Friendly reminder: Turner Classic Movies is going to air Stanley Kubrick’s first film, “Fear and Desire,” tonight at 8pm ET. I’ve actually never seen the film, despite Kubrick being my favorite filmmaker. I happened to see “Killer’s Kiss” back in film school, a ratty video tape version (it’s on the Blu-ray of “The Killing” now, though). But never this one. So you can bet I’ll tune my DVR. Kubrick famously disowned the film after it was released and tried to ensure that no one would ever see it again by not re-releasing the print. Unbeknownst to him, Kodak had a policy of making an extra prints for their archives. That’s the one that survives today. So, yay for Kodak. [Turner Classic Movies]

The Screen Actors Guild announcement is minutes away, but here’s what Greg Ellwood says you should be watching for. [Awards Campaign]

Guess who’s over the moon for Fincher’s latest? [Awards Daily]

Jeffrey Wells posits Glenn Close as fading from the Best Actress landscape. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

Michelle Kung talks to “Tyrannosaur” stars Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman. [Speakeasy]

Melena Ryzik chats with Fox honcho Tom Rothman. [Carpetbagger]

Hans Zimmer talks “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” and, naturally, gets hit up about “The Dark Knight Rises.” [Collider]

Nathaniel Rogers talks to “The Descendants” co-star Judy Greer. [Film Experience]

Jason Reitman and Patton Oswalt have a message for you re: texting in theaters. [Badass Digest]

David Poland sits down with “Kung Fu Panda 2” director Jennifer Yuh Nelson. [Hot Blog]

One more before you shut out the lights. The Toronto Film Critics Association has named “The Tree of Life” the best film of the year. The film’s director, Terrence Malick, was also awarded while “Take Shelter” won two acting honors. Check out the full list of winners below.

Best Picture: “The Tree of Life”

Best Director: Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”

Best Actor: Michael Shannon, “Take Shelter”

Best Actress: Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”

Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, “Take Shelter”

Best Screenplay: “Moneyball”

Best First Feature: “Attack the Block”

Best Animated Film: “The Adventures of Tintin”

Best Foreign Language Film: “Mysteries of Lisbon”

Best Documentary: “Nostalgia for the Light”

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“The Descendants” has been crowned Best Picture with the Houston Film Critics Society. Nicholas Winding Refn received his second Best Director prize of the day (following an award from the Las Vegas Film Critics Society) and Michael Fassbender was recognized for “Shame.” Check out the full list of winners below.

Best Picture: “The Descendants”

Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn, “Drive”

Best Actor: Michael Fassbender, “Shame”

Best Actress: Tilda Swinton, “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, “Drive”

Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley, “The Descendants”

Best Screenplay: “The Descendants”

Best Cinematography: “The Tree of Life”

Best Score: “The Artist”

Best Song: “Life’s a Happy Song” from “The Muppets”

Best Animated Film: “Rango”

Best Documentary: “Project Nim”

Best Foreign Film: “I Saw the Devil”

Worst Film of the Year: “Your Highness”

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Angelina Jolie”s directorial debut “In the Land of Blood and Honey” is stirring the initial rumblings of critical praise as well as a bit of controversy. The mix feels oddly fitting given the trajectory of the filmmaker’s own relationship with the public.

Earlier this week producers were faced with a potential lawsuit from James Braddock, a Croatian author claiming that the script plagiarized his 2007 novel “The Soul Shattering.” He has since withdrawn his motion for a restraining order against the film.

Meanwhile, the Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today that the film will be honored with the 2012 Stanley Kramer Award at the 23rd Annual Producers Guild Awards ceremony. As the PGA explains it, the award was established in 2002 to honor a motion picture, producer or other individual whose achievement or contribution illuminates provocative social issues in an accessible and elevating fashion.

Set against the backdrop of the Bosnian War that tore the Balkan region apart in the 1990s, “In the Land of Blood and Honey” follows Danijel (Goran Kosti), a soldier fighting for the Serbs, and Ajla (Zana Marjanovi), a Bosnian woman who is held captive in the camp he oversees. They knew one another as man and woman before the war and must reconcile who and what they have become to one another in the face of one of the most brutal and bloody genocidal conflicts in modern history.

Jolie wrote and directed the film, which was (quite ambitiously) shot in both English and BHS (Bosnian language). As she explains in her interview with Greg Ellwood, the director made an initial English language cut with her editor Patricia Rommel, at which point they collaborated with a Bosnian editor to create the BHS version of the film. The BHS language version will ultimately be released in theaters with English subtitles.

On the very day that the PGA announced its plans to honor “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” The New York Times reports that Branislav Djukic, of the Bosnian Serb Association of Camp Prisoners, has called for a ban on the film in the Serb-run portion of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Though he has only been privy to a trailer for the film, Djukic claims that it is “telling lies” in its depiction of Serbian soldiers raping women during the war. I am not sure what this association hopes to gain with their sight unseen protest of the film. Rape was repeatedly, horrifically used as a method of torture during the war, by all sides.

In another twist, Jolie had come under criticism during production by an association of Bosnian women for writing a female lead that “falls in love with her torturer.” All of these critiques are of course, as mentioned, being made prior to a full viewing of the film. Some, though likely not all, of the detractors may very well alter their stance once they have the full scope of the story.

As for me, I was already compelled by the trailers, as well as by the idea of Jolie stepping into the director”s chair. And whenever I get the sense that groups or organizations are threatened by a particular subject or tale, it only serves to pique my interest further. We should talk about the things that scare us; we should look at the images that shame us.

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It’s been a pretty relentless week for precursor announcements, and we’re not over the hump yet: tomorrow brings the Screen Actors’ Guild nominations, Thursday the Golden Globe list, and then we can all go more or less into holiday mode until the other guilds reignite the conversation in January. (Well, out of loyalty, I must point out that the London Critics’ Circle, of which I am a member, announce their nominations next week.)

Some of you have requested a space to offer your own predictions (or wishlists, as you prefer) for the SAG and Globe nominees; as always, we aim to please, so here it is. I’ve got the ball rolling with my own SAG predictions after the jump — I haven’t the energy to take on the Globes, but maybe I will tomorrow. I’m particularly intrigued to see how SAG fills out its ensemble category: they tend to veer between using it to honor genuine ensemble pieces and lazily checking off supposed Best Picture frontrunners, regardless of the ensemble quality. Will “Hugo” and “War Horse” feature, despite not being major acting showcases? We’ll see. Either way, I expect “The Help” to have a good morning. How about you?

Best Ensemble
“The Artist”
“Bridesmaids”
“The Descendants”
“The Help”
“Midnight in Paris”

Best Actor
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Michael Fassbender, “Shame”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”
Michael Shannon, “Take Shelter”

Best Actress
Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Tilda Swinton, “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, “My Week With Marilyn”
Albert Brooks, “Drive”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Ides of March”
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Vanessa Redgrave, “Coriolanus”
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”

Best Stunt Ensemble
“Fast Five”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” 

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We’ve written before about how the Palm Springs International Film Festival tends to stick very closely to the presumed template of surefire Oscar contenders when picking their honorees. So they’ve at least gone slightly out on a limb by handing their Vanguard Award for “outstanding creative ensemble” to Jason Reitman’s “Young Adult” — a film already on the fringes in the three awards categories it’s aiming for, and one far outside the Best Picture conversation. Reitman took the same award four years ago for a far more broadly popular film, “Juno”; “Little Miss Sunshine” is another previous winner.

I’m not sure how exactly the festival organizers define “creative ensemble,” though I do hope the award covers more than just the director, writer and two principals. There’s smart supporting work, for example, from Elizabeth Reaser as the homely, unwitting romantic rival of Charlize Theron’s protagonist; on the technical front, as I wrote yesterday on the category’s Contenders page, the elegantly character-defining costumes by David C. Robinson are thoroughly worthy of recognition.

The film, meanwhile, continues to gnaw away at me: as I suggested in my review last week, even the problems it runs into are more interesting than the ones faced by most American comedies. It’s a spikily imperfect work, and probably won’t feature on my Best of 2011 list next week, but the conversations and arguments I’ve had about it with colleagues are just part of the reason I’m glad it’s around. Going by the literal definition of a Vanguard Award, it’s a more worthy recipient than most.

The edited press release:

Palm Springs, CA (December 13, 2011) – The 23rd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present the film Young Adult with the Vanguard Award recognizing its outstanding creative ensemble. Cast members from the film including Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt, director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody will attend to accept the award. Presented by Cartier, the Awards Gala will be held Saturday, January 7, at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Hosted by Mary Hart, the Awards Gala will also present awards to previously announced honorees George Clooney, Glenn Close, Michel Hazanavicius, Octavia Spencer and Michelle Williams. The Festival runs January 5-16.

This is the second Vanguard Award for Cody and Reitman, who first received the honor in 2008 for Juno. Reitman recently garnered the 2010 PSIFF Best Director Award for Up in the Air, and Theron previously earned the 2006 Desert Palm Achievement Actress Award for North Country.

“What is more bittersweet than realizing that your glory days, particularly those in high school, when everything was possible, may truly be a thing of the past,” said Film Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “In Young Adult, a writer of teen literature gets a major reality check when her plan to reclaim a former high school sweetheart goes awry, but leads her to forge an unlikely bond with a former classmate who is similarly time warp-challenged. It is a particular pleasure for the Palm Springs International Film Festival to present the 2012 Vanguard Award to Young Adult, a truly unique and utterly enjoyable film. The filmmakers and cast represent the some of the best and most exciting filmmaking work of the year and have delivered a biting black comedy as deeply poignant as it is funny. It’s a pleasure to welcome for an ‘encore’ the film’s screenwriter Diablo Cody, director Jason Reitman and accomplished star Charlize Theron, all previous winners at the Festival, who continue to demonstrate the scope of their cinematic talents.”

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In an interesting turn of events, Seth Rogen (who just last month indicated that he would have no interest in following his friend James Franco”s lead to one day host the Oscars) is set to host the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards. The 27th annual ceremony will again be held as a daytime luncheon in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica on Saturday, February 25 and will air later that evening at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on IFC.

Rogen”s own film, “50/50,” is well-represented with nominations for Best Feature, Anjelica Huston for Best Supporting Female, and Will Reiser for Best First Screenplay. The actor co-produced and co-stars (indirectly as himself) in the film alongside indie (and now big budget) favorite Joseph Gordon-Levitt. So, Rogen is indeed taking a feather from Franco”s cap in that there is the potential for him to walk away as both host and honoree should “50/50” secure the Best Feature win.

The film is based on Reiser”s own experience undergoing treatment for back cancer in his early 20s. It was Rogen, Reiser’s friend and colleague on “Da Ali G Show,” who encouraged Resier to pen the script for a film they had laughingly pitched to one another at a party shortly after Reiser’s diagnosis. “The truth is even in the most horrible circumstances, funny shit happens,” Levitt said in an interview with In Contention in September. Indeed, at 24 and 25, Reiser and Rogen were focused on finding the humor in the situation, and in so doing, managed to capture the humanity.

Given that Rogen”s critique of the Oscars focused on the organization’s misuse of its talent, his participation in the Spirit Awards feels like a endorsement of both Film Independent (the non-profit arts organization behind the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival) and the awards show itself. His secondary criticism (which ties into the first) centered on the writing.

Certainly IFC is banking on the combined strength of Rogen”s writing and stand-up abilities. “Seth is one of the smartest and funniest actors today and we look forward to him making this one of the most entertaining Spirit Awards yet,” said Jennifer Caserta, Executive Vice President & General Manager of IFC.

One would imagine that Rogen will take far more ownership in this ceremony than Franco was able to with the Academy Awards, so it will be interesting to note the many and varied ways in which the two events differ.

For year-round entertainment news and commentary follow @JRothC on Twitter.

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The Las Vegas Film Critics Society dished out their kudos today, and they fell right in line. “We’ll take ‘The Artist,’ please.”

More interesting is their choice for Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn for “Drive.” As noted in today’s Off the Carpet column, it’s intriguing how much staying power the film has this season. Maybe it can parlay some of these notices into more serious Academy consideration, but it’ll take some more campaign wind in the sails.

Elsewhere, Melissa McCarthy nabbed yet another Best Supporting Actress prize for “Bridesmaids,” and I just don’t get it. But congratulations to her. It’s a real coming out this year and maybe — given how rocky the category is — she can manage an Oscar nomination when all is said and done. I’m sure Zach Galifianakis is wondering if he was chopped liver two years ago.

Check out the full list of winners from Vegas below. (And always bet on black.)

Best Picture: “The Artist”

Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn, “Drive”

Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”

Best Actress: Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn”

Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, “Drive”

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”

Best Screenplay: “Moneyball”

Best Cinematography: “The Tree of Life”

Best Costume Design: “The Artist”

Best Film Editing: “Hugo”

Best Score: “The Artist”

Best Visual Effects: “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

Best Animated Film: “Rango”

Best Documentary: “Project Nim”

Best Foreign Film: “13 Assassins”

Best Family Film: “Hugo”

Youth in Film: Asa Butterfield, “Hugo”

Best DVD (Packaging, Design and Content): “Jurassic Park” Ultimate Trilogy

William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award: Albert Brooks

Top 10 films (in order): “The Artist,” “Hugo,” “Moneyball,” “The Descendants,” “Drive,” “The Help,” “50/50,” “Midnight in Paris,” “Shame” and “Warrior”

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Alright, I’m pushing through these this week, so we’re calling it on yesterday’s limerick contest. Congratulations to JOHN G who wins our screenplay giveaway. John, if you’re reading, please drop me a line with your address so we can get you your prizes. (And SHARKMAN, you were one of the “Rango” winners, so do the same so I can mail yours out, too.)

Moving right along, I have a pair of books — source material for two of the season’s contenders: Lionel Shriver’s “We Need to Talk About Kevin” and Jonathan Foer’s “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.” On the surface, these two stories have absolutely nothing in common. But both film adaptations feature strong young actor performances (from Ezra Miller and Thomas Horn, respectively), so I’ll use that as a spring board.

In 100 words or less, make your case for one of the year’s child actors (there are a number of them under 21, from Saoirse Ronan to Hunter McCracken to Shailene Woodley to Elle Fanning, etc.). Why does he or she deserve to be in the Oscar race? The best entry wins both novels and a little extra accoutrement (since this is the time of year when swag is overloading my house). Now… Go!

It’s an odd time of year. There is a film, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” that has very little hope of securing Oscar consideration and that I can now talk about. But I have nothing to say other than to offer that, in my opinion, it is director David Fincher’s least compelling, most superficial film to date, practice, a craftsman staying in shape with material utterly beneath him and his boredom with it (or was it mine?) showing like the slip of a dress.

Meanwhile, there is another movie, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” that has plenty of potential in the Oscar race and that I cannot talk about.

So what do we talk about? The critics? There’s nothing really left to say. The last film I screened in 2011, “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol?” It’s fun and has great sound design (and good GAWD, Paula Patton is God’s gift). This morning’s BFCA announcement? It was one of the most vanilla, Oscar-forecasting collectives the group has ever managed to cough up.

Though on that, there is something somewhat interesting that stuck out. “Drive,” which received eight Critics’ Choice Movie Award nominations from the BFCA, has been doing remarkably well in the precursor circuit. It’s not just with critics but also with the National Board of Review, which placed the film on its top 10 list. Guy has been anticipating an adapted screenplay and film editing nomination to go along with the expected tip of the hat to Albert Brooks for a little while now, but I find myself wondering if it has the muscle to do even more.

We’re in the early days of the precursor trail, but I find it rather significant that the film and director Nicolas Winding Refn are managing to effortlessly land on lists of Best Picture and Best Director nominees. Ryan Gosling getting a mention from the BFCA was intriguing and just in general, the film is showing obvious staying power.

It takes core passion to get a Best Picture nomination. I don’t know if there will be enough of it in the Academy to land “Drive” the sufficient number of #1 votes, but I think the pendulum has swung more toward that possibility as of late. We’ll see how the guild circuit treats it (SAG nominees are named tomorrow), but it’s just something lingering on my mind.

Similarly, Tilda Swinton is showing a real up-tick for her performance in “We Need to Talk About Kevin.” She’s won her share of awards and is consistently showing up on nominee lists. PR behind her and the film are also being savvy in getting her out to the press at this crucial time. (She got a nice Time Magazine profile recently.) The Best Actress category is a dense seven-horse race (in my view). Glenn Close is falling, Rooney Mara is ascending, the back-and-forth of things making it tough to zero in on a window of opportunity, but Swinton has been a constant since Cannes.

Tom McCarthy’s “Win Win” is popping up here and there, as is “50/50.” This kind of thing is heartening for me, seeing shafts of light in the oppressive darkness of group-think.

And what of “The Tree of Life?” Ever since I saw the film in May I’ve thought, as have many, that a Best Picture Oscar nomination would be a steep uphill climb. But then, those who love it love it, igniting a core of passion that could land it in the race. If there were a guaranteed line-up of 10, I’d have been feeling less reticent about predicting it. Now, however, it’s popping up with the critics (as we might have expected), landing on Best Picture line-ups and even winning the honor with a few groups.

The two most significant critics groups could have made a statement with one of the films that appears to need a leg up. But the New York crowd went with “The Artist” while the LA folks went with “The Descendants” (amid much in-fighting, I hear), two well-established elements of the season. No, the critics’ collective job isn’t to dictate the conversation of awards season, nor should it be. But I don’t think it’s a good thing to fade indistinguishably into the season and merely be a cog in the wheel, either.

This week brings the aforementioned SAG announcement as well as the HFPA’s revelation of this year’s Golden Globe nominees. Interspersed will be any and every critics group looking to have their say, hoping to stand out in some way.

We’ll see if it all means anything after the dust settles.

Guy and I have run a comb through the Contenders section in the wake of the week’s precursor announcements. The sidebar predictions reflect those changes.

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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In the last year or so, I”ve seen Keira Knightley withering away on a hospital bed as her inorganic organs are removed and farmed out, moodily chain-smoking in an icy Manhattan loft as she contemplates her husband”s infidelity, stridently slamming doors on a West End stage as her life is undone by malicious rumors about her sexuality, and most recently, getting the life spanked out of her by Carl Jung as he attempts to cure her of crippling hysteria.

It has, in short, been a rather intense time for Knightley in the fictional realm, so it”s a relief, not to mention an irrational surprise, when the young Londoner answers the phone with the perkiest of hellos. It swiftly becomes difficult to reconcile the fast-talking, warmly enthusiastic person on the line – the word “incredible” pops up with endearing frequency throughout our chat – with the prickly, often unhappy women she”s lately brought to life on screen (and, in a superb London revival of Lillian Hellman”s “The Children”s Hour” last spring, on stage too).

But that disjuncture is what makes Knightley among the most intriguingly self-testing major stars of her generation. Blessed with the face, physique and magnetism that have many of her female peers stuck in beige rom-com/action babe purgatory, Knightley has, since scoring an Oscar nomination for “Pride and Prejudice” at the tender age of 20, actively sought out a thornier path for herself.

“I took a year off to think about what I wanted to do and the direction I wanted to take things in, and those recent films and the stage work came out of that year,” she explains, acknowledging the stark tonal consistency of her recent work. “All those choices have been about pushing myself, trying to tackle things I don”t necessarily understand. This is going to sound really wanky, but any form of art is about trying to make sense of the world around you, and that”s what I really love about my job.”

Knightley”s cheerful admission that she doesn”t initially ‘get” every character she plays-indeed, that this lack of accessibility is a drawcard for her-is as winning as her schoolgirlish insertion of “wanky” into the conversation. Her inclination towards difficult and not especially commercial projects recently culminated in her trickiest, most prestigious outing to date: David Cronenberg”s cerebral Freud-Jung study “A Dangerous Method,” in which she plays the crucial (and, some might say, central) role of Sabina Spielrein, a former patient of Jung”s who overcome mental illness to become one of the first female psychoanalysts.

Knightley”s fondness for somewhat inscrutable female characters reaches its zenith with Sabina, and if her performance has both ardent admirers and unconvinced detractors, it”s certainly her most questioning and boldly realized characterization to date. “With a character like Sabina, I don”t necessarily understand her behavior, where she”s coming from,” she says. “So I have to find that empathy within myself, so I”m not judging her, I”m looking into her. I love doing that. It was the same with, say, ‘Never Let Me Go”: I was fascinated by that character because she”s a walking study of corruptive jealousy, which is an emotion I have difficulty relating to. The more of a challenge it is to understand a character, the more I want to play her.”

Thrilled as she was to be approached by Cronenberg-“I was 99% sure I would take it before I even knew what the script was,” she says breathlessly-the potent sexual content of Christopher Hampton”s script, more explicit in its sadomasochistic implication than actual flesh-baring, did give the actress cold feet early on.

“I was wowed by the script, but I phoned David up and told him I didn”t know if I could do it: with the world and the internet being what they are now, I wasn”t sure if I wanted that out there. And he said that was fine, we just wouldn”t shoot those scenes. Which I thought was wrong: those scenes are vital in understanding Sabina and her psychology, whether they were to be played by me or another actress. And the more we talked about it, the more confident I felt: David made it clear he didn”t want the sexual content to be titillating, he wanted it to be brutal and clinical. That made sense to me. I could do that.”

It”s not merely the sexual candor of the material that makes playing Sabina a tall order for a young actress; the outward manifestations of her hysteria are no less challenging. Knightley fearlessly takes on the violent out-of-body language and oral fixation that plagued Sabina at her most deranged: it”s a full-on approach that risks alienating audiences to some degree, and the actress relied on her director to keep her from going off the edge.

“When you”re making a film of this nature, particularly playing a hysteric, you need to really trust your director: in lesser hands, this material could be very tricky, and I don”t know if I would have gone as far as I did with the character,” she says. “In its exploration of the physicality, David”s work has always gone way beyond and out the other side of what any other director would do – but he also knows exactly when to hold back. On a film like this, it”s important to trust the director”s taste, and everybody on set implicitly trusted his.”

Cronenberg insisted they begin by shooting the therapy scenes between Sabina and Michael Fassbender”s Jung, where the character is at her most frenzied: this essentially threw the actress in at the deep end, but she believes it was the right decision. “Those scenes laid out exactly how far David wanted me to take it, so it was the best place to start,” she says. “I could totally push it out there, and then pull it back to a degree. And for the rest of the film, it was this kind of levelling-off process – pushing and pulling as required. Those therapy scenes had to be the most intense: if they”d been less than what they were, we wouldn”t have had enough room to retreat.”

Though the rest of the film traces her psychological recovery, it”s not all one-way emotional traffic from that point, she explains: “What”s interesting about Sabina is that, as incredible as her recovery was, it wasn”t a miracle cure. There wasn”t a button you could push: she was always living with her condition, it was her lifelong battle to keep it under control, to keep the well side dominant over the destructive side. So in all the later scenes, David and I were focused on how close she was to falling apart at that specific point, how much she”s trying to rein it in. So it was interesting playing someone for whom that degree of control varies from scene to scene.”

In locating the character”s physicality, Knightley looked to a number of sources – beginning, of course, with Hampton”s original play. “There”s a description in the stage directions that says her face is ‘ravaged by tics.” And I wondered what exactly that meant, so I asked Christopher, and he said, ‘It means whatever you like.”” She laughs. “So I went to David, and he said, ‘I definitely want it to be on the face, and I don”t want it to be funny.” Okay, anything else? ‘Nope.””

“So I read an awful lot, looking for more specific descriptions of what it might be, and there weren”t really any. So I zeroed in on a part of Sabina”s diary where she described herself as “a demonoid dog,” which is such a fucking awful way of seeing oneself, and reveals so much about her. So I took inspiration from that. I wanted something demonic and animalistic, to put her interior struggle into wild exterior behavior. I also looked at a lot of Francis Bacon paintings for ideas: one in particular called ‘Study for a Crucifixion.””

Amid the trawling of library books and art galleries, there was some time for silliness too: “Well, of course I spent a lot of time in front of the bathroom mirror, pulling faces at myself! Then I”d get on Skype with David and give him three options, and he”d pick one.” She lets forth a pleasingly throaty laugh; I”m not sure I”ll ever be able to watch Knightley”s severe jaw contortions in the film without thinking of her showing them off in a Skype window.

Does she ever feel like bringing some of that more playful side to the screen – to join her peers on the genre train? She hesitates, choosing her words carefully. “If I could find a rom-com project with a character as complicated in her own way as the women in the films I”ve been doing recently, I”d gladly go for it,” she says, her tone making it clear that such scripts aren”t exactly written by the dozen. “But I did do a comedy over the summer, because I thought, ‘Jesus, this is just going from dark to darker to darkest, I need to lighten up a bit.””

The film, an ensemble piece titled “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World,” stars Steve Carell, and she evidently had a good time doing it. “I told a friend, ‘Don”t worry, it”s much lighter,” and then when she asked me what it”s about, I had to say, well, the end of the world!” She smiles audibly. “Maybe the apocalypse is as light as I can go right now.” 

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Amidst the recent slew of regional critics awards lists there have been the predictable pre-Oscar nominations and wins peppered with a few unconventional and often well-deserved selections. One or two of the honors felt particularly surprising, though.

The nomination that struck me as the most unusual was Houston submitting Alex Shaffer in the Supporting Actor category for his work in “Win Win” vs. one or a few of the other actors in the film. I am an admirer of Tom McCarthy”s understated (for lack of a better word) dramedy and applaud Houston for including the film in its Best Picture contenders. McCarthy is also rightly in the race for a Best Original Screenplay nomination at the Oscars.

I spoke the writer/director last week and will be releasing a full interview with him this week. For now I will say that I was in absolute agreement with McCarthy when he said that the performances in this film are easy to overlook because they are “very subtle” and take place in “un-extraordinary settings.” I also grant that in a year with several strong candidates in the Best Actor field, the Indiana critics made a bold and legitimate selection with Paul Giamatti for his role in the film. “I might not know everything,” McCarthy said during our interview, “but I know acting and those performances are authentic and so deeply felt. There are very few people who could pull that couple off as genuinely as they (Giamatti and Amy Ryan) did.” It would be lovely to see Ryan receive her own share of critical recognition for her work in the film as well, work that was nuanced, layered and a joy to watch.

In the supporting actor category, however, one would have imagined that Bobby Canavale would be the critical choice from the film (as great as Jeffrey Tambor is, he simply does not have enough to do).  “He really doesn”t miss,” McCarthy said of Canavale. “I think sometimes comedy gets a little overlooked but Bobby is someone who shouldn”t be.” We agree that comedy does deserve its due. Indeed, that has been a frequent topic in our recent interviews, first with McCarthy and then Judy Greer for “The Descendents.” I cannot say for certain that I would have pulled out Canavale’s performance in this year”s supporting actor field, but if there were to be a supporting actor nominee from “Win Win,” I would have thought it would be him.

While high school wrestling star, and first-time actor Alex Shaffer did an extraordinary job of holding his own with some formidably talented and seasoned actors, the strength of his performance is likely in large part due to the talent of the ensemble.

“He is as good the actors he”s working with,” he said of Shaffer”s work on the film.  “And it takes special actors to be that generous and that open. This is Alex”s first movie and we worked very hard to find exactly the right kid to plug into that. Once in awhile an actor meets a role and I believe that this was an example. That said, it was a lot of work to get him there and fortunately we found a kid with a ridiculous work ethic because he was such a star athlete. That discipline is instinct. He doesn”t question it. That applies to what we were doing. But it”s really a testament to the people he was working with. Great actors understand that acting is a team sport. Because it”s about giving and receiving, hearing and responding.”

It is a pleasure to see this, and other smaller films receive recognition, but it may have made more sense to shine the light on Giamatti and/or Ryan. They have a better shot at the Oscar race, in any event

From one McCarthy to another:

As much as I am in favor of comedic recognition, and as much as I loved “Bridesmaids” (which I unabashedly did), Melissa McCarthy”s win for Best Supporting Actress in both New York (Online) and Boston also took me aback. I was thrilled to see the film on AFI’s top 10 list and McCarthy for many was a standout. I count myself among those who walked away from the theater just a little bit in love with her. There are of course comedic performances, scripts and films that outshine the dramatic, but I remain unconvinced that is the case in this field, however.

Carey Mulligan”s performance in “Shame” or Jessica Chastain”s in “The Help” each felt like worthier selections this year. Both were essential pillars in their respective films. Mulligan was the catalyst for the journey that Fassbenber”s character takes in “Shame.” Chastain has been one of the true treasures of this year and “The Help” afforded her an incredible range to demonstrate her talent.

Having said that, I am, as always, on team comedy and genuinely respect what McCarthy did in her film.

For year-round entertainment news and commentary follow @JRothC on Twitter.

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Tomorrow we’ll be continuing with the year in review as I post up “The Longlists,” a slate of spotlights in key areas that I’ve extended beyond the Oscar-centric five to 10 in each field. One of the joys in doing it that way was the opportunity to widen the net and recognize many of the year’s great performances rather than a specific slice. With that in mind, Sasha Stone has written up the year’s best performances. But what about you? Are there any performances that stuck out for you this year outside of the generally agreed-upon stuff? Anything on the fringe that hasn’t gotten its due, or perhaps something right in front of our faces that keeps getting leap-frogged in favor of others? I’m curious what you think. [Awards Daily]

Greg Ellwood talks to “Bridesmaids” director Paul Feig. [Awards Campaign]

Kevin Carr sits down with “Take Shelter” star Michael Shannon. [Film School Rejects]

Brian Tallerico chats up “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” director Tomas Alfredson. [Hollywood Chicago]

Jason Reitman on “Young Adult” and the path not taken. [Carpetbagger]

Nicolas Winding Refn discusses his grim fairy tale, “Drive.” [24 Frames]

Christopher Nolan opens up a bit about “The Dark Knight Rises” to his favorite journalist. [Hero Complex]

Oscar hopefuls are lying low at the box office. [USA Today]

In honor of the recently embargo-free “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (zzzzzz), the top five badass female roles. [Collider]

Tilda Swinton on “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” her fratricidal tendencies and the “maternal instinct” myth. [Vulture]

The Broadcast Film Critics Association has announced its nominees for the 17th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, and there aren’t really any surprises. Across the board, it’s the roll call of Oscar contenders the announcement has turned into, more and more.

I went to the mat for “Margaret” throughout my ballot. Naturally, though, it doesn’t show up. Leading the way was “The Artist” and “Hugo” with 11 nominations each. Not far behind were “Drive” and “The Help” with eight apiece. The biggest surprise, I suppose, is “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” being snubbed completely. Nothing. Not even a notice for Gary Oldman in a Best Actor category of six.

Other things worth noting: Glenn Close didn’t show up in the Best Actress category despite there being six nominees. Her film, “Albert Nobbs,” only received a makeup nomination. “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” received nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Young Actor/Actress, but nothing for Max von Sydow or Sandra Bullock. And Nick Nolte rallied to a supporting actor notice for his work in “Warrior.”

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (which was embargoed until today and yet, I have no desire to write about it) received nods for Best Editing and Best Score, though Rooney Mara was not recognized. “The Ides of March” only managed one nod, for Best Acting Ensemble, and yes, Melissa McCarthy made it into the Best Supporting Actress category for her performance in “Bridesmaids.”

Oh, and it’s also nice to see Andy Serkis get into the Best Supporting Actor category for his performance-capture turn in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.”

The BFCA’s nominees have come to serve as a snapshot of Oscar predictions in early-December more than anything else. Inevitably, the race shifts as we move past this date and some of these will fail to register with the Academy. But it’s such a catch-all, I imagine no one is unhappy in Hollywood today.

The full list of nominees:

Best Picture
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“Drive”
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
“The Help”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Moneyball”
“The Tree of Life”
“War Horse”

Best Director
Stephen Daldry, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Alexander Payne, “The Descendants”
Nicolas Winding Refn, “Drive”
Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
Steven Spielberg, “War Horse”

Best Actor
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “J. Edgar”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Michael Fassbender, “Shame”
Ryan Gosling, “Drive”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

Best Actress
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Elizabeth Olsen, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Tilda Swinton, “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Charlize Theron, “Young Adult”
Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn”

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, “My Week with Marilyn”
Albert Brooks, “Drive”
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Patton Oswalt, “Young Adult”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”
Andy Serkis, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Carey Mulligan, “Shame”
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”
Shailene Woodley, “The Descendants”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“The Descendants”
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
“The Help”
“Hugo”
“Moneyball”

Best Original Screenplay
“The Artist”
“50/50”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Win Win”
“Young Adult”

Best Art Direction
“The Artist”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“Hugo”
“The Tree of Life”
“War Horse”

Best Cinematography
“The Artist”
“Drive”
“Hugo”
“The Tree of Life”
“War Horse”

Best Costume Design
“The Artist”
“The Help”
“Hugo”
“Jane Eyre”
“My Week with Marilyn”

Best Editing
“The Artist”
“Drive”
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“War Horse”

Best Makeup
“Albert Nobbs”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“The Iron Lady”
“J. Edgar”
“My Week with Marilyn”

Best Score
“The Artist”
“Drive”
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“War Horse”

Best Song
“Hello Hello” from “Gnomeo & Juliet”
“Life’s a Happy Song” from “The Muppets”
“The Living Proof” from “The Help”
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets”
“Pictures in My Head” from “The Muppets”

Best Sound
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“Hugo”
“Super 8”
“The Tree of Life”
“War Horse”

Best Visual Effects
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“Hugo”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Super 8”
“The Tree of Life”

Best Animated Feature
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Arthur Christmas”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”

Best Foreign Language Film
“In Darkness”
“Le Havre”
“A Separation”
“The Skin I Live In”
“Where Do We Go Now”

Best Documentary Feature
“Buck
“Cave of Forgotten Dreams”
“George Harrison: Living in the Material World”
“Page One: Inside the New York Times”
“Project Nim”
“Undefeated”

Best Action Movie
“Drive”
“Fast Five”
“Hanna”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Super 8”

Best Comedy
“Bridesmaids”
“Crazy, Stupid, Love”
“Horrible Bosses”
“Midnight in Paris”
“The Muppets”

Best Young Actor/Actress
Asa Butterfield, “Hugo”
Elle Fanning, “Super 8”
Thomas Horn, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Saoirse Ronan, “Hanna”
Shailene Woodley, “The Descendants”

Best Acting Ensemble
“The Artist”
“Bridesmaids”
“The Descendants”
“The Help”
“The Ides of March”

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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Here”s one for wealthy and eccentric cinephiles: The Wrap reports that Orson Welles” solitary Oscar is up for auction.

Let’s take a moment to pause and reflect on the fact that what is now considered one of the most significant films of all time, “Citizen Kane,” only took home the Oscar for Best Screenplay (though it was nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor). If I were forced to select just one category for a “Citizen Kane” win, it would be Best Director. The innovative techniques Welles employed to get the shots he wanted to tell his story were as effective as they were influential. Alas, as Aaron Sorkin writes in the “Moneyball” script, “the first one through the wall always gets bloodied.”

The history of Welles’s golden statue is storied and apropos. The writer/actor/director originally gave his Oscar to cinematographer Gary Graver (so much for sentiment). His daughter, Beatrice, then sued Graver for ownership. She went on to give the Award to a Los Angeles-based charity called Dax Foundation. (Looks like material detachment may be in the bloodlines – they took the lessons of “Kane” to heart it would seem).

The Foundation”s self-described mission statement is to “identify and engage with key individuals and groups who have a vision and commitment to improve the lives of all people and animals around the world.” We”re not entirely sure what that means, but by the looks of their website, they support a variety of charitable programs. So the sale will go to at least one good cause if not several.

They made an attempt to auction the statue back in 2003 but there were no bids that went over the reserve price. So one would hope that in this, the year of cinema history celebration, some plucky and disposable income-endowed lover of cinema and kitsch alike will step forward and do the right thing by Orson Welles’s Oscar.

Why do I feel like the odds-on favorite for this is Gary Busey? That”s how it pans out in my imagination, in any event.

For year-round entertainment news and commentary follow @JRothC on Twitter.

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Thanks to everyone who entered the “Rango” contest last week. The winners were ETHAN G. and SHARKMAN. So if you guys are reading, drop me a line so we can get you your prizes. (Additionally, I’m still waiting on you, GRUBI, to do the same following the “Super 8” contest. You were a winner!)

Today we have a set of screenplays to give away. Included are Tom McCarthy’s “Win Win,” Steve McQueen and Abi Morgan’s “Shame,” Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon’s “The Ides of March,” Tate Taylor’s “The Help” and Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants.”

For this, I think we’re going to dust off the ole’ limerick contest. If you feel up to the challenge, rifle off a limerick inspired by one of the above-mentioned films. The best one wins.

In case you don’t remember what a limerick is, you can refresh yourself here. Meanwhile, I’ll offer up last year’s sample just in case:

There once was a guy with a blog
Who felt it a daily slog
But oh what fun
To soon be done
With a season that”s becoming a fog

All good? Great, now… Go!

I’m beginning to pick up a pattern to these regional critics’ award lists, many of which seemingly feel obliged to lead with nominations: three-quarters of their choices fall within the expected bracket of Oscar favorites, while the remaining slots afford room for a few enterprising critics to flex their personality.

So it is with the San Diego crowd, who lead with the expected big hauls for “The Artist” and “Hugo,” the former scoring a field-leading eight bids. Yet they continue the smaller organizations’ heartening display of support for “Drive” — is that the third citation for Nicolas Winding Refn in the last two days? I’ve lost count — and venture a few suggestions even further outside the awards conversation.

I have to give them props for being the first US group to pay respect to Brendan Gleeson’s wonderful comic work in “The Guard,” which I’ve been championing all year, and this is the first vote of any stripe I’ve seen for “Another Earth” star Brit Marling in Best Actress. I have yet to see the latter, so you’ll have to tell me how pleasant a surprise this is.

Other than that, pick your own surprises. “Beginners” clearly has fans in San Diego, since it picked up not just a Supporting Actress nod for Melanie Laurent to go with the inevitable Christopher Plummer citation, but also mentions for writing and editing. Andy Serkis picks up another unorthodox nod for “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” though it’s still in the wrong category; Potter-heads can rejoice in a screenplay nod for the franchises final instalment. Nice to see the snappy Italian genre piece “The Double Hour” earn some love in the foreign category… etc, etc.

You get the idea: the same, but different. Full list below. 

Best Film
“The Artist”
“Drive”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“The Tree of Life”

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Nicolas Winding Refn, “Drive”
Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”

Best Actor
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Brendan Gleeson, “The Guard”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”
Michael Shannon, “Take Shelter”

Best Actress
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Brit Marling, “Another Earth”
Elizabeth Olsen, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Tilda Swinton, “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn”

Best Supporting Actor
Albert Brooks, “Drive”
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”
Andy Serkis, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
Max von Sydow, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Mélanie Laurent, “Beginners”
Carey Mulligan, “Shame”
Shailene Woodley, “The Descendants”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“The Descendants”
“Drive”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“Hugo”
“Moneyball”

Best Original Screenplay
“The Artist”
“Beginners”
“50/50”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Win Win”

Best Cinematography
“The Artist”
“Drive”
“Hugo”
“Take Shelter”
“The Tree of Life”

Best Editing
“The Artist”
“Beginners”
“Drive”
“Hugo”
“The Tree of Life”

Best Production Design
“The Artist”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“The Tree of Life”

Best Score
“The Artist”
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“Hugo”
“The Tree of Life”

Best Ensemble Performance
“Carnage”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“The Help”
“Margin Call”
“Midnight in Paris”

Best Animated Film
“Arthur Christmas”
“Happy Feet Two”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Rango”
“Winnie the Pooh”

Best Foreign Language Film
“The Double Hour”
“Happy Happy”
“Of Gods and Men”
“Le Quattro Volte”
“A Somewhat Gentle Man”

Best Documentary
“Buck”
“Cave of Forgotten Dreams”
“Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life”
“Page One: Inside the New York Times”
“Project Nim”

For more views on movies, awards season and other pursuits, follow @GuyLodge on Twitter.

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The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has announced that “Hugo” director Martin Scorsese will receive this years American Riviera Award. It’s the first time the award — which went to Annette Bening last year — has gone to a director.

“Honoring Scorsese has been a dream of SBIFF’s for many years,” festival director Roger urling says in the press release. “We’re thrilled that it’s happening during a year when this contemporary master of cinema is breaking new ground with ‘Hugo.'”

I figured he was sure to receive something, but I’d have figured him for the Modern Master Award, which is the festival’s highest honor. I wonder, then, who’ll be tapped for that. Steven Spielberg would be a real coup. Previous announcements have included Viola Davis as Outstanding Performer of the Year and Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo for the Vanguard Award.

While it might be the first time the American Riviera Award has gone to a director, it’s hard to argue that it’s intention “to recognize and artist who has had a strong influence on American cinema” isn’t perfectly apt for Scorsese.

The presentation will take place on Monday, January 30 at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara. Previous recipients of the award include the aforementioned Bening, Sandra Bullock, Mickey Rourke,Tommy Lee Jones, Forrest Whitaker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kevin Bacon and Diane Lane.

More awards announcements from the 27th annual Santa Barbara fest as they come. The festival runs January 26 – February 5, 2012.

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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