In Contention

Tag: Kathryn Bigelow

  • Can ‘Avatar’ do for the Oscars what ‘Dark Knight’ couldn’t?

    Sam Worthington in AvatarPeter Bart decides to call a spade a spade as it pertains to the Oscar race.  James Cameron’s “Avatar” is “the betting favorite to win best picture,” he writes.  But more importantly, he brings up the solid point that the film’s potential AMPAS success could be the ratings shot in the arm the show has been looking for.  (And guess what?  They didn’t need to go to 10 nominees to get it.)

    Writes Bart:

    Since it takes a populist movie to pump life into the Oscar ratings, “Avatar’s” box office largesse will likely translate into another “Titanic”-like bonanza. Back in 1998 some 55 million viewers tuned in, while last year’s “Slumdog” siesta totaled a mere 36.3 million…

    We realize that the Oscar show’s new producing team of Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic is hard at work on plans to enliven the broadcast, but they are also keenly aware of the ratings realities. A movie like “There Will Be Blood” does not mean there will be audiences. The awards process is energized when folks out there have actually seen at least one or two of the movies being honored.

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  • How relevant is Kathryn Bigelow’s gender?

    Kathryn BigelowAfter yesterday’s DGA announcement, there was a number of comments (some ecstatic, some more cynical) made about its demographic makeup of the nominees being more diverse than usual.

    Where most years see white men fill every space on the ballot, this year features both a female and a black contender (a gay man, at that) in the lineup — the seventh and first in DGA history, respectively.

    Trivia value notwithstanding, is this important? Does it mean that their artistic achievements should be measured any differently from those of their white, male peers?

    Of course not. “The Hurt Locker” would be as stirring and distinctive a film had it been directed by someone with testicles — and, though some will say otherwise, I think it would still have caught critics’ and awards voters’ fancy. A great movie is a great movie is a great movie, after all.

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  • TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The crafts of ‘The Hurt Locker’

    Jeremy Renner in The Hurt LockerWhen it comes to extravagant Hollywood blockbusters, we’ve become accustomed to the phrase “the money is up on the screen” – delighting in the filmmakers’ own delight in the tools and tricks at their disposal.

    “The Hurt Locker,” however, invites a very different kind of wonder. An independent with a budget of a mere $11 million, it is nonetheless more kinetic action film than many a title coming in at 10 times the price, immersing the audience in the sights, sounds and sensations of Iraq combat. The money is on the screen, sure, but the screen belies the money.

    For this, the already multi-laurelled Kathryn Bigelow shares the credit with a highly resourceful and imaginative team of craftsmen, variously bringing mainstream studio-picture experience and indie-sector knowhow (or both) to the table.

    I talked to cinematographer Barry Ackroyd, editors Chris Innis and Bob Murawski, sound designer Paul Ottosson and special effects supervisor Richard Stutsman about their contributions to this humble spectacular.

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  • DGA nominees announced

    Directors Guild of AmericaAlright, so, the safe bet wins the day.  The nominees are:

    James Cameron, “Avatar”
    Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
    Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”
    Lee Daniels, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
    Jason Reitman, “Up in the Air”

    None of my little hunches panned out at the end of the day, and really, this is classic DGA.  Best Picture frontrunners right…down…the…line.  It’s amazing to me that a membership this vast can so consistently have its finger on the pulse of the season (while, of course, consistently ignoring a great many outside-the-box contenders).

    Onward to the WGA, I suppose.  The needle stays frozen in place, for now.

  • DGA on the way

    J.J. Abrams on the set of Star TrekTomorrow the Directors Guild of America will chime in with its list of nominees for the 2009-2010 film awards season.  Long considered to be the best “predictor” of the Oscar game (as in, the DGA winner typically wins the Oscar for Best Director, and Best Director often matches up with Best Picture), this guild’s shenanigans makes for a heavily anticipated harbinger of the season.

    Then again, maybe not.  In the last few years, names like Christopher Nolan, Sean Penn, Julian Schnabel and Bill Condon have popped up on the list, almost as if the guild was concerned with predicting the Best Picture race as it had done, five-for-five, for four straight years prior.  Those picks reflected the buzz of the early-year hour in each case, but ultimately, the Academy went a different direction with its Best Picture slate.

    That said, “the 10” makes for an entirely different dynamic.  I actually expect (or maybe “hope” is the word) tomorrow’s announcement to inject some intrigue into the proceedings.  I think there will be someone shortlisted who catches a great many off guard.  But who will it be?

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  • December winner predictions

    Meryl Streep in Julie & JuliaI gave this an initial stab nearly two months ago.  I thought I might as well re-visit things.  (And hopefully there won’t be anyone getting their panties in a twist over something as harmless as this.  You know who you are.)

    Best Picture: “Avatar”
    Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
    Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
    Best Actress: Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia”
    Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”
    Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, “Precious”
    Best Adapted Screenplay: “Up in the Air”
    Best Original Screenplay: “Inglourious Basterds”

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  • Santa Barbara fest to toast Kathryn Bigelow’s career

    Kathryn BigelowThe press release, in part:

    The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is pleased to announce Kathryn Bigelow as the Outstanding Director of the Year for the 2010 Silver Anniversary edition. In what has become an annual tradition in featuring a Guest Director, SBIFF will program a retrospective of Bigelow’s films.

    On Monday, February 8, SBIFF will present “A Celebration of Kathryn Bigelow.” A director not afraid to push the envelope in the cinematic world, Kathryn Bigelow has the eye for the picture she wants to present and then does so, with an expertise that is both gracious and bold. Having studied art, she takes her vision and presents it to her audience all the while telling a tale that evokes various and intense emotions. Bigelow graduated from Columbia’s Film School and started a career, gaining experience in numerous genres – such as music videos, television and film, showing us once again the depth of her creativity and talent.

    Commented SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling, “Kathryn’s custom of the first person perspective throughout her films, as seen in Point Break and Strange Days, had always made her films visceral and favorites of mine, but the culmination of this is The Hurt Locker – her crowning achievement. The fact that I’m able to honor a fellow alumnus of the Columbia Grad School is icing on the cake.”

  • THR’s directors roundtable

  • ‘Hurt Locker’ keeps it going with NYFCC

    The Hurt LockerThe New York Film Critics Circle decided not to announce its list of winners in real time this year, which is a shame because it has always been one of my favorite aspects of the season.  What we’re left with is scattered press release reveals, Twitterers scooping the group’s info as emails and phone calls circulated, and basically, the vibe that it’s just another cog in the wheel.

    And that’s before you get to the absolutely uninspired list of winners.

    Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” took down the Best Picture prize, joining the ranks of “Brokeback Mountain,” “Sideways,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “L.A. Confidential,” “Leaving Las Vegas,” “Schindler’s List” and “Goodfellas” (just to go back 20 years) with the designation of coming out on top with both the Los Angeles and New York critics.

    The rest of the rundown is more of a snooze, other than George Clooney also being cited for “Fantastic Mr. Fox” along with “Up in the Air” for his Best Actor win.  “In the Loop” (a film with a popularity totally lost on me) nabbed the screenplay award, so I guess that’s something new.

    But honestly, the only award that made me say, “Nice,” was the Best First Feature prize for Steve McQueen’s “Hunger,” which was released in Los Angeles last December and landed on my top 10 list as a result, but didn’t make it to New York until 2009.

    The full list of winners after the jump…

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  • ‘Hurt Locker’ tops with LA Critics

    Kathryn BigelowToday is a very good day to be one Ms. Kathryn Bigelow. A few days ago, we asked you which film looks set to be the critics’ darling of the season — today, at least, the clear answer appears to be “The Hurt Locker.”

    Hours after sweeping the board with the Beantown crowd, Bigelow’s Iraq-set heartpounder took the top two prizes in the LAFCA voting. What this means for the film’s Oscar chances is open to question, but its 58 year-old helmer’s trifecta of prizes today bodes well for her chances of become the first female Best Director Oscar winner in history.

    The film wasn’t as dominant as it was in the Boston critics’ awards. Jeremy Renner’s Boston upset was not to be repeated, with Jeff Bridges taking his first (and, I suspect, not his last) Best Actor honor of the season for “Crazy Heart.” Meanwhile, DP Barry Ackroyd came in second to Christian Berger for “The White Ribbon.”

    More thoughts, and a full list of winners and runners-up, after the cut.

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  • ‘Avatar’ takes top prize from NY Online Critics

    AvatarNote to all the critics’ groups out there: yesterday was a quiet day. Did none of you think to announce your awards then, getting a little more individual attention in the process? Talk about a pile-up.

    Anyway, the New York Film Critics Online just revealed their selections, and while they’re not the most influential group out there, there’s good news for those hoping for a blockbuster presence in the awards season — and a battle of the exes on the Best Director front.

    Side note for fellow fans of Tilda Swinton’s performance in “Julia”: apparently she was Meryl Streep’s nearest competitor for Best Actress, though voter Katey Rich of CinemaBlend speculates that some critics voting hadn’t seen the film. Sigh. Still, nice to see her crop up in some way.

    A full list of winners is after the cut. (Thanks to assorted commenters, and Katey again, for furnishing us with details.)

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  • 12/11 Oscarweb Round-up

    Kathryn Bigelow• Jeffrey Wells conveys the sentiment from director Rod Lurie: Kathryn Bigelow will win the Oscar for Best Director this year.  Agreed. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Scott Bowles talks to the man of the hour: James Cameron. [USA Today]

    • Steve Pond sits down with “Mary and Max” writer/director Adam Elliot. [The Odds]

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  • ‘Up in the Air’ wins with D.C. critics

    Um, okay.  So the list of nominations for the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association were announced this morning.  The group’s official website notes that the winners will be announced tomorrow (so…why bother with day-before nominees?).  And now The Wrap is reporting (sans attribution — so I guess via press release) that the winners are as follows:

    Best Film
    “Up in the Air”

    Best Director
    Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”

    Best Actor
    George Clooney, “Up in the Air”

    Best Actress
    Carey Mulligan, “An Education”

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  • First stab at winner predictions

    Chris Pine in Star TrekI don’t offer up predictions on a given year’s Oscar winners until November, generally speaking.  And, well, it’s November.  Which is still, of course, too early to be making calls like these, since we don’t even have a nominations slate to go by, but I like to take an early stab, revisit in early December and then one more time in early January before we get the nominees.

    I asked over the weekend what readers thought would take the Best Picture crown this year, and the majority seemed to lean toward Lee Daniels’s “Precious.” It might be too easy to figure on that at this stage, but it’s difficult to argue with the early box office success and overall critical approval.

    But there are certainly other spoilers lurking and the danger of peaking early (yielding more time for competitors to take you down) is always apparent with a film like this.

    Keep reading to have a look at what I’m thinking.  Rattle off your thoughts and predictions in the comments section if you like.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Minority report

    PreciousWhen the Academy Awards roll around in March, it will have been precisely two decades since the unlikely figure of Kim Basinger blasted Academy voters’ conservatism on air at the 1989 ceremony, with specific regard to their sidelining of “Do the Right Thing,” Spike Lee’s groundbreaking study of urban interracial tension.

    “We’ve got five great films here, and they’re great for one reason – they tell the truth,” the star opined before presenting a clip from one of that year’s Best Picture nominees. “But there is one film missing from this list that deserves to be on it because, ironically, it might tell the biggest truth of all.”

    As if in response, later that evening, the Academy handed their top prize to “Driving Miss Daisy,” as quiet and uncontroversial a portrait of the American racial divide as you could ask for. Let it never be said that the Oscars have no sense of irony.

    20 years on, much has changed. (Basinger has become an Oscar-winning actress, for starters. No one saw that coming.) More to the point, the amount of black Oscar winners in acting categories has trebled. And just two years after Basinger’s outburst, the Academy named 23 year-old John Singleton their first black Best Director nominee.

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  • Bigelow, Ephron, ‘Up,’ ‘Transformers’ to be honored at Hollywood fest

    Kathryn Bigelow on the set of The Hurt LockerThe awards keep coming for “The Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow, who is already set to be feted at the Gotham Independent Film Awards.  As her film’s star Jeremy Renner takes down the Breakthrough Actor award at the upcoming Hollywood Film Festival, Bigelow herself will receive the Hollywood Director Award, fest director Carlos de Abreu announced today.

    Elsewhere, Nora Ephron, whose “Julie & Julia” screenplay really did wonders with a troublesome book, will be honored with the Hollywood Screenwriter Award, while “Up” will received the Hollywood Animation Award.

    The Hollywood Visual Effects Award will go to Scott Farrar, visual effects supervisor for “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”

    The awards are set to take place on October 26 in Beverly Hills, but the most significant tip of the hat here is obviously Bigelow.  Is there any real doubt that the Academy would be really stretching to go against the grain if they didn’t acknowledge her work on “The Hurt Locker?” Anything can happen, but I’d be shocked if members missed this opportunity.

    Full list of announced Hollywood fest honorees after the jump.

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  • Gothams tap Bigelow, Portman, Tucci, Bevan/Fellner for career tributes

    Kathryn BigelowThe Independent Film Project has announced this year’s Career Tribute recipients for the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards.

    The feted will be: Kathryn Bigelow, whose film “The Hurt Locker” is on a steady awards season course; Natalie Portman, who is said to give a pretty solid performance in Jim Sheridan’s upcoming “Brothers”; and Stanley Tucci, who is already a delight opposite Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia” and could be an awards contender at season’s end for his performance in Peter Jackson’s “The Lovely Bones.”

    Working Title Films executives Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are also set to be honored — WELL-deserved.

    Michelle Byrd, executive director of IFP, is quoted in the press release.  On Bigelow:

    Kathryn Bigelow’s unparalleled ability to portray thrilling action and stomach churning suspense have been a mainstay of her work as a director…What sets her apart, however, is her ability to bring those talents to bear on films of any budget while also presenting characters with emotional gravity.

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  • 9/22 Oscarweb Round-up

    Jane Campion• Peter Bart takes note of two of the season’s leading ladies of the Oscar circuit, unlikely rivals Jane campion and Kathryn Bigelow. [BF Deal Memo]

    • Eugene Hernandez on the Oscar marathon. [indieWIRE]

    • Bilge Ibiri compares “The Insider” to “The Informant!” [Future of Classic]

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