• “Avatar” to hold its world premiere in Leicester Square, London, December 10. [Deadline Hollywood Daily]
• Nathaniel Rogers isn’t phased by his signed non-disclosure agreement, breathlessly (but briefly) enthuses about “Nine.” [The Film Experience]
• Johnny Depp becomes Hollywood’s highest paid actor with a £21 million ($42 million) salary for “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.” [Daily Telegraph]
When I had the unmitigated gall last week to project a set of winners for this year’s Oscar race, I was a bit startled at how easy Mark Boal’s script for “The Hurt Locker” slid into the Best Original Screenplay slot. Looking over the landscape of contenders in the category, it’s a little obvious why such a somewhat non-traditional entry would be pegged as a frontrunner: this is a pretty thin year for original screenplays.
That should take nothing away from Boal’s work, which is certainly commendable. But beyond Pixar’s “Up” (penned by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson) and the Coen brothers’ “A Serious Man” (my pick for best-in-show in the category), there isn’t much competition for Boal’s play at the statuette. I even find myself struggling with two more solid bets for nods after that trio.
Fox Searchlight, however, is making some pretty strong moves on behalf of “(500) Days of Summer,” written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber. The pair has already been cited by the Hollywood Film Festival as well as the Hamilton Behind the Camera awards. Given the studio’s campaign prowess (and the undying spirit of the film’s champions), it makes sense to expect a spot to be reserved for the film here.
To fill out the set, you’ve got a slot that is undeniably up for grabs. So let’s dig into the field and see what we come up with.
Chalk up another contender for Best Original Song. British pop diva Leona Lewis is to sing the (presumably multi-octave-scaling) theme song from James Cameron’s “Avatar.”
Best known Stateside for her megahit “Bleeding Love,” the 24 year-old chanteuse rose to fame as the 2006 winner of “The X Factor,” the UK’s “American Idol” equivalent — thus making “Avatar” the year’s second sci-fi blockbuster (after “2012”) to turn to a reality-show star for musical duties.
Empire reports that Lewis is currently shooting the video for the song, a James Horner-penned closing-credits effort titled “I See You (Theme from Avatar).”
If this all sounds a little 1997, I guess that’s the idea. Lewis is, after all, a latter-day answer to Celine Dion, whose ubiquitous Oscar-winning theme for Cameron’s last film — what was the title again? — was part and parcel of its success. (Of course, times have changed since then, and the Academy looks a lot less kindly on closing-credit tracks these days.)
• Catch video highlights of Saturday night’s Honorary Oscars celebration. [Oscars.org]
• Baltimore Ravens OT Michael Oher on his life’s inspiration for Hollywood. [CNN]
• Hoping “Avatar” is the new face of filmmaking. [Los Angeles Times]
This weekend has already brought junket screenings of Rob Marshall’s “Nine,” so we can’t call it “unseen” anymore. Then again, everyone has signed agreements not to discuss (even trigger happy HFPA types), so we can still safely call it “awaited.” Screenings of “The Lovely Bones” may or may not be set prior to the big London unveiling on the 24th, while “Invictus” is expected to start rolling out next week. “Avatar,” meanwhile, has nearly another month before we get a look.
The question is, which one is going to miss and miss big? Perhaps the answer is none, I don’t know, but we’re in that dangerous territory where anticipation could kill the impact and/or something might just fall on its face, much like we’ve seen over and over again in the past with countless other pretenders. If you have an opinion, let us know in the what that is. Come on back here with further thoughts if you wish.
Welcome to Oscar Talk, your weekly kudocast featuring yours truly and Anne Thompson of indieWIRE’s Thompson on Hollywood.
On the docket today:
• Anne and I discuss the four perceived Oscar heavies that have yet to unveil — “Avatar,” “Invictus,” “The Lovely Bones” and “Nine” — and what being last out of the gate means vis a vis echo chamber buzz.
• Spinning off of that, we dig into the “Avatar” budget story of the week.
• With the list of qualifying animated features official, we take a brief survey of the category once more with thoughts on potential nominees.
• With Movie City News’s Gurus o’ Gold chart collecting supporting category predictions, Anne and I take the opportunity to profile those two categories.
• And Anne breaks down the impromptu Mike Tyson bout that went down at LAX Wednesday and whether it could hurt James Toback’s documentary feature on the fighter.
Have a listen to this week’s podcast below. And as always, you can subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here.
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As a recap from the last time we covered this field, the category of Best Sound Mixing (formerly known as merely Best Sound) rewards re-recording mixers — individuals who mix music, dialogue, effects and everything else into the soundtrack we ultimately hear — as well as production sound mixer — those responsible for capturing the sounds on set as they are recorded.
As we’ve noted, LOUD films tend to be rewarded here. Blockbusters, either science-fiction or action-based, are also cited frequently. War films and musicals also tend to show up, especially when they are in contention in the Best Picture race.
Two big contenders are still unseen: Rob Marshall’s “Nine” is very likely to score here, given the branch’s love of musicals. Barring the film being a disaster, I just can’t see it missing. Last year’s winner in the category, Richard Pryke, is on board.
The other big title that is still unseen is James Cameron’s “Avatar.” I’m still not sure how the film will ultimately perform. However, it cannot be denied that Cameron’s films have excelled here. I’m sure the film will have an interesting soundscape, and mixing legends Gary Summers and Andy Nelson are on board.
Holy crap, how many lifetime achievement awards are there in Hollywood? More than there are people, apparently, since they’re now having to share recipients.
Anyway, mere hours after the announcement that James Cameron is to receive the Lucky Brand™ Modern Master Award at the Santa Barbara fest (it’s the ™ that makes it special, in my opinion) comes the news that Cameron will also receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Visual Effects Society at their annual awards shindig on February 28. Previous recipients include George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.
Fair enough, given all Cameron has done to advance the effects artform over the last quarter-century. But if “Avatar” storms the awards anyway, might it not seem like overkill? (I’m standing by “District 9” for the Oscar, mind.) More here.
• Steve Pond shrewdly catches a Twitter leak from Oscarcast producer Adam Shankman: David Rockwell will be back on production design duties. [The Odds]
• The Gurus o’ Gold chime in with supporting predictions. [Movie City News]
• Charting the reasons “Avatar” will defy the odds and succeed at the box office. [Hollywood.com]
Seeing as Kris was (delete as appropriate) brave/stupid/psychic/smart enough to predict who will win the Oscars four months ahead of the ceremony (and three weeks earlier than he did last year), I figured I’d follow up, as I did last year, with my own foolhardy guesses too.
Last year, Kris kicked my ass at this particular game, correctly guessing 13 out 21 categories, and forecasting “Slumdog” fever while I was still on the “Milk” train. (Ironically, the lone “Slumdog Millionaire” win I predicted — Best Song — was one Kris missed.) For my part, I called wins for Sean Penn and Kate Winslet (for the wrong film, of course) … though that hardly qualifies as visionary, does it?
This year, however, we are of a like mind in most of the top categories, though we part ways considerably further down the list. If you’re looking to take any of our predictions to the bank, stick with Kris. But, you know, a different perspective never hurt anyone.
My best (or worst) guesses after the cut, followed by your collective prediction culled from yesterday’s comment thread.
I don’t offer up predictions on a given year’s Oscar winners until November, generally speaking. And, well, it’s November. Which is still, of course, too early to be making calls like these, since we don’t even have a nominations slate to go by, but I like to take an early stab, revisit in early December and then one more time in early January before we get the nominees.
I asked over the weekend what readers thought would take the Best Picture crown this year, and the majority seemed to lean toward Lee Daniels’s “Precious.” It might be too easy to figure on that at this stage, but it’s difficult to argue with the early box office success and overall critical approval.
But there are certainly other spoilers lurking and the danger of peaking early (yielding more time for competitors to take you down) is always apparent with a film like this.
Keep reading to have a look at what I’m thinking. Rattle off your thoughts and predictions in the comments section if you like.
• Colin Firth and Robert Zemeckis on making a surreal, stylized “A Christmas Carol.” [The Guardian]
• A.O. Scott on darker thematic rhythms in recent children’s films. [New York Times]
• Roger Ebert revisits “Hoop Dreams,” considers it “the great American documentary.” [Chicago Sun-Times]
I’ve lately been immersed in a marathon of DVD viewing and re-viewings, catching up on films that slipped through the cracks and reassessing former favorites — all in preparation for my own year-end “Best of the 2000s” list.
It’s a process that has resulted in some unexpected fringe challengers (“Longing,” an underexposed work of New German Cinema, won’t leave me alone), as well as some shifted perspectives (Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “Distant,” which I adored on first viewing six years ago, burned a little less brightly second time around). Nat Rogers is currently doing similar homework at the Film Experience, on a year-by-year basis.
At this stage, I have only a faint idea of what my list will eventually look like, but I’m already fairly sure that it will have little in common with the Top 100 of the decade that has just been unveiled at The Telegraph. Compiled by the British paper’s three critics, including IC friend Tim Robey, it’s an interesting and occasionally perplexing list.
They state upfront that their aim is to represent the decade’s “pick ‘n mix” culture, though the headline promises the decade’s “Top 100 movie masterpieces.” “Mamma Mia!” and “Saw,” both in the top 20, may fit the former description, but “masterpieces” they ain’t. Then again, popularity or influence aren’t the principal criteria either, as the list includes such obscurities as “Los Angeles Plays Itself.”
Whatever the system of selection, the result, you may or may not be thrilled to hear, is that Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” is the film of the 2000s.
(More, including the Telegraph’s Top 20 films, after the cut.)
It’s been so long since I actually ranked the Best Picture contenders (given that we did away with the charts some weeks back), that when I sat down to do so for this week’s Gurus o’ Gold update at Movie City News, I really didn’t know which way was up. It’s liberating to stop thinking about things in reductive terms, but I gave it a go, as did 14 other pundits, and this is what we came up with. Sasha Stone also has charts from past years up for comparison.
It seems like USA Today’s Anthony Brenican is the only guy who got his votes in after the big “Crazy Heart”/Jeff Bridges news, but suffice it to say the film would likely be a bit higher on the Best Picture chart and certainly Bridges and Gyllenhaal would be formidable in the lead actor and supporting actress fields.
“Up in the Air” is leading the pack, though “Precious” isn’t that far behind. My top 10 matches the Gurus’ exactly, except rather than Quentin Tarrantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” I’ve placed a bet on James Cameron’s “Avatar” (which sits at #11 on the chart). Intriguingly, Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are” is close to the bubble, at #12. I’d say that’s too high, frankly, but critics adore the movie.
Head on over to Movie City News for the full spread.
We have a belated edition of Oscar Talk for you today. We apologize for the lateness, but what better way to kick back on a Sunday afternoon than with yours truly and Anne Thompson of indieWIRE’s Thompson on Hollywood?
In this eighth installment, we actually covered a lot of ground. This week’s topics:
• With “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” hitting theaters this weekend, we lead off talking brief about the film (which Anne hasn’t seen).
• With music on the mind, this leads to another quick discussion about the Academy’s music branch, which caused poor Sad brad Smith to preemptively refrain from submitting his moving track “Help Yourself” from “Up in the Air” for consideration this year.
• Rumors of Neil Patrick Harris hosting the Oscarcast after doing bang-up jobs at the Tonys and Emmys are circulating, and in the wake of Ricky Gervais being tapped to emcee the Golden Globes this year, we spin our wheels on that topic one more time.
• “Precious” is opening next week, so with that (and Anne’s recent piece concerning Mo’Nique’s behind-the-scenes drama issues) in mind, we talk about whether the film, or the actress herself, has to win a popularity contest this season to gain the Academy’s attention and respect.
As I wrote in August, “Best Achievement in Film Editing” can be a difficult thing to define. Traditionally, we most notice film editing that is showy, usually in action films, musicals or movies that are not told chronologically. But does that make the editing better? If done well, it undoubtedly can add to the quality and innovation in a film.
At the same time, however, a well-paced and effective film is often one where the transitions are seamless and I maintain that the best editing is often that which you don’t notice. We will never know what “could have made it into the film,” which makes judging editing difficult at times. What is certain, however, is that in the absence of editors, our films would all be significantly too long, likely incoherent and/or tremendously boring.
Personally speaking, I’m intrigued by this category this year. he editing field has historically displayed a strong correlation to the Best Picture line-up. Last year marked a return to a typical situation which we had seen from the mid-90s until early this decade: four of the five films nominated for Best Film Editing were also nominated for Best Picture, with the fifth being an action film. However, from 2005 through 2007, only two of the five nominees crossed over to the Best Picture category. This raises the question…what to expect this year?
Some of the films I thought were contenders back in the summer have clearly fallen out of the running. Oscar winners Stephen Mirrione and Thelma Schoonmaker are now out the race as “Biutiful” and “Shutter Island” have been delayed until 2010. Allyson C. Johnson, on the other hand, is certainly not going to find herself nominated for “Amelia,” which is not getting near awards are far as anyone is concerned.
Yahoo! Movies has debuted the new “Avatar” trailer. Take a look at it in HD here or via the embed below. After the jump, get a load of a new behind-the-scenes featurette for the film.