In Contention

Tag: Best Supporting Actor

  • TDK, FYI

    Christian Bale in The Dark KnightMuch as I admire his spunk, I think Awards Daily contributor Ryan Adams might be getting ahead of himself with his Oscar hopes for “The Dark Knight.”

    In a recent post, he labels the categories of Best Makeup, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Supporting Actor and Best Visual Effects as “virtual certainties.” The other categories mentioned he feels are Oscar-worthy enough and have a good shot as well.

    Best Visual Effects isn’t going to happen. This branch abandoned practical effects considerations long ago. The makeup, meanwhile, could find some trouble from aging and transformative efforts later in the season, so I wouldn’t call it a sure thing either.

    We can all, I think, assume that Heath Ledger is on his way to a nod, and, indeed, the sound work in the film is top notch and worthy of serious consideration. The rest…nah. In fact, I think the most hastily over-predicted category for this film so far has been Best Art Direction, where Nathan Crowely scored at the BAFTAs in 2005 for “Batman Begins.”

    There aren’t a lot of manufactured sets here. All the stuff that looks like a creation was even, for the most part, a practical set. London’s Battersea Power Station really shows up well when used in the film, for instance, and looks like a manifestation. But it’s not.

    Lee Smith’s film editing is certainly a possibility, as he took things up a notch (to say the least) in this effort, but James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer will not be eligible for their brillaint score because of that pesky rule Rule 16b.

    (By the way, speaking of the boys, anyone else just LOVE that creepy two-note string theme for the Joker that is a clever inversion of the Batman theme?)

    I would, however, call Wally Pfister’s work behind the camera this film’s closest thing to a lock. The lensers have tons of respect for this guy (I’d say his nod in 2005 was a surprise) and given the technological steps taken here with the IMAX technology — the sheer balls of lugging those cameras around for these action sequences — I’d say he’s in.

    And of course — I’ve always felt Christopher Nolan has a play here. But I’m not willing to go there. Yet.

    Just my two cents.

  • Sigourney Weaver + who in ‘Alien 5?’

    Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn in AliensMeredith Woerner at io9 is wondering this week whether sci-fi/action writers will finally bone up and produce a sidekick to our modern cinema heroes and heroines worth the price of a ticket.

    She’s rightly spotlighting recent examples in “Live Free or Die Hard” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” as reason to change the tide in the wimpy second fiddle circuit.

    Woerner brings the scuttlebutt regarding Sigourney Weaver supposedly being game for a fifth “Alien” installment in to fuel the fire even more, adding that Newt (from “Aliens”) and Winona Ryder’s Annalee Call (“Alien: Resurrection”) didn’t exactly pan out as they should have for badass, woah-man E.T. brawler Ellen Ripley in the past.

    Personally — I liked Newt — but I dig this topic, so let’s discuss.

    Weaver managed the impossible in 1986 when she actually landed an Oscar nomiantion for her role in James Cameron’s “Aliens.”  Sure, people are talking up Heath Ledger for a supporting actor mention in this year’s “The Dark Knight,” but Weaver was banging alien heads and walking away with a LEAD actress nod over two decades prior (giving ammunition to many who had hoped for a similar trick to be turned by Uma Thurman in 2003’s “Kill Bill: Vol. 1”).

    We must protect the Ripley legacy!  And I actually think giving her one fiesty, ferocious co-star would do just that.  And if Ridley Scott is indeed “enthusiastic” about going there again, it could be (could be) something special.

    Anyway, I say put Ripley up there with someone able to take the throne.  Like Vera Farmiga.  Anything but another “AVP” massacre.  ANYTHING.

  • EW ‘Dark Knight’ cover story

    The Dark Knight cover story in the July 11 issue of Entertainment WeeklyBenjamin Svetkey has cranked out a thoughtful, compelling cover story study of Heath Ledger’s performance in “The Dark Knight” for next week’s Entertainment Weekly.

    The piece, titled “Tragedy and Triumph,” concerns itself with how Ledger’s death has affected expectation and perception in the lead-up to the film’s release in a little more than a week.  It’s tightly written, one of the better features out there on the film.

    There are money quotes all over the place and plenty of insight from Svetkey’s early set visit woven in here and there.

    However, there is a stupid, pointless graph at the top of the fourth page that is ridden with a few spoilers.  It’s totally unnecessary and evidence of a journalist strutting, if you ask me.  But the rest: top notch.

    On the casting of the Joker, here’s what Svetkey cranked out:

    With Bale contractually locked in for two more Bat movies, and Nolan on board for at least one more, the only thing needed was an actor to play the bad guy. There certainly wasn’t a shortage of options. Robin Williams, Sean Penn, and even Mark Hamill were rumored to be on Nolan’s short list (at least Hamill had practice, having voiced the Joker in various superhero cartoons). What nobody knew at the time, though, was just how short the director’s list was. ”Heath was the only one on it,” Nolan insists. “I knew he was it from the start.”

    And an interesting segment on the makeup of the character:

    Ledger also gave plenty of thought to the makeup that would be splattered across his face throughout the film. ”He started applying the makeup himself — just to see what it would look like if he put it on with his own hands,” Nolan says. ”We talked about how streaking the paint could get across the idea of corruption, of decay.”

    Check out the rest here.  But be wary of that first graph on the last page.  You can skip it totally and the article reads just fine.

    And finally, here’s a glimpse of Ledger’s work in the film:

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4FZdsIDsKE

  • Variety on the darkness of ‘Knight,’ Kevin Smith’s thoughts

    David Cohen offered up a pretty standard story at Variety yesterday, touching on the darkness of “The Dark Knight” and the danger of alienating general audiences versus appeasing fans, etc.  He quotes two online Batman fansite sources (truthfully, a knowledgable step if you want to convey any real education on the character — these guys are committed).  He then tosses in some perspective from poducer Charles Roven.  But I’m wondering if this was the best choice of words for Mr. Roven:

    We walk that narrow line of making sure we were true to the character, but it’s not so gruesome. It’s not so utterly real that you turn away in disgust. You watch it and it’s one of the things that lets you know the film is not a real thing. We call it hyper-reality.

    I get what he means, but it kind of made me take a step back and read it again.  Sort of goes against the grain of the franchise’s mantra just a bit.

    Meanwhile, comic geek extraordinaire Kevin Smith was impressed with the film to say the least. Here’s the brief blurb from his MySpace blog:

    Without giving anything away, this is an epic film (and trust me: based on the sheer size and scope of the visuals and storytelling, that’s not an overstatement). It’s the “Godfather II” of comic book films and three times more earnest than “Batman Begins” (and fuck, was that an earnest film). Easily the most adult comic book film ever made. Heath Ledger didn’t so much give a performance as he disappeared completely into the role; I know I’m not the first to suggest this, but he’ll likely get at least an Oscar nod (if not the win) for Best Supporting Actor. Fucking flick’s nearly three hours long and only leaves you wanting more (in a great way). I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed by it. Nolan and crew have created something close to a masterpiece.

  • The Guardian dashes Ledger’s Oscar hopes

    Not particularly new or earth-shattering perspective, but worth a link nontheless.  From a Xan Brooks item this morning in The Guardian:

    History…is not on [Ledger’s] side. James Dean was twice nominated in the wake of his death and yet still finished up as a posthumous loser on the night. More recently, Oliver Reed (for Gladiator) and Ulrich Mühe (The Lives of Others) were both tipped in vain for at least a nomination. In fact, the only actor ever to be awarded a posthumous Oscar was Network’s Peter Finch. Felled by a heart attack during the voting period, he swept to glory on a tidal wave of grief.

  • Campea on ‘Knight’

    Our pal John Campea over at The Movie Blog is back in Los Angeles after some time back home in Toronto this summer, and right out of the gate he’s slapped up a review from last night’s screening of “The Dark Knight.”

    It’s a glowing assessment to say the least, and at one point John says he was ready to call the film one of the best cinematic endeavors of the last three or four years.  But John’s getting old, what can I say — and the length of the film kind of got to him a bit.

    To each his own.  But I doubt there will be too many people upset with the apparent direction the final act takes (in the way of bridging over to the eventual third film).

    It’s worth noting that John structures his reviews in a very accessible way.  His site is and has always been a film site, a great community of movie lovers with no pretensions.  Keep that in mind as I offer his load-busting assessment of Heath Ledger’s performance:

    One of the things I was preparing myself for was how over hyped the performance of Heath Ledger was going to be. Since he passed away, I knew he’d be getting rave reviews out the ying (sic) yang no matter what and I’d be frowned upon if I said any different. But holy mother suck puss face… HEATH LEDGER DESERVES AN OSCAR NOMINATION FOR HIS PERFORMANCE AS THE JOKER… no… I’m not even kidding in the least. I was totally, 100% blown away like nothing I’ve ever seen in a comic based movie before.

    And the closer:

    Holy crap did Two Face look WICKED!!!

    Then he gets into why the length bothered him, etc.  Check out ther rest here.

    I haven’t seen any other reviews drop yet, but I’m sure we’ll start seeing them throughout Friday and into the weekend, when the junket screenings start to land.  Be on the lookout.

  • “Fuck you, that’s my name.”

    By way of our friends at Cinematical I stumbled across this Onion A.V. Club article — a truly genius post.  It’s a countdown of the top cameo performances of all time, a “one-scene wonders” list of 20 memorable cinematic moments.

    Like Eric Snider at Cinematical, I can’t find a single bone to pick with The Onion’s #1 choice.  In honor of all things Baldwin, I give you the searing opening sequence from James Foley’s (make that David Mamet’s) “Glengarry Glen Ross”:

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TROhlThs9qY

    I also love the inclusion of Ned Beatty’s Oscar nominated five minutes in “Network,” though the rest of the list is quite arguable.  The “Zodiac” tie in the final slot is an inspired choice, however.

  • Caine: “Heath might win an Oscar”

    From People magazine, an excerpt from an interview with Michael Caine concerning “The Dark Knight”:

    Caine, contemplating his co-star’s loss, goes so far as to predict Ledger might win an Oscar from beyond the grave for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight. “He was just so scary. Everyone was worried beforehand, because we knew he was going to be compared with Jack Nicholson’s brilliant Joker in the 1989 Batman. He surprised the life out of us all.”

    Not surprising coming from a connected source and all, though truth be told, all of the awards talk for Ledger really began to heat up nearly seven months ago when Caine began singing the highest praises for the performance.

    Also worth noting: An individual who saw the film a week ago didn’t hesitate on these matters when she said, quite confidently, “He’ll when an Oscar.”  Take it with a grain of salt, but just that such comments are making the rounds…

    Oooooh, boy.

  • Greatest non-nominated perfs: too many to count…

    …but I’ll try.  A sprint of sorts through deacades of deserving contenders (in my opinion, of course).

    I ask you this: How did those lovable characters from “The Wizard of Oz,” portrayed so brilliantly by Ray Bolger (Scarecrow), Jack Haley (Tin Man), Bert Lahr (Lion) and Margaret Hamilton (Wicked Witch), fail to be nominated in any of the supporting categories? Any one of them should have won the damned thing let alone be nominated, but in 1939, each and every one of them was snubbed.

    (more…)

  • Sean Penn might be the greatest living actor

    After writing my piece on the recent Best Actor winners and non-winners I was rather shocked at the number of comments on Sean Penn’s astounding performance in “Mystic River,” a performance I believe to rank with the best of Brando, Duvall, Nicholson and De Niro.

    I love debate, I love to talk film, and best of all I love debating the merit of performance as I studied method acting in the hopes of becoming an actor before I fell in love with film criticism.

    For the record, I was terrible, but remained fascinated by those who could do it, and Mr. Penn might just be the very best at what he does. Far too often his off-screen antics have over-shadowed his brilliant work as an actor, and while he has mellowed in his later years, he is still every bit as surly and rebellious as he ever was, though as a father and husband perhaps he understands the need for boundaries these days. I had the pleasure of interviewing Penn at the Toronto International Film Festival a few years back, and always believe that there should be no trace of the characters he portrays in his films for him to be judged a great actor. There were none. The person sitting across from me, relaxing when he seemed to know I was here to discuss acting as an art and craft, was not anyone I had seen on film, nor the hot-tempered photography beater of his youth.

    We all became aware of Penn in “Taps” back in the early 80s, but it was his hysterical turn in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” that made him a star. I find it difficult sometimes to connect the actor who portrayed the doomed killer in “Dead Man Walking” and the deeply distrubed man in “The Assassination of Richard Nixon” to the actor who portrayed the goofy, sunny, surf-loving Jeff Spicoli. Pauline Kael said Penn had the sort of talent that bites you on the nose and she was not off the mark at all.

    (more…)

  • About The Joker, or Heath Ledger, remembered

    In a post earlier today, Kris linked to the new trailer for “The Dark Knight” starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine . . .I could continue. It’s an exceptional cast complete with some of the finest actors from different demographics, Maggie Gyllenhaal, especially, as a needed upgrade from Katie Holmes.

    This trailer gives us an added (and for me, a needed) glimpse into The Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger. This performance, characterized by Michael Caine as “the most murderous psychopath you’ve ever seen on screen,” is, arguably, the most anticipated of the year.

    You expected me to write summer, didn’t you, what with all those new and different performances being released: Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones; Will Smith as an invincible man; Brendan Fraser as Rick O’Connell; Seth Rogen as a stoner; Adam Sandler as a cross between Little Nicky and Bobby Boucher . . .

    I don’t mean to diminish these performances (or those I didn’t mention: Ed Norton as The Incredible Hulk and Emile Hirsch in “Speed Racer”), but they simply don’t inspire me the way Ledger’s performance does. Is that because he’s dead? In part, I’m sure. But friends of mine will attest that I suggested to anyone that would listen that Ledger’s performance would be memorable. Oscar-worthy was used several times, I recall.

    (more…)

  • On Robert Downey Jr.

    It was only a few years ago that the inimitable Robert Downey Jr. was in our living rooms as a result of repeated drug arrests. I recall several instances where I felt as if he’d never recover. Fortunately, he did, and on May 2 Mr. Downey will appear as a comic book hero in “Iron Man.” Advance buzz for the film has been strong, and David Carr of The New York Times filed this profile in today’s paper of the actor once labeled “the best of his generation.”

    “Iron Man,” I suspect, will be an enjoyable film. Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard also star. Based on what I’ve seen thus far, it has some technical appeal that may catch voters come awards season. It’s this film – and the remaining work on Mr. Downey’s schedule in 2008 – that should finally complete his remarkable comeback.

    Later this summer, he stars as Kirk Lazarus in the film “Tropic Thunder” from Ben Stiller. Downey’s character, a method actor who undergoes a pigment alteration, has many people curious. And this fall he appears in Joe Wright’s latest film “The Soloist” opposite Jamie Foxx.

    Mr. Downey has only been nominated once for an Academy Award, in 1993, for his role as Charlie Chaplin in Richard Attenborough’s film “Chaplin.” He did not win. Since then, he’s appeared in more than thirty five films — some quite memorable (“Wonder Boys,” “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints,” “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” and “Zodiac,” especially). But none of these roles caught the attention of the awards community.

    Seven years ago this month, Mr. Downey was fired from his recurring guest role on “Ally McBeal.” This year, he’ll release three films, one of which, “The Soloist,” may earn him a second Oscar nomination. And his past seems to be well behind him. As he remarked to Mr. Carr, “I’m not in that sphere of activity anymore, and I don’t understand it any more than I understood 10 or 20 years ago that somehow everything was going to turn out O.K. from this lousy, exotic and dark triple chapter of my life. I swear to God I don’t even really understand that planet anymore.”

    I’m certainly grateful for that.

  • The nominees react

    After a few weeks of frigid, citrus terrorizing temperatures, if you step outside this morning in Los Angeles, it’s a beautiful, cloudless, sunny day. But it’s a little sunnier for those who were greeted with Oscar nominations, whether expected or unexpected. I had the opportunity to talk with a few of the lucky souls who’ve had the pleasure of fielding phone call after phone call this morning. Here’s what they had to say.

    Lots of happiness in the Fox Searchlight camp today, as the little film that could, “Little Miss Sunshine” made its way to four Oscar nominations including Best Picture and, not surprisingly, Best Original Screenplay for Michael Arndt. I called Michael around 7:45 this morning to get his reaction, and he was still the same modest fellow I spoke to face to face over the weekend.

    “I knew that there were a lot of people out there who loved the film,” he told me, “but this is the ultimate validation of the idea that the film industry is democratic. A year ago we were hoping to get a distribution deal and now we have four Oscar nominations.”

    Michael says he went to sleep pretty easily (and who wouldn’t, in his shoes), but that didn’t stop him from waking up at three o’clock and suffering insomnia throughout the rest of the early morning hours. Suffice it to say, he was wide awake when he heard his name called this morning.

    Best Supporting Actor nominee Jackie Earle Haley (“Little Children”) has to be the happiest guy in the business this morning. “I think I’d have to agree with you on that,” he told me, calling from his home in San Antonio. “This is just unbelievably crazy. They need to invent a few more words, because every adjective, this is just a little bit better.”

    The most adorable and giddy Oscar nominee you could expect to talk to, Haley was clearly on cloud nine, even hitting bouts of speechlessness during our conversation. Funnily enough, even in the central time zone, Jackie was asleep when the announcement hit. His wife ran into the bedroom screaming and crying, “You got it!” “We just hugged each other and cried for, like, five minutes,” Haley said.

    One of today’s nominees was actually surprisingly snubbed for his work on “Good Night, and Good Luck.” last year, film editor Stephen Mirrione. Mirrione and Douglas Crise shared one of “Babel”‘s seven nominations this morning.

    “The types of movies I gravitate towards aren’t really mainstream movies,” he told me via telephone shortly after the nominations were announced. “So I’m pleasantly surprised when they become so widely accepted, even if I know the material I’m working with is exceptional. And I owe a lot to wonderful performances.”

    Crise has served as Mirrione’s first assistant editors for ten years. This year he got the bump to co-editor because “Babel” started shooting before Mirrione had finished work on “Good Night, and Good Luck.” Now the longtime collaborators get to share in the spoils of an Oscar nomination together.

    Another nominee who has felt the sting of Oscar’s avoidance is Patrick Marber, nominated today for his adapted screenplay “Notes on a Scandal,” based on the novel by Zoe Heller. In fact, when Marber failed to score a WGA nomination for his work two weeks ago, he says it felt exactly how the circumstance of “Closer” played out in 2004, for which he received BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations, but found no such luck with the guild and with the Academy. Suffice it to say, he was pleasantly surprised this morning.

    “Being nominated is a lot more fun than not being nominated,” he told me, calling from London. “You suddenly get lots of phone calls from people you haven’t spoken to in years. And it’s huge for us, for the film, to get four nominations. Judi and I texted each other, and I got a one word email from Zoe: ‘Yay.’ She’s always to the point.”

    Finally, one of the big stories of the morning was Picturehouse’s six nomination haul for Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth.” Hitting the ground running in its inaugural year, Picturehouse had two critically lauded efforts hit screens in “Pan’s” and director Robert Altman’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” Picturehouse president Bob Berney concedes that it was a shame not to land at least one mention for Altman’s golden-hued, poignant swansong, but it was bittersweet considering the surprising glut of appreciation thrown the way of “Pan’s Labyrinth.”

    “We decided to come out at the very end, but to do that, you have to know you’ve got a great film,” he told me earlier this morning. “It’s cool to get these broader nominations outside of the foreign film category, because this really is such a group effort. You get a lot of energy from this film and it just takes you back to the joy of movies.”

    Berney conceded that a lesson learned in this introductory year for his studio was the subtlety of positioning your film as an underdog. The strategy paid off in spades this morning, and the president affirms that he and his team are ready to do it all over again next Oscar season.