In Contention

Tag: Slumdog Millionaire

  • 1/26 Oscarweb Round-up

    Jim Carrey in I Love You Philip Morris• Mark Magnier quotes a few Indians and feels it okay to say a nation disapproves of “Slumdog Millionaire.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • Jeffrey Wells wonders if category confusion could keep Kate Winslet form a lead actress win, especially in the wake of Meryl Streep’s victory last night. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Tom O’Neil gives poor Anil Kapoor shit for forgetting Simon Beaufoy’s name in his list of appreciations last night.  Give the guy a break, Tom O. [Gold Derby]

    • Beaufoy and Danny Boyle, meanwhile, talk about their film across the pond. [The Times]

    • It looks like there’s just one contender worth banking on. [USA Today]

    • Brad Brevet finally catches up with the Academy’s preferential balloting system.  Knowledge is power, Brad. [Rope of Silicon]

    • Peter Bart writes up Jim Carrey’s recent string of press for risk-taking role choices.  Finally the pendulum is swinging back, ever so slowly. [Peter Bart]

    • Anne Thompson talks this weekend’s screenwriter’s panel from Santa Barbara. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Tiffany Hsu on the box office boost for this year’s Oscar contenders still in the marketplace. [Los Angeles Times]

  • ‘Slumdog,’ Penn, Streep triumph at SAG Awards

    A list of the winners in the film categories. For more commentary and discussion, check out my live-blog here.

    Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture: “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role: Sean Penn, “Milk”
    Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role: Meryl Streep, “Doubt”
    Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role: Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
    Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role: Kate Winslet in “The Reader”
    Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in Motion Pictures: “The Dark Knight”

  • Wow…it really IS written

    I’m sitting here awaiting the premiere of the Laird Hamilton doc “The Water Man,” reading Guy’s SAG blow-by-blow like the rest of you, and I have to say, I wasn’t expecting that. We all know “Slumdog Millionaire” will likely take the DGA and WGA prizes in the coming days, completing one hell of an impressive streak that will almost assuredly lead to a Best Picture Oscar next month. But really…wow.

    Danny Boyle will be in town tomorrow night for a post-“Slumdog” screening career retrospective discussion. He’s already been similarly feted by the AFI Fest. This train just keeps on truckin’.

    I might take in ” Shallow Grave” and “Sunshine” for a second time. It’s been a while for both. But all of his films are showing throuout the day Monday. But it’s a great time to be celebrating a genius such as his. Perhaps the sting of the Academy’s nomination shame will be soothed by the fact that the year’s best film will actually win the big prize for a change.

  • Will SAG continue the ‘Slumdog’ sweep?

    As I anticipated, “Slumdog Millionaire” walked off with the Producers Guild of America Award last night, confirming its status as the unstoppable underdog-turned-juggernaut of this year’s Oscar race.

    It’s highly significant that Danny Boyle’s film managed to claim this gong, in particular; as Kris pointed out yesterday, of all voting bodies, it’s the PGA that might have had the most reservations about the film. A foreign runaway production from a relatively green producer, it’s not the kind of film they tend to reward — particularly against the box-office heft of a film like “The Dark Knight,” or the industry popularity of “Benjamin Button”’s production team.

    The fact that “Slumdog” overcame such potential obstacles is indicative of the across-the-board affection for this film in the industry; it’s a film that voters love as much as they admire.

    So I’m interested to see how it performs at tonight’s Screen Actors Guild Awards – another ceremony where the film has a number of disadvantages going in, given that it has a largely unknown, untested cast, and is less an actors’ piece than a director’s accomplishment. Technically, it has two shots at glory tonight, but since Dev Patel hasn’t a snowball’s chance of beating Heath Ledger in the Best Supporting Actor race, all its hopes rest on SAG’s top honour, the Best Performance by a Cast award.

    Many pundits are predicting “Slumdog” to go home empty-handed tonight, and it’s easy to see why. “Doubt,” which has the most nominations of any contender, has the kind of capital-A Acting from an esteemed group of thesps that could be catnip to voting actors, while “Milk” (Kris’ own bet) has both a powerhouse star turn and the kind of sterling ensemble work they like to reward.

    But I wonder. Though SAG doesn’t always treat its top prize as a Best Picture equivalent — “Gosford Park” and “Sideways” are examples of films that triumphed principally on the strengths of their casts, despite minimal Oscar momentum – the fact remains that this is essentially SAG’s only chance to reward the most beloved film of the season. While it’s arguably the least “actor-y” film in contention, I suspect that, as when the Simon Beaufoy-penned “The Full Monty” upset here in 1997, the voters are going to let their hearts overrule their actorly instincts.

    (More thoughts, and my SAG predictions, after the cut.)

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  • ‘Slumdog,’ ‘WALL-E,’ ‘Wire’ win PGA

    And so the long, slow march continues…

  • Guessing the weekend’s guilds

    Screen Actors Guild awardI’ve been giving my picks out to various aggregators this weekend but haven’t bothered with a post of my own.  Go figure.

    I feel like the only sure thing at the SAG is Heath Ledger’s victory in the Best Supporting Actor category, but while everyone else is banking on Sean Penn and Kate Winslet in the leading categories, I’m inclined to say Mickey Rourke and Meryl Streep will throw their respective wrenches in the works.

    Winslet is probably sitting pretty for a supporting actress victory, while I can’t think of a valid reason to be against “The Dark Knight” in the new stunt ensemble category.  So…

    Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role: Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”
    Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role: Meryl Streep in “Doubt”
    Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role: Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
    Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role: Kate Winslet in “The Reader”
    Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture: “Milk”
    Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in Motion Pictures: “The Dark Knight”

    I won’t be around when the awards actually go down, but I’m sure Guy will be covering.

    (PGA thoughts after the jump.)

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  • What will win the PGA?

    Tonight, we will receive our biggest precursor pointer to date, as the Producers Guild of America becomes the first of the guilds to make its final pronouncement.

    In case you’ve forgotten, the five films vying for the PGA’s top honour are “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Milk,” “Slumdog Millionaire” — and the one nominee to fall foul of Oscar voters, “The Dark Knight.”

    “Slumdog Millionaire” appears to be the safest bet, even if its producer, relative newcomer Christian Colson, is less of an industry insider than his fellow nominees. (After all, the field includes such popular figures as Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, and previous winners Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks.)

    But with “Slumdog” hurtling towards all-but-inevitable victory on Oscar night, not having missed a single stop on the awards trail so far, that shouldn’t matter. It’s by far the most well-liked film in contention, as well as being a profitable indie with a scrappy-fighter backstory. I doubt the PGA will resist.

    Back when the nominees were announced at the start of the month — doesn’t that seem a long time ago? — Kris suggested that “The Dark Knight” was the “likely winner.” It made perfect sense at the time: these are producers, after all, so they value financial prowess as much as artistic achievement. (Previous PGA nominees include “Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone” and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”)

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  • After cooling off a bit…

    Michael Shannon in Revolutionary RoadYesterday the Academy displayed just what a fractured organization they are, championing a small film like “Slumdog Millionaire,” for which I applaud them, but snubbing “The Dark Knight,” one of the best reviewed films of the year and a titan at the box office. All day I was asking, ‘How?’  All day I wondered just how out of touch this organization truly is and what a major overhaul is needed.

    Call it ageism if you must, but we I think we need new blood in there.  I have been covering the Academy Awards for more than 20 years and have had my share of disappointments and shocks over that span of time. One would think I’d get used to it.

    I remember the rage when “Ghost” was nominated for Best Picture and when Roberto Begnini won Best Actor. That anger and shock was nothing like I felt yesterday morning at 8:30 Ontario time.

    I could not speak. I closed my office door and quietly raged, trying to make sense of it. Reading the other reactions helped ease the wound (I take it personally you see when my films are snubbed) and tried to see the good in the nominations this year. And as Guy astutely points out, there is some good.

    Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” made the cut, as did Richard Jenkins for “The Visitor.”  Both deserved, both terrific performances. “Wall-E” grabbed a screenplay nod, as well as sound nominations, and “Slumdog Millionaire” did very well indeed, with 10 nods. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” lead the pack with 13 and Brad Pitt finally got a nomination for Best Actor — long overdue.  Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei made the list for “The Wrestler” and all four major actors from “Doubt” are nominees.

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  • Whaaa?

    Richard Corliss’ rundown of yesterday’s Oscar nominations, following the familiar “will win/should win/wuz robbed” template, features some typically against-the-grain opinions, including the surprising (to me, at least) that Best Supporting Actress is the strongest of this year’s acting races. (“Three of the nominated ladies are Oscar-worthy,” he writes. And what are Rourke, Penn and Jenkins? Chopped liver?)

    But his most contrarian statement of all arrives in his selection of who should have been nominated for Best Director, an overt attempt at baiting “Dark Knight” fans:

    Robbed: Jon Favreau, Iron Man
    O.K., so The Dark Knight was shut out of the Picture and Director categories. Dommage. But in a terrific year for superhero films, the smartest, cleanest one, Iron Man, was also ignored. Robert Downey Jr., nominated for his blackface parody in Tropic Thunder, created a complex, virtually human action figure in the repentent munitions baron Tony Stark. The special effects buttressed the picture instead of overwhelming it. And Favreau’s direction was lean, clean and suave, up there with old Hollywood adventure films by directors like Howard Hawks and Raoul Walsh — movies that never got awards, but which we watch with undiminished pleasure today.

    Right. Anyway, for what it’s worth, Corliss’ rebel streak doesn’t extend to his predictions. Like everyone else, he puts his money on “Slumdog,” Boyle, Winslet, Ledger and Cruz — while in what strikes me as the most up-in-the-air of the major races, he picks Mickey Rourke ahead of Sean Penn. (I agree, but that could all change on Sunday.)

  • Hey, it ain’t ALL bad

    OK, looking at the bigger picture, I’m as mortified as everyone else by this morning’s Academy Award nominations. By playing it safe in numerous areas, AMPAS voters have once more failed their art form … but more surprisingly, they have failed their audience.

    Kris has already touched to some extent on the most glaring injustices of the morning, and I plan to indulge in my own share of ranting later today. But before I get into that, I’d like to channel my inner Bing Crosby and accentuate the positive. Amid the minefield of errors, there were some isolated pleasant surprises and level-headed decisions, even if many of them were on a smaller scale. And these were the best of them:

    “GRAN TORINO” STRIKES OUT: Many were speculating that the latest from the (usually) Oscar-beloved Clint Eastwood could be a spoiler in the top race, with the man himself an ominous threat to actually take the Best Actor gong. But for once, Eastwood’s stealth-release strategy didn’t pay off. Either the film gathered momentum too late, or voters saw through the film’s creaky construction and hammy lead turn. Either way, in passing over Eastwood for the wonderful Richard Jenkins, the Academy made the right call.

    ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY GETS ORIGINAL: Matching the WGA’s Original Screenplay nominees in only one instance, voters dug deep here and pulled some inspired choices out of the hat. Bypassing the familiar comforts of Woody Allen or the Coen Brothers, they recognised that “Frozen River” owed its jagged, riveting tension to more than just Melissa Leo’s stellar performance, and, most thrillingly, recognised the pitch-black wit and literary sensibility of “In Bruges.” A nod for Mike Leigh’s unconventionally constructed “Happy-Go-Lucky” was more expected, but no less gratifying.

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  • January winner predictions

    WALL-EOnward. I bet Fox Searchlight wants this phase two to go by as fast as possible.

    Best Picture: “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Director: Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Actor: Sean Penn, “Milk”
    Best Actress: Kate Winslet, “The Reader”
    Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
    Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
    Best Adapted Screenplay: “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Original Screenplay: “WALL-E”
    Best Art Direction: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    Best Cinematography: “The Dark Knight”
    Best Costume Design: “The Duchess”
    Best Film Editing: “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Makeup: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    Best Music (Original Score): “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Music (Original Song): “WALL-E”
    Best Sound Editing: “WALL-E”
    Best Sound Mixing: “WALL-E”
    Best Visual Effects: “The Cuious Case of Benjamin Button”
    Best Animated Feature Film: “WALL-E”
    Best Foreign Language Film: “Waltz with Bashir”
    Best Documentary (Feature): “Man on Wire”
    Best Documentary (Short Subject): “The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306”
    Best Short FIlm (Animated): “Presto”
    Best Short Film (Live Action): “New Boy”

    Tally:
    “Slumdog Millionaire” — 5
    “WALL-E” — 5
    “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” — 3
    “The Dark Knight” — 2
    “Defiance” — 1
    “The Duchess” — 1
    “The Reader” — 1
    “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” — 1

    (Those are all probably dead wrong, but eh, we’ll see how the season develops from here.)

  • How we did

    I’ll let the other contributors’ picks speak for themselves, and they’re more than welcome to pipe in with notes if they like, but here’s my tally.

    Coming off probably my best year yet last year, I didn’t do great.  I only nailed one category 100 percent (Best Film Editing).  There were more 3/5s popping up this year than in years past, but so it goes.  We all hit speed bumps.

    I correctly guessed 73 of the 102 nominees I predicted, which is, what, I don’t know.  74 if you count Winslet, but for the wrong movie (which you shouldn’t…I wouldn’t).  Percentages escape me.

    The somewhat unexpected calls I made were “Slumdog Millionaire” showing up in Best Sound Editing and the “Defiance” nod for Best Original Score.  A lot of people seemed to jump of the Melissa Leo boat recently too, but I knew she was solid.  The acting branch was in love with that performance, and when you have someone like Dustin Hoffman out there pushing your cause, you’re in good shape.

    Also, I had a conversation last night with a sound mixer friend who told me “Wanted” was the best sound job of the year.  And it shows up in both categories.  Go figure.

    Who am I most happy for?  Michael Shannon.  One of the good guys.

    Anyway, those are my stats.  What about yours?

  • 81st annual Oscar nominations announced, ‘Button’ leads with 13, ‘Dark Knight’ snubbed in Best Pic

    Kate Winslet in The ReaderWeinstein is back.  (As are comments…sorry for the delay there.)

    The short reply is the easy reply: the Academy has embarrassed itself this day.  Seven  nominations across the tech branches and a tip of the hat for Heath Ledger will be the Oscar legacy of “The Dark Knight.” The director — shunned. The writers — shunned. The film as a Best Picture nominee, pulling this crusty membership out of irrelevance? A pipe dream.

    And I saw it coming. I saw this sense of rigid stupidity and ignorance coming, but I just…I didn’t have the heart to predict against the grain. I bought into the hype. I thought the Academy could be a fresh organization. Clearly, it cannot. And it proves as much year after year after year.

    “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” was the lead nomination hog with 13 mentions. Likely Best Picture winner “Slumdog Millionaire” was not far behind with 10, two of those nominations coming in the Best Original Song category.

    Yes, the music branch proved to be a bunch of bumbling fools yet again, ignoring a solid track from a gifted rocker just like they did last year. You read it right: the Boss got the shaft.

    “Milk” matched “The Dark Knight”‘s number of eight and, of course, found its way to Best Picture contention. But it also popped up surprisingly in the costume design field. Meanwhile, some singular thinking were to be had — like “Frozen River” and “In Bruges” finding recognition for their respective original screenplays (though at the unfortunate expense of Woody Allen).  Or Michael Shannon, the lone acting nominee for “Revolutionary Road,” and a hell of a deserving bid.  Hearing his name brought the broadest smile to my face.

    And in an act of defiance against a supporting category campaign, the Academy recognized Kate Winslet as a lead in “The Reader,” which cock-blocked her performance in “Road.”

    This all brings us to the elephant in the room: “The Reader” was the film to steal the Bat’s thunder, not “Gran Torino” like I expected, not “WALL-E” as others had hoped. And I think we all knew it was coming once Stephen Daldry’s name was called.  A pornographic account of a sympathetic Nazi, rushed through post-production and ultimately a sloppy piece of drama, rightly abandoned by its initial producer at a crucial time on the basis of principle on one hand, politics on the other — this is one of the Academy’s five Best Pictures of the year.

    These people should have their cards taken away. This member-for-life shit has to go because you end up with crotchety fools that have no idea what good cinema is, let alone a care about how their organization’s choices will be looked upon in the future. Years from now, “The Reader” will be a blip on the map of film obscurity. “The Dark Knight” will live on in infamy as one of the year’s titans, both a popular blockbuster and a critically acclaimed work of art.

    What an absolute tragedy.

    (More, plus the nods, after the jump.)

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  • Last minute thoughts

    Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting MarriedLike I said, I’m on the record.  I’ve given some left-field choices (as have you).  But here are some lingering thoughts bouncing around inside my tired old head this evening:

    1) I think we’re going to see tomorrow, finally, that “Rachel Getting Married” is nothing more than a critical fave.  Personally, I liked it enough, but all the “one of the year’s best” talk was dubious to say the least.  A SAG ensemble nod would have kept me quiet.  Talk about a place it could have made a stand.  And that WGA snub was just one more smack by the industry, in my view.  Maybe it’s just like one voter told me: “I couldn’t stand these people.”  Anne Hathaway, step up for the film’s consolation nod.

    2) “Gran Torino,” “Gran Torino,” “Gran Torino.”  I can’t say it enough…this film is creeping up.  It’s possible it came on too late and Clint missed the timing this time out, but, like I’ve said…watch it.  Personally I think it’s a bigger threat than “The Reader.”  A bad-ass white guy kicking kids off his lawn or a porno about a sympathetic Nazi.  Which film is going to resonate more with the Academy?  You tell me.

    3) Everyone says, in varying degrees, that everything from “The Dark Knight” to “Frost/Nixon” to “Milk” are on the bubble.  But here’s a radical idea: what if the weak link is the film many have called cold and removed?  “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” sure does have a lot of guild support…but so did “Dreamgirls.”

    4) Could one of the biggest stories tomorrow be the snubbing of Brangelina?  Some think he’s out, some think she’s out…but what if they’re both out?  Eesh.

    5) Better yet, might the biggest shock of the day be a “Man on Wire” snub in the documentary feature category?  All I’m saying is films dominated by preexisting footage can struggle here sometimes.

    Then again…maybe I’m off my rocker.  But there you have it.

    I’ve only made one prediction alteration, FYI, and that’s swapping “Slumdog Millionaire” for “Quantum of Solace” in the sound editing field.  The latter was just an arbitrary choice to reflect the mixers’ feelings, but I’m thinking of a sweeper possibility there and I like the advenurous choice of “Slumdog” more than “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”  But really, that category lately?  Flip a coin.

    Enjoy the morning.

  • TECH SUPPORT: Final preview special, part two

    Tech Support at In ContentionThis is part two of my last glance at the year’s tech category contenders.  For part one, click here.

    Best Music (Original Score)
    Now here is a category where there are no locks. Nonetheless, considering the success of their films and scores in awards season to date, A.R. Rahmen (for “Slumdog Millionaire”) and Alexandre Desplat (for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) seem solid bets.

    Thomas Newman, despite only having a BAFTA nomination to his credit so far in the awards season, often scores when the precursors don’t coming calling so I think he’s in for “WALL-E.” Alternatively, he could get in for “Revolutionary Road.”

    The rest of the Golden Globe nominees strike me as facing challenges. Clint Eastwood has performed well this season with “Changeling” but I am doubtful he will ever be embraced by the music branch. James Newton Howard’s compositions for “Defiance” may be lost with his film while Hans Zimmer’s Globe citation for “Frost/Nixon” seems more like a tribute to the composer, a Globe favorite.

    I would actually wager that Zimmer and Howard have a better opportunity with their fantastic “The Dark Knight” collaboration. Zimmer has been campaigning hard. Even so, I’m skeptical the duo will score. Co-composers receiving Oscar nominations is extremely rare. (Though, in all fairness, so is co-composing.)

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  • Mood swings

    I’m having a hard time deciphering Peter Bart’s point in his cryptic new blog post, in which he reflects on the Academy’s malleable taste, and how quickly it can shift.

    As his primary case study, he cites the bizarre contrast between two back-to-back Best Picture winners, wholesome musical “Oliver!” and X-rated, gay-tinged drama “Midnight Cowboy” in 1968-9, a turnabout which Bart feels reflected significant social change at the time. True enough. But he goes on to imply obliquely that we may be in the midst of a similar situation:

    It’s hard to recall a more dramatic example of a professional organization displaying such a dramatic mood swing. But this was 1969, the year of Woodstock, Charlie Manson, Altamont, the Chicago Seven – a year of turmoil when just about everyone changed their attitudes toward just about everything.

    Sounds a bit like 2009, doesn’t it? Well, not really. The country is opening up to new ideas and new leaders, but even today “Midnight Cowboy” would provide a measure of culture shock.

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  • Are you different?

    Okay, by now, most Oscarwatchers and prognozticators are expecting the same five titles to pop up in the Best Picture category: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Dark Knight,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Milk” and “Slumdog Millionaire.”

    But not everyone.

    My questiont o you is, if you are predicting a DIFFERENT lineup, what is it?  I figure there are only so many combinations that can come out of the sane awards-watching universe, but I’m prepared to be surprised.  Tell us your different angle on the season.  I’m curious…

  • Suspicion of optimism

    As you know, one of the many things that aggravated me about this year’s BAFTA nominations was the pointed shut-out of Mike Leigh’s “Happy-Go-Lucky.” The snub extended to lead actress Sally Hawkins, who has torn through the critics’ awards on the other side of the Atlantic and stands a sizeable chance of landing an Oscar nod on Monday morning — as does Leigh himself, for that matter.

    The Independent recently did some digging into the snub, and has found that a number of Leigh’s peers and contemporaries are similarly shocked by the omission. Venerable critic Barry Norman (something of a British institution) is particularly outraged, hailing “Happy-Go-Lucky” as the equal of BAFTA-garlanded “Slumdog Millionaire,” and going so far to label Leigh “a prophet without honour,” less appreciated in his homeland than he is elsewhere.

    Of course, Leigh has won three BAFTAs in his career, so perhaps that’s getting a little dramatic. Nonetheless, the article wonders whether this year’s snub could be put down to a BAFTA grudge against the famously candid filmmaker, who has criticised the organisation’s voting methods in the past.

    Hmmm. Ultimately, interestingly enough, it is “Slumdog Millionaire” scribe Simon Beaufoy who might have hit the nail closest to the head when he says the film was a victim of “traditional British suspicion of optimism” — something which I think accounts for the film’s polite but less-than-ecstatic critical reception here. It’s also a precise echo of a sentiment Eddie Marsan voiced in my October interview with the actor:

    “I thought the film might go down well in America — better, even, than at home — because they’re not quite as cynical as the British. I think they’re more willing to buy into an optimistic character.”

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