In Contention

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  • ‘Duchess,’ ‘Slumdog,’ ‘Knight’ take CDG Awards

    So, the final guild awards before the Oscars have been doled out — and “Slumdog Millionaire” maintains its unprecedented, unbroken streak, with Suttriat Larlab winning the contemporary field at the Costume Designers Guild awards.

    “The Dark Knight’s” Lindy Hemming predictably took the fantasy category while, in the only victory that has any bearing on the Oscar race, Michael O’Connor took the period gong for “The Duchess.”

    The latter strikes me as an interesting win. While the relatively unfamiliar O’Connor is a favourite for the Oscars, I didn’t necessarily expect him to triumph with the Guild, which often prefers more established names — and hasn’t shared the Academy’s recent affinity for European royalty-porn. (Neither “Marie-Antoinette” nor “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” won here.) The fact that they relented this year suggests O’Connor is looking primed for the bigger win on Sunday.

  • Penn’s performance for the ages

    Sean Penn in MilkOn a third viewing of “Milk”, one of the best films of they year and a major accomplishment for director Gus Van Sant, I was again struck, no, blown away by the brilliance, the joy, the remarkably loving work of Sean Penn as the doomed politician. Penn has been my pick for Best Actor since seeing the film last fall, and though I share the love for Mickey Rourke (and others do as well, judging by today’s sidebar poll), I still think Penn will take the Oscar on Sunday.

    This is a major performance, one destined to be discussed for decades to come from one of the greatest actors to ever grace the screen.  What sets it apart from Rourke’s work is that Penn had less from his life to draw on, and both being method actors, this is why I believe that Penn’s is the greater accomplishment. Now saying that is right away going to get the folks in Mickey’s camp thinking I am dissing his work…NOT AT ALL.  It is a brilliant performance that signals the return of a great actor.

    It all begins with words on a page. The actor reads those words and begins to create his character, perhaps after discussing it with his director, perhaps not. And from those words come magic. There are no directions as to how a character is be be portrayed in any screenplays I have ever read. The actor brings that to the table, which makes some of the great acting works all the more impressive.  Where did Johnny Depp find Captain Jack Sparrow?  Where did Heath Ledger find the Joker?  Where did Marlon Brando find Terry Malloy so long ago?  They make decisions about how they are going to say a line, or take a beat, or a pause, and mesh these things together to create, and then throw that energy out at another actor and maybe the work gets better.

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  • How not to present — or accept — an Oscar

    The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw has rounded up a morbidly fascinating collection of the all-time most awkward performances by an Oscar presenter — a remarkable study in the multitude of ways in which one can fail at reading a teleprompter and opening an envelope with any semblance of panache.

    They’re all fun in their variously excruciating ways (I love Jill Ireland’s thoroughly zombified reading of the 1973 Best Supporting Actress nominees), but I have to agree with Thomson that the most “cant-look-can’t-look-away” presentation is that of the 1972 Best Actor Oscar.

    Of course, the moment is already infamous for Marlon Brando’s choice of proxy to accept the award, but even before we get there, classic status is assured by the surreal pairing of Roger Moore and Liv Ullmann to present — and their painful lack of chemistry together. Whatever has been lined up for Sunday, it can’t go worse than this. (Check out Bradshaw’s full list here.)

  • Hammond, O’Neil debate the original screenplay race

    Everyone’s wondering lately whether “WALL-E” can pull off an upset in the original screenplay category as of late, taking down the only Best Picture nominee of the bunch in the process: Dustin Lance Black’s “Milk.”  Gold Derby’s Tom O’Neil cornered Pete Hammond recently to debate just that, as well as some discussion on the adapted screenplay category.

    “I think the original screenplay category is interesting this year because I think there are three nominees we can write off, ‘In Bruges,’ ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’ and ‘Frozen River,’” Hammond says.  “Then we’ve got ‘Milk’ and ‘WALL-E.’  No animated film has ever won in the writing categories and I think the time is right because “WALL-E’ is loved in the Academy.  I think they may be receptive to putting it in the winner’s circle in some other categories and I think the screenplay is where we might see the biggest upset of the night.”

    That’s kind of what I’ve been thinking for a while now, too.  This and the lead actor race are the two most interesting categories of the evening, I think.

  • Who almost starred in the season’s Oscar nominated films?

    Linus Roache in Batman BeginsThe folks at notstarring.com have put together a list of the year’s Oscar contenders and the stars who turned down opportunities to star in them.  There is, of course, Nicolas Cage in “The Wrestler” and Russell Crowe in “Australia.”  Heath Ledger is also mentioned for the latter (somehow I didn’t know that).

    “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” given its lengthy gestation period in Hollywood, had a slew of names attached: Steven Spielberg, Spike Jonze and Ron Howard in the director’s chair, Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Rachel Weisz in front of the camera.

    Those of us who follow Batman casting decisions closely know all the names that pop up in the “Dark Knight” section, though somehow I never realized Linus Roache was going to reprise his role of Thomas Wayne in flashbacks.  I feel like that would have worked and been a nice element to tie the film more closely to “Batman Begins.”

    There are plenty others to read through, including Matt Damon and Chris Evans being considered for the roles that eventually went to Josh Brolin and James Franco respectively in “Milk.”  There’s even a beefy section on “Wanted.”  Go have a look.

  • TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The crafts of ‘Benjamin Button,’ part two

    Tech Support at In ContentionYesterday was the first of our two-part look at the crafts artists behind “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Today, I feature conversations with cinematographer Claudio Miranda, visual effects supervisor Eric Barba and film editors Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, who have all received Oscar nominations for their work on the film.

    When asked about the enormity of the project, Wall rhetorically asks, “‘How do you eat a whale? One bite at a time.  The metaphor we always used is that we always look not at the peak but our feet. It was a two-year process and you have to be sure of every decision you make every day because it affects the end project.”

    Miranda admits he was intimidated by the task of breaking down the script. “I had to just try to imagine how this would be realized on screen,” he says, “going through each task at hand, devising a plan for all the different looks, especially with some things on blue screen.”

    Barba was especially scared that the main character would have to be created by visual effects for the first 50 minutes. “We had to make it work or else it wouldn’t be believable,” he says. “I had to think of the enormity of having to do what up until now hasn’t been done.”

    As regards the man at the helm, Baxter agrees with his colleagues who were featured yesterday that David Fincher is “extremely helpful and very very clear. He knows when to be loose and when to be a lot more specific. He’s got great intuition on what his crew needs from him.”

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  • Ballots are due…NOW!

    Any last words to the prognosticating voters who’ll be hustling their ballot to officials today?

  • THE LISTS: Top 10 pet peeves of the 2008-2009 Oscar season

    Rachel Getting Married

    The season is winding down this week.  The slow President’s Day holiday yesterday seemed to be more of a harbinger than a lull in the excitement.  This time next week, we’ll probably be over the fallout of the circuit and on to debating the contenders we’re likely to see a year from now.

    It’s a vicious, beautiful, sad, interesting circle.

    But before the 81st Annual Academy Awards telecast puts a bow on the festivities Sunday night, it seems a decent enough time to reflect.  And not to be too negative, but this became one of the most irritating seasons I’ve ever covered, both in the lack of excitement to the dichotomy that circumstance presented for me (given that my favorite film of the year has lead the field throughout).

    With that in mind, I fully expect this piece to grate the nerves of more than a few readers.  Then again, I’m sure plenty of these views are shared by a handful as well, but whatever the case, a list of pet peeves began to stack up early on in the season.  I thought it reasonable to collect them here, so feast your eyes (or roll them), this is what got under my skin this year.

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  • ‘A little blingier’

    Admittedly, it’s a little difficult to feel any sympathy for Oscar nominees when they discuss their frantic awards-season schedules. Oh poor you, it must be such a pain in the ass having to attend fittings for your free designer gown, or to attend yet another dinner held for the sole purpose of celebrating your wonderfulness.

    But if anyone can make such trials seem relatable, it’s Taraji P. Henson, who could just be the year’s most loveable nominee. Here, she shares her own schedule from the past week, and she’s clearly loving every minute. I love the girlish enthusiasm she expresses here about the red-carpet rigmarole:

    “She knows how to work it,” (stylist Mary) Norton says. “She won’t give herself that credit, but it’s why designers want to work with her. She doesn’t just walk a red carpet, she owns it.” Henson giggles at the very thought of it. “Well, I think it’s that ham that comes along with being an actress! I still to this day play dress-up. My son will come in my room and will be like, ‘Where are you going?’ And I’m like, ‘I’m playing. Get out!’ I’ve been playing dress-up all my life,” she says, stopping to laugh again. “But it’s on a whole ‘nother level now. It’s gotten a little blingier!”

    How can you not be happy for her? Work it, Taraji.

  • It’s all about the actors

    Over at USA Today, Susan Wloszczyna has come to the conclusion that, in a fairly weak year for film with a less-than-competitive Best Picture slate to show for it, the performance categories are where it’s at this year:

    The real action this year is in the acting. Sets were chewed with delicious relish and scenes were snatched with delectable finesse, even if the films themselves have underwhelmed.

    “I look at my ballot and see all these amazing actors,” says an overwhelmed Donna Gigliotti, a producer on The Reader and a trophy winner for 1998’s Shakespeare in Love. “It’s just staggering. That role was a game changer for Anne Hathaway, nothing that anyone expected from her. And Melissa Leo in Frozen River? What is she, 48? Her nomination just made me want to stand up and cheer. Richard Jenkins is such a fabulous actor. And Taraji P. Henson is the soul of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.“

    I’m inclined to agree. Though I still think the Academy dropped the ball in some areas (Best Actress, in particular, could have been a far richer and more diverse race had the likes of Sally Hawkins and Kristin Scott Thomas been invited), it’s true that, while 2008 hasn’t been as rewarding for auteur works as some previous years, we’ve seen a lot of films either wholly constructed around their performances (“The Wrestler” being a prime example) or saved by them (for my money, Anne Hathaway and Rosemarie DeWitt are the most focused elements of “Rachel Getting Married”).

    The result is, I think, that people seem a lot more invested in this year’s acting races than the ones for Picture or Director — and it’s not just because the latter two are foregone conclusions. (Let’s face it, there’s not much more suspense in some of the acting categories, and I think you know what I’m referring to.) It seems to me that the performances of 2008 have been more complete, complex and adventurous than the films — in some cases, the very films in which they appear.

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  • POLL: Who deserves it? — BEST ACTOR

    And this, my friends, is the race to watch.  Tell us in the sidebar poll.

  • 2/17 Oscarweb Round-up

    WALL-E• Patrick Goldstein joins a massive chorus pondering this year’s lack of an “Oscar bump” at the box office. [The Big Picture]

    • David Poland responds…at length. [The Hot Blog]

    • The Gurus o’ Gold crank out the odds. [Movie City News]

    • Anne Thompson wonders if all the bad press for “The Reader” last week could affect its Oscar chances at the last minute. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • The week after our own Guy Lodge dived into the matter, John Horn tackles the Oscar nominated “WALL-E” screnplay. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Tim Shipment, meanwhile, calls said bad press an “orchestrated attack.” [Daily Telegraph]

    • New Yorkers head west to help bring the Oscars to life. [New York Daily News]

  • Uh…

    So this is the apparent pay-off for all the cloak and dagger mystery surrounding this year’s Oscar presenters? So that, as we wait with bated breath, the curtain can rise on the heartstoppingly awe-inspiring likes of — golly, gosh, wow, gee, etc — Robert Pattinson?

    Okay, I’m not a pre-teen girl, so forgive me if I didn’t just wet my pants in anticipation. But I hope Bill Condon and Laurence Mark have some more interesting aces up their sleeves than the stars of “Twilight.” Otherwise, y’know, why all the secrecy?

  • POLL: Who deserves it? — BEST ACTRESS

    Moving into the top tier categories, have your say in the sidebar poll.  This one should be interesting.

  • TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The crafts of ‘Benjamin Button,’ part one

    Tech Support at In ContentionThirteen Oscar Nominations.

    Very few films in Academy history have achieved that status and, prior to this year, no film had secured that many nods since “Chicago” in 2002. But “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” has managed it this year, largely because of the incredible work going on below-the-line.

    Last week, I featured composer Alexandre Desplat and his role as film music composer on David Fincher’s film. In the past week, I have spoken to cinematographer Claudio Miranda, production designer Don Burt, set decorator Victor Zolfo, costume designer Jacqueline West, film editors Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, visual effects supervisor Eric Barba and makeup artist Greg Cannom, a healthy lot, all of them cited for their work on the film by the Academy this year.

    Today, I concentrate on my talks with Burt, Zolfo, West and Cannom. Tomorrow, Miranda, Baxter, Wall and Barba will be featured.

    “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is, without any doubt, a film extraordinarily reliant on visual attributes to be effectively told. The crafts artists acknowledge the intimidation poised by such a project.

    “‘Hmmmm…’ is what went through my mind when David [Fincher] first asked me to do this,” says Burt. “How in the world are we going to do this? Then I started going through the different periods in my mind and started building a plan, thinking maybe – just maybe – we could pull it off.”

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  • Stephen Colbert predicts the Oscars

    He went 5/5 last year, and hey, we have a new Mickey supporter!

  • Coldplay’s Chris Martin has a say on wife Gwyneth Paltrow’s ballot

    And according to a radio station in Manchester, via The Times, he voted for Mickey Rourke:

    The Coldplay singer found a nominations form lying around — understandable perhaps when you are married to a former Best Actress winner in Gwyneth Paltrow. But Martin just couldn’t resist. “I read the instructions, which is like you’ve got to put your top five in order and if the number one that you’ve chosen isn’t really doing very well, then they move on to your number two and include that with the one that is doing well, if you see what I mean,” he told Key 103 Radio in Manchester.

    “I did get a say on that form. I got to put a vote in. I voted for Mickey Rourke. Isn’t he great in that film (The Westler)?”

    This of course raises the bigger question: what the hell are Academy members doing allowing other folks to vote?  I know plenty of people who allow their sons and daughteres to vote for them, and in one instance, an editor who allows his assistant to do it.

    Sheesh…

  • 2/16 Oscarweb Round-up

    Jerry Lewis• David Carr asks for your input if you ran the Academy. [The Carpetbagger]

    • Tom O’Neil talks to Best Supporting Actress contender Penelope Cruz. [Gold Derby]

    • Speaking of supporting, Betsy Sharkey writes up an appreciation of the lot. [The Envelope]

    • Michelle Phillips wonders which Jerry Lewis will show up at the Oscars next weekend. [Chicago Tribune]

    • Peter Bradshaw on the weirdest Oscar acceptance speeches. [The Guardian]

    • Patrick Goldstein remembers the Oscar impact of “Patton.” [The Big Picture]

    • Cosmo Landesman talks to Amy Adams across the pond. [The Times]

    • Nathaniel Rogers gets around to the shorts and docs. [The Film Experience]

    • Patricia Leigh Brown talks to Oscarcast designer David Rockwell. [New York Times]