One of the easiest Honorary Oscars to peg was probably Eli Wallach’s (the recipients were announced this morning). Many have in fact been waiting and waiting for some kind of AMPAS recognition for the esteemed character actor, and finally, it looks like he’ll get it. So in honor of that:
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Disney tells the Annies where they can stick it
Remember two years ago when “WALL-E” was on a destined crash course with awards glory throughout the season, then the Annie Awards (the animation community’s annual kudo fest) came along and shut the lovable robot out? The benefactor was “Kung Fu Panda,” largely considered infinitely inferior to Pixar’s (some would say) crowning achievement.The immediate reaction was, “Something’s fishy here.” And sure enough, a lot of fingers were pointed to a DreamWorks-heavy membership. Disney, fed up with the unbalanced nature of the voting process, sought rule changes, which it received, but none of it was satisfying enough.
So you can expect the Annies to potentially be Disney-free from here on out, as the studio has respectfully bowed out of the organization, refusing to support it or submit their titles for competition. Annie chief Antran Manoogian says the studio’s titles can still compete, though it’s unclear how.
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Honorary Oscars for Coppola, Godard, Wallach and Brownlow
So, you’d think that five competitive Oscars — three for writing, one apiece for producing and directing — would count as an elegant sufficiency of awardage for even the most revered talent in the industry.Not so, apparently, in the case of a certain Francis Ford Coppola. In their wisdom, AMPAS brass have decided that Coppola needs a sixth statuette, this time the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for production excellence. I can only speculate that they still feel really bad about “Kramer vs. Kramer” beating “Apocalypse Now” in 1979. As well they should.
Of course, this news comes minutes after I opined in our speculation thread that honorary awards for previous Oscar champs tend to feel a little superfluous. Goes to show why I’m not an Academy member. Still, from that point of view, I must applaud the most outré of this year’s choices: Jean-Luc Godard.
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Eric Roth on film noir
Screenwriter Eric Roth, as ever, has a plate full of projects these days. When he’s not working through an NFL-sanctioned Vincent Lombardi biopic with Robert De Niro, he’s perhaps working on his adaptation of Erik Larson’s “The Devil in the White City.”Then there are original scripts that have been lying around, waiting for filmmakers to step up. The Brad Pitt-attached “Hatfields and McCoys,” for instance, which was one of a number of possibilities bandied about for Scott Cooper’s “Crazy Heart” follow-up. And one of these days I imagine Roth and Michael Mann will get back to that western they’ve been talking about.
In case you hadn’t heard, Roth’s adaptation of Jonathan Safran’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” which he’s been working on for the better part of a year, recently landed a greenlight with Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock set to star. Scott Rudin is producing. The screenwriter also recently participated in AMPAS’s film noir interview series. Callie Khouri, Scott Frank and Lawrence Kasdan are a few of the other writers offering up their thoughts on the genre. Give them a look here.
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Honorary Oscar recipients to be determined tonight
So says Steve Pond at The Odds. So let’s put the question out there: Who deserves their own consolation golden guy?
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‘127 Hours’ teaser trailer
Set to play the fall festival circuit is Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours,” which could offer a tour de force opportunity for actor James Franco. The recently released teaser trailer over at Apple indicates the kind of energy we’ve come to expect of filmmaker Danny Boyle but doesn’t give us much in the way of a thematic landscape to fully grasp. Not yet, anyway. I imagine future materials will pull the layers back further, but for now, check out the trailer by clicking the image below or watch the embed on the jump.
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David Lynch tapped as guest director for AFI Fest
The press release, in part:AFI FEST presented by Audi announced today that award-winning filmmaker and artist David Lynch will serve as its first-ever Guest Artistic Director. AFI FEST 2010 will take place November 4 through 11 in Hollywood, California at the historic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Mann Chinese 6 theatres, the Egyptian Theatre and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
Lynch has also created artwork that will serve as the official image of the 24th annual festival. In addition, as Guest Artistic Director, Lynch will program a special sidebar of films that influence and inspire him and present these films at the festival in November. His film selections will be announced in October…
“I said yes to being the Guest Artistic Director of AFI FEST 2010 because I love the AFI,” says Lynch. “AFI can do for others what it did for me. AFI gave me an opportunity and money to make a short film, THE GRANDMOTHER, and my first feature film, ERASERHEAD. AFI put me on the map.”
Check out Lynch’s artwork for the fest after the jump.
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‘Inside Job’ trailer
I reviewed Charles Ferguson’s smart financial recession study at Cannes in May, describing it as “a thorough, incisive if faintly dry breakdown of the current economic crisis that plays a little like last year’s “Capitalism: A Love Story” on a heavy dose of Ritalin.” Most other critics are less measured in their praise; though there are no sure things with the Academy’s wilful documentary branch, the film looks a cinch to score an Oscar nod, and very possibly the win too. The Sony Pictures Classics acquisition will play Toronto next month, before hitting US theaters on October 8. Apple has the first trailer; click on the image to check it out there, or watch the embed after the jump.
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Picking the best new lensers
As you know, we at InContention are dedicated to spotlighting below-the-line talent, so this excellent cinematography-themed piece at The Playlist caught my eye — in it, Oli Lyttelton singles out five individuals that he feels are spearheading an exciting new generation of DPs, breaking down their past achievements and future promise in some detail.The focus on newer names is both refreshing and necessary, given how awards voters can be resistant to outstanding work from comparatively untested talents. Of the five worthy names he puts forth, three — Greig Fraser (“Bright Star”), Eduard Grau (“A Single Man”) and Adriano Goldman (“Sin Nombre”) — arguably deserved awards traction in the 2009 season than they eventually got, while two — Robbie Ryan (“Fish Tank”) and Michael McDonough (“Winter’s Bone”) — seem destined to be similarly slighted this year, given their low profile and the gritty unprettiness of their projects.
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Anton Corbijn’s ‘American’ picture book
Anton Corbijn’s “The American” will be screening for press very soon, and it’s one of the films I’ve been most looking forward to this year. The photographer-turned-director’s debut feature, “Control,” was one of the 10 best of 2007 in my book, and the latest looks to be a tense thriller with visual style to spare.Of course, it would be an aesthetic looker. Corbijn’s photography is the stuff of legend. And he’s directed some visually dynamic music videos in his time, such as Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” and the most intriguing of U2’s “One” trilogy. But the director seems to making more of the production of his latest feature than we tend to get out of a filmmaker.
First, he blogged the experience with nice accompanying photography. Now it seems a collection of his photographs behind the scenes will fill what’s sure to be an attractive picture book, “Inside The American.” Can’t wait to pick up a copy.
Some more Corbijn awesomeness after the jump.
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Celebrating five years of In Contention
This wasn’t a planned post in the slightest. I saw that /Film was celebrating its fifth year today, and of course, David Poland celebrated 13 years of The Hot Button/Blog yesterday. I thought I started the old IC blogspot in September of 2005 but it turns out the first post dropped on August 19, 2005, five years ago last Thursday. Combine that with next week’s Off the Carpet column marking the start of my 10th year of Oscar coverage and it’s official:
A lot has happened since those humble beginnings, not least of which being the addition of contributors like Guy Lodge, Gerard Kennedy, Chad Hartigan, Blake Rutherford, Brian Kinsley and John Foote along the way, each of which have elevated our game and made this a better destination. I’m thankful to them for the help and to you for the devotion.
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Brit critics flip for ‘The Illusionist’
Yeah, yeah, everybody loves “Toy Story 3.” Enchanting, amusing, heartbreaking… all those swell things. We hear it every year: Pixar shames every other Hollywood studio, transcends the limits of animation, etc, etc. Pencil in a second consecutive Best Picture nomination, and stick a fork in the Best Animated Feature race — for the fourth year running.Except it shouldn’t be that easy. Pixar may have expertly capped a beloved film franchise, but they haven’t made the best animated film of the year. That title, bar a late-year surprise, goes to Sylvain Chomet’s “The Illusionist,” which knocked me out at the Berlinale in February and thoroughly sustained the magic on a second viewing this weekend.
It occurred to me that the visually rapturous film, a beyond-the-grave collaboration with French comic master Jacques Tati, would form a neat (if very moist-eyed) double feature with the Pixar juggernaut: both take a melancholic approach to themes of growing up and letting go, but it’s the Chomet film I found more searching and soulful.
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SUNDAY CENTS: Six Flags > Movies
*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.Sorry this is checking in a little late today but I’ve been at Six Flags all day having the time of my life. I hadn’t been since they opened a crazy new ride called Tatsu and it kind of blew my mind, but the X will always be the best ‘coaster. In any case, some movies came out this weekend too and performed with varying degrees of success.
The number one movie, again, is “The Expendables.” Stallone and his fellow band of ‘roid Rangers dropped 53% to $16.5 million but took advantage of a terrible weekend to notch a second frame at the summit. The last time Sly was in a film that spent two weeks at the top was in 1993, when Wesley Snipes was huge and an unknown Sandra Bullock and Jack Black lent support in “Demolition Man.”
“Vampires Suck” confirmed the absence of any justice or God in the world by opening in second place with $12.2 million. $18.6 million has already been conned out of America since Wednesday and I’m pretty sure that’s ten times the total amount of my top 10 favorite films of last year combined.
“Eat Pray Love” takes the bronze, dropping 48% to $12.0 million. Don’t be surprised if this is the real runner-up when actuals are released and even though that drop might seem harsh, “Julie & Julia” did almost exactly the same before leveling out and sticking around through early September.
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We all got it comin’
What was the last truly immortal Best Picture winner? Cases can be made for this or that throughout the years, but for my money, the last film to win the Academy’s top prize that is absolutely a film for the ages was Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven.”And you can get the Blu-ray on Amazon for less than eight bucks. Do it!
Anyway, nothing other than that on a lazy Sunday. Though it inspired me to dig up Eastwood’s acceptance speech for his Best Director win back in March of 1993. Naturally, the Academy is stingy with embeds, but have a look and listen here if you’re bored.
Oh, and here is Eastwood introducing the film at the AFI’s 40th anniversary celebration a few years ago. And Gene Hackman winning Best Supporting Actor. And Eastwood on Hackman’s character, Little Bill Daggett.
Sorry, I could go on forever about this one. After the jump, a few choice selections.
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Defriending ‘The Social Network’
With David Fincher’s “The Social Network” already accruing positive buzz ahead of its New York Film Festival premiere next month, its handlers would do well to pre-empt the inevitable pushback over matters of factual accuracy — complaints that have already dogged the film’s sloppy source book, Ben Mezrich’s “The Accidental Billionaires” (discussed at length in Page to Screen here).No one will (or should) be seeing “The Social Network” for an exhaustive journalistic essay on the origins of Facebook. Rather, what we’re hoping for from writer Aaron Sorkin is a tangy interpretation of the facts that reaches for broader truths about the social-networking generation; dramatic flexibility, then, is the order of the day. Needless to say, the powers behind Facebook, including founder (and “Social Network” protagonist) Mark Zuckerberg, don’t quite see things that way. This recent New York Times piece goes into the friction between them and the film’s producers.
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‘Right One’ Toronto After Dark poster
There’s not much going on this weekend, so, apologies for the glut. We’ll turn the corner over the next week and coverage starts in earnest 8/30 (preceded by a new Oscar Talk on 8/27), so, patience. For now, I’m really digging this “Let the Right One In” specialty poster from the fifth anniversary of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (the film screened there in 2008). Check it out after the jump.
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FRIDAY FORECAST: Stop giving Friedberg & Seltzer your money!
*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.Alright guys. Enough is enough. The only thing less funny than a spoof movie made by Friedberg & Seltzer is the conceptual gag that America keeps playing where we ironically buy tickets to see them. Just to make fun of it, of course. Only problem is we’re giving them real money and they are super rich and successful, despite being the worst thing to happen to filmmaking since, well, ever.
“Vampires Suck” leads a gaggle of new releases this week and it’s actually already been out since Wednesday. The beyond tired spoof racked up $6.4 million in two days and should be on course for another $14 or $15 million during the weekend. The last time these two got behind a camera was “Disaster Movie,” which epic failed at the end of summer 2008 and gave hope that these clowns would never work again. But that film was their only one released by Lionsgate, not Fox, and they didn’t know how to market the gold placed in their hands.
Focusing on the biggest phenomenon in film isn’t a bad idea either to get back on track. Congratulations America. You’ve made a scene where something large falls out of the sky and lands on the Old Spice Guy on a horse a part of cinema box office history (note: I have not seen “Vampires Suck” but I’ll eat my hat if that scene isn’t in it).
