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After six months of Tech Support previews and interviews, the films have arrived, the nominations have been announced and the guilds, the critics and BAFTA have all announced their preferences. Today we take a final look at the races before the envelopes are opened on Sunday. BEST ART DIRECTION After guild and BAFTA wins, I [...]
TECH SUPPORT: Final predictions
Posted by Gerard Kennedy · 5:27 pm · February 18th, 2009
Filed in: Daily
Not so very shocking
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:00 am · February 18th, 2009
Dave Karger has posted a list of ten potential “shockers” that he thinks could (however faintly) foreseeably shake things up on Oscar night. Many of them have been raised before, and are suitably fanciful. Though I’ve said before that there is a logical case to be made for Melissa Leo leapfrogging both Kate Winslet and [...]
Filed in: Daily
Who almost starred in the season’s Oscar nominated films?
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:37 am · February 17th, 2009
The folks at notstarring.com have put together a list of the year’s Oscar contenders and the stars who turned down opportunities to star in them. There is, of course, Nicolas Cage in “The Wrestler” and Russell Crowe in “Australia.” Heath Ledger is also mentioned for the latter (somehow I didn’t know that). “The Curious Case [...]
Filed in: Daily
TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The crafts of ‘Benjamin Button,’ part two
Posted by Gerard Kennedy · 10:59 am · February 17th, 2009
Yesterday was the first of our two-part look at the crafts artists behind “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Today, I feature conversations with cinematographer Claudio Miranda, visual effects supervisor Eric Barba and film editors Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, who have all received Oscar nominations for their work on the film. When asked about [...]
Filed in: Interviews · Tech Support
THE LISTS: Top 10 pet peeves of the 2008-2009 Oscar season
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:41 am · February 17th, 2009
The season is winding down this week. The slow President’s Day holiday yesterday seemed to be more of a harbinger than a lull in the excitement. This time next week, we’ll probably be over the fallout of the circuit and on to debating the contenders we’re likely to see a year from now. It’s a [...]
Filed in: Daily
TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The crafts of ‘Benjamin Button,’ part one
Posted by Gerard Kennedy · 11:26 am · February 16th, 2009
Thirteen Oscar Nominations. Very few films in Academy history have achieved that status and, prior to this year, no film had secured that many nods since “Chicago” in 2002. But “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” has managed it this year, largely because of the incredible work going on below-the-line. Last week, I featured composer [...]
Filed in: Interviews · Tech Support
‘Button,’ ‘Knight,’ ‘Slumdog’ take ADG Awards
Posted by Guy Lodge · 1:43 am · February 15th, 2009
The Art Directors Guild didn’t really veer from the expected last night, handing their awards to “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” in the period category, “The Dark Knight” in fantasy and “Slumdog Millionaire” in contemporary. And on we go. This pretty much affirms “Button’s” grip on this category for the Oscars. The real question, [...]
Filed in: Daily
Top lensers praise ‘Slumdog’ cinematography
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:15 pm · February 11th, 2009
Over at Variety, Robert Koehler has put together a survey of sorts of some of the industry’s top DPs to gauge their reaction to the year’s work behind the camera. It could be a nice hint toward what the ASC will chose as the year’s best lensing, and judging by Koehler’s results, Anthony Dod Mantle’s [...]
Filed in: Daily
OFF THE CARPET: Come together, right now
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:37 am · February 9th, 2009
Anyone ready for it to all be over? For me, it hasn’t been a painful Oscar season, despite what I may have let on throughout the last five months. After all, my favorite film is and has been primed for the big win since November (well, since we said it was in November…everyone soon followed [...]
Filed in: Off the Carpet
‘Slumdog’ takes 7 BAFTAs as Rourke, Winslet triumph
Posted by Guy Lodge · 2:18 pm · February 8th, 2009
For an awards body renowned for its frequently contrarian bent, the most surprising thing about this year’s BAFTA awards was, well, just how unsurprising they were. As the evening unfolded, not a single result emerged that could be classified as a major upset, even if the winners (“Man on Wire” helmer James Marsh in particular) [...]
Filed in: Daily
WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Slumdog’ stays happy, Bale gets angry
Posted by Guy Lodge · 6:00 pm · February 6th, 2009
A slower news week, this, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t find plenty to discuss. Here’s what was on our (and your) minds: • In the week’s biggest precursor news, Danny Boyle won the Directors’ Guild Award. Hollywood is still reeling from the shock. • Oh, and “Slumdog Millionaire” nabbed the USC Scripter award too. [...]
Filed in: Daily
“It’s a shame ‘Slumdog’ is going to come in second.”
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:35 pm · February 6th, 2009
Yep, those would be Harvey Weinstein’s words right there. EW has an interesting piece positing the theory that “The Reader” is really the film most likely to spoil the party for “Slumdog” on Oscar night — even if the writers admit that it’s unlikely to happen. (I agree on both counts.) It’s a handy precis [...]
Filed in: Daily
Predicting BAFTA, part one — the techs
Posted by Guy Lodge · 2:15 pm · February 6th, 2009
It’s no secret that the BAFTA awards, which unfold at London’s Royal Opera House on Sunday evening, can be one of the most contrarian and surprising events on the awards calendar – but nowhere are they more unpredictable, and occasionally inscrutable, than in their technical awards. Year in, year out, anybody trying to predict the [...]
Filed in: Daily
TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: Alexandre Desplat
Posted by Gerard Kennedy · 9:30 am · February 5th, 2009
Over the last several years, Alexandre Desplat has gone from being a relatively unknown (in the United States anyway) French composer to emerging as one of the most acclaimed and sought after commodities in the business today. Receiving his second Oscar nomination this year for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Desplat has continued to [...]
Filed in: Interviews · Tech Support
Oscar might go for “Button”
Posted by John Foote · 8:29 am · February 5th, 2009
There is no good reason for me to think this, of course. Call it a gut feeling, but I have a sneaking feeling the Academy might ignore “Slumdog Millionaire,” despite its countless awards, and go for homegrown studio product this year. Let’s face it, the Academy has proven they march to their own drummer over [...]
Filed in: Daily
You’ve already seen it, but…
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 6:24 am · February 5th, 2009
…Jon Stewart really ripped into “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” the other night, as if that’s somehow novel at this stage. Seriously — Wells, Defamer, Poland, Carr, the vitriol is tired and largely unfair. The sad thing is, most of the sniping comes — shocker — free of any reasoned debate about WHY “Button” [...]
Filed in: Daily
2/5 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:37 am · February 5th, 2009
• Patrick Goldstein, in a well-reasoned piece that even I — a dedicated Boss fan — can’t disagree with, says Bruce Springsteen “had to stoop to conquer” Sunday night. [The Big Picture] • Jeffrey Wells bizarrely reviews Best Live Action Short nominee “New Boy.” Beware careless spoilers. [Hollywood Elsewhere] • Michael Cieply, reports on the [...]
Filed in: Daily
2/4 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:35 am · February 4th, 2009
• Patrick Goldstein reports on his self-moderated producers panel from last week’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival. [The Big Picture] • The Gurus o’ Gold pick their ones and twos. [Movie City News] • Angelina Jolie has, uh…misplaced her “Girl, Interrupted” Oscar. [Daily Telegraph] • Tom O’Neil, meanwhile, gives Meryl Streep shit for leaving hers [...]
Filed in: Daily
