William Goldman 1931-2018 / Independent Spirit Nominations and TFF #45 (and #44) / Multiple Interviews / New Gurus of Gold

Good Monday before Thanksgiving ya'll.  Still can't believe MTFB rolled over half a million views last Wednesday.


WILLIAM GOLDMAN 1931-2018

"I couldn't do that.  Could you do that?  How can they do that?  Who ARE those guys?"

It was announced Friday that screen writer and novelist William Goldman had died at the age of  87.  Like a lot of film fans, I was an avid reader of a good deal of what Goldman wrote and an admirer of his screenplays.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
All the President's Men

He won Oscars for those scripts

The Princess Bride
Marathon Man

Read both novels and loved both films.

And the books about the film business...insightful, incisive and funny as hell.  That's what I admired about Goldman's writing as much as anything...his ability to cut swiftly and cleanly with a turn of phrase.  Funny, funny and honest.

87 is a good long run...but, damn, the film world and, really the whole place, as I wrote yesterday, is colder without William Goldman in it.

Think I'm going to grab my copy of adventures in the Screen Trade right now and re-read it...again.

"Nobody knows anything."



INDEPENDENT SPIRIT NOMINATIONS AND TFF #45 (AND #44)

Film Independent dropped the announcement for their 2018 Independent Spirit Awards on Friday.  Here's how that played out concerning films that played Telluride in 2018- and in the case of First Reformed- 2017.

TFF #45 nominations went to Can You Ever Forgive Me? for Richard E. Grant as Supporting Male and for Nicole Holofcener for Best Screenplay.

Roma, The Favourite and Shoplifters were each nominated for Best International Film (which was the only Indy Spirit Award they were eligible for).

The big TFF winner was TFF #44 film First Reformed which enjoyed four nominations for Best Feature, Direction (Paul Schrader), Screenplay (Schrader) and Best Male Lead-Ethan Hawke.

Indiewire has the entire list of nominees linked here.


MULTIPLE INTERVIEWS

Over the past few days a multiplicity of interviews with people from a number of films that played at TFF #45 have appeared.  Here's a sample of those interviews and profiles:

High Jackman/The Front Runner with Variety's Tim Gray


Emma Stone/The Favourite with Business Insider's Jason Guerrasio


The Crew behind The Other Side of the Wind and The Wrap's Steve Pond


The cast of First Man and The Hollywood Reporter's Tara Bitran


Marielle Heller, director of Can You Ever Forgive Me? on Variety's Playback Podcast with Kristopher Tapley


Sissy Spacek of The Old Man and the Gun with Pete Hammond of Deadline.com on The Actor's Side


NEW GURUS OF GOLD UP AT MOVIE CITY NEWS

Those of us who acting as Gurus for this Oscar season for Movie City News got the call last week to update Best Picture predictions and take a stab at Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

That brand new Gurus chart is here.

Films and performers from Telluride that make the grade are:

Best Picture (through the top 12 spots): Roma, The Favourite, First Man, Can You Ever Forgive Me/ and Boy Erased.

Among the Best Actor picks Ryan Gosling/First Man sits at #5, Hugh Jackman/The Front Runner is at #8 and Robert Redford/The Old Man and the Gun is at #9.  TFF #44's Ethan Hawke for First Reformed is at #7.

Supporting Actor TFFers are Richard E. Grant/Can You Ever Forgive Me? at #3 and Russell Crowe at #10 for Boy Erased.



That's your Monday MTFB.  I'll have more on Thanksgiving morning!

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

One Half Million / Roma Has a New Trailer / Richard E. Grant Talks Can You Ever Forgive Me? / Aretha at a Film Fest Finally

It's a hallmark Thursday for MTFB.

ONE HALF MILLION

That's how many views that Michael's Telluride Film Blog has had.  MTFB crossed that threshold on Wednesday.

500,000 views.

I have said before that I realize that in the larger world of the internet, half a million views is a drop n the proverbial bucket but for a blog run out of my home office in the Panhandle of Oklahoma and which is the absolute definition of a niche site...well...it boggles my mind.  I am 100% fully boggled.

Of course, that demands a "thank you" from me to all of the people who have embraced the thing.  It also amazes me to find out who tells me that they read it when I run into so many of you at the festival each year.

I'd like to be able to tell you that's it's all for you readers but that would be disingenuous.  It's for me and to feed my obsession but it is particularly gratifying that there are so many of you out there that take the time to foster my obsession with your attention.

I can say that if an audience hadn't developed for it over the years (and it's just over a decade that I've been doing the thing...first post was Aug. 8, 2008) that I wouldn't have continued these ramblings.

I hope that over the years and the half a million views that you have enjoyed what has been written here and also found it informative.  Maybe even fun.

Again, thanks all and now on to 1,000,000!


ROMA HAS A NEW TRAILER

Ahead of its release in theaters in a limited Oscar qualifying run on Nov. 21st and its Netflix streaming release on Dec. 14th, Alfonso Cuaron's Roma has a new trailer which was unveiled on Tuesday.

Here that is from YouTube:

I have also linked the Indiewire story reporting on the release of the trailer here.



RICHARD E. GRANT TALKS ABOUT CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

Writing for The Film Stage Joshua Encinias talked recently with Richard E. Grant who is fantastic as Melissa McCarthy's partner in crime in Marielle Heller's Can You Ever Forgive Me?  The film was embraced warmly by Telluride 2018 patrons including myself.  I personally thought it was in the top five of the films I caught this year at TFF #45 (It finished rated #8 among The People's Telluride, #5 among The Professionals and #5 in The Composite ratings).

Grant's interview can be accessed here.


ARETHA AT A FILM FEST FINALLY

Amazing Grace will finally bow at a film festival it just won't be at Telluride.  After two failed attempts to secure the documentary about Aretha Franklin's legendary live recording of her album Amazing Grace (in both 2015 and 2016) for the Telluride Film Festival, it was announced Tuesday that the film will play as a part of the AFI Fest tonight in Los Angeles.

Wish I was going to be there.

That story from Variety is linked here.



That's your milestone MTFB for this Thursday.  I'll have the start of the next half million views for you on Monday!  Thanks again!


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Oscar Predictions Update: Supporting Actress and Actor / TFF #45 Represents in the European Film Awards Noms / Time Breaks Down the Story of The Front Runner / Indiewire Focuses on Free Solo and Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Howdy everyone.  Welcome back from the weekend.


OSCAR PREDICTIONS UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTRESS AND ACTOR

Here's MTFB's latest set of predictions for Best Supporting Actress and Actor updating the last shot I took at them from Oct. 22nd.

The new rankings list the performer's last position and, as always, TFF #45 performers are Bold.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS


1) Regina King/If Beale Street Could Talk (1)
2) Emma Stone/The Favourite (3)
3) Claire Foy/First Man (2)
4) Nicole Kidman/Boy Erased (4)
5) Rachel Wiesz/The Favourite (5)

In the Mix: Amy Adams/Vice, Emily Blunt/A Quiet Place, Elizabeth Debicki/Widows, Marina DeTaviria/Roma, Linda Cardellini/Green Book


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Mahershala Ali/Green Book (1)
2) Sam Elliott/A Star Is Born (3)
3) Richard E. Grant/Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2)
4) Timothee Chalamet/Beautiful Boy (4)
5) Adam Driver/BlacKkKlansman (-)

In the Mix: Sam Rockwell/Vice, Michael B. Jordan/Black Panther, Russell Crowe/Boy Erased, Daniel Kaluuya/Widows


TFF#45 REPRESENTS IN THE EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS NOMINATIONS

Several films from the 2018 edition of the Telluride Film Festival made their presence known as the European Film Awards nominations were announced.  TFF #45 films pulled in 16 total nominations with an additional nomination for a TFF #44 film.

Cold War led the way with five nominations for Best European Film, Direction, Actress, Actor and Screenwriting.

Both Border and Dogman garnered four nominations each.  For Border they were: Best European Film, Direction, Actress and Screenwriting.  For Dogman: Best European Film, Direction, Actor and Screenwriting.

Girl was nominated in three categories: Best European Film, Direction and Actor.

TFF #44's Foxtrot was nominated for Best Direction.

Here, from the official EFA website, is the complete list of nominees.


TIME BREAKS DOWN THE STORY OF THE FRONT RUNNER

With The Front Runner's  limited release on election day last week and its imminent expansion at hand, Time.com posted a look at the story of Sen. Gary Hart's run for President in 1987 (for the '88 election) that is the basis for the film.

Time establishes a timeline for all of the key moments that occurred and assesses those events.

That story is linked here.



INDIEWIRE FOCUSES ON FREE SOLO AND CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

Indiewire this past week included in their IDA Screening Series a conversation with the people behind Free Solo.  That video can be found in this story.

Meanwhile, Indiewire's Toolkit podcast this week included Can You Ever Forgive Me? Director Marielle Heller.  That podcast is linked here.


That's a wrap for this Monday's MTFB.  I'll have more for you on Thursday.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Oscar Prediction Update: Best Actress and Actor / Aretha Will Finally Sing / The Favourite Is the Favorite

Welcome to Thursday...and here's your MTFB for today...


OSCAR PREDICTION UPDATE: BEST ACTRESS AND ACTOR

Here's the latest MTFB guesses about nominees for the Oscar for Best Actress and Best Actor.  The last look at these categories here on MTFB was Oct. 18th.

As is the custom, these are the current predictions with the position of each actor from the Oct. 18th predictions to the right in parentheses.  The performers whose films played TFF #45 are Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Glenn Close/The Wife (1)
2) Lady Gaga/A Star Is Born (2)
3) Olivia Colman/The Favourite (4)
4) Melissa McCarthy/Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3)
5) Viola Davis/Widows (5)

Others: Yalitza Aparicio/Roma, Julia Roberts/Ben Is Back, Toni Collette/Hereditary, Nicole Kidman/Destroyer

BEST ACTOR

1) Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born (1)
2) Viggo Mortensen/Green Book (2)
3) Christian Bale/Vice (4)
4) Rami Malek/Bohemian Rhapsody (-)
5) Ryan Gosling/First Man (3)

Others: Hugh Jackman/The Front Runner, Ethan Hawke/First Reformed***, Lucas Hedges/Ben Is Back or Boy Erased, John David Washington/BlacKkKlansman


***Played TFF #44


ARETHA WILL FINALLY SING

After two separate attempts to schedule the film as a part of the Telluride Film Festival in 2015 and 2016, Sidney Pollack's documentary film Amazing Grace, which captured Aretha Franklin's live performance that formed the basis for the live album of the same name will finally be released.

Multiple sources this week confirmed that film makers had struck a deal with Franklin's heirs and that the film is soon to be on the way.

I have linked coverage of the Amazing Grace news from:

The Playlist

Indiewire

The Washington Post


THE FAVOURITE IS THE FAVORITE

The British Independent Film Association nominations are our and Yorgos Lanthimoss' The Favourite leads the pack with 13 nominations including Best British Independent Film.  Among other nominations the film was named for Best Actress, Olivia Colman and both Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz for Best Supporting Actress.  Lanthimos was nominated for Best direction as well.

TFF #44 film Lean on Pete also fared well with nominations for Andrew Haigh for direction and actor Charlie Plummer for Best Actor.

Complete coverage of the nominations can be found here from Variety.


That's your Thursday MTFB.  More on Monday.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Boy Erased News / The Story of Peterloo / Morgan Neville Talks Welles / Indiewire Celebrates Cuaron

Good Monday everyone.  Hope you all had a great weekend and enjoyed the extra hour you got back with the return to standard time.


BOY ERASED NEWS

I'm passing on a couple of things I ran across over the weekend about Joel Edgerton's Boy Erased which opened in limited release this past weekend.

The first item is from Indiewire's Kate Erbland who posted this interview with the film's star Lucas Hedges.

The other is an article from The Advocate that features half a dozen new posters for the film that debuted in The Advocate and are designed to highlight specific groups working to end conversion therapy.

I've included a couple of the new posters here:

The article and a view of the other posters is linked here.

THE STORY OF PETERLOO

Time.com published an online article from Ciara Nugent on Friday that reviews the actual incidents depicted in Mike Leigh's TFF #45 film Peterloo.  The actual events including the massacre occurred in August of 1819 in Manchester, England.

Peterloo will open in the U.S. on April 5, 2019.  It's opened in the U.K. this past weekend.

The Time story is linked here.

MORGAN NEVILLE TALKS WELLES

Netflix has released the final film from Orson Welles.  The Other Side of the Wind, which played at Telluride a couple of months back was available to stream as of last Friday.  Also available was the accompanying documentary from Oscar winner Morgan Neville (Twenty Feet from Stardom).  They'll Love Me When I'm Dead explores the project of finally finishing Welles' last film and is also available to stream on Netflix.

Jordan Ruimy conducted an interview with Neville for The Playlist which appeared on that site on Friday.  It is linked here.

INDIEWIRE CELEBRATES CUARON

Indiewire presented its second annual Indiewire Honors last Thursday.  Eight film makers were honored including writer/director/producer Alfonso Cuaron.  Cuaron received Indiewire's Vanguard Award.

Indiewire;s Eric Kohn wrote the story which included comments from Cuaron about Roma which was a huge success at Telluride after winning the Golden Lion at Venice. 

Roma is now considered a strong Oscar contender and, at least at this point, is positioned as the film with the best chance to continue Telluride's crazy streak of having screened the last eight and nine of the last ten winners of the Oscar for Best Picture.

The Cuaron article is linked here.


That's the MTFB for this Monday.  I'll have more for you on Thursday including an Oscar prediction update on the Leading Acting races.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Oscar Predictions Update: Picture and Director / New Boy Erased Trailer Arrives / Netflix Sets Roma Release / More from Jason Reitman on The Front Runner

Good Thursday film fans...


OSCAR PREDICTIONS UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTOR

Time to update MTFB's Oscar predictions in the Best Picture and Direction categories.  Green Book is on the move!

BEST PICTURE

Here's the latest Best Picture predictions updating the previous round that I posted back on Oct. 15th.  Each film's previous position is listed in parentheses and TFF #45 films are Bold


1) A Star Is Born (1)
2) Roma (2)
3) Green Book (5)
4) The Favourite (3)
5) BlacKkKlansman (6)
6) First Man (3)
7) If Beale Street Could Talk (7)
8) Black Panther (8).
9) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (12)
10) Vice (10)

Others: Vice, Widows, Boy Erased

Green Book continues to pick up momentum while First Man continues to fall to earth.  Look out for Vice as well.  I think that it could make a real splash as we get closer to its screening.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Alfonso Cuaron/Roma (1)
2) Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born (2)
3) Spike Lee/BlacKkKlansman (4)
4) Damien Chazelle/First Man (3)
5) Yorgos Lanthimos/The Favourite (5)

Others: Peter Farrelly/Green Book, Barry Jenkins/If Beale Street Could Talk, Ryan Coogler/Black Panther, Marielle Heller/Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Adam McKay/Vice

The category has remained essentially static these last two weeks.  For my money the top three spots feel like locks with a real battle royale for the #4 and #5 spots.

I'll update the lead acting races on Monday.


NEW BOY ERASED TRAILER ARRIVES


Focus Features has released a new trailer for Joel Edgerton's gay conversion therapy drama Boy Erased starring Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe.  The film is set to open tomorrow.

Here's the new trailer from YouTube:

NETFLIX SETS ROMA RELEASE

Indiewire's Anne Thompson reported last night that Netflix has arrived at its release strategy for Roma and other films for this year's Oscar season.  The streaming behemoth will release Roma theatrically in a limited fashion (NY and LA) on Nov. 21st.  It will be platformed with additional theaters added on Dec. 7th and Dec. 14th which is also the date that it will available for streaming.

Other films included in Thompson's story include the Coen Brothers' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Suzanne Bier's Bird Box.

The complete story from Indiewire is linked here.


MORE FROM JASON REITMAN ON THE FRONT RUNNER

Jason Reitman and Hugh Jackman at the Telluride Film Festival Q+A for The Front Runner

Jason Reitman sat down to talk to Awards Circuit's Joey Magidson recently about his upcoming The Front Runner.  Reitman directed and co-wrote the film starring Hugh Jackman as former Sen. Gary Hart.

Jackman's performance and the screenplay have received some attention in regards to possible Oscar consideration.

Here's the interview.


That's today's version of MTFB.  More to come on Monday.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

New Oscar Predix: Foreign Language and Docs /The Front Runner's International Trailer / Interviews: Hugh Jackman (The Front Runner), Josh Singer (First Man) and Eva Melander (Border)

Welcome back from the weekend and Happy Impending Halloween to all who Trick or Treat...


NEW OSCAR PREDICTIONS: FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND DOCUMENTARIES

Almost every year there is a least one Oscar category that seems like every nominee might have played Telluride.  This year the Foreign Language category could go that way.

Honestly, Best Supporting Actress could as well but it's a bit more of a stretch in that category than Foreign Language.

So, here for the first time this Oscar season on MTFB is my set of opening prognostications for Best Foreign Language Film.  As is usual here the films that played TFF #45 are Bold.

1) Roma
2) Cold War
3) Capernaum
4) Shoplifters
5) Burning

As you can see, at the moment I am predicting three of the five will have played TFF #45: Roma, Cold War and Shoplifters.  There are a few other films that are just off this top five that could supplant some of these:  Girl, Never Look Away, Birds of Passage, Border and Sunset.


Meanwhile, in the wild Feature Documentary category, these are the films that I am guessing make the top five...at least for the time being:

1) The Notorious RBG
2) Won't You Be My Neighbor
3) The Identical Strangers
4) Free Solo
5) McQueen

Others: Minding the Gap, Dark Money, The Sentence, Reversing Roe, Filmworker, Quincy, Science Fair, Whitney.

And if you missed it last week, there are new predictions up at Movie City News' Gurus of Gold for Best Picture, Actress and Supporting Actress.  And, not to beat the proverbial dead horse, I'm acting as a "Guru" this year. 

I am thrilled to be included with friends: Sasha Stone/Awards Daily, Tomris Laffly/RogerEbert.com, and Mark Johnson/AwardsCircuit.  I'm also pleased to see Peter Howell of The Toronto Star (Peter and I have exchanged tweets and messages in the past few years about items related to the Toronto Film Fest) and Dave Karger who, among other things, appears from time to time on Turner Classic Movies, are also Gurus this year.

Go check them out by clicking here.


THE FRONT RUNNER'S INTERNATIONAL TRAILER

As we edge closer to its domestic release (Nov. 21), Sony/Columbia released an international version of the trailer for Jason Reitman's The Front Runner.

The film stars Hugh Jackman as U.S. Senator Gary Hart and follows the flame out of his 1988 Presidential bid.

Here's the new international trailer from YouTube:

The Front Runner is set to open in Sweden on Nov. 21.



INTERVIEWS: HUGH JACKMAN (THE FRONT RUNNER), JOSH SINGER (FIRST MAN) AND EVA MELANDER (BORDER)

Oscar nominee Hugh Jackman (for Les Miserables) could earn his second nomination for his work as Gary Hart in Jason Reitman's The Front Runner.  Jackman was profiled over the weekend by The Hollywood Reporter in an interview that was conducted by Katie Kilkenny.  That interview is linked here.

Oscar winner Josh Singer, who won the Oscar for co-writing Spotlight, and is the script writer for Damien Chazelle's First Man sat down with SlashFilm's Jack Giroux recently.  SlashFilm posted the interview on Thursday and you can catch it here.


First Man is in theaters now.

Meanwhile, Eva Melander who stars in the weird and(at least at Telluride) somewhat divisive foreign film Border shared about her experiences with that film this past week wit Erik Anderson of Awards Watch.

That interview is here.

Border is the official submission from Sweden for this year's Foreign Language Oscar.  The film opened this past weekend here in the United States.



That's your Monday MTFB.  I'll have more on Thursday.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Updated Oscar Predictions: Screenplays / Gurus Assembled / Cuaron Talks Roma

It's a truncated MTFB today as I am smack in the middle of our state's One Act Play Contest Final.  My kids are doing a truncated version of The Crucible.


UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS: SCREENPLAYS

Here's where I am predicting the screenplay contests as they stand at the moment.  I last had them picked on Oct. 4th.

These predictions are followed by their position in parentheses at that last posting.  Telluride films are Bold.


ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) If Beale Street Could Talk (1)
2) A Star Is Born (6)
3) BlacKkKlansman (4)
4) First Man (2)
5) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3)

Others: Boy Erased, Widows, Black Panther, The Front Runner

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Roma (1)
2) The Favourite (3)
3) Green Book (2)
4) Eighth Grade (4)
5) Vice (6)

Others: First Reformed, Ben Is Back, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs


GURUS ASSEMBLED

Movie City News Gurus of Gold is up with its second posting for this brand new Oscar season and as I have posted earlier, I have been asked to Guru for MCN this season...Thanks MCN!

Highlights of the new post are predictions for Best Picture as well as Best Actress and Supporting Actress.

Telluride films in play for Best Picture according to the Gurus are Roma, First Man, The Favourite and Can You ever Forgive Me?  Also mentioned from TFF are: First Reformed (TFF #44), Boy Erased, Cold War and The Front Runner.

Among the Best Actress contenders are Telluriders Olivia Colman/The Favourite and Melissa McCarthy/ Can You Ever Forgive Me?  Also possible: Yalitza Aparicio/Roma.

And in the Supporting Actress category: Claire Foy/First Man, Emma Stone/The Favourite and Nicole Kidman/Boy Erased.  Also possible: Rachel Weisz/The Favourite and Vera Farmiga/The Front Runner.

The complete new Gurus of Gold is here.


CUARON TALKS ROMA

Alfonso Cuaron is the focus of an extensive profile in Variety from Kristopher Tapley.  Take a look at that from the director of Roma.

That link is here.

Also, Tapley weighs in for the first time this season with hos view about Oscars for Best Picture, actor and Actress.

TFF is represented on Tapley's first list as follows...

Best Pic: Can You Ever Forgive Me?, The Favourite, First Man and Roma

Actor: Noop...

Actress: Colman/The Favourite and McCarthy/Can You Ever...

His complete analysis is linked here.



Again, apologies for the short post today...I hope to have a larger post for you on Monday!

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Updated Oscar Predictions: The Supporting Races / Gotham Awards Nominations Revealed / Coverage for Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Welcome Back from the weekend.  It's Monday...all...day...


UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS: THE SUPPORTING RACES

Here's the latest of my Oscar predictions for the Supporting Acting categories.  The last pass at these categories was Oct. 4th. 

Each prediction is followed by its previous position 0n Oct. 4th in parentheses.  Telluride performances are in Bold. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Regina King/Beale Street (2)
2) Claire Foy/First Man (1)
3) Emma Stone/The Favourite (4)
4) Nicole Kidman/Boy Erased (3)
5) Rachel Weisz/The Favourite (5)

Others: Amy Adams/Vice, Marina de Tavira/Roma, Tomasin McKenzie/Leave No Trace, Elizabeth Debecki/Widows


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Mahershala Ali/Green Book (1)
2) Richard E. Grant/Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2)
3) Sam Elliott/A Star Is Born (4)
4) Timothee Chalamet/Beautiful Boy (3)
5) Sam Rockwell/Vice (5)

Others: Michael B. Jordan/Black Panther, Russell Crowe/Boy Erased, Adam Driver/BlacKkKlansman, Nicholas Hoult/The Favourite

Meanwhile, after having told everyone that a new Gurus of Gold would be up at Movie City News last Friday, it seems that I was premature and that the newest Gurus will post sometime this week.

I'll let you know when I know.



GOTHAM AWARDS NOMINATIONS REVEALED

Telluride films from both TFF #45 and TFF #44 scored well as the Gotham Awards nominations were announced this past week.  The Gothams focus on rewarding excellence in independent film making.

Both The Favourite (TFF #45) and First Reformed (TFF#44) were out front with three nominations each.

The Favourite had nominations for Best Feature, Best Screenplay and a Special Award for the three actresses that are highlighted in the film: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.

First Reformed was nominated for Best Feature, Best Screenplay and Ethan Hawke for Best Actor.

Chole Zhao's The Rider (also from TFF #44) was nominated for Best Feature.

Richard E. Grant was nominated for Best Actor for TFF #45 favorite Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Yalitza Aparicio was nominated for Breakthrough Performance for Alfonso Cuaron's Roma.

Here is the complete rundown of nominees from Indiewire.



LOTS OF COVERAGE FOR CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

With its limited release this week, we saw a real surge in profiles, interviews and other pieces about Marielle Heller's Can You Ever Forgive Me? starring Oscar contenders Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant.

Indiewire

Entertainment Weekly

Time

That's today's MTFB.  I have more for you on Thursday.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Updated Oscar Predictions: Best Actress and Actor / Can You Ever Forgive Me? Emerges / Destroyer Has a Trailer / The Favourite Categorized

Good Thursday Film Friends...


UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS: BEST ACTRESS AND BEST ACTOR

Here are my latest thoughts for the Lead Acting categories.  Each individual's position in my last predictions is in parentheses.  Those from TFF #45 films are Bold.


BEST ACTRESS

1) Glenn Close/The Wife (1)
2) Lady Gaga/A Star Is Born (2)
3) Melissa McCarthy/Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3)
4) Olivia Colman/The Favourite (4)
5) Viola Davis/Widows (-)

Others: Yalitza Aparicio/Roma, Julia Roberts/Ben Is Back, Toni Collette/Hereditary, Nicole Kidman/Destroyer


BEST ACTOR

1) Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born (1)
2) Viggo Mortensen/Green Book (2)
3) Ryan Gosling/First Man (3)
4) Christian Bale/Vice (-)
5) Lucas Hedges/Boy Erased (4)

Others: Hugh Jackman/The Front Runner, Rami Malek/Bohemian Rhapsody, Ethan Hawke/First Reformed***, Lucas Hedges/Ben Is Back, John David Washington/BlacKkKlansman

***Played TFF #44

And, by the by, you might look for the a new Gurus of Gold at Movie City News tomorrow.  It will be my second contribution as a "Guru".


CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? EMERGES

The fantastic Can You Ever Forgive Me? gets its U.S. release tomorrow.  The film was well received at TFF #45 finishing as the #5 film in The Composite Ratings for MTFB.  It was #5 among the Pros and #8 in The People's Telluride.

With the film's release, as you'd expect, has been a focus in media circles this week on it and its star Melissa McCarthy.

I have linked a couple of the profiles that have her appeared about her this week from:

The Hollywood Reporter

Indiewire

I am currently predicting McCarthy to earn her second Oscar nomination for her work in the film as real life forger Lee Daniels.  I also think the film will be nominated for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Richard E. Grant getting a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Here's the trailer for it from YouTube:

DESTROYER HAS A TRAILER

Annapurna Pictures has released a trailer for Karyn Kusama's gritty detective drama Destroyer starring a nearly unrecognizable Nicole Kidman who is likely to be a part of the Best Actress conversation for the role.

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

Destroyer is currently slated to open domestically on Dec. 25th.

THE FAVOURITE CATEGORIZED

 After a good deal of consternation and speculation Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter tells us this week that the acting categorization for Awards consideration for the three ladies of Yorgos Lanthimos' The Favourite have been determined.

Feinberg reports that Olivia Colman, who plays England's Queen Anne in the film, will be the lone consideration for the Lead Actress category with both Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz competing in the Best Supporting Actress Category.

Feinberg also reports on a number of other categorization decisions that have been made as we get ready to swing into the full awards season melee.

Feinberg's article can be found here.


That's MTFB for this Thursday.  I'll have another post on Monday in which I will update Oscar predictions for the supporting acting categories.  And don't forget to take a peek at Movie City News and the new Gurus of Gold post tomorrow.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

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Updated Oscar Predictions: Best Picture and Director / First Man Launches / News for Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Good Monday Ladies and Germs...


UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS: BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTOR

MTFB had its first set of Oscar predictions up two weeks ago and it felt like it was time to begin updating them so I've started that process today with updates for Best Picture and Best Direction.  I'll continue to update two categories each post for the next little bit and will eventually beginning to expand the predictions beyond the Big 8 categories as we move deeper into awards season.

So, here are your updates for Picture and Direction (with their last position in parentheses):

BEST PICTURE

1) A Star Is Born (2)
2) Roma (3)
3) First Man (1)
4) Green Book (4)
5) The Favourite (5)
6) BlacKkKlansman (6)
7) If Beale Street Could Talk (7)
8) Black Panther (8)
9) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (9)
10) Vice (-)

Others: Eighth Grade, Widows, Boy Erased


BEST DIRECTION

1) Alfonso Cuaron/Roma (1)
2) Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born (2)
3) Damien Chazelle/First Man (3)
4) Spike Lee/BlacKkKlansman (4)
5) Yorgos Lanthimos/The Favourite (5)

Others: Barry Jenkins/If Beale Street Could Talk, Ryan Coogler/Black Panther, Peter Farrelly/Green Book, Adam McKay/Vice

On Thursday, I'll update Best Actress and Actor.


FIRST MAN LAUNCHES

Damian Chazelle's First Man opened last Friday.  The film is still my choice for Best Film of the Year...though I still have other films to see...specifically Beale Street, Green Book and Vice which sound as if they all might have the goods to relegate First Man to second place.

As you might expect, with its release came a good amount of interviews and profile pieces.  I have linked a few here for your perusal.

The Hollywood Reporter

Time

Indiewire


NEWS FOR CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

Producers of Marielle Heller's Can You Ever Forgive Me?  dropped a new poster for the film last week.  Sadly it boasts the Toronto International Film Fest logo rather than Telluride's.  Despite that I decided to go ahead and post it here:

As I looked at past posts before writing today's tidbits I discovered that I haven't included a picture of the first poster that was out for the film.  So here that is as well:

Meanwhile, ShowBiz411 posted an interview yesterday with actor Richard E. Grant who co-stars with Melissa McCarthy in the film.  Here's the link to that interview.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? opens in the U.S. on Friday.

That's your Monday MTFB.  More to come on Thursday.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT TO THE BLOG