In Contention

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  • OFF THE CARPET: Original players

    (from left) Jeremy Renner and Evangeline Lilly in The Hurt LockerWhen I had the unmitigated gall last week to project a set of winners for this year’s Oscar race, I was a bit startled at how easy Mark Boal’s script for “The Hurt Locker” slid into the Best Original Screenplay slot.  Looking over the landscape of contenders in the category, it’s a little obvious why such a somewhat non-traditional entry would be pegged as a frontrunner: this is a pretty thin year for original screenplays.

    That should take nothing away from Boal’s work, which is certainly commendable.  But beyond Pixar’s “Up” (penned by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson) and the Coen brothers’ “A Serious Man” (my pick for best-in-show in the category), there isn’t much competition for Boal’s play at the statuette.  I even find myself struggling with two more solid bets for nods after that trio.

    Fox Searchlight, however, is making some pretty strong moves on behalf of “(500) Days of Summer,” written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber.  The pair has already been cited by the Hollywood Film Festival as well as the Hamilton Behind the Camera awards.  Given the studio’s campaign prowess (and the undying spirit of the film’s champions), it makes sense to expect a spot to be reserved for the film here.

    To fill out the set, you’ve got a slot that is undeniably up for grabs.  So let’s dig into the field and see what we come up with.

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  • Listen to Adam Lambert’s ‘Time For Miracles’ from ‘2012’

    Adam LambertOkay, it’s a stretch under the new voting scheme to think that Adam Lambert’s closing credits track “Time For Miracles” from Roland Emmerich’s blow-stuff-up-good entry “2012” would be an Oscar contender, but with the film hitting theaters over the weekend (and with the just-announced news that another big sci-fi entry will have an original tune in the mix) I thought it would be worth it to showcase Lambert’s first single, as we’ve been doing the rest of the year’s Best Original Song contenders.

    And let’s face it — 10 years ago, this would be a sure-fire nominee.  And speaking personally, it’s somewhat nostalgic for that.  It has that epic, Diane Warren-like scope of songs like “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” and “How Do I Live.”  Cheese-fests, sure, but guilty pleasures are allowed in this life.

    The track was written by Alain Johannes and the late Natasha Shneider, each formerly of the Los Angeles indie rock band Eleven.  It’s positioning in the film is clearly a liability, but it’s the kind of thing that would most certainly grab more ratings for the Oscarcast, should it find itself in the mix.

    Have a listen to the song below, which we featured less formally a few weeks back, and tell us what you think.

    [display_podcast]

  • Leona Lewis to sing ‘Avatar’ theme

    Leona LewisChalk up another contender for Best Original Song. British pop diva Leona Lewis is to sing the (presumably multi-octave-scaling) theme song from James Cameron’s “Avatar.”

    Best known Stateside for her megahit “Bleeding Love,” the 24 year-old chanteuse rose to fame as the 2006 winner of “The X Factor,” the UK’s “American Idol” equivalent — thus making “Avatar” the year’s second sci-fi blockbuster (after “2012”) to turn to a reality-show star for musical duties.

    Empire reports that Lewis is currently shooting the video for the song, a James Horner-penned closing-credits effort titled “I See You (Theme from Avatar).”

    If this all sounds a little 1997, I guess that’s the idea. Lewis is, after all, a latter-day answer to Celine Dion, whose ubiquitous Oscar-winning theme for Cameron’s last film — what was the title again? — was part and parcel of its success. (Of course, times have changed since then, and the Academy looks a lot less kindly on closing-credit tracks these days.)

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  • Almodóvar, Tarantino to present at Oscars, five-presenter system scrapped

    Pedro AlmodovarA few weeks ago, The Film Experience’s Nathaniel Rogers invited alternative presenter ideas for next year’s Academy Awards ceremony. Among the suggestions I made was a more diverse roster of recognizable filmmakers deemed worthy of presenter status, naming Pedro Almodóvar as an example.

    Once again, Oscarcast producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman and I seem to be eerily in sync, as Pete Hammond has just revealed that that the great Spanish auteur and Quentin Tarantino are the first confirmed presenters for the ceremony.

    Meanwhile, last year’s five-presenter innovation for the acting categories will not be continued, a move that will probably disappoint as many people as it pleases. (I’m in the latter category.)

    Speaking to Hammond at last night’s Governors’ Awards, Mechanic instead promised presenter pairings with “real significance,” beginning with Almodóvar and Tarantino, who will hand out the Best Foreign Language Film award together.

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  • Preview?

    Jeff BridgesSo yeah, I cropped poor Gordon Willis out of the photo to end up with the image to the right here, but I can’t help wondering whether it’ll be a familiar sight come March 7.

    Of course, some folks have their panties in a twist at the gall of predicting winners this early, so I won’t go there again.  But it really does feel like things are going to go Bridges’s way this Oscar season.  It’s all just…too difficult to argue with.

    Jeffrey Wells recently saw the film in New York and is on board.  Steve Pond, Anne Thompson, Gregory Ellwood, Patrick Goldstein, there is little resistance.  No one likes an obvious race, but let’s call it what it’ll likely be: a Jeff Bridges victory lap, ebbing and flowing waves of applause for Duane Jackson, Lightfoot, Kevin Flynn, Terry Brogan, Preston Tucker, Jack Lucas, Max Klein, The Dude, Jackson Evans, Charles Howard, Ted Cole and finally, Bad Blake.

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  • ‘Leaves of Grass’ trailer

  • ‘Moon’ LEGO

    More fuel for the fire:

    Moon lego design

    (Courtesy: Sir Nadroj via Duncan Jones)

  • 11/16 Oscarweb Round-up

    Lauren Bacall• Catch video highlights of Saturday night’s Honorary Oscars celebration. [Oscars.org]

    • Baltimore Ravens OT Michael Oher on his life’s inspiration for Hollywood. [CNN]

    • Hoping “Avatar” is the new face of filmmaking. [Los Angeles Times]

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  • Wes Anderson and friends on ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’

    Fantastic Mr. Fox“The reason Roald wrote such wonderful children’s books was that he could think like a child. Wes has that capacity too.”

    With this statement, at a cozy round-table interview in the dining room of bucolic Dahl homestead Gipsy House, Liccy Dahl makes clear her endorsement of Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” the auteur’s oddball adaptation of the beloved children’s book by her late husband, which opened in limited release on Friday.

    Sitting beside her, the lank-haired, nattily suited Anderson blushes slightly and peers down at the table. They make a curious pair of collaborators, the dandy American hipster and the gentle British countrywoman, but the sincere affection between them is plain to see, as is Dahl’s genuine excitement about the film.

    “Things have been changed and embroidered in the film, but the magic hasn’t been taken away,” says Dahl, adding that Anderson’s trans-Atlantic take on the story (its animal characters live in England, but speak and behave as Americans) is appropriate given the international appeal of her husband’s work. “The essence of the story stays the same: good versus bad, the survival of a starving family.”

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: Apocalypse wow

    2012*All historical figures are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Roland Emmerich’s still got it. And by “it,” I mean the ability to make blockbuster hits out of the same movie again and again.

    “2012” opened at the top of the box office with $65 million and the seventh-biggest opening of 2009. It’s also the 10th-biggest November opening of all time, sliding in between last year’s “Quantum of Solace” and 2002’s surprise juggernaut “8 Mile.”

    Mid-November releases have the benefit of the highly lucrative Thanksgiving holiday coming somewhere around their second or third week, so “2012” has the chance to earn three times its opening, which certainly wouldn’t be the case in the summer. I actually don’t think it will be the case here either and I think we’ll see it top out around $150 million. While that figure is less than the production budget, the film has already made $225 million worldwide after just three days, so Emmerich has free reign to make whatever disaster movie he wants next.

    Destroying the Earth four times is probably the limit for any director but luckily for Emmerich, we just discovered water on the moon, so he can go ahead and make a movie where we’ve colonized it and are living there, but for whatever reason it gets destroyed.

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  • Happy birthday, Kris

    On this day in 1981, Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits” topped the U.S. box office for the second week running, Hall & Oates had the number-one song in America, and one Mr. Kristopher Tapley entered the world.

    Kris is in San Francisco, hopefully nursing a celebratory hangover and perhaps preparing for another. I thought of posting his birthday Billboard #1 as musical accompaniment, but no one needs to hear “Private Eyes” again. So we’ll fast-forward to a Boss track more suitable for someone at the ripe old age of 28. Have a good one, sir.

  • AMPAS chief Sherak promises “more fun” Oscars

    Tom SherakAs a former Fox chairman with a background in marketing, it’s unsurprising that Tom Sherak, who recently replaced Sid Ganis as president of the Academy, wants to bring a more populist approach to the Oscars.

    In this LA Times interview, he makes it clear that the primary objective of the move to 10 Best Picture nominees is to get more blockbusters into the race — having himself voted for “The Dark Knight” last year — but admits that they may not succeed:

    The point of it was to do something … We need to not be afraid to try things. We need to be positive. The people who are against the idea say, ‘What if it doesn’t work?’ Then we won’t do it again.

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  • Welcome to the club

    Roger Corman, Lauren Bacall and Gordon Willis show off the Oscars they received at last night’s Governors’ Awards. (The fourth honoree, John Calley, could not attend.) More pictures and video footage of the presentations are at the official AMPAS site here.

    (On a side note, one pic on the Academy site is captioned “Honorary award recipient Lauren Bacall and fashion designer Tom Ford.” Given that they’re likely going to be nominating Ford’s debut film in at least one or two categories come January, might they not do him the courtesy of adding ‘director’ to his description?)

    (from left) Roger Corman, Lauren Bacall and Gordon Willis at the 2008 Governors' Awards

  • The Oscar show you didn’t see

    Lauren Bacall accepting her Oscar at the 2008 Governors' AwardsFor those of us not important/famous/rich enough to have attended last night’s honorary Oscars presentation, the Governors’ Awards — tickets began at $350, apparently — Steve Pond has a comprehensive report of the proceedings, complete with pictures and some gossipy details.

    I’ve complained before about the Academy denying us Joe Public movie fans the chance to see industry titans Lauren Bacall, Gordon Willis, Roger Corman and John Calley finally take a trip to the Oscar podium, but what’s done is done. And to go by Pond’s account, the upshot for them (if not for us) is that they got to bask in the spotlight for longer than the main ceremony would have allowed — though Calley was, unfortunately, too ill to attend.

    Indeed, despite featuring only four award presentations, the night ran for three-and-a-half hours, the length of most Oscarcasts. Still, despite some organizational hiccups, a good, relaxed time seems to have been had by all.

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  • POLL: Which of the big awaited titles do you expect to underwhelm the most?

    This weekend has already brought junket screenings of Rob Marshall’s “Nine,” so we can’t call it “unseen” anymore.  Then again, everyone has signed agreements not to discuss (even trigger happy HFPA types), so we can still safely call it “awaited.”  Screenings of “The Lovely Bones” may or may not be set prior to the big London unveiling on the 24th, while “Invictus” is expected to start rolling out next week.  “Avatar,” meanwhile, has nearly another month before we get a look.

    The question is, which one is going to miss and miss big?  Perhaps the answer is none, I don’t know, but we’re in that dangerous territory where anticipation could kill the impact and/or something might just fall on its face, much like we’ve seen over and over again in the past with countless other pretenders.  If you have an opinion, let us know in the what that is.  Come on back here with further thoughts if you wish.

  • ‘Up in the Air’ up in the air

    Sad Brad Smith

    Sad Brad Smith performing “Help Yourself,” taken by First Showing‘s Alex Billington mid-flight during a Paramount/American Airlines stunt from New York to Los Angeles this afternoon.  Us Weekly, In Touch, Perez Hilton types aboard.

  • An invitation to dinner

    In case you were wondering, these British (but American-accented) critters apparently celebrate Thanksgiving. Globalization is happening everywhere you look. Anyway, cute marketing gimmick — click the image for fun and games. More “Fantastic Mr. Fox” talk to come tomorrow, from the press junket I attended last month. You seen the film yet?

    Fantastic Mr. Fox

  • Brenda Blethyn angles for Oscar attention in ‘London River’

    Brenda Blethyn in London RiverAmid the surfeit of underdog titles vying for Oscar glory, a special prize for maximum cojones should go to the producers of indie Brit drama “London River,” who are mounting a campaign for Brenda Blethyn’s superb lead performance — despite the obstacle of the film lacking a US distributor.

    The film (which was disqualified as Algeria’s Oscar entry due to excessive English dialogue) has just begun a week-long qualifying run in L.A., and if you happen to be around, you owe it to yourself to give it a look.

    As I wrote in my June review of the film from the Edinburgh fest, it’s a quiet, humane piece dealing with the still-sensitive subject of the London terrorist attacks of July 2005. Despite this political currency, the film doesn’t draw overt attention to itself — but it affords Blethyn her finest showcase since “Secrets and Lies,” tempering the familiar rhythms of distraught-parent drama with less flattering streaks of prejudice and self-absorption.

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