With the most interesting and unpredictable awards season in years drawing to a close, it seems like a good time to reflect and speculate on what might win on Sunday at the 85th Academy Awards.
How are Oscars won and why exactly do some films become frontrunners early on only to triumph (or not) on the big night?
The simple answer is that the 6,000 members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences are balloted and then vote for what they think is ‘the best achievement’ in a particular category.
By this point, contenders will have emerged and then nominees are announced.
It all culminates in a globally televised ceremony in which the winners are announced and the famous gold statuettes are handed out and the arguments begin over who deserved what.
But how are they really won?
The months leading up to the ceremony are often more interesting than who wins and also provide a useful snapshot of a particular year – the book ‘Scenes from a Revolution’ by Mark Harris examining the 1967 Oscar race is fascinating and one of the best film books in recent years.
Amidst all the glamour and hoopla, it isn’t just the perceived quality of the films that determines winners.
Perhaps the biggest change since around the early 90s has been the aggressive behind-the-scenes campaigning, which is filled with the kind of stuff you’d expect to see on-screen: suspicion, intrigue, heroes and villains.
Of course the latter depends on who is campaigning for you and whether or not you win.
Plenty of factors have distinguished winners since the late 1920s: box office, how an actor or director was (or is) perceived by the Hollywood community, PRs, awards consultants, and (lest we forget!) excellence in a particular category.
It doesn’t always work out, and there have been some infamous snubs, but generally when the nominations come around each year there is a lot to chew on in terms of quality, unless it is a really bad year.
How is the buzz then channelled into Oscar victory?
It often starts when a movie is green lit by a studio or financier as they assemble the package, although at this stage and during production, it would be foolish to assume anything.
Other features of a potential Oscar winner might include: a period setting, heavyweight acting talent, a name director trying to make a serious or issue film, often featuring a major character with some kind of disability.
As the films go through the cogs of the awards cycle, the various critics groups and guild awards give their verdicts, and this is where the punditry and guessing games kick in.
Traditionally, this was a more restrained affair, with the studios taking out ‘For Your Consideration’ ads in the two major trade journals: Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.
Some of these sites measure the Oscar odds through statistics, getting out in the real world and talking anonymously to voters, and just generally gauging what they think is the pulse of the Academy mind.
There are also a raft of people with years of experience at schmoozing voters such as Harvey Weinstein (arguably the king of Oscar campaigning, first at Miramax and now at The Weinstein Company) and Cynthia Swartz (the awards strategist behind The Hurt Locker and The Social Network).
What makes this year’s race interesting is the spread of nominees in the major categories and the way in which the introduction of online voting may have affected the process – even though BAFTA have been doing it since 2003 – and members still had the option to mail them instead.
Voting opened on December 17th and the fifteen branches that make up the Academy (actors, directors, costume designers etc.) are then asked to vote for members of their particular branch, from which the final nominees are then selected.
Argo is currently the favourite for Best Picture, but Lincoln and Life of Pi are very strong contenders, and there could be a three-way split amongst the vote, mainly due to Ben Affleck’s weird absence from Best Director, which has only happened a handful of times in Oscar history.
Affleck’s omission is not the only anomaly.
It is very rare for the director of a foreign language film to get nominated, let alone his leading actress, but Michael Haneke and Emmanuelle Riva have managed to achieve recognition for their outstanding work in Amour.
The presence of 85-year old Riva and 9-year old Quvenzhané Wallis (for Beasts of the Southern Wild) in the Best Actress race is mind-blowing and testament to both their work and the unusual nature of this year, which could be the result of the change in the balloting date or just chance.
Ah, yes. Chance.
That factor we like to forget because we can’t quantify the unknown and it can make us look ignorant of things we might have missed, underlying trends and the basic fact that each year is a different collection of films voted on by 6,000 human beings with their own unique tastes and quirks.
Given the new online voting system introduced this year and the insanely eclectic list of nominees, this year’s lineup is harder to call than ever.
With that in mind here’s my take on the three frontrunners and the rest of the pack:
Lincoln: Daniel Day Lewis gives a remarkable performance as the iconic US president and the film marks a big return to form for Steven Spielberg, with a lucid script by Tony Kushner. For whatever reasons, The Academy has had mixed feelings about Spielberg down the years, but this is his best work since Minority Report (2002) and Munich (2005).
Life of Pi: Yann Martel’s novel about an Indian teenager stranded in the Ocean with a tiger was considered unfilmable until visual effects reached a certain level. That day has now come and the resulting adaptation an extraordinary technical achievement for Ang Lee and his crew. Featuring no big stars, it has been a big hit at the global box office. A definite dark horse.
Argo: An extremely well-constructed thriller about an unlikely true life tale, Ben Affleck’s third film as director was set against a tricky subject (the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis). Produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, Affleck also stars and despite some uneasy comedy in places, the pacing, tension and Affleck’s awards campaigning make it a well liked film.
And for the rest:
Amour: Michael Haneke’s outstanding drama about an elderly Parisien couple is a surprising but welcome addition to the Best Picture category. It is rare for a foreign language film to get recognition in a major category but since winning the Palme d’Or in May, has ridden a wave of richly deserved acclaim. Look out for Emmanuelle Riva to cause an upset in Best Actress on her 86th birthday even though Jennifer Lawrence is favourite for Silver Linings Playbook.
Beasts of the Southern Wild: Another remarkable achievement with young director Benh Zeitlin becoming the toast of Sundance with his debut film. It won’t win anything but its four nominations (including director, actress, screenplay and adapted screenplay) are a stunning achievement for both the film and Fox Searchlight, who acquired it back in January 2012.
Django Unchained: Tarantino’s ‘slavery spaghetti western’ may get a screenplay nod and Christoph Waltz is definitely a possibility in Best Supporting Actor, but a combination of the violence (extreme even by the director’s standards) and unnecessary last 25 minutes is likely to have put voters off.
Les Misérables: Working Title teamed up with Cameron Mackintosh to finally bring his blockbuster musical to cinemas with mixed results. Director Tom Hooper assembled an impressive cast (Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway) but musicals are a divisive genre (generally speaking, I can’t stand them) and early on this lost momentum. However, Hathaway is red hot favourite for Best Supporting Actress.
Silver Linings Playbook: A romantic comedy about bipolar disorder might seem an unlikely contender but David O’Russell’s film shouldn’t be counted out. Not only does it contain two contemporary stars (Cooper and Lawrence) and a former legend (De Niro), but it features in all the major categories and has had the formidable machinery of The Weinstein Company behind it.
Zero Dark Thirty: Just three years after winning Best Picture, screenwriter Mark Boal and director Kathryn Bigelow teamed up for their second ‘war on terror’ movie. Arguably superior to The Hurt Locker, this focused on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, but it’s awards season chances were damaged by the ‘torture controversy’ that blew up before its wide release. It could get a screenwriting award for Boal as a counter blast to all its critics.
There is a strange duality to the Oscars that mirrors Hollywood’s wider mix of commerce and art: red carpet glamour is mixed with backstage whispers; careers can be boosted (or even strangely derailed) by wins, people are snubbed for years and sometimes the planets align for no particular reason.
Some years a large portion of the global TV audience is wondering why they haven’t even heard of the nominees, let alone seen the films.
Whilst all the media attention will be on who does win, remember not to take any awards ceremony too seriously.
The Academy Awards can be a useful snapshot of a particular year, but the ultimate judge of any film’s importance is time.
Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) was awarded Best Actress, whilst in the supporting categories Christopher Plummer (Beginners) and Octavia Spencer (The Help) won for their respective roles.
The Artist also became the the first silent film to win Best Picture since Wings (1927), which won the same prize at the very first Academy Awards.
So in a year that has seen great changes as cinema shifts from celluloid to digital, there was something appropriate in the big winners being tributes to the silent era and one of its true pioneers, Georges Méliès.
It was the following year that the Academy instituted Best Production and decided to honour Wings, which is the reason it is is often listed as the winner of the first Best Picture award.
From 1944 until 2008, the Academy the Academy nominated five films for Best Picture until they expanded it to ten films from 2009-10.
This year saw more changes to the category when it was announced that the number of nominees would vary between five and ten films, provided that the film earned 5% of first-place votes during the nomination process.
Part of the reason for these changes was anxiety about declining ratings of the ceremony, which is actually a big deal because that’s where the Academy make most of their money but whether these changes have made any difference is an open question.
With that in mind, here are this year’s Best Picture nominees and their listed producers.
THE ARTIST – Thomas Langmann
Back in May the idea of a silent, black and white French film winning Best Picture seemed highly unlikely. But Harvey Weinstein returned to the Oscar game last year with a vengeance and returned to the kind of feelgood ‘underdog’ period film of his Miramax days.
It also happens to be brilliantly made and utterly delightful. Against all odds, since early September it has been the unlikely frontrunner.
THE DESCENDANTS – Jim Burke, Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne
For a long time it seemed the closest rival to The Artist, Alexander Payne’s bittersweet comedy-drama. Despite only one Best Picture winner (Slumdog Millionaire) Fox Searchlight have a formiddable awards machine.
With an acclaimed premiere at Telluride, it seemed they had a strong contender for Best Picture, but the momentum of The Artist has proved irresistible for voters.
EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE – Scott Rudin
Uber-producer Scott Rudin was screened two films late in the awards season game and this adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel got a critical hammering. Why then was it nominated for Best Picture?
I’m guessing that it moved some Academy voters before the negative reviews came out and Max Von Sydow’s character has become a kind of avatar for older viewers as they try to process the genuine horrors of 9/11.
THE HELP – Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Baranathan
The sleeper hit of the summer obviously appealed to the tastes of certain Academy members. Despite the lingering controversy over its depiction of race, it could still see two actresses (Viola Davis and Octavia) pick up awards.
This is the kind of film which benefitted enormously from being released over the summer when it stood out against more commercial fare. With the log jam of Autumn and Winter, will awards contenders be tempted to follow its example?
HUGO – Graham King and Martin Scorsese
It has the most nominations (11), but Hugo’s best shot is in the technical categories. Scorsese’s 3D love letter to cinema has many intriguing parallels with The Artist, but it was caught up in the Thanksgiving weekend crush and faltered at the box office.
However, it may come to be seen as an important film in years to come as the high priest of celluloid (Scorsese) uses the latest digital tools (ARRI Alexa camera on a Cameron-Pace 3D rig) to craft a tribute to the medium we love.
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS – Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum
When Woody Allen’s latest film was heralded at Cannes it seemed like it was a case of Fracophile love for the director. But this really was a delightful return to form, if not quite the career heights of the late 1970s and 80s.
Given his prodiguous and patchy output over the last decade (when some of his films have failed to secure UK theatrical distribution) it was a welcome return to the kind of smart fantasy/comedy of Zelig (1983) and The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985).
MONEYBALL – Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, and Brad Pitt
When Sony gradually realised how this movie was playing given this a big push all season and it is a remarkable film pulled out of the ashes of a previously cancelled production. In any other year Brad Pitt and Bennett Miller would be strong contenders.
But whilst the filmmaking is impeccable, the subtle themes and execution probably meant it didn’t satisfy Academy voters looking for a more triumphalist sports movie. In the same way Billy Beane’s theories had a major influence on baseball, hopefully it can inspire other major studios to take more chances.
THE TREE OF LIFE – Dede Gardner, Sarah Green, Grant Hill, and Bill Pohlad
Possibly the greatest film of the bunch, it divided audiences (but not critics) who were freaked out by the ambition and the little matter of a creation sequence, which actually makes perfect sense in the context of the film. The old guard of the Academy really came through for Malick here just by nominating this film, showing the respect and awe he inspires in voters. It won’t win but the fact that this film even got made in 2011 is a miracle.
WAR HORSE – Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy
As soon as this went into production in 2010 it was an immediate contender for this year. The pedigree of Spielberg, the high calibre of his regular collaborators, period setting and the emotional vibes all seemed tailor made for the Academy.
But it doesn’t always work out and despite the strong box office this didn’t garner many heavyweight nominations and the lack of a Best Director nod was noticeable.
At the 1st Academy Awards there were two directing awards – one for drama and the other for comedy – but the latter was was eliminated the following year.
Like the Supporting Actress category, it wasn’t until the 8th Academy Awards ceremony (1935), that this category came into being as the Best Actor award covered all actors, be they supporting or lead.
Until the 8th Academy Awards (1935), nominations for the Best Actress award included all actresses, whether the performance was a leading or supporting one.
This category was created in 1940 as a separate writing award when Preston Sturges won for The Great McGinty and in 1957 the two categories were combined to reward only the screenplay.
In 2002, the name was altered from “Writing (Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen)” to “Writing (Original Screenplay)”
Woody Allen is nominated this year and is the screenwriter with the most nominations in this category (15).
This award is given to the writer(s) of a screenplay adapted from another source, which often means a novel, play, short story, or piece of journalism.
Of the two screenplay categories this is the oldest, with the first winner in 1927 being Benjamin Glazer for adapting Austin Strong’s play Seventh Heaven for the screen.
Traditionally movies have always been an adapted art form (i.e. based on another source) so it was not until 1940 that a separate writing award was created for Best Story, then in 1957 those two categories were combined to reward the screenplay.
As this category is closely connected to Sound Editing it is worth checking the nominees there, as they duplicate each other with the exception of Moneyball.
The question that often comes up every year is ‘what is the difference between sound editing and sound mixing’?
In the modern era, sound editing refers to the creation of the overall sound-scape of the film, whilst sound mixing is blending of these elements together to create the final sound mix.
As sound in movies has evolved, so has this award, which dates back to 1963.
From that year until 2000, it was adjusted for the sound design of the winning movie, so Best Sound Effects (1963–1967, 1975), Sound Effects Editing (1977, 1981–1999) and Sound Editing (1979, 2000–present).
The sound mixing category is the one that dates back to the early years of the Oscars.
What’s interesting about sound this year is that some of the nominees (notably Transformers 3 and War Horse) have taken advantage of Dolby’s new 7.1 surround sound.
Easily the most interesting technical category this year, as the nominees reflect old school 35mm (War Horse, The Tree of Life), colour celluloid transformed to B&W with digital post-production tools (The Artist), digital 3D (Hugo) and 2D digital (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo).
When this award began, for the first four years the cinematographer was not named and it wasn’t until 1931 that the current system came in, whereby individuals are listed alongside a film.
When The Garden of Allah (1936, A Star is Born (1937) and Sweethearts (1938) became the first colour films to win Special Achievement Oscars from 1939 until 1966, the award was split between black-and-white and colour.
Since then, the only black-and-white film to win is Schindler’s List (1993).
This award began in 1934 and is closely watched because it is often seen as good indicator for Best Picture.
That’s because since 1981 every Best Picture nominee has also been nominated for editing, and nearly two thirds of the eventual Best Picture winners have also won the award for editing.
The nominations are voted on by members of the Editing Branch, which in 2008 consisted of 233 members.
Academy Rules state:
A Reminder List of all eligible motion pictures shall be sent with a nominations ballot to all members of the Film Editors Branch, who shall vote in the order of their preference for not more than five productions.
The five productions receiving the highest number of votes shall become the nominations for final voting for the Film Editing award.
…only film editors who hold principal position credit(s) shall be considered eligible for the Film Editing award.
Final voting for the Film Editing award shall be restricted to active and life Academy members.
Only the principal, “above the line” editor(s) as listed in the film’s credits are named on the award; additional editors, supervising editors, etc. are not generally eligible.
Intriguingly, this is the reverse of the BAFTA voting system where the winner is selected by members of the equivalent editing branch (or ‘chapter’ as it called in the UK).
Although one might think that this is a relatively new category, it actually dates back to the very first Oscar ceremony when the Academy gave an award for ‘Best Engineering Effects’ to the World War I flying drama Wings (1927).
Willis O’Brien‘s animation work in King Kong (1933) raised the profile of visual effects but it wasn’t until 1938 that Spawn of the North was awarded a special achievement award.
From 1938 onwards Special Effects became a category, but until 1962 visual effects were shared with sound effects nominations in a combined category.
From 1964 until 1971, the name of the category was Best Special Visual Effects, but after 1977 was changed to Best Visual Effects.
Despite its title this award recognises the production design of a particular film and the two nominated candidates are often the production designer and art director.
So, why isn’t the category called ‘Production Design’ instead of ‘Art Direction’?
The Academy rules state:
Eligibility for this award shall be limited to the production designer and set decorator primarily responsible for the design of the production and the execution of that concept, as verified by the producer. The Art Directors Branch shall have the discretion to give more weight to design than to execution.
The title of this award has its roots in history as ‘art director’ was used to denote the head of the art department, which is the group of people in charge of the overall look of a film.
But this role has evolved, as from 1927 until 1939 the award was called ‘Interior Decorator’.
This changed when producer David O. Selznick felt that William Cameron Menzies played such a significant role in the look of Gone with the Wind (1939), that he gave him the title of ‘Production Designer’.
However, from 1940 until 1946 the award was still called ‘Interior Decoration’ and was split between colour and black and white.
Then from 1947, the award was given to the art director and set decorator and the colour/black and white split was phased out in 1967.
So, essentially the award keeps the old title, but rewards the production designer and set decorator.
Eligible films must meet certain requirements, including: costumes be ‘conceived’ by a costume designer (might sound obvious, but it is to acknowledge the designing of costumes for their use in a film); designer members of the Art Directors Branch vote in order of preference; eligibility is decided by the costume designer members of that branch at a meeting prior to nominations ballots being mailed; only principal designers can be nominated; and the five films receiving the highest number of votes become the final nominees.
Although in the post-war period (1949 to 1966) many winners of this award were contemporary movies, the trend in recent decades has been to reward period films.
From French studio Folimage, is this tale of a cat who lives a double life – pet by day and skilled thief by night. Notable for being hand-painted, its highly stylized, colour-saturated design makes it unusual in an age of computer animation.
Directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal this is the story of a songwriter and singer chasing their dreams set against the backdrops of Havana, New York City, Las Vegas, Hollywood and Paris in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
The sequel to the 2008 blockbuster sees Po and his friends battle to stop a new villain. The strong reviews managed to make this one of the better received sequels of the year and the darker than usual themes may have something to do with executive producer Guillermo del Toro.
A Western filled with references to movies and made like a theatrical production (instead of recording voice parts separately, the actors shared a soundstage) this is currently the hot favourite.
The story of James Armstrong as he prepares in 2008 for the election of America’s first black President and reflects on his own contribution to the Civil Rights Movement.
Raising questions about democracy and prejudice, it charts the long struggle for racial harmony
An exploration of the notorious deaths in 2007 of two Reuters journalists and several civilians at the hands of U.S. attack helicopters on the streets of Baghdad.
Recounted by US soldier Ethan McCord – one of the first troops on the scene – it has already won awards at the Tribeca and Rhode Island Film Festivals.
Documentary which explores a Pakistani plastic surgeon who returns to his homeland to operate on victims (all women) of acid violence, a grisly and disturbing phenomenon in the country.
It focuses on two survivors of acid attacks and their battle for justice and their journey of healing. Directed by Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy.
Usually, only three films are nominated in this category (rather than five).
Previously, make-up artists were only eligible for special achievement awards for their work, but the competitive category was formed in 1981 after complaints that the make-up work in The Elephant Man (1980) was not going to be honoured.
This category has different stages of nominating: a preliminary list of nominees is drawn up by the members of the branch; then a final list of nominees is worked out before the whole Academy votes on the winner.
The foreign language category has been the subject of much debate in recent years.
In particular, critics have wondered why some of the most acclaimed films in world cinema have been repeatedly snubbed and there seems to be confusion about the selection process.
Stephen Galloway and Kim Masters of The Hollywood Reporter sat down with Mark Johnson, Chairman of the Academy’s foreign language film selection committee, for a wide-ranging discussion about the process.
A drama about a Limburgish cattle farmer (Matthias Schoenaerts) who is approached by an unscrupulous veterinarian to make a shady deal with a notorious West-Flemish beef trader.
Iranian drama about a middle-class couple who separate, and the resulting complications which follow when the husband hires a caretaker for his elderly father.
This category is notable for seeing the double nomination of John Williams – although an Academy favourite it is very unusual to have two projects compete in the same year.
John Williams has two scores in the race this year and his score for Tin Tin is was his first new film material since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).
This is the sixth collaboration between Martin Scorsese and Howard Shore. Like the film, Shore’s score is a love letter both to French culture of the 1930s and to the pioneers of early cinema.
Shore’s music is composed for two ensembles, inside a full symphony orchestra resides a smaller ensemble, a sort of nimble French dance band that includes the ondes Martenot, musette, cimbalom, tack piano, gypsy guitar, upright bass, a 1930s trap-kit, and alto saxophone. “I wanted to match the depth of the sound to the depth of the image” says Shore.
Although probably best known for his work with Pedro Almodovar, Iglesias was recruited by Swedish director Tomas Alfredson for this John Le Carre adaptation.
REAL IN RIO from RIO (Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown / Lyric by Siedah Garrett)
In the film, this song is divided in two parts: the first is played in the opening sequence and the second is sung in the penultimate scene of the film. (On the soundtrack, the song is complete).
Unfortunately, they don’t seem to have made the full track officially available, so I’ve included the promotional 2 minute clip that the studio released on YouTube back in the Spring.
Most of this year’s live action shorts are screening in selected cinemas across the world now and will be available on iTunes Stores in 54 countries across the globe beginning February 21st.
Some of this year’s animated shorts (e.g. The Fantastic Flying Books…, Wild Life) have been made available in full online, but where they haven’t I’ve included a trailer. (Also, be sure to check out the links to interviews.)
Featuring traditional hand-drawn animation, this Canadian short from director Patrick Doyon is about a boy who plays with coins on a train track whilst visiting his grandparents.
Based on an event recounted in Paul Auster’s book ‘True Tales of American Life‘, which tells the story of a New Yorker’s early morning encounter with a chicken.
Already a BAFTA winner for Short film Animation 2012, it also won at Sundance 2012. Find out more at BBC News and the Studio AKA site.
Final polls close on Tuesday 21st, so now seems like a good time to examine this year’s crop of films before the prizes are awarded on Sunday 26th.
Not being a member of the Academy, it can be hard to see all the foreign films or shorts, but when that is the case I’ll do my best to post relevant links.
Over the next few days, I’ll be looking at the following and updating each link when it goes live.
UPDATED 26/02/12 13:16. The links below to all the relevant posts are now live.
On Sunday, the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden will play host to some of the world’s A-list film talent, including Brad Pitt, Martin Scorsese and George Clooney.
It wasn’t always the case.
Growing up watching the awards in the UK could be an odd affair as many of my childhood memories are of BAFTAs being won and the recipient not actually being there.
Until the early 2000s it was held after the Oscars, which frequently meant that A-list talent didn’t turn up as they saw the Academy Awards as the end of awards season.
You could almost hear the agents in LA say to their clients: “why fly all the way to London to be pipped by a Brit?”
But the UK and US have always had a strangely symbiotic relationship when it comes to films – many American productions film over here and utilise British studios and crews (e.g. The Dark Knight, Harry Potter).
The career of Stanley Kubrick almost embodies this duality – he so resented studio interference on Spartacus (1960) that he came to film every one of his subsequent productions in England, utilising our crews to create his extraordinary visions.
At the same time members of the Academy have always had a sweet tooth for English period fare (e.g. Chariots of Fire) and no-one has exploited this more than Harvey Weinstein, both in his days at Miramax and last year with The King’s Speech.
More generally, it is very rare to find a Best Picture winner that isn’t a period film, so the Academy’s tastes naturally align with the British addiction to period costume dramas.
But whilst BAFTA has suffered in the past from a ‘vote-for-their-own’ syndrome, they have also pulled out some corkers.
So, let us salute the worthier winners of the mask designed by Mitzi Cunliffe.
BEST PICTURE
Dr. Strangelove (1964): In the year that the Academy gave Best Picture to My Fair Lady, the members of BAFTA went with Kubrick’s Cold War masterpiece. Ironically, the British set musical was filmed entirely on sound stages in Los Angeles, whilst the War Room in Washington was recreated at Shepperton Studios in England.
Day for Night (1973): Truffaut would have been 80 this week, so its worth remembering that in the year the Academy awarded The Sting Best Picture, BAFTA was rewarding one of cinemas great directors. Given that his comments about British cinema were often misquoted it was perhaps a surprise that BAFTA should salute him in this way.
But then again perhaps not. They were of the filmmaking generation that been affected by The 400 Blows (1959) and Jules et Jim (1962) so Truffaut’s masterful depiction of movie making was probably too much for them to resist. (The parallels with the Academy awarding a French film about movie making this year are interesting to chew on).
DIRECTORS
Stanley Kubrick for Barry Lyndon (1975): The Academy maye have never honoured Kubrick with a Best Director honour but BAFTA did. From Lolita (1962) onwards all of Kubrick’s films were shot in the UK, where he made his home and utilised the various studios just outside of London.
With his 1975 adaptation of Thackeray’s novel, Kubrick utilised the countryside in the UK and Ireland and even used lenses created by NASA for the impeccable interior lighting. No wonder this is Martin Scorsese’s favourite Kubrick film.
The 1970s are often talked of as a golden age for Hollywood, with The French Connection (1971), The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and Annie Hall (1977) all winning Best Picture, as well as the many other classics that got nominated.
But check out the BAFTA winners for Best Director during the 1970s – it reads like a slightly more daring version of the Oscars.
(N.B. Butch Cassidy was 1969 but got to the UK a year late, as was the case with some films in the 1970s)
Peter Weir for The Truman Show (1998): The big Oscar battle in 1998 was between Shakespeare in Love and Saving Private Ryan. But BAFTA wisely chose the most prescient film of that year and rewarded a director who is still without an Oscar. It not only predicted the onslaught of reality TV during the 2000s but also managed to showcase Jim Carrey’s considerable acting chops (can someone please get him to do more dramas?).
BEST ACTOR
Peter O’Toole for Lawrence of Arabia (1962): O’Toole still hasn’t won a Best Actor Oscar and there was a minor kerfuffle when he initially wanted to turn down an honorary Oscar in 2003 (so he “could win the bugger outright”) before relenting. BAFTA was awarding them to O’Toole in the early 1960s.
Sigourney Weaver for The Ice Storm (1997): Whilst the Academy went with Kim Basinger for LA Confidential, BAFTA selected one of Weaver’s best performances. Ang Lee has always been a fine director of actors and this bittersweet drama was filled with great acting from Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire and Christina Ricci.
Geoffrey Unsworth for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): Such was Kubrick’s mastery of all aspects of filmmaking – and so total his control over his productions – that his DPs tend to get overshadowed. But Geoffrey Unsworth’s work in making outer space believable, just as the Apollo program was doing it for real, was fully deserving of a BAFTA.
Jordan Cronenweth for Blade Runner (1982): Its initial commercial failure didn’t deter BAFTA voters from rewarding the pioneering visuals in this sci-fi masterpiece. As Ridley Scott has noted the rainy city look appeared on a regular basis on MTV in the 1980s. Anecdote alert: at a London screening of the film I overheard someone who actually worked on it (almost certainly a BAFTA member) tell editor Terry Rawlings that he still thought there were ‘problems’ with it. Bollocks to that. It continues to dazzle, which is a miracle when you think that the original financiers almost ruined it (at one point they even fired Ridley Scott and producer Michael Deeley). Jordan sadly passed away in 1996, but his son Jeff is nominated this year for David Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011).
This surrealist masterpiece has some pretty wild ideas in its script, which are executed brilliantly. The screenplays that the Academy honoured that year were The Sting (Original) and The Exorcist (Adapted).
EDITING
Sam O’Steen for The Graduate (1967): Whilst this was a landmark film and a gigantic hit, it wasn’t justly rewarded at the Oscars that year. Nichols won Best Director, whilst In the Heat of the Night got Best Picture. But it remains a masterclass in editing, with the pool scene being an often quoted highlight.
Steen’s wife Bobbie even wrote a book ‘Cut to the Chase‘ based their on conversations. Incidentally, Nichols’ film was pipped for the editing Oscar that year by In the Heat of the Night, which edited by future director Hal Ashby.
SOUND
Art Rochester, Nat Boxer, Mike Ejve & Walter Murch for The Conversation (1974): In the days when this award was still called ‘Sound Track’, BAFTA recognized one of the most influential of all sound movies. Coppola was on a roll in 1974, managing to squeeze in The Godfather Part II that year, but it was the amazing sound design that was integral to this film’s story and power.
Mark Herbert and Chris Morris for My Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117 (2002): Before he unleashed Four Lions on the UK, Chris Morris made this short starring Paddy Considine as a mentally disturbed man taking care of a friend’s Doberman.
Morris didn’t collect the award as he was – in the words of Herbert – “at home watching 24“.
UNITED NATIONS AWARD
The War Game (1966): Believe it or not, back in the Cold War when there was the persistent threat of nuclear annihilation there was actually an award for films that raised global issues. Although Dr. Strangelove (1964) had won it two years before, Peter Watkins’ The War Game was rewarded two years later for its chilling recreation of what a nuclear strike would like in 1960s Britain.
In fact it was so good, it also won the Oscar that year although it wasn’t shown on British television until 1985.
If you have any BAFTA winning films worthy of note, just leave a comment below.
Below are all the nominees for the 84th Academy Awards which will be held on February 26th.
In terms of numbers, Hugo (11) and The Artist (10) lead the field, but there is an interesting cross section of films below them with Moneyball (6), War Horse (6), The Descendants (5), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (5) and The Help (4).
BEST PICTURE
The Artist (Thomas Langmann, Producer)
The Descendants (Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Scott Rudin, Producer)
The Help (Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers)
Hugo (Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers)
Midnight in Paris (Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers)
Moneyball (Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers)
The Tree of Life (Nominees to be determined)
War Horse (Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers)
BEST DIRECTOR
The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants – Alexander Payne
Hugo – Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
The Tree of Life – Terrence Malick
BEST ACTOR
Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
George Clooney in “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”
BEST ACTRESS
Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis in “The Help”
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer in “The Help”
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan
“The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
“Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan
WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
“The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius
“Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
“Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor
“Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen
“A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“A Cat in Paris” (Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli)
“Chico & Rita” (Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal)
“Kung Fu Panda 2″ (Jennifer Yuh Nelson)
“Puss in Boots” (Chris Miller)
“Rango” (Gore Verbinski)
ART DIRECTION
“The Artist” Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2“ Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo” Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“Midnight in Paris” Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
“War Horse” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Artist” Guillaume Schiffman
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Jeff Cronenweth
“Hugo” Robert Richardson
“The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki
“War Horse” Janusz Kaminski
COSTUME DESIGN
“Anonymous” Lisy Christl
“The Artist” Mark Bridges
“Hugo” Sandy Powell
“Jane Eyre” Michael O’Connor
“W.E.” Arianne Phillips
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“Hell and Back Again” Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Pina” Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
“Undefeated” TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas
DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement” Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
“God Is the Bigger Elvis” Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
“Incident in New Baghdad” James Spione
“Saving Face” Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
EDITING
“The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Kevin Tent
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
“Moneyball” Christopher Tellefsen
SOUND EDITING
“Drive” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Ren Klyce
“Hugo” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
“War Horse” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
SOUND MIXING
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
“Hugo” Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
“Moneyball” Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
“War Horse” Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson
VISUAL EFFECTS
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
“Hugo” Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
“Real Steel” Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Bullhead” Belgium
“Footnote” Israel
“In Darkness” Poland
“Monsieur Lazhar” Canada
“A Separation” Iran
MAKEUP
“Albert Nobbs” Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Iron Lady” Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
“The Adventures of Tintin” John Williams
“The Artist” Ludovic Bource
“Hugo” Howard Shore
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Alberto Iglesias
“War Horse” John Williams
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio” from “Rio” Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett
SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
“Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
“La Luna” Enrico Casarosa
“A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
“Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
“Pentecost” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
“Raju” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
“The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George
“Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
“Tuba Atlantic” Hallvar Witzø
In June Academy President Tom Sherak announced that there would be changes to the following categories:
Best Picture: The final nominees can now range from anywhere between 5 and 10. The nomination voting process will be the same (through preferential balloting) but now only films that receive a minimum of 5% of total number one votes are eligible for Best Picture nominations.
Best Animated Feature: This is now a permanent competitive category, and no longer requires annual ‘approval’. It was only introduced in 2001, so there was perhaps an anxiety that there wouldn’t be enough animated films of sufficient quality, but clearly the last decade has seen a massive change in mainstream animation. There has also been increased flexibility in how many individuals can be nominated.
Best Documentary Feature: Here the eligibility period has been modified. Prior to this year, documentaries that screened theatrically between September 1 and August 31 of the following year were eligible. Now that period has changed to match the calendar year from January 1 to December 31. (As a transition, this year documentaries will be eligible if they were released between September 1, 2010 to December 31, 2011)
Best Visual Effects: Before there were 7 shortlisted VFX contenders announced several weeks before the official nominations announcement, but this now been expanded to 10 to coincide with last year’s enlargement of the category from 3 to 5 nominees.
My predictions as to what will ultimately win on February 26th are:
Best Picture: The Artist
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Best Actor: George Clooney – The Descendants
Best Actress: Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Bérénice Bejo – The Artist or Octavia Spencer – The Help
The BAFTA nominations were announced earlier today and The Artist leads the field (12 nominations), closely followed by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (11 nominations).
I think its a given already that George Clooney (The Descendants) and Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) are hot favourites in the actor category – although Dujardin and Bejo could surprise.
Like the Oscars I still think The Artist is the one to beat for Best Picture.
This year’s BAFTA longlist has been announced for the upcoming awards and the field is led by My Week with Marilyn and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with 16 mentions each.
The way it works is that members have a first round of voting which whittles down 15 contenders in each category, which are then reduced to five final nominees.
The animated film and documentary category longlist five films each, which are then reduced to three nominees in the final round.
All BAFTA members vote in the first two rounds for all categories except Documentary, Film Not in the English Language and Outstanding British Film, which are voted for by Chapters (groups of over 80 members with specialist skills or experience in a particular area).
The asterisks below signify the top five selection of the relevant Chapter.
In the final round, winners are voted for by specialist Chapters in all categories except for Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Documentary and Film Not in the English Language and the four performance categories, which are voted for by all members.
LONGLIST
Best Film
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
The Iron Lady
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
My Week with Marilyn
Senna
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Director
The Artist*
The Descendants
Drive*
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Help
Hugo*
The Ides of March
The Iron Lady
J. Edgar
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
My Week with Marilyn
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy*
War Horse
We Need to Talk About Kevin*
Leading Actor
Antonio Banderas (Robert Ledgard) – The Skin I Live In
Brad Pitt (Billy Beane) – Moneyball*
Brendan Gleeson (Gerry Boyle) – The Guard
Daniel Craig (Mikael Blomkvist) – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Eddie Redmayne (Colin Clark) – My Week with Marilyn
Gary Oldman (George Smiley) – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy*
George Clooney (Matt King) – The Descendants*
Jean Dujardin (George Valentin) – The Artist*
Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar Hoover) – J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender (Brandon) – Shame*
Owen Wilson (Gil) – Midnight in Paris
Peter Mullan (Joseph) – Tyrannosaur
Ralph Fiennes (Caius Martius Coriolanus) – Coriolanus
Ryan Gosling (Driver) – Drive
Ryan Gosling (Stephen Meyers) – The Ides of March
Leading Actress
Bérénice Bejo (Peppy Miller) – The Artist*
Carey Mulligan (Sissy) – Shame
Charlize Theron (Mavis Gary) – Young Adult
Emma Stone (Skeeter Phelan) – The Help
Helen Mirren (Rachel Singer) – The Debt
Jodie Foster (Penelope Longstreet) – Carnage
Kate Winslet (Nancy Cowan) – Carnage
Kristen Wiig (Annie) – Bridesmaids
Meryl Streep (Margaret Thatcher) – The Iron Lady*
Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre) – Jane Eyre
Michelle Williams (Marilyn Monroe) – My Week with Marilyn*
Olivia Colman (Hannah) – Tyrannosaur
Rooney Mara (Lisbeth Salander) – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Tilda Swinton (Eva) – We Need to Talk About Kevin*
Viola Davis (Aibileen Clark) – The Help*
Supporting Actor
Alan Rickman (Prof. Severus Snape) – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
The major winners were Lynne Ramsay (Best Director for We Need to Talk About Kevin), Michael Fassbender (Best Actor for Shame), Olivia Colman (Best Actress for Tyrannosaur), Vanessa Redgrave (Best Supporting Actress for Coriolanus) and Michael Smiley (Best Supporting Actor for Kill List).
Tyrannosaur also picked up three trophies for Best British Independent Film, Best Actress and Paddy Considine was awarded The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director.
The full list of nominations is below, with the winners highlighted in bold:
BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM (Sponsored by Moët & Chandon)
SENNA
SHAME
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY TYRANNOSAUR
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
BEST DIRECTOR (Sponsored by The Creative Partnership)
Ben Wheatley – KILL LIST
Steve McQueen – SHAME
Tomas Alfredson – TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
Paddy Considine – TYRANNOSAUR Lynne Ramsay – WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD [BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR] (Sponsored by 3 Mills Studios)
Joe Cornish – ATTACK THE BLOCK
Ralph Fiennes – CORIOLANUS
John Michael McDonagh – THE GUARD
Richard Ayoade – SUBMARINE Paddy Considine – TYRANNOSAUR
BEST SCREENPLAY (Sponsored by BBC Films)
John Michael McDonagh – THE GUARD
Ben Wheatley, Amy Jump – KILL LIST
Abi Morgan, Steve McQueen – SHAME Richard Ayoade – SUBMARINE
Lynne Ramsay, Rory Kinnear – WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
BEST ACTRESS (Sponsored by M.A.C)
Rebecca Hall – THE AWAKENING
Mia Wasikowska – JANE EYRE
MyAnna Buring – KILL LIST Olivia Colman – TYRANNOSAUR
Tilda Swinton – WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
BEST ACTOR
Brendan Gleeson – THE GUARD
Neil Maskell – KILL LIST Michael Fassbender – SHAME
Gary Oldman – TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
Peter Mullan – TYRANNOSAUR
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Michael Smiley – KILL LIST
Tom Hardy – TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
Benedict Cumberbatch – TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
Eddie Marsan – TYRANNOSAUR
Ezra Miller – WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER (Sponsored by STUDIOCANAL)
Jessica Brown Findlay – ALBATROSS
John Boyega – ATTACK THE BLOCK
Craig Roberts – SUBMARINE
Yasmin Paige – SUBMARINE Tom Cullen – WEEKEND
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION (Sponsored by Deluxe142)
KILL LIST
TYRANNOSAUR WEEKEND
WILD BILL
YOU INSTEAD
THE RAINDANCE AWARD (Sponsored by Exile Media)
ACTS OF GODFREY
BLACK POND
HOLLOW LEAVING BAGHDAD
A THOUSAND KISSES DEEP
BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
Chris King, Gregers Sall – Editing – SENNA
Sean Bobbitt – Cinematography – SHAME
Joe Walker – Editing – SHAME Maria Djurkovic – Production Design – TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
Seamus McGarvey – Cinematography – WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
BEST DOCUMENTARY
HELL AND BACK AGAIN
LIFE IN A DAY
PROJECT NIM SENNA
TT3D: CLOSER TO THE EDGE
BEST BRITISH SHORT
0507 CHALK
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
RITE
ROUGH SKIN
BEST FOREIGN INDEPENDENT FILM
ANIMAL KINGDOM
DRIVE
PINA A SEPARATION
THE SKIN I LIVE IN
THE RICHARD HARRIS AWARD (for outstanding contribution by an actor to British Film) [Sponsored by Working Title] Ralph Fiennes
Where they talk about makes a great director and get into a discussion about Ryan O’Neil in Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon.
Part 2
Where they discuss the lack of female and black directors before Steve McQueen questions why more minorities aren’t cast in movies (this video has generated quite a lot of talk on Twitter, presumably because it hits on an uncomfortable truth)
Part 3
Where they discuss their best and worst experiences as directors, which includes tales of actors not memorising their lines and a crew member being fired.
Will the Cannes win for Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life boost its box office and awards season chances?
Despite being the most eagerly awaited film at this year’s festival, it divided critical opinion after screening last Monday and tonight’s win was, for some pundits, something of a surprise.
Can a film as bold and out there as Malick’s film is reported to be, really click with modern upscale audiences?
Some might pour cold water on the idea of this film being an Oscar contender and an arthouse hit, as it seems to take the usual ingredients of Malick’s films and takes them to new levels of sheer Malickness.
“Brandishing an ambition it’s likely no film, including this one, could entirely fulfil, The Tree of Life is nonetheless a singular work, an impressionistic metaphysical inquiry into mankind’s place in the grand scheme of things that releases waves of insights amid its narrative imprecisions. This fifth feature in Terrence Malick’s eccentric four-decade career is a beauteous creation that ponders the imponderables, asks the questions that religious and thoughtful people have posed for millennia and provokes expansive philosophical musings along with intense personal introspection”
Somehow I don’t think this quote is going on the poster.
Let’s also not forget the very existence of this film in 2011 is something of a miracle.
Malick apparently approached Bill Pohlad, the head of production company River Road, several years ago with the basic idea for the project.
Filming began in 2008 and over the course of three years Malick shot and refined the film which features an extended sequence showing the birth of human existence (!); a family in 1950s Texas (starring Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain); and present day scenes of a man (Sean Penn) reflecting on his childhood.
When the film was finally unveiled at Cannes last week, the divided responses were perhaps predictable, but the feverish anticipation before it screened and the added kick of a Palme d’Or win might actually say something powerful about the state of cinema in 2011.
Fox Searchlight are past masters at releasing awards season bait (even if they only have one Best Picture win) but
At the moment, it seems like Win Win and The Descendants would be their most likely shots at Oscar glory.
Could it be that this upscale movie breaks out of the die-hard cineaste realm to become a respectable arthouse success?
Not only is there the unusualness of the project (I can’t think of anything remotely similar in recent memory), but also the selling point of its reclusive, poet-genius director.
I’m sure he has sincere reasons for doing zero press, but whether intentional or not, it just stokes the aura surrounding his already legendary status to levels that must leave PR professionals gasping in awe.
Could it be possible that the unusual and ‘uncommercial’ qualities of The Tree of Life and its director become a strength rather than a weakness?
Twitter reaction to the 83rd Oscars didn’t prove as popular as The Grammys or the Superbowl but there were some surprising trends.
The online social network was gauged last night by the firms Mass Relevance and TweetReach, and Techcrunch posted a data map of what was being said on the popular micro-blogging service.
Unsurprisingly, the most mentioned accounts were @TheAcademy, @JamesFranco (who was busy posting backstage all night long) but people who won such as @Trent_Reznor and @LeeUnkrich also rated highly.
Surprisingly, amongst the most re-tweeted accounts were @TheOnion and @KeithObermann, which suggests online satirical news sites and former MSNBC presenters wield a lot of clout in the online Oscar world.
It is also interesting to note that the tweets spiked when Inside Job won Best Documentary, which could have been because of the reaction to the auto-tune montage sequence, the presence of Oprah Winfrey, the anticipation of Banksy appearing on stage or Charles Ferguson’s comments about Wall Street getting away with criminal activity.
Techcrunch report that the Oscar ceremony didn’t spark anywhere near the same level of interest as comparable televised events like the Superbowl or The Grammys:
Davis told me that the event paled in comparison to the Super Bowl and The Grammy, where TweetReach saw 17,000 tweets in a single minute. In contrast, the spikes topped out at 12,000 at the Oscars.
Twenty Oscar-related terms (e.g. Oscars, #Oscars, Academy) were tracked as the show went out live and there were 1,269,970 tweets, 1,663,458,778 potential impressions, and 388,717 users tweeting.
Actor and Oscars co-host James Franco recorded a lot of the backstage action last night on his mobile.
When he came out for the opening with Anne Hathaway, you may have noticed him filming the audience on his phone.
He posted a collection of the photos and videos during the ceremony last night, under the name of Oscars Real Time, and they give an interesting glimpse to what goes on backstage at a big TV event like the Oscars.
Video Intro:
Getting in a lift before the show:
Walking Backstage (a Spinal Tap ‘Hello Cleveland‘ vibe to this one):
More walking backstage:
Famous last words right before the show begins (‘it might be bad’):
Entering the stage and filming the audience:
Showing Anne Hathaway something funny on his phone backstage:
Backstage with Anne Hathaway and Oprah Winfrey:
Backstage in drag whilst David Seidler wins for The King’s Speech:
Walking out on stage with the phone in his pocket whilst he introduces Scarlett Johansson and Matthew McConaughey:
Backstage with the head writer of the show Jordan:
Laughing backstage with Anne Hathaway:
‘What am I doing?’:
Posing with Billy Crystal and Anne Hathaway:
Backstage whilst Randy Newman plays the song from Toy Story:
‘Are you filming again?’:
Anne Hathaway tells the audience that the nominees have power bars under their seats:
Oscar writer Bruce Villanch backstage:
Florence:
The Best Actor bit with Sandra Bullock:
Anne Hathaway gives him a hand massage (not what it sounds like):