• The biggest news of this busy week may well have been the announcement of James Franco and Anne Hathaway as this year’s Oscarcast hosts.
• Unless you count “The Social Network” dominating the National Board of Review as bigger news, that is.
• Or, for that matter, our first look at the Coen brothers’ “True Grit.”
• Speaking of which, Kris reported on the current eligibility status of Carter Burwell’s score (still up in the air).
Welcome 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.
Given the indie film announcements of the week, it seemed a good time to bring indieWIRE‘s Peter Knegt back on to discuss those events and add perspective to the usual topics, of which there are plenty. Let’s dive in and see what’s on the docket today…
(A day later than usual — apologies. Friday night got in the way.)
• The Gotham Awards served up the first nominations of the season, with indie darling “Winter’s Bone” sitting pretty.
• With “The Kids Are All Right” and “Another Year” prodding the discussion, this week’s Long Shot column ruminated on a perennial gripe of Oscar pundits: category fraud.
• News of a high-profile Scorsese-DiCaprio retrospective launching an Oscar campaign for the film re-opened the debate over the merits of “Shutter Island.”
The press release, in part:
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, announced today that director Darren Aronofsky, actors Hilary Swank and Robert Duvall, and Focus Features CEO, James Schamus, will each be presented with a career Tribute at the 20th Anniversary Gotham Independent Film Awards™ on Monday, November 29th at Cipriani Wall Street, New York, New York.
Signaling the official kick-off to the film awards season, the Gotham Independent Film Awards™ is one of the leading awards for independent film. Anchoring the evening’s seven competitive awards for Best Feature, Best Documentary, Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Best Ensemble Performance, Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You and the new Festival Genius Audience Award, are four Tributes to film community icons.
This year’s Tribute selection represents a range of individuals – all veterans well-versed in the journey between lower-budget independent films and large-scale studio releases…
“We are moved and honored to give tribute to four cinematic film luminaries, all of whom have had their roots in independent film, and have steadfastly focused on the art of film, irrespective of the size of the budget of their work” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of the IFP. “This year’s tributes personify independent spirit and have created an astonishing breadth of work that we are proud to celebrate. James Schamus won the producing award in 1996 and Darren Aronofsky was our Breakthrough Director in 1998. We are thrilled to honor them again for their deserving careers. Robert Duvall and Hilary Swank’s work have enriched our lives; from the smallest of indies to the largest of Hollywood features, we are in awe of their talent and look forward to what lies ahead.”
[Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures]
• The National Board of Review offered the season’s first major precursors, with “Up in the Air” sitting pretty.
• The Independent Spirit Award nominations were topped by “Precious” and, more surprisingly, “The Last Station.”
• Indie award rivals the Gotham Awards, meanwhile, crowned “The Hurt Locker” as the year’s best.
• Fresh off his Spirit nomination, we served up an extended interview with the great Jeff Bridges.
I had a Q&A to moderate this evening, so forgive the lateness here (though these and the Indie Spirits, for my money, stopped being about true independent cinema long ago, so there was really no haste to begin with).
Anyway, predictably, “The Hurt Locker” came out on top at tonight’s Gotham Awards. The film won Best Feature and Best Ensemble, though lead actor Jeremy Renner was upset in the breakthrough actor race by Catalina Saavedra in “The Maid.” I’ve got that screener around here somewhere.
Tomorrow the Indie Spirits announce their nominees, which, by the way, will not include “The Hurt Locker” because the film wasn’t eligible this year. It was last year, when it received nods for Best Actor (Renner) and Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Mackie). Looking for a leg up tomorrow are “Precious” and “Crazy Heart,” I’d say, though we can expect some surprises too, I guess (I hope).
Full list of Gotham Winners after the jump.
• The Academy finally named the producers for next year’s Oscar telecast, first-timers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic.
• All of which added weight to the speculation that Hugh Jackman might return as host.
• The Gotham Awards provided the season with its first set of nominees, though it inspired more talk for its omissions.
• Chief among those omissions: “Precious,” prompting talk of a backlash, despite generous media exposure positioning it as the one to beat.
• Pete Hammond joins the speculation that yesterday’s Oscarcast producer announcement bodes well for a Jackman repeat. [Notes on a Season]
• Nathaniel Rogers is awed in the presence of Tilda Swinton at the New Yorker Festival. (Where, apparently, “Michael Clayton” was never mentioned. Huh.) [Tribeca Film]
• David Poland brands the Gotham Awards “meaningless” for not trying to predict the Oscars. I despair. [The Hot Blog]
And here…we…go!
I’m on my way out the door and so I can’t fully comment on the just announced list of Gotham Award nominees (which, along with the trickling-in list of Hollywood Film Fest winners, really is making this seem like an Oscar season all of a sudden, no?) But here they are. A handful of other awards/honors were announced a few weeks back.
I’m glad “Sugar” got something, even if it is a lone nomination in the ensemble field. “The Hurt Locker” cleaned up with nominations across the board. “Big Fan” did really well, too. Your thoughts?
Best Feature
“Amreeka”
“Big Fan”
“The Hurt Locker”
“The Maid”
“A Serious Man”
Sorry it’s a day late, but here’s the week that was. Awards and nominations left, right and centre — the season is officially under way, folks:
• “Slumdog Millionaire” emerged as a bona fide frontrunner, taking Best Picture at the season kickoff, the National Board of Review awards …
• … only days after taking top honours across the Atlantic, at the British Independent Film Awards.
• Speaking of indies, “Frozen River” also enjoyed a great week, emerging victorious at the Gotham Awards …
• … while it was also one of the top nominees for the Independent Spirit Awards.
• We took a break from the awards beat to chat to the impressive ladies of “I’ve Loved You So Long,” Kristin Scott Thomas and Elsa Zylberstein …
• The former of whom took a gong at the European Film Awards, which were otherwise all about “Gomorrah.”
• The Annie Awards for animation revealed their nominees, with “Kung Fu Panda” surprisingly leading the field.
• Meanwhile, the mysterious Golden Satellite nominations were as head-scratching as ever.
• The first reviews finally emerged on “The Reader,” and they generally like it … from a distance.
• While the appearance of reviews doesn’t make “Gran Torino” any less of a puzzle this awards season.
• And all the while, the rumblings around “The Dark Knight” grow louder.
• Jeff Wells senses the “push back” against certain contenders, steps up to bat for “Revolutionary Road.” [Hollywood Elsewhere]
• Yours truly chats it up podcast style with John Campea to dish on how early favorites are shaping up. [The Movie Blog]
• David Poland reports on the BFCA’s newest category: Best Action Film. [The Movie Blog]
• T.L. Stanley talks “Elegy” with Sir Ben Kingsley. [Gold Rush]
• David Carr reports from the sadly left-out-in-the-cold Fox Searchlight table at the Gotham Awards. [The Carpetbagger]
• Geoffrey Macnab talks to Danny Boyle about Oscar heavy “Slumdog Millionaire.” [The Independent]
• John Horn corners “Doubt” helmer and scribe John Patrick Shanley in the Big Apple. [Los Angeles Times]
• Patrick Goldstein responds to some (some would say) odd Golden Globe classifications. [The Big Picture]
• As “Milk” strives to make a difference, five films that actually did as much. [Spout Blog]
“Frozen River” is really turning into one of the surprise packages of this admittedly young awards season. Just yesterday it had a superb showing in yesterday’s Independent Spirit nominations, where it beat the more hotly fancied likes of “The Visitor” to a Best Picture nomination, only two days after landing an unexpected nod in the top category at the Golden Satellite Awards (fending off even heavier opposition, principally “Benjamin Button”).
Now its dream week continues after taking the Best Feature award at last night’s Gotham Awards, as well as a Best Breakthrough Actor gong for Melissa Leo. Not bad going for a film that was only being talked of in Best Actress circles a few months ago.
If it continues to emerge as this year’s indie Cinderella story, I’ll be interested to see what notice the Academy takes of it. I sense a Best Original Screenplay nod for Courtney Hunt is a genuine possibility considering the dearth of heavyweights in that field. At the very least, however, the more momentum the film gains, the more I like Leo’s chances of a well-deserved Best Actress nod.
Moving on to the rest of last night’s awards, I’m glad to see that “Synecdoche, New York” jointly triumphed in the Best Ensemble category, tying with “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” — with a scattering of Spirit noms too, at least Charlie Kaufman’s widely misunderstood masterpiece isn’t getting completely shafted this awards season.
Meanwhile, Lance Hammer unsurprisingly took the Best Breakthrough Filmmaker award for critics’ darling “Ballast,” while sentimental favou Sitrite “Trouble the Water” emerged victorious in the Best Documentary category.
The cutely named Best Film Not Playing At A Theatre Near You citation went to “Sita Sings the Blues,” while Penelope Cruz, Gus Van Sant, Melvin Van Peebles and documentary vet Sheila Nevins tooks home tribute awards.
From the press release:
In recognition of his pioneering career which has helped break down the barriers between independent and mainstream film, IFP announced today that director Gus Van Sant will be presented with a Gotham Awards Tribute at the 18th Annual Gotham Awards on Tuesday, December 2nd in New York.
Additionally:
In recognition of Van Sant’s fearlessness in using film to explore LGBT issues, IFP announced a new initiative aimed at inspiring the next generation of LGBT filmmakers. IFP is teaming with the The Hetrick-Martin Institute, home of the Harvey Milk High School in New York City. IFP, courtesy of Deloitte Financial Services LLP, is donating 45 video cameras to the school. IFP hopes to work with the producers of NewFest, The New York LGBT Film Festival, to create a series of training and mentoring sessions.
Huge round of congratulatory applause on my end. More on the awards here.