Notes on the town 11/5: Globes vs. Oscars: Who's got the better host?
Stuff heard around town this week ...
The talk at AFI Fest's "Everybody's Fine" premiere party Tuesday at H.Wood at Hollywood and Highland was about Oscar hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, who had just been announced that afternoon. It was even the talk among several members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., who seem quite proud of their own recently named Golden Globes host: Ricky Gervais.
One HFPA member told me the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences must have been "tearing their hair out" when they heard the Globes had Gervais, so he surmises they quickly scrambled when they realized the Oscars were "one-upped" by the surprise move. He said Martin and Baldwin were a safe choice but Gervais was "edgy." Looks like the debate over Globe/Oscar hosts could get more interesting this year than either organization's actual contest. (By the way, HFPA members seemed mixed on "Everything's Fine," but generally impressed with Robert De Niro's low-key performance.)
I think Gervais is an inspired choice for the fun, looser atmosphere of the Globes and my take on Martin/Baldwin is totally positive. Martin has proved to be one of Oscar's wittiest and most urbane hosts in the two times he's been at bat and Baldwin is a hoot.
I did a Q&A with Baldwin last spring at the Landmark for his indie film, "Lymelife," and he had the place roaring. As he has proved many times as host of "SNL," he's a natural. By going to a two-host format for the first time in over half a century, Oscar producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman have tapped into a concept that's fresh but still within the Academy's DNA.
It was curious that the Academy's own press release announcing the hosts completely omitted any mention of Nancy Meyers' "It's Complicated," the movie Baldwin and Martin co-star in, opening Christmas Day. Since the Academy usually goes out of its way to make the Oscars a neutral, plug-free zone in relation to on-air intros of hosts and presenters, I figured it was intentional so there wouldn't appear to be any overt favoritism for a film that could potentially figure in the nominations (particularly for Baldwin's supporting turn, which I have heard is sensational).
An Academy spokesperson threw water on that theory, saying there was "no reason ... we didn't include many of their past, recent and/or upcoming projects. Our primary concern was to get news out about our hosts." Still, Universal must be thrilled with the bonanza of publicity Oscar's embrace of their flick's co-stars is bringing to the film.
At the Sunday night AFI Fest "Precious" premiere party at Chateau Marmont, I ran into Oscar-winning producer Bruce Cohen ("American Beauty," "Milk"), who is charged with producing the Nov. 14 Governors Awards honoring Lauren Bacall, Roger Corman, Gordon Willis and Thalberg Award winner John Calley. He is genuinely excited about this evening and says that, with the expected addition of "one or two more elements that are coming together," this is going to be one memorable night -- at least for the 600 lucky industry people in attendance. It's not televised, but they are planning to shoot the event. Cohen says it will be up to the Oscarcast producers on what footage, if any, will make its way onto the actual March 7 ABC telecast.
Wednesday night I had close encounters with two potential best actor nominees, one on screen and one in person.
First, I was one of many bloggers/critics invited to the Fox lot to see their possible contender, "Crazy Heart," which they say may, or may not, open in December to qualify for awards season consideration. I assumed it would, because it will probably vault Jeff Bridges, one of the finest and most criminally under-awarded actors in Hollywood history, right into the thick of the best actor race. He's typically fine in this film and totally authentic as a washed-up alcoholic country singer (Oscar rule No. 1: You can't go wrong playing a drunk). Maggie Gyllenhaal has a nice supporting turn as his new girlfriend and there are some good country rock-flavored T Bone Burnett songs sung mostly by Bridges.
Since Fox Searchlight's marketing scheme of inviting overeager media, starving for anything new, to get their "feedback" has already resulted in a lot of positive Web ink about their film's awards potential, it would be a boneheaded move not to release it this year and indeed, they just officially announced it will open December 16.
Crafty Searchlight has the awards bloggers right in the palm of its hand on this one, with guerrilla marketing for an awards run that is deserving of an Oscar itself. A well-thought-out campaign for Bridges could take him all the way to the Kodak stage on March 7, 38 years after his first nomination for "The Last Picture Show." It may be that his time has come.
Later I moderated the Screen Actors Guild Nominating Committee's "A Single Man" Q&A at the Landmark with debuting director Tom Ford, best actor hopeful Colin Firth and co-stars Matthew Goode and Nicholas Hoult. The SAG crowd seemed to be really into the film and the easygoing and well-articulated conversation after. The biggest laugh of the evening and the best audience comment by far came from one unassuming older woman who deliberately and politely stated how much she liked the film, praised the performances and direction and then proceeded to say that most of all she really appreciated seeing all these actors in the nude.
Firth, who plays a gay college professor contemplating suicide after the sudden death of his lover, told me beforehand he had just come from a Hollywood Reporter-sponsored roundtable with other actors who may be up for "military decoration" this year (translation: shiny gold statuettes) including potential best actor rivals Nicolas Cage and Morgan Freeman and others like Peter Sarsgaard and Christoph Waltz. He said essentially it was a staid encounter and, much to his disappointment, sparks didn't really fly between the gathered thesps. Probably a nervous bunch. Awards season does that to you.
"Coraline" director Henry Selick has been in town all week for various Q&As (including the L.A. Times Envelope debut screening Monday night) and a Friday afternoon Halloween press party thrown by distributor Focus Features. I also saw him beaming as he came out of the AFI Fest's "Fantastic Mr. Fox" screening at Grauman's Chinese. Selick had done the stop-motion animation for "Fox" director Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic" and was briefly involved with "Fox" at one point. He said he thought the finished film was a total treat and "pure Wes Anderson." Nice to know he can be so classy and generous to a potential awards competitor. Good luck to both.
Finally, major congratulations to one of the industry's most talented cinematographers, Caleb Deschanel who will receive the ASC's Lifetime Achievement Award on Feb. 27. This five-time Oscar nominee could not be more deserving. His Oscar noms came for "The Right Stuff," "The Natural," "Fly Away Home," "The Patriot" and "The Passion Of The Christ," For my money he should have won the Oscar for one of his first movies: 1979's stunning classic "The Black Stallion." Although the L.A. and National Society of Film Critics wisely gave him their cinematography awards that year, he incredibly wasn't even nominated for the Oscar. Maybe as a newcomer he was at a disadvantage, but the achievement stands as one of the best photographed movies of all time.
Update 11/5 5:45pm: a minor change was made to original post noting Fox Searchlight's confirmation of the "Crazy Heart" release date. --Pete Hammond
Photos: From left, Ricky Gervais, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin / Getty Images
