In Contention

Tag: Colin Firth

  • BAFTA predictions

    Carey Mulligan in An EducationEnjoying a curious position this year as the only televised awards ceremony between the Academy Award nominations announcement and Oscar night itself, the BAFTAs will no doubt be relishing their precursor status even more than usual.

    Since they made the move to precede the Oscars nine years ago, BAFTA hasn’t slavishly anticipated the bigger awards (they’ve matched the Academy’s Best Picture pick only three times), but they have sometimes been at the crest of new waves in voting: late surges of momentum for the likes of Marion Cotillard, Tilda Swinton and Alan Arkin all made their first appearance on BAFTA night.

    This year, however, I’m suspecting that the Brits will voluntarily isolate themselves from the Oscar-influencing game. Never ones to shy away from patriotic voting, BAFTA has handed its top prize to a homegrown production for three years running – it’s highly likely that Oscar longshot “An Education,” which leads the nomination count with two U.S. productions, will make it four.

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  • ‘A Prophet,’ ‘Fish Tank’ lead London Critics’ awards

    Best British Actor winner Colin Firth at the London Film Critics' Circle awardsThe BAFTA Awards take place on Sunday, but last night the UK’s premier critics’ body had their say at the London Film Critics’ Circle Awards. And what we learned is what the London Film Festival, Sight & Sound and even the BAFTA longlists already taught us: the Brits really, really like “A Prophet.”

    Busting out of the foreign-language ghetto, Jacques Audiard’s Oscar-nominated prison gang saga took the night’s top award, Film of the Year. That was its lone award of the night, however — Kathryn Bigelow continued her steamroll through every directing honor in sight, while they democratically handed what would have been a rather superfluous foreign-language prize to “Let the Right One In.”

    The night’s biggest winner, meanwhile, was another of my pet films: “Fish Tank” took four awards in the British categories, including Best British Film and acting honors for Katie Jarvis and Michael Fassbender. Following Bigelow, Andrea Arnold made it an all-female affair in the directing categories.

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  • Actors pick their favorite performances of the decade

    (Courtesy: New York Times Magazine)

  • 1/18 Oscarweb Round-up

    In the Loop(Your non-Harvey-influenced round-up for the morning…)

    • Is Armando Iannucci planning to take the world of “In the Loop” to HBO? [CHUD]

    • Bill Mechanic responds to criticism over move to eliminate original song performances. [The Odds]

    • Actors on an actorless “Avatar.” [Los Angeles Times]

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  • SANTA BARBARA: Bridges, Firth, Stone and producers

    Colin Firth at the 25th annual Santa Barbara International Film FestivalThings are winding down in Santa Barbara.  Today is the last day of the fest, an all-day celebration of Jeff Bridges’s work.  Screenings of “Thunderbolt & Lightfoot,” “Starman,” “The Contender” and “Crazy Heart” are lined up.  I’ll be moderating a Q&A with the actor following the “Crazy Heart” screening at the Lobero Theatre.

    Yesterday it was the producers panel early in the afternoon, Patrick Goldstein moderating an enlightening discussion with Lawrence Bender, Mark Boal, Jon Landau, Lori McCreary, Ivan Reitman and Jonas Rivera.  It was a good cross-section of perspectives on the work of a film producer, and certain a diverse mixture of budgets, economics and creative philosophy.

    There was a moment when Landau proposed that it was a filmmaker’s responsibility to tackle gravitas and Bender took umbrage with that, positing that the real responsibility is to entertain.  Obviously it depends on the circumstance and no filmmaker should be beholden to either ideology (as Boal, always the diplomat, shrewdly noted).  But it was still funny watching Bender once again defending the frivolity of “Inglourious Basterds” in the face of loftier examinations from Landau, McCreary, etc.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Actor

    Morgan Freeman in InvictusThe Best Actor category solidified pretty early on this year. I imagine the eventual line-up had slid into place as early as November, and after the Screen Actors Guild made things more official, the predictable race unfolded from there. What we have now is a typical mixture of seasoned veterans, solid industry players and newcomers to the awards season.

    But things weren’t always so clear. Before a last-minute decision to release what, from afar, always appeared to be a potential awards vehicle for a respected star, things could have gone a number of ways. Sometimes jumping in late can be a boost, and sometimes it just seems like the obvious play.

    The nominees are:

    Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
    George Clooney, “Up in the Air”
    Colin Firth, “A Single Man”
    Morgan Freeman, “Invictus”
    Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”

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  • The nominees react

    Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy HeartThroughout the morning and early afternoon we took statements from or hopped on the phone with 44 of today’s Oscar nominees.  Their reactions…

    Maggie Gyllenhaal, supporting actress, “Crazy Heart”:

    The thing is, you know, I’m so proud of the movie and I always have been, more proud of it than any of the work I’ve done so far.  But because I wasn’t getting nominated for anything, I wasn’t expecting it.  My phone was ringing so early and I thought, “Wait, maybe!”   I was staying at my brother’s in LA.  He said to me, “Your phone is going to be ringing all day.”  He made me a cup of coffee and then we watched the sun rise.  It was pretty mellow.  But this wouldn’t be happening for Jeff [Bridges] or me if it wasn’t for Scott [Cooper].

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  • 1/28 Oscarweb Round-up

    Colin Firth• Steve Pond on how Jeff Bridges being the voice of Hyundai could cause problems for the long-time Oscarcast advertiser this year. [The Odds]

    • Melena Ryzik on the Sundance-Oscar connection. [The Carpetbagger]

    • David Poland talks to “A Single Man” star Colin Firth. [The Hot Blog]

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Hollywood fights back

    Sharlto Copley in District 9I may be looking out at my snow-caked garden as I write this, but it was in the spirit of spring-cleaning that I revised my nomination predictions this morning, ridding myself of most of the clinging personal hopes and hunches that lingered when I last updated them a month ago.

    It wasn’t the most drastic of revisions (rather to my surprise, I found I’d already predicted a robust haul for “District 9” before the Guilds made it such a strong bet), but it was my most detached one to date, anticipating a race that looks set to be rather passionless on my part.

    Rarely have so many of the leading players in the Best Picture race left me so cold – as “Avatar,” “Invictus,” “Precious,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “Up in the Air,” “Star Trek” and even “Up” all failed to arouse any particularly warm feelings in me, I began to wonder if I should just retreat to bed until March 8.

    (Unfortunately, for those of you wishing I’d do just that, a healthy precursor run for “The Hurt Locker,” one contender I love without reservation, is keeping me invested.)

    Still, my individual response to the films in question isn’t the only reason I’m feeling a little distanced from this year’s competition. As it currently stands, Hollywood looks set to enjoy its most homegrown Oscar race in some time.

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  • “Dull, dull, dull”

    As is usually the case when British outlets offer Oscar analysis, there are few fresh insights to be found in Jeremy Kay’s assessment of the current race in today’s Guardian.

    Well, there is his unusual offhand assertion that “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Star Trek” are locked-in Best Picture nominees, with “Julie & Julia” and “The Blind Side” jostling for slot #10. (Well, it can’t eventually be the same 10 titles everyone else is predicting, can it? Can it?)

    He does, however, offer the kind of forthright, subjective opinions on the contenders that some Oscar prognosticators shy away from, as when he witheringly dismisses Gabourey Sidibe in favor of Abbie Cornish.

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  • ‘Air,’ ‘Basterds,’ ‘Precious’ lead the way with SAG

    Diane Kruger in Inglourious BasterdsThere wasn’t much in the way of a surprise with this year’s Screen Actors Guild announcement.  The nods that are least likely to translate to Oscar, if I were a betting man, are Diane Kruger’s supporting actress bid for “Inglourious Basterds” and (I guess I just have a feeling) Matt Damon, supporting for “Invictus.” The rest seem like safe bets on down the line.

    I wouldn’t read too much into the ensemble snub of “Up in the Air,” though it’s curious to nominate three actors from the film and then ignore it in that field.  The ensemble category is also where “Nine” got its expected attention, though Penelope Cruz also showed up in supporting for the film.  The BFCA, you’ll recall, went for Marion Cotillard instead.

    “Precious,” “Inglourious Basterds” and “Up in the Air” had the most nominations, with three apiece.  I would have expected “An Education” to have that designation, too, but somehow Alfred Molina was ignored.  Maybe that won’t be the case with Oscar, maybe it will.

    On to the next thing.  Check the full list of nominees after the jump.

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  • 12/11 Oscarweb Round-up

    Kathryn Bigelow• Jeffrey Wells conveys the sentiment from director Rod Lurie: Kathryn Bigelow will win the Oscar for Best Director this year.  Agreed. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Scott Bowles talks to the man of the hour: James Cameron. [USA Today]

    • Steve Pond sits down with “Mary and Max” writer/director Adam Elliot. [The Odds]

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  • Corliss declares Firth and Mo’Nique performances of the year

    Colin Firth in A Single ManWe’re currently in that month where precursors do their utmost to reduce a year’s worth of cinematic achievement to a small handful of oft-repeated names and titles. It’s understandable (if disappointing) when groups or committees compile these identikit lists — but when individuals (and serious critics at that) stick rigidly to the formula, it becomes a little depressing.

    This is my way of saying I read Richard Corliss’s Time list of the year’s Top 10 movie performances and could only say, “Really?” He watched an entire year’s worth of films and could only come up with nine heavily-publicized Oscar contenders and one token wacky/stupid/throwaway pick? (That’d be Michael Jackson, if you’re interested.)

    Make no mistake, there are a number of fine performances here. Colin Firth, Mo’Nique, Jeremy Renner, Christoph Waltz, Carey Mulligan … noteworthy work, make no mistake. I just find it hard to believe that a critic has no personal favorites that deviate slightly from the buzz-determined consensus. I’m not saying he has to pick Tilda Swinton or Tom Hardy or John Malkovich — but he must have noticed some performers that weren’t already clocked by everyone else. Why not highlight one of them?

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  • 11/9 Oscarweb Round-up

    Max Records in Where the Wild Things Are• 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]

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  • Same-but-different ‘A Single Man’ trailer

    Well, they may have buggered up the poster, but they knew better than to mess with the gorgeous trailer we saw back in September. The Weinsteins’ first official trailer for Tom Ford’s startling debut replays the lush, wordless montage of the original, with a couple of Oscar-chasing quotes inserted for effect. (And not subtly, either: “There is already Oscar buzz for Julianne Moore” isn’t a critical endorsement, it’s a non-statement.)

    Regardless, it’s still neck-and-neck with “A Serious Man” (don’t tell me you’re still hazy on those titles) for the ‘trailer of the year’ distinction.

  • OFF THE CARPET: Looking at the leading gentlemen

    Colin Firth in A Single ManWe’ve taken concentrated looks at the lead actress and supporting actress categories in recent weeks.  Now let’s turn our attention over to the fellas.

    Behind the Best Picture race, of course, the lead actor competition is perhaps the most hotly anticipated award of a given Oscar telecast.  Movie stars are born, Hollywood staples are rewarded and careers leap to the next level.  It makes for an intriguing annual state of the union as it pertains the the film industry’s talent roster.

    This year, one of Hollywood’s brightest stars finds himself right at the front of the conversation.  George Clooney is likely to end up with his third acting Oscar nomination, for Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air,” and he’ll owe much of that to Reitman’s powerful work on the page.

    Clooney doesn’t give his best performance to date in the film.  But the material is so cleverly built around his persona that one can’t blame the actor for saddling up to a role that fits like a glove.  And there is something to be said for the bravery of taking one’s image on like that.

    Colin Firth, meanwhile, has caused a critical stir with his leading performance in Tom Ford’s “A Single Man.” He has already won the Venice Film Festival’s acting honor and has been tapped for another at February’s Santa Barbara Film Festival.  He is pitch-perfect in the film, giving a refined performance of nuance and gesture.

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  • Firth to be honored for Outstanding Performance of the Year at Santa Barbara fest

    Colin FirthActor Colin Firth is set to receive yet another award for his work in Tom Ford’s “A Single Man” after taking the Best Actor crown in Venice last month.

    The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (a comforting getaway right at the height of Oscar season in February) has announced that Firth will receive its Outstanding Performance of the Year Award.  In the pres release, festival director Roger Durling calls Firth “one of the most enduring performers working in cinema today” and notes that his performance in Ford’s film might call for a reassessment of the actor’s work to date.

    The tribute will take place at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara on Saturday, February 13.  Expect further SIBFF award announcements in the coming weeks, including, for the first time ever, a trio of Vanguard Award winners.  More as it comes in…

  • 9/24 Oscarweb Round-up

    Colin Firth• Adam Dawtrey on the rebirth of Colin Firth. [The Guardian]

    • In honor of “A Serious Man,” Nathan Englander picks the top five Jewish films from the 1970s.  Why not the 1960s?  You know, when the Coen film is set? [Film in Focus]

    • Not Oscar related, but most desired remake: “The Goonies.” [Daily Telegraph]

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