Motion Picture Sound Editors announce nominees for the Golden Reel Awards

 
"Black Swan" and "Inception" led the nominations Friday morning for the Motion Picture Sound Editors 58th annual Golden Reel Awards, earning three each.

The awards are given in sound editing, music editing and sound design.

Vying for best sound editing, feature film DX & ADR (dialogue and dubbing or "looping"), are "Black Swan," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part I," "Inception," "The Kids Are All Right," "The King's Speech," "The Social Network," "Tron: Legacy" and "True Grit."

Nominated for sound editing, feature film effects and foley, are "127 Hours," "Black Swan," "Inception," "True Grit," "Iron Man 2," "Salt," "Tron: Legacy" and "Unstoppable."

Nominees for sound editing, feature film animation, are "Despicable Me," "How to Train Your Dragon," "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole," "Tangled," "The Illusionist" and "Toy Story 3."

In contention for feature film documentary are "Babies," "Catfish," "Exit Through the Gift Shop," "Inside Job," "Restrepo," "Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage" and "Waiting for 'Superman.' "

Garnering nominations for feature film foreign-language are "Biutiful," "Lebanon," "Micmacs," "Mother," "North Face," "The Girl Who Played With Fire" and "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."

Nominees for best sound editing, feature film music, are "Alice in Wonderland," "Black Swan," "Get Low," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part I," "Inception," "Let Me In," "The Losers" and "The Social Network."

Nominees for feature film music in a musical are "Burlesque," "Country Strong," "Step Up 3D" and "Tangled."

For a list of the TV nominees, as well as nominations in several other categories including direct-to-video movies and computer interactive entertainment, go to http://www.mpse.org.

The Golden Reels will also be presenting two special awards at its Feb. 20 ceremony at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel: Oscar-winning producer Brian Grazer is set to receive the 2011 MPSE Filmmaker award, and Academy Award-winning sound designer and editor Walter Murch will receive the 2011 MPSE Career Achievement honor.

— Susan King

Photo: Leonardo DiCaprio in a scene from "Inception," nominated in three sound editing categories. Credit: Warner Bros.

 

'Get Low's' Robert Duvall and makeup artist Ken Diaz on beards gone wild

 

We wondered just what it took to turn Robert Duvall into a backwoods hermit with a wildly unkempt beard for his SAG Award-nominated role in "Get Low." So we went straight to the source -- well, the sources. Below, we hear first from makeup artist Ken Diaz, who created the massive beard, then we get the other side of the story. The veteran actor tells Awards Tracker about what it was like to work with the artist and about the awe the beard initially inspired. After hearing from them both, one thing quickly becomes clear: Each has a great admiration for the craftsmanship of the other.

Ken Diaz:

"In more than 30 years as a makeup artist for film and television, it is not very often that I get a call to work with an icon of American cinema like Robert Duvall. This is the man who played Tom Hagen in two of my favorite movies [‘The Godfather’ and 'The Godfather, Part II'] and Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in ‘Apocalypse Now.’ He was the Great Santini. The same man who blew me away as Sonny in ‘The Apostle.’

"I was called in to transform Mr. Duvall into Felix Bush, circa 1930s rural Tennessee, a crotchety old hermit in self-exile for the last 40 years. Many stories are told about that ‘crazy old man’ who lives in that cabin in the woods, outside of town. Now, in declining health, Bush is a man on the road to repentance.

"In the film, Bush goes though a transformation, shaving down his wild-looking hair and beard into a more nicely groomed look. After reading the script, having conversations with the director, Aaron Schneider, and with Mr. Duvall, I took photos of Duvall and Photoshopped different before-and-after hair-and-beard looks.

"For Mr. Duvall’s old-hermit look, I designed a wild-looking beard and mustache. I worked very closely with Natascha Ladek of Favian Wigs to create a beard that had a good blend of colors, giving the beard depth, paying very close attention to proper hair-growth direction, density and mobility.

"I carefully applied the completed wild-looking hermit beard and mustache on Mr. Duvall, taking great care to hide his own mustache and goatee, which we needed to keep for his second look. I then applied a special hair gel to groom and give the hair a natural shine and texture.

"After I completed the makeup, hair stylist Colleen Callaghan would expertly apply Mr. Duvall’s long hermit hairpiece, to complete the look.

"For Mr. Duvall’s second look, I kept his own mustache and goatee neatly trimmed. I adjusted his makeup to show the various stages of Bush’s health throughout the film.

"I completed the look by gluing a pair of flesh-colored acrylic "ear braces" behind Mr. Duvall’s ears to give him a more interesting look.

"I feel both privileged and honored to have been given the opportunity to work so closely with Mr. Duvall, helping develop the look of his character and then watching him masterfully transform into another memorable screen character."

Keep reading for a Q&A with Duvall on beards gone wild.

SAG nominations: The good, the bad and the shockeroos [Update]

The SAG Awards pulled off a cowboy-styled rescue of "True Grit" two days after it got skunked at the Golden Globes. The guild kudos added another big surprise in the film races too. Hello, Hilary Swank!

More thoughts on the nominations:

ENSEMBLE CAST
"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"The Kids Are All Right"
"The King's Speech"
"The Social Network"

"The Fighter," "The Kids Are All Right," "The King's Speech" and "The Social Network" were locks, but some pundits thought the fifth slot would go to "Inception" or "The Town." Turns out "Black Swan" swooped down here, probably because it has special appeal to the actors casting these ballots. It's about show business. It's a thrillingly creepy update of "All About Eve" in tutus.

ACTOR
Jeff Bridges, "True Grit"
Robert Duvall, "Get Low"
Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"
Colin Firth, "The King’s Speech"
James Franco, "127 Hours"

Maybe Javier Bardem ("Biutiful"), Mark Wahlberg ("The Fighter") and Ryan Gosling ("Blue Valentine") never had a prayer of getting in. Firth and Franco were destined to nab spots, being the front-runners, and Eisenberg had to be included because he's the hot new Thing. Room had to be made for Duvall because he's the revered veteran and for Bridges because he's last year's champ returning in a Coen brothers' flick. Oh, yeah, it helps that Bridges appears in a classic Oscar-winning role pioneered by John Wayne in 1969.

ACTRESS
Annette Bening, "The Kids Are All Right"
Nicole Kidman, "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence, "Winter's Bone"
Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"
Hilary Swank, "Conviction"

Swank bumped such formidable foes as Michelle Williams ("Blue Valentine"), Halle Berry ("Frankie and Alice"), Julianne Moore ("The Kids Are All Right"), Sally Hawkins ("Made in Dagenham") and National Board of Review champ Lesley Manville ("Another Year"). SAG was the one place where Moore and Manville could've heeded cries across the blogosphere for them to drop into supporting and thrive there. At SAG, actors decide what categories to enter. At the Golden Globes, there's an eligibility committee that decides these matters. HFPA put both Moore and Manville in lead – and then snubbed Manville.  [For the record, 12:30 p.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said the HFPA snubbed Moore as well. Moore was nominated for a Golden Globe in the lead actress category].

SAG nominations: Robert Duvall on 'Get Low'

 
An appreciative Robert Duvall had this to say, in a statement released Thursday morning, about his Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, for his role as a regretful hermit in "Get Low":

“Thank you to the Screen Actors Guild for acknowledging my performance in 'Get Low.'  It’s a film I’m very proud to be a part of and happy if this nomination helps to give the film the attention I would like it to receive.”

Photo: Robert Duvall. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times