In Contention

Blog

  • TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: Alexandre Desplat

    Tech Support at In ContentionOver the last several years, Alexandre Desplat has gone from being a relatively unknown (in the United States anyway) French composer to emerging as one of the most acclaimed and sought after commodities in the business today.  Receiving his second Oscar nomination this year for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Desplat has continued to cement his place at the top of his field.

    Despite the acclaim, however, he remains very close to his home in European cinema.  “I have tried to keep as much of a relationship as I can with my French directors,” he says.  “I always try to go to do two or three French movies a year.  That’s a lot but I don’t want to lose that.”

    While there are certainly exceptions, there is definitely a difference in the manner that French and American filmmakers approach their work, Desplat says.  Being forced to think differently because of different filmmaking styles helps his creative resources.  “It feeds me,” he says.

    David Fincher’s “Button” posed unique challenges for Desplat.  “It doesn’t have a linear storytelling,” he says.  “It’s a complex puzzle and I’d ask myself, ‘How do you deal with this in music and deal with the main character when he is a passive character?’  It’s not easy to capture in music.”

    Describing the film as a “sound epic,” Desplat notes that the music had to be strong without being overly dramatic or imposing.  It was a crucial demand from Fincher that Desplat says he had to struggle with.

    The composer has worked with some of the world’s top directors in recent years – Ang Lee, Stephen Frears, Jacques Audiard — but despite Fincher’s unique perspective in the wake of those talent helmers, Desplat says certain professional similarities smoothed the journey.

    “He has an amazing quality as a collaborator,” Desplat says. “He’s very demanding but so am I so that’s fine.  He’s very detailed but so am I, so that’s also fine.  He wants his people to bring their own world, talents and colors into the film.  I think that’s the sign of a great director.  All the great directors I’ve worked with know that it is crucial that your creative energy is opened and not just restrained.”

    (more…)

  • Oscar might go for “Button”

    Cate Blanchett in The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonThere is no good reason for me to think this, of course.  Call it a gut feeling, but I have a sneaking feeling the Academy might ignore “Slumdog Millionaire,” despite its countless awards, and go for homegrown studio product this year.  Let’s face it, the Academy has proven they march to their own drummer over and over again.

    “Slumdog” has already become a pop culture phenomenon around North America and Britain, making far more money than the filmmakers ever thought it would. Hell, before the festival season started the film was doomed, set for direct-to-DVD distribution.  Yes, Danny Boyle has won the DGA award, a solid predictor, but I’m not convinced.  Hollywood loves to congratulate itself, which we saw in 1997 with “Titanic” somehow winning a record 11 awards over the vastly superior “L.A. Confidential.”  David Fincher’s “Button” has been around for years, waiting for the right director, the right effects, the right time.

    So often in the past the Academy has gone for a film that is conservative and offends no one, ignoring the better work.”Driving Miss Daisy” over “Do the Right Thing” (which wasn’t even nominated), “Gandhi” over “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” “Oliver!” over “2001:A Space Odyssey.”  The list goes on and on.  “Button” is a handsomely mounted project, beautifully shot, meticulously crafted, with strong performances from the cast,and rock solid direction from Fincher.

    “Slumdog” may well prevail, but as a devil’s advocate, I am throwing it out there that “Button” could surprise, taking wins for both Best Picture and Best Director.  Am I crazy?

  • He’s just not that f***ing into you

    Okay, so Kris promised there would be no more Bale-related posts. But as the guys at Vulture pointed out, this is too good to ignore. In any case, it’s about another movie altogether.

  • Curiously human

    Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

    I expect the late Heath Ledger to win the Oscar for best supporting actor for “The Dark Knight,” but I’m not choosing his performance as the “most elevating” out of sympathy. It was elevating for an entirely separate reason: He transformed the character of the Joker, who we thought we knew so well, into a suffering, haunted being, stripped of all emotion except for ruthless self-pity.

    Exactly what wounded the Joker is hard to say (he tells conflicting stories, neither one necessarily true), but something certainly did. His role as the Joker is not performed to entertain himself, but as a necessary acting-out of turmoil. Its function as a deliberate performance is underlined by his makeup, deliberately cruder and messier than previous Jokers, as if he slops it on with anger. His laugh is maniacal.

    These feelings are a tribute to Ledger, to director Chris Nolan, and to the screenplay by Nolan and his brother, Jonathan. This Batman film, while still an over-the-top comic book extravaganza, is curiously more human than before, giving greater weight to the characters as if they actually were, however impossibly, human beings.

    From Roger Ebert’s recent article on the “most elevating” performance of the supporting actor contenders.  More “elevated” picks can be viewed here, best-of choices including Mickey Rourke, Melissa Leo, Viola Davis and “Milk.”

  • You’ve already seen it, but…

    …Jon Stewart really ripped into “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” the other night, as if that’s somehow novel at this stage.  Seriously — Wells, Defamer, Poland, Carr, the vitriol is tired and largely unfair.  The sad thing is, most of the sniping comes — shocker — free of any reasoned debate about WHY “Button” is problematic, a conversation I’d love to have if any of these schoolyard bullies would be willing.  Sadly, none of them seem to be, but it’s not Stewart’s job to be reasonable.  He’s a comedian, after all.

  • 2/5 Oscarweb Round-up

    New Boy• Patrick Goldstein, in a well-reasoned piece that even I — a dedicated Boss fan — can’t disagree with, says Bruce Springsteen “had to stoop to conquer” Sunday night. [The Big Picture]

    • Jeffrey Wells bizarrely reviews Best Live Action Short nominee “New Boy.”  Beware careless spoilers. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Michael Cieply, reports on the on-going discussion of how to handle the Best Original Song performances, from a cost stand-point, of course. [The Carpetbagger]

    • David Carr, meanwhile, in addressing the Christian Bale situation, takes another swipe at “The Dark Knight.”  But he should really watch the film again and understand that the ending isn’t “unsatisfying,” but merely poorly integrated into the whole. [The Carpetbagger]

    • Speaking of Bale, Tom O’Neil wonders if the actor threw away his Oscar hopes for “Public Enemies” by shooting off at the mouth. [Gold Derby]

    • Dave Karger previews Saturday’s WGA awards.  “Milk” and “Slumdog” have it in the bag, right?  Anyone expecting an upset? [Entertainment Weekly]

    • Three weeks in the life of an Oscar ballot. [Little Gold Men]

    • David Fincher: “‘Benjamin Button’ was a semi-confection that became resonant.” [The Guardian]

    • Treading waters we were swimming through back when the film was set for a 2008 bow, Brad Brevet wonders if Stephen Frears’ “Chéri” is an Oscar contender.  Considering it’s Miramax’s best bet, then yeah, it probably is a contender. [Rope of Silicon]

  • Weinstein + Garland = Oscar?

    OK, so some actress just won an Oscar. We don’t know who she is yet, or when exactly she’ll receive it, but is there anyone willing to bet against the lucky thesp who winds up getting cast in the Harvey Weinstein-produced biopic of Judy Garland that has just been announced?

    It seems the Brothers Weinstein have just optioned “Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland,” the bestselling, apparently definitive biography by Gerald Clarke (who, incidentally, also wrote the volume from which “Capote” was adapted). No director or cast are attached yet, but this is surely an awards-season gimme.

    A grim childhood, drug and alcohol abuse, multiple unhappy marriages, singing, performing, drastic premature aging, mental instability … Garland’s story is essentially “La Vie en Rose” minus the subtitles, plus the allure of Hollywood legend. It represents everything the Academy swoons over in a performance. If some actress knocks it out the park, backed by Weinstein’s apparently renewed campaigning muscle, woe betide the other four ladies nominated alongside her.

    Some of you may remember that Judy Davis nabbed every TV award going for playing Garland in miniseries form a few years back. It’ll be interesting to see what age range Weinstein looks toward for the casting here. One actress or two? Anne Hathaway seems like a neat fit, but is she too young? Is Cate Blanchett too old? If Kate Winslet loses again this year, I suggest she gets on the phone with Weinstein immediately.

  • Jenkins, Cruz make the talk show rounds

    I can’t find a clip of “The Visitor” star Richard Jenkins on Letterman last night, but here’s a look at the actor’s visit to the couch of “The View”:

    And Penelope Cruz doing her duty on Leno:

  • Thank you

    Since I was talking about original screenplays earlier today, I was interested to see that Jeff Wells is also on the topic. He offers a brief rundown of the nominees for Saturday’s WGA Awards, and offers this theory on why Jenny Lumet missed out on both Guild and Oscar nods for “Rachel Getting Married”:

    Lumet’s screenplay didn’t render enough bombast and sword thrusts in the big-money confrontation scene between Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger. They start to get into the “why did you leave me with him?” issue, Winger freaks and slaps and then Hathaway runs out — not satisfying!

    I’m not sure ‘bombast’ is the word I’d use (I rather think more subtlety was called for), but I’m glad to see that scene singled out — for me, it was a lazy, artificial bit of dramatic shortcutting that caused the film’s whole emotional construction to fall apart somewhat. Anyway, old news and apropos of nothing really, but I’m glad someone else said it.

    As for the WGA, we all know Simon Beaufoy is taking the adapted category. Does Dustin Lance Black win original by default, since he’s the only Oscar nominee of the bunch? I guess so — barring a surge of peer affection for four-time winner Woody Allen. But if Black does lose — not likely, of course — I wouldn’t fancy his Oscar chances much. Just an idle thought.

  • ‘Wrestler’ rules London crix awards

    The London Film Critics’ Circle have just announced their winners, and I have to say they’ve done a pretty terrific job. (I discussed the nominations here.) The really heartening news is that “The Wrestler” finally has another Best Picture award to its credit, five months after taking the Golden Lion at Venice — who would have thought that it’d be left to the Europeans to give this quintessential piece of Americana its due?

    Naturally, Mickey Rourke took the Best Actor award too, while Kate Winslet added yet another trophy (awarded jointly for both her 2008 films) to her crowded mantlepiece. David Fincher was a somewhat surprising winner of the Best Director award, and “Waltz With Bashir” took yet another foreign-language gong.

    If you’re wondering where “Slumdog Millionaire” features in all of this, it ruled the roost in the British Film categories, taking Best British Film and Director, and also landing Screenwriter of the Year for Simon Beaufoy. In the British races, the Londoners like to have their cake and eat it — for example, Kristin Scott Thomas took a richly deserved award for Best British Actress, but beat Best Actress winner Winslet in the process.

    Meanwhile, I’m thrilled to see Michael Fassbender getting some hardware for his staggering work in “Hunger” (which also took the Breakthrough Filmmaker prize), while in the supporting race, Eddie Marsan is another thoroughly deserving victor. Good work all round, London critics.

    Full list of winners below the cut.

    (more…)

  • Is the Oscar schedule too short?

    The Academy AwardsFive years ago, the Academy whittled a schedule some complained was too long down a bit, chopping off a month at the end of the process and bringing the annual Oscar ceremony into late February rather than late March.  It was something of a significant event, if you didn’t happen to be watching back then, and the question has circulated ever since: did it really help?

    A bevy of reasons was dished out by the organization at the time: “It’s for the films,” “It’s for the ratings,” etc.  But a lot of folks in the industry, certainly those who cover this racket, have since belly-ached over how much of an exhausting sprint the season seems to be now.

    For me, I used to hate how drawn out the process was.  It seemed to go on for too long and the next year’s crop was REALLY in our face before you knew it.  But I will admit that the new schedule has been equally problematic.  I begin to crash right around this time of year, because the entire awards schedule shifted to accommodate the Oscar move, of course.  There are a lot of shows, a lot of key dates crammed into one really tight space, one already dominated by the holiday season.  I long for the end nowadays for different reasons than before: it puts you on the verge of collapse.

    Well Variety’s Tim Gray has written a piece addressing this issue.  The unsurprising verdict: he doesn’t like the shortened schedule.  I say unsurprising because an outlet that just laid off a chunk of its workforce and found itself struggling for the expected advertising revenue would like nothing more than another month of ad sales this time of year.

    (more…)

  • Digging into the Oscar nominated shorts

    La Maison en petits cubesThis year Magnolia Pictures and Shorts International are partnering up once again to distribute the 10 Oscar nominated short films, both animated and live action.  The package is set to release this Friday, Feb. 6 in select cities and you can also download the films via iTunes.  Check out Shorts International’s official site for the films here.

    I always like seeing what the world’s filmmakers have cooked up in these categories, so I took an hour or so earlier in the week to have a look at the films in contention.  I have to say, it’s a more impressive collective than we’ve seen in recent years — especially on the live action side of things, where interestingly enough, all the entrants hail from overseas.  I’ll start there.

    Best Short Film (Live Action)
    “Auf der Strecke (On the Line)”
    “Grisen (The Pig)”
    “Manon sur le bitume (Manon on the Asphalt)”
    “New Boy”
    “Spielzeugland (Toyland)”

    The German film “Auf der Strecke (On the Line),” from director Reto Caffi, has racked up an impressive tally of festival awards.  But for me it brings up the rear.  It’s a somewhat derivative study of love and guilt, and there’s a nice enough twist mid-way through to really drive the point home, but the film drags on a bit and, despite a captivating final image, didn’t have the impact it might have.  I can’t say it’s not a competent piece of narrative filmmaking, however.

    (more…)

  • Best Original Screenplay: The case for ‘WALL-E’

    I think it was some smart person on Nat Rogers’ most recent podcast who remarked that if you really want to get a picture of what was going on cinematically in any given year, you’d be better off bypassing Oscar’s Best Picture category and heading straight for the Best Original Screenplay nominees – a category that has a far higher tolerance for eccentricity, controversy and the occasional foreign tongue than any other.

    Case in point: 2002. When the top categories were splintered between the respectable but less-than-relevant likes of “Chicago” and “The Pianist,” Original Screenplay afforded voters the luxury of choosing between Pedro Almodovar, Todd Haynes and Alfonso Cuaron. Two years later, the category gave recognition to the otherwise shamefully sidelined “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” just as, a decade earlier, “Pulp Fiction” fans sought refuge there from a merciless shower of Gump. As I’ve said before, from “Citizen Kane” to “The Crying Game,” Best Original Screenplay tends to be the connoisseur’s favourite Oscar category.

    And so it is this year, when the writers’ branch really demonstrated admirable ingenuity and adventurousness in their selections, in the face of some otherwise uninspired voting. For me, it’s by far the most exciting of this year’s major Oscar categories, both for the calibre its competition and the unpredictability of its outcome. It’s one category where the Guild award is of little to no use to prognosticators, as only one title (“Milk”) features on both the Oscar and WGA lists.

    Like Kris, I’m placing my money on Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and “WALL-E” emerging triumphant here, and thus becoming the first animated film in Oscar history to win a major category. This morning, meanwhile, I was interested to see that the majority of the Gurus of Gold are thinking the same way. It’s a healthy vote of confidence for a prediction that, let’s face it, would represent a significant leap for Academy voters. Just last year, the Reel Geezers (AMPAS members both) immediately discounted “Ratatouille” from consideration in the category because it was a “cartoon.” How do we know that most of the notoriously conservative Academy voters won’t feel the same way?

    (more…)

  • 31 days of Oscar on TCM

    I haven’t watched Turner Classic Movies in forever.  It seems I have no time for anything nowadays, but I always liked checking out the “31 Days of Oscar” nightly screening series this time of year.  Here’s a new promo for this year’s series:

  • Hollywood uses the comic book rack for added buzz

    Cover of Star Trek: Mirror ImagesI’ve kind of been expecting a piece along these lines for quite a while now.  Every time I go into my local comic book store (guilty), I see some series lining the shelves based on either a film or television show, sometimes in form of a prequel.  I generally refrain from picking up, say, “C.S.I.” or “Fringe,” but that “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” prequel book has me somewhat interested.

    Here’s the opening few graphs from Scott Bowles’s piece:

    Having plundered comic books for decades, Hollywood is giving a little back.  Studios are increasingly turning their properties over to illustrators and writers before movies are released to generate Internet chatter, early fans and anticipation within the all-important comic-book community.

    The latest comic comes from Push, the sci-fi thriller starring Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning that opens Friday. Wildstorm, a division of DC Comics, has created a six-issue series that fleshes out the movie’s plot about expats with supernatural powers.

    And a magazine rack-full of other movies are here or on the way.

    Bowles then goes on to rattle off a multitude of examples, from “G.I. Joe” to “Terminator Salvation” and everything in between.  I’ve always felt there was a great opportunity with this kind of concentrated cross-medium promotion.  Of course, some viewers aren’t interested in comic books, and that’s fine, but what’s wrong with an amplified experience?  To boot:

    “It’s a great way to flesh out back stories and create references for the movie,” says Hank Kanalz, Wildstorm’s general manager. “You can watch the movie without reading the comic book. But you’ll have a better experience if you do.”

    Interestingly enough, last summer’s blockbuster “The Dark Knight” didn’t come with the usual comic adaptation.

    Check out the full story at USA Today.

  • I’m totally buying one (last Bale update, I swear)

    Christian Bale T-shirt

    Get yours today. (via /film)

    There’s also a nifty soundboard for your prank calling pleasure.  Patrick Goldstein has gone a little deeper on what it all means (and whether it matters).  Brad Brevet runs down a few more on-set eruptions.

    Oh, and if you want to have the biggest laugh of all: Harry Knowles says he’s above it all.

  • 2/4 Oscarweb Round-up

    Angelina Jolie at the 72nd Annual Academy Awards• Patrick Goldstein reports on his self-moderated producers panel from last week’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival. [The Big Picture]

    • The Gurus o’ Gold pick their ones and twos. [Movie City News]

    • Angelina Jolie has, uh…misplaced her “Girl, Interrupted” Oscar. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Tom O’Neil, meanwhile, gives Meryl Streep shit for leaving hers in the bathroom back in 1980. [Gold Derby]

    • David Denby smacks “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” down for good measure. [The New Yorker]

    • Jeffrey Wells is amused. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Mary McNamara talks to “five-time Oscar loser” Kate Winslet. [The Envelope]

    • Susan King does the same with first-time nominee Frank Langella. [The Envelope]

    • And speaking of Winslet, Tim Wilson writes up the box office symbiotism of her films across the pond. [The Guardian]

  • Putting a bow on the Bale dust-up

    Christian Bale in American PsychoIf you’ve paid attention the last 24 hours, you’re well aware of the Christian Bale F-bomb tirade.  And if you haven’t made yourself familiar with the techno remix of same, do yourself a favor…now.

    Well “Terminator Salvation” assistant director Bruce Franklin (called out by name in the recording: “Shut the f— up, Bruce!”) has spoken to E! Online about the incident, giving what I feel to be a level-headed assessment of something like this, even if it was a bit overblown on Bale’s part.  Franklin says:

    “If you are working in a very intense scene and someone takes you out of your groove…but was the most emotional scene in the movie,” said Franklin. “And for him to get stopped in the middle of it. He is very intensely involved in his character. He didn’t walk around like that all day long. It was just a moment and it passed.”

    “This was my second movie with Christian and it has always been a good experience with him,” added Franklin, who also worked with the actor on 2000’s Shaft. “He is so dedicated to the craft. I think someone is begging to make some noise about this but I don’t think it’s fair. The art of acting is not paint by numbers, it’s an art form.”

    Well, it’s been a nice diversion in this slow news week.  Moving on…

    (via /Film)