Oscars: 'Inception' wins for cinematography

"Inception's" Wally Pfister won the Oscar for cinematography at the 83rd Academy Awards on Sunday night.

This is Pfister's fourth Oscar nomination and first win. Earlier this month, he won the American Society of Cinematographers' award for feature film.

Pfister competed against Matthew Libatique for "Black Swan," Danny Cohen for "The King’s Speech," Jeff Cronenweth for "The Social Network" and Roger Deakins for "True Grit."

The Academy Awards are taking place at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood and are being televised live on ABC. We'll carry all the breaking news and reaction here on Awards Tracker.

— Rick Rojas

Photo: Wally Pfister and his Academy Award. Credit: Associated Press.

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Oscars: 'Alice in Wonderland' wins for art direction

"Alice in Wonderland" won the Oscar for art direction at the 83rd Academy Awards on Sunday night.

Production designer Robert Stromberg also won the prize last year for his work on James Cameron's "Avatar." Set decorator Karen O'Hara was nominated once before, in 1987, for "The Color of Money."

"Alice" competed against “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows –- Part 1,” "Inception," "The King's Speech" and "True Grit."

The Academy Awards are taking place at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood and are being televised live on ABC. We'll carry all the breaking news and reaction here on Awards Tracker.

-- Rick Rojas

Photo: "Alice in Wonderland." Credit: Disney

 

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Video highlights of the ACE Eddie Awards

Being an organization of savvy film editors, the American Cinema Editors compiled a reel of highlights from the ACE Eddie Awards held Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The video is below. See the list of winners here.

Being a journalist who is often not savvy about video operations, I shot two segments on my own that offer extended looks at two peak acceptance speeches: Christopher Nolan ("Inception") offering thanks for the honorary filmmaker of the year award, and Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter ("The Social Network") accepting the prize for best editing of a dramatic feature. Both videos are after the jump -- and are a bit jumpy, truth be told, due to my unsteady grip on the camera. Sorry!

-- Tom O'Neil

'Inception' takes top Motion Picture Sound Editing honors

 
"Inception" and "The Pacific" were the big winners Sunday night at the Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Awards, winning two each.
 
Christopher Nolan's "Inception," which is nominated for eight Academy Awards, including best film, won for sound effects and foley in a feature film and music in a feature film at the ceremony at the Westin Bonaventure.
 
HBO's World War II miniseries "The Pacific" picked up Golden Reels for long form dialogue and ADR [dubbing] in TV for the "Basilone" episode and long form sound effects and foley in TV for "Peleliu Landing."

Other sound editing winners announced Sunday:

Sound effects, foley, dialogue, ADR in an animation feature film: "How to Train Your Dragon"
Sound effects, foley, dialogue, ADR and music in a feature documentary: "Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage"
Sound effects, foley, dialogue and ADR in a feature foreign language film: "Micmacs"
Music in a musical feature film: "Country Strong"
Dialogue and ADR in a feature film: "The Social Network"
Sound effects, foley, dialogue and ADR animation in television: "The Penguins of Madagascar: The Lost Treasure of the Golden Squirrel"
Long form documentary: "And Man Created Dogs"
Short form dialogue and ADR in television: "The Walking Dead: Guts"
Short form sound effects and foley in television: "The Tudors: The Sixth and Final Wife"
Short form musical in television: "Glee: The Power of Madonna"
Short form music in television: "Boardwalk Empire: Anastasia"
Direct to video-animation: "Family Guy: It's a Trap"
Computer interactive entertainment: "Disney Epic Mickey"

Special venue: "Journey to Mecca"
Direct to video-live action: "30 Days of Night: Dark Days"
Computer episodic entertainment: "A Drop of True Blood: Sam"
Verna Fields Award in sound editing for student filmmakers: "Stanley Pickle"
 
Oscar-winning producer Brian Grazer ("A Beautiful Mind") is the 2011 MPSE Filmmaker recipient and Oscar-winning sound designer and editor Walter Murch ("The Conversation," "The English Patient") received the 2011 MPSE Career Achievement award.
 
-- Susan King
 
 Photo: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy in "Inception." Credit: Warner Bros. 

'Inception's' production design scores a BAFTA upset: Oscar next? [video]

Two days before "Inception" pulled off an upset at the BAFTA Awards in the race for production design, I powwowed with future winner Guy Dyas at the Hollywood Museum. He's an Oscar nominee in a fascinating race — and one he could win if trends continue in his category.

Normally, the Oscar and BAFTA Award for art direction go to the most ornate, bombastic decoration in films set back in historic times, like previous Oscar champs "Sweeney Todd," "Moulin Rouge" and "Shakespeare in Love."

Movies with a contemporary or futuristic look don't usually fare well, but "Avatar" won both prizes last year. Does "Inception's" victory at BAFTA bode well for its next face-off at the Academy Awards? It competes against most of the same contenders it trounced at BAFTA: "Alice in Wonderland," "The King's Speech" and "True Grit." The only difference: BAFTA nominee "Black Swan" is bumped by "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1" on Feb. 27.

The British academy and the Oscars share many voters. About 500 members of BAFTA are among the 5,800 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is a significant overlap, but there are differences in their voting processes. All Oscar voters can decide the winner, but only art directors determine who wins that BAFTA category.

                                                     

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— Tom O'Neil

Photo: Guy Dyas. Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images.

'Inception's' Wally Pfister wins American Society of Cinematographers' top film award

Wally Pfister won the American Society of Cinematographers award for feature film for Christopher Nolan's complex thriller "Inception" on Sunday night.

It was a big Sunday for "Inception." Earlier in the day, the film won three Orange British Academy Film Awards for production design, visual effects and sound.

At the 25th annual ASC awards, Jonathan Freeman won for episodic television for HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" and Stephen Windon won the TV movie/miniseries honor for HBO's "The Pacific."

Julia Roberts won the Board of Governors Award at the ceremony, which was held at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland. Roger Deakins, who earlier in the day won the BAFTA Award for his cinematography on "True Grit," earned the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award. The ASC International Award went to John Seale of "The English Patient" fame. The Career Achievement in Television Award went to Michael O'Shea of "CSI: Miami." And the ASC Presidents Award went to photographer Douglas Kirkland.

-- Susan King

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-- Susan King

Photo: Wally Pfister on location for "Inception." Credit: Melissa Moseley / Warner Bros.

BAFTA Awards: 'The King's Speech' is crowned with seven wins

 
It was no big surprise when the British period drama "The King's Speech" won seven Orange British Academy Film Awards on Sunday evening at the Royal Opera House in London.

The surprise came when Tom Hooper, the film's director and recent recipient of the Directors Guild of America Award, came up empty handed. It was David Fincher who won best director honors for "The Social Network."

Still, it was "The King's Speech's" night. The historical piece about George VI's attempts to rid himself of his stutter before becoming King of England, won outstanding film, outstanding British film, lead actor for Colin Firth (he won the award in this category last year for "A Simple Man"), original screenplay for David Seidler, supporting actor for Geoffrey Rush, supporting actress for Helena Bonham Carter and score for Alexandre Desplat.

"The King's Speech" is also nominated for 12 Academy Awards and is the favorite to take home Oscar's biggest prize.

Besides Fincher's win for best director, "The Social Network," the drama about the founding of Facebook, also won for Aaron Sorkin's adapted screenplay and editing.

"Toy Story 3" earned best animated film honors, and Roger Deakins took home the cinematography prize for "True Grit."

"Inception" won three awards for production design, visual effects and sound, while "Alice in Wonderland" won for costumes and makeup and hair.

Sweden's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" won outstanding film not in the English language and writer-director Chris Norris of "Four Lions" won outstanding British debut by a writer-director or producer.

Outstanding short film went to "Until the River Runs Red," while "The Eagleman Stag" won for animated short.

Tom Hardy of "Inception" won the Rising Star honor and, as previously announced, the "Harry Potter" franchise was given the outstanding British contribution to the cinema honor. Veteran actor Christopher Lee won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' Fellowship award, the organization's highest accolade.

— Susan King

Photo: Geoffrey Rush, left, Colin Firth and Derek Jacobi in "The King's Speech." Credit: The Weinstein Co.

BAFTA Awards: 'The King's Speech' wins best film

 
"The King's Speech" won best film Sunday evening at the Orange British Academy Film Awards. The film, directed by Tom Hooper, tells the story of Britain's King George VI and his struggle to overcome a stutter as the nation hovers on the brink of World War II. 

The film has swept recent guild awards in the U.S. -- including the producers guild -- and is considered to be in a tight race with "The Social Network" for the top Oscar. The British awards and the Oscars have aligned fairly closely in recent years.

"The King's Speech" was in competition against "Black Swan," "Inception," "The Social Network" and "True Grit."

The awards, presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, were given out at the Royal Opera House in Convent Garden, London.

-- Susan King

Photo: Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter in "The King's Speech." Credit: The Weinstein Company.

New 'Inception' featurette hits the Web

With only three weeks left till Oscar night, Warner Bros. is making its final recognition push for   Christopher Nolan's "Inception." Nominated for eight Academy Awards -- including best picture, original screenplay and cinematography -- the film, despite its close to $300 million domestic gross and countless Top 10 lists, has been viewed as an underdog in both the picture and screenplay categories.(Nolan won the Writers Guild of America for original screenplay Saturday night but said during his acceptance speech that it was a qualified win since his biggest competitor, "The King's Speech," was ineligible for WGA recognition.)

Now Warner Bros. is putting out a five-minute snippet that highlights the critics' love for the movie as well as the filmmaking feats accomplished in this mind-bending heist story. See for yourself what Warner Bros. is selling below, then let's see whether it makes a difference on Oscar night.

 

'King's Speech,' 'Black Swan,' 'Inception' take art direction awards

 
"The King's Speech," "Inception" and "Black Swan" won the top feature film awards at the 16th Art Directors Guild Awards on Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
 
Eve Stewart won for excellence in production design for a period film for "The King's Speech"; Guy Hendrix Dyas won in the fantasy film category for "Inception"; and Therese DePrez took home the award in the contemporary film category for "Black Swan."

On the television side, Dan Bishop won for the "Public Relations" episode of "Mad Men" in the single-camera TV series category; Robb Wilson King won for television movie or miniseries for "Secrets in the Wall"; and Richard Berg earned the award for half-hour single-camera TV series for the "Halloween" installment of "Modern Family." The award for multi-camera, variety or unscripted series went to Keith Raywood, Eugene Lee, Akira Yoshimura and N. Joseph De Tullio for the Betty White/Jay Z episode of "Saturday Night Live." 

David Rockwell won in the awards, music or game show category for "The 82nd Annual Academy Awards," and Jesse B. Benson won in the commercials and music video category for the Dos Equis commercial "Ice Fishing."
 
Honorary awards were presented to production designer Patricia Norris for lifetime achievement, and to Syd Dutton and Bill Taylor for outstanding contribution to cinematic imagery.

For more information on the awards go click here.

-- Susan King

Photo: A scene from "Black Swan." Credit: Fox Searchlight