In Contention

Tag: Precious

  • INTERVIEW: Geoffrey Fletcher

    Geoffrey FletcherIn a dimly lit backstage area of Santa Barbara’s Lobero Theatre, “Precious” screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher says his Oscar nomination is still setting in. “When I see in print somewhere that I’ve been nominated, it’s still a bit of a shock,” he says.

    And of course it would be. Two years ago Fletcher was standing in line in New York City outside a comic book shop waiting to get Quentin Tarantino’s autograph on his special edition “Reservoir Dogs” DVD. Now he finds himself sharing the circuit with Tarantino, both of them nominees for their work writing two of the most popular films of the Oscar season.

    “Every day throughout the season has been a learning experience, and a wonderful one, because the journey was pretty long,” he says. “But to get here, even though you wonder how it might feel to have a film out, maybe even one that gets some attention, nothing really can prepare you for it. But there’s some good to that, too, because each learning experience helps anyone who’s creative.”

    He still remembers clearly the first time he screened the film in Midtown Manhattan, long before Sundance or buyer interest, and seemingly a whole lifetime before the film awards madness that eventually took hold.

    “I was crazy about this project and I was so close to it that I felt like I was having a child and handing it to others,” he says. “People around me, primarily strangers, were a huge part of the experience. They seemed completely engaged and they reacted very vividly. I could hear them as well, I could see them and hear them reacting. On the way home I felt so alive.”

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  • The top 10 shots of 2009: part two

    Colin Firth in A Single ManIn case you missed the first part of our look at the best shots of 2009, go ahead and catch up here.  Before getting into the top five, however, I’d like to spotlight a few examples that almost made the cut but just missed.

    First and foremost, “Inglourious Basterds” is obviously a favorite around these parts.  Robert Richardson, as we’ve come to expect, offered a wonderful visual context for Quentin Tarantino’s story, and though none of the shots particularly spoke to me on a thematic level, it is nevertheless worth pointing out the aesthetic impact of Shoshana’s cackling specter projected on smoke and the gripping crane down to reveal a hiding Jewish family in the countryside of Nazi occupied France.

    One of the unsung heroes of the season in the field was Greig Fraser, whose soft touch gave Jane Campion’s “Bright Star” a beautiful identity.  The shot that has always stuck out for me was Fanny Brawne on her bed, intoxicated with love as a strong afternoon breeze blows in her window.

    I was also captivated by the visual aesthetic of Tom Ford’s “A Single Man,” shot by Eduard Grau.  The disorienting nature of an image featuring a “Psycho” poster always stuck out to me.  It is also worth noting a shot of Jeremy Renner standing in a grocery aisle in “The Hurt Locker,” speaking volumes about his character’s disposition, lost in a safe world (though lenser Barry Ackroyd was not involved with the U.S. portion of the shoot, it should be noted).  And I always smile when I see the image in “Crazy Heart” of a passerby reflected in the window of Bad Blake’s wrecked suburban, rushing down the hill to help.

    Finally, Roger Deakins should never go unmentioned in a discussion of cinematography, and what he did on the Coens’ “A Serious Man” was trademark organic beauty.  The image that sticks out to me is, ultimately, the final image of a tornado bringing the arbitrary wrath of the film’s themes to a tangible form.

    In any case, it was, as always, a joy digging through the year’s visuals and coming up with this collective.  Even in a weak year for the medium, there are always gems worth spotlighting.  I hope you enjoy the second half, so let’s get down to it.

    The top five shots of 2009…

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  • People’s “most beautiful” list to feature Gabourey Sidibe

    When People Magazine’s annual issue dedicated to the “100 Most Beautiful People” hits stands in May, you can expect at least one of the year’s Oscar contenders for Best Actress to make an appearance: Gabourey Sidibe.

    The special issue, which charted a list of 50 up until 2006, is dedicated to spotlighting the most beautiful individuals in the world, and truly, the magazine’s editors couldn’t have made a better choice for inclusion than the infectious, bubbly and delightful Sidibe, Oscar-nominated, of course, for her work in “Precious.” This is a perspective that began way back in October when she made that first vibrant appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

    Congrats to her.

  • ‘Precious’ scribe to pen Attica film for Doug Liman

    AtticaThis announcement will hit via press release in the trades tomorrow (EDIT: Strike that, it looks like the release has now gone out, maybe due to this early report.), but since the news has already appeared in the form of a blog post last month from director Doug Liman, and since I confirmed it with Geoffrey Fletcher during a telephone interview this afternoon, I don’t see the harm in jumping the gun.

    The “Precious” screenwriter will follow up his Oscar nomination with a script based on the Attica prison uprising for Liman.  The project was set up in December and is a personal endeavor for the director.  Liman’s father, Arthur L. Liman, was the young lawyer who ran the investigation during the uprising.

    The ultimate report was “a riveting page-turner,” Liman says in this 30ninjas blog entry.  “But the people whose job it was to prosecute the crimes wanted my father to reveal who had admitted to what. When my father refused, they threatened to hold him in contempt of court and throw him in jail.”

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  • SANTA BARBARA: Four Vanguards and a Virtuoso

    Christoph Waltz at the 25th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival“Precious” star Gabourey Sidibe couldn’t be here last weekend for the Virtuosos presentation, which recognized her, Carey Mulligan, Saoirse Ronan, Emily Blunt and Michael Stuhlbarg, so she was in town this evening as part of the Vanguard presentation.  Stanley Tucci, meanwhile, couldn’t be here this week to accept his Vanguard prize, so he was here last week and filmed a video acceptance.

    They roll with the punches here in Santa Barbara.

    The four Vanguard award winners this year, which is the first year that saw more than one recipient, were Tucci, Christoph Waltz, Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga.  The award recognizes an actor (or actors) who has forged his/her own path, taking artistic risks and making a significant and unique contribution to film.

    It fits the quartet.  These actors has found their way to this point in their careers in baby steps, Waltz’s career actually the most extensive of the four, ironically enough, regardless of his new appeal in the states.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Film Editing

    Gabourey Sidibe in PreciousThe Best Film Editing category tends to be a shadow of the Best Picture category in some ways. With there being 10 Best Picture nominees this year, however, the field was bound to nail down five of the contenders. So considering the old stand-by stat (no film has won Best Picture without an editing nomination since “Ordinary People”), this is a race to keep an eye on.

    In fact, it might be a bellwether for the rest of the show when the envelope is opened. Which means the competition has been boiled down to the same to films the media is keeping an eye on for Best Picture. In this instance, however, that reduction isn’t as ill-considered.

    The nominees are:

    “Avatar” (Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron)
    “District 9”     (Julian Clarke)
    “The Hurt Locker” (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis)
    “Inglourious Basterds” (Sally Menke)
    “Precious” (Joe Klotz)

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  • Babes in arms

    We pointed you to Mark Harris’s superb examination of the Oscar campaign trail in a round-up, but if you missed it … well, don’t. If “Pictures at a Revolution” didn’t already make the case, this article reminds me that we’re due an updated equivalent of Mason Wiley and Damien Bona’s totemic “Inside Oscar” — and Harris is the man for the job.

    Anyway, as icing on the cake, the article is accompanied by a wonderful photographic portfolio by Brigitte Lacombe. There’s a portrait of Marion Cotillard in there that’s worthy of Cecil Beaton, but this shot of “Precious” director Lee Daniels with young Quishay Powell (who plays the unfortunately-named Mongo in the film) is the snap of the season for me.

    Quishay Powell and Lee Daniels

  • 2/9 Oscarweb Round-up

    Abbie Cornish in Bright Star• Owen Gleiberman nobly asserts that thick-headed attacks on “Precious” as beginning to “say more about the attackers.” [Entertainment Weekly]

    • Michelle Griffin sits down with quasi-surprise nominee Janet Patterson to discuss the threads of “Bright Star.” [The Age]

    • Anne Thompson goes back and forth with Moviefone’s Jack Matthews on the subject of Quentin Tarantino’s legacy. [Thompson on Hollywood]

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  • SANTA BARBARA: ‘Kells’ screens and the writers talk

    The Secret of KellsIt’s been a slow ramping up for me in Santa Barbara, coverage wise.  I’ve had some Wi-Fi difficulties that are being sorted and I’ve posted when I can from where I can, but a couple of notes on the last two days.

    Yesterday I took in a late afternoon screening of Tomm Moore’s “The Secret of Kells,” the film that probably served up the biggest surprise last Tuesday when it slid into the animated feature field over the populist, branch-respected “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and the less-respected “Ponyo,” which nevertheless comes from a titan of the medium.

    The film is beautiful in so many ways, offering a rich, artistic palette of shapes and color to paint a portrait of a well-circulated Irish story revolving around the non-fictional Book of Kells.  The artwork ultimately mirrors, in some way, the Insular art featured in the book, and the narrative itself, abstract as it feels at times, seems to be about the persistence of art and history.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Supporting Actress

    Penelope Cruz in NineThis year’s Best Supporting Actress race made for, in many ways, one of the most wide open categories of the major nominees. While three of the contenders seemed fairly locked in place, the other two slots appeared up for grabs, and there was no shortage of deserving contenders waiting to fill out the field.

    Contenders such as Samantha Morton and Julianne Moore ultimately missed despite precursor attention, paving the way for last year’s winner in the category (a SAG nominee in a film that found itself floundering by year’s end) and a young actress who found herself opposite the year’s likely lead actor Oscar winner (and landing her first Oscar nomination in the process).

    The nominees are:

    Penélope Cruz, “Nine”
    Vera Farmiga, “Up in the Air”
    Maggie Gyllenhaal, “Crazy Heart”
    Anna Kendrick, “Up in the Air”
    Mo’Nique, “Precious”

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  • February winner predictions

    Jeff Bridges in Crazy HeartThese appeared at Movie City News’s Gurus o’ Gold page this morning, so you probably already saw them.  Here they are in any case, since, you know, I guess it’s about that time:

    Best Picture: “The Hurt Locker”
    Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
    Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
    Best Actress: Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”
    Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”
    Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, “Precious”
    Best Adapted Screenplay: “Up in the Air”
    Best Original Screenplay: “The Hurt Locker”

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  • ‘Winter’s Bone’ takes Sundance gold

    Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's BoneTalk about a good day for female filmmakers. Hours before Kathryn Bigelow’s history-making triumph at the DGA Awards, Debra Granik took the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance (in the U.S. Dramatic strand) for her critically lauded sophomore feature “Winter’s Bone.” Granik and co-writer Anne Rosselini also took screenwriting honors for the film.

    The film is one I had highlighted last month as a title to watch, so I’m glad to see it living up to expectations. I’m an admirer of Granik’s 2004 debut “Down to the Bone,” which put Vera Farmiga on the map — hopefully, “Winter’s Bone” can similarly boost the fortunes of young Jennifer Lawrence, who so excelled in “The Burning Plain” earlier this year.

    Granik’s film stars Lawrence as a resilient teenager searching for her missing father in the Ozark Mountains. Comparisons have already been made to Courtney Hunt’s “Frozen River,” which took the same award at Sundance two years ago.

    The corresponding Grand Jury Prize winner in the documentary category was Sebastien Junger and Tim Hetherington’s debut effort “Restrepo,” a chronicle of one year in the lives of the Second Platoon in Afghanistan’s deadly Korengal Valley.

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  • Oh, have you heard about Mo’Nique?

    Mo'Nique at the 2010 Golden Globe AwardsYes, more of this.  But for the most part, this Vanity Fair/Little Gold Men piece from Mark Olsen on the season of Mo’Nique is spot on.  It reflects everything that is refreshing about her non-campaign campaign and, in quoting awards nut Tom O’Neil and unbalanced Mo’Nique basher Jeffrey Wells, it addresses the people she’s driven crazy along the way — the people who won’t really matter as her career (if she wants it to) skyrockets post-“Precious.”

    (Seriously, who has Mo’Nique pissed off that can “pay her back someday,” as O’Neil puts it?  The elitist New york Film Critics Circle?  Come on.)

    Knowing Olsen’s personal feelings on the film (he is no fan in the slightest) also makes the piece land just right for me.  Yeah, Olsen is a good journalist who doesn’t let bias show up in the course of his reporting, but I get the feeling he also believes that the need for breathless, saturated Oscar mugging is somewhat tacky, and the idea of someone like Mo’Nique coming along and bucking that trend, it’s exciting.

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  • Is there a ‘Precious’ in this year’s Sundance lineup?

    (from left) Chyna Layne, Amina Robinson and Gabourey Sidibe in PreciousWhen (at this stage, I think it’s safe to say “when”) “Precious” and “An Education” land Best Picture nods on Tuesday morning, there will be an interesting trivia note to attach to the occasion: they’ll be the first Sundance competition entries since 2001 to make it all the way to Oscar’s top race.

    Indeed, “Precious” will be the first Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner ever to score a Best Picture Oscar nod in the festival’s 25-year history.

    These are two interesting stats that aren’t mentioned in AP writer David Germain’s story on the relationship between Sundance and Oscar, which casts a more positive gaze on the number of overlaps between the two. And he’s right to an extent: the past decade alone has given Oscar-watchers plenty of reason to keep a close eye on Sundance.

    In the eight years since “In the Bedroom” became the last Sundance contender to crack the Best Picture lineup,  Sundance has presented a number of future Oscar contenders in acting and writing categories, including “Maria Full of Grace,” “Hustle and Flow,” “Junebug,” “The Squid and the Whale,” “Half Nelson” and, most recently, “Frozen River.”

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  • ‘Hurt Locker,’ ‘Up,’ ‘The Cove’ win with PGA

    The Hurt LockerWow.  Summit Entertainment’s “The Hurt Locker” took down Goliath to win the PGA award tonight.  I’m at a total loss.  The film has asserted itself, rather dramatically, as a film to contend with, one that won’t be stampeded by the “Avatar” express.  And I am, quite frankly, ecstatic at the notion.

    Actor Jeff Bridges presented the award to producers Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicholas Chartier and Greg Shapiro. We wanted a horse race.  We got one.  Wow.

    Pixar’s “Up,” also nominated in the field of 10 Best Picture contenders, won the animated feature award, the highest grossing film of the category.  Louie Psihoyos’s “The Cove,” meanwhile, won the documentary prize.

    Mo’Nique presented the Stanley Kramer Award to “Precious” director Lee Daniels, Tom Hanks and Tim Allen presented the David O. Selznick Award to Pixar honcho John Lasseter and Will Smith presented the Milestone Award to Sony’s Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton.

    On to the DGAs next weekend, which will likely go in Kathryn Bigelow’s favor, too.  Watch out.

  • Last-minute SAG predictions

    Christoph Waltz in Inglourious BasterdsFunny, I could have sworn the SAG Awards were taking place on Sunday. Goes to show how on top of things I am, I guess. Or, perhaps, the level of excitement I feel over at least three cut-and-dried acting races this year.

    Nevertheless, tonight’s ceremony will be helpful in addressing at least one of this season’s larger question marks: does Sandra Bullock really have a shot at the Best Actress Oscar? If, as I suspect will happen, Meryl Streep takes home her second consecutive statuette tonight, this race is all over bar the shouting. If Bullock (or even Gabourey Sidibe) snatches it, we really won’t have a clue until the envelope is opened on March 7.

    Unlike Kris, I think four decades of sterling, unrewarded work in Hollywood will send the SAG Award Jeff Bridges’s way, even if “Crazy Heart” hasn’t been as widely seen as “Up in the Air.” Bridges is the kind of consummate actors’ actor these awards were invented for. As for the supporting categories, well … is any discussion necessary?

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  • ‘Education,’ ‘Hurt,’ ‘Avatar’ lead BAFTA nominations

    Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard in An EducationFor once, my predictions weren’t too shoddy … though the field-beating haul I anticipated for “An Education” didn’t quite pan out. Instead, Lone Scherfig’s film ties for the lead with Oscar frontrunners “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker,” all three films securing eight nominations.

    “An Education” still looks like the one to beat here, though it’s not quite as strong as I might have thought. (I’m especially disappointed that Rosamund Pike fails to show up, despite being one of the BAFTA acting branch’s top five picks.)

    However, the especially robust showing for “The Hurt Locker” (I didn’t see that FX nod coming) suggests it could give the British pic trouble. Both films, meanwhile, scored directing bids, marking the first time BAFTA has nominated two female helmers in the category.

    Of course, “Avatar” also poses a threat, though when it comes to the win, it doesn’t strike me as BAFTA’s cup of tea. It’s worth bearing in mind that Cameron’s last awards behemoth, “Titanic” went 0-for-10 at the 1997 ceremony. (Before you ask, it lost Best Visual Effects to “The Fifth Element.”)

    More discussion, and a full list of nominations, after the cut.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: A little bit of English

    Rosamund Pike in An EducationYesterday, while talking with one of my sane friends whose thoughts drift to film awards perhaps one day a year, the conversation turned to the BAFTAs, which announce the nominations for their 2009 film awards tomorrow.

    “The BAFTAs, they’re like the Oscars for British films, right?” she asked.

    “Not quite,” I replied. “They’re open to all films.”

    “But the British films always win, right?”

    “No, not always.” I stared into my pint. “Well, a lot of the time, yeah.”

    “Why not just make them for British films, then?”

    “Because they want to be like the Oscars.”

    “So why do they keep rewarding the Brits?”

    The conversation could have circled this way for some time, but fortunately, it was time for another round – and by the time I returned from the bar, the topic had shifted to Pat Robertson.

    My friend’s innocent but pertinent questions only grazed the surface of the peculiar identity crisis suffered by the BAFTA Awards, a longstanding institution, kindly regarded by many, that only joined the pack of Oscar precursors nine years ago. Since they did so, it’s become increasingly difficult to ascertain who they are, what they stand for in awards season.

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