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TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: ‘True Grit’ costume designer Mary Zophres

In lieu of a typical entry in our Tech Support interview series (which kicked off last week), and on the heels of Friday’s sit-down chat with the Coen brothers, we’re kicking off the week of “True Grit” (opening December 22) with a series of five audio chats with the film’s below-the-line personnel, all at the top of their game on this very traditional but detailed western.

We’ll have sound mixer Skip Lievsay tomorrow, cinematographer Roger Deakins Wednesday, and production designer Jess Gonchor Friday. Each piece will lead off with a little bit of the score from Carter Burwell, who we’ll be featuring Thursday.

Today, however, we begin with costume designer Mary Zophres. Zophres has been with the Coens for 14 years, going back to “Fargo” in 1996. We first spoke (as I did with most of these folks) last year regarding “A Serious Man,” but this time around we had even more to talk about given the period nature of the film.

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December 20, 2010

Updates to The Circuit

Florida critics here, St. Louis winners here and Satellite winners here. Zzzzzz…

December 20, 2010

12/20 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Angie’s potential embarrassment, best perfs destined to be snubbed, top 10s

• PR experts tell Kim Masters that critical pans of “The Tourist” could make Angelina Jolie’s support for her Golden Globe nomination in the form of attending the ceremony “potentially embarrassing.” [Hollywood Reporter]

• Guy Adams, meanwhile, takes aim at the HFPA’s susceptibility to bribery this year. [The Independent]

• The 25 best performances from 2010 that won’t win Oscars. [Vulture]

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December 20, 2010

Still mixing it up

We’ve featured a couple of these 2010 video summaries already, but reader Lesley Lui submitted this one so modestly that I figured another one couldn’t do any harm. Bonus points for featuring “Fish Tank” right upfront.

December 20, 2010

BOX OFFICE: ‘TRON’ tops

Family gathering insanity for me today, but here’s the chart for you to discuss:

December 19, 2010

CINEJABBER: Back east

Catch up with the idea behind these weekend posts here.

I’m in chilly North Carolina for two weeks, fingers crossed for snow tonight. And I have little-to-nothing to offer in this space, but these posts aren’t for me anyway. So, you know the drill. Open thread. Enjoy the weekend.

December 18, 2010

WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Network’ sweep, Globes outrage, best of 2010

• Kris listed his 10 favorite films of 2010 in black-and-white, later adding his dream Oscar ballot and winners list.

• The critics’ award beat turned into a “Social Network” landslide, as New York, Los Angeles, Boston and many, many other groups lined up behind the film.

• Away from the critics’ circuit, Team Fincher didn’t have it all their own way, as “The King’s Speech” led a widely derided list of Golden Globe nominees.

• When it was the Screen Actors’ Guild’s turn to announce their nominees, however, the royal biopic had to settle for sharing the lead with “The Fighter.”

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December 17, 2010

INTERVIEW: ‘True Grit’ writers, producers and directors Joel and Ethan Coen

Directors Joel and Ethan Coen have evolved into the quintessential American filmmakers of our time since charging onto the indie scene over 25 years ago. It was a trajectory hinted at in early depictions of Prohibition-era gangsterism (“Miller’s Crossing”), post-war Capitalism (“The Hudsucker Proxy”), Midwestern slice-of-life peculiarity (“Fargo”) and epic folk land adventurism (“O Brother, Where Art Thou?”), but it was a trademark that snapped into clarity in 2007 with their thematically potent examination of a country at a crossroads, “No Country for Old Men.”

It seemed only a matter of time before they turned their attention to the quintessential American genre: the western. But the word “western” didn’t really figure into their thinking when they set about re-adapting Charles Portis’s novel “True Grit” for the big screen.

“To us, in a weird way, if you were going to put it into a genre, it was just a young adventure story,” Joel says. “It takes place in America in Oklahoma in 1878, so yeah, it’s a western, but the other thing almost kind of preceded it in our thinking. So I guess it wasn’t consciously approaching it as a ‘western’ in quotation marks. It’s an adventure story with the trappings of the old west.”

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December 17, 2010

Ruiz’s ‘Lisbon’ takes Louis Delluc prize

Well, here’s an awards announcement a million miles away from “The Social Network” — the Louis Delluc Prize, the single most prestigious award in French cinema. (Yes, loftier than the César Awards.) And I do mean “single”: awarded to one film from a shortlist of eight by a jury of French journalists and industry types, it’s one of the simpler ceremonies on the block.

While last year’s award went to the ubiquitous crossover hit “A Prophet,” this year’s jury (headed by Cannes festival president Gilles Jacob) threw a slight curveball: the award was handed this morning to Raul Ruiz’s epic Portuguese-French production “Mysteries of Lisbon,” a dreamy 272-minute period puzzle piece that I was thoroughly bewitched by at the London Film Festival. (Rebecca Zlotowski’s “Belle Epine” received debut filmmaker honors.)

The film beat out one hell of a heavyweight shortlist, listed after the cut.

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December 17, 2010

Tell us what you thought of ‘TRON Legacy’

Today kicks off the week of The Dude as “TRON Legacy” hits theaters nationwide. I’ve had my say, but I’d love to hear what you guys think. Come on back here and give us your take when/if you get around to it this weekend or over the holiday.

December 17, 2010

2010: At the Movies

This time last year, we featured a nifty video summation of 2009 in film by one Zack Young, and today, he’s been good enough to hook us up with the 2010 edition. Nice work, Zack.

December 17, 2010

Best in show 2010: the year in superlatives

The week, and with it, the bulk of my 2010 coverage, draws to a close today with a look at the best of the best. I’m offering up a personal list of superlatives, including most Oscar categories and some other fun fields thrown in for good measure. A tradition at this point.

There will be plenty going on next week, though, despite travel and the holidays. As always, we’ll be at your disposal. But allow me to put a tidy bow on the year here and keep forging ahead…

Best Picture
“Exit Through the Gift Shop”

Best Director
Mike Leigh, “Another Year”

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December 17, 2010

Dallas-Fort Worth and Las Vegas critics’ winners

At The Circuit, DFW here, Las Vegas here.

December 17, 2010

CONTEST: Win the soundtracks of ‘Get Low,’ ‘Inception,’ ‘127 Hours’ and ‘Tangled’

Another contest this week, a chance to win four of the year’s scores/soundtracks. But, as usual, gonna make you work for it. The discs up for grabs are (linked to their Amazon pages):

• “Get Low” Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (link)

• “Inception” Music from the Motion Picture (link)

• “127 Hours” Music from the Motion Picture (link)

• “Tangled” Original Score and Motion Picture Soundtrack (link)

Now, here’s what I want you to do…

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December 17, 2010

OSCAR TALK: Ep. 45 — Critics’ pick their frontrunner, HFPA speaks up with doosies, the guild circuit kicks off and the week of The Dude

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.

Going into the holidays and with the critics’ awards in full swing, we’ve brought In Contention’s own Guy Lodge on to discuss the goings-on of the season so far. After taking a break from the usual last week, the last 14 days have given us plenty to chew on. Let’s see what’s on the docket today…

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December 17, 2010

2010: The Cinescape

December 17, 2010

12/17 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Plea for Bardem, Swank’s potential parlay, HFPA and SAG by the numbers

• Scott Feinberg digs in to some exhaustive research on HFPA and SAG nominations history to help you navigate what it all means. [ScottFeinberg.com]

• Steve Pond is begging someone to step up to the plate and recognize what an amazing performance Javier Bardem gives in “Biutiful,” and in so doing, NOMINATE HIM. [The Odds]

• The top 25 hottest girls from Christmas movies. [Ranker]

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December 17, 2010

‘Social Network’ leads Chicago critics’ nods, wins in Detroit

I’ll give you a moment to recover from the shock. [Moment.] There, may I continue? Of the B-list critics’ awards, the Chicago Film Critics’ Association attracts more eyeballs than most, largely because it’s Roger Ebert’s stomping ground — though the list of nominees they announced this morning suggests a lot of autopilot voting with a few welcome flashes of inspiration.

“The Social Network” tops their list with eight bids, including slightly less obvious mentions for Armie Hammer and DP Jeff Cronenweth, while their matchy-matchy Picture and Director lists include such ubiquitous titles as “Black Swan,” “The King’s Speech,” “Winter’s Bone” (nice get for Debra Granik there) and, perhaps less predictably from a critics’ group, “Inception.”

Surprises are in short supply in the acting categories–though it’s nice to see some respect for Lesley Manville after a rough week on the precursor trail–and in Best Foreign Language Film, where a group of actual film critics somehow sees fit to nominate “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” alongside the likes of “Mother” and “A Prophet.”

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December 17, 2010

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