. Today Anne and I are both back in LA after trips to Sundance and Santa Barbara and there have been some awards announcements in the interim. So let’s see what’s on the docket today…

First up this week is discussion of the two big guilds of the last two weekends: the PGA and DGA, which both went to “The Artist.” It’s obviously a runaway train at this point, and I try not to beat up on it too much. I do.

The SAG Awards also happened recently, including a big surprise win for Jean Dujardin. We springboard off of that to discuss the Best Actor category, which seems to be more fluid now than it was a week ago, surely.

The Santa Barbara Film Festival is still on-going, though Anne and I have wrapped up what coverage we’ll do from there. Tributes were held for Viola Davis, Christopher Plummer and Martin Scorsese. We discuss.

“The Grey” opened this week, and with it, talk of both what its Oscar chances might have been in 2011 and whether it might hold on until the end of this year as a hopeful.

And finally, reader questions. We address queries regarding that phantom #10 film on the Best Picture list, the impact of Oscar season festivals and tributes and what to make of the electronic voting system the Academy is planning.

Have a listen to the new podcast below with the lovely Jennifer Lawrence leading the way. If the file cuts off for you at any time, try the back-up download link at the bottom of this post. And as always, remember to subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here.

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“The Beginning of the End [Ladytron Remix]” courtesy of Nine Inch Nails and Interscope
“George Smiley” courtesy of Alberto Iglesias and Silva Screen Records.




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