'Notes' on the town

In addition to all our regular blogging, every Thursday,  Notes on a Season goes out on the town and spreads the word on all the awards buzz that's fit to print.

As a follow-up to our Oct. 16 story on the Academy Awards' foreign film competition, which began in earnest Friday night and continues through Jan. 16, our spies on the foreign-language committee tell us that entries from Mexico, Hungary and Switzerland screened very well over the weekend but that there was a mass exodus Monday night from the 9:55 pm unspooling of the Croatian film "Donkey" after 30 minutes, the point at which voters are allowed to leave without losing credit for seeing the movie. It wasn't that the movie was so bad, the cheapo English subtitles were apparently unintelligible, and unless Serbo-Croatian was your second language, the flick was impossible to understand. Our spy said that out of a crowd of over 200, only about 50 made it to the end, if that many. It probably didn't help that the food served between movies was, according to one picky voter at least, not even up to standards of a soup kitchen. Hey, don't complain; it's not Spago. Personally I love tuna fish sandwiches for dinner. ...

Speaking of screenings at the academy, after my Oct. 5 post on the subject I heard from a new member of the committee that chooses which movies get "official" showings for the Oscar voting elite. After receiving some complaints, the academy was trying to bring "younger," more in-tune members into the process who have a better understanding of the kind of quality picture that should get priority at these all-important screenings, and it was making "significant" changes. Looking at the just-out schedule for November, you can see a difference already. The lineup is full of potential contenders including "Precious," "The Young Victoria," 'The Road," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "A Christmas Carol," "Me and Orson Welles," "Everybody's Fine," "The Last Station," "A Single Man," "Planet 51" and "Broken Embraces." Not a clunker in the bunch. Looks like the "season" is finally beginning big time over at 8949 Wilshire Blvd. ...

And while we're on the subject, a recent Oscar-winning producer told me that he took his children to the academy's official screening of the critically acclaimed "Where the Wild Things Are" over the weekend and thought the flick was a dud. Another member told me that she loved it and it "played great." Looks like divided opinions on whether this one has any real Oscar potential. Some critics loved the movie so much that I wouldn't be surprised if Warner Bros. winds up with a best picture nod from a major critics organization at the end of the year. It's just the sort of contrary thing crix love to do to shake things up. ...

The same producer (a major honcho) told me that he thinks the new rule of 10 nominees could be good for his upcoming movie, but that as a voter he is hard-pressed at this point to name even two films he's seen that he would put on his ballot. ...

Perhaps a visit to the AFI Fest beginning next week will help voters like this guy. There are no fewer than six "galas" happening, one practically every night at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre, starting with the Oct. 30 opening night of "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and followed by "Precious" (Nov. 1), "The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus" (Nov. 2), "Everybody's Fine"(Nov. 3), "The Road" (Nov. 4) and "A Single Man" (Nov. 5). What? No big awards contender on Halloween? Obviously cash-strapped distributors looking for a cheaper way to have a splashy send-off for their Oscar hopefuls have found it by riding on the coattails of the AFI Fest. Is this a record number of premieres in one week's time for the Chinese, the most famous premiere palace in Hollywood history? ...

Having already seen every one of those movies, I must confess to being more excited by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's and ace programmer Ian Birnie's monthlong tribute to Audrey Hepburn, "Then, Now and Forever." It kicks off Friday night with her Oscar-winning performance in "Roman Holiday" on a double bill with one of her later films, 1981's "They All Laughed," to be introduced by its director, Peter Bogdanovich. Saturday two more movies for which she should have also won: "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961 best actress nomination) and my all-time fave, "Two for the Road" (1967, same year she was nominated for "Wait Until Dark," which screens Nov. 6 with "Charade"). The tribute, which also includes such classics as "Sabrina", "Love in the Afternoon" and "War and Peace," will end Nov. 13 with 1964's "My Fair Lady," the best picture winner that sadly did not earn Hepburn one of her five Oscar nominations, but should have. (She also received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award posthumously in 1994.) Voters blew her off because she didn't do the singing in "Lady" (dubbed by Marni Nixon), and there was bad publicity around the fact that Jack Warner snubbed the original Broadway star, Julie Andrews, by casting a bigger movie name at the time in Hepburn. Of course, Andrews got sweet Oscar revenge that year by making "Mary Poppins" and winning the golden statuette. Now, shudder the thought, there are plans to remake "My Fair Lady" with Keira Knightley in the lead. I love you, Keira, but you're no Audrey Hepburn. Nobody is, or ever will be again.

Photo credit: Associated Press

With new Oscar producers, academy makes a statement

In choosing former studio executive and producer Bill Mechanic and "Hairspray" director-choreographer Adam Shankman as co-producers of the 82nd annual Academy Awards, the academy is clearly carrying on what was started last year with the Laurence Mark-Bill Condon teaming.

In pairing Mechanic -- a veteran exec and producer with wide-ranging relationships garnered from years of experience at studios like Fox (where he was chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment), Paramount and Disney -- and Shankman, a creative producer, director and choreographer, the academy has essentially re-created the Condon-Mark dynamic and is clearly looking at that as the blueprint for future academy telecasts.

Although Condon and Mark turned down the opportunity to repeat this year because of film commitments, Condon has said he strongly believes the Oscar telecast works best if it is produced jointly by two producers whose skills complement each other. Last year's show was an innovation in this regard as the job has usually gone to a single producer. It's obviously an enormous task to pull off and certainly new academy president Tom Sherak could have gone in any number of directions, including bringing in past producers like Gil Cates (a 14-time veteran of the job), Laura Ziskin or his old partner at Revolution Joe Roth. Instead, Sherak has decided to build on last year's critical and ratings success by pairing a veteran with strong talent connections and a successful movie musical director at the helm of the mother of all awards shows. Sherak in fact worked closely with Mechanic when both were at Fox.

It will also mark the first time that a judge of a reality TV show is producing the Oscars. Shankman has been a judge on "So You Think You Can Dance," although curiously, the academy's official press release omits that information. For those naysayers in the media who decry the Oscar show's fondness for song and dance numbers, get ready to start kvetching. Shankman's selection is a clear indication the academy Board wants to see more singing and dancing at the Kodak on March 7. It will inevitably get it.

Shankman's credits not only include "Hairspray" and "So You Think You Can Dance" but he also has "Rock Of Ages," "Bob: The Musical" and a "Bye Bye Birdie" remake in development. Additionally, he's producing a couple of 2010 releases: "The Last Song" and "Step Up 3D."

Now that the producers have been selected, a host can be firmed up, and if I were Hugh Jackman I would be waiting by the phone for the offer any minute. Of course if he's not available Shankman can always call on one of his "Hairspray" cast to jump in.

Zac Efron, anyone?

Photo: Adam Shankman at Elle Magazine's Women in Hollywood tribute Oct. 19. Credit: Matt Sayles / AP

United Nations of Oscar

Coming out of Sundance with two major awards -- including the grand jury prize for world cinema -- having a box office smash in his home country and a U.S. distribution deal for the critically acclaimed black comedy "The Maid" ("La Nana"), young Chilean writer and director Sebastian Silva thought his movie would be his ticket to the Oscars.

But, as often happens, politics got in the way and the committee that selects Chile's official submission instead went for "Dawson, Isla 10," veteran director and 1985 Oscar nominee Miguel Littin's politically charged indictment of the harsh treatment of a group of "war prisoners" after a military takeover of the country.

Silva told me this week at a screening of "The Maid" (opening in New York today and in L.A. next week) that he even called Littin to ask him how this happened. Of course, Littin did not feel the same sense of disappointment, as the 67-year-old director now has another shot at an Oscar nomination and Silva will just have to be content with his Sundance trophies.

Silva is not alone in feeling dissed by his homeland. Local political considerations often trump audience-pleasing box office hits when it comes to the Academy Awards foreign-language film competition, as each country, not the academy, chooses its own contender. It's a process the academy really ought to dump because the best of world cinema isn't always represented. Still, no one has come up with a better idea, so it's probably here to stay.

As officially announced Thursday, there are 65 films competing for nine preliminary slots and the five final nominations this year. Last year, Japan's "Departures" surprised a lot of pundits by pulling off an upset and taking home the best foreign-language film Oscar over presumed favorites "Waltz With Bashir" and "The Class." I predicted this, as members of the committee who vote (largely older and retired) had told me they were charmed and surprised by the Japanese entry, which screened early in the competition and collected a lot of good will. It was also very accessible and had emotion. That goes a long way with the all-volunteer foreign-language committee, which for the most part tends to shy away from dreary drama and violence. That's why such lauded movies as the Cannes-winning abortion film, "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," and "City Of God," among others, were initially shunned in favor of lighter fare.

Of course, it's not an easy job, as two films are usually screened back-to-back in any given session, and it can get old real fast. Tonight the competition begins in earnest, and turnout should be enthusiastic. It always is in the beginning and then starts to dwindle as the months roll by. The screenings are divided into four sections: red (tonight), white, green and blue. No, these categories weren't created to give Polish director Krzystof Kieslowski a leg up on the Oscar race. The films are arbitrarily divided to create voting blocs. Members must prove they've seen at least 12 films in their assigned color category in order to have their votes counted.

The first film scheduled is Colombia's "The Wind Journeys," a 2009 Cannes Film Festival entry that will be followed by Sweden's 2008 Cannes entry, "Involuntary." Neither set the South of France on fire in their respective years and ought to get the race off to a dull start.

Opening weekend continues Saturday morning with a white section double bill of "Home" (Switzerland) and "Chameleon" (Hungary). The blue section gets its first at-bat Monday night with Mexico's "Backyard," starring Jimmy Smits, and Croatia's war story, "Donkey." The green section has to wait until Saturday, Oct. 24, for its first films, including a romantic comedy from South Africa called "White Wedding," preceded by Israel's local award winner, "Ajami," which could score very well with the committee because of its unique production background. It's a crime story that was co-directed by a Palestinian and a Jew, Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani. Israel has made it into the final five the last two years in a row, so the country is on a roll.

Among other films of interest, the Denmark entry (screening on Halloween), a quirky Coen brothers style movie, "Terribly Happy," has already been earmarked for an American remake and has a U.S. distribution deal in place as well. The British entry "Afghan Star," a documentary about an "American Idol"-style TV show in Afghanistan, has already played in the U.S. Australia's "Samson and Delilah" was celebrated at September's Telluride Film Festival for its beautiful cinematography, although it's got a glacial pace.

There are probably fewer superstar international director names on the list than in recent years, with the biggest names being two previous foreign-language winners: Italy's Giuseppe Tornatore ("Cinema Paradiso") and Spain's Fernando Trueba ("Belle Epoque"). Tornatore's "Baaria" drew terrible reviews at its September Venice Film Fest premiere, but that didn't stop the Italians from submitting it. Sometimes names trump everything. Although Spain snubbed a bigger name, Pedro Almodovar and his "Broken Embraces," in favor of Trueba's "The Dancer and the Thief."

China's veteran filmmaker Chen Kaige is contending again for "Forever Enthralled" (the last film to be shown on Jan. 16), and Joon-Ho Bong has South Korea's vote of confidence for "The Mother."

Perhaps the two most anticipated films in the competition are 2009 Cannes Palme d'Or winner, "The White Ribbon," Germany's entry from veteran Austrian director Michael Haneke, and France's Cannes runner-up,  "Une Prophete," from Jacques Audiard. Sony Pictures Classics is releasing both critically lauded pictures in the U.S., and they look like the ones to beat, though members will have to wait awhile to see them. "White Ribbon" screens Dec. 19, and "Une Prophete" is almost at the end of the foreign parade on Jan. 14.

If the bigger group rejects them, they are certain to be saved by the much smaller executive committee, led by producer Mark Johnson, which gets three picks out of nine finalists and saves them for some of the higher-profile movies that might otherwise get overlooked. No one at the academy will admit it, but that's how France's 2008 Palme d'Or winner, "The Class," managed a nomination last year after it didn't play as well as expected with the larger committee.

Happy viewing, academy members. Don't forget your Murine.

— Pete Hammond

Photo: Catalina Saavedra stars in the title role in "La Nana" ("The Maid"). / Elephant Eye Films

The truth about 'Amelia'

There has been almost as much mystery surrounding the movie "Amelia" as there was about the circumstances surrounding the death of the legendary pilot herself.

Some award-season bloggers, accustomed to months of advance screenings of perceived contenders, are wondering aloud whether Fox Searchlight has something to hide. After all, the film opens in little more than a week -- Oct. 23 -- and it's barely been screened.

Searchlight is playing the film close to the vest until then partly out of necessity and partly out of strategy. There were two screenings on the Fox lot Oct. 7 that were projected digitally because film prints were not even ready yet. It seems post-production came down to the wire on this one, with director Mira Nair putting the final touches on Gabriel Yared's (superb) music score in Paris just a week earlier.

 In reality the film has been a work in progress for some time. And in July a top studio exec very involved in the production told me somewhat ominously that they didn't think the movie was "Academy," a statement that immediately put my expectations in check. 

That's changed. Some added flashback sequences with the young Amelia give the story an emotional layer that apparently make a big difference for many who saw the earlier cuts.

A studio source who finally saw the finished film for the first time told me his worst fears were not realized, saying, "I didn't like it, I LOVED it." That newfound enthusiasm was shared by other staffers I ran into on the lot who had also just seen it. 

The fact is "Amelia" is a beautifully crafted and very traditional epic drama that's aimed at an older, more discerning audience. That's the kind of crowd that's slow to show up at the multiplex, but if they do, they will be treated to the kind of fine adult biographical story movie studios generally just don't seem to be making anymore.

In some ways "Amelia" is reminiscent of the 1985 Oscar winner, "Out Of Africa,"  which has the same combination of sweep, adventure and romance this film incorporates. Indeed, if this were 40, or even 20 years ago, Mira Nair's meticulously mounted effort would be deemed a front-runner for awards and a certain thing at the box office. But now we live in a post-"Slumdog" world, and the blueprint for a Best Picture is  more likely to favor indie dramas like "Precious" than the old-style craft of an "Amelia."

So now, while its parent company is more concerned with the more obviously commercial "Avatar" and the Alvin and the Chipmunks "Squeakquel," Searchlight must find a way to effectively sell the kind of faithful biopic that big Fox did so well in the, uh, 20th century.

Searchlight is a studio used to nurturing quirky unexpected awards contenders like their Oscar babies, "Slumdog Millionaire," "Juno," "The Wrestler"  and "Little Miss Sunshine." With "Amelia" they suddenly find themselves  with an old-fashioned, sweeping Hollywood biography that stars a two-time Academy Award-winning best actress, Hilary Swank (the first of those Oscars ironically came from another Searchlight underdog, "Boys Don't Cry"). The strategy seems to be to let the picture open in about 700 screens and find its audience in the major markets before widening out. If it can hang in there, an Oscar campaign can follow where there would seem to be great potential in nominations at the very least for Stuart Dryburgh's stunning aerial cinematography, Yared's gorgeous score and Swank's right-on interpretation of Earhart. She definitely has the look and accent down pat (the real newsreel footage Nair incorporates prove that), but she's even better in the quieter moments behind the controls of the plane -- particularly in a suspenseful sequence toward the end where she and her navigator (expertly played by Christopher Eccleston) try to fly their way out of trouble.

Today the Hollywood Film Festival announced Swank as recipient of  their Actress of the Year award, which will be presented Oct. 26, just after "Amelia's" inaugural flight into theaters. At 3 p.m. Oct. 24, "Amelia" will get its official membership screening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Despite the fact that many members will likely just see this film on the eventual DVD screener, turnout and reaction for the  Academy unveiling will be a good indicator of the awards fate of this film. If ever there was a picture that should have great appeal to the older constituency that frequents these screenings, particularly the matinees, this will be the one.

Whether "Amelia" even has a chance to fly into the expanded 10 Best Picture list based on box office, critical and Academy reaction is a question Oscar watchers will likely be answering before the end of the month.

Photo: Hilary Swank in "Amelia" / Ken Woroner / 20th Century Fox

Leading? Supporting? Who's who in award season's favorite game?

And now let the category shifting games begin circa 2009.

Kate Winslet got through most of the 2008 awards season winning supporting awards for her lead performance in "The Reader" before late inning voters in the British Academy and Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences caught on and properly nominated her role where it belonged: leading actress.

She won both the BAFTA and Oscar, even though she was competing against her own "Revolutionary Road" performance in the former.

This category trickery was a strategy employed by the actress, her reps and the studios involved after "The Reader" became the Weinstein Company's last minute entry into the derby. This complicated matters greatly for Winslet, who wasn't counting on having both "Revolutionary Road" and "The Reader" compete in the same year. In theory, at least, the strategy would allow the actress to avoid canceling herself with her two leading roles.

It makes sense and it worked for awhile. She started out by winning Supporting Actress for "Reader" at the Broadcast Film Critics Association's Critics Choice awards and then actually won two Golden Globes for Best Actress in "Revolutionary Road" while picking up another Best Supporting Actress for "The Reader."

It happens all the time as strategists, often with input from actors and their PR reps, try to figure out which category they have the best chance in, supporting or lead.

As Universal campaign consultants and publicity honchos finally see their big Meryl Streep Christmas Day release, "It's Complicated" at a screening on the lot today they may find themselves asking the same questions since Streep is already thought to be a major best actress contender for her performance as Julia Child in Columbia's "Julie & Julia." If she delivers equally in "It's Complicated," an award strategy that doesn't divide her votes could prove to be, well, complicated. Would both studios get together with Streep's reps and try to have it both ways by suggesting (as Winslet did initially) that a leading role in "Julie & Julia" is really supporting despite the fact that she has top billing?

Even though the film goes back and forth in time between Streep and co-star Amy Adams, it can be argued that the real arc of the story belongs to Adams character. If Columbia could convince potential voters of this, Streep could land a supporting nod for her Julia Child impersonation and clear the way for a lead actress nomination for the Christmas entry, making everyone happy and Streep the odds-on favorite to pick up a third Oscar (most likely for "Julie & Julia"). She wouldn't even be the first actress playing a title role of Julia to pick up a Supporting Actress Oscar. Vanessa Redgrave already did that in 1977 for, you guessed it, "Julia."

It's certainly not unprecedented to see leading roles awarded supporting Oscars. Walter Matthau in "The Fortune Cookie," Timothy Hutton in "Ordinary People," Jack Albertson in "The Subject Was Roses" (a role for which he won the Tony), Tatum O'Neal in "Paper Moon," Jennifer Hudson in "Dreamgirls" (a role that won Jennifer Holliday a Best Actress Tony), Catherine Zeta Jones in "Chicago" and many others have done it in the past.

 Columbia's sister studio Sony Pictures Classics which has 13, count 'em, 13 movies they are pitching in various Oscar races this year must also be very busy sorting out who goes where. They have at least double the number of contenders of one stripe or another than any other distributor. According to studio sources never-nominated veteran star Christopher Plummer is going in  the supporting category for their December release, "The Last Station," a movie in which he stars as Leo Tolstoy opposite Helen Mirren as his wife. Mirren is being pitched for Lead Actress even though their actual screen time is similar. Is it a coincidence that there is perceived lesser competition in the Best Supporting Actor race this year, than the crowded Best Actor contest? Or that there seems to be less competition in Best Actress than in the logjam over at Supporting Actress? Plus SPC was facing an added problem with another of their December releases, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" in which Plummer plays the title role. We hear  Plummer is likely being pitched as Best Actor  for that picture which makes perfect sense..

All this means that James McAvoy, who plays Tolstoy's new assistant in "Last Station" and was thought to be a more likely supporting choice, is getting bumped up to Best Actor probably because he does actually have more screen time than anyone else in the picture. Hmmmm.

Over at the Weinstein Company, another distributor with a wealth of potential nominees,  the strategy game is also being played regarding "Nine," Rob Marshall's all star musical adaptation starring Daniel Day Lewis and a host of superstar actresses. In both the 1982 original Broadway staging and its 2003 revival  the three main female roles all competed both times for featured, rather than lead actress since other than the one male lead,  it was viewed as more of an ensemble. With the movie version promising choice turns from co-stars Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz and Judi Dench in those Tony nominated roles (Oscar winners all), it's buzzed that the strategy is to bump Cotillard up to lead actress with Dench and Cruz in support.

For Cotillard and Cruz this is undeniably a good thing since Cotillard could figure in Supporting Actress already for July's "Public Enemies" while Cruz is being touted for Best Actress by, you guessed it, Sony Classics for her role in "Broken Embraces"!

Like we said, "it's complicated."

Photo: Meryl Streep is Julia Child in "Julie & Julia." / Columbia Pictures

'Anvil' becomes first screener sent to Academy members

The guessing game can end for another season.

The first official 2009 Academy viewing screener was mailed Thursday to the nearly 6,000-person membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and should be in their hands this weekend. The film?

"Anvil! The Story of Anvil."

That's right. The little, virtually self-distributed underdog documentary, about a couple of underdog fiftysomething heavy-metal rockers forced to work at menial day jobs while never giving up on their longshot musical dreams, is now a (way) underdog contender for Oscars.

Being the first screener sent out is a nice distinction, and giving voters plenty of time to see it has resulted in good nomination luck for the likes of "Little Miss Sunshine," "Junebug" and last year's "Frozen River," among others.

But "Anvil"? When the film debuted at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, they couldn't get arrested, so the filmmakers and the band initially released it themselves (with the key help of Richard Abramowitz's distribution company, Abramorama). Now look at them.

On Monday, Anvil was featured on ABC's "Nightline." On Tuesday the official DVD of their movie was released and they made an appearance on "The Tonight Show" where Conan O'Brien raved about the film. Wednesday they made their movie debut on the set of fan and director Michel Gondry's big-budget flick "The Green Hornet," filming a cameo where they (literally) explode playing in a rock club. Thursday night they appeared at a screening/Q&A at the WGA Theatre in Beverly Hills moderated by Oscar-winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian and "hosted"  by such academy members as Gondry, Tilda Swinton and Catherine Keener (who hosted a party for them as well earlier in the week). Now on Friday, their little-movie-that-could should be in most Academy voters' mailboxes.

Perhaps the drive to get the film out now to every Oscar voter is partially due to the film's overwhelming critical support. It currently stands at 98% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, easily of the highest ratings of the year.

VH1, which aired the film over the summer, paid for the manufacturing and shipping of the specially made screeners for the Academy and other key awards groups. The network could not send out the commercial DVD because Academy rules are very strict about packaging on screeners sent to their membership, and all contenders must produce special versions with no frills if they want to get them to the voters. The publicity firm 42West is working on the awards campaign, which is being shepherded in part by Cynthia Swartz, a veteran of the golden years at Oscar-savvy Miramax.

So how did this all start?

Filmmaker Sacha Gervasi worked with Anvil when he was 16, lost touch and then reconnected with the guys, Lips and Robb Reiner (not that Rob Reiner) 20 years later. That's when he first saw the possibilities for a documentary chronicling the re-emergence of the once-promising aging heavy metal band and their faded dream of still making it big. He thinks the idea of getting the movie screener to the Academy is just another notch on the list of Anvil dream To Do list.

"Anvil has always been a wild card as a band and now, a movie. We have gotten such amazing support from people like (Times critic) Kenny Turan and (New Yorker critic) Anthony Lane and from so many filmmakers,"  he told me Thursday. "Our point I think is just to get the movie out to as many people as possible. Obviously we're a wild card. The Anvil story is about being the underdog."

If that's how they choose to define themselves in this year's race they won't get much argument from awards pundits. Just about the only categories the film could compete in are Best Feature Documentary and Best Picture. Since a rather small group of documentarians whittles down entries in the former and have demonstrated strong aversion to most rock-oriented films, it's an uphill climb there. The odds get even steeper for a movie like "Anvil" in Best Picture, even with 10 nominees. Or 20. Or 30. Even doc superstar Michael Moore couldn't crack that code with "Fahrenheit 9/11." What documentary ever has?

What Gervasi is counting on is the emotional core of the film and a growing cult of voting members who are moved by the film's inherent message of hanging on to a dream. He's hoping this trumps the imposing odds. He may be right. Even the predominant older membership of the Academy may find something to relate to here. After all like most of them, these guys are over 50 too.

"Any artist can relate to the struggle of not giving up. It's come to represent something much bigger than heavy metal. It's a resolve to do something you believe in no matter what," he says."Realistically we only just hope people see the film and respond to it. We want as many artists as possible to see it because so many are relating to it."

Tilting at windmills?

Who would have guessed an AARP card-carrying band that couldn't fill a small-town bar a couple of years ago would have been playing to a crowd of 55,000 at Giant Stadium just two months ago?

Now their dream is to play the Kodak as a nominee March 7.

Photo: Steve "Lips" Kudlow performs at the taping of a VH1 TV special. Getty Images

Best animated feature Oscar race may increase number of nominees

It may not be just best picture increasing the number of its nominees this year. There's a good chance the best animated feature category could jump from three to five nominees for the first time since 2002, the only year to feature more than three contenders since it was created in 2001.

Academy rules state if there are 8 to 15 qualified animated features it triggers the category in any given year, and if there are 16 or more the nominee count can climb from three to five.

Oscar consultants for Disney, Focus, Sony, Fox and nearly every other distributor with a dog in this hunt are looking closely at the developing numbers and seem to be in general agreement that there are (barely)  enough potential films there -- at least on paper. With "Up," "Ponyo," "Coraline," "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," "Monsters Vs. Aliens" and "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" it has been a banner year for the genre, both critically and especially at the box office.  Now with Wes Anderson's eagerly awaited "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" about to debut followed by another trio of films from Disney, it would seem an expanded field is a distinct possibility. It's only appropriate considering voters are going to have to get very creative in coming up with 10 genuine best picture nominees but coming up with a list of five deserving 'toons this year is a piece of cake.

"There's a lot of great movies that have come out this year and still more to come. It's a great year for animation," says Chris Miller, co-writer and director of Sony Animation's smash hit, "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs".

Miller and his partner Phil Lord are riding high on their first animated feature credit. The film is not only doing well at the box office, where it is showing more staying power week to week than nearly any other wide release film this year, but also critically, garnering an 85% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Naturally, they are now dreaming Oscar but are realistic enough to know that if the competition is only three slots, their chances are severely diminished. They are newcomers, after all, going up against the generally agreed-upon front-runners so far: Disney/Pixar's "Up", Focus' Henry Selick masterpiece, "Coraline" and Japanese animation god and Oscar winner Hiyao Miyazaki's "Ponyo." At this point those three would appear to be tough to beat, but if the category expands it opens up a whole new ballgame. To do that you need at least 16 entries submitted by their distributors and then vetted by the Academy animation committee as worthy of the competition.

"It is to the benefit of everyone, if everybody submits,"  says Lord. "I'm like (DreamWorks animation head)  Jeffrey Katzenberg. I will pay whatever needs to be paid. I will do the submitting for other studios!"

Other possible qualifying movies include: "9," "Battle for Terra" and the upcoming releases  "Planet 51," "Astro Boy," "The Princess and the Frog," "A Christmas Carol" and another Disney flick, "Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure," which will play a week at the El Capitan Theatre from Oct. 16-22 before being released on DVD. Although this is not a serious contender for the studio its Oscar qualifying engagement could make it the one 'toon that provides the magic number 16, which will help Disney's multitude of more likely contenders: "Up," "Ponyo," "The Princess and the Frog" and Robert Zemeckis' 3-D performance capture Jim Carrey film, "A Christmas Carol." The latter still remains a question mark as the director and studio haven't yet determined whether this animation hybrid will be entered. Others using the motion capture process have qualified in the past including Zemeckis' own "Beowulf," "Monster House" and "Happy Feet" which actually won in 2006.

Two other films, the Australian "Mary and Max" and the Japanese "Evangerion" quietly sneaked into an Encino multiplex for barely noticed one-show-daily qualifying runs two weeks ago. A French 'toon, "A Town Called Panic" reportedly did the same thing at some point this year but consultants aren't clear on whether it qualified or not.

And That's Not All, Folks!

It's also a bit ironic that the paucity of major contenders for the 10 Best Picture slots may mean a couple of these animated contenders ("Up"? "The Fantastic Mr. Fox"?) could even make the leap into the big boys category.

In this year's Oscar race it just may pay to be a 'toon.

Photo: "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" / Sony Pictures Animation

Oscar contenders missing at academy screenings

The other day I got a call from an academy member who had just received a list of October entries in the official academy member weekend screening series. She asked if I thought particular titles she had never even heard of were worth checking out.

Those included "We Live in Public," a documentary about the Internet; "Disgrace," a barely released post-apartheid drama; "Good Hair," a Chris Rock riff on African American hairstyles; "Bronson," a violent prison drama about a guy whose alter ego is the actor Charles Bronson; "Gentlemen Broncos," a teen comedy; "Astro Boy," an animated film based on an old TV cartoon series; the multi-segmented "New York I Love You" and a horror film, "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant."

None of these movies are likely to be found on any pundits list of potential Oscar contenders. And when you add in the other films being screened to academy members this month -- "Jennifer's Body," "Fame," "Law Abiding Citizen" and Michael Jackson's rehearsal documentary, "This Is It" -- it helps explain why many academy members you talk to these days are even more perplexed about filling out a ballot with 10 best picture nominees than even the pundits who try to predict their thoughts.

This weekend, members attending the academy's series at the state-of-the-art Samuel Goldwyn Theatre finally saw a couple of mid-September openers, "The Informant" and "Capitalism: A Love Story," that are tossed around as possible nominees in various categories. The October schedule will give them better quality in "An Education," "The Damned United," "Amelia" and the Coen Brothers' "A Serious Man." Some major studio flicks with lesser Oscar chances will also screen: "Where The Wild Things Are," "Whip It," and "The Invention Of Lying" (the latter two opening this weekend to less than stellar box office returns).

And that's pretty much it for now. It should be noted that the weekend's No. 1 movie, "Zombieland," has not been scheduled for an official screening (maybe the selection committee didn't dig the title?). That's even though it has 89% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, putting it leaps and bounds ahead of the majority of movies the academy shows in its official screening room, a beautiful 1,012-seat theater with a giant pristine screen anchored on each side by giant and imposing Oscar statues.

Consultants who make their living advising studios on how to play the Oscar game will often attend these screenings (they are usually academy members themselves) and gauge the applause over the end credits to get a gut feeling of how a movie may be going over with the voters. Many of these voters who regularly attend are some of the more diligent members who are also most likely to take the casting of a ballot very seriously. The quality -- or lack of it -- in some of the recent offerings, especially considering we are now in the supposedly Oscar-friendly fall months, is likely to be just as frustrating to them as it is to dedicated moviegoers looking for something worthwhile at their local mall.

Turnout varies at many screenings with packed houses (a rarity) and strong reaction in August for "Julie & Julia" and "Inglourious Basterds" to fewer than 100 last month for Gerard Butler's bomb, "Gamer" and only about 40 for "Jennifer's Body" at a recent Saturday night screening. Yikes! My spy who went to that screening says it was the worst academy turnout he'd seen for anything since "Repo! The Genetic Opera" last year. Guess Megan Fox can kiss that Oscar goodbye.

Photo: Megan Fox in "Jennifer's Body." Credit: 20th Century Fox

Can Michael Jackson win a posthumous Academy Award?

Director Kenny Ortega is putting the finishing touches on "This Is It," the music documentary about the final rehearsals for Michael Jackson's ill-fated London comeback concerts, and Sony is releasing the movie worldwide for a special two week run (with likely extensions) on Oct. 28. Demand is so high the studio says hundreds of show times are already sold out through online ticketing services. Some people waited in line for three days to get tickets to the Oct. 27 preview at LA Live, where Jackson rehearsed.  But its expected blockbuster status won't help it when it comes to Oscar, at least in the Documentary category, where it is opening too late for consideration this year.

Academy rules for documentary features place the eligibility period from Sept. 1, 2008, through Aug. 31, 2009. There's also a one-month extension period through Sept. 30 if a filmmaker can prove their film has exhibition contracts to open during that month. All deadlines passed this week.

Music and concert documentaries don't have an easy time of it anyway with the Academy's doc committee and they rarely even make the preliminary lists, much less get nominated. True, "Woodstock" actually won in 1970, but that was a glaring exception. Martin Scorsese's brilliant landmark "The Last Waltz" was more typical of worthy work in this area being ignored by the Academy. This year the publicity firm 42 West is behind a big push to get a nomination for "Anvil! The Story Of Anvil," about a couple of aging rockers looking for their last big chance in the spotlight. A screening and Q&A Thursday at the WGA theater (technically promoting the DVD release) is being hosted by such prominent  Academy members as Tilda Swinton, Catherine Keener and Michel Gondry. The band will also be increasing the film's Academy visibility by appearing on "The Tonight Show" on Tuesday as well. And then there's Sony Pictures Classics, which is also hoping to get some traction for their rock music summit doc, "It Might Be Loud" in the Oscar race. Don't look for Disney to do the same for the Jonas Brothers 3D concert flick dud.

Ineligibility in the Doc category isn't stopping Sony from booking Jackson's "This Is It" into the Academy's official weekend screening series. The membership will see the film in all its pristine glory at their Samuel Goldwyn Theatre on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. And even though it's not in the Doc race, "This Is It" is eligible in other categories, including Best Sound and Film Editing, two other areas where "Woodstock" landed nominations as well once upon a time.

And Best Picture?  C'mon, Beat It.

---Pete Hammond

Photo: Kevin Mazur / AEG/Getty Images

George Clooney vs. George Clooney: Oscar's nervous chess moves

Did George Clooney suddenly notice he'd be working overtime promoting TWO movies opening back to back in valuable prime award season release slots -- or did someone else blink?

Whatever the case, Paramount, which had Clooney's "Up In The Air" opening in a limited fashion  Nov. 13 just one week after Overture's Clooney flick, "The Men Who Stare At Goats" on Nov. 6, has wisely sent "Air" packing back to its original (though never officially announced) spot Dec. 4. From there it will platform out until reaching a wide berth on Christmas Day.

This is good news for the irreverent "Goats," which will require some special TLC and nurturing to maximize its awards and box office potential without running smack into a much bigger Clooney vehicle the very next weekend. And by placing "Up In The Air" firmly in the last month of Oscar eligibility, Paramount is increasing its already stratospheric chances with the memory-challenged academy by pursuing a December strategy when its star, who just started shooting "The American" in Italy, might be more available for that all-important academy push at the end of the year.

It also puts director Jason Reitman's comedic "Air" on a more even playing field against the expected heavyweight dramatic competition from Clint Eastwood's Nelson Mandela epic, "Invictus," and Paramount/Dreamworks' long-awaited Peter Jackson film, "The Lovely Bones." Both of those films are scheduled for Dec. 11 rollouts. And in terms of editorial space and press coverage, the film is now out of the way of 20th Century Fox's big James Cameron 3D epic, "Avatar," which goes out Dec. 18.

Although "Up In The Air" is coming off rave reviews at Telluride and Toronto, it's still basically a comedy like Reitman's previous two movies, "Juno" and "Thank You For Smoking," albeit a comedy with bite. That puts it along the lines of previous best picture winners in the genre like "The Apartment" and "Annie Hall." Lighter fare going up against the latest offerings from academy faves like Eastwood, Cameron and Jackson is formidable in any year but especially now, considering that "Lovely Bones" and "Avatar" mark the most eagerly anticipated directorial efforts by Jackson and Cameron since their movies, "Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King" and "Titanic" swept the 2003 and 1997 Oscars, respectively. Each film won a record-tying (with 1959's "Ben-Hur") 11 Academy Awards.

As has been proven time and time again, December is fertile releasing ground for serious academy contenders. The voting membership of the academy expects it. It's a tradition. Last year three of the five nominees opened in December, and of the two November contenders -- "Milk" and "Slumdog Millionaire" -- neither went wide until much later. 

Beyond these four now-locked December releases with perceived strong academy potential, there appears to little else now scheduled to open that month with the same kind of pedigree that could turn up in the expanded best picture race.

Miramax's Dec. 4 picture, "Everybody's Fine," could score possibly score a best actor nomination for Robert De Niro, Apparation's "The Young Victoria" could turn up in costume design or art direction. Sony Pictures Classics foreign language contenders "The White Ribbon" and "A Prophet" might earn an additional stray nomination here and there but are more likely to land just in the offshore category. Also the Telluride hit,"The Last Station" could figure in key acting categories and maybe even a long shot spot for Best Picture.

Then there's Oscar magnet Jim Sheridan's long-delayed "Brothers" (set to open Dec. 4), but distributor Lions Gate seems to be throwing most of its academy dollars at its sensational November release, "Precious." The Weinstein Company has its recent Toronto acquisition, "A Single Man," strongly competing in acting, writing and directing categories, but a best picture slot might be a longer shot, especially in the shadow of Weinstein's own highly anticipated musical "Nine" (opening limited in November for Thanksgiving but going wide at Christmas). Nancy Meyer's comedy "It's Complicated," with Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, opens Dec. 25 and could compete, but hit-starved Universal would probably be happiest if it just became a holiday smash more than awards fodder.

Of course, more schedule juggling is possible, and even likely (will "Nine" actually stay on Thanksgiving or move its debut further into December?), as the ever-turning drama of positioning Oscar bait movies in the current sparse field leaves the fate of many contenders "up in the air" -- until they manage to find that magic date that maximizes box office and media potential to grab the attention of those nearly 6,000 all-important academy voters. And for many that usually means December.

Photos of George Clooney by Malcolm Taylor / Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images