In Contention

Tag: Darren Aronofsky

  • Aronofsky at Edinburgh

    Darren AronofskyAs someone who prefers watching movies to listening to others talk about them, I probably haven’t attended as many of the In Person Q&A sessions at this year’s Edinburgh festival as I should have. Sam Mendes lost out in my priority scale to “The Red Shoes,” while the likes of Bill Forsyth and Brenda Blethyn (whose award-caliber work in “London River” I discussed yesterday) passed me by.

    I did, however, catch Darren Aronofsky’s career discussion earlier this week, and a most entertaining couple of hours it was. It wasn’t quite clear why Aronofsky was at the festival, given that he had nothing new to present – perhaps he also simply fancied a chance to kick back and watch a few movies in a picturesque town. (Earlier in the day, I had found myself seated behind him at the “Antichrist” screening – he didn’t look quite as impressed as I was.)

    As with the last time I saw Aronofsky speak, when presenting “The Wrestler” in London, the filmmaker’s interview style is largely too chatty and anecdotal to relate in writing – for the most part, I simply dropped my notepad and enjoyed the patter. The interviewer (whose name, I’m embarrassed to admit, escapes me at this moment, though I can confirm she was both gracious and very well-versed) reasoned that “The Wrestler” was still fairly fresh in the audience’s mind, so the conversation mainly flowed around Aronofsky’s first three features.

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  • Nolan out for third Batman? Who could step in?

    Christopher NolanBill Ramey over at Batman on Film has posted a rather disconcerting report this morning regarding the status of Christopher Nolan’s involvement with a third film in the lucrative Batman franchise.  The info, which is hardly concrete, comes from one of the numerous Bat-related sources Ramey has acquired over 12 years of focusing his site on the development of these films.

    Ramey hedges his bets and writes what we all know, that “it is far from a given” that Nolan will return for another go.  But he offers a few bullet-pointed reasons from his source that certainly make a lot of sense.  Among them, says Ramey’s guy, “the death of Heath Ledger rocked Mr. Nolan hard,” and the project is back to square one with a virtually non-existent story due to the initial planned inclusion of the Joker in the third film.

    It has been reported that Warner Bros. has a shortlist of preferred directors to step in should Nolan decide to walk away from the director’s chair.  The studio is going forward on this whether he is or not, we can all be sure of that.  “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder was one of those names, but Snyder’s people told Ramey he has no interest in tackling the project (thank God).  But if not Nolan, then who?

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  • Best Vanity Fair shots

    (from left) Darren Aronofsky and Mickey Rourke

    (from left) Christopher Nolan and Heath Ledger

    More here.

  • Golden Globes: Feeling the love

    Sally Hawkins at the 66th Annual Golden Globe AwardsAs I curled on the couch in the wee small hours of the morning, watching last night’s Golden Globes telecast with only a hot toddy and a handful of chatty IC commenters for company, it occurred to me that I was hearing an awful lot of one word as the evening unfolded. And that word was ‘love.’

    Of course, it’s a ubiquitous word in any awards show, weepily applied as it is to innumerable family members, lovers and colleagues as winners rattle names off thank-you lists longer than most films’ scripts. But this struck me as slightly different: the love here was being directed towards film and art itself.

    Sally Hawkins, the night’s most endearing (and overwhelmed) winner, set the tone, describing her film, “Happy-Go-Lucky,” as being about love both on and off the screen. Surprise (to some) winner Colin Farrell followed her lead, celebrating cinematic adventurousness with the elegant soundbite: “Curiosity is love.”

    Meanwhile, Danny Boyle picked up above all on the affection his awards-sweeping film has garnered within the industry, while Kate Winslet paid tribute to a long-standing love cultivated with her co-star, refracted very differently in two films, eleven years apart.

    It struck me as an appropriate motif for an awards ceremony that seemed less calculated and more sincere than usual. Perhaps a year away the Globes has made me –- or them –- soft, but for an institution that takes sustained criticism for being overly susceptible to campaigning muscle and star power, it seemed to me that, in almost every category, the HFPA members had voted with their collective hearts, singling out the performers and films that they themselves loved.

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  • INTERVIEW: Marisa Tomei

    Marisa TomeiI’m coming around to Marisa Tomei rather late in the publicity game this year.  I didn’t make it to Venice or Toronto and we just haven’t crossed paths here in L.A. during this exhausting — as always — Oscar season.  But the first thing I have to ask is if she feels the pressure yet.

    A studio can run an artist ragged this time of year, especially when they’re on the cusp of an Oscar nomination.  And that’s a position Tomei undoubtedly finds herself in as we move into the new year and her performance in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” continues to light up the circuit.

    “I’m getting there,” she says of the approaching fatigue factor.  But you wouldn’t know it from the energy that still pops.  Those bright brown eyes are as beautiful as you’d expect, of course, and that laugh is infectious.  She’s fresh off a much-needed holiday vacation — back east for Christmas and home in L.A. for new year’s, quiet and with depressurizing on the mind.

    When she comes over to the table she takes a moment to speak to a fellow celebrity sitting adjacent to us before popping open the menu and declaring, “I’m gonna eat.”  What was going to be maybe a half-hour discussion over coffee turns into almost an hour of talk over lunch, topics ranging from her early passion for acting to her attempt at going back to college at one point in her career to, of course, the process of creating Cassidy, the “stripper with the heart of gold” at the center of “The Wrestler.”

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  • DGA discrepancies with AMPAS are not uncommon

    Frank Darabont on the set of The MistThe announcement of this year’s DGA nominees has left the sense that the races for Best Picture and Best Director are over.  Not so.  While the guild and Academy line up most of the time, and have a decent track record with the directing branch, we must not forget the years that proved otherwise.  This could be such a year.

    Ask yourself how many times the Best Picture category has lined up perfectly with the nominees for Best Director?  Please also be aware that the DGA has awarded their prize sometimes to directors not even nominated for an Oscar: Ron Howard for “Apollo 13” and Steven Spielberg for “The Color Purple” to name a couple.  So while the race is certainly clearer, it is by means over.

    I still believe Woody Allen stands a strong chance for being nominated for “Vicky Christina Barcelona,” just as I believe that Darren Aronofsky could sneak in for “The Wrestler.”  But who gets snubbed?

    Gus Van Sant, Christopher Nolan, Ron Howard, David Fincher and Danny Boyle are worthy nominees all, most deserving of their attention and potential award.  But who of those esteemed five could the Academy allow to slip away?  It’s a tough call.

    I hate to say it, but I think Fincher is the most likely snub.  A stunning film to be sure, and likely the major nominee recipient…just as “The Color Purple” was in 1985.  My gut tells me Fincher might get the shaft only because he’s been on that side of things before, and the others are just too hard to ignore.  That said, let’s not forget that Ron Howard has been a victim of this sort in the past, for his finest work in fact, “Apollo 13.”  And Nolan is in some dicey waters, though I doubt he could be the victim of the blockbuster mentality that haunted Spielberg for “Jaws” (and much of his career).

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  • Guessing the DGA

    Directors Guild of AmericaSo, with SAG, PGA and ASC out of the way, and with WGA still to come in a matter of hours, I guess it’s worth mentioning that the big daddy guild is announcing tomorrow: the Directors Guild of America (DGA).  Now’s as good a time as any to take a stab at guessing the nominees…

    The DGA has been one hell of an Oscar Best Picture barometer for the last decade or so.  Last year was the first real hiccup as the guild only nailed three of the eventual five nominees with their director choices.  2006 saw one misfire (but we all still figured “Dreamgirls” was in around this time two years ago).  Then it was four years in a row five-for-five until we have another hiccup, Ridley Scott making it in for “Black Hawk Down” and Christopher Nolan (in the mix again this year) for “Memento.”

    After that, the general trend was four-for-five with some 100 percents thrown in here and there, but you get the picture.  This is, more often than not, quite the prognosticative (that’s so not a word) guild.  With the PGA clearly establishing a consensus of sorts (not that those five films haven’t been the obvious contenders for weeks upon weeks), I see no real reason to get creative right now, so I’m going with the following:

    David Fincher, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    Christopher Nolan, “The Dark Knight”
    Ron Howard, “Frost/Nixon”
    Gus Van Sant, “Milk”
    Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”

    There are only two filmmakers that I think have a shot of cracking this quintet: Woody Allen for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and, perhaps more so, Darren Aronofsky for “The Wrestler.”  John Patrick Shanley and “Doubt” showing up would truly shock me and Andrew Stanton is not eligible for “WALL-E,” so the field is rather thin.

    What are you thinking?

  • 1/6 Oscarweb Round-up

    Jamie Callum• Patrick Goldstein busts Miramax’s balls for fudging a “Doubt” praise quote. [The Big Picture]

    • David Poland analyzes the top 10 collective for Oscar tea leaves. [The Hot Blog]

    • Sam Thielman reports from the NYC Lincoln Center Q&A with David Fincher… [Variety]

    • …and Lane Brown gives the director some more grief for his “charm offensive.” [Vulture]

    • Alex Billington has Jamie Callum’s “Gran Torino” music video (and the balls to state “those of you that have seen this by now know that it’s actually a great movie.”) [First Showing]

    • Paula Schwartz reports from the New York Film Critics Circle awards with a few embarrassing quotes from the always entertaining Rex Reed. [The Carpetbagger]

    • Todd Martens touches on Bruce Springsteen’s favor to Mickey Rourke and Darren Aronofsky. [Pop & Hiss]

    • Anita Singh sits down with “Slumdog Millionaire” star Dev Patel. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Susan King previews the Palm Springs International Film Festival. [The Envelope]

    • Chrissy Iley chats it up with Frank Langella. [The Sunday Times]

  • Broadway helmer Diane Paulus on ‘The Wrestler’

    Mickey Rourke in The WrestlerI stumbled across this interesting bit of praise for “The Wrestler” amid Variety’s typically dense Award Central section.  The high marks come from Broadway director Diane Paulus, who is set to open a revival of “Hair” on March 5.  I love her equation of professional wrestling to “one of the most powerful expressions of theater of our time.”

    Too often I think those who would rather bash wrestling for not being a “sport” per se miss the point that it is a brand of entertainment, a level of performance and worth plenty more than the uneducated, back-handed swipe it so often receives.  Thankfully, Darren Aronofsky and Robert D. Siegel understood that.  It’s refreshing to see someone like Paulus does as well:

    I have been fascinated by the world of professional wrestling for years. I believe that when theater in the 20th century is studied from the vantage point of 500 years from now, professional wrestling — and in particular, the heyday of 1980s wrestling — will emerge as one of the most powerful expressions of theater of our time. So, to watch Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” is to experience a long overdue homage to the power of professional wrestling. The film gets at the guts of what drives the allure of the ring for Randy “the Ram” Robinson — and through the charisma of Randy “the Ram” what draws in the bloodlust-driven spectators.

  • Mick Foley has a nice day with ‘The Wrestler’

    Mick FoleyI think there are few who would disagree that the audience to sell for Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” was a guy like Mick Foley — a.k.a. “Mankind,” “Dude Love,” and “Cactus Jack” — a cross-federation staple of the professional wrestling world who’s lived through his fair share of ladder matches, barbed-wire-inflicted line-of-duty injuries and, certainly, knows the difficulties of raising a family in tandem with such a dangerous career.

    It looks like Aronofsky and company had him at “hello.”  Writing recently in Slate, Foley had the following say in the way of praise for the film:

    The chances of seeing a great pro-wrestling movie seemed right up there with the likelihood of a Mickey Rourke career renaissance. You can see why I was pessimistic about Darren Aronofsky’s wrestling project. I received an inquiry early on about serving as a consultant but cited the need to “spend time with my family” as a reason to refrain. If I felt like having my name attached to a failure, I figured, I’d write another novel. Casting Rourke in the lead seemed like a mistake. Sure, he had been in some good films a few election cycles ago, and I’ll admit to stealing his popcorn-box trick from Diner back in ’82. But he seemed unlikely to deliver the portrait of a wrestler I wanted…

    I was hooked within a minute. Within five, I had completely forgotten I was looking at Mickey Rourke. That guy on the screen simply was Randy “the Ram” Robinson, a ’80s mat icon on a two-decade-long losing streak in the game of life, searching for a way, any way, to fan the dying embers of his career…

    I found great authenticity in so many aspects of Randy’s battered psyche. His constant need for acceptance—from his estranged daughter; from his possible love interest, a stripper played by Marisa Tomei (who is wonderful, if a bit shocking for any guy who ever had a crush on her in My Cousin Vinny); from a random collection of customers at the deli counter where he works; from his dwindling number of nostalgic wrestling fans—is a theme that many a wrestler will grudgingly admit to connecting with.

    It’s a hell of a read.  Check out the rest here.

  • 12/20 Oscarweb Round-up

    Amy Adams• Darren Aronofsky interviews Danny Boyle about the technical aspects of “Slumdog Millioniare.” [/Film]

    • Erik Childress catches up with the season mid-way through the first phase. [eFilmCritic]

    • David Carr takes note of the big Universal trade spend.  Hey, if you’re going to decide against advertising with the lowly online types, you might as well make it count in traditional media. [The Carpetbagger]

    • Tom O’Neil gets together a bunch of us Oscar bozos to talk the Best Picture chances of “WALL-E.” [Gold Derby]

    • The film, meanwhile, tops Anne Thompson’s diverse list of the year’s best.  Oy. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Patrick Goldstein gives a few column inches to an under-the-radar documentary short, Leslie Iwerks’s “Downstream.” [The Big Picture]

    • The hull is breached!!  By the way, that’s Barry Dale JOHNSON.  Fact checker needed on aisle three. [Washington Post]

    • Noah Forrest podcasts it up with “Gomorrah” helmer Matteo Garrone. [Movie City News]

    • Donna Freydkin catches up with increasingly Oscar-likely Amy Adams. [USA Today]

    • Somehow this escaped me all week, but rest in peace Sam Bottoms. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Brent Simon spends a little quality time with “Nothing But the Truth” star Kate Beckinsale. [Vulture]

  • EXCLUSIVE: Marisa Tomei featurette

    (The exclusive on this runs out on Monday, so you’ll probably find the video in a few other spots.  So I figured I’d revert to YouTube, since I can’t get my Flash embedding to work and the Quicktime file takes a lot of bandwidth.  Enjoy.)

    Marisa Tomei has put together a nice career renaissance as of late.  A few crucial spots on TV’s “Rescue Me” and a brilliant turn in last year’s “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” made for nice appetizers to her wonderful and more widely accepted work in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” leading to a stretch of accolades that, fingers crossed, will soon lead to an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.  She’s fared well so far this season, taking down a trio of awards in one day earlier this week and giving “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” star Penélope Cruz a run for her precursor money in the process.

    Fox Searchlight has been kind enough to give In Contention a first look at the following featurette, a discussion with Tomei about her vision of her character, Pam (a.k.a. Cassidy), a new, more tangible spin on the classic “hooker (er, stripper) with the heart of gold” archetype and one that the actress elevates to meaningful heights throughout.  Despite a SAG snub yesterday morning, I think she could still be on course for a tip of the Oscar hat next month, and taking a look at this video, it’s easy to see why she deserves it.

  • Waiting on the Gotham crowd

    NYFCCAlright, so last year, the NYFCC announcement came down close to 10:00 a.m. PST, so I expect in the next few hours we’ll have some answers.  You can check on the group’s official site to watch the winners clock in as announced (unless something changes this year), but for now, I’ll wager a couple of guesses.

    The way the New York critics vote, with various in-fighting and films left standing eventually crowned victor (which leads to weird Best Picture choices like “United 93” and “Out of Sight”), this group can be an erratic one to predict.  I’m not sensing a “Slumdog” victory or major love for “Milk,” but I think this is the place where, say, “Rachel Getting Married” or even “The Visitor” can claim a piece of the critics awards pie.

    That said, I’m going to guess way out on the fringe and say “The Wrestler,” with a win for Mickey Rourke to accompany it.  Maybe Aronofsky can even slide in for Best Director, or perhaps that’s where Jonathan Demme will get his precursor due.  For actress, I anticipate Anne Hathaway, but a win for Melissa Leo or Kristin Scott Thomas wouldn’t surprise me either.

    Anyway, take a crack at it and give us your NYFCC predictions below.

  • OFF THE CARPET: Finding a happy place

    Mickey Rourke in The WrestlerI’m reaching that sweet spot of the Oscar season.  That moment right on the cusp of major precursor announcements when critics and audiences begin to join a conversation that’s been talked in circles by us pundits for a few months.  The vacuum is slipping away and the clarity of perspective shines through.

    Yeah, I can admit it.  When it’s one or two guys out in front of Oscar contenders, bandying about their potential, it’s really just hot air until we come to this point of the year.  I gave up the idea of “formula” long ago, even if there are a precious few who still cling to that “analyst” role as something of substance.  It’s not, really, and we’re reminded of that each and every December.

    That having been said, I certainly couldn’t sit here and tell you the announcements of the National Board of Review, the scattered critical kudos and a few top 10 lists have drastically altered the game.  And when the Los Angeles and New York critics chime in later this week, I don’t anticipate much in the way of a revelation then either.  It’s just the way this year has turned out, leaving me wondering what more I can say in this space as we wind the year down.  So I thought I’d turn to the words of those of us who’ve been in the game longer than the rest, before the Oscar season became such an industry and when many of us had less of a clue than we do now, but paradoxically, had the perspective of removed innocence to show the way.

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  • Great shot

    (from left) Mickey Rourke and Darren Aronofsky on the set of The Wrestler

  • Will ‘The Wrestler’ bring The Boss a second Oscar?

    Bruce SpringsteenIt’s been 13 years since Bruce Springsteen was nominated for an Oscar (1995 for the title track to Tim Robbins’s “Dead Man Walking”) and two more since he’s taken the award home (1993 for “Streets of Philadelphia”).  With little in the way of competition beyond songs like “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” from “Hamlet 2” and the “High School Musical 3” soundtrack (okay, Peter Gabriel’s “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” is a definite threat), the question becomes, Will The Boss win statuette number two?

    I’m thinking it’s a great possibility, especially when you consider the story behind the track.  As Mickey Rourke has been telling journalists who’ll listen, and as he said to me during our interview last month, the actor sat down to write Springsteen a letter after falling out of ouch for over a decade.  Springsteen took a look at the film and went to work on a blue-collar track to go along with the story, all the while director Darren Aronofsky not fully grasping how big a deal that was.

    Aronofsky wasn’t a big Boss fan and didn’t really get the connection the performer has with his fans until Rourke took him to a concert and Aronofsky finally got it.  “Hey, they really like this guy,” he told Mickey.  Nothing like a little innocence to go along with Aronofsky’s undeniable intellect.

    Anyway, Springsteen said he wanted to do the song for Rourke because he wanted to help the actor get back up on his feet after a crashed-and-burned career.  It was touching for Rourke, no matter whether jaded journalists want to question his sincerity.

    Yesterday Fox Searchlight sent out the musical particulars of theire films “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Wrestler,” including original scores by A.R. Rahman and Clint Mansell respectively.  Also in the mix were the original tunes “Jaiho” from “Slumdog” and, of course, “The Wrestler.”  But this version was much more souped up than the original version you hear over the credits of the film.  Indeed, it takes on an epic scope, manifying the impact of the film in your mind (have a listen to the new version here or at the bottom of the post).

    Anyway, I think it’s clear this race will be between Gabriel and Springsteen, two legends throughout the generations.  At the end of the day, could Springsteen walk away with that second Oscar bookend? Listen to the new version and decide for yourself:

    [display_podcast]

  • Fox Searchlight double-bills two classics with ‘The Wrestler’

    Fox Searchlight Pictures' The WrestlerFox Searchlight Pictures will be screening its awards season favorite “The Wrestler” in tandem with two classics of American cinema next week: Elia Kazan’s “On the Waterfront” and Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull.”  The event, to be held at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, has been dubbed: “Contenders: A Look at Film Heavyweights.”

    Each film, with their esteemed blue collar performances from Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro respectively, has popped up in Q&A sessions during screenings for Aronofsky’s film, a Searchlight spokesman said.  The screenings will take place on Monday, December 8 and Tuesday, December 9.

    “I look at those films and I stand in awe of them,” Aronofsky told me yesterday.  “You can’t take your eyes off them.  They are mentor films to ‘The Wrestler’ in a way” and they contain “untouchable, iconic performances.”

    Aronofsky says both “On the Waterfront” and “Raging Bull” have always been an inspiration.  He studied both in film school, in fact.  But beyond that, it is hardly surprising that parallels might be drawn between these two classics and Aronofsky’s film; actor Mickey Rourke’s performance has been singled out as an “amazing tour-de-force” by the Los Angeles Times’ Patrick Goldstein.  Variety’s Todd McCarthy, meanwhile, wrote that Rourke’s work “instantly takes its place among the great, iconic screen performances.”  And so it will again next week.

    “My favorite part of the process is working with the actors,” Aronofsky said.  “It reminds me that the only true time we get to be artists is between ‘action’ and ‘cut.’  And every day, Mickey gave me a new gift.  Watching him work is amazing and the honesty he brought is reminiscent of those films, I think.”

    The first double-bill will start at 6:30 p.m. Monday evening with “On the Waterfront.”  “The Wrestler” will follow at 8:00 p.m.  Tuesday, Aronofsky’s film will show at 6:00 p.m. and “Raging Bull” will close the evening, and the two-day event, at 8:00 p.m.

  • INTERVIEW: Mickey Rourke

    Mickey Rourke at the Los Angeles premiere of The WrestlerMickey Rourke fucked up his career.  Who am I to say that though?  I don’t get to chastise the guy, pass judgment, even comment really.  It’s a cliche to say it, so why not be specific otherwise: Mickey Rourke had some shit to work out.  Who doesn’t?

    He looks at you with stone eyes that seem to betray the early moments of a blackout.  But after another look, it’s clear that he’s focused.  He’s walking a straight line to spite his former self these days, even if it means lighting up in a non-smoking room to get through the unfamiliar terrain of a major film awards push.  Because fuck it, right?

    His pet chihuahua, Loki, moves slowly about the room, using what senses are still available to her after 17 long years, like some externalized representation of Mickey’s busted professional life.  But she’s still here, isn’t she?  So is Mickey.

    He’s the kind of guy Bob Dylan calls up in the middle of the night with a modest, “Hey, it’s Bob.”  He’s the kind of guy who can tell you he and Bruce Springsteen lost touch for 13 years and mean it.  His fight-ravaged hand cracks after a forceful handshake.  “Everything’s still crackin’.”  With a smile, no less.

    Everything could seem like a name drop but somehow becomes an honest, bard-like story of purpose.  He repeats himself.  Maybe he forgets, maybe he wants to make his point.  Maybe he can’t believe it himself — stories of self-destruction or good fortune — so he has to hear himself say the words again.  Introspection seems to come forth like the memorized therapy over a decade on the couch will give you.  But the necessity of that hard work comes through.  This is just where he is for the moment.

    He’s a steward of the truth and takes his work bringing that truth to bear quite seriously.  He won’t even waste time on a biography because he can’t get into his associations with the Hell’s Angels and John Gotti, so why bother?  It wouldn’t be true.

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