Last Thursday evening, Sasha Grey, one of the world's most popular porn stars, joined me at Brandeis University for an exclusive interview after a screening of "The Girlfriend Experience," Steven Soderbergh's critically acclaimed new mainstream film in which she stars.
Early word of Grey's impending visit set the city of Boston abuzz, and -- as we learned via blogs, Twitter, talk radio and newspaper columns -- she is not someone who engenders mild feelings. Some said they had never before heard of or seen her; others said they had heard and seen a lot of her. Some said they vehemently disapproved of what she did for a living; others said they couldn't get enough of her work. Some were outraged that a prestigious university would invite her to visit its campus and that a respected publication would want to interview her; others -- especially the 300 students who managed to snag a ticket to the event -- were just plain happy that we did.
So, why did we? Well, to clear things up, for two main reasons: (1) "The Girlfriend Experience" is a significant film, and (2) Grey is, in her own way, a significant filmmaker. Allow me to elaborate...
* * *
"The Girlfriend Experience" is the 20th feature film directed by Soderbergh, one of the most admired and respected filmmakers working today. Before coming to Brandeis, it was test-screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January, had its official premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 28, and screened there again April 29, whereupon Variety called it a "fascinating study" and an "arthouse gem" that "finds the helmer in top, and truly topical, form."
Set in and shot during October 2008 in New York -- not long after the Eliot Spitzer scandal broke and the nation's economic collapse began -- it takes us into the world of a $2,000-an-hour escort (Grey) as she juggles personal and professional relationships; real and pretend emotions; and a lifestyle that is both extremely rewarding (financially) and extremely tolling (on the mind, body, and sometimes even the heart).
Twenty years ago, Soderbergh tackled a similar subject in "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" (1989), which kick-started the indie movement. He went on to earn two best director Oscar nominations -- one for "Erin Brockovich" (2000), and the other, which he won, for directing "Traffic" (2000). These days, he splits his time between directing big commercial fare like the "Oceans 11" trilogy (2001, 2004 and 2007) and smaller passion projects like "Bubble" (2005), "Che" (2008), and this one, which was shot in just 16 days, was overseen by a crew of fewer than a dozen and stars a group of people who had never before appeared on camera -- with one notable exception.
* * *
Twenty-one-year-old Sasha Grey not only plays a woman who makes her living through sex; she is one. Grey has worked in porn for three years, starred in over 150 adult films and won last year's AVN Female Performer of the Year Award, the highest honor in adult entertainment. Consequently, she is probably as qualified as anyone to shed light on the inner workings of this least discussed but most consistently profitable sector of the film industry.
Sex has never been a bigger seller than it is today. Over 13,000 new X-rated DVDs will be released this year. Thousands of new porn sites will join the hundreds of thousands already accessible with just a few clicks of the mouse. And the adult entertainment industry overall will reportedly earn over $13 billion this year. (It's so big, in fact, that some representatives of it recently requested -- and I'm not making this up -- a federal bailout.)
That said, how often have you heard or seen it discussed in any meaningful way?
Our society has never been more open. These days, we openly discuss virtually everything. And yet the one subject that can still make us blush is sex, even though we are all the product of it, most of us know about it, many of us practice it, and lots of us -- clearly -- watch it.
I, for one, believe that the phenomenal popularity of adult entertainment is too big to ignore any longer, and that we might learn a lot about our society and ourselves by actually, dare I say, letting loose and talking about it. Fortunately, Grey agreed.
* * *
The resulting video, which can be seen at the top of this post, runs for roughly an hour. In it, I pose questions to Grey (about the film, her life and her opinions on matters both heavy and light) and then open the floor to Brandeis students, who have several questions of their own. It features some questionable language (the worst of it has been bleeped) and is not suitable for children or a workplace environment.
* * *
Special thanks: Arianne Ayers, Lucy Krivitsky, Martin Wendel (Magnolia Pictures); Donna Daniels, Elena Zilberman (Donna Daniels PR); Liz Owens (Allied Advertising); Prof. Alice Kelikian, Dona DeLorenzo, Lorna Miles, Dennis Nealon, Max Pearlstein, Chris Anderson, John Quackenbush, Rob Trombino, Edward Callahan, Jenna Berger, AJ Lawrence, Ben Strassfeld, Prof. Steven Burg (Brandeis University); Lora Victorio, Dr. Harvey Kliman (Post-Production)
Photo: Sasha Grey in "The Girlfriend Experience." Courtesy: Magnolia Pictures
What is it about actor Thomas Haden Church that makes him almost instantly likable? That question was on my mind before, during and after my interview with the Emmy winner and Oscar nominee last week at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, where he was promoting his latest film, "Don McKay," and it's taken a while, but I think I've figured out the answer: Not unlike Robert Mitchum, another gravely voiced and perenially underappreciated talent whom he calls to mind, he just doesn't give a damn. That's not to say that he doesn't care about what he does; he -- his characters and himself -- just doesn't care what you think about what he does.
Over 20 years on screen, Church has specialized in playing carefree and fun-loving characters who might not be the sharpest tool in the shed,but who guys would love to hang out with and chicks would love to date -- the most famous examples, of course, are airport mechanic Lowell Mather on "Wings" (1990-95) and road-tripping Jack in "Sideways" (2004). Off-screen, meanwhile, he seems to have the unusual ability to recognize the BS that has always been the driving force of Hollywood and that has afflicted him -- the hard knocks, the broken promises, the false stories -- and not let it bother him. No, he's too busy running four cattle ranches, a commercial beef operation, and an acting career (when the right part calls) to let it.
You can hear him talk about all this and more in the audio excerpts of our interview below ...
"I hadn't really heard that much about ['Alien'], pulled into the parking lot, looked at the one sheet -- which is, of course, the infamous egg, and the crack, and the light coming out, and 'No one in space can hear you scream' -- and I'm like, 'Sure, why not? I'll go in there.' I was the only guy in the theater, and was absolutely ... terrified and exhilarated for two-plus hours. And I walked out of there and -- really and truly, man -- it was an epiphany."
"I am convinced... the only reason [Payne] remembered me was because we talked about Marlon Brando for two ... hours. ... George Clooney and Brad Pitt were chasing it ... and he said no to those guys."
"Right after the Academy Awards -- or around, like, the beginning of '05, whenever 'Sideways' was being celebrated so fervently -- there was a ton of activity, not the least of which was I got offered the villain in 'Spider-Man 3.' Look at Mickey Rourke -- he's doing 'Iron Man 2' and 'Spider-Man 4.' "
Photos: Thomas Haden Church in "Wings" (NBC), "Sideways" (Fox Searchlight), and "Don McKay" (Tribeca Film Festival)
Earlier this week, I met with the Oscar-nominated actress Elisabeth Shue at the Direct TV Tribeca Press Center to chat about the peaks and valleys of a career that has now spanned 25 years, from "The Karate Kid" (1984) to "Leaving Las Vegas" (1995) to "Don McKay" (2009), an indie showing at this year's Tribeca Film Festival that I wrote about earlier in the week. The actress, now 45 and as beautiful as ever, spoke candidly about a variety of topics, as you can hear for yourself by clicking below...
"I had met a girl who was on a commercial and was very in awe of the fact that she was on TV, as if it was impossible that human beings could even be on television, and I think that led me to want that same sort of attention."
"I was still so innocent and naive about the business. I didn't understand it really was a business. I didn't know how much money ['The Karate Kid'] made, really, until 10 years later. Somebody said, 'It made over $100 million.' I said, 'Wow, that's amazing.'"
"I knew the experience was very special from the beginning. I loved working with Nic so much, and I loved my character, and I loved the feelings these characters had for each other -- in this dark world, they still had such an innocent love for each other."
"It definitely opened a lot of doors, but in some ways it makes it more complicated -- you have higher expectations of what you want to do, and you have to be incredibly patient, which I probably wasn't."
"It just came in the mail, and it was so obvious what a great part it was, and it was so obvious what a great actor Thomas Haden Church is, and so I knew, with those two pieces of the puzzle, I would just give my faith to Jake [Goldberger, the director], not knowing what he was capable of."
Photos: Elisabeth Shue in "The Karate Kid" (Columbia), in "Leaving Las Vegas" (United Artists), and on the set of "Don McKay" (Boston Herald)
The most hotly anticipated film going into this year's Tribeca Film Festival was, hands down, "Outrage," a documentary by Kirby Dick that reports on -- and adds to -- the work of a growing number of individuals who are "outing" closeted gays in government when they vote against the interests of the gay community. For weeks, the rumor mill was buzzing that Dick was not going to pull any punches and was indeed going to name names (some new, some big). As those who got hold of hot tickets to the film's Friday premiere and second screening on Sunday found out, the whispers were indeed correct.
In the wrong hands, "Outrage" could have been the cinematic equivalent of a tabloid rag. Instead, Dick takes the time to delve into the harm that closeted politicians have brought upon fellow gays, the psychological reasons for why they do so, and the rather stunning changes they display once they have chosen -- or been compelled -- to acknowledge their own "reality."
His thesis is supported by individuals who have been on all sides of the issue, including the most feared outer (blogger Mike Rogers), the most prominently out (U.S. Rep. Barney Frank), and the most notoriously outed (former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey), among others.
Most people who have seen the film accept its argument that there is no shortage of either gays or hypocrisy in politics, but many feel conflicted about the tactic of "outing" people, no matter how unappealing or hypocritical their behavior may seem. Some have suggested that to do so is no less immoral than what U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy did by "naming" alleged Communists during the Red Scare half a century ago. To his credit, Dick includes footage of people raising this thought in the film, and acknowledging that no one really can ever know what is in the heart or mind of another person.
With only a very few exceptions -- namely, someone making an accusation in silhouette, and someone discussing the sexual orientation of a Fox News anchor without making a credible case for how it might negatively affect his coverage -- Dick succeeds in coming off not as an agent of intolerance, but rather a proponent of greater tolerance -- through whatever means necessary.
Dick, for point of reference, is no
ingenue when it comes to this sort of film -- in fact, a look at his
accumulated oeuvre reveals a constant effort to expose hypocrites in
positions of power. "Twist of Faith" (2004), which received a
best documentary Oscar nomination, was about a Catholic priest who
molested a boy he had been entrusted to protect. "This Film Is Not Yet
Rated" (2006), which garnered even more media attention, exposed the
untoward practices of the motion picture ratings board.
And now he
has taken on the people who have been associated with hypocrisy longer
than any other: politicians.
Photo: Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey resigns in 2004. Credit: Gothamist
I'm tempted to call Spike Lee's hotly-anticipated documentary, "Kobe Doin' Work," a second-rate Spike Lee Joint, but that's not right because the truth is that it's hardly a Spike Lee Joint at all. The film, which premiered last night at the Borough of Manhattan Community College down by Chelsea Piers, is essentially a rebroadcast of an April 13, 2008, NBA game between the Los Angeles Lakers (led by the eponymous star of the film, Kobe Bryant) and the San Antonio Spurs, only slightly condensed, shot from somewhat unusual camera angles (via 30 cameras under the oversight of cinematographer Matthew Libatique), and with the addition of Bryant's in-game commentary (via a wireless mic) and post-game analysis (via faceless voiceover narration derived from a chat with Lee, a huge fan of Bryant's rival New York Knicks).
For some of even the biggest sports fans -- and there were plenty of them in attendance, from a large ESPN contingent, to professional athletes, to professional-sports buffs like myself -- the film proved a tedious affair. Things might have been different had it focused more on Bryant's life off the court, which is something we are not accustomed to seeing and which might have offered us some insight into the good, the bad and the ugly of what happens to a person when fame and fortune are bestowed on them at the age of 17. Instead, we see Bryant in his natural habitat, on the basketball court, and we are shown exactly what we expect to see, and what Bryant would undoubtedly like us to see: a thoughtful strategist, a team-first player and an all-around good guy.
"Kobe" does not compare very well with another recently-premiered documentary about a famous athlete, James Toback's "Tyson." Whereas Toback managed to get an athlete who was famous for acting before thinking to be introspective, and interspersed clips of events from his subject's past with his interview in the present to offer additional perspective (not to mention a reprieve from monotony), Lee seems to be doing no more -- and probably even less -- than he usually does from his courtside seats at NBA games. At least there, he mixes things up, gets loud and gets involved.
"Kobe Doin' Work" debuts on ESPN on May 16.
Photo: Kobe Bryant in "Kobe Doin' Work." Credit: Tribeca Film Festival
The strongest films to emerge from the seven Tribeca Film Festivals that preceded this year's have been documentaries. They have included Oscar nominee "Street Fight" (2005), Oscar nominee "Jesus Camp" (2006), Oscar winner "Taxi to the Dark Side" (2007) and Oscar winner "Man on Wire" (2008). Therefore, I probably shouldn't have been as surprised as I was to discover that the best film at this year's festival, thus far -- and indeed the best film of the year, thus far -- is "Racing Dreams," Marshall Curry's low-budget doc about three of the country's top go-kart racers.
"Racing Dreams" had its premiere, complete with all of its subjects and co-executive producer Dwayne "The Rock" Johnsonseated in the theaterand a NASCAR race car parked by the curb outside of it, at the School of Visual Arts on Saturday afternoon. Representatives from ESPN, Fox Searchlight, HBO, and Magnolia were in attendance, and based on the exuberant reception from audience members young and old -- including a standing ovation that lasted from the start of the credits to the finish -- I would be shocked if the film's distribution rights aren't secured by the end of the week and if it isn't among the five best-documentary Oscar nominees at the end of the year.
"Racing Dreams" inevitably calls to mind "Hoop Dreams" (1994), another terrific sports-related documentary that follows the ups and downs in the lives of a few promising young athletes as they pursue their dreams of making it to the pros. The truth, however, is that "Racing Dreams" had a somewhat tougher hurdle to scale: Basketball is rather self-explanatory and popular from coast to coast, but when it comes to racing, half the country (the "red states," generally speaking) can't get enough of it, and half the country (the "blue states") doesn't get it at all.
During the post-screening Q&A, Curry admitted that he fit the latter description before embarking on this project, but decided to do so anyway out of a burning desire to understand how something he found so unappealing managed to be the second-most-popular spectator sport in America. He wound up at an awards dinner for the World Karting Assn., the preeminent organization for young go-kart racers and a major stepping stone to the world of NASCAR. There, he interviewed dozens of kids but eventually identified three -- Brandon Warren, Josh Hobson, and Annabeth Barnes -- who "popped" out to him from the rest.
Having now seen the finished product, I can say that if film work ever dries up for Curry, he should consider a career in talent scouting, because it would have been impossible to select more charismatic or fascinating subjects than these kids and their families. None of them embody the cliches to which we have become accustomed -- the spoiled brat with a sense of entitlement, the wild-eyed parents trying to live out their unrealized dream through their kid, and the like. No, instead what we get are real people who are perhaps a little eccentric by normal standards but are all ultimately good, decent people who are genuinely trying to do the right thing.
The three story lines in "Racing Dreams" unfold and intersect more rivetingly than most original screenplays. This is partly because the underlying drama was really there, but also largely because Curry, Matthew Hamachek, and Mary Manhardt were skilled enough to sort through 500 hours of raw footage and tell those stories in just 90 minutes. The end result is a tight, fast-paced, engaging film that had people -- myself included -- tapping their feet in the aisles and laughing, smiling, and crying in their seats. Make no mistake about it: This one's an instant classic.
Photo: Josh Hobson in "Racing Dreams." Credit: Tribeca Film Festival
Edgar Allan Poe, the noted 19th century poet/writer, seems to be coming into fashion again. Not only is he the subject of a fascinating profile in this week's New Yorker, but his Gothic short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" also has inspired "Tell-Tale," a feature film starring Josh Lucas ("Poseidon"). In the short story, a murderer is terrorized by the beating heart of his victim. Those in attendance at Friday night's Tribeca Film Festival premiere of the film witnessed an incident that caused their hearts to thump.
During one of the film's more gruesome sequences, a gentleman in the audience seemed to pass out, a commotion ensued, the film was stopped, and the man was taken out on a stretcher and driven away in an ambulance. Audience members initially suspected that it was a publicity stunt, but people close to the film insisted to me at the after-party that it was anything but.
Poe, who was notoriously sadistic, probably would have loved this.
"Tell-Tale," which was directed by Michael Cuesta and also stars Lena Headey and Brian Cox, is still seeking a domestic distributor.
Photo: Josh Lucas and Lena Headey in "Tell Tale." Credit: Tribeca Film Festival
At
the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, Thursday evening was highlighted by a
massive turnout of A-list movie stars, but Friday was reserved for the
crème de la crème of character actors: Oscar nominees Thomas Haden Church ("Sideways"), Elisabeth Shue ("Leaving Las Vegas"), and Melissa Leo
("Frozen River") all star in "Don McKay" and came out for its premiere
at the Borough of Manhattan Community College down by Chelsea Piers.
The film, which marks the feature screenwriting and directorial debut of 31-year-old Jake Goldberger,
is a mind-twister that fails to fall neatly under any traditional genre
label -- it blends horror, romance, drama, comedy and even film noir in
a way that is somewhat evocative of early Coen Brothers films such as
"Blood Simple" (1984) and Miller's Crossing (1990), if not nearly as
polished. It would be foolhardy even to attempt a synopsis of the plot,
but let's just say the tagline for "Miller's" certainly applies to this
film, as well: "Up is down, black is white, and nothing is what it
seems."
The problem
with a film of this sort is that the audience has to care enough to go
along for the ride. Most of the people with whom I spoke after the
screening and at the after-party agreed that the film takes a while to
get going and become engaging but picks up steam as the pieces slowly
begin to come together. Above all, it was agreed, it was a treat to see
these first-rate actors -- all three of whom are now in their late 40s
and grossly underused -- find meaty roles that they could sink their
teeth into.
"Don McKay" is still seeking a distributor.
Photo: Elisabeth Shue and Thomas Haden Church in "Don McKay." Credit: Tribeca Film Festival
On Thursday evening, the eighth annual Tribeca Film Festival kicked off with the premiere of Woody Allen's hotly anticipated "Whatever Works," which stars Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood, marks Allen's return to New York filmmaking after a stretch in Europe and received a heavily mixed response.
Jeff Wells of Hollywood-Elsewhere calls it "a
kind of dry farce that isn't naturalistic for a second and is
basically about manner and whimsy and bile," adding that "it certainly
doesn't go
for broke" but is "fairly enjoyable" and "sometimes hilarious,
especially when it rips into idiocy and thoughtlessness among the
populace, and particularly red-state characters and values."
Others, however, say they simply couldn't get past the fact that Allen has again paired a young woman with a much older man in one of his films. Bruce Handy of Vanity Fair writes, "My real problem with the movie was the older-man-younger-woman theme,
which has never been one of my favorite Woody motifs, even before it
gained a real-life parallel. ... [T]he romances in Allen’s films often have a
teacher-pupil quality, too, and in 'Whatever Works' we get that as well."
Sure, Allen employed it to great effect 30 years ago in "Manhattan" (1979), a film that paired Allen, then 42, with Mariel Hemingway, then 17. But if
that film was a May-December romance, "Whatever Works" must be
something more like a February-December variety, as David is 62 and
Wood is 22. The fact that Allen's personal life has followed a similar
course has certainly done nothing to take people's focus off that
aspect of his films.
"Whatever Works," which is being distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, appears in limited release on June 19.
Photo: Larry David in "Whatever Works." Credit: Tribeca Film Festival
Brace yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, for I have some unexpected news to report: It appears we've all been Punk'd. By whom, you ask? Well, wouldn't you know, by none other than the original Punk'd-artist himself, Ashton Kutcher.
You see, while we were all busy chuckling at him in reruns of the goofy TV program "That '70s Show," and being charmed by him in Netflix favorites such as "What Happens in Vegas," and laughing with him at pranked celebrities on "Punk'd," and reading about him and his older wife Demi Moore in the tabloids we pass every time we visit the supermarket or gas station, Kutcher was keeping a little secret from us: The guy can actually act!
I don't blame you for laughing at that notion -- in fact, neither does Kutcher, as I discovered during a wide-ranging, 50-minute interview that I conducted with him Wednesday (scroll down to listen) in advance of the first public screenings of "Personal Effects," the film that opened my eyes to his potential. There's a screening tonight at the Aero Theatre at 7:30 in Santa Monica and on Monday, March 16 at the IFC Center in New York City at 9:15 p.m.
"Do you think it's weird-- Do you think it's-- I just think for anyone who hasn't seen this movie, I think hearing me talk about acting," he trails off. "To anybody who's an aspiring actor, they're gonna be like, 'Yeah, I'm gonna take acting advice from Ashton Kutcher.' "
Well, I don't think acting schools are going to start teaching the Ashton Kutcher Technique alongside the Method anytime soon, but I also don't think we should be as quick to form judgments about actors such as Kutcher, who has been widely and unfairly dismissed as a lightweight largely because of his looks, celebrity and previous roles. I feel that I am in a position to say this because, to be honest with you, I was among those who dismissed him -- until now.
"Personal Effects" -- the feature debut of writer/director David Hollander, whose script was inspired by a Rick Moody novella and the murder of a young woman from his own community -- is a small, low-budget indie drama about a young man (Kutcher) and an older woman (Academy Award nominee Michelle Pfeiffer) who have both had loved ones murdered, whose lives become intertwined as they await verdicts in the trials of the alleged killers and who consequently find some measure of peace -- if not closure -- in each other's company. (Academy Award winner Kathy Bates plays a supporting role.)
I suspect there are people out there -- the same sorts of people who enjoy the movies that populate the awards season -- who might appreciate a weightier alternative to "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience." This film is not a feel-good story. In fact, it's a pretty sad one. But, like its thematically similar but more polished relatives "Ordinary People" (1980), "21 Grams" (2003), "Mystic River" (2003), "The Upside of Anger" (2005) and "Things We Lost in the Fire" (2007), it provides a heap-load of meat for its hungry
actors and reveals that one of them has a much
bigger appetite than most of us ever suspected.
Click below to hear excerpts of my conversation with Kutcher...
"I don't think I've had anything happen all of a sudden. I've had things happen very quickly -- my life has been a pretty accelerated existence. But I don't think anything happened all of a sudden."
"I loved the idea of trying to communicate all of that emotion without really saying much -- I mean, it was the easiest movie I've ever had to do as far as memorizing lines, cuz I think I only had like 100 in the whole movie."
"Probably the reason that I responded to the material is that it was so close to an experience that I've had -- but, at the same time, when I tried to approach the character, I didn't want to play myself."
"Do you think it's weird? Do you think it's -- I
just think for anyone who hasn't seen this movie, I think hearing me
talk about acting -- To anybody who's an aspiring
actor, they're gonna be like, 'Yeah, I'm gonna take acting advice from Ashton Kutcher.' "
"Yeah, certainly, without a question. And I guess I didn't intentionally pick two movies in a row that had some relation to that, you know? However, it just so happened that way... I hope that if one or both of these films finds success, it will create more opportunities for this breadth of unbelievable women that are 40 or older -- that have this banquet of skills -- so that they can display their talents."
"I would say that the biggest difference between 'Punk'd' and tabloid media, in general, is that every single person that I aired an episode of on 'Punk'd' actually signed a release saying 'Yes, it's OK for you to air that.' So, in some sense, it was a part of their outgoing publicity, as opposed to unwanted attention and/or news media that actually creates commerce out of stealing images and stories and headlines off of people's lives."
Here's something you can file under "Neat but Useless Information": For the first time in 44 years, the titles of all five best picture nominees this year referred to at least one character in the film's story, Tim Dirks of Filmsite.org reports.
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" = Benjamin Button, a man inexplicably aging backward.
"Frost/Nixon" = David Frost, British newsman and playboy, and Richard Nixon, former president of the United States.
"Milk" = Harvey Milk, a San Francisco city supervisor and the first openly gay elected official in the U.S.
"The Reader" = Michael Berg, who reads numerous books aloud to his older lover.
"Slumdog Millionaire" = Jamal Malik, a boy from India's slums who appears on and wins the game show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"
This phenomenon has occurred only one other time over the 81 years of the Academy Awards, in 1964, when the best picture nominees were:
"Becket" = Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who clashed with King Henry II during the 12th century.
"Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" = Dr. Strangelove, a mad scientist and former Nazi now working for the U.S. government.
"Mary Poppins" = Mary Poppins, a magical nanny who brightens the lives of all around her.
"My Fair Lady" = Eliza Doolittle, a girl from England's slums who is cultivated into a lady on a bet.
"Zorba the Greek" = Alexis Zorba, an eternal optimist who brings out the best in others.
Photo: Richard Burton, left, as Thomas Becket in "Becket" (Paramount), Sean Penn as Harvey Milk in "Milk" (Focus Features)
By my count, there have been 12 films largely or entirely in a foreign language that have been nominated for the best picture Oscar over the 81 years of the Academy Awards, only three of which have won -- that was "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008) last month:
1938"Grand Illusion" -- French
1969"Z" (French) -- Swedish
1972"The Emigrants" -- Swedish
1973"Cries and Whispers" -- Swedish
1974"The Godfather, Part II" -- ItalianWON
1987"The Last Emperor" -- Mandarin, JapaneseWON
1995"Il Postino" -- Italian/Spanish
1998"Life Is Beautiful" -- Italian
2000"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" -- Mandarin
2002"The Pianist" -- German/Russian
2006"Babel" -- Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, French, Japanese Sign Language
2006"Letters from Iwo Jima" -- Japanese
2008"Slumdog Millionaire" -- HindiWON
By my count, there have been 32 performances largely or entirely in a foreign language that have been nominated for an acting Oscar over the 81 years of the Academy Awards, only seven of which have won -- the most recent was Peneope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona") last month:
1961Sophia Loren ("Two Women") for best actress -- ItalianWON
1962Marcello Mastroianni ("Divorce, Italian-Style") for best actor -- Italian
1964Sophia Loren ("Marriage, Italian-Style") for best actress -- Italian
1966Anouk Aimee ("A Man and a Woman") for best actress -- French
1966Ida Kaminska ("The Shop on Main Street") for best actress -- Slovak
1972Liv Ullmann ("The Emigrants") for best actress -- Swedish
1974Robert De Niro ("The Godfather, Part II") for best supporting actor -- ItalianWON
1974Valentina Cortese ("Day for Night") for best supporting actress -- French
1975Isabelle Adjani ("The Story of Adele H.") for best actress -- French
1976Giancarlo Giannini ("Seven Beauties") for best actor -- Italian
1976Marie-Christine Barrault ("Cousin, Cousine") for best actress -- French
1976Liv Ullmann("Face to Face") for best actress -- Swedish
1977Marcello Mastroianni ("A Special Day") for best actor -- Italian
1978Ingrid Bergman ("Autumn Sonata") for best actress -- Swedish
1982Meryl Streep ("Sophie's Choice") for best actress -- Polish, GermanWON
1986Marlee Matlin ("Children of a Lesser God") for best actress -- American Sign LanguageWON
1987Marcello Mastroianni ("Dark Eyes") for best actor -- Italian
1988Max von Sydow ("Pelle the Conqueror") for best actor -- Swedish
1989Isabelle Adjani("Camille Claudel") for best actress -- French
1990Gerard Depardieu ("Cyrano de Bergerac") for best actor -- French
1990Graham Greene ("Dances with Wolves") for best supporting actor -- Lakota
1992Catherine Deneuve ("Indochine") for best actress -- French
1995Massimo Troisi ("Il Postino") for best actor -- Italian
1998Roberto Benigni ("Life Is Beautiful") for best actor -- ItalianWON
1998Fernanda Montenegro ("Central Station") for best actress -- Portuguese
2000Benicio Del Toro ("Traffic") for best supporting actor -- SpanishWON
2004Catalina Sandino Moreno ("Maria Full of Grace") for best actress -- Spanish
2006Penelope Cruz ("Volver") for best actress -- Spanish
2006Adrianna Barraza ("Babel") for best supporting actress -- Spanish
2006Rinko Kikuchi ("Babel") for best supporting actress -- Japanese Sign Language
2007Marion Cotillard ("La Vie En Rose") for best actress -- FrenchWON
2008Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona") for best actress -- SpanishWON
Only 10 films that have received the majority of their financing from outside of the United States have won the best picture Oscar over the 81 years of the Academy Awards, the most recent being "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008). All 10 were funded by production companies in Britain.
A week ago, "Slumdog Millionaire" won both best picture and cinematography at the Academy Awards. While that might not strike you as particularly noteworthy, since cinematography is such an integral part of any film, it is actually a rather uncommon overlap -- one that hadn't had happened since "American Beauty" (1999) a decade before and only the 27th of its kind over the 81 years of the Academy Awards. (Believe it or not, there have actually been 31 instances over the 81 years of the Academy Awards in which the film that won best picture was not even nominated for cinematography.)
Both categories seem drawn to similar sorts of films (epic dramas, period pieces, costume dramas, etc.), so why does this happen? It's hard to say. Maybe voters just like to split up pieces of the proverbial pie among films and this feels like a category they can throw at their second favorite film, but really, who knows?
Anyway, here is a list of all 54 instances in which the two categories rewarded different films over the 81 years of the Academy Awards (67%):
1928/29"The Broadway Melody" wins best picture, but "White Shadows in the South Seas" wins best cinematography
1929/30"All Quiet on the Western Front" wins best picture, but "With Byrd at the South Pole" wins best cinematography
1930/31"Cimarron" wins best picture, but "Tabu: A Story of the South Seas" wins best cinematography
1931/32"Grand Hotel" wins best picture, but "Shanghai Express" wins best cinematography
1932/33"Cavalcade" wins best picture, but "A Farewell to Arms" wins best cinematography
1934"It Happened One Night" wins best picture, but "Cleopatra" wins best cinematography
1935"Mutiny on the Bounty" wins best picture, but "A Midsummer Night's Dream" wins best cinematography
1936"The Great Ziegfeld" wins best picture, but "Anthony Adverse" wins best cinematography
1937"The Life of Emile Zola" wins best picture, but "The Good Earth" wins best cinematography
1938"You Can't Take It with You" wins best picture, but "The Great Waltz" wins best cinematography
1943"Casablanca" wins best picture, but "The Song of Bernadette" and "Phantom of the Opera" win best cinematography
1944"Going My Way" wins best picture, but "Laura" and "Wilson" win best cinematography
1945"The Lost Weekend" wins best picture, but "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "Leave Her to Heaven" win best cinematography
1946"The Best Years of Our Lives" wins best picture, but "Anna and the King of Siam" and "The Yearling" win best cinematography
1947"Gentleman's Agreement" wins best picture, but "Great Expectations" and "Black Narcissus" win best cinematography
1948"Hamlet" wins best picture, but "The Naked City" and "Joan of Arc" win best cinematography
1949"All the King's Men" wins best picture, but "Battleground" and "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" win best cinematography
1950"All About Eve" wins best picture, but "The Third Man" and "King Solomon's Mines" win best cinematography
1952"The Greatest Show on Earth" wins best picture, but "The Bad and the Beautiful" and "The Quiet Man" win best cinematography
1960"The Apartment" wins best picture, but "Sons and Lovers" and "Spartacus" win best cinematography
1963"Tom Jones" wins best picture, but "Hud" and "Cleopatra" win best cinematography
1965"The Sound of Music" wins best picture, but "Ship of Fools" and "Doctor Zhivago" win best cinematography
1967"In the Heat of the Night" wins best picture, but "Bonnie and Clyde" wins best cinematography
1968"Oliver!" wins best picture, but "Romeo and Juliet" wins best cinematography
1969"Midnight Cowboy" wins best picture, but "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" wins best cinematography
1970"Patton" wins best picture, but "Ryan's Daughter" wins best cinematography
1971"The French Connection" wins best picture, but "Fiddler on the Roof" wins best cinematography
1972"The Godfather" wins best picture, but "Cabaret" wins best cinematography
1973"The Sting" wins best picture, but "Cries and Whispers" wins best cinematography
1974"The Godfather, Part II" wins best picture, but "The Towering Inferno" wins best cinematography
1975"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" wins best picture, but "Barry Lyndon" wins best cinematography
1976"Rocky" wins best picture, but "Bound for Glory" wins best cinematography
1977"Annie Hall" wins best picture, but "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" wins best cinematography
1978"The Deer Hunter" wins best picture, but "Days of Heaven" wins best cinematography
1979"Kramer vs. Kramer" wins best picture, but "Apocalypse Now" wins best cinematography
1980"Ordinary People" wins best picture, but "Tess" wins best cinematography
1981"Chariots of Fire" wins best picture, but "Reds" wins best cinematography
1983"Terms of Endearment" wins best picture, but "Fanny and Alexander" wins best cinematography
1984"Amadeus" wins best picture, but "The Killing Fields" wins best cinematography
1986"Platoon" wins best picture, but "The Mission" wins best cinematography
1988"Rain Man" wins best picture, but "Mississippi Burning" wins best cinematography
1989"Driving Miss Daisy" wins best picture, but "Glory" wins best cinematography
1991"The Silence of the Lambs" wins best picture, but "JFK" wins best cinematography
1992"Unforgiven" wins best picture, but "A River Runs Through It" wins best cinematography
1994"Forrest Gump" wins best picture, but "Legends of the Fall" wins best cinematography
1998"Shakespeare in Love" wins best picture, but "Saving Private Ryan" wins best cinematography
2000"Gladiator" wins best picture, but "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" wins best cinematography
2001"A Beautiful Mind" wins best picture, but "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" wins best cinematography
2002"Chicago" wins best picture, but "Road to Perdition" wins best cinematography
2003"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" wins best picture, but "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" wins best cinematography
2004"Million Dollar Baby" wins best picture, but "The Aviator" wins best cinematography
2005"Crash" wins best picture, but "Memoirs of a Geisha" wins best cinematography
2006"The Departed" wins best picture, but "Pan's Labyrinth" wins best cinematography
2007"No Country for Old Men" wins best picture, but "There Will Be Blood" wins best cinematography
Note
Since the establishment of the best film editing category in 1934 (noting that there were two winners -- one for black-and-white cinematography and one for color cinematography -- every year from 1939 to 1966, except 1957) ...
There have been 28 years in which the winner of best picture was not even nominated for best cinematography: 1928/29, 1931/32, 1932/33, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1963, 1967, 1969, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1983, 1989, 1991, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
There have been 31 years in which the/a winner of best cinematography was not even nominated for best picture: 1928/29, 1929/30, 1930/31, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1970, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1989, 1992, 1994, 2002, 2005, 2006
The original song category is one of the few at the Oscars in which a single film can receive multiple nominations. Oddly, even though the category has been presented since 1934, that never happened until 1980, but it has happened fifteen times since then, including this year when two songs from "Slumdog Millionaire" competed against one another (as well as another nominee).
In June 2008, the academy implemented a new rule: No film would be allowed to receive more than two nominations for best original song. Why? Because there was a growing sense — and evidence to back it up — that films with many worthy original songs were being not rewarded but punished because multiple nominations often resulted in vote-splitting that prevented any of the songs from accruing enough votes to win.
Indeed, only two of four films that produced three best original song nominees ended up winning the Oscar for any of them, and the most recent ("Dreamgirls," 2006, and "Enchanted," 2007) won none. As for double nominees, the numbers are only slightly better: only seven of eleven films that produced two best original song nominees ended up winning the Oscar for either of them — barely more than 50%. When you add those numbers up and realize that, overall, only nine of the 15 films that produced multiple nominations for best original song won any of them, you can understand why this year's best original song win for "Slumdog Millionaire" nominee "Jai Ho" over "Slumdog Millionaire" nominee "O Saya," as well as another nominee, was anything but a sure bet.
Here is a look back at all of the films that have produced multiple nominations for best original song....
1980"Fame" (2) — "Fame" (music by Michael Gore, lyrics by Dean Pitchford) WON, "Out Here on My Own" (music by Michael Gore, lyrics by Leslie Gore)
1983"Flashdance" (2) — "Flashdance ... What a Feeling" (music by Giorgio Moroder, lyrics by Keith Forsey, Irene Cara)WON, "Maniac" (music and lyrics by Michael Sembello, Dennis Matkosky)
1983"Yentl" (2) — "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" (music by Michel Legrand, lyrics by Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman), "The Way He Makes Me Feel" (music by Michel Legrand, lyrics by Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman)
1984"Footloose" (2) — "Footloose" (music and lyrics by Kenny Loggins, Dean Pitchford), "Let's Hear It for the Boy" (music and lyrics by Tom Snow, Dean Pitchford)
1985"White Nights" (2) — "Say You, Say Me" (music and lyrics by Lionel Richie)WON, "Separate Lives" (music and lyrics by Stephen Bishop)
1989"The Little Mermaid" (2) — "Kiss the Girl" (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman),"Under the Sea" (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman)WON
1991"Beauty and the Beast" (3) — "Be Our Guest" (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman),"Beauty and the Beast" (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman)WON, "Belle" (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman)
1992"Aladdin" (2) — "A Whole New World" (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Tim Rice)WON, "Friend Like Me" (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman)
1992"The Bodyguard" (2) — "I Have Nothing" (music by David Foster, lyrics by Linda Thompson), "Run to You" (music by Jud Friedman, lyrics by Allan Rich)
1993"Philadelphia" (2) — "Philadelphia" (music and lyrics by Neil Young), "Streets of Philadelphia" (music and lyrics by Bruce Springsteen)WON
1994"The Lion King" (3) — "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" (music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice)WON, "Circle of Life" (music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice), "Hakuna Matata" (music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice)
2003"Cold Mountain" (2) — "Scarlet Tide" (music and lyrics by T-Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello), "You Will Be My Ain True Love" (music and lyrics by Sting)
2006"Dreamgirls" (3) — "Listen" (music by Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler, lyrics by Anne Preven), "Love You I Do" (music by Henry Krieger, lyrics by Siedah Garrett), "Patience" (music by Henry Krieger, lyrics by Willie Reale)
2007"Enchanted" (3) — "Happy Working Song" (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz), "So Close" (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz), "That's How You Know" (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz)
2008"Slumdog Millionaire" (2) — "Jai Ho" (music by A.R. Rahman, lyrics by Sampooran Singh Gulzar)WON, "O Saya" (music and lyrics by A.R. Rahman, Maya "MIA" Arulpragasam)
Photo: Jennifer Hudson, Beyonce Knowles, and Anika Noni Rose in "Dreamgirls," which earned three nominations for best original song and lost them all (Paramount)
The Oscars, of course, are not entirely predictable, or else we'd all do a better job of predicting them. Still, there are historical trends and patterns -- "rules," if you will -- that offer valuable guidance about how they might pan out, and Oscar bloggers like myself make it our job to dig them up, dust them off, share them with our readers, and factor them into our own projections/analysis each Oscar season. Eventually, the Oscars come around, confirm some of them, and fling the others back in our face. We'll get to the "rule breakers" shortly, but first, here are the rules that held up in 2008.
Case(s) in point: Amy Adams ("Doubt") and Viola Davis ("Doubt") both losing to Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona") for supporting actress.
Specifics: Sometimes the "enemy" of your "enemy" is not your "friend." Costars have been pitted against
each other for acting Oscars since 1935, when three men from "Mutiny on
the Bounty" were nominated for lead actor. This dynamic has recurred —
though usually with only two actors going head-to-head — 64 times over
the 81 years of the Academy Awards. And, as was the case
with the "Mutiny on the Bounty" nominees, both competing costars went
home empty-handed on 45 (70%) of those occasions, including this one. Why? Presumably because voters
couldn't agree, en masse, on which (if either) of the costars to
coalesce their support behind, resulting in a split that denied either
enough votes to win — even if one might have won had the other not been
picking off their votes.
Case(s) in point: Sean Penn ("Milk"), whose film was nominated for best picture, winning lead actor over his fellow nominees, none of whose films were also nominated for best picture except for Frank Langella ("Frost/Nixon") and Brad Pitt ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"); and Kate Winslet ("The Reader"), whose film was nominated for best picture, winning lead actress over her fellow nominees, none of whose films were also nominated for best picture.
Specifics: Over the 81 years of the Academy Awards, the vast majority of lead actor and lead actress winners, including this year's, starred in films that were at least nominated for best picture (63 actors, 51 actresses), and in many cases won (26 actors, 12 actresses). In fact, there have only been seven years (1929/1930, 1947, 1969, 1974, 1990, 1995, 2001) in which neither the lead actor nor the lead actress appeared in a film that was at least nominated for the top honor. This is probably because most best pictures are driven by one or two stars, as opposed to an ensemble, and if the movie connects with voters, it's probably largely because of at least one of those performances.
Case(s) in point: Meryl Streep ("Doubt") being nominated for lead actress but losing to Kate Winslet ("The Reader").
Specifics: It may seem strange to label Streep -- who has garnered a record 15 acting nominations and won two of them, supporting actress for "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979) and lead actress for "Sophie's Choice" (1982) -- "the biggest loser in Oscars history," but the fact of the matter is that nobody has lost more acting nominations than she has, either. It's been 26 years since she last won (she's gone 0-for-11 in the interim), and only two other people have waited as long and eventually won again: Helen Hayes, who waited 39 years between winning lead actress for "The Sin of Madelon Claudet" (1931) and supporting actress for "Airport" (1970), and Katharine Hepburn, who waited 34 years between "Morning Glory" (1933) and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" (1967). If any actress is in their league, though, it's Streep, so it's quite possible that she will become the third.
Case(s) in point: Best picture nominee "Frost/Nixon" losing all five of the Oscars for which it was nominated: best picture, director (Ron Howard), lead actor (Frank Langella), adapted screenplay (Peter Morgan) and film editing (Mike Hill, Daniel P. Hanley).
Specifics: Lest you think "best" is always good enough, there have been 133 films nominated for best picture over the 81 years of the Academy Awards that won neither best picture nor any other categories in which they were nominated. Though it had been three years since a best picture nominee went home empty-handed before "Frost/Nixon," it is actually a fairly regular phenomenon -- there have been only 18 ceremonies in which every
best picture nominee did win an Oscar: 1945, 1948, 1949, 1953, 1955,
1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1975, 1979, 1986, 1988, 1995, 1997, 2004, 2006
and 2007.
Case(s) in point: After Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire") won the DGA Award, Boyle winning director and "Slumdog Millionaire" winning best picture.
Specifics: The winner of the DGA Award, which has been distributed since 1948, has corresponded with the winner of the director Academy Award on all but six occasions (1968, 1972, 1985, 1995, 2000 and 2002), and the film directed by the DGA Award winner has gone on to be named best picture by the Academy on all but 13 occasions (1948, 1951, 1952, 1956, 1967, 1968, 1981, 1985, 1989, 1995, 1998, 2000 and 2005), making it among the strongest predictors of both categories.
Case(s) in point: Sean Penn ("Milk") winning lead actor for the second time, just five years after winning it for the first (for "Mystic River," 2003).
Specifics: While it is certainly uncommon to win more than one acting Oscar within five years, it has now happened 17 times over 81 years of the Academy Awards -- roughly once or twice a decade -- so we shouldn't be shocked when it does. Within that short span, 11 people have won two lead Oscars; four people have won two supporting Oscars; and two people have won one of each. All -- Walter Brennan, Olivia de Havilland, Bette Davis, Sally Field, Jodie Foster, Tom Hanks, Katharine Hepburn, Glenda Jackson, Sean Penn, Anthony Quinn, Luise Rainer, Jason Robards Jr., Kevin Spacey, Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank, Spencer Tracy, Peter Ustinov -- were/are immensely respected "actors' actors."
Case(s) in point: Kate Winslet ("The Reader") winning lead actress; "Toyland" winning live action short
Specifics: The Holocaust is one subject the academy never forgets to remember. Dating back to Charles Chaplin's anti-Hitler film "The Great Dictator" (1940), there have been -- by my count -- 41 performances in Holocaust/Nazi related films that have been nominated for acting Oscars, 12 of which have won. Why, you ask? Because the academy tends to reward movies and performances that make us look at the world around us differently than we did when we entered the theater, and no subject has the power to do that more than the most shocking and inexplicable event of the 20th century, the Holocaust. Because the academy gravitates toward stories that are based-on-fact and about people who really lived, and no subject offers as many as the Holocaust. And because most films about the Holocaust inherently feature cinematic elements that appeal to virtually every branch of the Academy -- high drama (picture), told on a massive scale (editing, score), about characters who experience great trials and tragedy (acting), amid period settings (costume, makeup) and a backdrop of war (cinematography, visual effects).
Case(s) in point: "Doubt" earning four acting nods -- Meryl Streep for lead actress, Philip Seymour Hoffman for supporting actor, and both Amy Adams and Viola Davis for supporting actress -- but not a best picture nod, and subsequently losing all of them.
Specifics: It's incredibly rare for a film to garner four or more acting nods -- it's happened only 35 times over 81 years of the Academy Awards. It's even rarer, however, for a film that does to not earn a best picture nomination, as well. (After all, isn't a film built on its performances?) But, believe it or not, this has happened to four films -- "My Man Godfrey" (1936), "I Remember Mama" (1948), "Othello" (1965), and "Doubt" (2008). Perhaps the absence of the best picture nod indicates an absence of enthusiastic support in favor of dispassionate respect? That would make sense, considering that none of the four films that earned four or more acting nominations without a best picture nod actually won any on those acting nominations.
Case(s) in point: Michael Shannon ("Revolutionary Road"), who appears on screen for 8 minutes, losing supporting actor to Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight"), who has much more screen time; and Viola Davis ("Doubt"), who appears on screen for 12 minutes, losing supporting actress to Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona"), who has much more screen time
Specifics: Let's face it -- in the supporting categories, size matters! Most years, some nominees are genuine character actors who appear in their films only briefly but advance the plot and leave a powerful impact, like Shannon or Davis, and some are A-list stars who are effectively co-leads posing as someone supporting the other lead for the purposes of increasing their prospects of winning an award, like Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Doubt"), who was not successful, or Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight"), who was. Sure, the former sort sometimes win -- see Beatrice Straight ("Network," 1976) -- but most winners, especially recently, are masqueraders like Benicio Del Toro ("Traffic," 2000), Tim Robbins ("Mystic River," 2003), George Clooney ("Syriana," 2005) and Javier Bardem ("No Country for Old Men," 2007).
Case(s) in point: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" won the VES Award on Saturday and the Academy Award on Sunday.
Specifics: The Visual Effects Society has only been dishing out awards since 2002, but it is quickly rising toward the top of the list of guilds that most consistently honor the same film that is subsequently honored in a corresponding category by the academy. Five of those seven years, the winner of the VES Award for best visual effects in a visual effects driven movie has gone on to win the Academy Award for best visual effects -- that's a highly respectable 71% batting average. (The two exceptions: in 2004, the VES award went to "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" but the Oscar went to "Spider-Man 2"; and, in 2007, the VES award went to "Transformers" but the Oscar went to "The Golden Compass.")
Specifics: Woody Allen, who has personally accumulated 14 nominations (and 2 wins) for writing and 6 nominations (and 1 win) for directing, also has an incredibly high rate of success when it comes to getting Oscar nominations (and wins) for his actors. 15 performances in Allen-directed movies, in fact, have received nods, including nine in the supporting actress category: Maureen Stapleton ("Interiors," 1978), Mariel Hemingway ("Manhattan," 1979), Dianne Wiest ("Hannah and Her Sisters," 1986), Judy Davis ("Husbands and Wives," 1992), Jennifer Tilly ("Bullets Over Broadway," 1994), Dianne Wiest ("Bullets Over Broadway," 1994), Mira Sorvino ("Mighty Aphrodite," 1995), Samantha Morton ("Sweet and Lowdown," 1999), and Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona," 2008). Just as remarkably, four have won: Wiest (both times), Sorvino and now Cruz.
Case(s) in point: Michael Shannon ("Revolutionary Road") losing supporting actor to Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight").
Specifics: Over the last decade, only 13 performances have been nominated for an Oscar after receiving neither a Golden Globe nor a SAG nomination -- Toni Collette ("The Sixth Sense," 1999) for supporting actress, Ed Harris ("Pollock," 2000) for lead actor, Marcia Gay Harden ("Pollock," 2000) for supporting actress, Samantha Morton ("In America," 2003) for lead actress, Djimon Hounsou ("In America," 2003) for supporting actor, Shohreh Aghdashloo ("House of Sand and Fog," 2003) for supporting actress, Marcia Gay Harden ("Mystic River," 2003) for supporting actress, Clint Eastwood ("Million Dollar Baby," 2004) for lead actor, Alan Alda ("The Aviator," 2004) for supporting actor, William Hurt ("A History of Violence," 2005) for supporting actor, Tommy Lee Jones ("In the Valley of Elah," 2007) for lead actor, Laura Linney("The Savages," 2007) for lead actress. Only one -- Harden, for "Pollock" -- managed to win the Oscar without the precursor support.
Case(s) in point: Meryl Streep ("Doubt") being nominated for lead actress for playing a nun, but losing to Kate Winslet ("The Reader"). Amy Adams ("Doubt") being nominated for supporting actress for playing a nun, but losing to Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona").
Specifics: Over the 81 years of the Academy Awards, 15 women have received acting nominations for portraying nuns -- Jennifer Jones ("The Song of Bernadette," 1943) for lead actress, Gladys Cooper ("The Song of Bernadette," 1943) for supporting actress, Ingrid Bergman ("The Bells of St. Mary's," 1945), Loretta Young ("Come to the Stable," 1949) for lead actress, Celeste Holm ("Come to the Stable," 1949) for supporting actress, Deborah Kerr ("Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison," 1957) for lead actress, Audrey Hepburn ("The Nun's Story," 1959) for lead actress, Lilia Skala ("Lilies of the Field," 1963) for supporting actress, Julie Andrews ("The Sound of Music," 1965) for lead actress, Peggy Wood ("The Sound of Music," 1965) for supporting actress, Anne Bancroft ("Agnes of God," 1985) for lead actress, Meg Tilly ("Agnes of God," 1985) for supporting actress, Susan Sarandon ("Dead Man Walking," 1995) for lead actress, Meryl Streep ("Doubt," 2008) for lead actress, and Amy Adams ("Doubt," 2008) for supporting actress. Only two, however, have won: Jones and Sarandon.
Case(s) in point: "Wall-E" won animated feature but
lost its five other nods (original screening, original score, original
song, sound editing and sound mixing); "Waltz With Bashir" lost foreign language.
Specifics: Since the 5th Oscars (1931-1932), animated
short films have had their own category, and since the 74th Oscars
(2001), animated feature films have had their own, too. But both before
and subsequent to the creation of those categories, animated films have
never done particularly well outside of them. And, on the rare
occasions when they have managed to secure other nominations -- usually for their screenplay, editing, song, score, and/or sound, and on one occasion for best picture -- they have lost far more than they've won. Over the 81 years of the Academy Awards, 54 animated films have garnered 106 nominations outside of the two categories specifically designated for animated films; just 22 of those 106 have resulted in wins; and only 2 of those 22 have come since the creation of the best animated feature category. Does this confirm the widely held view that
the separate-but-equal best animated feature category was created out
of a form of "genre bias" in order to segregate animated films from all
others? We report, you decide.
Case(s) in point: "Slumdog Millionaire" winning best original score (A.R. Rahman) and best original song "Jai Ho" (A.R. Rahman, Sampooran Singh Gulzar).
Specifics: Ever since the seventh Oscars in
1934, the academy has been dishing out statuettes for best score and
best song. Though the names of those categories may have changed over
the years (there were two scoring categories for many of them, one for
dramatic or comedy pictures and one for musical pictures), one thing
has not: the winner of one often wins the other.
(To be more precise, it's happened to 19 films over 74 years, or 26% of the time.) One could be forgiven for
forgetting this trend when filling out projections this year, since the
two categories last corresponded five years ago for "The Lord of the
Rings: The Return of the King." But "Slumdog Millionaire" probably managed the feat for much the same reason that film did: it was easily
the most popular film on the ballot, and consequently won almost all of
the categories for which it was nominated -- best picture coattails, if
you will. (It also probably deserved to!)
It's a stat that's odd but true: few films have won best picture without an accompanying nomination for best film editing, but many films -- in fact, a majority of them -- have won best picture without also winning best film editing. (This year, "Slumdog Millionaire" won both.)
Here is a list of all 42 instances in which the two categories rewarded different films over the 74 years since the Academy established the best film editing category (57%):
1934"It Happened One Night" wins best picture, but "Eskimo" wins best film editing
1935"Mutiny on the Bounty" wins best picture, but "A Midsummer Night's Dream" wins best film editing
1936"The Great Ziegfeld" wins best picture, but "Anthony Adverse" wins best film editing
1937"The Life of Emile Zola" wins best picture, but "Lost Horizon" wins best film editing
1938"You Can't Take It With You" wins best picture, but "The Adventures of Robin Hood" wins best film editing
1940"Rebecca" wins best picture, but "North West Mounted Police" wins best film editing
1941"How Green Was My Valley" wins best picture, but "Sergeant York" wins best film editing
1942"Mrs. Miniver" wins best picture, but "The Pride of the Yankees" wins best film editing
1943"Casablanca" wins best picture, but "Air Force" wins best film editing
1944"Going My Way" wins best picture, but "Wilson" wins best film editing
1945"The Lost Weekend" wins best picture, but "National Velvet" wins best film editing
1947"Gentleman's Agreement" wins best picture, but "Body and Soul" wins best film editing
1948"Hamlet" wins best picture, but "The Naked City" wins best film editing
1949"All the King's Men" wins best picture, but "Champion" wins best film editing
1950"All About Eve" wins best picture, but "King Solomon's Mines" wins best film editing
1951"An American in Paris" wins best picture, but "A Place in the Sun" wins best film editing
1952"The Greatest Show on Earth" wins best picture, but "High Noon" wins best film editing
1955"Marty" wins best picture, but "Picnic" wins best film editing
1963"Tom Jones" wins best picture, but "How the West Was Won" wins best film editing
1964"My Fair Lady" wins best picture, but "Mary Poppins" wins best film editing
1966"A Man for All Seasons" wins best picture, but "Grand Prix" wins best film editing
1968"Oliver" wins best picture, but "Bullitt" wins best film editing
1969"Midnight Cowboy" wins best picture, but "Z" wins best film editing
1972"The Godfather" wins best picture, but "Cabaret" wins best film editing
1974"The Godfather, Part II" wins best picture, but "The Towering Inferno" wins best film editing
1975"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" wins best picture, but "Jaws" wins best film editing
1977"Annie Hall" wins best picture, but "Star Wars" wins best film editing
1979"Kramer vs. Kramer" wins best picture, but "All That Jazz" wins best film editing
1980"Ordinary People" wins best picture, but "Raging Bull" wins best film editing
1981"Chariots of Fire" wins best picture, but "Raiders of the Lost Ark" wins best film editing
1983"Terms of Endearment" wins best picture, but "The Right Stuff" wins best film editing
1984"Amadeus" wins best picture, but "The Killing Fields" wins best film editing
1985"Out of Africa" wins best picture, but "Witness" wins best film editing
1988"Rain Man" wins best picture, but "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" wins best film editing
1991"Driving Miss Daisy" wins best picture, but "Born on the Fourth of July" wins best film editing
1995"Braveheart" wins best picture, but "Apollo 13" wins best film editing
1998"Shakespeare in Love" wins best picture, but "Saving Private Ryan" wins best film editing
1999"American Beauty" wins best picture, but "The Matrix" wins best film editing
2000"Gladiator" wins best picture, but "Traffic" wins best film editing
2001"A Beautiful Mind" wins best picture, but "Black Hawk Down" wins best film editing
2004"Million Dollar Baby" wins best picture, but "The Aviator" wins best film editing
2007"No Country for Old Men" wins best picture, but "The Bourne Ultimatum" wins best film editing
Note
Since the establishment of the best film editing category in 1934 ...
There have been nine years in which the winner of best picture was not even nominated for best film editing: 1934, 1937, 1948, 1955, 1963, 1966, 1974, 1977, 1980
There have been twelve years in which the winner of best film editing was not even nominated
for best picture: 1934, 1940, 1943, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1966,
1988, 1999, 2001, 2007
Photo: Dev Patel in "Slumdog Millionaire" which won both best picture and best film editing. Credit: Fox Searchlight
I just noticed something about this year's Oscar-winning actors Sean Penn ("Milk"), Kate Winslet ("The Reader"), Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight") and Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona"): all four had been nominated at least once before, something that hasn't happened since 1994.
Penn was previously nominated for lead actor in "Dead Man Walking" (1995), "Sweet and Lowdown" (1999), "I Am Sam" (2001) and "Mystic River" (2003)WON. Winslet was previously nominated for lead actress in "Titanic" (1997), "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004) and "Little Children" (2006), and supporting actress in "Sense and Sensibility" (1995) and "Iris" (2001). Ledger was previously nominated for lead actor for "Brokeback Mountain" (2005). And Cruz was previously nominated for lead actress for "Volver" (2006).
As you can see below, there has been at least one first-time nominee among the four winners for each of the 14 years leading up to this one:
1995Nicolas Cage ("Leaving Las Vegas") for lead actor, Kevin Spacey ("The Usual Suspects") for supporting actor, Mira Sorvino ("Mighty Aphrodite") for supporting actress
1996Geoffrey Rush ("Shine") for lead actor, Cuba Gooding Jr. ("Jerry Maguire") for supporting actor, Juliette Binoche ("The English Patient") for supporting actress
1997Helen Hunt ("As Good As It Gets") for lead actress, Kim Basinger ("L.A. Confidential") for supporting actress
1998Roberto Benigni ("Life Is Beautiful") for lead actor, Gwyneth Paltrow ("Shakespeare in Love") for lead actress
1999Hilary Swank ("Boys Don't Cry") for lead actress, Angelina Jolie ("Girl, Interrupted") for supporting actress
2000Benicio Del Toro ("Traffic") for supporting actor, Marcia Gay Harden ("Pollock") for supporting actress
2001Halle Berry ("Monster's Ball) for lead actress, Jim Broadbent ("Iris") for supporting actor, Jennifer Connelly ("A Beautiful Mind") for supporting actress
2002Adrien Brody ("The Pianist") for lead actor,Chris Cooper ("Adaptation") for supporting actor, Catherine Zeta-Jones ("Chicago") for supporting actress
2003Charlize Theron ("Monster") for lead actress, Tim Robbins ("Mystic River") for supporting actor
2004Jamie Foxx ("Ray")
2005Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Capote") for lead actor, Reese Witherspoon ("Walk the Line") for lead actress, George Clooney ("Syriana") for supporting actor, Rachel Weisz ("The Constant Gardener") for supporting actress
2006Forest Whitaker ("The Last King of Scotland") for lead actor, Jennifer Hudson ("Dreamgirls") for supporting actress
2007Marion Cotillard ("La Vie en Rose") for lead actress, Tilda Swinton ("Michael Clayton") for supporting actress
Photos: Sean Penn in "Milk" (Focus Features), Kate Winslet in "The Reader" (The Weinstein Co.), Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.), and Penelope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (The Weinstein Co.)
Ever since the seventh Oscars in 1934, the Academy has been dishing out statuettes for best score and best song. Though the names of those categories may have changed over the years (there were two scoring categories for many of them, one for dramatic or comedy pictures and one for musical pictures), one thing has not: the winner of one often wins the other.
One could be forgiven for forgetting this trend when filling out projections this year, since the two categories last corresponded five years ago for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." But "Slumdog Millionaire" probably managed the feat for much the same reason that film did: it was easily the most popular film on the ballot, and consequently won almost all of the categories for which it was nominated -- best picture coattails, if you will. (It also probably deserved to!)
Here is a list at the 19 films that have won Oscars for both best score and best song over the 74 years that the categories have been presented (26% of the time):
"The Wizard of Oz" (1939) -- best music (original score) and best original song ("Over the Rainbow")
"Pinocchio" (1940) -- best music (original score) and best original song ("When You Wish Upon a Star")
"High Noon" (1952) -- best music (score of a dramatic or comedy picture) and best original song ("Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin' ")
"Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" (1955) -- best music (score of a dramatic or comedy picture) and best original song ("Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing")
"Gigi" (1958) -- best music (scoring of a musical picture) and best original song ("Gigi")
"Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961) -- best music (score of a dramatic or comedy picture) and best original song ("Moon River")
"Mary Poppins" (1964) -- best music (original music score) and best original song ("Chim Chim Cher-ee")
"Born Free" (1966) -- best music (original music score) and best original song ("Born Free")
"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) -- best music (original score) and best original song ("Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head")
"The Way We Were" (1973) -- best original score and best original song ("The Way We Were")
"Fame" (1980) -- best original score and best original song ("Fame")
"The Little Mermaid" (1989) -- best original score and best original song ("Under the Sea")
"Beauty and the Beast" (1991) -- best original score and best original song ("Beauty and the Beast")
"Aladdin" (1992) -- best original score and best original song ("A Whole New World")
"The Lion King" (1994) -- best original score and best original song ("Can You Feel the Love Tonight?")
"Pocahontas" (1995) -- best original musical or comedy score and best original song ("Colors of the Wind")
"Titanic" (1997) -- best original dramatic score and best original song ("My Heart Will Go On")
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003) -- best original score and best original song ("Into the West")
"Slumdog Millionaire" (2008) -- best original score and best original song ("Jai Ho")
Animated films have never had it easy when it comes to the Academy Awards.
Sure, since the fifth Oscars (1931-1932), animated short films have had their own category, and since the 74th Oscars (2001), animated feature films have had their own too. But both prior and subsequent to the creation of those categories, animated films have never done particularly well outside them. And, on the rare occasions when they have managed to secure other nominations -- usually for their screenplay, editing song, score, and/or sound, and on one occasion for best picture -- they have lost far more than they've won.
Here, for the first time anywhere, is a complete list of all of the primarily animated films that have been nominated for Oscars outside of the best animated short film and best animated feature film categories, from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in 1937 through "WALL-E" and "Waltz With Bashir" in 2008. As you can see, these 54 films have collectively garnered only 106 such nominations over the 81 years of the Academy Awards, and have won just 22 of them (and only two since the creation of the best animated feature category).
Does this confirm the widely held view that the separate-but-equal best animated feature category was created out of a form of "genre bias" in order to segregate animated films from all others? We report, you decide.
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) -- best score
"Gulliver's Travels" (1939) -- best original score, best original song ("Faithful Forever")
"Pinocchio" (1940) -- best original scoreWON, best original song ("When You Wish Upon a Star")WON
"Dumbo" (1941) -- best scoreWON, best original song ("Baby Mine")
"Bambi" (1942) -- best score (dramatic or comedy), best original song ("Love Is a Song"), best sound (recording)
"The New Spirit" (1942) -- best documentary
"Saludos Amigos" (1943) -- best score (musical), best original song ("Saludos Amigos"), best sound (recording)
"Victory Through Airpower" (1943) -- best score (drama or comedy)
"The Three Caballeros" (1945) -- best score (musical), best sound (recording)
"Song of the South" (1947) -- best score (musical), best original song ("Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah") WON
"Wet Blanket Policy" (1948) -- best original song ("The Woody Woodpecker Song")
"So Much for So Little" (1949) -- best documentary (short) WON
"Cinderella" (1950) -- best score (musical), best original song ("Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo"), best sound (recording)
"Alice in Wonderland" (1951) -- best score (musical)
"Sleeping Beauty" (1959) -- best score (musical)
"The Sword in the Stone" (1963) -- best score (music, adaptation, or treatment)
"The Jungle Book" (1967) -- best original song ("The Bare Necessities")
"A Boy Named Charlie Brown" (1970) -- best original song score
"Robin Hood" (1973) -- best original song ("Love")
"The Rescuers" (1977) -- best original song ("Someone's Waiting for You")
"An American Tail" (1986) -- best original song ("Somewhere Out There")
"Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" (1988) -- best film editing WON, best effects (sound effects editing) WON, best effects (visual effects) WON, best art direction-set direction, best cinematography, best sound
"The Little Mermaid" (1989) -- best original score WON, best original song ("Under the Sea") WON, best original song ("Kiss the Girl")
"Beauty and the Beast" (1991) -- best picture, best original score WON, best original song ("Be Our Guest"), best original song ("Beauty and the Beast") WON, best original song ("Belle"), best sound
"Aladdin" (1992) -- best effects (sound effects editing), best original score WON, best original song ("A Whole New World") WON, best original song ("Friends Like Me"), best sound
"The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993) -- best effects (visual effects)
"The Lion King" (1994) -- best original score WON, best original song ("Can You Feel the Love Tonight?") WON, best original song ("Circle of Life"), best original song ("Hakuna Matata")
"Pocahontas" (1995) -- best original score (musical or comedy) WON, best original song ("Colors of the Wind") WON
"Toy Story" (1995) -- best original screenplay, best original score (musical or comedy), best original song ("You've Got a Friend")
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1996) -- best original score (musical or comedy)
"James and the Giant Peach" (1996) -- best original score (musical or comedy)
"Anastasia" (1997) -- best original score, best original song ("Journey to the Past")
"Hercules" (1997) -- best original song ("Go the Distance")
"A Bug's Life" (1998) -- best original score (musical or comedy)
"Mulan" (1998) -- best original score (musical or comedy)
"The Prince of Egypt" (1998) -- best original score (musical or comedy), best original song ("When You Believe") WON
"Quest for Camelot" (1998) -- best original song ("The Prayer")
"South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut" (1999) -- best original song ("Blame Canada")
"Tarzan" (1999) -- best original song ("You'll Be in My Heart") WON
"Toy Story 2" (1999) -- best original song ("When She Loved Me")
"The Emperor's New Groove" (2000) -- best original song ("My Funny Friend and Me")
"Monsters, Inc." (2001) -- best original score, best original song ("If I Didn't Have You") WON, best sound editing
"Shrek" (2001) -- best adapted screenplay
"The Wild Thornberrys Movie" (2002) -- best original song ("Father and Daughter")
"Finding Nemo" (2003) -- best original screenplay, best original score, best sound editing
"The Triplets of Belleville" (2003) -- best original song ("Belleville Rendez-Vous")
"The Incredibles" (2004) -- best original screenplay, best sound editing WON, best sound mixing
"The Polar Express" (2004) -- best original song ("Believe"), best sound editing, best sound mixing
"Shrek 2" (2004) -- best original song ("Accidentally in Love")
"Cars" (2006) -- best original song ("Our Town")
"Enchanted" (2007) -- best original song ("Happy Working Song"), best original song ("So Close"), best original song ("That's How You Know")
"Ratatouille" (2007) -- best original screenplay, best original score, best sound editing, best sound mixing
"WALL-E" (2008) -- best original screenplay, best original score, best original song ("Down to Earth"), best sound editing, best sound mixing
"Waltz with Bashir" (2008) -- best foreign language film
Scott Feinberg is a film industry awards analyst. He boasts one of the best track records at projecting the Academy Awards, including a 21 for 24 effort in 2006, first among all pundits according to OscarCentral and Variety. Feinberg, who studied film at Yale University and Brandeis University, is the founder of AndTheWinnerIs.blog.com.
Subscribe
Scott Feinberg is a film industry awards analyst. He boasts one of the best track records at projecting the Academy Awards, including a 21 for 24 effort in 2006, first among all pundits according to OscarCentral and Variety. Feinberg, who studied film at Yale University and Brandeis University, is the founder of 