In Contention

Tag: Darren Aronofsky

  • Indie Spirits, HBO and Weinstein party down on Oscar eve

    Yesterday was a bit of a whirlwind.  The Indie Spirits was a lovely affair, though they really need to figure out the show aspect because it kind of fell apart this year.  I didn’t see it on television so maybe it was edited into shape, but in the room, it just felt like chaos.

    I spoke to Aronofsky — for the first time since he finally made my list, he noted.  The guy is paying attention.  I wished him the best of luck tonight but he shrugged it off, knowing much of anything beyond Natalie Portman winning just isn’t in the cards.  Nevertheless, it’s been a long, wonderful journey for the film, especially when you look at those box office numbers.

    Mostly I was stoked to see an old college buddy, “Cold Weather” producer Brendan McFadden.  He and director Aaron Katz are still working on that werewolf buddy cop script we told you about recently, and there’s a western in the cards, too.  Here’s hoping those ambitious projects take off.

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  • Big night for ‘Black Swan’ at Spirit Awards

    Kris was on the scene at the Independent Spirit Awards today, and will, I’m sure, have some first-hand commentary to add later. For now, let me lead the cheers for “Black Swan,” which finally had its moment in the sun this awards season.

    Two years after its sort-of-sibling “The Wrestler” nabbed the top prize, the surprise crossover hit took four awards, including Best Feature and Best Director for Darren Aronofsky — the third Spirit win of his career, though his first for directing.

    The only other multiple winner of the ceremony was fellow Best Picture Oscar nominee “Winter’s Bone,” which took a well-deserved brace of supporting trophies for John Hawkes and Dale Dickey — the film’s only reward for a field-leading haul of seven nominations. “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” meanwhile, was a popular victor in the Best Documentary category.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Directing

    Coming down to the wire, the race for Best Directing remains a very close one. Earlier in the year the prevailing wisdom was that a split could be in the cards, with the Oscar-bait frontrunner more likely to win Best Picture and the zeitgeisty competition likely to see its talented helmer finally noticed.

    Then things changed a bit, with the zeitgeisty choice pulling ahead as a Best Picture possibility, which left supporters feeling even more strongly that its director would find himself in the winner’s circle. At the end of the season, we’re back to that original thought process in some quarters, while in others, the anticipation of Oscar bait going hand-in-hand is taking hold.

    The nominees are:

    “Black Swan” (Darren Aronofsky)
    “The Fighter” (David O. Russell)
    “The King’s Speech” (Tom Hooper)
    “The Social Network” (David Fincher)
    “True Grit” (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen)

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  • 2/10 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Gasland’ director fires back, Wahlberg/Russell on Aronofsky, hoping Banksy stays away

    • Mark Wahlberg and David O. Russell on Darren Aronofsky’s departure from “The Fighter.” [Inside Movies]

    • Eric Kohn writes up the Oscar shorts. [indieWIRE]

    • Josh Fox fires back at gas industry accusations about the accuracy of his documentary, “Gasland.” [Facebook]

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  • 2/7 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: The country turns to a flawed ‘Grit’ hero, will win/won’t win, Lanthimos talks ‘Dogtooth’

    • “Why, in troubled times, does America turn to a hard-drinking, half-blind US marshal?” [The Guardian]

    • Bob Verini takes the pro/con route on each Best Picture hopeful. [Variety]

    • Larry Rohter chats with “Dogtooth” director (and unlikely Oscar nominee) Yorgos Lanthimos. [The Carpetbagger]

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  • 1/31 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Aronofsky and Russell on sex scenes, Rudin v. Weinstein, Hammond on snubs

    • Darren Aronofsky and David O. Russell reveal a dislike for filming sex scenes. [Hollywood Reporter]

    • Krista Smith, meanwhile, sits down with Russell to talk “The Fighter.” [Little Gold Men]

    • Rebecca Keegan and Nicole Sperling write up Scott Rudin vs. Harvey Weinstein. [The Envelope]

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  • Predict the DGA winner

    I nearly forgot tomorrow brings the DGA awards.  I thought they were next weekend.  Anyway, I guess this can be your place to offer up predictions.  I’ll say this, though.  I don’t think David Fincher has this in the bag.  At all.  Ballots were due in today, by the way, which means the Oscar nominations could have an impact.  Maybe last minute voters want to spring for Christopher Nolan after he was unceremoniously snubbed by the Academy?

    Fincher’s dominance in the critics awards circuit is unmistakable.  But now you’re talking about 10,000 people rather than a 30-person media organization (and, in most cases, much smaller than that).  “Inception” is a populist film, but so, too, is “The King’s Speech.” And I think I’m just brazen enough to predict Tom Hooper to win.

    Yep, I am.  I think Darren Aronofsky deserves it above all comers, but that’s unlikely.  And Fincher would be my second pick.  He could well win, and “The Fighter” could take the SAG ensemble prize, blowing the race wide open (for some).  But no, I’m going to put my chips on a sweep for “The King’s Speech” that started with PGA, will continue tomorrow night and keep going through Sunday with an ensemble win.  What about you?

    [Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures]

  • A night at the CCMAs

    It was a good time.  The evening started off with a bit of a surprise as “The Fighter” took in the award for Best Ensemble.  I happened to be seated with Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, David O. Russell and, a real treat, Jack McGee, so it was an exciting pop to start things off.  No one at that table expected to win that award so they were quite exhilarated.

    Speaking of Bale, I thought he gave the night’s best speech, a touching, loose monologue that is certain to be repeated throughout the season.  And watching Hailee Steinfeld accept for Best Young Actor/Actress, I couldn’t help but picture her with an Oscar in her hand.  Despite Melissa Leo’s strong showing so far, the Best Supporting Actress category is still somewhat up in the air, I think (which Anne and I discussed in yesterday’s podcast).

    I bounced around here and there during the commercial breaks.  Naturally the first thing Darren Aronofsky said when he saw me was, “I finally made your list!  Next time you’ll listen to me.”  Maybe there’s a future in Oscar prognostication for him.  I also exchanged words with Colin Firth for the first time since our lengthy sit-down in Telluride.  Charming as ever.  But most exciting for me?  Honestly?  Meeting Ice Cube.  No, seriously.

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  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 48 — Armond White vs. Darren Aronofsky, guilds speaking up, ‘True Grit’ box office, awards show/party weekend on the way, supporting actress wide open

    Oscar TalkWelcome 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.

    Today is the final day of phase one this season. Ballots are due by 5pm PT, so everyone needs to pick a chair before the music stops. And we have plenty to discuss as a result, so let’s see what’s on the docket today…

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  • Russell, Hooper make DGA slate

    And it is as it should have been expected.  The question now is, will it match Oscar’s five 100%?

    It’s worth noting that “True Grit” is a late bloomer and the DGA have had ballots since late November.  If they went in early, and seeing as you can’t send screeners to the membership, it’s possible a number of voters didn’t see it before submitting.  But these are a strong five and I don’t know who would drop out.

    The instinct for some is Tom Hooper, but there’s no reason to think that would happen, honestly.  It’s doing just fine.  David O. Russell is the one a lot of people didn’t expect to see here, so that might be a decent call.  But his nomination today should be enough to dispel the notion that a shaky industry rep would keep him out of the game this season.  Or is it?

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  • Predict the DGA nominees

    Monday the guild circuit continues — at the start of what will be a very busy week — as the Directors Guild of America (DGA) unveils its list of nominees.

    The age-old rule of thumb has been that this is perhaps the most consistently foreshadowing precursor, as the five DGA nominees tend to have a good shot at Best Director recognition, and the Best Director nominees tend to line-up with the Best Picture nominees, give or take (though with the 10, I think it might be safe to say that the idea of a “lone director” has been lost to the realities of probability).

    Last year the five DGA nominees represented the perceived top five films of the Oscar race: Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron, Lee Daniels, Jason Reitman and Quentin Tarantino. The year before that, we all thought it did the same, but alas, Christopher Nolan and his film ultimately missed the mark with Oscar.

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  • THR’s directors round table

    The Hollywood Reporter sure kicked up some controversy with that writers round table last month. This one featuring directors of the season has been making the rounds so I thought I’d post it up:

  • Annual Fox holiday bash draws filmmakers and talent

    20th Century Fox held its annual holiday party on the roof of the Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills last night. It afforded a good opportunity to corral press members into a tight space with talent from the studio’s five awards season contenders.

    Newly tapped Oscar host Anne Hathaway was on hand (with “Love & Other Drugs” co-star Jake Gyllenhaal), but her co-host James Franco couldn’t make it.  I chatted briefly with “127 Hours” director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, as well as “Never Let Me Go” composer Rachel Portman (who seemed quite prim and shy).  I know “Conviction” screenwriter Pamela Gray was making the rounds but I never got a chance to say hi.

    I did, however, finally meet one of the cinematographers from “127 Hours,” Enrique Chediak.  And as we were talking, a publicist tapped me on the shoulder and asked, “Would you like to talk to Anthony Dod Mantle?”  Of course I would, so I turned and staring back at me was Mantle live via Skype from Cape Town, South Africa, where he’s currently filming Pete Travis’s “Judge Dredd” reboot with Karl Urban.

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  • ‘Winter’s Bone’ wins big at Gothams

    If you were able to catch the live stream of the 20th anniversary Gotham Awards tonight (nominees here), then you saw the usual slap-dash, boozed up shenanigans.

    Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone” was carrying the big stick coming in with three nominations and it walked away with two awards, including Best Feature. Most surprising was the film’s hot young thing actress Jennifer Lawrence being upset in the Breakthrough Actor category by “Daddy Longlegs” star Ronald Bronstein. Did signing on to “X-Men: First Class” put a bad taste in voters’ mouths? Hmm…

    Speaking of which, Natalie Portman went there in her cheeky intro for Darren Aronofsky’s tribute, mentioning his upcoming “The Wolverine” and “Machine Man.” His tribute reel, with just five films to pull from, looked killer. Talk about the beginnings of a brilliant career.

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  • EXCLUSIVE: The production design of ‘Black Swan’ (clip)

    I’ve been wondering lately about the below-the-line aspects of “Black Swan” and whether they could find the proper respect even if the film doesn’t take off in the major races. Specifically I’m thinking about Matthew Libatique’s cinematography, Andrew Weisblum’s film editing, Craig Henighan and company’s sound design and Thérèse DePrez’s production design.

    On the latter, we’re happy to bring an exclusive video clip spotlighting the design process of the film. These particulars are refined and thematically relevant throughout the film, but they really get vibrantly showcased in a final act that pulls together all of the various threads into one lengthy, jaw-dropping sequence that is no doubt what lingers long after you’ve left the theater.

    In the clip, you’ll hear interviews with DePrez and director Darren Aronofsky, who says he has always wanted to work with the designer of films like “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” “American Splendor” and “The Door in the Floor.” It’s a great look behind the scenes of the process of outwardly displaying the inner workings of the piece. Have a look after the jump.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: When you’re strange

    (Updated predictions available here.)

    I shan’t often find room for Gaspar Noé’s name in a space ostensibly dedicated to the Oscar race, so bear with me if this seems an unlikely opening gambit, but inspiration for this week’s column began with a conversation about his fluorescent, drug-addled ghost story “Enter the Void.”

    A friend had recently caught up with it, and found herself disappointed: having been promised a psychotropic headfuck, she instead found something more sentimental and less questioning than his previous work. “At this rate,” she muttered aggrievedly, “he’s about 10 years away from a bloody Oscar nomination.”

    That’s a flip exaggeration, of course, but there’s a kernel of truth in it: the Academy likes its enfants terribles most when they’ve passed the teething stage and begin to play nice — or at least safe. There’s a long and illustrious list of adventurous, iconoclastic directors who scored with AMPAS either by putting a leash on their wilder creative instincts or making sly concessions to the mainstream.

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  • OFF THE CARPET: Giving thanks

    As we move into turkey (or tofurkey, if that happens to be your speed) week 2010, it seems proper, if a tad bit obvious, to take a moment and give thanks. So in lieu of a proper analysis of the season’s progression this week, allow me to express my boundless, breathless appreciation for the following:

    The filmmakers.

    I’m thankful for Mike Leigh’s consistently maturing perspective on life and how he manages to gift that to film audiences each and every time out, for Peter Weir’s tenacity in the face of an unfortunate shift in cinema investment and for Darren Aronofsky’s well-rewarded (in the form of a two-year studio deal) efforts pushing the envelope.

    I’m thankful for Danny Boyle’s energetic perspective on the cinema and his obsession with filling his frame with that passion, as well as for Christopher Nolan’s determination to take studio goodwill and prove that there is an audience and payoff for pricey originality.

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  • 11/19 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Heyman talks ‘Harry,’ Reynolds named sexiest man, Protozoa inks a Fox deal

    • How did you know you were in love?  Enter a “How Do You Know” contest to win a San Francisco trip with your story. [Yahoo!]

    • John Lopez talks “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” with producer David Heyman. [Little Gold Men]

    • Ryan Reynolds is crowned 2010’s sexiest man alive. [People]

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