• Pete Hammond says the Best Actress race is close, pats himself on the back for the fact that one of the countless early ideas he threw at the wall actually stuck. [Notes on a Season] • Rachel Abramowitz notes Carey Mulligan’s rise to stardom via Julian Fellowes, well, via an assistant friend of an […]
3/2 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:25 am · March 2nd, 2010
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OSCAR GUIDE: Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:17 am · March 1st, 2010
In most cases, the adapted screenplay category of a given Oscar race is packed with Best Picture nominees or contenders. This year, however, there was a nice balance of adapted and original screenplays in the Best Picture category, and in fact, of the “top five” films that trickled down throughout the season, three were original […]
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Lynn Barber on making ‘An Education’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 8:13 am · March 1st, 2010
I’m not sure why the Wall Street Journal is reprinting a preface to a book that his been in print for over nine months — indeed, I quoted the very same piece in Page to Screen back in July — as fresh content. Still, if you haven’t yet read it, Lynn Barber’s reflection on the […]
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Nominated screenwriters convene in Hollywood
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:48 am · February 16th, 2010
Creative Screenwriting senior editor, Jeff Goldsmith, always bites off a lot when he lines up a massive panel of the year’s screenplay nominees to discuss the evolution of their work each year, which leads to any number of publicists grumbling in the shadows about the time overage. Last night’s panel was supposed to run until […]
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SANTA BARBARA: Bridges, Firth, Stone and producers
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:54 am · February 14th, 2010
Things are winding down in Santa Barbara. Today is the last day of the fest, an all-day celebration of Jeff Bridges’s work. Screenings of “Thunderbolt & Lightfoot,” “Starman,” “The Contender” and “Crazy Heart” are lined up. I’ll be moderating a Q&A with the actor following the “Crazy Heart” screening at the Lobero Theatre. Yesterday it […]
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The nominees react
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:08 am · February 2nd, 2010
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 […]
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‘An Education’ ineligible for WGA as well
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:38 am · January 6th, 2010
Well, just after posting about the Weinstein titles that aren’t eligible for the writers, indieWIRE’s Peter Knegt reports that Nick Hornby’s wonderful work on “An Education” is also ineligible: Hornby has been a member of WGA for 10 years, a representative for Hornby told indieWIRE today. But after production of “An Education” was completed, a […]
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OFF THE CARPET: Field of adaptations
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:34 am · November 23rd, 2009
As always, the year’s adapted screenplay race is much more competitive than the original screenplay race. But what’s intriguing to note is that of the anticipated “big four” still to be widely screened, three of them are right in the thick of this discussion. In the case of “Nine,” there is a chance for Anthony […]
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And the lists just keep on coming
Posted by Guy Lodge · 3:08 pm · November 16th, 2009
Between now and December 31, we’re probably going to read more “best ____ of the 2000s” lists than we know what to do with. But we like lists, don’t we? And this only happens once every 10 years. Let’s not get blasé already. So with the floodgates already open on “films of the decade” talk, […]
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10/30 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Guy Lodge · 8:03 am · October 30th, 2009
• Brian Lowry on how The Ten is an Oscarcast producer’s nightmare. [Variety] • With Hugh Jackman out, Jeff Wells thinks the Oscars need to skew younger with their host. [Hollywood Elsewhere] • The producers of “London River” launch a deserved Oscar campaign for Brenda Blethyn, despite still lacking US distribution. [Notes on a Season]
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‘An Education’: more than Mulligan
Posted by Guy Lodge · 9:31 am · October 20th, 2009
At this morning’s press screening for “An Education,” which has its UK premiere at the London Film Festival tonight, I was impressed afresh by what a layered, deceptively gentle and generally terrific little picture it is. Some have complained that it’s a little too soft, a little too easy — though only its overly pat […]
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‘Education’ on the march
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:30 am · October 6th, 2009
I didn’t really talk too much about Lone Sherfig’s “An Education” when I saw it a few months ago beyond starting the drum circle on Alfred Molina’s wonderfully warm, authentic performance. But I find the film on my mind more and more with an October 9 limited release right around the corner. The film is […]
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Nick Hornby on writing ‘An Education’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 2:30 pm · October 3rd, 2009
Amid the swirl of hype for “An Education” that’s been building for eight months now, there’s been surprisingly little mention of the man who is easily the biggest name involved with the film: superstar novelist Nick Hornby, whose free adaptation of Lynn Barber’s memoir looks certain to land him in the Best Adapted Screenplay pack. […]
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TELLURIDE: ‘An Education,’ ‘Bright Star,’ ‘London River’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:24 am · September 4th, 2009
This year’s Telluride fest is slowly gearing up. There are a handful of press screenings this afternoon and the opener, Marco Bellochio’s “Vincere,” is set to play at 5:00pm. I’ll probably miss that in order to take in “The Last Station,” which if it picks up a buyer, could make good on awards potential for […]
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8/24 Web Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:11 am · August 24th, 2009
• Carey Mulligan praises “An Education” writer Nick Hornby for being objective with her character. [New York Magazine] • Gene Simmons tapped to vocalize Del Toro’s “Wolf Man.” [Contact Music] • Fear not, there’s hope for more “Beavis and Butt-Head” on the horizon. [Collider]
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PAGE TO SCREEN: “An Education” by Lynn Barber
Posted by Guy Lodge · 11:17 am · July 1st, 2009
“I was damaged by my education,” writes renowned British journalist Lynn Barber at the end of the captivating centerpiece essay in her newly published memoir “An Education,” a sober conclusion to a personal account that otherwise brims with breezy anecdotal humor. The eponymous “education” is not academic, though she makes clear her lingering resentments over […]
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A taste of ‘An Education’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:14 am · June 8th, 2009
One of the more popular Oscar bets doing the rounds is that, along with rising star Carey Mulligan, writer Nick Hornby will find himself in the race for Sundance favorite “An Education.” (I have a hunch the film may do even better than that, but that’s me.) In contrast to the wealth of popular books […]
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Thank you, Nick Hornby
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:27 am · February 26th, 2009
As many of you already know, one of my central irritations of this year’s Oscar season has been the “Slumdog” backlash, an unnecessarily cruel response to a brilliant film’s rather boring sweep of all the major film awards over the past three months. I understand it on one level, because no one wants a predictable […]
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