In Contention

Tag: David O. Russell

  • 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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  • Presenter ideas to spice up the show

    Over at his indieWIRE blog The Lost Boy, Peter Knegt expresses some displeasure with what he calls a “boring” list of Academy Award presenters announced so far.  So he’s compiled a list of suggestions that could spice things up on Oscar night.

    For instance, what a howler it would be to see Bono and Julie Taymor, the creative minds behind the disastrous Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” (which is currently being rewritten at the last minute) present Best Original Song?  Or how about notorious David O. Russell rivals George Clooney and Lily Tomlin (who is actually close friends with Russell now, it should be said) presenting the clip for “The Fighter?”

    I think he’s on to something by suggesting Armie Hammer present the Best Visual Effects award with Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, but I’d tweak that a bit and say Hammer should present, via video, AS Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

    Anyway, head on over to The Lost Boy to read up on Peter’s suggestions.  Any ideas from the peanut gallery here?

    [Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures]

  • INTERVIEW: ‘The Fighter’ actress Amy Adams

    Amy Adams.  You know the girl.  Sweet, bright-eyed, purveyor of naive, fresh-faced screen creations.  You certainly wouldn’t peg her as an expected fit for Charlene Fleming, boxer Micky Ward’s tough-as-nails bartender girlfriend in David O. Russell’s “The Fighter,” but as it turns out, she delivers perhaps her most accomplished performance to date in that role, in that film.

    “Sometimes people’s confidence in you is the most input that you need,” Adams says over lunch in December, in the middle of awards season but just before the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and later, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, tapped her as a nominee for Best Supporting Actress in the film.

    “A lot of times when I’ve approached projects — I haven’t ended up playing these characters — but with characters that are different than how people see me, I feel a real sense of them challenging me.  ‘Can you do this?’  There’s no real way to answer that question except to do it.”

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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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  • 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]

  • 1/24 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Rich’s two Americas, meet the foreign film exec committee, Jonze interviews Russell

    • Frank Rich sees two Americas in “The Social Network” and “True Grit.” [New York Times]

    • David Poland sits down with the latter’s cinematographer, Roger Deakins. [The Hot Blog]

    • Meet the executive committee charged with saving esoteric foreign films hopefuls. [The Odds]

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  • 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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  • 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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  • 1/4 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: 2010 in cinematography, ‘True Grit’ vocal ticks, Affleck on Postlethwaite

    • Jordan Raup gets into the game of recognizing the year’s best in cinematography.  (My annual “Top 10 Shots of the Year” column will hit later this month, FYI.) [The Film Stage]

    • Stephen Schaefer bemoans the broadcast realities and “cookie cutter sameness” of critics awards in the 21st century. [Boston Herald]

    • David Poland captures a great moment from Ben Affleck re: Pete Postlethwaite. [The Hot Blog]

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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:

  • Adams does Conan, Wahlberg/Bale/Russell on Charlie Rose

    I had lunch yesterday with “The Fighter” star Amy Adams and hope to have that interview up some time over the holiday.  When we said goodbye, she was off to the Warner Bros. lot for an interview taping with Conan O’Brien.  I wasn’t able to watch last night but I wanted to track it down since, interestingly enough, O’Brien’s sister, Kate, played one of Mickey Ward’s sisters in the film.  Here it is:

    Meanwhile, Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and David O. Russell sat down with Charlie Rose this week. Check that interview out here.

  • The rehabilitation of David O. Russell

    As “The Social Network” continues to steamroll its way through the season’s first act, and antsy analysts begin to look elsewhere for a bit of conflict in the race, I find myself wondering what kind of sneak attack David O. Russell’s “The Fighter” might yet launch in the Best Picture field.

    The film, which goes into wide release on Sunday, is perhaps the most rousing title in the Oscar mix, and if audiences take to it as an unexpected amount of critics have, it could supplant “The King’s Speech” as the warmer, scrappier alternative to the chilly precision of David Fincher’s precursor-guzzler.

    Earlier in the year, “The Fighter” seemed to face one sizable obstacle to Oscar glory — the thorny reputation of Russell himself, whose ugly meltdown on the set of “I Heart Huckabees” has unfortunately became the stuff of YouTube legend, despite being the kind of private professional lapse that only his collaborators should have been party to. Between that and the addled (and finally aborted) production of his his political satire “Nailed,” Russell didn’t really seem a viable contender for much industry backpatting.

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  • LIFE WITHOUT OSCAR: 1995 and 1996

    Catch up with the idea behind this series here.

    I saw “Braveheart” on video and I’m not positive if that was before or after it won Best Picture at the Oscars. Whenever it was, Mel Gibson’s historical epic immediately became this 13 year old’s favorite movie of all time. My second favorite movie of all time back then was “Apollo 13,” so it was a good Oscars for me.

    1996 became famously known as the “Year of the Indie” and “The English Patient” walked away with just about every award under the sun. I seem to remember Andrew Lloyd Webber quipping, “I’m glad there wasn’t a song in “The English Patient,”” while collecting his prize for “Evita.”

    Cuba Gooding Jr. completed the first phase of his future career as a punchline by winning Best Supporting Actor for “Jerry Maguire,” while Juliette Binoche etched her name at the top of Lauren Bacall’s shitlist by winning Best Supporting Actress in a huge upset.

    Speaking of punchlines, Whoopi Goldberg delivered them in ’95 before Billy Crystal’s triumphant return in ’96. Goldberg, who remains my least favorite MC of all the broadcasts I’ve watched, thought that following Vanessa Williams’s performance of “Colors of the Wind” with a glance behind her and the line, “What color is my wind?” constituted great comedy.

    But I digress.

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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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  • Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Jack McGee talk ‘The Fighter’ at first industry screening

    David O. Russell’s “The Fighter” may have had its first public screening Tuesday as an AFI Fest “secret” event (with plenty of press in attendance), but last night’s SAG nominating committee screening on the Paramount lot has been on the calendar for most the past week.  Naturally, it was a packed house, which can be owed in part to the presence of the film’s cast for a post-screening Q&A.

    I came late just for the Q&A, which was moderated by Deadline’s Pete Hammond.  Melissa Leo couldn’t be there due to a filming conflict in New Orleans but she passed along her apologies in an email Hammond read to applause from the crowd.  Much of the discussion naturally circled around performances, given the audience, and Hammond again made the (valid) point that the film is a character piece more than a “boxing movie.”

    Mark Wahlberg talked plenty about the film’s long journey to the screen, the fact that he had to spring for it himself as producer in order to get it made and his long-time relationship with Micky Ward (who he’s known since he was a teenager).  Rather than take the cheap route with a Toronto shoot, Wahlberg was adamant that the film be shot in Lowell, Massachusetts, the story’s setting, because the environment is such a character in and of itself.

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  • AFI FEST: ‘The Fighter’ crashes the party

    I decided to come home and give “The Fighter,” which saw its world premiere at a “secret screening” at AFI Fest tonight, some real thought rather than rushing back to review.  How novel.

    Given the amount of press on hand, one imagines Paramount publicity was besieged with ticket requests following the last minute announcement of the screening yesterday morning, but the film played well to a largely public audience. And by “well” I mean they were kind of swinging from the rafters, as David O. Russell’s film is a mainstream crowd-pleaser through and through.

    There is much to admire about the film. For starters, there’s a unique energy that’s palpable throughout, owed largely to the camera work of DP Hoyte Van Hoytema and, especially, film editing from Pamela Martin. The fights were filmed in a retro early-90s video vein, duplicating the original HBO telecasts of “Irish” Micky Ward’s matches, and they have an energy that crackles. There is the sense of sterile choreography here and there, but for the most part, these scenes are quite uplifting and stand out against the usual boxing sequences we’ve seen over the years.

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  • OFF THE CARPET: Can the ladies get some support?

    A number of people wanted Anne and I to discuss the seemingly thin Best Supporting Actress category on the podcast Friday, but we didn’t get to it. So it seemed an opportune time to dedicate this space to the discussion.

    One should keep in mind that the race is still in its early days. This time last year we didn’t even know “Crazy Heart” would be in the mix, and any number of things can change. But while I have been saying for a while now that the supporting actress field is week, it does seem to be taking shape as of late.

    There is no hard and fast frontrunner in the field right now. If Lesley Manville’s “Another Year” campaign were to switch gears, that would be a different story, but the only contender that feels right at the moment is Miranda Richardson as the fiery Barbara Castle in the Brit comedy “Made in Dagenham.”

    On the next tier, I feel pretty good about Dianne Wiest’s chances in “Rabbit Hole,” where the three-time nominee (and two-time winner) stars as a concerned but affable mother to Nicole Kidman’s grief-stricken housewife. Meanwhile, Helena Bonham Carter could well ride the coattails of “The King’s Speech” to a nomination for the comic relief and emotional support she maintains throughout the film.

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