Oscars: The Mominees are lighting up Twitter

 

It seemed like one of the sillier ideas from the Oscar producers when they announced during the nominees luncheon that they were encouraging the mothers of all the Oscar nominees to tweet about their children's Oscar experiences. (Amy Adams seemed quite amused at the thought of her mother taking up the tweeting game.) But it seems to be catching on.

As the New York Times' Carpetbagger pointed out Wednesday, James Franco's mother (FrancosMom) and grandmother (GrandmaMitz) are all a Twitter, as is Lee Unkrich's ("Toy Story 3" director) mother Emilie Unkrich (emilieunkrich), tweeting from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and David O. Russell's mother, Theresa O. Russell (ORussellsMom), who writes from Boca Raton, Fla.

Unkrich's mom seems to have been a Twitter fan since September 2009, when she wrote about Cornish game hens, painting her house and, of course, her son's film career. And though she commented on the Super Bowl ads from the 2010 game, she began tweeting in earnest on Feb. 9, two days after Unkrich was encouraged to get his mom tweeting. Some of her gems: "12th grade: Lee said, Mom, I know you always wanted me to be a Dr, but i want to be a film director like Steven Spielberg," and "Lee is a wonderful film Director as he has the ability to see the big picture as well as the smallest detail."

ORussellsMom seemed to get started tweeting a couple days after the luncheon too, "Was a great elation and validated all our feelings about the possibilities of his career in movies when we heard the news," referring back to his nomination. She's reached out to Unkrich's mom as well as the mother of Paul Tamasy, one of the writers on "The Fighter."

As for the ubiquitous Franco, we can now all tell where he got that multi-tasking gene -- straight from mom, Betsy. Just looking at her bio we see that she is a writer of novels ("Metamorphosis"), picture books ("Pond Circle"), poetry ("Dazzling Display of Dogs"), plays and screenplays, in addition to acting in films, TV and sketch comedy. She also readily acknowledges that it's always been hard to keep up with her interesting son. "When James was young, he was as adventurous as he is now. It was hard to keep up with him and that's an understatement." She adds that Franco, in addition to his many Hollywood duties, is directing a documentary on the making of her play, which is based on her novel.

The tweets are all worth following, if only for the reminder that celebrities are real people too, and that, well, everyone stands a little taller when Mom's doing the cheerleading.

-- Nicole Sperling

Photo: James Franco. Credit: Getty Images

Oscar luncheon: Schmoozing joined with a little lecturing

 
If Hollywood is some kind of weird manifestation of high school and the Oscars are prom night where the king and queen are crowned, surely the Oscar luncheon held Monday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel is graduation day.

This year's class of nominees first posed for a group photo before being issued their certificate of nomination and the requisite photo with Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences President Tom Sherak. The only things missing were the caps and gowns.

This year's event was the most well-attended of all with a record 147 out of 191 nominees present. (Most notably absent were supporting actor nominee Christian Bale and director David Fincher.) Despite some good, old-fashioned schmoozing that saw Oscar night producer/director Don Mischer and his wife posing for a photo with lead actor nominee Javier Bardem; "Black Swan" director Darren Aronofsky chatting up Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, the director of foreign language film nominee "Biutiful"; and "The King's Speech" director Tom Hooper getting in some face time with Oscar producer Bruce Cohen, the luncheon was also instructive. 

Mischer and Cohen were present to remind nominees to make meaningful, short and special speeches. The duo presented a video clip featuring Tom Hanks with detailed instructions on how to give an Oscar acceptance speech. The simple, but important, instructions involved beating the 45-second clock each nominee is given to accept their award; deciding ahead of time for the group awards who is going to accept the award; and, most important, never take out a piece of paper to read from. "Reading a long list of names only shows us your bald spot," quipped Hanks on the video as a slew of balding noggins appeared on the screen. Mischer even went so far as to pull out research showing that any time a winner pulls out a piece of paper, the Oscar telecast loses hundreds of thousands of viewers.

The producers also showed the audience a new indicator that will appear on the center camera that graphically counts down the 45 seconds each winner has to speak. The new method, which replaces the flashing "Please Wrap Up" message that would normally appear at 30 seconds, was met by some audience laughter. But the academy is so serious about sticking to the allotted time that it is sending home practice DVDs with the 45 second graphic, which depicts an inverted triangle that fills up more and more of the screen as time goes on.

"Playing you off to music is disrespectful to you, to our audience, to the academy and to our industry," said Mischer. "Our dream, our fantasy is to never have to play any of you off to music."

The majority of the event was spent with Hollywood luminaries chatting each other up. Best actor nominee Colin Firth blew Annette Bening a quick kiss after receiving his certificate of nomination along with the official Academy Awards gray sweatshirt that each nominee is given. (Bening immediately threw on her sweatshirt, perhaps to fight off the frigid ballroom chill.) Documentary nominee Lucy Walker ("Wasteland") and her date, musician Moby, who contributed music to Walker's film, chatted up Hooper, while best supporting actress nominee Amy Adams ("The Fighter") commiserated with her costar and fellow nominee Melissa Leo. Jeff Bridges, who received the prime front-and-center seat, with Bening on his lap, chatted up Ed Begley Jr., on hand as one of the academy governors.

The event (see a gallery of photos here) ended rather abruptly after dessert was served, with many nominees running off to do more interviews, or in the case of sound mixer Mark Weingarten, returning back to work on Fincher's latest film, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." Sherak didn't seem ready for anyone to leave, joking, "We have the room til 6 tonight."

Related:

Red carpet photos

Panorama: Inside the Oscar nominees' luncheon

--Nicole Sperling

Photo: Javier Bardem at the 83rd Academy Awards nominations luncheon on Monday. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

 

Join our live chat with David O. Russell Friday, Feb. 4

 
After a six-year break between feature films, director David O. Russell came back strong with his most mainstream movie to date, "The Fighter." Longtime collaborator Mark Wahlberg ("Three Kings," "I Heart Huckabees") was a producer on the film and brought Russell aboard to direct.

The movie, which tells the story of real-life boxing brothers Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and Dicky Ecklund (Christian Bale), has garnered a hefty share of key Oscar nominations, not the least of which are nods for best picture and for Russell's directing.

So what was it like for him directing Bale in the role of the drug-addicted Ecklund?  Or dealing with the financing ups and downs of the project? The director will join us at 11 a.m. Friday (Feb. 4) for a live chat to discuss the film, the Oscar race and whatever else you want to ask him about. Sign up below. 

Photo: Mark Wahlberg, left, and director David O. Russell. Credit: Jojo Whilden © 2010 Fighter, LLC.

Tom Hooper wins top honors from the Directors Guild of America

 

The Directors Guild of America on Saturday evening named Tom Hooper best director of 2010 for "The King's Speech," the film based on the real-life story of King George VI's battle to overcome a debilitating stammer. It is the first guild win in the feature category for the 38-year-old filmmaker.

"Oh my God," said a surprised Hooper. "I am so grateful to my wonderful cast. I am overwhelmed. This is the highest honor of my life."

Hooper was nominated for a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Movie Award. He's also in contention for a BAFTA and an Academy Award.

"The King's Speech" was the surprise winner last week at the Producers Guild of America Awards -- the Facebook drama "The Social Network" had been favored to win the prize -- and leads the list of most-nominated films heading into the Academy Awards with 12.

The DGA Awards are one of the most dependable bellwethers of the Academy Awards. In fact, in the last 62 years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the DGA have disagreed in their choices only six times.

The 63rd annual DGA ceremony was held at the Renaissance Hotel at Hollywood and Highland with Carl Reiner hosting.

The guild awarded its prize for directing a TV drama series to Martin Scorsese for HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," though Scorsese, who was said to be ill, did not attend the ceremony. Charles Ferguson won in the documentary category for his feature "Inside Job." Mick Jackson won for directorial achievement in movies for television and miniseries for HBO's "Temple Grandin," while Michael Spiller won for the ABC hit "Modern Family" in the TV comedy series category.

Glenn Weiss won in the musical/variety race for his direction of the 64th annual Tony Awards (CBS), and Larry Carpenter won for his work on "One Life to Live" in the daytime serials category.

The DGA also kicked off its 75th anniversary at the ceremony with DGA winners including Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, John Rich and Steven Spielberg introducing special film-clip presentations on "game-changing" moments in the guild's history.

Among the other awards handed out, Eytan Keller won for outstanding achievement in reality programs for "The Next Iron Chef" (Food Network); Eric Bross won top honors in the children's programs category for "The Boy Who Cried Werewolf" (Nickelodeon); and Stacy Wall was recognized for his achievement in commercials directing.

-- Susan King

Photo: Tom Hooper at the James Hotel in Chicago. Credit: Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune

 

DGA announces list of presenters for Saturday ceremony

 
It will be a star-studded affair Saturday night at the annual DGA award ceremony, with such luminaries as Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese on hand to honor this year's best directors. Also attending will be a slew of this year's Oscar nominees, including Colin Firth ("The King's Speech"), Jennifer Lawrence ("Winter's Bone"), Melissa Leo ("The Fighter") and Natalie Portman ("Black Swan").

Other directors on hand to recognize the DGA recipients are Michael Apted, Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola and DGA President Taylor Hackford. Carl Reiner will return as the host for the 63rd annual award show at which either Darren Aronofsky ("Black Swan"), David Fincher ("The Social Network"), Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech"), Christopher Nolan ("Inception") or David O. Russell ("The Fighter") will walk away with the top prize of the evening.

— Nicole Sperling

Photo: Martin Scorsese. Photo credit: Abbot Genser/HBO.

Oscar nominations: Amy Adams toughens up

 
"It’s a nice sound to wake up to the phone ringing on Oscar day," says Amy Adams of learning about her Oscar nomination as best supporting actress for "The Fighter," a nod she shares with co-star Melissa Leo. "I’m just so grateful to be in this film -– that’s the thing that’s most meaningful to me, that people were so passionate about getting it made."

The role seems so out of character for the often sunny actress, how did she go about preparing for it?

Director David O. Russell "actually had me watch 'Raging Bull' -– he wanted me to watch De Niro. He said he wanted me to be that tough."

She did need to be tough. As Charlene, the fiancee of Mark Wahlberg's boxer character, who is heavily manipulated by his family, Adams had to stand up for herself -- and him.

"Charlene is someone fighting to create a better life for herself and her man. She believes he has great potential and his family is holding him back."

 

 

RELATED: 'The King's Speech,' 'True Grit' top Academy Award nominations

Oscar nominees react

Full list of nominations

--Deborah Vankin

Photo: Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams in "The Fighter." Credit: JoJo Whilden/Paramount

 

My 100% perfect Oscar nomination predictions

Oscar nominations will be unveiled next Tuesday. Below: my predictions in the top six Academy Awards races.

BEST PICTURE
1. "The Social Network"
2. "The King's Speech"
3. "The Fighter"
4. "True Grit"
5. "Black Swan"
6. "Toy Story 3"
7. "Inception"
8. "The Town"
9. "127 Hours"
10. "The Kids Are All Right"

The top seven films on this list are locks for nominations. Mystery looms over what will nab those bottom three rungs where four films jockey for inclusion. "Winter's Bone" is the one not shown here, but could break in.


BEST DIRECTOR
1. David Fincher, “The Social Network”
2. Christopher Nolan, “Inception”
3. Darren Aronofsky, “Black Swan”
4. Tom Hooper, “The King’s Speech”
5. David O. Russell, “The Fighter”

Fincher will win, of course. The only suspense surrounds who'll be nominated. The above five are the DGA nominees. One of them (but not Fincher) might be bumped for Joel and Ethan Coen ("True Grit") or Danny Boyle ("127 Hours"). There's a remote chance Lisa Cholodenko ("The Kids Are All Right") could squeak in now that a woman finally won here for the first time last year.


BEST ACTOR
1. Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"
2. James Franco, "127 Hours"
3. Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"
4. Robert Duvall, "Get Low"
5. Jeff Bridges, "True Grit"

Colin Firth will win, James Franco and Jesse Eisenberg are guaranteed nominations. Duvall and Bridges are vulnerable and could be bumped by Javier Bardem ("Biutiful"), Mark Wahlberg ("The Fighter") or Ryan Gosling ("Blue Valentine").
 

BEST ACTRESS
1. Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"
2. Annette Bening, "The Kids Are All Right"
3. Nicole Kidman, "Rabbit Hole"
4. Jennifer Lawrence, "Winter's Bone"
5. Hilary Swank, "Conviction"

Some pundits doubt that Swank will make the list, but she scored a SAG nomination and that's always a great omen. Otherwise, expect Julianne Moore ("The Kids Are All Right") or Michelle Williams ("Blue Valentine") to sneak in. Outside shot: Lesley Manville ("Another Year"), who won National Board of Review. Some pundits believe Hailee Steinfeld ("True Grit") will be nommed in lead even though she campaigned in supporting. That happened just two years ago with Kate Winslet ("The Reader"), but I don't see that scenario repeating now.
 

Golden Globe predictions: 'King's Speech' or 'Social Network' to reign?

Predicting the Golden Globes is hard because the awards are bestowed by such a quirky group of foreign journalists with unusual tastes. But let's try it anyway. First the film categories.

-- Tom O'Neil

X = predicted winner

PICTURE (DRAMA)
"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
X - "The Social Network"

PREDICTION: This is a close contest between "King's Speech" and "Social Network." Members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. often like foreign-set films, especially when they involve the British aristocracy, as evidenced by past victories here by "Atonement," "The English Patient" and "Sense and Sensibility." But sometimes the foreigners strive to do the opposite – to prove how in tune they  are with hip Yankee fare such as "Avatar" last year – and "Social Network" this year? I think so, yes.


PICTURE (COMEDY/MUSICAL)
"Alice in Wonderland"
"Burlesque"
X - "The Kids Are All Right"
"Red"
"The Tourist"

PREDICTION: "Kids" is the only movie on this list that has any hope of an Oscar nomination for best picture, so it'll probably prevail. But is it really a comedy?


DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, "Black Swan"
X - David Fincher, "Social Network"
Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech"
Christopher Nolan, "Inception"
David O. Russell, "The Fighter"

PREDICTION: Unlike Oscar voters, Globe voters often spread the wealth and reward helmers of films that don't win best picture. But I don't think that's going to happen this year.


ACTOR (DRAMA)
Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"
X - Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"
James Franco, "127 Hours"
Ryan Gosling, "Blue Valentine"
Mark Wahlberg, "The Fighter"

PREDICTION: Firth hasn't lost a single award yet this season – and he's not going to lose this one, or any other, en route to the Oscar crown.

 

'The Social Network' wins Critics' Choice Movie Award for best film

 
 
As expected, "The Social Network" won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for best film of 2010 on Friday evening, along with the best director award for David Fincher, best adapted screenplay for Aaron Sorkin and best score for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The drama about the birth of Facebook has won the majority of critics honors this year, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn., New York Film Critics Circle and National Society of Film Critics. It's nominated for six Golden Globe Awards and earlier in the week earned nominations from the Producers Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America.

However, it was not the evening's biggest winner by trophy count.  That distinction went to Christopher Nolan's enigmatic thriller "Inception," which took home six awards from the Broadcast Film Critics Assn.: best action film; cinematography for Wally Pfister; art direction for Guy Henrix Dyas, Larry Dias and Doug Mowat;  editing for Lee Smith; and for visual effects and sound.

Best actor went to Oscar front-runner Colin Firth for "The King's Speech." The historical drama also won best original screenplay for David Seidler. Natalie Portman took best actress honors for the psychological thriller "Black Swan." Christian Bale and Melissa Leo won best supporting actor and actress for their work in "The Fighter," which won the best ensemble award. And 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld's breakout work in "True Grit" landed her the best young actor/actress award.

"Toy Story 3" won best animated feature, and "Easy A" took home the best comedy honors. Tim Burton's box office hit "Alice in Wonderland" won best costume design for Colleen Atwood as well as best makeup.

"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" earned best foreign-language film honors, while "Waiting for 'Superman,' " was named best documentary.  Best song honors went to "If I Rise" from "127 Hours,"  music by A.R. Rahman and lyrics by Dido Armstrong and Rollo Armstrong. The sole TV honor -- best television movie -- went to HBO's miniseries "The Pacific."

The awards were handed out at the Hollywood Palladium and telecast on VH1.

— Susan King

 

Photo: Jesse Eisenberg, Brenda Song and Andrew Garfield in "The Social Network." Credit: Merrick Morton/Columbia Tristar.

Ryan Kavanaugh loses appeal with Academy for producer credit on 'The Fighter'

Financier/producer Ryan Kavanaugh has lost his final appeal with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences for producing credit on "The Fighter." Two people with knowledge of the situation said that Kavanaugh presented his case to the Academy on Tuesday and was denied. Kavanaugh declined to comment, as did the Academy.

His loss culminates a two-month process that began when he was denied producing credit by the Producers Guild of America for his work on the David O. Russell-directed film, a prospective best picture nominee. (He financed the $23-million production.) The 36-year-old Relativity Media chief then appealed his case with the guild and was again denied the credit.

His plight serves a stark contrast to the appeals that teams behind "The Social Network" and "Black Swan" initiated with the PGA. In the case of " Social Network," Michael De Luca was left off the producing credits but was reinstated after his fellow producers, Sony Pictures, director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin all wrote letters further explaining his role in the movie.

"I fully understand why the rules are there," said Scott Rudin, a producer on the "Social Network." "But it's a menchy thing that they make exceptions to it. There are exceptions, and sometimes a form doesn't tell the whole story."

As for "Black Swan," Mike Medavoy and Brian Oliver were given producer credit on appeal, after originally being left off the PGA's initial decision. Letters from fellow producer Scott Franklin helped overturn the original ruling.

"Brian Oliver was on the set all the time and he put up the money to get the movie made, so he deserves the credit," Medavoy said. "I was on the set only once. But there was no need. I'm not going to tell the director where to put the camera. And there wasn't enough money to keep me in New York, spending the per diem. The movie would have suffered from it. But this movie wouldn't have existed had I not bought the script 12 years ago."

Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan. 25. The nomination ballots are due on Friday.

-- Nicole Sperling

Photo: Ryan Kavanaugh shares a laugh with actress Kate Bosworth at a charity event last year. 
Credit: Charley Gallay / WireImage.com