And The Oscar Goes To......

[huntergrayson]

I dunno if Hollywood actors "like" DDL - he's out of the loop of schmoozing - but I don't doubt they respect him. And TWBB is pretty much a 3-hour character piece entirely on his capable shoulders.

I think Julian Schnabel now has a better chance of getting that director spot whose film isn't nominated for Best Picture because of the DGA nomination and because he's been waiting awhile for his breakthrough nomination.

Plus, Diving Bell is somehow ineligible for Best Foreign Film (it's all in French, with French actors and yet...), so it might end up with Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Didn't a situation like this garner Almodovar a nom for Talk to Her?

I think Atonement will get a lot of technical noms, but I could easily see it going without acting noms. Which is fine, since Keira isn't really a lead (or much of a character at all - she's kinda a cipher), the "leading" character is split among three actresses and...McAvoy was great, but the field is crowded.

[Deleted]

How is Diving Bell ineligible? It's in a foreign language. Isn't that the main criterion for Best Foreign Language Film? Huh wha?

[huntergrayson]

Because (a) it was made with non-French money or something and (b) France picked Persepolis as their official pick. It's a really overly elaborate system that needs major reform (A Very Long Engagement and Y Tu Mama Tambien were also somehow ineligible, despite being totally awesome movies).

Foreign will probably be Persepolis or 4 Months, etc, etc. There's a complete (huge!) list here.

Some categories (like F/X, Makeup, Documentaries, Animated) have already been narrowed down to a few candidates.

[Deleted]

As for DDL, he was suppose to be a lock for "Gangs of New York"..... and in the end, Adrien Brody took the prize.

Oh man, that was so awesome (even though my vote, if I were an Academy member, would have easily gone to Daniel Day Lewis). The thing is, that year it seemed to be a two way race between DDL and Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt. Both had been winning precursors (and the Academy loves ol' Jack) and, iirc, it pretty much was seen to be a safe bet that one of those two would win. I think that the two way race helped Adrien Brody sneak out ahead for a truly surprising win (well, it surprised the hell out of me!). I don't see that situation emerging this year.

[Deleted]

thursdaynext said:

As for DDL, he was suppose to be a lock for "Gangs of New York"..... and in the end, Adrien Brody took the prize.

Oh man, that was so awesome (even though my vote, if I were an Academy member, would have easily gone to Daniel Day Lewis). The thing is, that year it seemed to be a two way race between DDL and Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt. Both had been winning precursors (and the Academy loves ol' Jack) and, iirc, it pretty much was seen to be a safe bet that one of those two would win. I think that the two way race helped Adrien Brody sneak out ahead for a truly surprising win (well, it surprised the hell out of me!). I don't see that situation emerging this year.

Yeah, surprises like that don't really happen anymore. I loved Adrien's Oscar win, I don't care about whatever he's done since then, he fully deserved to win IMHO. I love DDL but he was so cartoonish in GoNY and Nicholson was his usual self in About Schmidt so I didn't want either of them to win. But of course I didn't expect Adrien to win either. Afterwards lots of people (on Oscar sites) said that it wasn't that much of a surprise because he had been the only non-Oscar-winner (previous) in that category but I don't think that counts at all in the male acting categories.

[Deleted]

thursdaynext said:

As for DDL, he was suppose to be a lock for "Gangs of New York"..... and in the end, Adrien Brody took the prize.

I think that the two way race helped Adrien Brody sneak out ahead for a truly surprising win (well, it surprised the hell out of me!). I don't see that situation emerging this year.

Just to say, I thought DDL was the best thing in Gangs of New York by a mile, but I really thought Brody deserved to win. DDL excellently captured a murderously larger than life character without being camp or a ham, but he managed to do this specifically in reaction to the other characters, mostly DiCaprio.

Brody, on the other hand, took the audience into the mind and soul of a grieving hunted man with often little more than the walls for company.

[Deleted]

I loved DDL in Gangs (although the movie was pretty poor) and would have voted for him if I were an Academy member but I was so excited when Adrien Brody won. Not only was it a moment of genuine surprise in a show where that is a rarity, but it also felt somehow very honest. Like, the members of the Academy ignored the hype and the politics of the awards (well, unless you rate the theory that Brody edged out the other nominees because he was the only non-winner) and voted for the best performance even though the actor was known as something of a jerk and the film was made by Roman Polanski (who - deservingly, imo - won Best Director over Martin Scorsese that year).

[Deleted]

Dang, I still haven't seen the Pianist. I did see Gangs and felt it was too over the top and a bit silly.

[Deleted]

flamethrower said:

Dang, I still haven't seen the Pianist. I did see Gangs and felt it was too over the top and a bit silly.

That's the problem I had with Gangs, too. I felt like I was watching Moulin Rouge, just with guns.

[Deleted]

flamethrower said:

Dang, I still haven't seen the Pianist. I did see Gangs and felt it was too over the top and a bit silly.

Oh my, it's a must see. I've actually watched it twice (which I don't normally do with movies with a subject matter that depressing) and I was floored both times with Brody's performance. I completely agree that he deserved the Oscar.

It's not a movie you want to watch if you are in a good mood. It's very sad, depressing material, and I was appalled by a lot of what happened, but it was so well done.