In Contention

Blog

  • Scott Rudin takes his name off ‘The Reader,’ walks away

    Scott RudinUPDATE (9:58 p.m.): Thanks to one of our readers for pointing out that “The Reader” has been removed from The Weinstein Company’s official site.  Could it mean that Weinstein will fold after all?  Could the pain of getting a publicity team in place, dealing with Rudin’s all-in public play and general bad buzz make TWC see the light and move the film to 2009?  We’ll see…

    EARLIER: I love Scott Rudin.  All along, throughout this whole nasty affair, I have hoped he would prove his balls are bigger than Harvey’s and I think he’s done that now.

    Patrick Goldstein is reporting that the producer has taken his name off of Stephen Daldry’s “The Reader,” which was suddenly jerked into the 2008 Oscar season by Weinstein Company honcho Harvey Weinstein, a move read by most in the industry as a gluttonous attempt at securing some Oscar glory this year.  With “Revolutionary Road” and “Doubt” already at the center of the season’s buzz cycle, the last thing Rudin needed, or wanted, was to have to split his attention a third way — let alone a way that would have been abandoned by its own star as well.

    Yes, it’s true.  Kate Winslet would not have hawked “The Reader” against her husband, Sam Mendes’s “Revolutionary Road” (in which she also stars).  Director Stephen Daldry himself had to respond diplomatically to the entire charade of Rudin and Weinstein kissing and making up in public, only to have before-the-fact private emails spread across the net by an industrious blogger.

    I’ve made my opinion of this fiasco known, and I definitely don’t think I was alone.  In fact, I know I wasn’t.  Weinstein scrambled to put together a publicity team but likely found a lot of road blocks, and to Rudin, it had to have been a painful march toward the inevitable:

    “The Reader,” produced by Alan Smithee.

    Goldstein reports:

    In recent days, negotiations had apparently taken a turn for the worse. Upset with Weinstein and worried that many of his long-standing talent relationships would be harmed, Rudin decided to separate himself from the project. Daldry remains contractually obligated to complete the film, though it’s uncertain of how he will complete the film without Rudin, a longtime collaborator with both Daldry and David Hare, who were the creative team on “The Hours.”

    And the closer, which says it all:

    Whatever the root cause, this is another body blow to “The Reader,” which loses a strong producer who is always a major force during awards season. Rudin will continue as producer of two other year-end pictures, “Revolutionary Road” and “Doubt.”

    Personally, I’m just glad Goldstein got this scoop and not Nikki Finke.

  • TRUTH

  • Josh Brolin and Jonah Hex

    Jonah HexJeffrey Wells conveys the sentiments of a single source, /Film marks it as reportage and suddenly it’s considered a done deal that Josh Brolin has signed on to star in “Jonah Hex.”  It all may well be true, mind you  It probably is.  But this is the kind of thing that web masters don’t understand when high profile institutions like Variety hold off on linking to them until people are actually on the record.

    ANYWAY, I’m a step removed from Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.  Friends of a friend, so to speak.  Watched a few UFC fights with the chaps.  Good guys.  But I’ve heard zip.  If it’s true, it’s definitely a better choice than Thomas Jane would have been (gossip passed along in June).  It would also be a ballsy play for Brolin to make a hard left turn out of prestige and into the realm of genre once more with the directors of “Crank” at the helm.  But I like him for Hex.

    It’s no secret that I’m game for just about any western at this stage.  But “Jonah Hex” represents, along with “The Lone Ranger,” a branching out into typicality for the genre.  Rather than the prestige pet project here or there, we’re starting to see pop culture reflexivity, and that means a lot for the future of spurs and saddles on the big screen.  When (and if) these films start making money, studios will more and more loosen their resistance against making these films.

    But back to “Hex,” if you don’t read the DC Comics book, I certainly recommend it.  It was resurrected a few years back into a new series that is up to about #36 right now (I’ve got the full set), and rather than arcing major stories, it’s generally a one-story-per-issue kind of thing, self-contained, very pulpy, pure awesomeness.  Give it a look.

    Here is what Wells heard:

    I’m told that the deal is sealed for Josh Brolin to star in Jonah Hex, based on the graphic novel and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank, Game) and to be funded and released by Warner Bros. Brolin’s rep is not only denying this but claiming Brolin is “not attached,” but a voice is telling me to consider the word of a friend who tells me the deal was locked down last night.

  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Costume Design — Volume One

    Tech Support at In ContentionThe Academy Award for Best Costume Design recognizes, shock of shocks, the clothes and accessories worn by actors in a film.  Clothing can add to the story and express the nature and situation of the characters who wear them.

    If a single word could be used to describe this category, it would be “period.”  31 of the 40 nominees here this decade were period pieces.  This is not altogether surprising.  Period clothes automatically draw attention by not being the sort of fashion we see every day on the street and require the costume designer to accurately portray the time in which the film takes place.

    The nominations two years ago “The Queen” and “The Devil Wears Prada” were refreshing in my opinion but extremely rare, being the first contemporary nominees in a dozen years.  Admittedly, fantasy films occasionally find a home here as well.  Seven nominees this decade fit that mold.  But even so, there is usually only one –- and never more than two –- spots available for non-period films in this category.

    This is also an arena that tends to reward many familiar faces.  In a typical year, only one or two of the nominees are first-timers, while many designers are (usually deservedly) seen year after year.  This trend has occasionally resulted in some films one would never expect to find in the awards race landing the label “Oscar nominee.”

    Catherine Martin might be leading the way this year.  She won this category seven years ago, the last time both she –- and her husband/director Baz Lurhmann -– worked.  That film was “Moulin Rouge!” and its design elements were fantastic.  Again doubling as a production designer on “Australia” this year, Martin will fashion the world of a Briton coming to a strange historical land, filled, as always, with Lurhmann’s bordering-on-fantastical elements.  The design opportunities should once again be amazing and I’d be quite surprised if Martin failed to make the cut.

    (more…)

  • Better, but too many words…

    Universal Pictures\' Frost/Nixon

  • Josh Brolin talks ‘W.’

  • 10/9 Oscarweb Round-up

    Julianne Moore in Blindness• Dave Karger not only thinks Ralph Fiennes is in the supporting actor race for “The Duchess,” he thinks he is Heath Ledger’s main competition. [Oscar Watch]

    • Eight documentary shorts have been short-listed by AMPAS. [Oscars.org]

    • Jeffrey Wells reports that Lionsgate Films is pissing off Portland area critics by not screening “W.” for them (on the heels of a similar situation with “Appaloosa”). [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Patrick Kevin Day talks to César Charlone about the look of “Blindness.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • Steven Zeitchick thinks “W.” might be a victim of its own timeliness. [Risky Biz Blog]

    • On the heels of a similar query about Kristin Scott Thomas’s chances, Tom O’Neil wonders if Frank Langella can take the Oscar and the Tony in the same year. [Gold Derby]

    • Analyzing “The Scene” from Steve McQueen’s Hunger,” including a record-breaking 17-and-a-half-minute shot. [The Times]

    • 10 underrated Bill Murray roles (totally agree on most of them). [Spout Blog]

  • More buzz for Brolin

    The mixed notices for Oliver Stone’s “W.” — some of which seem to be simultaneously admiring and bewildered — make it quite clear that the film isn’t going to be a player in the top categories. But we pretty much knew that all along.

    Josh Brolin’s performance, however, is another story altogether. After the stunning breakthrough that he’s had in the past year, playing an incumbent president — and a widely-loathed one at that — in a film by an off-the-boil director might not have seemed the safest career move.

    But the gamble appears to have paid off: whatever the ultimate fate of the film, Brolin’s interpretation of Bush has been widely hailed as a courageous and accomplished addition to an increasingly interesting filmography. Naturally, Oscar talk is swirling, and Screen International’s review minces no words on the matter:

    A wonderfully brash and fearless performance … If the film itself fails to figure in the year-end awards shortlists, Brolin must surely be considered a likely best actor nominee. Wholly immersing himself in the part, he doesn’t imitate the president so much as breathe human complexity into him. Rudderless and restless as a young man, Brolin nonetheless plays him as a likeable enough fellow, a harmless jock, attractive to women and tortured by his father’s expectations. As a president, Brolin plays him as a man of some intelligence, even if his arrogance and machismo are on full ugly display.

    (more…)

  • Forget Timberline Lodge — try the Stanley

    Inside the Stanley Hotel/Film points us today to a Fantastic Fest tie-in at Timberline Lodge, the hotel where Stanley Kubrick filmed his Stephen King adaptation “The Shining.”  There will be a party, some dinner, and of course, an overnight stay at the creepy establishment.

    That’s all well and good, but forget the Timberline.  I say try your hand at a night in the Stanley Hotel out in Estes Park, Colorado.  That’s the place that gave King his inspiration for the book, a supposedly haunted hotel founded by Freelan O. Stanley (of Stanley Steamer fame).  The guy built this place way out west when his wife began to come down with health issues.  Doctors said the air and altitude of the setting would be good for her.

    King stayed there back in the 1970s in — you guessed it — room 237.  That room is said to be frequented by the spirit of an old maid who will set your clothes aside nice and neat while you’re out hiking or skiing or what have you.  You’ll come back to the room and your shoes will be put in the closet, your shirts stowed in dresser drawers, etc.

    Stars tend to frequent room 237.  Back in 1994, Jim Carrey stayed in the unit while filming “Dumb and Dumber” (Estes Park was used for the Aspen scenes).  He supposedly came down in the middle of the night and told the desk person, “I don’t care where you put me but you have to get me out of that room.”  I’ve heard he won’t really talk about what happened in there.

    Hey — this is what the tour guides tell you.  Don’t shoot the messenger.

    But seriously, the Stanley is a creepy place.  They even did a Ghost Hunters episode there.  Apparently the fourth floor has the most paranormal activity, and there are lots of kids’ spirits hanging around the place, tugging at shirt tales, playing jacks, etc.  The location is surreal as well, looking out over the Rockies with a vast open space out in front of the hotel.  The Rocky Mountain National Park entrance is maybe four miles away, so it’s a choice spot.

    If you can handle it.  Mwahahahahahaha.

  • Josh Brolin goes on the record about the Shreveport arrest

    Josh BrolinThis is the juiciest scoop Jeff Wells has had in a long time.  While interviewing Josh Brolin at yesterday’s “W.” junket, he got the actor on the record regarding that arrest in Shreveport earlier in the summer.  You remember, back when poor Jeffrey Wright got the business end of a taser and allegedly had to deal with some racist bullshit as a prologue?

    Anyway, here is what Brolin had to say:

    Not to be too maudlin or morbid. But I’ve been around the police my whole life. I have so many policeman friends and police woman friends, and I’ve never never, ever, ever seen anything like it. All the time I was in jail I could think, the whole time…okay, they’ve arrested us knowing that their economy, part of their economy is based on the film industry. Okay, that’s one…knowing this is wrong. Secondly, they know we have some leverage. With the press, with this…they know we have some rebuttal, something, some reaction. They know that.

    Then I thought every person that goes through here…they have nothing, they have nothing, they’re forgotten. So I wonder how many people have been abused by this system? So then I started researching . They had a kid who died from a taser, 21 year old kid. Almost 300 people have died in the last five years. From tasers? It’s unbelievable, man, and the fact that they resorted to that when there was no violence?

    Heavy.  Kudos to Jeff for getting the goods, though it seems Brolin was willing to hand it over on a silver platter to the first guy who dug a little.  He also mentions that the supposed video phone recording of the incident does, in fact, exist, and that it will be released soon enough.

    Word.

  • 10/8 Oscarweb Round-up

    Angelina Jolie in Changeling• Tom O’Neil wonders if Bill Maher can cure his Emmy drought with an Oscar instead. [Gold Derby]

    • Patrick Goldstein calls ‘W.’ a “mess,” confirming my worst fears… [The Big Picture]

    • Erica Abeel corners Mike Leigh at the New York fest. [indieWIRE]

    • Bill Murray talks “City of Ember,” his divorce. [Associated Press]

    • Stephen Holden thinks “Changeling” and “The Wrestler” are “shameless Oscar bait.” [New York Times]

    • Oscar-winner Faye Dunaway talks to Xan Brooks about her work in a new indie. [The Guardian]

    • Tom Wilkinson, the actor who does it all. [USA Today]

    • Jeffrey Wells continues to pass along the good “Milk” word second hand. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Variety’s Peter bart is blogging again after a week’s drought.  Call off the search party. [Peter Bart]

    • Glenn Kenny paid to see “An American Carol.” [Some Came Running]

  • Featured content

    We’re geting a little more fancy with the featured content gallery I’m sure you’ve all noticed at the top of the site.  It seems to be working fine in Firefox and Safari but I haven’t checked IE.  If there are any issues, let us know.

  • ‘Harvey’ on the radar

    Some of our keen-eyed readers may have noticed my review on these pages of the Dustin Hoffman-Emma Thompson starrer, “Last Chance Harvey,” earlier today. The film, another feather in the cap for hard-working new outfit Overture Films, is due for a late December release, just in time for viable awards consideration.

    We’ve temporarily taken the review down for practical reasons, but it will be re-posted soon enough. For now, I’m at liberty to tell you that it’s a charming, understated sleeper whose full-wattage star power makes it a genuine prospect in the acting categories. Assuming the film opts for the comedy/musical route at the Golden Globes, Hoffman and Thompson seem virtual shoo-ins for nominations, while Hoffman could really make a run in the Oscar race for Best Actor — this is his most substantial, endearing portrayal in some time.

    We’ll have more on the film soon. Keep an eye out.

  • You name the list

    If you haven’t noticed by now, we’ve been running weekly lists here at In Contention.  They were sporadic for a few months, but I recently decided to make them a mainstay, and we’re going to try to put a little more “umph” into the feature than you tend to find across the web.

    We’ve already run lists of the top 10 performances you’re underestimating, the top 10 films of 1999 and the top 10 Paul Newman performances, but in lieu of an actual list today (we’ve got a few on deck), I wanted to throw it out to the readership for some guidance further down the road.

    What sorts of lists would you like to see?  The kookier the better.

  • Adapting Philip Roth

    Cover of The Dying Animal by Philip RothPhilip Roth is author of 25 novels and other works of non-fiction.  Revered in America, he has won every major American literature prize, including the National Book Foundation’s Award for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 2002.  Despite his literary success, his films have had a difficult journey to the silver screen.

    I joined the long line of Roth fans that were disappointed with Robert Benton’s adaptation of “The Human Stain,” the 2000 novel that received the National Book Award for the best work of American fiction. It was an extraordinary book and perhaps Roth’s finest. And I believed that it would translate nicely onto the silver screen. While the novel weaved in and out of the past and present, the transitions weren’t so frequent that it would create a problem for the screenwriter, Nicholas Meyer (Oscar-nominated for “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.”

    Benton was able to attach an exceptional cast that included Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris and Gary Sinise. But when the film bombed with critics and audiences alike, it was quickly pulled from mainstream movie houses and relegated to small boutique theaters, and for short periods of time. It made only $5.3 million against a production budget of $30 million.

    Mr. Roth’s work has been adapted again by Mr. Meyer this year. Taking the pages of “The Dying Animal” and turning them into the film “Elegy,” Mr. Meyer and the film’s director, Isabelle Coixet have managed to create a finer adaptation of the text, and a far better film.

    (more…)

  • Memo: Uh, the Best Actress race is VERY heated

    Kate Beckinsale in Nothing But the TruthAs a few commenters have been discussing elsewhere, it seems that some supposedly attentive Oscar bloggers figure 2008 to be a weak year for the lead actress race.  We’ve been calling it the most competitive derby in years around these parts for quite a while now, so the notion that anyone would find it to be thin is perplexing to say the least.

    Well, I’m happy today to see that Pete Hammond is on our bandwagon, writing the following at his Notes on a Season blog:

    This year, however, it is already clear that the race, for all intents and purposes, is backloaded with the most imposing and competitive list of genuine best actress possibilities in many years.

    A tsunami is coming, and [Melissa] Leo and [Penélope] Cruz are getting out of the way by taking their best shot now, hoping it’s enough to stay alive when the big storm of contenders hits shore.

    He then launches into a laundry list of contenders, all of them thoroughly covered before.

    We’re currently banking on Kristin Scott Thomas, Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet and Meryl Streep around these parts.  Those are four slots that seem secure.  After that, it’s a toss-up between Anne Hathaway, Melissa Leo, Penélope Cruz, Michelle Williams and Sally Hawkins in the indie sector.  If it’s not an indie performance the AMPAS wants to recognize, they’ll have high-budget fare to choose from in Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman.

    I’m sticking with Kidman for now.  Makes as much sense as any other contender.

    Have your say. Who are you predicting for Best Actress right now?

  • Doesn’t really matter

    All the harping going on about “Waltz with Bashir” getting screwed out of the Best Documentary Feature category is really beside the point.  This branch is as backwards as the foreign film branch sometimes and I highly doubt the high-concept film would have made it into contention in the first place.

  • Karger, too

    Over at Oscar Watch:

    Universal Pictures has already set up its awards site, and a little clicking around uncovers something very interesting: The studio apparently has decided to campaign for both Frank Langella and Michael Sheen as Best Actor for Frost/Nixon, instead of placing one of them in the Best Supporting Actor race so they wouldn’t have to compete against each other.

    Seriously, folks, do a little MORE clicking around.  This has not been news for four months.  What gives?