EXCLUSIVE CLIP: 'Slumdog' opening sequence, which makes solid argument for recognition in tech categories

Ever since winning the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, "Slumdog Millionaire" has been racking up critical praise, commercial credo and a whole collection of best picture honors from various Oscar precursors. But should "Slumdog" make it into the best picture field at the Oscars, as is now considered to be a given, it will likely be pitted against films that are much bigger-scale cinematic achievements including, perhaps, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and/or "The Dark Knight." Consequently, for "Slumdog" to actually win at the Oscars, it is going to have to take on these films where they're strongest: in the the technical categories.

Fox Searchlight, which has handled the distribution of "Slumdog Millionaire," knows this challenge well. In recent years, it guided "Little Miss Sunshine" (2006) and "Juno" (2007) to multiple nominations, including best picture, but without support from the Academy's technical branches both films were able to come only to the brink of the promised land of a win. The third time, though, may prove be the charm. It would be far-fetched to think that "Slumdog" can win many of the categories celebrating below-the-line achievements, but unlike the first two Searchlight films it is actually a viable contender to win two or three, and that could well be enough to do the trick.

Pundits have been zeroing in on best cinematography, best film editing, best original score and best original song as the categories in which the film stands the strongest chance of garnering a nomination and possibly a win. It's probably not a coincidence, therefore, that the studio recently hosted an evening called "The Music and Vision of 'Slumdog Millionaire' " that featured a screening of the film followed by a Q&A in which director Danny Boyle was joined by cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle ("The Last King of Scotland"), editor Chris Dickens ("Hot Fuzz") and composer A.R. Rahman ("Water").

A Fox Searchlight spokesman told me, "The technical credits of the film have been a recurring topic at Q&As this season, and with all of these individuals in town it provided a great opportunity to devote a full evening to the discussion of what went into making the film."

A near-capacity crowd packed the historic, 1,200-seat Wadsworth Theatre in West L.A. for the event, including — and this is key — a considerable number of members of the editors, cinematographers, musicians and sound editors guilds. Both the film and Q&A were followed by standing ovations.

So does "Slumdog" deserve to be recognized for its technical achievements? That's a question that voters will have to decide for themselves, but the gathered talent gave them plenty to think about.

Cinematography Mantle said, "We went to India, saw the slums and walked them slowly to learn their extraordinary physicality. I wanted a vision that moved at the pace of our protagonist Jamal, but also captured the vibrancy of the people of India through mixed formats and cameras." He mixed up film stocks and used digital high-resolution cameras and Steadicam technology to (a) minimize his presence, (b) make the actors more comfortable and (c) be able to navigate the cramped spaces in which much of the film was shot.

(won New York Film Critics Circle, New York Film Critics Online; runner-up at Los Angeles Film Critics Assn.; nominated for still-TBD British Independent Film Award, still-TBD Chicago Film Critics Assn., still-TBD St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Assn.)

Film Editing Unlike most editors, Dickens was actually part of not only the post-production, but the pre-production, as well. He joined Boyle in India during location scouting so that he could get an on-the-ground feel for the people and energy of Mumbai and eventually "harness that energy through the beautiful images Danny and Anthony came up with."

(won Boston Society of Film Critics; nominated for Satellite Award)

Original Score Rahman, who has scored over 100 films in India (usually in the Bollywood tradition) and is one of the nation's most celebrated artists, didn't want a score made up of conventional melodies. Rather, he wanted it "to be like a series of songs, where certain moments queue sometimes unbearable emotions but then uplift like a bird flying away. The idea was to have something as kinetic as the streets of Mumbai."

(won Los Angeles Film Critics Assn., New York Film Critics Online, Satellite Award; nominated for still-TBD Golden Globe, still-TBD Chicago Film Critics Assn.)

Original Song Rahman recruited his British-Sri Lankan friend Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam — better known as M.I.A., the Grammy-nominated artist best known for the record "Paper Planes" who was recently the subject of a Los Angeles Times profile) — to collaborate with him on the song "O ... Saya," as well as the film's closing, Bollywood-style number "Jai Ho," which means "Hooray!" in Hindi and is attracting the most attention of all.

("Jai Ho" nominated for Satellite Award, still-TBD Broadcast Film Critics Assn.)

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Clip: Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Comments

[Robert Hamer]

The biggest competition for Slumdog in these technical categories are:

The Dark Knight for cinematography since it's Wally Pfister's best work yet.

Milk for editing since Elliot Graham did such a good job splicing archival footage with staged sequences.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for original score because the music from Alexandre Desplat is absolutely beautiful and layered and Desplat is due for a statuette.

WALL-E or The Wrestler for original song. This is really a fight between Gabriel and The Boss, although "Academy Award-nominee M.I.A." does have a nice ring to it.