And The Oscar Goes To......

[Deleted]

I can see Mulligan being the "it" girl at the 2010 Oscars with little Shia boy on her arm.

[huntergrayson]

I hope they're splitsville by then because I do not want to hear or see Shia LaDouche on the red carpet.

Jason Reitman's Up in the Air is being pushed to December - partly so it doesn't compete with Clooney's other two November films (Men Who Stare at Goats & Fantastic Mister Fox) - but also because they really want it to be the front-runner. All the the festival buzz is saying it is great and should get a shitload of noms.

On the wishful thinking note, I only hope Fantastic Mister Fox beats out Up in a huge upset in the Animated Film Category since I hate 3D and think Pixar is vastly overrated. The trailer for the former looked amazing. I think that category only has to have three films, so my guess is Up, FMF & Coraline. I can't think of any other acclaimed animated films that came out this year. Maybe the Meryl Streep factor will be enough to ensure FMF's upset.

This surprises no one more than me, but apparently Tom Ford (yes, of Gucci)'s directorial debut - A Single Man is actually, seriously good - and critics are singling out Colin Firth's lead performance in particular. I flove Colin so I would be very happy to see him nominated.

Am I crazy or is my fierce goddess Cate not in anything this year? And If Swank wins a third goddamn Oscar, I vow to personally storm the Kodak and pry it from her hands. Maybe I'll ask Chad Lowe & Annette Bening to man the getaway car.

OhNoSheDidnt - Mo'Nique has refused to promote Precious because she ISN'T being paid additional money to promote Precious - which is enough to drive her publicist to quit. So, yes, after agreeing to appear in it for virtually no money, because the film had virtually no budget, she now wants more money. Keep in mind that despite all the Sundance Buzz of OMG!Oscarz! the film was considered too "bleak" and uncommercial and, by some, probably too "black" to appeal to audiences and was having trouble finding distribution. Until Tyler Perry & Oprah stepped in to help distribute it. Now Mo'nique wants more money in order to promote it, since, you know, Tyler Perry and Oprah just have oodles of cash lying around. I don't care for Oprah much but if she decided to ban Mo'Nique from her show
forever, I'd be down for that.

Seriously, when Mariah Carey is also in the film but isn't pulling this level of diva-ness, it's a sign that Mo'Nique has no class, not to mention respect and professional courtesy for the filmmakers who worked very hard to get this film made at all, much less done well.

[canuckcutie]

From reviews I've read, people really think Mo'Nique is a lock for a nom and even the win in the supporting actress category. I'd be curious to see if the studio declines to push her in ads etc given her attitude - they may decide to throw their money behind the young actress playing the lead and one of the other actors/actresses. You'd think the possibility of a nom and maybe even a win would be enough to motivate her to go out and plug the movie.

I really enjoyed Up In The Air and can totally see noms for best actor, movie, director, screenplay. I'm curious whether Anna Kendrick or Vera Farmiga will pick up a supporting actress nom.

Nope no Kate W or Cate B this year. I think Meryl is a lock for a nom for Julie & Julia. I imagine Carey will get a nom for An Education. If Hillary gets a nom for Amelia then that leaves 2 slots. I'm curious to see whether Abbie Cornish gets a nom for Bright Star as there is a lot of buzz around the movie. I love Rachel Weisz so I'm curious to see how her turn in The Lovely Bones is.

Nine is stacked with a lot of big name actresses. I just hope that Kate Hudson doesn't get any kind of recognition - I'd rather see Judi Dench or even Marion Cotillard get a nom.

[aibohphobia]

Oct 18, 2009 14:50:59 GMT -4 @huntergrayson said:

I can't think of any other acclaimed animated films that came out this year. Maybe the Meryl Streep factor will be enough to ensure FMF's upset.

Really? I think this would have been another great year to have five nominees for Best Animated Feature, but they're still only doing three again. Besides the three mentioned, there's also Ponyo which actually does have somewhat of a chance to beat Up, The Princess and the Frog which looks great, and probably has a better chance imo right now of getting in than Coraline because it's Disney and looks to be a return when they dominated animation during that The Little Mermaid through Hercules run until Pixar came along, and even Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was pretty cute.

This surprises no one more than me, but apparently Tom Ford (yes, of Gucci)'s directorial debut - A Single Man is actually, seriously good - and critics are singling out Colin Firth's lead performance in particular. I flove Colin so I would be very happy to see him nominated.

Yes, I'd love to see him finally nominated, but I'm not sure about a win. Luckily for him, George Clooney and Daniel Day-Lewis have both won recently, but I could see Clooney winning again if Up in the Air takes home Best Picture and Director. I don't think that it will. I know it looks great on paper especially with Jason Reitman directing it, but I think Precious might be the film to beat, and if Mo'Nique really is being a big diva, perhaps they'll honor Gabourey Siddibe instead which would be fine with me since she's sort of gotten lost in the shuffle until recently.

I don't believe that Mo'Nique story though at least not all of it. The first story I read was over at Gold Derby about how she didn't want to attend the Toronto Film Festival because of her family, which sounds reasonable since until that time, she had promoted the film elsewhere, but that got blew up into her being all diva like, and telling Lee Daniels and other people at Lion's Gate that she wouldn't promote the movie until she got "some more Benjamins".

I could definitely believe that she has had her diva moments, but the stories I read definitely sounded embellished a lot or perhaps even entirely made up probably by The Weinstein Company because they were in litigation with Lion's Gate after it became a success at Sundance over who actually had the rights to the movie. Plus, it seems like something Harvey Weinstein would do since I think he's willing to bankrupt his newish company just to win since he now must promote Nine, Inglourious Basterds, A Single Man, and perhaps even The Road while most of the other companies have scaled back considerably. Not to mention, if Mo'Nique is suddenly out of the way, it makes it much easier for one of the women from Nine to now win or Melanie Laurent or Julianne Moore.

[Deleted]

Oct 18, 2009 14:50:59 GMT -4 @huntergrayson said:

This surprises no one more than me, but apparently Tom Ford (yes, of Gucci)'s directorial debut - A Single Man is actually, seriously good - and critics are singling out Colin Firth's lead performance in particular. I flove Colin so I would be very happy to see him nominated.

OMG, I love Colin and I'd loooove to see him get some Oscar recognition, though I doubt he'd win anytime soon but a nom alone would be great I have such a soft spot for Colin, it#s not even funny anymore.

[huntergrayson]

Plus, he is (a) playing gay and (b) is British, which are usually Oscar catnip categories in themselves. Together? Probably a lock for a nom.


aibohphobia - the original source for the whole "Mo'Nique demands to be paid for appearances" is a quote from someone from The Hollywood Reporter. Not TMZ, not Perez, but the Hollywood Reporter - which carries equal weight/clout as Variety. I realize she may be without a publicist, but I think if it were untrue? They would've been slapped with a lawsuit or have been asked to retract it by now. She is on a press tour for her talk show and yet is apparently/allegedly continuing to refuse to mention Precious. I've also seen the "Mo'Nique won't promote Precious because she won't get paid" idea run in several stories by Gawker/Jezebel/etc - which all too happily admits when they are wrong or sued (Eric Dane sued them for showing footage from the sex tape - which, hey, it was everywhere - and they immediately posted "hey guys, Eric Dane is suing us for some reason.)

Maybe you're right and the Toronto thing was a misunderstanding but, AFAIK, she hasn't done anything to promote the film since. And I never underestimate Harvey's willingness to fight dirty in the Oscar battle (which, to be perfectly honest? I kind of love/fear/respect in a weird way). But, geez, Harvey, if you want to sabotage Mo'Nique, just discreetly mail a copy of Soul Plane to every voting member of AMPAS and be done with it.

I should probably get around to watching 8 1/2 before Nine comes out. (Fun trivia fact - this is the second time a musical based on an Oscar-winning Fellini film is Award-bait, with the first being Sweet Charity/Nights of Cabiria).

But I *completely* blanked that Princess & The Frog was coming out this year. I hope it definitely gets nominated! And I adore that Disney is returning to 2-D hand-drawn animation. I just recall Animated Film only having 3 noms in recent years - I don't know if the rules are that the category only *can* have three noms or if there can be five. There have been so many changes in recent years that I honestly don't know.

The 10 Best Picture Nominees - Five Directors thing is totally going to make campaigning crazier than usual this year.

Not changed? The stupid foreign film rules. Each country's official submission is has been announced. This process makes no sense to me - but whatevs. Really, Spain? You're not going to submit Almodovar's film? He's kind of a known quantity for you. Presumably he'll get nominated for writer or director anyway, but seems weird.

And I may be misremembering things but seem to remember Very Long Engagement NOT being submitted due to it being financed by several nations, despite, IMO, being a much better French film, about France, starring Audrey Tatou and directed by Jeunet than Amelie.

Virtually everyone who writes or blogs about the awards says that the foreign film nominating process needs to change. I don't know why they didn't revise them when they made the switch to ten films.

[aibohphobia]

Oct 18, 2009 20:55:59 GMT -4 @huntergrayson said:

But I *completely* blanked that Princess & The Frog was coming out this year. I hope it definitely gets nominated! And I adore that Disney is returning to 2-D hand-drawn animation. I just recall Animated Film only having 3 noms in recent years - I don't know if the rules are that the category only *can* have three noms or if there can be five. There have been so many changes in recent years that I honestly don't know.

Oh, I just saw it at one of those pundit sites that it's because there's not the minimum number of 16 needed to make it five nominees instead of three, and this year there's 15.

Sorry about the Mo'Nique thing, but it was clear over at the Gold Derby forums that posters and even the person that runs the site were trying to make a really big story out of her not showing up at Toronto, when she had promoted the film on the Today show, at Sundance, and at other places, and then it lead to some thinly veiled racist quotes that were have suppose to have been said by her. The success probably has gone to her head so far, but I'll give her a pass for now since the promotion for Precious has been going on non-stop since Sundance.

However, I'm still very excited to finally see it because I think it will be one of those few movies that can stand a lot of hype, but even I'm sick of the film being screened at every major film festival, and the stars promoting it all those film festivals. It's definitely a tactic that Harvey Weinstein could probably admire, but sometimes less is more, and I don't think Precious necessarily needed as promotion since I think the film can stand on its own merits. Now something like Nine on the other hand will probably be a decent to good movie, but is something that I could understand being hyped to the degree Precious has been.

{snerk} about Soul Plane. I had sort of that same reaction back in February when the buzz first came out about Mo'Nique's performance. When was on her television show, I thought she was harmless enough, but I would have never guessed that she would one day win an Oscar. I guess she's never had the chance though to show that she's capabale of more than just hosting VH-1 shows, so that's one reason that I'm rooting for her and Siddibe especially the latter because they probably won't get many other baity roles like Precious unfortunately. Plus, just from what I've seen of the movie so far, they really do seem like the best female performances of the year in their respective categories. My opinion might change after I see the movie, but I'm sure they'll both be at least nomination worthy.

[Deleted]

I'm not a fan of the Swank and her chances of a possible third nom/win myself, but I'm enjoying all the on-going panic at the awardsdaily forums over Hilary and "Amelia"'s chances . Campaign season is going to be awesome!

[huntergrayson]

I don't really think Amelia has a chance - it's opening this Friday and it seems like I only a week ago started seeing ads for it. But the field for leading actress may be weak. Boo. I hate Swank and really couldn't tolerate it if she had three Oscars for acting.



That's the crazy inexplicable thing, despite Mo'Nique almost never, in her entire career, given me any reason to like her or want to go see any of her films, when I heard she was so good that she was a lock for a nom or a win, I was like "hmm, I want her to get it" just because I always love when an actor who is frequently typecast or works in one genre just suddenly gives a mind-blowingly "I never knew that they were this talented" performance.

But if the rumor is true that she is going on a press tour to promote herself/her talk show and yet won't promote Precious without pay - well, that leaves a worse taste in my mouth than Sushigate.

Granted, I'm not super-familiar with the whole "making of" but seems like from what I read back in January the people involved all willingly undertook it as a labor of love, not for money, and worked very hard to do justice to difficult source material, I find it just horrendous that one of the actors involved would allegedly go from "yeah, let's all do this!  Let's be uncompromising and not worry about how much we're going to gross on BluRay" to "pay me bitches."

The closest thing it reminds me to is when Randy Quaid suddenly sued everyone involved in Brokeback Mountain and wanted more cash - when he had, what, five minutes of screentime? and was like "your film was a runaway success! pay me more than the amount I already contractually agreed to be paid!"

Right, because everyone went into Brokeback Mountain expecting it to be a mega-blockbuster that somehow managed to cross over to straight audiences and be really successful.  Sorry, crazy Randy Quaid, but no. 



Mo'Nique has every right to promote whatever film she wants or doesn't want for whatever reason.  And, heck, if she's that good, give it to her even without the promotion.  

Inside baseball question: do studios ever contract promotional appearances, DVD commentaries, etc, in advance now?  I remember way back in the DVD days, there was a story that some studio wanted some huge star to record a commentary on one of their classic iconic movies (I almost want to say it was Ahnold, pre-Governator days) and the star was like, fine, I'll do it for high six-figures and the studio, in turn, said eff you, we'll do a crew commentary for half your price.

My favorite vicious Oscar battle of recent years - which was so "nasty" that the Academy cracked down on "negative" FYC campaigns was when there was a full page print ad with a pull quote from some critic saying, essentially, "look, we all know Renee WILL win for Cold Mountain (with the implication being due to Harvey's clout/campaigning) - but we all know Shoreh Angaloo DESERVES it for House of Sand & Fog."



Let's play actor versus same actor in the splitting vote game!  I think Clooney is only really being superpraised in Up in the Air, but who knows!?  He's got two others!  OMG, Penelope!?  Another leading nom for Broken Embraces or supporting for Nine!?  Any other high-profile peeps with more than one project?

I love Hornby so I would like him to get a nomination sight-unseen for An Education.  (I really wanted About A Boy to win Best Adapted Screenplay when it came out.  Rare case of great source material, better movie.)

Why is Kate Hudson even IN Nine?  No, but for reals, Marshall apparently created her part specifically in the film even though she isn't in 8 1/2 or the original Broadway Musical.  Really, you created an entirely new character for Kate Hudson, of all people?  I loved her in Almost Famous and wanted her to be nominated but it was clearly a total fluke in an otherwise crap career.

Wow.  I'm disturbingly passionate about this, y'all.  Some people are caring about Baseball Playoffs, I'm all "yes, but will Penelope be nominated?  Will she and Javier be wed?  Or, gasp!, baby bump!"

My parents never ever let me open a gift on Christmas Eve.  Superbowl?  Whatevs.  But we always watched the Oscars until I was bleary-eyed from the overtime ceremony running until midnight or later, no matter that I had to be at school the next morning and no one in the third grade gave a damn about who wore or won what.  It's totally Christmas in Feb/March for me.  Yeah, I'm lame like that.

   

[Deleted]

Oct 21, 2009 17:16:56 GMT -4 @solly79 said:

I'm not a fan of the Swank and her chances of a possible third nom/win myself, but I'm enjoying all the on-going panic at the awardsdaily forums over Hilary and "Amelia"'s chances . Campaign season is going to be awesome!

I don't like her either, but I'm sort of curious to see her win just to see everyone else's heads (maybe even some actors) explode the next day. It would be interesting to see everyone's commentary on the matter. Oh, even Kanye West might throw out an opinion on the issue.