It's always interesting on the day after a grueling, never-ending awards season to see so many bloggers jumping right back into the fray with lists of contenders for next year's Oscar race.
Gimme a break, or at least a weekend, before we have to get back into it. Anyway, who knows what's really gonna happen next year when the most celebrated movie of this year didn't even have a distributor putting it in the game until an announcement on Aug. 28!!! That was when it was revealed that Fox Searchlight would release "Slumdog Millionaire" in North America. A few days later, it played for the first time in Telluride, and it was off to the races. What turned out to be another best picture nominee, "The Reader" (which was still shooting as late as August), didn't even announce it was going to compete in this year's race until Sept. 29 (and then to great controversy)!
But back to "Slumdog's" Telluride debut. I was at that screening. You could feel the excitement and the sense of discovery. Until then, the movie was almost surely going straight to DVD, in the U.S. at least. Warner Bros., which produced it, no longer had an indie division to release it and didn't want to be bothered. As I have written here, I first heard the name "Slumdog Millionaire" at an L.A. Film Festival party in June in a casual conversation with Bob Berney, the indie-savvy president of the soon-to-be-defunct Picturehouse (another division shut down by Warners). He told me he had seen this remarkable film and wanted to help on the release, although even Bob didn't really see its awards potential at that point. File it under: You just never know. Instead of handing it to Berney, though, Warners gave it to Searchlight (retaining a 50% financial interest) and Fox execs have been gloating ever since. The combination of a great but different kind of movie and an inventive, smart distributor made the difference between blockbuster movie or Blockbuster rental. As Fox co-chair Jim Gianopulos told me at Sunday night's "Slumdog" celebration, "You gotta love Hollywood."
That initial "Slumdog" Telluride screening and final Oscar victory party were just two of a number of highlights for me this season. There were many more:
-- Seeing Woody Allen's "Vicky Christina Barcelona" at its first press screening last May in Cannes was thrilling, not only because it was a masterful comic comeback for Woody but also because I was able to witness and immediately note an Oscar-winning performance by Penelope Cruz.
-- Being blown away by the first finished print of Ron Howard's "Frost/Nixon" back on April 17 at Leonard Maltin's USC class. The session was accompanied by an hourlong Q&A with Howard for 500 students, who seemed to love the movie despite its being about events that happened before they were even born.
-- Another highlight happened in the heat of last season on Dec. 5, 2007, when director Christopher Nolan hosted an Imax press preview of the first six minutes of "The Dark Knight," and we all got a taste of the extraordinary originality of Heath Ledger's Joker.
-- Moderating those Q&A and tribute sessions with the likes of Mickey Rourke, David Fincher, Meryl Streep, Leo and Kate, Christopher Nolan, Angelina Jolie and so many others was another great highlight for me.
-- And, as always, watching the awards season progress and the fortunes of movies rise and fall is fascinating stuff.
Looking back now, maybe it was a sign that "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," the movie I thought certainly could -- and deserved to -- go all the way to best picture, had to shut down 20 minutes into a disastrous first press and industry screening at the DGA due to digital projection problems. The "Button" team recovered nicely with a good-natured reception in the lobby and successful screenings later in the week, but the jinx was on.
It did get three well-deserved Oscars (makeup, visual effects, art direction), but being runner-up to a little-known British picture shot partially in the Hindi language was not part of the master plan. You can't always predict how these things are gonna go.
So again, how can we possibly predict with any sense of confidence where next year will take us? I guess Oscar junkies must have their fun. But with the industry and independent film distribution in the doldrums, it's entirely possible that there's another "Slumdog" out there just waiting to be discovered and released in time for next year's awards season. I can remember no other time when there were so many good, independently made films that can't seem to get arrested.
Lasse Halstrom's remarkably beautiful and touching new film, "Hachiko: A Dog's Story," with Richard Gere and Joan Allen, is still looking to lock in domestic distribution in an industry wary of taking on anything that doesn't have a marketing hook.
"Strength and Honour," from debuting writer-director Mark Mahon, is a kind of Irish "Rocky" with a wonderful lead performance by Michael Madsen and a great track record at the film festivals where it has appeared, but it still can't find someone willing to take a chance on it. Although hard-nosed critics aren't likely to go for the film's sentiment, I had the opportunity to show it to my UCLA Sneak Preview class a few weeks ago, and the response was astounding. This same group had seen "Slumdog Millionaire" in the fall session and they seemed equally pleased by this feel-good crowd-pleaser.
Unless someone can see the potential for such films as "Hachiko" and the "Strength and Honour" and so many other mid-range movies with the potential to touch an audience the way "Slumdog" has, these films will just wind up in the same bargain DVD bins where "Slumdog" was headed until the movie gods intervened.
With hope, next season will provide its share of Cinderella stories and fun stuff to write about. This awards cycle, which I have been chronicling in "Notes on a Season" since Cannes last May, has certainly not disappointed.
It was fitting that it all ended Sunday night with an Oscar ceremony that was one for the ages -- a beautifully produced show by Bill Condon and Laurence Mark that captured everything we still love about movies and the Academy Awards. Those bloggers, columnists and critics out there who were panning it before it was even over have had to run back into their holes and take cover from the vociferous reaction, in and out of the industry, to their ill-conceived attack.
"I don't get the criticism," one longtime academy member told me Monday. "This was an amazing show. You could just feel it in waves as it went along. Those guys [Condon and Mark], they are really good."
I'm told the academy itself was fielding numerous calls complaining about the complainers -- but, hey, everyone is entitled to an opinion even if it was formed before the show made it to the air. You can't please everyone, but with this production the Academy got back on track -- and the 13% increase in ratings was the cherry on top. Here's hoping this team returns next year. Clearly, the public still has a jones on for the Oscars when they are produced with smarts and style.
As for "Notes," this is it for awhile, at least until we have a whole new batch of real, not imagined, contenders to riff on.
Until then, as Queen Latifah so poignantly crooned Sunday night, "I'll be seeing you."
--Pete Hammond
The young cast of "Slumdog Millionaire" takes a moment to pose with their best picture Oscar. Photo: Getty Images
One Sunset was the place to be Sunday, as the Oscar night party place for Fox Searchlight quickly turned into the Oscar celebration of 2009. The studio kept press inside to a bare minimum, so this is a bit of an exclusive.
With "Slumdog Millionaire" winning an incredible eight Oscars, the constant ecstatic outbursts in the room during the viewing party were just as plentiful as the Champagne glasses being filled.
Now, of course, this was all fairly predictable, but it didn't stop revelers like Fox Searchlight President Peter RIce, 20th Century Fox co-chairs Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos, News Corp. head Peter Chernin and the entire "Slumdog" team, from Danny Boyle on down, including all the kids and Dev Patel, from absolutely giddy reactions as they made their way into the party from their triumph at the Kodak.
Gianopulos told me it was a great night
"You have got to love Hollywood," he said with a laugh. The back story on how Fox mangaged to get this one away from the grip of Warner Bros., which had made it but didn't have a clue how to release it, is now Tinseltown legend.
Photographers lined Sunset to grab shots of Boyle, Patel and crew making their way into the intimate restaurant that Searchlight took over. The "Slumdog" back-patting was going well beyond 1:30 a.m., the time I left in order to file this story.
Biggest reaction of the night was when Boyle won and performed his improv "Tigger dance" as he began his thank-yous.
Over the years, I have spent Oscar night in various ways. I remember F. Murray Abraham got so mad at me for grabbing him for an interview and keeping him from eating his dinner at the Governors Ball in 1985 that he tried to hit me with his Oscar. Or at least it appeared that way. Then there were the great Oscar night celebrations a la "Slumdog" that I spent so much time at. "Platoon's" victory party was fun. The "Crash" party at Chateau Marmont was just insane.
The "Slumdog" gang skipped the Vanity Fair party just up the street in order to spend time at their own once-in-a-lifetime Oscar shindig.
Everyone there seemed to agree this was an Oscar show for the ages. Sure, it wasn't perfect. They never are, but the Bill Condon/Laurence Mark production got so much right it doesn't really matter.
Best innovation of the show was having five former winners present in each of the acting categories to the newest winner. Seeing Shirley MacLaine, Sophia Loren, Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry and last year's champ, Marion Cotillard, all hand one off to Kate Winslet was just breathtaking.
This is the kind of thing show business should be all about. Let's hope this becomes a new tradition.
Curiously, the male 2008 winners, Daniel Day-Lewis and Javier Bardem, were no-shows, but this innovation was so successful they weren't really missed when it came time to present lead actor and supporting actor awards.
Other highlights were the ever-changing sets of David Rockwell, the best I have seen in any award show, and the superb presentation of the three original song nominees. A big Hollywood top-hat-and-tails number fronted by Jackman and conceived by his "Australia" director, Baz Luhrmann, was also great fun and a tip of the top hat to old Hollywood style.
Also knocking it out of the park was the heartfelt tribute to Jerry Lewis by Eddie Murphy, one 'Nutty Professor' to another. Then there was the brilliant idea of setting the "In Memorium" segment to music. Queen Latifah was pitch-perfect in her rendition of "I'll Be Seeing You" as we collectively said goodbye to Paul Newman, Charlton Heston, Sydney Pollack and so many others. Touching perfection.
If the goal was trying to add a touch of class back into the Oscarcast, Condon and Mark succeeded beyond our greatest hopes. And it wasn't all about the nominees. In addition to the rather indie-oriented list of contenders, there was plenty of respect paid to the biggest moneymaking movies of the year via clip packages that emphasized the kind of movies that sell tickets.
As for all the awards handed out, there were no real surprises unless you count Japan's come-from-behind victory in the foreign-language film race. Favorites were thought to be the more widely seen and distributed "Waltz With Bashir" and Palme d'Or winner "The Class," but some voters told me earlier in the week that they were bored by "The Class" and didn't know quite what to make of "Bashir," which would have been the first animated film, first documentary and first Israeli movie to win in the category. Clearly three "firsts" were just too much for the conservative academy tastes.
"Departures" also benefited from a distribution strategy that made it hard to see during key voting periods. The film had a bit of exposure at the Palm Springs Film Festival this year, but that was it. All other screenings just barely met the academy's requirements for foreign-language entries. Every movie in the category must be seen in a theater environment or you would not be eligible to vote. That's no problem for "Class"and "Bashir" (both from Sony Classics), which have been in general release, but by making "Departures," which doesn't open until May, difficult to see for those who have a day job, the relatively new distributor, Regent, was able to make it an even playing field. Another advantage the film had was its emotional core, a hallmark of many winners in this category.
As for the rest of the winners, I got 20 out of 24 correct. This was good enough to tie Dave Karger for the Gurus of Gold crown and to place second to Tom O'Neil at The Envelope. Tom got 21 right, thanks to a last-minute change in animated short. Bringing up the rear was Scott Feinberg, who scored 18, but he was easily the most improved, getting six more right than he did last year.
I was delighted to see my prediction of Penelope Cruz winning the supporting actress prize for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" come to pass. I made this prediction right after seeing the film in Cannes in May and stuck by it throughout the topsy-turvy award season that saw eventual lead actress winner Kate Winslet try to weasel her way into the wrong category. Fortunately, the academy recognized Kate in the lead actress category for "The Reader," where she belonged, opening the competition to Cruz, who came home Sunday night with a guy named Oscar.
My other favorite moment was seeing the impeccable coordination of Philippe Petit, the subject of "Man on Wire," who balanced his brand-new documentary Oscar on his chin. Priceless.
OK, yes, I would have loved to see Mickey Rourke win or "Wall-E" take all six of its nominations, but life isn't always fair.
These Oscars were.
A consultant I know who brought home a few Oscars for the team Sunday night is ALREADY talking about next year and a certain musical being touted for major awards. Give us a few days rest and we'll be ready for the hype.
RIght now, it's just congrats to "Slumdog," the little movie that could. May you party on all week.
— Pete Hammond
(Photo: Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala, Ayush Mahesh Khededar, Azhar Mohammed Ismail, Dev Patel, Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar and Freida Pinto. Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Best actor co-favorite Sean Penn will be coming to the Oscars tonight despite the bronchitis that kept him away from Saturday's Independent Spirit Awards ceremony in Santa Monica where the "Milk" star lost the best male lead prize to "The Wrestler's" Mickey Rourke.
Even though Sean didn't make the lively Spirit celebration, his wife, Robin Wright Penn, did show as a presenter.
Intriguingly Penn has been a no-show at all three of the major awards shows this season where he ended up losing to Rourke: the Golden Globes in January, the BAFTA awards two weeks ago and now at the Indie Spirits. Conversely, Rourke has attended everything including the SAG awards and the Critics Choice awards where he lost to Penn. Tonight will be the first time the two of them are actually in the same room when they go head to head.
Even though Rourke won the Spirit and gave a rollicking, expletive-laden, hilarious and touching acceptance speech (particularly when talking about his recently deceased Chihuahua, Loki), the applause meter inside the tent went overboard during the reading of the nominees when "The Visitor's" Richard Jenkins' name was mentioned.
I caught up with Jenkins across town later at a party last night and he said he was very appreciative for that visible support.
"That was really great, so why didn't they vote for me then?" he joked in reference to the fact that he lost to Rourke.
Well, probably not possible unless you strike up an affair with a PricewaterhouseCoopers accountant and get him or her to spill the beans. However, this year is pretty easy. You may not have to go that far. Those who spend more than five minutes fretting over this list should be drummed out of the prognostication business.
Nevertheless, if you're Oscar-challenged and not all that confident, here is the best possible way to triumph. Follow the ever-reliable predictions of Pete Hammond's "Notes on a Season," the reigning champ of The Envelope's Buzzmeter, where he outpointed everyone, including colleagues Tom O'Neil and Scott Feinberg. He also won that "Guru" thing at another site, so check out these predictions:
Best Picture: "Slumdog Millionaire"
Best Actor: Sean Penn
Best Actress: Kate Winslet
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz
Best Director: Danny Boyle
Best Original Screenplay: "Milk"
Best Adapted Screenplay: "Slumdog Millionaire"
Best Animated Film: "Wall-E"
Best Documentary Feature: "Man on Wire"
Best Foreign-Language Film: "Departures"
Best Cinematography: "Slumdog Millionaire"
Best Art Direction: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Best Costume Design: "The Duchess"
Best Song: "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire"
Best Musical Score: "Slumdog Millionaire"
Best Film Editing: "Slumdog Millionaire"
Best Sound Mixing: "The Dark Knight"
Best Sound Editing: "Wall-E"
Best Makeup: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Best Special Visual Effects: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Best Animated Short: "Presto"
Best Live-Action Short: "Toyland"
Best Documentary Short: "The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306"
Place your bets now. If you win, I get 10%. Best of luck.
Based on my own highly unscientific polling among academy voters, the best picture Oscar would appear to be secured for "Slumdog Millionaire" as even your grandmother in Provo could safely predict.
Other categories like actor, supporting actor, original screenplay, foreign film and even actress seem to be open for discussion. Now that may be just because it's silly season and two days out and we're looking for any excuse to pump up interest in the race but there are genuine strong indications of tighter than usual voting.
Some bloggers were even seen to be taking seriously a bogus item purporting to be "leaked" official results of the actual winners. The list, which included Amy Adams as supporting actress and "The Reader" over "Slumdog Millionaire" in adapted screenplay among many other unlikely scenarios, COULD NEVER HAPPEN (even in the age of the Internet).
The academy's system of voting integrity is foolproof and it pains me to say that my dream book entitled "Academy Award Vote Totals 1927 to 2008 By Pete Hammond" can never be written because after a certain number of years the results (usually known only to two execs at PricewaterhouseCoopers) are destroyed.
It would be fascinating to see how close "Cabaret" came to beating "The Godfather" for best picture in 1972 or "The Pianist" vs. "Chicago" 30 years later or what the final tally was between Judy Garland and Grace Kelly in 1954 or what number really separated "Crash" and "Brokeback Mountain," etc., etc. We will never know. That's a fact, not a prediction, and it's part of Oscar's peculiar charm that we won't and can't.
Looking at the tightest contests, Saturday's Independent Spirit Awards will give us our last pre-Oscar matchup between Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke as both are up for best actor (along with fellow Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins). This gives the Indie Spirits, one of my favorite events of the season, even more interest than usual. Will this continue Mickey's momentum after his impressive win at BAFTA or put Sean back in the driver's seat? My guess is Mickey takes the indie crown but Sean squeaks out an Oscar. The X factor is the closeness of the academy balloting in this category and the Frank Langella contingent is out there in force as previously noted in this column. If Frank can drive up a decent number of votes that might otherwise go to Sean, the Mickey Rourke supporters could sneak their guy through in a squeaker.
As for best actress, suddenly a lot of bloggers have been throwing out Melissa Leo as a threat to presumed winner Kate Winslet. Really? How can Kate lose? She's on the cover of Time Magazine this week. TIME FRIGGIN' MAGAZINE has named Kate Winslet best actress so it's over, right? Again, just as in the actor race a strong three-way contest can produce an unexpected result. A lot, I mean A LOT of voters have told me they went with Meryl Streep. A LOT have said the same thing about Winslet. One guy I know voted for Melissa Leo, but apparently many voters outside of the actors branch caught up with her small indie film, "Frozen River," quite late in the game even though Sony Classics got it out to the academy first back in September. That fresh front-of-mind factor could work in her favor. If it were just actors voting I would make Leo the front-runner. They love her and they've all worked with her, but it's the entire academy voting so the main contest is Streep vs. Winslet. And don't forget there is a lot of academy love for Winslet's film, "The Reader." It would indeed be a stunner for me if she lost here. But a REALLY close vote between those two could make Leo a real, not imagined, factor.
Leo, by the way, is pretty much a certainty to take the Indie Spirit Best Actress prize Saturday. Anne Hathaway is her only really serious competition but Leo and "Frozen River" are the stuff the Spirits are made of.
Then there's supporting actress. I called this in May for Penelope Cruz after seeing "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" in Cannes. I am sticking with her. She certainly deserves this and voters I am talking to seem to agree, although Viola Davis would appear to have a more than decent shot at upsetting for her 10 minutes in "Doubt." It's the impact that lingered for Davis voters, but Cruz should pull it out. Again it's too close for comfort.
"Milk" is still likely to take original screenplay but there is still a lot of "Wall-E" love out there, just enough to make this category a little shaky as well. For those who got it, "Wall-E" represented a special connection more than any previous animated screenplay nominee. Still, the academy being the academy, it's tough to beat Dustin Lance Black and the social significance of his Harvey Milk biopic. But don't count the robot out quite yet.
For foreign language film, most pundits seem to be thinking "Waltz With Bashir." It's won the majority of the precursors but it is also uncharted territory for this category. No animated film, no documentary and no film from Israel has ever won here so it would be three firsts. If not "Bashir," most pundits then move to the Palme d'Or winner from France, "The Class" but some voters I talked to thought it was dull. One even left after the first half. The committee at large likely did not vote this in on the first round and the academy's executive committee put in it in the mix (they won't confirm this but sources indicate that was the case). If you are looking for a pool winner go with Japan for the upset. That country's film,"Departures" is one the original foreign language committee LOVED. It just might surprise on Oscar night particularly since this is one category members must prove they have seen ALL the nominated films in a theater. The result often depends on who is getting out their vote. Since Sony Classics has both "The Class" and "Bashir" could that vote be split allowing "Departures" to sneak in for the surprise?
At any rate all this speculation and desire for upsets or anything but the status quo is what keeps us going until the big night. Often this last minute debate is all for naught as the obvious winner becomes the obvious winner and we all claim later that's exactly what we knew was gonna happen.
Still after going to one award show after another this season where the big winner was always the same movie, "Slumdog Millionaire," an unexpected name that pops out of the envelope at least in one or two categories would at least ramp up the drama factor.
Lots more words to write as the weekend progresses but until the envelopes start getting ripped open for real ,here's some cinematic advice for Oscar junkies who just CAN'T wait until Sunday.
Check out some of my favorite movies that feature our boy Oscar in a key role:
"A Star Is Born," both the 1937 and 1954 versions. Watch the classic scene where a drunken Norman Maine disrupts his wife's big Academy Award moment.
"California Suite" (1978), a Neil Simon comedy in which Maggie Smith became the first person to actually WIN an Oscar for playing an Oscar also-ran for spitting out lines like, "I won't really get pissed until AFTER I lose".
"Susan Slept Here" (1954), Debbie Reynolds and Dick Powell comedy which is actually narrated by the Oscar statuette itself!
"The Star" (1952), Bette Davis got a nomination as a drunken has-been actress with only an Oscar to keep her warm at night.
"The Oscar" (1966), of course the granddaddy kitsch classic of all Oscar's movie roles. The story of Frankie Faine, an up-from-the-gutter contender for the industry's highest award who wanted to "swallow up Hollywood like a cat swallows a canary."
The interesting thing is all of these movies dealing with Oscar in one way or another actually received Oscar nominations of their own proving that Oscar loves seeing himself on the big screen.
So before the REAL LIFE Academy Awards happen on Sunday, cuddle up with some popcorn and a bottle of wine and check out the REEL LIFE versions.
As Davis' washed-up star Margaret Elliott in "The Star" so aptly puts it:
The voting is now officially over, the winners are determined. So what.
A small film with no stars that includes some Hindi-language dialogue and almost went straight to video is set to sweep the Oscars. Not exactly "Titanic" here. There's minor suspense in a couple of the acting categories, but will the audience at large really care about Penn versus Rourke or Cruz versus Davis?
The bigger question is not if "Slumdog Millionaire" will win best picture (I think we know the answer to that) but how it's going to be presented on an Oscar show building buzz by turning its back on buzz.
Executive producer Bill Condon and producer Laurence Mark have set out to make this the most secretive, hotly anticipated Oscar show in years, and so far, in spite of one or two leaks, they have succeeded in keeping it mostly under wraps. Never before have producers forbidden the academy to unveil the list of presenters beforehand. They've even gone so far as to ask several of the stars to forgo the red-carpet ritual to make their appearance on the show completely fresh. Don't fear, all the nominees, including Brangelina, will be doing the walk and talk. Sally Kirkland is also certain to show up.
And sure, "Twilight's" Robert Pattinson and "HSM" heartthrob Zac Efron (at least according to HitFix) are apparently going to be presenters, but I would be willing to bet the producers leaked that one themselves to entice potential younger viewers turned off by the absence of movies such as "Dark Knight" in marquee categories. These guys are shrewd showmen. If there's little suspense in the outcome of the "contest," at least the academy plans to keep us guessing how these awards are going to be presented -- and by whom.
When I ran into academy President Sid Ganis at the Art Directors Guild Awards on Saturday night, he had just come from the Kodak and told me he was thrilled (and relieved) with what he saw. He indicated the exciting and groundbreaking show he (and the board of governors) had been promised by the producers was something that clearly was now in reach.
"Look, in the end, it's still going to be a show, but I think this will be something we can be very proud of," he said. "You know Bill Condon has watched every single Oscar telecast to prepare for this. He's amazing."
By having some of the unannounced presenters come in side entrances, they are saving the surprise for the actual show, including whatever designer gowns the women may be wearing. In past years, the academy has virtually given away this element to cable outlets including E! and TV Guide Channel, which set up camp on the red carpet for two-hour live pre-shows that pick apart with "glam cams" each presenter's appearance before he or she even enters the Kodak. Even though all of these stations will be back, they won't be examining everyone who is going to be appearing, and Ganis welcomes the change.
"In many ways, we are going to be taking back our own show," he says.
Condon told me he's very pleased that the academy has been supportive.
"They welcome change," he says, "and we hope we can bring a bit of that to this."
One big change reportedly will be what goes on in the theater during commercial breaks. Usually award shows come to a dead halt, or stars start seat hopping.The producers want a party feel to continue even when the cameras aren't rolling and are working to achieve that. They don't want half the audience out drinking and smoking in the Kodak lobbies.
Oscar director Roger Goodman has worked with the new producers the past few weeks. A friend who sat with him the other night at the Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony said Goodman was characterizing Condon as a certified genius.
OK, maybe this is a lot of hype. But in a conversation I had at Tuesday night's Costume Designers Guild Awards, "Milk's" Oscar-nominated producer, Bruce Cohen (a former best picture winner for "American Beauty"), said he had heard the same kind of talk. He mentioned that Condon and Mark had presented their plans for the show to the academy's board of governors two weeks ago and the board was blown away.
If you can wow this crowd, you must be on to something.
Keeping this all under wraps, especially in the age of the blogosphere, is really remarkable. The academy apparently accomplished this feat by asking anyone working on the show in any way to shut up, or else.
In a way, it's all remarkable in an industry that gives away just about every plot point and good scene in movie trailers. Why is this particular Oscar show such a well-guarded secret?
Ratings, dummy. The Oscars telecast scored its lowest numbers ever last year (about 31 million viewers), and producers don't want a repeat. But even if the numbers go lower this year, Cohen thinks the academy will benefit from this new covert Oscar-show strategy.
"I think even if the Oscar telecast doesn't do well," he said, "or perhaps even worse than before, a great, innovative show will be talked about positively and likely would lead to increased interest in future years."
In other words, people will be sorry they missed it and will tune in next time based on word of mouth. Think of these changes as building blocks in a multi-year game plan. And it could happen -- but ultimately it's the nominated movies that draw the eyeballs. The failure of "The Dark Knight" to get a best picture nomination this year may hurt more than any brilliant "fix" of the Oscar show can help.
"Slumdog Millionaire" is a big success -- but since its Nov. 12 opening, it has earned only about half of what "The Dark Knight" earned domestically in its first three days of release.
It has to be sobering to realize that, other than "Slumdog Millionaire," none of the best picture contenders have seen much box office-traction since their nominations. That doesn't bode well for viewer interest in the Oscars, and it's why Condon and Mark -- saddled with a lot of on-air categories John Q. Public probably isn't too invested in -- are trying to goose the show in other ways. This provides a challenge to any Oscar producer and the academy itself, which is steadfast in honoring all its members' work in their annual telecast.
Still, for all the reinvention going on over at the Kodak right now -- including a physical transformation of the area where the stage and orchestra pit meet the first few rows (also known as Jack Nicholson's spot) -- the academy must try to keep the show relevant. This is a world and an age in which viewers may not be as fascinated by art direction, sound mixing and Jean Hersholt humanitarianism as the rest of us Oscar junkies.
Addressing this, Ganis and the producers have repeatedly promised that many of the year's most popular films will be strongly represented on the show in ways that haven't been tried before.
If the ratings are flat, or even down, expect a surfeit of articles telling the academy it's got to change, get rid of the tech awards and become more like the People's Choice Awards to survive. The bloggers and entertainment writers sharpen their knives for this Monday morning quarterbacking every year. So prepare for it, academy. It goes with the territory.
In fact, New York Observer critic Rex Reed is already trashing designer David Rockwell and the set based only on early sketches and hearsay. File it under: You just can't win.
I, for one, am truly excited by the prospect of an "unexpected" Oscars, I don't want to have the "surprise" spoiled, and I hope it all works. Even if it doesn't, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should be applauded for hanging on to its integrity and "mission." It's a delicate balance, merging the Arts & Sciences with the Show & Business of it all. At least they are giving it a shot.
If only ABC's network ads promoting the show were half as innovative as the show itself promises to be. They're selling the same old Oscar show when they should be pushing the mystery and surprise angles. ABC's promotional spots are bland where they should be outside the box. The one thing that drives audience to awards shows more than anything else is the network promo spots. ABC's spots aren't exactly raising the excitement level.
Fortunately, there are many other marketing efforts going on. Among these is a VH1 special (in which I appear), in its second consecutive year, that highlights key Oscar-show memories that remind us why we love the Oscars in the first place. "VH1 20 Greatest Oscar Moments" features rarely seen (or licensed) clips, including the infamous 1973 streaking incident and Marlon Brando's Native American stand-in, and has air dates right up to Oscar day itself.
As for Condon and Mark, they are just hoping audiences accept their new concepts, particularly the part about keeping most of it in the top-secret file before show time.
"You have to watch to see what you will get," Condon told me. The Oscar telecast goes "in cycles but it tends to get calcified into the same show. Just the fact that you won't know what's coming up after the commercial will make it more interesting."
He also says they're going to do something unheard of: bring the show in on time.
"We're determined to do a fast-paced show that will take only three hours to do," Mark said. "That's our campaign promise."
As for the musical numbers, these "Dreamgirls" vets (Condon directed, Mark produced) were a little surprised to find there were only three song nominees this year and that two of them were Bollywood riffs from "Slumdog Millionaire." They decided to turn the best song presentation into a medley that would also include the third nominee, "Down to Earth" from "Wall-E." That song's singer and co-writer, Peter Gabriel, has backed out of performing on the show after learning he would have to cut the tune down to less than 90 seconds. He'll still be attending the show. The producers are hoping brand-new mom MIA will be able to make it to the Kodak to perform her "Slumdog" tune on Sunday, but it may be touch and go. Clearly, luck has not been with show planners when it comes to the best song presentation this year.
Nevertheless, things could have been much worse if the music-branch voters had given the producers less desirable songs to showcase.
"At least we won't have to do that production number from 'Marley & Me' or the 'Speed Racer' ballet," Condon quipped shortly after the nominees were unveiled.
With Hugh Jackman as host, plus a new director, musical conductor, set designer, producers and, most importantly, a new attitude, Ganis is telling nominees and viewers to expect the unexpected, guaranteeing that Oscar has a whole bag of new tricks in his 81st year.
Putting this together is a grueling, often thankless and not very well-paying job, but someone has to do it. Do these tyro Oscar producers regret taking it on?
Just five years ago it was unthinkable. Even one year ago no one could have conceived of it. Even last summer this kind of earth-shattering upset would have been labeled a pipe dream.
But several years after all but being completely out of the business and all but forgotten someone out there thought he was worth one more shot. Now, shaggy hair and all, this natural and supremely gifted talent has come all the way back to the top to claim the ultimate honor in a profession he almost threw away.
Sound like Mickey Rourke?
Actually I was talking about the remarkable comeback last week of Stump, the 10-year-old Sussex spaniel who came out of a five-year retirement to become the oldest dog to win the Best In Show Silver Cup of the 133rd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
Shortly after winning the sporting dog competition at Westminster in 2004, Stump contracted a mysterious illness and nearly died. But after a 19-day stay at Texas A&M Hospital, the vets saved his life and he retired to life as a house pet. That is until about a week before this year's Westminster event, the Super Bowl of dog shows. His owner decided on a lark to enter him and the rest is now history as he has become the toast of the town, appearing as lead guest on shows that wouldn't have even booked him a few months ago.
Is this an Oscar sign for notorious canine lover Mickey Rourke, who has six dogs of his own? Does the unexpected triumph of Stump signal something in the air that could transmit all the way from Madison Square Garden to the stage of the Kodak on Sunday? From some angles Rourke and Stump even look alike. Perhaps they share the same groomer. Could they have been soul mates in another life?
After all, everyone loves a comeback story. The crowd went wild when Stump won. It was just as the Fox Searchlight ads for "The Wrestler" trumpeting Rourke's return say, we had witnessed the "resurrection" of Stump. This Sussex spaniel came all the way back from the depths and the forgotten heap to regain the spotlight and respect that was always his until he threw it away for a life of fighting cats and begging for kibble. Now the dog world's most coveted award is his, where it belonged all along.
Is this a sign the comeback gods have the same thing in store for Rourke? It's something to think about when filling out your Oscar pool ballots this week.
And that's not all. Even though that other "dog," "Slumdog Millionaire," appears to have this Best Picture thing all sewn up there was a peculiar sign that occurred last week at the White House when, according to CNN, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," the Best Picture contender with a leading 13 nominations became the first movie officially shown there since President Obama took over three weeks ago.
Even with all those nominations, "Button" is a decided long shot at this point but with Obama's special screening could that mean another stunning comeback surprise is in store Sunday night? After all a year ago Obama himself was in the position of the unthinkable underdog and look what happened to him!!
Another eerie sign came this weekend when three, count 'em, three (older) academy voters whose opinions I respect all said the exact same thing to me at different times. They weren't voting for "Slumdog Millionaire" because "it's just not an Oscar picture." I thought it was very strange that I would suddenly be hearing virtually the same kind of reasoning out of the mouths of three different academy members, but there it was. All of them, by the way, had cast their Best Picture vote for "Button". Dare I say it? A SIGN????
Of course in all fairness I have to point out that like "Slumdog," the past five Best Picture winners have also not been what we might traditionally call "an Oscar picture." Consider:
"The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" -- the third film in a trilogy and no fantasy movie had won UNTIL THEN.
"Million Dollar Baby," a small drama which came of nowhere to beat a textbook designed "Oscar picture," "The Aviator."
"Crash" -- need I say more?
"The Departed," an American remake of a Hong Kong actioner that even its own studio initially tried to convince journalists WASN'T an "Oscar picture."
"No Country for Old Men," violent, offered no hope and was made by the Coen Brothers.
Finally, the Oscars are being presented on Feb. 22 this year. That is the actual birthdate of our FIRST American president, George Washington. Could this be a hidden sign that an upset might be looming for Best Picture nominee "Frost/Nixon" or its star, Best Actor nominee Frank Langella, who played Nixon, our FIRST American president -- to resign?
So see, the signs are everywhere. Mark your pool ballots accordingly and watch how the stars align. Can Stump, Obama and George Washington all be wrong?
Yeah, probably. Even though I would love to, I don't really believe in signs, unless it's one that says "No U Turn." I am sticking with favorites Sean Penn and "Slumdog Millionaire." I want to win the Envelope Buzz Meter again this year.
A lot of eyebrows were raised when the International Animated Film Society (a.k.a. the Annies) handed DreamWorks' "Kung Fu Panda" victory in 11 categories over presumed front-runner Disney/Pixar's "Wall-E" in its 36th annual awards show on Jan. 30.
Was it fixed? Did DreamWorks take over the membership? How could this happen?
After all, "Wall-E" has trounced "Panda" everywhere else this awards season, even winning best picture votes from Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago film critics groups and taking best animated film at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice, PGA and BAFTA, among many others. It has six Academy Award nominations, named in more categories than any animated film in Oscar history. "Panda" has only one, where it competes for best animated film against "Wall-E" and "Bolt."
True, "Panda" won wide critical acclaim, was a huge international hit and has outgrossed "Wall-E" as well, but both were major hits.
Looking at Annie history it seems unlikely DreamWorks could have stacked the deck. The only time the studio had previously won the Annie was in 2001 for "Shrek" (which also went on to win the first animated category Oscar). Last year, Disney/Pixar's "Ratatouille" was the big winner.
No, it simply appears the animators who vote in the Annies simply liked the butt-kicking panda over the lovestruck robot. But it's quite likely "Wall-E" will have its day at the Oscars despite the enviable track record of Annies predicting Oscars. In fact, since 2001, when the academy created a separate category for animation there has been only one year when winners of the two orgs did not match. "Happy Feet" took the 2006 Oscar over Annie winner "Cars."
"Wall-E's" very difference and boldness may be why traditional animators shy away. It's unique and that's always a hard sell to the establishment. Some have even called it "the 'Citizen Kane' of 'toons." Of course "Citizen Kane" was virtually ignored at the Oscars in 1941, winning only screenplay. Writers get it sometimes when no one else does.
Because of its unusual pedigree, "Wall-E" now has the opportunity to make Oscar history and be the first animated feature to win BIG outside the best animated film and music categories (plus one win for "The Incredibles" in 2004 for Sound Editing when there were only three nominees in the category and two were animated). Sure, three of its six nods come for the usual areas (music score, song, animated film)), but it has a real shot in the other three categories in which it's competing: sound editing, sound mixing and, particularly, best original screenplay.It has a decent chance to rack up at least four wins if the Oscar gods are on its side but Original Screenplay is the nomination co-writer/director Andrew Stanton told me he is happiest about.
"I am prouder to be in writing more than anything else. At Pixar we say 'story, story, story.' It's the root of everything," he says. "It's the biggest pat on the back I can think of. We put ourselves fully into every aspect but it's all in service of the story."
It could be a tough sell to the overall academy (every branch votes on the final screenplay award) as a lot of members just don't understand how a virtually silent movie, in which the main characters speak their own language, could possibly have been "written." But Stanton says it's no different than the process any other writer would go through.
"How you tell a story is just as important as what the story is. In my mind these characters were gonna speak. They just weren't gonna speak in a language you and I knew. When they spoke and why they spoke was just as important as if you could understand their language," he says.
Key to all this was the contribution by the sound team led by Ben Burtt whom Stanton calls his most important cast member.
"I needed someone who could make language out of sound and convey intention and emotion through sound," he says. The sound branch must agree since it has awarded Burtt and company two nominations , and it certainly is the most unique work in a category where the winner usually is the loudest movie (again, all branches get to vote for the final winner here, and they often don't get subtlety).
This is the fifth time an animated film has been nominated in the original screenplay category, and they all belong to Pixar ("Shrek" had a nomination in the Adapted category in 2001). Stanton has been named for original screenplay three times, starting with the breakthrough first nomination in 1995's "Toy Story," in which he was part of a team of writers. They lost to "The Usual Suspects." He was also named for "Finding Nemo" in 2004 but the award went to "Lost in Translation," which also had the advantage of being a best picture nominee, an honor none of the Pixar flicks have enjoyed. Disney's 1991 musical, "Beauty and the Beast," is the only film to defeat the odds and gain a mention in Oscar's golden circle. Since its own category was established it would seem especially hard for any animated film to break out of the 'toon ghetto, although many thought "Ratatouille" would last year. Disney/Pixar mounted a campaign for "Wall-E" this year, but it didn't happen.
This year Stanton's main competition in original screenplay is "Milk," which has the advantage of being the only best picture nominee in the category. That can be a MAJOR plus as it often indicates overall academy support, but surprisingly not as much as you'd think. Since 1991, seven films NOT nominated for best picture ("Thelma And Louise," "The Usual Suspects," "Sling Blade," "Gods and Monsters," "Almost Famous," "Talk To Her," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") have prevailed over a screenplay from a best picture nominee.
If writing Oscars were awarded for popularity, "Wall-E" would have it in the bag. "Wall-E's" domestic gross alone is more than six times the COMBINED take of its fellow nominees in the category -- "Happy-Go-Lucky," "Frozen River," "In Bruges" and "Milk" have made a collective $40 million. Interestingly, "Milk," which won the Writers Guild of America original screenplay award last weekend, is facing all-new competition at the Oscars as none of the above films, including "Wall-E," were even nominated for a WGA award, a highly unusual and perhaps unprecendented occurrence. The consensus is it's really a two-horse race with the edge given to "Milk."
Whether "Wall-E" can defy the odds and pull this off is a big "if" but clearly the academy at large has fallen in love with this robot. For the first nine months of the year it was virtually the only film you heard mentioned when Oscar buzz came up among members (at least those I talked to). The danger is Oscar voters may think giving it best animated film is reward enough. The movie's ardent supporters would argue otherwise. They say "Wall-E" has a message that is just as important as any of the loftier nominees.
Like "Milk" and its uncanny timeliness in regard to Proposition 8, "Wall-E" is being celebrated for its social consciousness and environmental concerns, but Stanton is blatantly honest in his original intention.
"I am very honored it is being associated with issues of the planet, but I would be lying if I said that was my agenda. It wasn't. It's not about global warming. I wanted to show the last robot on earth, and I wanted to show the loneliness so I could have the most potent love story imaginable," he says. "Anything I chose environment-wise was a selfish choice in order to make the love story work."
So can this lovestruck "Hello Dolly"-loving tin 'toon actually turn the tide and make Oscar history by prevailing in some categories, primarily in Writing, where animated films are strangers to the winners circle? Certainly it would be a popular win with the audience, but the academy may be just too set in its ways to go for the unexpected.
For Andrew Stanton, what counts is the experience of getting to make this very different concept come to life; everything else is gravy.
"I made 'Wall-E' out of an exclusive love of cinema and thought that might make it an odd man out. But I guess that was the right thing to do," he says now. "It gives me a lot of confidence to follow that voice again."
It was another weekend of awards, awards, awards, including the all-important BAFTAs and WGA honors, which added up to one unmistakable conclusion: Fox Searchlight is headed for a stunning victory Oscar night with "Slumdog Millionaire." It hasn't stumbled yet. If the film were out in time for Grammy eligibility, "Jai Ho" probably would have been record of the year too. That's just the way it's going. And with the BAFTA best actor honor for Mickey Rourke in their other contender, "The Wrestler," Searchlight just may be holding a full house.
Or not.
I spent some of Sunday at the UCLA Faculty Center for BAFTA-LA's wonderfully civilized brunch and live viewing party of the British Academy Awards. It was a nice affair and a big improvement over a similar brunch last year, when they couldn't get the right satellite feed from London and instead we sat and watched BBC America promo spots for two hours.
There were a lot of great moments in the show, including the appearance of a very wry and witty Mick Jagger as best picture presenter; the real David Frost teamed with Michael Sheen, the man who plays him in "Frost/Nixon"; and a nice shout-out to "Slumdog's" best director winner, Danny Boyle, from his son Gabriel, who stood up during his father's acceptance speech and yelled, "I love you, Dad!"
The room was full of BAFTA voters (with some holding dual memberships in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), and when Marion Cotillard announced Rourke's name as winner in the best actor race, it got the biggest ovation of the day. His speech also went over very big with this crowd, especially when he thanked his director, Darren Aronofsky, for giving him a second chance after "... up my career for 15 years." You could see the pleased reactions of many in the London audience as well, including from Sharon Stone, Christian Slater and Harvey Weinstein. Host Jonathan Ross got a big laugh saying, "After that speech he's now suspended for three months." I asked some BAFTA/Oscar voters afterward what they thought, and they confidently predicted a Mickey repeat win at the Kodak on Feb. 22.
But can he catch presumed front-runner Sean Penn, whose movie "Milk" did not win any trophies from the British group? They even awarded best original screenplay to local favorite, Martin McDonagh's "In Bruges," over Dustin Lance Black, a triumphant double-WGA winner this weekend. Perhaps "Milk" is just too American a story, but then "The Wrestler" is not exactly tea and crumpets material either.
The whole actor race is beginning to look like last year's actress duel between Julie Christie and Cotillard. After losing the SAG Award, Cotillard's fortunes turned at BAFTA, where she upset home-grown Christie. Like Cotillard, Rourke now has a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award going into the Oscar stretch. Last year BAFTA correctly forecast all four eventual Oscar acting winners, and this year the academy followed its example and nominated the same five films for best picture, including "The Reader." So, interesting, eh?
Oscar history, though, would appear to be on Penn's side, since his film has eight nominations — including best picture — indicating more overall support in the academy than "The Wrestler," which has only two acting nods (Marisa Tomei is the other). Also Penn (like Cotillard) is playing a real-life figure, Rourke is not, and recent academy voting trends point to that factor as being very big. The wrinkle here could be "Frost/Nixon" best actor nominee Frank Langella, who is also playing a very well-known historical figure, Richard Nixon. He would have appeared to be the front-runner at one time but has yet to gain any real traction, with no opportunities to try out an Oscar acceptance speech at any of the precursor award ceremonies. Sometimes that can be a big plus, as in Rourke's case, which has served as a reminder of his own remarkable comeback story. Voters are suckers for that.
Can the BAFTA speech boost Mickey at this point?
"Ballots aren't due until a week from tomorrow. That's an eternity," said someone today who is very knowledgeable about Oscar's fickle ways, and he adds he would like to see it just to add some drama to the show. Certainly a "Slumdog" sweep isn't gonna do that.
Searchlight clearly thinks this thing could fly. In an effort to counter Focus Features' huge "Milk" campaign, they have been heavily advertising Rourke's performance in the trades, including three appearances last week alone on Variety's expensive cover. The TV spots of a tearful Randy "The Ram" Robinson are pretty constant as well. They are going for it.
The Langella factor could be key in determining which way this race goes. Many older voters and non-actor members I have spoken to are casting their votes for him, and it appears he's taking more potential support away from Penn, who, like Langella, plays a real-life politician, than from Rourke. One retiree, a member of the sound branch and a longtime academy member, expressed concern to me Sunday that the academy might actually give the lead actor Oscar to "the Wrestler guy" as he put it. This voter had already sent in his ballot for Langella, whom he described as being "just like Nixon." For the record, his best picture choice was far and away "Slumdog Millionaire."
Some in the media are now portraying this as a two-way race between "bad boys" and good friends Penn and Rourke, but I would say it's more like a three-way contest with Langella's supporters confusing the issue. For the other two contenders, Brad Pitt and Richard Jenkins, it's nice to be nominated. Certainly all can be thankful the actors' branch overlooked "Gran Torino," which has turned into a huge hit. Had Clint Eastwood been nominated, things might have been really dicey.
In the other acting races, Heath Ledger is a foregone conclusion now, and Kate Winslet's BAFTA win for "The Reader" continues her strong awards run. Significantly it came for the first time in a lead actress category. Since she previously competing against her own "Revolutionary Road" performance, her two "Reader" wins were supporting nods from the Globes and SAG.
Winslet actually seemed happier to see Penelope Cruz take the supporting actress award at BAFTA for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" after beating her at SAG and the Globes.
The cameras caught Winslet enthusiastically hugging Cruz as she passed by on her way up to accept, and then again during the Cruz speech when she looked thrilled and delighted to see she hadn't cost Penelope yet ANOTHER statuette.
Ledger, Winslet and Cruz would seem to be best bets at this point ,but I am talking to a good chunk of voters who keep saying they actually are going for "Doubt's" one-scene wonder, Viola Davis, over Cruz, so there's still a significant contest there as we head into the stretch.
It ain't over 'til it's over — and that would be when ballots are returned by 4 p.m. Feb. 17.
Final voting is in full force and so are the parties with "The Reader" gang, Penelope Cruz, Mickey Rourke and others all getting feted here and there on the circuit. "Frost/Nixon" has a big celebratory gathering tonight at Nobu.
Nominated stars and even directors like Danny Boyle are hitting talk show couches all week. Even notoriously TV-shy Sean Penn, who hasn't done much tub thumping for "Milk" other than going to awards shows, turned up on PBS' "Tavis Smiley" show Wednesday night talking process and acting motivation.
All the best-picture contenders are seeing their TV ads cannibalize each other all over the dial. It's clearly the place the studios think they will reach those elusive 5,810 academy voters. Oh, and maybe The Grove, where you can't even park your car before you're blasted with countless images of a smiling Penn channeling Harvey Milk.
Still, considering all the effort and money thrown at campaigning for Oscar, the post-nomination box-office returns this season have drawn a collective yawn, and award consultants for everyone other than Fox Searchlight are increasingly showing their frustration these days.
One begins to wonder whether this is the last year we will see what has come to be known as the traditional kind of Oscar campaign.
Only Searchlight's "Slumdog Millionaire" seems to be gaining any traction. Since the day after the Jan. 22 nominations, it has tripled its screen count to 1,635 from 582, bringing in more than $20 million of the impressive total of $68 million it has collected so far.
Considering it has been in the marketplace longer than any of the other best-picture nominees (since Nov. 12), its carefully planned rollout and marketing strategy have been the textbook version of how to maximize Oscar nominations at the box office. It was the No. 5 film after the weekend and by Tuesday had climbed to its highest ranking yet, No. 2, behind "Taken."
The only other certified hit among the academy's top five (but considerably more costly than its competition), "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" drew 13 nominations, the most of any contender and three more than "Slumdog Millionaire," yet it grew by less than half as much in the same period after the nomination announcement and didn't even make the top 10 this week. True, "Button" has been in wide release since Christmas Day, unlike its Oscar best pic mates, and had already raked in $105 million by nomination day. Its Oscar gift is the international rollout -- it has been big in Australia with $10 million, is holding strong in other markets like Germany and Mexico and ready to take on "Slumdog" in the U.K. this weekend. The Oscar imprimatur is still very big internationally.
Unfortunately the news is not so hot for the three other best picture contenders who all timed their widest release to the Oscar announcement:
"Frost/Nixon" has earned only about $5 million since then for a total of $15 million despite an increase of over 900 screens.
"Milk" has added less than $3 million (for an overall $24 million) since the noms even with an increase of 600 screens last weekend and a nonstop ad blitz.
"The Reader" has added just over $4 million to its $13-million total while increasing its screen count Friday by about 650.
These critically acclaimed specialty dramas could become an endangered species if audiences remain indifferent despite all the Oscar hype. There seems to be a new mindset emerging in Hollywood with the demise or consolidation of so many studio specialty divisions,and the so-called indie movie that has driven so many recent Oscar races may be a thing of the past.
Robert Downey Jr., supporting actor nominee for Paramount's summer hit, "Tropic Thunder," was heard saying this week that he thinks the bigger studio movies are where quality is starting to happen and indicates that may well spell the future for awards as well.
If academy voters are not given much of an art house choice they will have to turn to the bread-and-butter fare, which in the case of films such as "The Dark Knight" have proven they can be just as critically lauded and worthy as any of the loftier, weightier fare distributors have been offering up purely as Oscar bait.
Of course it didn't help "Dark Knight" this year, which despite eight mostly technical nods was egregiously shut out of the top categories including best picture, where many thought it would place. And it probably would have if the fates had not swooped in and saved "Slumdog Millionaire" from being sent straight to home video by Warner Bros. or had Harvey Weinstein not insisted "The Reader" be released in 2008 instead of 2009. Of course Searchlight came to the rescue on the former, and Harvey instinctively knew he had surefire academy fodder in the latter.
Speaking of Weinstein, the modern master of Oscar campaigning was RUMORED to be slyly approaching some of his "Reader" competitors at a recent awards show suggesting they pull back their own advertising on the logic that "Slumdog Millionaire" has it all sewn up. The idea is, if H.W. doesn't have a whole lot of extra cash to spend campaigning for "The Reader," get everyone else to slow down on their nominee too, thereby creating an even playing field for the other four. You gotta admit that if it's true, it's awfully clever -- and cost-conscious -- kinda like getting more bang for your, uh, bang.
One awards consultant I spoke to today lamented the poor box office for so many of the contenders and predicted the landscape would look completely different, as soon as next year. The consultant who has been pulling trade and print advertising and moving it to TV and online said no one really knows how campaigns will be run in the future, but it probably won't be the same blueprint being used now. The financial rewards aren't justifying the expenditures, which is why you are seeing such thin trade papers even at the height of the final Oscar voting period.
Certainly for lovers of quality "Oscar movies," it's sad to see the third weekend of "My Bloody Valentine 3-D" outgrossing the likes of "Frost/Nixon," "Milk" and "The Reader" -- fine films with 18 academy nominations among them -- while playing on roughly the comparable number of screens. And don't even get me started on "Paul Blart: Mall Cop."
Perhaps someday Hollywood will find a way to merge its penchant for popcorn populist movies with its ego-driven desire to win Oscars.
Today's annual Oscar nominees luncheon was not the only place that packs of Academy Award contenders could be seen recently.
I spent much of the last week hosting special tribute shows for Mickey Rourke, David Fincher and Kristin Scott Thomas at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where Oscar voters and nominees were swarming, proving that the format and timing (just as final ballots are in the mail) have increasingly made this 24-year-old festival a must-stop on the awards season circuit. Festival Director Roger Durling, who picks his honorees months in advance, has an almost unerring eye when it comes to Oscar prognostication.
In addition to other tributees including Clint Eastwood, Penelope Cruz and Kate Winslet, there were "Virtuoso" honors for nominees Michael Shannon, Melissa Leo, Richard Jenkins and Viola Davis and nominee-laden panels focusing on producers (moderated by The Times' Patrick Goldstein), writers (with Anne Thompson) and a very lively women's session (hosted as usual by -- full disclosure -- my wife, Madelyn Hammond).
With an estimated 100 to 150 active voting Academy members (it fluctuates depending on the vacation home factor) living in the area and local TV and front-page newspaper press coverage, it's prime time for newly minted Oscar contenders (opening night was the same day Oscar nominees were announced) to get key exposure with a spotlight thrown on their careers.
After Saturday's Rourke tribute, at which he received the American Riviera award, the last of this year's festival, Academy voters woke up Sunday morning to a big color photo of the star and a front-page headline in the Santa Barbara News-Press blaring "The Comeback King." Can it influence their thinking at crunch time? Studio consultants must think so, or they wouldn't keep coming back year after year with major contenders.
Over the last few years I have hosted these two-hour tribute shows to various stars including Charlize Theron, Kate Winslet (her first SB go-round in 2005), Heath Ledger, Forest Whitaker, Tommy Lee Jones and Angelina Jolie. The crowds, usually in the 2,000-plus-seat Arlington Theatre, are massive and appreciative, and this year was no different.
Rourke was funny and talkative, with lots of choice stuff about his early career and an especially hilarious story about trying to please director Michael Cimino while flubbing his one line in "Heaven's Gate" repeatedly. He also confirmed his desire to get into the professional wrestling ring in April but said he has now decided not to do it after his "people" suggested it might not be a wise career move. He quit his screen career in 1992 to return to boxing, and now with all the heat back on, it's probably best to stick to acting this time around. Rourke says he'll support the event but won't be touring with the WWE anytime soon. Good move, Mickey.
Since tributees have to sit and watch clips of their work, it can be awkward when there's someone like Rourke who doesn't like to see himself act. Each time I cued a clip he got up and went backstage to smoke. After "9 1/2 Weeks," he went MIA. I tried to interview myself for a while and then yelled, "Mickey, come back!" and he finally did, to much laughter.
It's clear the star of Fox Searchlight's "The Wrestler" is having a great time on his ride this season, which includes a Best Actor Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win (he'd probably rather have a Golden Glove, though). He was genuinely moved by Francis Ford Coppola's trophy presentation at the end, since the legendary "Godfather" director had cast him in two films at distinctly different points in his career, "Rumble Fish" and a small role in "Rainmaker." He said he measures all directors by his experience with Coppola.
Rourke and Coppola attended the after-party thrown in a bank building three blocks away, where the Searchlight crowd (including marketing chief Nancy Utley) was ecstatic as they got the news about 11 p.m. that Danny Boyle of their Cinderella movie, "Slumdog Millionaire," had just taken the all-important Directors Guild award. Boyle had also been in Santa Barbara earlier in the week for a Q&A and screening of "Slumdog Millionaire."
Among those attending the tribute and party was actor Christopher Lloyd ("Taxi," "Back to the Future") whose $11-million Montecito home burned to the ground in November's devastating fires. Somehow he was still smiling. He's got another smaller house in the area, so he's happy to continue to be a local.
The night before Durling counted at least 30 Academy members who filed into the Arlington to see the tribute to Boyle's chief rival this year, "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button's" Oscar-nominated director David Fincher. Maybe if the Oscar race is actually closer than precursor awards indicate, this well-timed Santa Barbara event could have an impact. It seems a shame that Fincher is finding himself in the "underslumdog" position this season after being the prohibitive favorite going in. "Button" is such an admired landmark technological achievement, box office hit and critically acclaimed film that in any other year it would be favored to sweep at the Oscars. Now, even with a leading 13 nominations it finds itself struggling to make a dent in the "Slumdog" tsunami that has seen the Boyle film and its own irresistible rags-to-riches legend virtually run the board.
Award fates didn't seem to matter Friday night as Fincher, just back from the Japanese launch of his movie, clearly had the Arlington crowd in the palm of his hand, even doing an amusing impression of his "Zodiac" cinematographer Harris Savides and another time jumping excitedly out of his chair to make a point. Unlike Rourke he watched all the film segments including a killer reel of his commercial and music video work. Seeing all his career achievements in one fell swoop like this proves Fincher really is the master director of the moment with consistently spectacular work in "Seven," "Panic Room," "Fight Club" and the one-two punch of "Benjamin Button" and "Zodiac," a March 2007 release that Oscar voters seemed to forget. Paramount didn't spend a whole lot of money reminding them either. Had the winds blown differently and the film was released at the end of the year rather than the beginning, I would bet it would have rivaled "No Country for Old Men" all season long. His "Zodiac" star Jake Gyllenhaal made a special appearance to praise Fincher as did "Button's" Oscar-nominated Supporting Actress Taraji P. Henson.
Speaking of "Benjamin Button," there was party chatter in Santa Barbara that two of its producers, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, turned down the opportunity to be the focus of a special issue where they would be named as "Billion Dollar Producers" by a Hollywood trade publication when they found out the paper would be selling congratulatory ads to their friends and associates. With all the current studio layoffs and the dire economic situation in Hollywood (and the world, for that matter), the pair felt it would be distasteful and inappropriate to have that kind of focus at this time. This is something you don't always hear during a season when every contender is looking for any way imaginable to throw attention on themselves. File it under "class act."
The week began on a bright note when I headed up to SB last Tuesday just for the day to host the Festival's Cinema Vanguard award to Kristin Scott Thomas whose spectacular performance in "I've Loved You So Long" has won her the European Film Award for Best Actress as well as BAFTA and Cesar nominations but inexplicably failed to land her a second Oscar nomination (her only nod was for 1996's "The English Patient"). Clearly Durling (and everyone else who saw it) thought this tour-de-force (all in French, no less) would be a no-brainer for Oscar, but the film fell between the cracks and Thomas' work will now go down as one of the great overlooked performances in Academy history. Still it didn't matter as Thomas held court with great stories including wonderful insights into her directors who have included everyone from Redford to Prince(!). Plus she and special award presenter, Ralph Fiennes, her "English Patient" co-star, stuck around for the elegant Biltmore Hotel after-party. It might not make up for the Oscar snub but there are a lot of people who would love to see Thomas pull off surprise victories at BAFTA and the CESARS.
For now the Santa Barbara International Film Festival has given her, Fincher and Rourke a night to remember during this awards season of unexpected twists and turns. Me too. It was great talking movies with all of them.
Final ballots for the 81st Academy Awards should land in Oscar voters mailboxes beginning today, so it's only natural that the final shots should be fired as well.
Most of the damning allegations are being hurled against Fox Searchlight's "Slumdog Millionaire," rather obvious since the film is the unquestioned front-runner and an easy target for rivals.
As noted earlier in this column, forces were at work in India trying to disparage Danny Boyle's surprise hit and awards magnet leading to a front page L.A. Times story last Saturday pointing out some of the negative criticism essentially saying the film is a "white man's" vision of a slum-ridden India.
Today, a story kicking around since early in the season about the treatment of some of the local Indian child actors reared its ugly head again with allegations that the film's producers and distributors paid them dirt cheap wages and have not been concerned with their welfare.
Director Boyle, producer Christian Colson and Fox quickly prepared and issued a statement not only refuting those charges but pointing out exactly what measures have been taken to protect and insure each child's welfare and future.
It wasn't so much the story (it almost never is) but the suspicious circumstances around its reemergence on the very day Oscar ballots were being mailed. Impressively taking a cue from the Obama campaign, Fox Searchlight strategists immediately got control of the story putting a statement out that carefully answered each allegation. Rather than ignoring it and hoping it would go away (a favorite, but usually failed public relations strategy by wuss publicists), they took an aggressive stance to crush the story in its tracks before it could do serious damage or be misinterpreted by Academy voters.
This kind of thing has been going on in modern Oscar campaigns now for years, particularly since the Denzel Washington boxing picture "The Hurricane" got pummeled for accuracy and was swept out of the race before it began. The most famous example was the case against Ron Howard's "A Beautiful Mind." The case turned into a front page New York Times story. Having been burned with "Hurricane," Universal wasted no time in taking on the mud slinging against "Beautiful Mind" and eventually wound up winning four Oscars including best picture.
I spoke to a senior Fox executive who said he found these tactics appearing against "Slumdog" to be "reprehensible." He added that "it's a sad state of affairs for the industry that the race for Oscar has to come down to this level".
The exec does not believe this story was just a coincidence of timing and theorized that there were probably "other factors" that had something to do with fanning the flames against "Slumdog" at a critical time in the Academy process. He offered no concrete proof, however, of his conspiracy theories because there does not seem to be an iota of evidence to that end but did name names anyway (ones we won't repeat here).
The Searchlight contingent isn't letting the pressure get to them and were even thrown a celebratory party by Fox Co-Chairman Jim Gianopulos Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile, others are busy offering new theories as to how front-runner "Slumdog" can't possibly win in the end. At least two different consultants this week have tried to downplay the effect of the various guild awards this year ("Slumdog" has already won Producers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild awards with Directors Guild of America lurking in the wings on Saturday) saying the memberships of the guilds no longer dovetail with the Academy and therefore can't be relied on to accurately foretell the ultimate Oscar victor (unless of course YOUR movie is the one that is WINNING!!!).
"Watch 'Button' overtake 'Slumdog' for the big prize. Because it's the kind of film career movie people would prefer seeing as best pic during their watch," one publicist with a definite dog in the hunt predicted. I've heard similar things from "The Reader" and "Frost Nixon" camps as well, so take it with a grain of salt and a glass of "Milk." The publicist DID add a reminder of his vote-telling prowess as he waxed nostalgic for his prediction earlier this month that "The Dark Knight" wouldn't make the mix.
He was right on that but can "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" make a real case now as a potential upset winner over "Slumdog"? The case of "Crash" doing the impossible and overtaking "Brokeback Mountain" is the great hope other film camps point to the most but it's frustrating in the least to see one movie repeatedly win. The Boyle flick has so far prevailed at the National Board Of Review, Critics Choice, Golden Globes, SAG and PGA awards. Just DGA, Writers Guild of America and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards still offer head-to-head contests to come. Could a momentum changer be in store offering a final twist to a topsy turvy season?
Indeed "Slumdog" is now in the enviable position of having the wind at its back. And just WHO wants to be a "Millionaire"? The other four contenders of course, all looking for any way to ward off what increasingly seems to be a done deal.
Let the voting begin now. Ballots are due back on Feb. 17.
After Saturday night's Producers Guild dinner at the Hollywood Palladium, where "Slumdog Millionaire" won the Darryl F. Zanuck award for outstanding motion picture achievement of the year, I told some Fox Searchlight publicists that their award season gravy train probably would get derailed at the Screen Actors Guild Awards the next night. It seemed unlikely the actors guild would honor a cast comprised of Indian thesps, little-known in America, with their top award for ensemble cast (often thought to be SAG's version of best picture) especially against casts from movies like "Benjamin Button," "Doubt," "Frost/Nixon" and the one I thought might win, "Milk." But I predicted that if they pull off SAG, it's all over. They can just skip the other precursor award banquets and send for the awards they will inevitably win.
Guess what?
So "Slumdog Millionaire," the indisputable front runner for Oscar, pulls it off and people like Dev Patel, Freida Pinto and Anil Kapoor all have brand-new "Actor" statuettes to play with. It's an important victory.
SAG is where "Crash" managed to halt the "Brokeback Mountain" momentum by picking off a key guild victory on its way to an Oscar upset over the seemingly unstoppable momentum of Ang Lee's groundbreaking drama. A victory by any of the others could have drastically changed the inevitable enviable headlines that "Slumdog" is going to continue to generate after back to back guild victories this weekend from the producers and the actors. The DGA follows on Jan. 31, the WGA on Feb. 7 and BAFTA on Feb 8. A major "Slumdog" defeat at any of them could give us pause, but right now the odds are overwhelming. It is becoming clear Hollywood is determined to honor a movie just about all of the executives voting would have (or did) reject.
Even a front page Los Angeles Times story on Saturday gauging Indian reaction to "Slumdog" probably won't do any damage, even though a Mumbai film professor was quoted negatively calling it a "white man's imagined India. It's not quite snake charmers, but it's close. It's a poverty tour."
At the PGA party Searchlight President Peter Rice (who's getting thanked more than the Lord at award shows these days) told us he could have "lived without" the story, but director Danny Boyle was said to be fine with it. Publicists for rival films were trying to stir things up by spreading the same story late last week, but in fact any reaction to it probably will be tempered by the news just e-mailed to us from one of Fox's award consultants, pointing out that "Slumdog" is indeed turning out to be a rags to riches story at the Indian box office. It's had the third biggest opening day ever for any Hollywood studio release (after "Spider-Man 3" and "Casino Royale"), drawing great press reviews and a 33% increase Friday to Saturday. Its expansion in the U.S. this weekend after 10 Oscar nominations made $10 million ($1 mil for each nom?), putting it in fifth for the weekend with $55 million so far. $100 million will be a cinch and the sky's the limit.
The rest of the awards results from a big weekend of trying to read guild tea leaves were predictable (I got four out of four of SAG's individual film categories right). Heath Ledger is such a lock that two of the other nominees in the supporting category, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robert Downey Jr. weren't even there. The supporting winner, Kate Winslet for "The Reader," also seemed obvious, and unlike her breathless excitement at the Globes two weeks earlier, she seemed restrained and concise in her brief thank you. Now the performance will be judged in lead categories at BAFTA and the Oscars, two organizations who refused to buy into her camp's supporting campaign for what was obviously a leading role.
Winslet's loss to "Doubt's" Meryl Streep in the lead actress race was not a surprise to me either. SAG wasn't gonna give Kate two of them, "Revolutionary Road" is not a popular picture among many voters, and Streep was the clear beneficiary. The two winning performances will now go head to head on an even playing field, and it will be interesting to see if Streep's joyous, infectious and altogether charming acceptance at SAG wins her any new converts and turns the best actress Oscar race into a genuine contest. Streep's triumphant run to the stage and her unbridled enthusiasm would make you think this was the first time the 15 time Oscar nominee and two time winner had ever gotten an award. The SAG showcase and heartfelt standing ovation is gonna register. She hasn't won an Oscar in 27 years. If Miramax can get that across, it's a horse race.
As for Sean Penn's "Milk" win, it gives the Big 'Mo Mickey Rourke got at the Globes back to Penn, who will have to be regarded as the front-runner -- at least for now. It was sad to see "Frost/Nixon's" Frank Langella lose again. His face in the SAG audience told the whole story. Like Streep and Ledger, Penn also received a standing ovation. His comments about the media wishing for a dog fight between himself and Mickey were amusing (Rourke was reported on some sites to have e-mailed a reporter that he didn't think much of his friend, Penn's performance in "Milk"), but for his part Rourke could not have been more complimentary toward Penn in his red carpet interviews and in fact has been all season long. Blame any negative vibes on the rumor-mongering Perez Hiltonistas in the press. It's sport.
Interesting to note the usually press-shy Brad Pitt was everywhere on the red carpet at SAG, speaking even to TV Guide Channel and one of the vapid personalities at E!, where he deflected her dopey line of personal questioning ("How have you made Angelina more of a woman?") by amusingly obsessing on their "Glam Cam." Clearly since his best actor Oscar nomination Thursday, he's decided to ramp up the attention for "Benjamin Button" in any way he can.
At Saturday's PGA pre-cocktail party, I asked Academy President Sid Ganis, who is hoping for big(ger) ratings this year, if he was disappointed "The Dark Knight" didn't grab a best picture Oscar nomination. He said movies nominated and not nominated will be generously represented on the telecast no matter what. His wife, Nancy, chimed in by saying she was disappointed "Iron Man" wasn't in the big five! Ganis is really excited about the direction new producers Bill Condon and Laurence Mark are taking with this year's Oscarcast and says it is going to be very different and exciting.
Also at the PGA event I ran into Oscar-winning producer Mark Johnson ("Rain Man"), who heads the acad's foreign language committee and instituted all the controversial changes into the voting procedures over the last few years. He said that despite criticism in some quarters that the Italian Grand Prize Cannes winner "Gomorrah" was left off the final five (and nine for that matter), he is thrilled with the nominee list they have and thinks it is very hard to quibble with the overall quality of this year's contenders. In other words no completely embarrassing omissions like last year's Cannes winner, "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days" or "City of God," so expect the new system to stay in place for the foreseeable future.
For the first time, the general committee picked six semifinalists, while Johnson's small executive committee chose three more to make sure the over list of nine represented the best in world cinema. Although he won't confirm which three they added, you can probably be sure one of them was France's Palme d'Or winner "The Class," which didn't play as well as it might have with the larger group. This terrific film is now one of the five nominees (along with Austria's "Revanche," Japan's "Departures," Israel's "Waltz With Bashir" and Germany's "The Baader Meinhof Complex"). Its fortunate inclusion is most likely thanks to the new system.
But as award season chugs into its final stretch, the one "foreign" film that's really on Oscar's radar is the most unlikely champ of all, "Slumdog Millionaire." After this golden weekend, it has its eye on the prize more than ever.
Obviously, Harvey Weinstein, who willed "The Reader" into this year's race against all odds and the objections of original producer Scott Rudin (who took his name off the film), thinks so on the evidence of a triumphant five nominations, all in key categories like best picture, actress, screenplay, directing and cinematography.
Rudin may have a different opinion as his two ponies, "Doubt" (also with five nominations but only in acting and writing categories) and "Revolutionary Road" (with only three, the most prominent being Michael Shannon's well-deserved supporting actor nod), got shut out of the best-picture race entirely.
Interesting to note that, of all the best-picture contenders, "The Reader" is the only one that has its producer "nominees to be determined," but in addition to Donna Gigliotti (put on the film after Rudin bolted), they include the late greats Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella. The academy's aknowledgement of the film would seem to be a warm goodbye to these two giants.
More so than the guilds this year, the British academy seemed to strongly mirror the tastes of the American academy, and indeed there was a strong overlap of voters in both organizations. And as I wrote in this column last week after BAFTA's announcement in which "The Reader" got several key nods including best picture, "This is the movie that has cropped up again and again in conversations I have had with academy members, not 'The Dark Knight.' "
That decidely unscientific survey has again proven to be right. (My "group" has in previous years pointed clearly to upset victories for Marisa Tomei, "Crash" and Marion Cotillard. I am getting on the phone with them right now to see who wins on Feb. 22. I'll let you know.)
UPDATE: Harvey Weinstein just called sounding deliriously happy about his latest Academy Awards success story and he's just getting revved up with that old Oscar mojo of his. "I tell people its nice we got all the nominations but do not count yourself out. You have a real chance to overtake this all. We've seen that happen with 'Crash' and 'Brokeback Mountain'. It's all great. The only thing I can say is the race ain't over. It's just beginning," he said.
As part of his campaign strategy Weinstein is urging people to see the movie more than once.
"'The Reader' is one of those rare movies that works on a three or four times basis. The more you see it, the more you get it and the more you understand the movie. That's what happened with me originally," he says.
Harvey (who also gave NOTES ON A SEASON a very generous shout out for our coverage of the serious emergence of "The Reader" ) says Kate Winslet's lead actress nomination was the first signal he had that "Reader" could go all the way.
"That's the first indication I had we could win the Best Picture, not just be nominated. WIN. Because to put Kate in there showed such incredible passion for the movie. They knocked her out of supporting, and the other movie ("Revolutionary Road") to do it.
As for Winslet, she has to be the most conflicted of all today's nominees. The double Golden Globe winner (supporting for "Reader" and lead for "Revolutionary Road") must be surprised that her strategy of trying to squeeze her clear leading role in "Reader" into supporting in order to get a lead nomination for "Revolutionary Road" (the film she made with husband Sam Mendes) did not fly with the academy's actors branch.
Like BAFTA last week, the actors showed great integrity in going their own way, declaring her role in "Reader" a lead role and nominating her for that film, rather than "Revolutionary Road," in that category (unlike BAFTA, which gave her two noms in the category, Oscar rules only allow one performance per category for actors). It would be fascinating to see the voting breakdown; clearly, she ran the risk of confusing the entire situation and coming up empty. Now with a clear shot for "The Reader" and her remarkable performance in "Revolutionary Road" in the back of voters' minds, Winslet is without a "Doubt" (sorry, Meryl) the front-runner for best actress.
Weinstein has to be doubly happy about this because his true supporting-actress contender, Penelope Cruz, who lost to Winslet in supporting at the Globes, should without a "Doubt" (sorry, Amy and Viola) sail into the winners' circle for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," Woody Allen's brilliant comeback comedy hit that quite surprisingly failed to nab a deserved original-screenplay nomination for Woody himself. That's a grievous oversight, but the Wizard Of Os sometimes giveth and then taketh away, making the morning bittersweet for the Woodys and the Winslets.
It also has to be an extremely bittersweet morning for Warner Bros., which had its corporate heart set on seeing its monster smash hit, "The Dark Knight," defy the odds and nab a best-picture berth. It seemed especially likely after Batman's triumphant run of WGA, PGA and DGA guild nominations, usually ultra-strong indicators of Oscar as well, but despite eight mostly technical (and Heath Ledger) mentions, it was shut out of picture, director and writing, proving again the "snobability" factor of Oscar.
If ever there was a chance for a comic-book popcorn summer movie to do it, this was the year. But Warners will just have to settle for billion-plus worldwide gross. Sad. It's ironic that "Slumdog Millionaire," with 10 nominations including best picture, is the movie non-believers at corporate Warners handed to Fox Searchlight to run to glory with (while retaining an equal financial stake). Warners also is repped in the best-picture race with "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button," which it has internationally while Paramount releases it domestically.
Another keen disappointment for Warners has to be the shutout of "Gran Torino" and Clint Eastwood's hoped-for best-actor nod. Voting had ended just as word of "Torino's" huge box-office success got out and its momentum started building or the film probably would have done better. It needed another week or two since academy members genuinely seemed to like it. Timing was just slightly off in this extremely competitive year. Had the actors gone for Clint, he might have been the front-runner to win the whole thing.
The day had to be all sweet, no trace of bitter, for "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button," with a near-record 13 nominations, sweeping every portion of the academy and showing great strength. It's always a good thing to be the leader in nominations as it's a momentum builder. Paramount has retooled its campaign already, debuting impressive new TV spots this week and changing its game after early losses at the Globes and Critics Choice awards to the surging "Slumdog," which came in second with an impressive 10 Oscar nominations. Gambling that they would have bragging rights editorially Paramount pre-bought the cover of Friday's Variety giving it a one-two punch when Academy members get their trades tomorrow.
With "Button" passing the $100 million dollar mark this week, it's a certified hit and can now build strongly on it's Oscar glory. It's the popular choice in the Best Pic pack now that "Dark Knight" is out but "Slumdog" still seems to be the "passionate" pick. But as Oscar show producers Bill Condon and Laurence Mark told me this morning they are happy because they believe it's a real "horse race" and that's good hopefully for ratings. Some Academy officials were said to be privately rooting for a "Dark Knight" Best Picture scenario to really goose the numbers but voters had other ideas. Still happiness abounds with the Brangelina nominations. The red carpet will be on fire!
A brief look at the actor races sees Sean Penn looking good to grab a second lead actor Oscar for "Milk" which had a surprisingly robust showing with 8 nominations. His key competition will be "The Wrestler's" Golden GLobe winner Mickey Rourke grabbing the comeback vote and Frank Langella's Richard Nixon which has yet to win anything this season. Academy members mention him a lot though and they love actors who play the real thing. Of course Harvey Milk was a real guy too so.......
The lead nominations for Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor" as well as Melissa Leo in "Frozen River" were no brainers as both are known as actors' actors and these were dream roles in small films from earlier in the year. Whenever they get the chance, the actors branch loves to honor those who have paid their dues in the trenches.
Barring a big surprise the fine supporting nominees , Josh Brolin, Robert Downey Jr., Michael Shannon and Philip Seymour Hoffman will probably all take a back seat on Oscar night to the "Dark Knight's" Heath Ledger who seems to be in line to become only the second actor after Peter Finch in "Network" to win posthumously. No 'Doubt' about it (Sorry Philip). However, if there's an upset anywhere on the list it's likely to be here due to the Academy's historical reluctance to award posthumous Oscars but don't count on it.
Condon and Mark were scratching their heads over the paltry best-song list, with only three contenders including "Down go Earth" from "Wall-E" and the two songs from "Slumdog," but they told me they were purposely waiting until the nominations even to start thinking about showcases for songs, so the musical planning starts now. Clearly, though, the Oscar show is gonna get a BIG dose of Bollywood. Take it to the bank.
Finally, the wisdom of year-end releases again pays off with "Slumdog's" Nov. 12 opening the earliest of any of the best-picture contenders. In other words, if this week's No. 1 film, "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" had any dreams of Oscars it should have held out for a Thanksgiving release. The recent exception of "Crash" aside, the academy once again is showing it has a short memory when it comes to best-picture contenders.
So did Oscar get it right? It's still a work in progress with exactly a month to go and reasons to be happy and depressed for just about every consultant in town.
With Condon and Mark promising a rejuvenated show and Jerry Lewis finally getting an Oscar statuette this year (the Hersholt), it will be one to watch. And according to the producers, who refuse to reveal any of the presenters' names beforehand, only one thing is absolutely certain.
"We will bring the Oscars in at three hours, period," said Condon. And Mark added, "That's a campaign promise!"
So, look on the bright side, newly minted Oscar nominees. If you lose, at least it's gonna be quick.
--Pete Hammond
(Photo: David Kross and Kate Winslet in "The Reader", courtesy The Weinstein Company)
As many of you slept Wednesday night, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, a.k.a. BAFTA, announced its final nominees early this morning London time. Mostly it mirrors what pundits are predicting for the Oscar race, but it does confirm one lingering doubt I've had and it's not about "Doubt."
This is the last list, the last stop before the Oscar nominations are announced Jan. 22. The overall membership of BAFTA includes several hundred voters who are also members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Ever since BAFTA changed its voting dates to correspond with the rest of the awards season, it has been an interesting factor in trying to predict Oscar patterns.
"Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" lead in overall nominations with 11 each and are nominated for best picture along with "Milk", "Frost/Nixon" and "The Reader."
Almost every pundit out there now is predicting that the fifth slot in the Oscar race will go to "The Dark Knight," which received nine BAFTA noms but all except Heath Ledger's supporting actor nod were in technical categories. No screenplay, no directing, no picture. This runs against the grain of the DGA, PGA and WGA nominations, which all named "Dark Knight" and seemed to be pointing toward a certain best picture nomination.
Yet in BAFTA, it's the British-tinged "The Reader" that has gotten those nominations, five overall including Stephen Daldry for directing and David Hare for writing. This is the movie that has cropped up again and again in conversations I have had with Academy members, not "The Dark Knight."
My guess has been that "Dark Knight's" key support is with the technical branches of the Academy and that they could put it over the top as best picture. That scenario was also possible in BAFTA but didn't happen, and "The Reader" prevailed, much like "Atonement" last year, which had been ignored by all the guilds only to rebound, winning best picture at BAFTA and a surprise best picture nomination at the Oscars after the onetime front-runner was all but dumped by the pundits.
Can this happen again, with the beneficiary being the Harvey Weinstein love child, "The Reader"? It's an intriguing thought -- and one that's viable if you talk to enough Oscar voters. One major Oscar consultant who takes his own poll has also discovered little support for "Dark Knight" in the picture category and many "Reader" mentions. Are we both getting it wrong? Perhaps. Time will tell. Could Weinstein's insistence on putting "The Reader" in the race this year against much initial objection (particularly from producer Scott Rudin, who took his name off) actually pay off big time?
"The Reader" seems even stronger at BAFTA than "Milk," which did get a best picture mention but was snubbed for Gus Van Sant's direction and gained only three other nominations, including a minor makeup nod in addition to original screenplay and, of course, Sean Penn. "Milk" looks like the weakest link in the British race.
Incidentally the Brits correctly ruled Kate Winslet's performance in "The Reader" is a lead, so she is competing against her own performance in "Revolutionary Road" for best actress against Angelina Jolie, Kristin Scott Thomas and Meryl Streep. Oscar rules prohibit two nominatons in the same acting category so the newly minted double Golden Globe winner will just have to hope the Academy falls for her supporting "Reader" campaign the same way the Hollywood Foreign Press did.
Just for the record, while BAFTA went with hometown favorite "Atonement" for best picture last year, it correctly foreshadowed all four Oscar acting winners, Daniel Day-Lewis, Javier Bardem, Marion Cotillard and Tilda Swinton, the latter two getting a big boost as pundits had predicted Julie Christie and Amy Ryan to win instead. Oscar followed suit. Hmmmmmm.
I would also note the resurgence of another film largely forgotten by pundits, and that's Clint Eastwood's terrific "Changeling," which nabbed a very impressive eight BAFTA nominations, including those for Eastwood's direction, the original screenplay and Angelina Jolie for best actress, a category that snubbed supposed faves Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married," Melissa Leo in "Frozen River" and England's own Golden Globe winner and critics darling Sally Hawkins in "Happy Go Lucky," which got a total of zero nominations, quite surprising for a Mike Leigh film, doncha think?
"Happy Go Lucky" was released in Britain way back on April 18 so had been completely played out when awards season hit. Was it a victim of its own early release date there or were they just not that into you, Sally?
BAFTA also wasn't that into Woody Allen, whose widely praised and WGA-nominated script for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" was snubbed by less-talked-about possibilities, "In Bruges," "I've Loved You So Long" and the aforementioned "Changeling."
As for "Rachel Getting Married," although it played the London Film Festival in October, it isn't scheduled for release in the U.K. until next week but apparently Hathaway's performance is eligible this year as she was on BAFTA's initial longlist. One film that was disqualified is Eastwood's late inning Oscar vehicle, "Gran Torino," which hasn't opened in the UK. There's been lots of talk of a late surge for "Torino" at the Oscars by members watching it -- and LOVING it -- just as voting was taking place, making it, like "The Reader," a genuine possibility to knock a Dark Knight out the Big One too. Or not.
And getting back to OUR Academy Awards, the balloting closed officially Monday. How many voters waited until the very last minute to get their ballots in? According to a spy for a studio with one very big dog in the race, there were approximately 81 ballots hand-delivered to the Pricewaterhouse offices in Los Angeles before the 5 p.m. deadline. That's way down from last year, when around 500 were supposedly dropped off on the last day, which would mean Oscar voters had it much more together this year than last.
How does this spy know all this? They coyly planted paid studio watchdogs to hang out at PW and watch all the messengers come in with the specifically colored envelopes that indicated Academy ballots.
"Slumdog Millionaire," Mickey Rourke, Kate Winslet and Wall-E are hot. "Benjamin Button," "Frost Nixon," Meryl Streep and Sean Penn not. Here are Notes on a golden weekend.
What does the Golden Global rout by "Slumdog" mean for Oscar as the Globes are over, Academy ballots are due, people head out to Sundance and the wait begins for Jan. 22's big announcement?
Some film companies HAVE to be scratching their heads after Sunday night's spectacle known as the return of the Golden Globes and wondering just where this unusual season takes them next.
Universal and its specialty division, Focus Features, have been pouring millions of dollars into awards campaigning for "Frost Nixon" and "Milk." Neither won a single thing but Focus did come away with a surprise best actor in a comedy or musical statuette for Colin Farrell as a daffy hitman in "In Bruges," an early '08 release all but forgotten by its distributor.
Miramax might have thought it had a sure thing in the star-studded "Doubt," which had nominations for all its heavyweight actors including Meryl Streep, and led the nomination list alongside Paramount's blockbuster epic, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" with five nods each. Both walked away empty-handed but Miramax did prevail with "Happy-Go-Lucky's" Sally Hawkins, who beat Streep for best actress in a musical or comedy.
Warner Bros., co-distributor of "Benjamin Button," had the biggest movie of the year in "The Dark Knight" and a smash in Clint Eastwood's latest Oscar fodder, "Gran Torino." They won only won award -- a posthumous supporting actor award for "Knight's" Heath Ledger. They gave away Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" to Fox Searchlight (retaining a 50% financial stake) because they admittedly didn't know what to do with it, and were planning a straight-to-video release until Peter Rice and his gang swooped in and saved the day. "Slumdog" swept the Globes, winning best picture drama and three other awards, for the second highest total in Globe history. Warner Independent also developed Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" early on, only to also see it distributed by Searchlight and winning Globes for Mickey Rourke and Bruce Springsteen's title song.
It was also fascinating to never hear the name of Warner Independent or Warner-anything in any of the "Slumdog" Globe acceptance speeches. No faith, no glory, brothers Warner.
Go figure. Are the Globes predictive of where the Academy is heading or is this just a bump in the road for all contenders other than "Slumdog Millionaire," which is clearly the undisputed front-runner for the Oscars now as well? If it didn't have reason enough before, the Academy can feel comfortable in crowning "the indie movie that could" even though Sunday's Globe results will have little effect on the outcome of the Oscar nominations as polls close at 5 p.m. Monday.
There are a surprising number of blank Oscar ballots out there even as the deadline is looming. "Crash" Oscar winner Paul Haggis, who had high praise for such films as "Milk," "Benjamin Button" and "Slumdog," told us at Saturday's BAFTA tea that he still hadn't seen such hopefuls as "The Reader" and "Frost Nixon" and planned to watch them before voting.
The BAFTA tea was even more successful than usual with Ron Howard, Danny Boyle, last weekend's box office king Clint Eastwood, Stephen Daldry, Kristin Scott Thomas, Marisa Tomei and David Fincher among the high-profile Globe contenders having jasmine tea and crumpets with the Brits, who announce their own nominees this week.
The pre-Globe parties Saturday night also seemed to draw even more industryites than usual, with the consensus that people wanted to party again with the Hollywood Foreign Press especially after last year's WGA-forced cancellation of their big event.
Paramount's Chateau Marmont bash was wall to wall flesh and filled with a mixture of Globe nominees like Kate and Leo, Brad and Angie and friends, agents, industry types and lots of Veteran (with a capital "V") voting members of the Academy who are often suddenly VERY popular among party planners this time of year. Spotted were the likes of Barbara Eden, Harry Hamlin, Martin Landau, Robert Forster and many, many others who could make a difference with the Big O.
At the equally packed "Mad Men" party right next door, Jon Hamm told me he would love to get to make the speech he didn't get to give at the canceled '08 Globes where he won best actor in a TV drama series.
"I'm probably the only actor who won a Globe and didn't get to go," he lamented a full year later. He didn't get to make that speech this time either. An absent Gabriel Byrne won for HBO's "In Treatment."
A less crowded and more manageable party was thrown by Miramax and Disney in Warren Beatty's former abode,the Royal Suite at the Regent Beverly Wilshire. The stars had left by the time we finally got there but "Doubt" writer and director John Patrick Shanley was seen hanging out under the full moon on the rooftop deck until the wee hours.
Of course the big event was the Globes and its after-parties Sunday. The awards show certainly lived up to its reputation as a grand and fun affair. The table hopping was of Olympian proportions. One frustrated publicist threw up her hands, telling me that several people just decided they would sit wherever they wanted. So much for the seating chart. Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson split up -- for the evening. She sat with the "Mamma Mia" gang while he was with "John Adams." His Playtone company produced both, and while "Mamma Mia" didn't win, "John Adams" took all three categories in which it was nominated. Hanks actually kept jumping from one table to the other during commercial breaks.
I felt sorry for Penelope Cruz. Her hilarious performance in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" has been touted as a sure thing all season for supporting actress. Along comes "The Reader" with Kate Winslet and suddenly there's a real contest, although somewhat unfair since Winslet's role is really more a lead being squeezed into support so as not to conflict with her "Revolutionary Road" starring role. Both are from the Weinstein Co. but since Harvey insisted "The Reader" also be released this year, he may have inadvertently cost his other star Penelope the Globe. If the Academy buys into Winslet's supporting campaign, Cruz may miss out on Oscar as well. Good thing Cruz is making Rob Marshall's musical "Nine" for Weinstein right now because Harvey may well owe her one.
We ran into Sony Pictures Classics' co-president, Michael Barker (SPC's "Waltz With Bashir" took best foreign film), who seemed to think that despite the Winslet win for "Reader," Penelope still has an excellent shot at an Oscar this year, and if not she can get one for HIS upcoming release, Pedro Almodovar's "Los Abrazos Rotos."
There was a bit of a consolation prize for Cruz in the prize for best picture, musical or comedy, going to "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," the first Woody Allen film to win since "Hannah and Her Sisters" 22 years ago.
Winslet's remarkable two-for-two win as supporting and lead actress (for "Revolutionary Road") threw another wrench into an already impossibly crowded best actress race with various awards this week also going to Sally Hawkins (Golden Globe and L.A. Film Critics winner) , "Rachel Getting Married"'s Anne Hathaway, and "Doubt"'s Meryl Streep, to name four.
As far as the best actor race goes, Mickey Rourke's popular Globe win for "The Wrestler" got a standing ovation, stopping the "Milk" train and Sean Penn's winning streak -- at least until Sean picks up the L.A. Film Critics trophy Monday night. What it means going forward is anyone's guess but Mickey scored points in this round with Frank Langella still looking for a win and Eastwood lurking in the shadows ready to pounce.
It was interesting to see the HFPA shower such love on "bad boys" like Rourke, Colin Farrell and even the late Heath Ledger. Apparently it's the year of the rebel.
The show was fast-paced, handing out one award after another, with highlights including the appearance of presenter Sacha Baron Cohen, who pulled off one of the night's best lines by stating that "Benjamin Button's face gets younger as he gets older -- just like many people in this room."
Another highlight was the Cecil B. De Mille presentation to Steven Spielberg, two years in the making since this award was announced originally for last year on the show that never happened. Spielberg said that ironically his filmmaker's fate "was sealed" when he saw De Mille's "The Greatest Show on Earth" at age 6 in 1952.
As usual the party doesn't stop with the telecast and Warner Bros./In Style, NBC/Universal, AMC, and HBO all had crowded after-bashes with the lines particularly long to get into HBO this year. A smart move by Fox was to take their celebration off campus and throw it at Craft restaurant not too far away in Century City. The "Slumdog" group and Mickey Rourke all stopped by and the party had a relaxed , elegant feeling that gave it top honors for the night. I ran into Fox co-Chairman Jim Gianopulos, who was excited about attending the Mumbai premiere of the film in a few days. He still marvels at being able to wrest "Slumdog" away from Warner control to give Searchlight what is now indisputably the Oscar front-runner, especially after back-to-back Critics Choice and Globe sweeps. I also pointed out to Searchlight President Peter Rice that no one thanked or even mentioned Warner in their acceptance speeches.
"I'll thank them. I thank them every day," he laughed.
Congrats to all the winners, the nominees and especially the Hollywood Foreign Press who came back in a big way. It wasn't the same without you last year.
On a hot summer night last June at the L.A. Film Festival's opening night party, I ran into Picturehouse President Bob Berney, an independent film whiz and great awards campaigner. We talked about the imminent demise of his company (merged into Warner Bros. and then dumped), but he mentioned the possibility of releasing one more film, an oddball title he really liked that the defunct Warner Independent had produced but now those at (big) Warners admitted they didn't know what to do with. It was the cinematic equivalent of leftovers and problematic because it was small and partially in the Hindi language.
When I asked him if the movie, which I had never even heard of, "Slumdog Millionaire", had any awards potential, he said probably not, proving once again that nobody knows nothing, even as savvy a guy as Berney, who brilliantly guided Charlize Theron and Marion Cotillard to Oscars.
Thursday night, this improbable Cinderella movie, which Warners basically gifted to Fox Searchlight, continued a remarkable week in which it won key guild nominations from the WGA, PGA and DGA by pulling off an astounding sweep at the Broadcast Critics Assn.'s 14th annual Critics' Choice Awards (airing on VH1).
"Slumdog" took best picture, director for Danny Boyle, screenplay, young actor for Dev Patel and music score awards, meaning one thing as it goes to the Golden Globes on Sunday: It's no longer an under-slumdog and now has to be considered the odds-on favorite to go all the way at the Oscars.
At the packed, tented after-party, Boyle was thrilled with the victories. He said winning one was awesome but as they began racking them all up, he was truly overwhelmed, especially as all these awards came on top of his DGA nomination earlier in the day.
"That one really means something to me because it comes from my peers. You can't beat that -- or this," he said.
The Critics' Choice Awards have a strong track record of foretelling the eventual Academy Award winners, but not always. Still, there was a good feeling in the room as this was the first of the "Hollywood" movie award shows this year and it's early enough that everyone still feels like they can win. However, losing at a few of these events can really beat you down. It gets old fast.
The awards were once again held at the Santa Moncia Civic Auditorium, a hallowed place in Oscar history where "West Side Story", "Lawrence Of Arabia", "Tom Jones", "My Fair Lady", "The Sound Of Music", "A Man For All Seasons" and "In The Heat Of The Night" all won their best picture Academy Awards. It's kind of retro cool to see another movie awards show use this site by the sea, although the historical aspects of the "critics' choice" of venue probably was lost on this crowd.
The star and industry turnout, though, was almost as impressive as one of those Santa Monica Oscar shindigs of the '60s. Everywhere you looked was a heavyweight. I sat at Table 10 with Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Taraji P. Henson, David Fincher, producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall and Paramount President John Lesher. I was the only one at the table I had never heard of. Although "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" came in with a leading eight nominations, it left empty-handed. This group took it in stride. You win some, you lose some.
Marshall, a nice guy who has been to a few award shows in his time, was beaming when he talked about how his hit flick, "Button," moved into the top spot at the box office for the first time on Wednesday night. Who needs awards when you've got a smash on your hands? He's a realist. He figured out the way it was going after "Slumdog" took the screenplay award early in the evening, its third victory in a row. He pulled out his acceptance speech and tore it up. Hopefully Frank pieces it back together before the Globes. It might come in handy. Life can be fickle. And unpredictable.
After she lost to Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep (who tied for best actress) , I told Jolie to look on the bright side. There are just 22 more award shows to go! Hey, she's already got an Oscar anyway.
The "Milk" table in front of us was happy winning best ensemble early in the show. Josh Brolin and Emile Hirsch accepted for the cast . Star Sean Penn was late and missed the entire category, but later accepted when his name was called as best actor. When he mentioned that he thinks he won basically because he was the best looking guy nominated in the group, Pitt laughed.
Penn, who won a Critics' Choice Award in 2004 for "Mystic River," was in New York on Monday picking up a best actor award from the N.Y. Film Critics Circle, and then in Palm Springs on Tuesday getting the same thing from the Palm Springs Film Festival. Can his streak continue Sunday at the Globes, where he represents their sole nomination for "Milk"?
All five of the directors nominated for the DGA award Thursday morning were in the room. Unflappable "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan told us he was happy with all the recognition his little "Batman" movie was getting this week. Pretty remarkable for a summer comic book film. His acceptance for best supporting actor Heath Ledger won the most heartfelt applause of the night. Word from inside the Academy is that officials there are quietly rooting for a "Dark Knight" best picture nomination in order to boost ratings for the show. After this week, it seems more inevitable than ever.
At every commercial break the awards banquet game of table hopping and deal making began, and this was a particularly antsy bunch. The schmoozers we spotted included Ben Stiller (who won best comedy for "Tropic Thunder"), Mickey Rourke (Lesher mentioned he is definitely cast as one of the villains in "Iron Man 2"), Ron Howard, Peter Morgan, Dakota Fanning, Kate Beckinsale, Warner Bros. Chairman Alan Horn, Jason Segel, Richard Jenkins, Frieda Pinto, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sony Picture Classics guys Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, Stephen Daldry, Frank Langella, Clint Eastwood and, of course, Harvey Weinstein, who is probably already plotting his campaign for "Nine" next year.
Harvey was among those making his way to the after-party across the street. Penn, Hathaway, Joel Siegel Award honoree Richard Gere, Brolin, Diane Lane, Jason Segel and a whole bunch of happy VH1 execs were just some of the many luminaries spotted in the room filled with those dreaded critics who during the rest of the year don't always have kind words to say about the very same people they were partying with into the wee hours
The season of "giving" can make strange bedfellows.
--Pete Hammond
(Photo: Freida Pinto, Simon Beaufoy, Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and A.R.
Rahman backstage with the best picture award for "Slumdog Millionaire," courtesy Dan Steinberg / AP)
Dustin Hoffman summed up Tuesday night's swanky 20th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival award gala best:
"First the Golden Globes co-opted the Academy Awards, and now Palm Springs has co-opted the Golden Globes," he proclaimed. "Watch out, because next is gonna be the Fairfax District Awards!"
With all the various award shows, galas, banquets, critics' love-ins, etc. it is hard to get a piece of the pie. But now in its 20th year, the Palm Springs fest has figured out how to become an integral part of the season — by making sure its star-studded centerpiece gala falls during the crucial Oscar nomination voting period, even if that means it has to happen on a school night.
With no breathing room between the holidays and Golden Globes and Critics Choice awards, PSIFF had to dish out trophies on a Tuesday this year or face the prospect of a less-than-starry turnout. If there were any worries the faithful would show up, they were alleviated at the packed and impressively organized black-tie affair held in the (way too) dark and cavernous main hall of the Palm Springs Convention Center.
The turnout of honorees was glittering and downright impressive: Clint Eastwood, Hoffman, Gus Van Sant, Amy Adams, Anne Hathaway, Ron Howard, Sean Penn, "Slumdog Millionaire's" Frieda Pinto, Dakota Fanning, "Benjamin Button" composer Alexandre Desplat and almost the entire cast of "Revolutionary Road," led by Leonardo DiCaprio. Not by coincidence, every single one of them is the focus of an Oscar campaign.
The only scheduled attendee to skip the event was Kate Winslet, struck by an ear infection that grounded her on doctor's orders in New York. The doc is apparently not threatening to KO her trip to the REALLY big award gala on Sunday, however. You know, that little old Globes thing where she happens to have two acting nominations and a decent bet to turn at least one of them ("The Reader" or "Revolutionary Road") into gold.
Loads of photographers and press lined the red carpet with a special spot at the front AND exclusive access backstage for "Entertainment Tonight," whose host Mary Hart was emceeing this event for the sixth straight year. In addition to the honorees, the event drew such presenters as Ben Stiller, Donald Sutherland, Frank Langella, Josh Brolin, Rosemarie DeWitt and James Cromwell.
Started two decades ago by then-Mayor Sonny Bono as an idea to bring commerce to his city, the festival has clearly turned into a place to be seen in a key balloting period of the award season. It also doesn't hurt that a few Oscar voters happen to live in the desert, even though, as one studio wag who schlepped his contenders down there said, "this is the place where academy members go to die." Indeed, the crowd wasn't exactly young, as Hoffman remarked after his presenter (and son in "Meet the Fockers") Ben Stiller said he was amazing for a 92-year-old actor (he's really 71).
"OK, Ben brought up my age, but I looked around the room. I don't know what the median age is here, but this is not the MTV awards," he said.
And Hart hit the subject too by commenting on the quality of the face lifts in the crowd.
"Plastic surgeons must be better here than in Beverly Hills, because you certainly aren't aging since last year," she joked.
Sponsored in large part by Cartier, which got lots of garish plugs on stage, this year's gala raised more than $1 million for the Palm Springs International Film Society. An 18-piece orchestra played the honorees on and off, although the choice of "Superfreak" to bring out Penn was rather odd. Eastwood seemed visibly impressed that the band knew his "Gran Torino" theme song as he walked on stage. DiCaprio and the "Revolutionary Road" group were introduced to the strains of the theme song from "Titanic." What? No hit tunes in "Rev Road"?
Festival Director Darryl McDonald told us that stars like coming to the festival because it's not televised and is much more relaxed than most things of this type. The veteran fest organizer has brought this one a long way and has a promising lineup of films over the next two weeks, including many U.S. premieres. Still, the first half of the show was on the slow side — bogged down by the corporate speechifying and by-the-numbers acceptances from Fanning, Adams and Van Sant (who ho-humbly accepted the Sonny Bono Visionary Award but delivered a nice and classy shout-out to McDonald, who gave him his first-ever fest exposure in 1984).
Hathaway used her time to ramble on about the metaphysical meaning of "creativity," leading Hart to ask afterward, "Whatever happened to good 'ol beautiful blond bimbos?"
By the way, the hugely talented and appealing Hathaway, widely acclaimed for her work in "Rachel Getting Married" and a likely lead actress Oscar nominee, could run into some trouble if any academy voters actually see her new film, "Bride Wars." She and Kate Hudson play lifelong best friends who tear each other apart over a wedding date conflict. The dreadful comedy is likely to get pummeled by critics in the same way "Norbit" was when it was released in the middle of Oscar voting two years ago, perhaps costing its star, Eddie Murphy, the award for his work in "Dreamgirls."
Second half of the gala was a real winner with a very heartfelt tribute to Howard, celebrating his 50th year in show business and receiving PSIFF's Directorial LIfetime Achievement Award from his eloquent "Frost/Nixon" star, Langella.
The real-life Cleve Jones presented the Desert Palm Achievement Award for best actor to "Milk's" Sean Penn, who was also honored at the fest in 2008 as a director for "Into The Wild." Penn gracefully recalled how awestruck he was by another honoree there.
"Last year I saw what Daniel Day-Lewis did in 'There Will Be Blood,' and I said I am gonna have to work harder. Well, I did."
Stiller was hilarious in his intro to Chairman Award winner Hoffman.
"He is the reason short Jewish guys are allowed to be in movies," he said.
Biggest laugh of the night, though, didn't go to Stiller but to Donald Sutherland, who in introducing Eastwood's career achievement award talked about how any actor dreams of getting an invitation to appear in one of Eastwood's films, as he did when he got the call to do "Space Cowboys."
"I got a call from Clint that went right to the point. He said, 'Would you be interested for $100,000 to play a role in a new film I am going to direct?' Well, you can't breathe when you get that call. You just say yes. But then I said, 'Can you give me a couple of days to raise the $100,000?"
Eastwood got the night's biggest standing ovation and momentarily forgot his wife's and daughter's names when he started to thank them. He also assured the audience he isn't done yet.
"I still have a couple of more rabbits in the hat."
Those rabbits include a Nelson Mandela biopic with Morgan Freeman and a "Babel"-like drama called "Hereafter," written by Peter Morgan, both slated for production this year.
Confirming the emergence of Palm Springs in the upper echelons of the festival pantheon, a very crowded and fun after-party was held at the Parker Hotel, drawing most of the stars, including Eastwood, DiCaprio, Josh Brolin, Hathaway and Penn, who seemed to be having a great time. A publicist said the same thing happened last year, when he closed the place down.
Short of Oscar week, the next seven-day period is the biggest of the award season by far and it all kicked off this morning with the ultra-predictable announcement by the Producers Guild Of America of its list of nominees for the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year in theatrical motion pictures.
No surprises here with front-runners "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button", "Frost/Nixon", "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Milk" joined by the year's biggest box-office hit and No. 2 all-time domestic champ, "The Dark Knight," to take the five spots. "Knight's" increasing Best Picture Oscar hopes would have been dashed if the money-loving PGA had dissed it, but now pundits everywhere will probably be filling in their fifth Academy slot with "Dark Knight" as well, especially if it lands a DGA nomination for Christopher Nolan on Thursday.
Some caution should be heeded though by gleeful Warner Bros publicists. The PGA list, while fairly accurately mirroring Academy Best Picture choices in recent years, is usually off by one and rarely goes five for five. Yes, "Doubt," "The Reader," "Defiance," "Revolutionary Road," "Gran Torino", "The Wrestler" and "Wall-E," there is still hope ("Wall-E" did make the PGA animated films category, joining "Bolt" and "Kung Fu Panda").
Speaking of "Doubt," it's strategy of setting itself apart from other specialty releases and going relatively wide over the holiday break seems to be paying off. This weekend it joined "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (at about $80 million in 11 days) and "Slumdog Millionaire" as the only real Oscar contenders to also make the box-office top 10, a good psychological advantage during the Academy voting period. "Doubt" placed 8th with $5 million, a strong hold dropping only 8% and now totaling about $19 million overall. Of course $19 million is chump change compared with what "Dark Knight" pulled in an afternoon during its heyday. If the Caped Crusader does make both the PGA and DGA lists, it will certainly complicate "Doubt's" hoped-for climb into that fifth slot in Oscar's Best Picture circle.
Even more impressive among current contenders is "Slumdog" with $4.8 million, nearly matching "Doubt's" gross while playing on less than half the number of screens. It has $28 million in two months and impressively hit the top 10 with only 612 engagements, with grosses going up 11% from the previous week. It was the ONLY film to show an increase. This Hindi hit has yet to make a false move this award season.
Box-office hits and misses aside, by this time next week we should have a pretty clear picture of where this season is heading. The effect on Academy voters should be interesting to note as their balloting continues through Jan. 12 during a period where five, count 'em, five groups hold their official award galas and six guilds announce their nominations (including the all-important PGA, DGA and WGA). Call it all the Super Bowl of Oscar influencing.
Monday, Jan. 5: PGA noms announced and the New York Film Critics Circle has their dinner where "Milk" will be crowned Best Picture of the year.
Tuesday, Jan. 6: The Palm Springs Film Festival Gala takes place with contenders like Sean Penn, Clint Eastwood, Anne Hathaway, Dustin Hoffman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Amy Adams, Ron Howard and others all making the trip to the desert this crunch week. Being seen getting awards doesn't hurt, man.
Interesting that the official opening of the fest isn't until a couple of days later, but the gala, which is usually held on a weekend got stuck between the New Year's holiday and the glut of other award shows being moved earlier and earlier every year. The PSIFF organizers had no choice but to go for a Tuesday, the only date with no competition in order to guarantee their honorees would show up for the prime photo op.
Wednesday, Jan. 7: The Writers Guild announces its feature film nominees while balloting closes for the DGA, BFCA and HFPA. Meanwhile "Milk" milks the Q&A circuit one more time with events at the Pacific Design Center and the ArcLight.
Thursday, Jan. 8: The DGA announces its feature film nominees. The Broadcast Film Critics Assn.'s Critics Choice Awards takes place at the Santa Monica Civic broadcast live on VH1. "Milk" and "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" lead the parade with 8 nods each. Often the BFCA choices are good Oscar indicators, but nobody's perfect.
Friday, Jan. 9: Let the Globe parties begin. And the American Film Institute holds its annual cozy luncheon to explain their choice for top 10 movie and television shows of the year. This is when we find out how "Wendy and Lucy" made the list but not "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Revolutionary Road."
Saturday, Jan. 10: BAFTA has its annual tea right in the middle of their voting period so expect contenders to show up to schmooze the Brits who don't announce their nominees until the incredibly late date of Jan. 15, three days after Academy Award nomination balloting closes, for god's sake. Doesn't this group want to influence the Oscars too????
Sunday, Jan. 11: It's the Golden Globes and nobody is on strike so expect to see LOTS of stars other than just Mary Hart this year. NBC broadcasts it all live to the east coast starting at 5 p.m. Pacific Time. With only one day left before Oscar ballots are due, the effect of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.'s choices on the Academy will be negligible but historically they often match up and the group always lives up to its reputation for throwing a great party. Even though their gala had to be called off due to the WGA strike last year, Globe winners Daniel Day Lewis, Marion Cotillard and Javier Bardem all repeated at the Oscars and their surprising Best Drama winner, "Atonement," which had been snubbed by all the guilds came back from the presumed dead after that night to nab an upset Best Picture Oscar nomination.
Monday, Jan. 12: The American Cinema Editors "Eddie" nominations are announced (can you wait?). Final Oscar nomination ballots are due at 5 p.m. The Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. hands out awards to Sean Penn, Sally Hawkins and "Wall-E."
Then it will all be over, a week that will live in glittering infamy. Contenders will take a rest and wait until 5:38 a.m. on Jan. 22 to see if any of this pre-Oscar awards whirlwind means squat to the all knowing, all seeing, and hopefully (for the sake of potential nominees) all impressionable Academy of Motion Picture Arts &Sciences.
Check this space for coverage of all the fun. It IS fun , right?
With ballots for the 81st Academy Awards finally in hand, and Hollywood virtually shut down for the holidays, who has the momentum and the last-minute strategies going into the stretch before ballots must be returned by 5 p.m. Jan. 12?
If opening to the second-highest Christmas Day gross of all time was a key "strategy" for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," then Paramount looks like a genius today. No matter what academy members want to tell you, a good showing at the box office for a genuine contender can have a psychological effect on whether it gets their vote and just how high on the ballot it gets.
Everyone wants to go with a winner, right?
Certainly the $40 million that "Button" has earned in its first four days can't hurt its chances and probably pushes it even higher up the list. At the very least it gets it seen. The fact is "Button's" end-of-year wide-release strategy has paid off, making it the only real talked-about best picture candidate in the four-day weekend's box-office top 10 just as voters start making their choices ("Doubt," in a semi-wide break of nearly 1,300 screens, came in 11th). That ought to take some of the sting out of the hometown Times' Kenneth Turan's bah humbug Christmas Day pan of the film, right? (Memo to Paramount: Turan also hated "Crash.")
This brings us to our next smart strategy — or not.
Call it the March of the Specialty Pictures. Go for limited theatrical exposure in December and wider breaks in January with all the attendant award hoopla that will begin when the Broadcast Film Critics Assn.'s Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes lead the parade of kudo-fests next week. This means "The Reader," "Revolutionary Road," "Frost/Nixon," "The Wrestler," "Milk" and "Gran Torino," among others in the huge end-of-2008 glut, can mostly brag about per screen averages while piling up critical acclaim and early award attention before they really jump into the fray.
On that basis, look out for "Torino," which had a whopping $29,000 per screen (in 84), and "Revolutionary Road," which nailed $64,000 per in its three-screen break, enough to hand it bragging rights for the best specialty opening of the year, not to be confused, though, with "Slumdog Millionaire," which after seven weeks has nearly $20 million, making it the top-grossing specialty release of 2008.
Others like "The Reader," with middling per-screen averages, are just trying to hang in there in the game of perception before the hoped-for trophies start piling up and bumping the grosses.
That brings us to our next strategy. Don't worry about box office numbers or perception, just get the voters to see your movie on the academy screeners now showing on a DVD player near you. With so many out there to watch, a smart game plan is all important here. Should you be first, like "Frozen River" was this year when Sony Pictures Classics sent the summer release out to voters waaaaay back on Sept. 24, or last, as 20th Century Fox was in getting "Australia" finally into mailboxes just a couple of days before ballots were sent last Friday?
Certainly the early critics award attention, along with SAG and Spirit nominations for "Frozen River" star Melissa Leo, seem to validate SPC's decision to go early on "River," emulating their 2005 strategy for the tiny indie "Junebug," which managed to nab a longshot supporting nod for Amy Adams.
Take a walk through your 'hood and you're likely to find three or four neighbors who are having "Reader" viewing parties. The Weinstein Co.'s strategy of blanketing the industry with that film's DVD could pay off, just like it did for Lionsgate with "Crash." The difference is "Crash" was a May release and "The Reader" is just slowly expanding from its Dec. 10 limited release. The disc was readily available before opening day, a tactic Harvey Weinstein knows is essential. With SAG, BFCA and four key Globe nominations to entice them, the key is to grab as many academy eyeballs as you can for the film Weinstein has believed all along has great Oscar potential.
The majors, notoriously fickle when it comes to putting big holiday releases out on screeners pre-opening, took notice, and now even pirate-fearing studios like Universal with "Frost/Nixon" and Paramount with a juggernaut like "Benjamin Button" had their screeners out before the films were in a single multiplex. It's no coincidence that the award strategists behind those films both worked previously with Weinstein during his gold rush heyday at Miramax.
This leads us to yet another strategy: getting the film seen in theaters as academy voters vacation during the holiday break. As always the smartest consultants have set up screenings anywhere there's a potential vote, such as in Hawaii, Aspen, Malibu and Santa Barbara. If you you're on location in Prague or Louisiana, they will find you. If you didn't bring your DVDs along, don't worry, because there's always a local theater that award campaigners can hijack.
And what about trade ads, once the key component of any campaign?
With Hollywood pretty much a no-work zone this week, the trades such as Variety and the Hollywood Reporter are barren as far as ads go (the Reporter is not even putting out a print edition). With so many people out of the office, why bother with pricey Oscar ads, even though this is prime time to make a last pitch as the voting process is in full swing? So it was fascinating to see Overture pull a sneak attack and try to trump its competitors in Monday's Variety with a rare cover ad (for the Christmas/New Year's period) touting its big hope, "The Visitor," an early '08 release that has gotten lots of award talk, including SAG and Critics Choice nominations for its star, Richard Jenkins.
Inside the issue there was just one other ad, a quarter page with available screenings for, you guessed it, "The Visitor." With Variety subscribers all to itself, Overture must be guessing that not everyone with a ballot is out of commission this week. And in fact they may be right with this out-of-the-box strategizing. During awards season Variety is also sent as a bonus to most Academy members homes so it was likely seen by lots of voters during this crunch time.
So how are all these strategies going to pay off in the end?
Here's your first clue. A veteran academy member called this morning to tell me he had finally seen everything including "Valkyrie," the last "official" screening of the season, Sunday at the Goldwyn Theatre. Here in order is how this person is voting in the best picture category today:
1. "The Reader" ("Magnificent. What a story! I was blown away.")
2. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" ("I don't care what the detractors say. I loved it.")
3. "Slumdog Millionaire" ("Terrific")
4. "Frost/Nixon" ("A fascinating film, and Langella is great.")
5. "Defiance" ("Surprised you with that one, didn't I?")
This voter also mentioned certain films he couldn't STAND, but in the spirit of the new year, we'll just highlight the ones he liked.
In terms of all the campaigning and marketing to this relatively small and opinionated body of 5,810 voters, the bottom line is if you're a consultant and your film is one of the five listed above, your "strategies" are working. If your film isn't on that list, take heart. There are 5,809 more ballots ripe for the taking.
Happy New Year. And here we go into the thick of it all.
Pete Hammond is one of the film industry's best known award season pundits. He contributes to "Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide" and hosts Q&A screenings with top Oscar contenders for KCET Cinema Series and The Envelope. He appears frequently on TV as a pop-culture pundit and has been a producer for "Entertainment Tonight," "Extra," "Access Hollywood" and AMC - American Movie Classics network.
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Best actor co-favorite Sean Penn will be coming to the Oscars tonight despite the bronchitis that kept him away from Saturday's Independent Spirit Awards ceremony in Santa Monica where the "Milk" star lost the best male lead prize to "The Wrestler's" Mickey Rourke. 
Could it be closer than we think?
Just five years ago it was unthinkable. Even one year ago no one could have conceived of it. Even last summer this kind of earth-shattering upset would have been labeled a pipe dream.
Final ballots for the 81st Academy Awards should land in Oscar voters mailboxes beginning today, so it's only natural that the final shots should be fired as well.
