In Contention

Tag: Get Low

  • SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Cats’ is a dog

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Hey gang. Sorry this is late but I spent all morning at work and then all afternoon at the Home Depot Center watching the Galaxy get shellacked by the Chicago Fire and getting a sunburn on half my face. I’ll try to keep it short and sweet.

    The number one movie, for a third weekend in a row, is “Inception.” It’s the third film to spend three weeks at the top in 2010, but the first that wasn’t in 3D. The drop was 36%, a bit harsher than last weekend’s slip and gave it $27.5 million for the three days and $193.3 million total. The film is holding fantastically well and will be only the third live action film of the summer to cross the $200 million mark. The $268.4 million of “The Matrix” is not out of reach, which would make it the most successful original sci-fi property since “Independence Day.” that movie with the big, blue things.

    “Dinner for Schmucks” performed to expectations with $23.3 million. As I mentioned on Friday, that’s a bit above normal for Paul Rudd, who is used to sharing a bill with B-listers like Jason Segel and Seann William Scott. Throw Steve Carell in the mix and you’re good for an extra few million. Throw in an animated Steve Carell in a ridiculous accent and you’re good for the surprise smash of the summer. No wonder he’s leaving “The Office.”

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Costume Design — Volume I

    Costume design in many ways represents much about the Oscars: glitz, glamor, beauty. But obviously threads do much more than make movie stars look attractive.  They build character, set mood, define period and serve as a defining design aspect of a film.

    Like art direction, the nominees for here overwhelmingly fall into one of two categories: period or fantasy. Indeed, when two contemporary films (“The Queen” and “The Devil Wears Prada”) were nominated in 2006, it was a rare occasion.

    It’s not an exact science, but while a fantasy film is almost always nominated every year, there is usually only one as four films tend to be period. It also should be noted that recent winners in the category have all highlighted British or French royalty and high society.

    Being a Best Picture contender does not hurt with this branch (same with any), but the branch also does a great deal of thinking for itself. Last year, for instance, both “Bright Star” and “Coco Before Chanel” managed nominations here, the only ones for their respective films. In the last four years, four other films (“Curse of the Golden Flower,” “Marie Antoinette,” “Across the Universe” and “Australia”) have also managed the feat, rare for crafts categories.

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  • ‘Get Low,’ ‘Monsters,’ ‘Skeletons’ among Edinburgh winners

    I have an irritating habit of missing key prizewinners at film festivals, so it was with some astonishment that I perused the list of films honored at the close of the Edinburgh Film Festival — only to find that I’d seen most of them. Considering the brevity of my visit, and my mostly random selection procedure, I can only conclude that the less I prepare for a fest, the better I do.

    Clearly, it’s not because I have a natural nose for a winner — I’d never have guessed that Aaron Schneider’s sluggish, self-regarding folk tale “Get Low” was a likely winner of the festival’s Audience Award, yet the public evidently responded to it more than I did. No accounting for tastes, I suppose.

    This particular award has proven something of a good luck charm in recent years, with winners like “Tsotsi,” “Man on Wire” and “The Secret of Kells” all going on to bigger things — perhaps last year’s Toronto buzz for the Robert Duvall vehicle wasn’t a false alarm after all.

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  • EDINBURGH: ‘Get Low,’ ‘Restrepo,’ ‘Vacation!’

    My third day in the ‘Burgh (shut up, I have legitimately heard people call it that) wasn’t as film-heavy as the previous one: social commitments and a certain football match between Slovenia and some other country got in the way. Under these circumstances, three screenings — taken together, as disparate a cross-section of the U.S. indie scene as one could ask for — felt like an entirely honorable commitment, particularly when the first (and worst) of them rewarded me with the still-smarting black eye I mentioned yesterday.

    Chalk it up, however unfairly, as a further gripe I have with a would-be Oscar vehicle for Robert Duvall that has been pestering the festival circuit since last fall.

    “GET LOW” (**)

    Oscar-winning short director Aaron Schneider’s feature debut is the kind of prestige production that has critics reaching for adjectives like “handsome” (or, at a push, “elegant”) in the absence of any more compelling emotional connection to the material. If anything, however, the ample visual burnishment on display (it’s no surprise to learn Schneider began his career as an acclaimed cinematographer) only ends up smothering a decidedly minor-key narrative: a folksy slab of mini-Americana that Horton Foote might have penned in a particularly mannered mood, and then binned for lack of consequence.

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  • ‘Get Low’ trailer

    Hey, remember when an unheralded indie called “Get Low” debuted to standing ovations at Toronto last September? And remember the accompanying talk that Robert Duvall’s second Oscar could be in the bag? And remember when all such talk died as soon as the movie was pushed back to 2010? Such is the give-and-take nature of the festival circuit.

    Anyway, it’s baaaaaack. And so, I suspect, will be the Duvall Oscar talk. The trailer sets my Twee Alarm ringing something fierce, but others seem impressed.

  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 4 — Foreign submissions, PGA’s 10, ‘A Single Man’ a Best Picture possibility?

    Oscar TalkRecorded yesterday, here’s the fourth installment of Oscar Talk with yours truly and Anne Thompson of indieWIRE.  We took the week off last Friday due to traveling conflicts, but we’re back on today.

    On the docket:

    • Anne and I discuss the foreign language film submissions, up to 62 entries so far (61 at the time of this recording).

    • The PGA’s copy cat move to 10, which leads of course to further discussion on the Academy’s move to 10.

    • Jane Campion’s “Bright Star,” which has opened to glowing reviews.  Odds on Oscar, box office potential, etc.

    • Sony Pictures Classics’ shucking and jiving with their Oscar schedule, grabbing “The Last Station” (confirmed today) and moving “Get Low” (as reported here last week).

    • Anne wonders whether Weinstein pick-up “A Single Man” could be an under-the-radar contender for Best Picture.

    • The weekend’s releases: “A Serious Man” (covered extensively last time) and “Zombieland” (to steer away from awards talk for a moment).

    • Anne talks Alain Resnais’s “Wild Grass,” which recently opened the New York Film Festival.

    • And the distribution strategy for “Paranormal Activity,” hardly an Oscar contender but right in line with Anne’s recent column on studios missing an opportunity to experiment with release paradigms on modestly budgeted films.

    Check out the podcast below, with a musical lead-in from Mark Bradshaw’s “Bright Star” score.  And as always, you can subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here.

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  • THE LISTS: Top 10 Robert Duvall performances

    Robert Duvall in The Great SantiniWith “Get Low” bringing actor Robert Duvall back to the spotlight, and Sony’s purchase of the film no doubt landing him in the Oscar race for Best Actor (whether released this year or next), I thought perhaps a look back at the legend’s substantial carer and best performances might be fun.

    Since his first brilliant turn as Boo Radley, both boogey man and savior to the children in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Duvall has been one of America’s greatest actors. A self-described late bloomer, he did not see great success until he was in his 30s, but once there he never stopped, giving us an array of brilliant performances that have made him one of the most beloved, finest actors in American history.

    Over the years I have had the chance to spend some time with Duval and it should seem obvious by now that I admire the man. Sure there have been missteps along the way — what great actor does not err — but films like “Newsies,” “The Scarlett Letter” and “Kicking and Screaming” are few and far between in a career spanning more than 50 years.

    With “Get Low,” a decent campaign should see the veteran actor with his seventh Oscar nomination, his fourth for Best Actor, and given the Academy’s wont for waxing sentimental or fixing past wrongs, they might just give it to him for having passed on the opportunity 12 years ago.

    Here are my picks for his 10 best performances…

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Festival pick-ups, the season’s fetes and the PGA’s 10

    Robert Duvall in Get Low• We wrapped up Toronto as Lee Daniels’s “Precious” took the festival’s audience award, putting it on a solid track for Oscar.

    • We got a look at the first trailer for “Harry Brown,” which may or may not be an awards film for actor Michael Caine.  John, you’ll recall, isn’t feeling it.

    • We saw ‘Meatball’ dominance at the box office in this weekend’s Sunday Cents column.

    • This week’s Off the Carpet column kicked off our weekly Oscar coverage with a call for perspective on the perceived Best Picture frontrunners, while a new weekly column from across the pond — The Long Shot — introduces a different perspective mid-week.

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  • Sony Classics holding ‘Get Low’ until 2010

    Get LowThose of you anticipating Aaron Schneider’s “Get Low” and a potential second lead actor Oscar for Robert Duvall will have to wait a little longer.  Sony Pictures Classics will not be releasing the film this year and is priming it for a mid-2010 release.  No Oscar qualifying run is planned for 2009 either.

    Sony Classics, as you’re well aware, has a pretty full slate of films this year.  This could have something to do with the move.  It costs money to put films out into the marketplace, and while SPC might be one of the few dependents able to stay afloat in this economy, it’s not a company made of money.  But I’m just spit-balling here.

    Then there’s the consideration of an Oscar campaign, which is also costly.  The studio has a number of opportunities for the 2009 race as it is.  “Coco Before Chanel,” “An Education” and “Broken Embraces” represent a stacked trio of lead actress hopefuls, but Tahar Rahim’s brilliance in “A Prophet” aside, I kind of thought SPC could use a contender like Duvall to amplify its lead actor profile.

    But it’s not going to happen.  Not this year, at least, so tidy up your charts and contender lists, folks.  The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

  • Sony Classics (busy, busy) also nabs ‘Get Low’

    (from left) Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek in Get LowJust an hour maybe after I finished writing about why I had to take Robert Duvall out of the lead actor predictions (his film, “Get Low,” didn’t have a distributor yet), the news drops that someone has taken a bite: Sony Pictures Classics.

    Talk about priming the stable with ponies.  Sheesh!  Here’s the release, in part:

    Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired the North American rights for Aaron Schneider’s debut film, GET LOW. Schneider previously received an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short for his film, TWO SOLDIERS. The film is a co-production between Zanuck Independent, David Gundlach Productions, Lara Enterprises and TVN and produced by Dean Zanuck and David Gundlach. Chris Provenzano (THANK YOU, GOODNIGHT) and C. Gaby Mitchell (story by credit on BLOOD DIAMOND) penned the script…

    “GET LOW is one of the great films about the American South. Brilliantly written, directed and shot, GET LOW has career best performances from Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Bill Murray. This is the kind of independent film the American audience loves to embrace. We are thrilled Dean and Aaron have chosen us as their partner,” said Sony Pictures Classics.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Swayze passes, Venice wraps, Toronto runs

    Patrick Swayze• Patrick Swayze left us this week, passing away of cancer at the age of 57.

    • The Venice Film Festival drew to a close, with Israeli war drama “Lebanon” taking top honors.

    • It was Colin Firth, however, who emerged with Oscar buzz for the Weinstein-acquired “A Single Man.”

    • Across the Atlantic, we kept you up to date with Toronto goings-on, as buzz for “Precious” continues to build.

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  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 3 — ‘A Serious Man,’ business in Toronto and unacquired hopefuls

    Oscar TalkThe third installment of Oscar Talk lands as Toronto winds down and, seemingly, the season’s biggest questions are being answered. Or are they?

    I’m joined by Anne Thompson of indieWIRE as always and we discussed the following:

    • The Coen brothers’ “A Serious Man,” Anne’s thoughts, my thoughts, the Coens doing Woody, etc.

    • The first sell of Toronto, “A Single Man” (not to be confused with “A Serious Man”), and the Oscar prospects of Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.

    • Business at the fest and a shifting acquisition paradigm in the industry.

    • Anne gives her thoughts on Annette Bening and Samuel L. Jackson in Rodrigo Garcia’s “Mother and Child,” great performances, but will it be picked up?

    • Robert Duvall’s Oscar-worthy work in “Get Low,” a film that has yet to be picked up when it’s the sort of film that may have ignited a bidding war in years past.

    • Thoughts on other films that bowed at Toronto, including “Capitalism: A Love Story,” “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” and “Jennifer’s Body” (leading to a conversation about Megan Fox’s talents that will put each of us out on a limb).

    • Anne loved Edward Norton in Tim Blake Nelson’s “Leaves of Grass” but found the film on the whole to be a missed opportunity.

    But nothing seems to be decided even with a bulk of the season’s offerings having been screened in Venice, Telluride and Venice. Onward!

    As always you can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes here.  (If you have some audio issues with the levels, my apologies — with Anne in Toronto and me in North Carolina, we had some technical difficulties.)

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  • ‘Get Low’ poster

    Get Low

    [Source: IMP Awards]

  • INTERVIEW: Robert Duvall

    Robert DuvallToronto Film Festival

    Sitting down with Robert Duvall is more than a little intimidating. The man does not suffer fools, nor does he have a lot of time for small talk or stupid questions. He likes to talk, but he also likes an informed conversation.  As he nears 80, he is still a force of nature, with a powerful presence and voice that goes up and down depending on his excitement.

    Duvall and I first met in 1997 when “The Apostle” exploded out of Toronto, landing the veteran actor a much-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Actor.  The performance was a volcanic, furious portrait of a man trying to atone for his sins by building a church in the backwoods of Louisiana after killing a man in a fit of rage. For 13 years Duvall shopped the project around Hollywood, being turned down by the major and minor studios until his accountant suggested he finance the film himself.  In a position to do so, he did just that, eventually selling the film at TIFF after a famed bidding war.

    I got to know him when he invited me to spend some time with him on the set of “John Q” while it was shooting here in Toronto, the invitation coming during the 2000 Film Festival when I interviewed him a few times for his soccer picture, “A Shot at Glory,” in which he co-starred with soccer star Ally McCoist.  In the years since, Duvall has kept himself busy with great roles and performances in films such as “Broken Trail,” for which he won the Emmy Award for Best Actor, and “Kicking and Screaming,” a soccer comedy with Will Farrell that seemed like an odd choice for the actor.

    Recognized as one of America’s greatest thespians, Duvall has given an array of brilliant performances over the years, from his breakthrough, shy Boo, in “To Kill a Mockingbird” through to his mafia lawyer Tom Hagen in “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II” and perhaps most memorable of all, Kilgore in “Apocalypse Now.” He came into his own in the 1970s, at a time when other major talents such as Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Gene Hackman were also turning in brilliant performances, changing the face of American acting.

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  • “Talk of the fest.”

  • TORONTO: Duvall the talk of the fest — shades of 1997

    Robert Duvall in Get LowYou know a film is hot when it is the subject of conversation in the screening, in the press room, and in the hallways of the hotels where the press junkets and meetings are being held.  In 1997, “The Apostle,” the exquisite film directed, written by and starring Robert Duvall, was the talk of the Toronto film fest after its world premiere the night before, but in fact, the buzz started partway through the film when October Films and Miramax began a bidding battle that has become the stuff of legend.

    Duvall left the festival with his career reborn, the film, which he financed, was sold (to October), and the multi-hyphenate began winning critics awards for the film at year’s end. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named him Best Actor that year and a few weeks later the National Society of Film Critics did the same. Though snubbed for a Golden Globe nomination, he was nominated by both the Screen Actors Guild and the Academy, but he eventually lost to Jack Nicholson in “As Good as It Get.”

    The film eventually nailed down a solid $24 million at the box office and Duvall’s performance is considered by and large one of his best.  He came back to a couple of years later with his new film “Assassination Tango,” a failure, and he is here again with two films — John Hillcoat’s “The Road,” which I will write about later today, and “Get Low,” a film recalling shades of the 1997 fest as it has captured the conversation here.

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  • Robert Duvall leaps onto the Oscar radar with ‘Get Low?’

    Robert Duvall in Get LowI hate doing this from afar, but hey, we do what we can.  And I imagine John will chime in with his thoughts on Aaron Schneider’s “Get Low” in due time, but apparently the film received a standing ovation in Toronto tonight.  And word is, Robert Duvall might be on course for some Oscar attention.

    Duvall stars in the film as a Tennessee hermit, derived from a mixture of truth and folk tale, who famously threw his own funeral while still alive.  I think in tandem with good graces for his cameo in “The Road,” Duvall could be in the mix.  But the film needs a distributor first.

    Funnily enough I was in the middle of an email exchange with a colleague regarding the lead actor Oscar race when I began putting this post together.  As much as I loved “Up in the Air,” I don’t feel like this is a win for George Clooney.  Plus, he already has a (recent) statue.  Matt Damon is wonderful in “The Informant!,” but the film may be too slight.  Of course, Morgan Freeman is still lurking.  But maybe we have a potential winner here?  Duvall hasn’t won in 25 years, and damn if he isn’t consistent (which can’t be said of a number of his contemporaries).  There’s also Michael Caine flying under the radar in the still distributor-less “Harry Brown” to consider.

    Check out a clip from “Get Low” after the jump.

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  • Previewing the 34th annual Toronto fest

    TorontoIn less than a week I will kiss my wife and kids goodbye and head into Toronto, about 50 miles away, for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Twelve years ago my wife and I found it makes no sense for me to attend the festival for 16 to 18 hours and then try to drive home; beyond the danger of driving exhausted, arriving home at three in the morning tends to wake them up because our stupid, stupid dog begins barking the moment anyone pulls into the driveway. So for 10 days I live in the Delta Chelsea Hotel on Gerrard Street.

    This year I am finding leaving for the festival easier. Last year my wife Sherri was diagnosed with brain cancer and dealt with the removal of part of a considerable brain tumor. We went through radiation last summer, the loss of her beautiful, lush red hair, and the constant exhaustion she had to deal with. Cancer, sadly, is a family affair, and not something anyone should go through alone.  But this year we are in a good place.  The monster seems to be at bay, for now.

    So what I am looking forward to seeing?  Well first let me state that I’m shocked “Where the Wild Things Are,” “Amelia” and a handful of other films are not here. They seemed like good fits for the festival, their filmmakers have been here before, etc.  That said, it looks like one of the best festivals in recent memory, though I am not sure anything will ever beat out 2007, which presented a bounty of great pictures.  I was leaving screening room after screening room giddy.

    This year looks like a challenge for even the toughest film fester. Choosing the films to see is the toughest part because there is no chance you’ll see everything you want to see. There are generally three of four press/industry screenings at the Varsity, Cumberland or new AMC Theatres, as well as the public screenings which the press have limited access to. Our press pass allows us access to six (I think) Gala performances in the evening, but they sell out quickly. There is also a DVD library where you can watch the films in the rooms provided on your own, but films are meant to be seen on the big screen.

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