• Melissa Silverstein with a personal reflection on those four words: “the time has come.” [Women & Hollywood]
• Anne Thompson gets a nice soundbite from “Logorama” director Nicolas Schmerkin backstage: “It took longer than ‘Avatar.’ It took more directors than ‘Avatar.’” [Thompson on Hollywood]
• Paola Singer sits down with Best Foreign Language Film winner Juan Jose Campanella. [Speakeasy]
I sometimes get a huge kick out of how I’m apparently perceived by some readers. Take this email, for instance (which I think is fair enough to post, considering I’m not outing this person explicitly):
I have a very interesting project for Juan Jose Campanella, ask him please to call or email me. Thank you but it would be much desired if he calls before next Friday 12. Good luck tomorrow.
As if.
The foreign Language film category has been marred in controversy for the last few years. When films like “4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days” and “Persepolis” were unceremoniously nixed from the field a few years ago, a special new “executive committee” was established to have final say on the fallen, hopefully saving the committee (which has to see all the titles to vote) some embarrassment.
Still, there is an inherent bias throughout the votership here. Violence rarely plays well, and they are loathe to be accepting of non-traditional filmmaking. One need only look back one year to 2008’s “Departures” upset for evidence. For thee reasons, the category always seems ready to surprise.
The nominees are:
“Ajami” (Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani)
“The Milk of Sorrow (La Teta Asustada)” (Claudia Llosa)
“A Prophet (Un Prophète)” (Jacques Audiard)
“The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)” (Juan José Campanella)
“The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band)” (Michael Haneke)
Throughout the morning and early afternoon we took statements from or hopped on the phone with 44 of today’s Oscar nominees. Their reactions…
Maggie Gyllenhaal, supporting actress, “Crazy Heart”:
The thing is, you know, I’m so proud of the movie and I always have been, more proud of it than any of the work I’ve done so far. But because I wasn’t getting nominated for anything, I wasn’t expecting it. My phone was ringing so early and I thought, “Wait, maybe!” I was staying at my brother’s in LA. He said to me, “Your phone is going to be ringing all day.” He made me a cup of coffee and then we watched the sun rise. It was pretty mellow. But this wouldn’t be happening for Jeff [Bridges] or me if it wasn’t for Scott [Cooper].