This Week's Oscar Precursors: NBR, Satellites and Gothams / Lady Bird Sets a Record / Focus on The Shape of Water

Hello to all on this Thursday...

THIS WEEK'S OSCAR PRECURSORS: NBR SATELLITES AND GOTHAMS

TFF #44 films fared moderately well with this week's release of film accolades from The National Board of Review but were largely ignored by the Gotham Awards.

The NBR named Steven Spielberg's The Post the best film of the year and also recognized Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep as Best Actor and Actress for that film.

The NBR, as it annually does also named a list of their ten best films of the year and that list included two Telluride films: Lady Bird and Downsizing.  Conspicuously absent were The Shape of Water, Battle of the Sexes and Darkest Hour.

Lady Bird also was named for Greta Gerwig's direction and for Laurie Metcalf's performance as Best Supporting Actress.

Foxtrot was named Best Foreign Language Film.

Angelina Jolie's First They Killed My Father was named co-winner of NBR's Freedom of Expression award.

Other TFF #44 films that were highlighted by the NBR  included Faces Places as one of the year's best documentaries and Loving Vincent was named to the list of ten best independent films.  A Fantastic Woman and Loveless were named to the list of five best foreign language films.

Two TFF #43 films also were lauded.  Frantz was listed in the foreign language film  category and Norman: The Rise and and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer made the independent film list.

The complete list of all winners is here from Indiewire.

The International Press Association announced the nominees for their Golden Satellite Awards yesterday and TFF #44 films were also well represented among the film nominees.  Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk led all films with 11 nominations and TFF #44 favorite The Shape of Water followed closely with 10.  

It was good news for The Shape of Water which (as you can see above) was left off of the NBR list.  Guillermo Del Toro's film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress for Sally Hawkins, Best Supporting Actor for Michael Shannon, Direction, Original Screenplay, Original Score, Cinematography, Visual Effects, Film Editing and Art Direction/Production Design.

Lady Bird and Darkest Hour were two other TFF #44 films landing multiple nominations.  Lady Bird had six with nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress for Saoirse Ronan, Best Supporting Actress for Laurie Metcalf, Direction, Original Screenplay and Cinematography.  Writer/director Greta Gerwig will also receive a special Auteur Award.

Darkest Hour was nominated in four categories: Best Actor for Gary Oldman, Cinematography, Film Editing and Sound Mixing and Editing.

Other TFF #44 films nominated by the IPA included:

Emma Stone for Best Actress in Battle of the Sexes

First They Killed My Father, Loveless and Foxtrot for Best International Film

Loving Vincent for Best Animated Film

Human Flow was nominated for Best Documentary.

A complete listing of all nominees for the Satellites is here from The Wrap.

Meanwhile, The Gotham Awards were handed out in New York earlier this week and TFF #44, which had a meager presence among the nominees to begin with, only scored one win and that was for Saoirse Ronan as Best actress in Lady Bird.  

The night was big for Call Me By Your Name which was named Best Feature and Get out which won the most awards.

The Gotham Awards list is here, also from Indiewire.

The New York Critics are set to weigh in with their list of superlative films and performances later today.

LADY BIRD SETS A RECORD

Awards Daily and others reported this week that Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird surpassed Toy Story 4 as the film that had received the most 100% ratings from Rotten Tomatoes making it "the best reviewed film of all time of that rating service.

Toy Story 4 had held the top spot with with 163 100% ratings of critic's reviews until this week when Lady Bird hit 164.

The story from Sasha Stone at Awards Daily is here.


FOCUS ON THE SHAPE OF WATER

As Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water moves closer to release a number of outlets are highlighting various participants in the film.  Included in that this week were interviews or profiles with:

Actor Michael Stuhlbarg at GQ.com

Actor Michael Shannon at RogerEbert.com

and composer Alexander Desplat with Awards Daily.com

The Shape of Water opens on Dec. 8th.

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That's all for today.  More on Monday.

Updating the Lead Acting Oscar Predictions / TFF Time Travel-A Look at TFF #14 / Doug Jones on the Spotlight / HDS for Oscar Update

Welcome back from the Thanksgiving weekend...hope you survived your food-induced coma...


UPDATING THE LEAD ACTING OSCAR PREDICTIONS

As we get ready to ring down the curtain on November, here is an update of where The Film Awards Clearinghouse now thinks the Best Actress and Best Actor categories stand.

Our last look at these two categories was on Nov. 2nd.

As always, potential nominees from TFF #44 films are in Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

Here were the standings on Nov. 2nd:

1) Frances McDormand/Three Billboards
2) Sally Hawkins/The Shape of Water
3) Margot Robbie/I, Tonya
4) Meryl Streep/The Post
5) Saoirse Ronan/Lady Bird

Others: Emma Stone/Battle of the Sexes, Jessica Chastain/Molly's Game, Kate Winslet/Wonder Wheel

And today's new set of predictions:

1) Frances McDormand/Three Billboards

2) Sally Hawkins/The Shape of Water

3) Meryl Streep/The Post

4) Margot Robbie/I, Tonya

5) Saoirse Ronan/Lady Bird

Others: Jessica Chastain/Molly's Game, Kate Winslet/Wonder Wheel and Judi Dench/Victoria and Abdul

Comment:  It feels like the top four are bunched very tightly and that Emma Stone's chances for a back-to-back Oscar win have all but disappeared.

BEST ACTOR

Here's where the Best Actor race seemed to be three weeks ago:

1) Gary Oldman/Darkest Hour

2) Jake Gyllenhaal/Stronger

3) Timothee Chalamet/Call Me By Your Name

4) Daniel Day Lewis/Phantom Thread

5) Denzel Washington/Roman Israel, Esq.

Others: Steve Carell/Last Flag Flying, Andrew Garfield/Breathe, Tom Hanks/The Post

And here's the most recent FAC predictions for the category:

1) Gary Oldman/Darkest Hour

2) Jake Gyllenhaal/Stronger

3) Timothee Chalamet/Call Me By Your Name

4) Tom Hanks/The Post

5) Daniel Day Lewis/Phantom Thread

Others: James Franco.The Disaster Artist, Denzel Washington/Roman Israel Esq. and Andrew Garfield/Breathe

Comment: Hanks has some serious buzz now that some people have actually seen The Post in screenings.

TFF TIME TRAVEL- A LOOK AT TFF #14

The Telluride Film Festival historical retrospective that has been an on-going project on this site since I began with a throw back to 2005's in April continues today with a look back to the 14th Telluride Film Festival.  TFF #14 took place Sept. 4-7, 1987.

Tributes: Don Siegel, Stephen Frears and Tenghiz Abuladze.

SHOWS:

Acting Our Age

Au Revoir Les Enfants

Babette's Feast

Barfly

The Beguiled

The Blot

Brightness

Broken April

Candy Mountain

Confession

A Flame in My Heart

Hail, Hail Rock and Roll

Haiti Dreams of Democracy

The Houses Are Filled with Smoke

A Hungry Feeling: The Life and Death of Brendan Behan

I've Heard the Mermaids Singing

The Magic Toyshop

The Magic Tree

Manon of the Spring

The Marvelous Life of Joan of Arc

Molba

Polyester

Repentance

Sammy and Rosie Get Laid

Sans Soliel

Shy People

They Made Me a Fugitive

This Is Our Home, It Is Not for Sale

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done

The Tingler

Traveling North

Wagonmaster

Walter and June

The Whales of August

Guests:

Harry Carey, Jr.

Taylor Hackford

Ben Johnson

Chuck Jones

Louis Malle

Leonard Maltin

Helen Mirren

Bill Plympton

Barbet Schroeder

John Waters

DOUG JONES IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Actor Doug Jones has been a frequent collaborator with Guillermo Del Toro and that relationship continues with Del Toro's The Shape of Water.  Jones plays "The Asset", the focus of Sally Hawkins desire and Michael Shannon's obsession.

Jones was profiled this past week in an article from Jenna Marotta for Indiewire.

That profile is linked here.

HDS FOR OSCAR UPDATE

Hey kids, this Harry Dean Stanton for an Oscar nomination thing seems to have at least a little traction.  A cursory examination of some of the best of Oscar prediction websites have Harry Dean in play.  Here's where he is placed by some of those sites:

Awards Daily has HDS at #15

Awards Circuit #15

Scott Feinberg/THR #18

The Film Experience #16

Awards Watch #17

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The FAC Updates Best Pic and Director Predix / Independent Spirit Awards Nominations Announced / Film Stars Has a Trailer / Looking at The Post and Phantom Thread / Let's Talk Richard Jenkins

Happy Thanksgiving!  Nov. 23, 2017...I'm thankful that there are actual readers of this space.  Thank you!


THE FAC UPDATES BEST PIC AND DIRECTOR PREDICTIONS

For the third time this Oscar season, The Film Awards Clearinghouse takes a stab at predicting the nominees for Best Picture and Best Direction.  This coming just after this week's first screening of Steven Spielberg's The Post and the announcement of nominees for The Independent Spirit Awards (see below).

My last look at these two categories was Oct. 30th.  As always, TFF #44 films are in Bold.

BEST PICTURE

Here's where the Best Picture race seemed to stand three and a half weeks ago:

1) Dunkirk
2) The Shape of Water
3) Darkest Hour
4) Three Billboards
5) Call Me By Your Name
6) The Post
7) Get Out
8) The Florida Project

Others: Lady Bird, Mudbound, I Tonya

And here we are as of today:


1) Dunkirk
2) The Shape of Water
3) Three Billboards
4) Get Out
5) Darkest Hour
6) Call Me By Your Name
7) The Post
8) Lady Bird

Others: The Florida Project, Mudbound, I Tonya

Comments: Get Out, Three Billboards, The Post and Lady Bird seem to have some wind at their backs.  Darkest Hour and The Florida Project feel like they're losing some steam.


BEST DIRECTION

Here's the chart from Oct. 30th:

1) Christopher Nolan/Dunkirk

2) Guillermo Del Toro/The Shape of Water

3) Joe Wright/Darkest Hour

4) Martin McDonagh/Three Billboards

5) Steven Spielberg/The Post

Other Possibilities: Luca Guadagnino/Call Me By Your Name, Jordan Peele/Get Out, Dee Rees/Mudbound

And today's update:

1) Christopher Nolan/Dunkirk
2) Guillermo Del Toro/The Shape of Water
3) Martin McDonagh/Three Billboards
4) Steven Spielberg/The Post
5) Jordan Peele/Get Out

Others: Joe Wright/Darkest Hour, Luca Guadagnino/Call Me By Your Name, Dee Rees/Mudbound

Comments: Nolan, Del Toro and McDonagh all seem solid.  After them, though, it's a mess.



INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

Telluride 2017 films accounted for 11 Independent Spirit nominations this week.  Both Lady Bird and The Rider nabbed four apiece.

Lady Bird: Best Feature, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay

The Rider: Best Feature, Best Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing

Faces Places: Best Documentary

A Fantastic Woman: Best International Film

Loveless: Best International Film

The complete nominations list is here.

Oscar analysis is here from Gold Derby and here from Indiewire.



FILM STARS HAS A TRAILER

Annette Bening stars as classic film icon Gloria Grahame in Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool which dropped a new trailer this last week.  The film also stars Jamie Bell.

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

LOOKING AT THE POST AND PHANTOM THREAD

They aren't TFF films but I am very interested in both Steven Spielberg's Pentagon Papers drama, The Post and the latest (and purportedly final) collaboration between Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day Lewis-Phantom Thread.  Both films have new video out this week and so for those of you that share a curiosity about these two films I have posted the video here:

The first is a new television commercial for The Post (from YouTube):

And here's what is billed as Phantom Thread's Sneak Preview Announcement:

LET'S TALK RICHARD JENKINS FOR THE SHAPE OF WATER

Many of you know that I have been not so subtly banging the drum for a Best Actor nomination for Harry Dean Stanton's final performance in John Carroll Lynch's Lucky but I wanted to remind everyone that the "below-the-radar" performance from TFF #44 is for Richard Jenkins' killer supporting turn in Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water.

I have been told that Michael Shannon as the villain of the piece has a better shot but I'm not so sure.  Jenkins has a previous nomination for Best Actor for 2009's The Visitor.

I do see Jenkins pop up here and there on some of the Oscar prediction websites, so I'm not alone in thinking that it's possible.

This week PrideSource.org features Jenkins in an interview as they discussed The Shape of Water and his career.  That interview is here.



That's your Thanksgiving Day MTFB.  Hope it's a great holiday for you.  I'll have more on Monday.

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Sasha Stone's Pre-Thanksgiving Oscar Picks / Studi Talks Hostiles / Wormwood: Academy Says It's Not Eligible / The Making of the Beast

Good Monday movie fans...


SASHA STONE'S PRE-THANKSGIVING OSCAR PICKS

Each Friday, Sasha Stone, founder of Awards Daily, updates her latest Oscar forecast.  As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, I thought I'd take a quick peek at what she thinks are likely nominations regarding TFF #44 films.

Sasha is currently picking 11 major categories and she has both Darkest Hour and The Shape of Water with eight nominations from those categories:

The Shape of Water: Picture, Direction, Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography and Production Design.


Darkest Hour: Picture, Direction, Actor, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, Production Design.

Lady Bird: borderline Best Picture, Actress, Supporting Actress.

Wonderstruck: Adapted Screenplay

Stone's complete "Predictions Friday" column is here.


STUDI TALKS HOSTILES

Oklahoma native Native American actor Wes Studi spoke recently with Jazz Tangcay of Awards Daily about his experiences making Scott Cooper's western.

The film is set for release on Dec. 22nd and is drawing some serious discussion about Christian Bale's performance as a potential Best Actor nominee.

That interview is here.



WORMWOOD: ACADEMY SAYS IT'S NOT AN ELIGIBLE DOCUMENTARY

Errol Morris' Wormwood which was often a topic of conversation in lines at this year's TFF, will not be eligible for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar according to Indiewire's Anne Thompson.

It appears that Wormwood runs afoul of Academy rules that have been recently adopted to exclude the kind of episodic format that Wormwood is in.

Wormwood is set to bow on Netflix on Dec. 15th

Thompson's story is here.



THE MAKING OF THE BEAST

Recently The Shape of Water's writer/director Guillermo Del Toro shred extensive notes about the creation of the creature at the center of his love story that was brought to life by actor Doug Jones.

SlashFilm gathered all of that together and this past week put together a story that delineates that process.

The SlashFilm story is here.

The Shape of Water opens in the U.S. on Dec. 8th.


I'll have more on Thanksgiving morning including the latest Best Picture and Best Direction Oscar predictions from The Film Awards Clearinghouse.

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Telluride Re-wind-TFF #15 / A Fantastic Woman / A Trailer for The Other Side of Hope

Welcome to Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017.


TELLURIDE RE-WIND-TFF #15

My ongoing Telluride Film Festival history project continues today with a flashback to the 15th Telluride Film Festival which ran from Sept. 2-5, 1988.  Here are the details:


Guest Director: Donald Richie

Tributes: Pedro Almodovar, Cab Calloway, The Xi'an Studio

SHOWS:

Aschik Kerib
Broken Down Film
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
Distant Voices, Still Lives
The Dragon Painter
Far North
High Hopes
Homeland of Electricity
The King of Children
Kric! Krac! Tales of a Nightmare
La Lectrice
The Legend of the Forest
Little Vera
Manifesto
Men of Kishnou Island
Night of the Hunter
The Old Well
One Hand Don't Clap
Patty Hearst
Rapt
Red Sorghum

Salaam Bombay
Split
Summer Vacation
That Rhythm Those Blues
Track 29
Voices from the Attic
Voices of Sarafina
Wherever You Are
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Wrath of the Gods

GUESTS:

Keith Carradine
Olympia Dukakis
Daryl Hannah
Tess Harper
Chuck Jones
Mike Leigh
Mira Nair
Nicholas Roeg
Teresa Russell
Paul Schrader
Barbet Schroeder
Sam Shepard


A FANTASTIC WOMAN

The L.A. Times Tre'vell Anderson interviewed Oscar contender Daniela Vega recently.  Vega stars in the TFF #44 film A Fantastic Woman and has been making buzz around the film since its premiere last February at the Berlin International Film Festival.    The film won a number of prizes at Berlin including Best Screenplay.

The film's story focuses on the life of a transgender woman in Chile and is directed and was written by Sebastian Lelilo.  The film currently sits at the #5 spot in this week's Film Award Clearinghouse Oscar predictions for Best Foreign Film.

That interview is here.

A Fantastic Woman is scheduled to open in the U.S. on Feb. 2nd.


A TRAILER FOR THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE


Aki Kurismaki's The Other Side of Hope  played the Berlin International Film Festival as well.  Kaurismaki won the Berlin prize for Best Directing;  The film highlights the European refugee situation.

The film's first trailer arrived this week from Janus Films.  Here it is:

The Other Side of Hope opens in New York on Dec. 1st.

The Playlist coverage of the trailer debut is here.



That's your MTFB for this Thursday.  I'll have more on Monday.  Have a great weekend!

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

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New Red Band Trailer for The Shape of Water / Lady Bird In the Spotlight / The Early FAC for Foreign and Animated

It's Monday, Nov. 13th and November continues apace...


NEW TRAILER FOR THE SHAPE OF WATER


We have a new and final trailer for Guillermo Del Toro's "adult fairy take" The Shape of Water.  Fair warning, it is a Red Band trailer...

The Shape of Water stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer and Michael Stuhlbarg.  It is set to open domestically on Dec. 8th.

Here's Indiewire's coverage of the trailers' release.



LADY BIRD IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The onslaught of publicity for Greta Gerwig's solo directing debut, Lady Bird, gained incredible momentum this week as a ton of film sources posted interviews and profiles with Gerwig and cast members including Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf.

Lady Bird continues to be a dark horse in as far as Oscar speculation goes.  Laurie Metcalf is generally agreed upon as a nearly certain nominee for Supporting Actress and possibly your winner (though Alison Janney is generally regarded as a co-front runner for her performance in I, Tonya).

Personally, I've been saying that Lady Bird could be a much more serious player for a couple of weeks now.  I'm thinking nominations for Metcalf, Ronan, Gerwig for Original Screenplay and Picture with Gerwig having an outside shot at Best Directing.

Just yesterday Sasha Stone of Awards Daily publically made the case I've been contemplating on her website.

Check out these posts from the past week:

Variety's Screening Series presented by Film Struck.

Indiewire's Kate Erbland with Saoirse Ronan.

The Hollywood Reporter's Mia Galuppo writing about Gerwig.

Indiewire's Jenna Marotta on Laurie Metcalf.

The Gold Derby talks with Gerwig and Ronan.


AN EARLY LOOK AT THE FAC FOR FOREIGN FILMS AND ANIMATED FEATURE

Here is the initial take of The Film Awards Clearinghouse for the Foreign Language Film  and Animated Feature categories.

As is my custom, TFF #44 films are Bold.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS

1) Loveless
2) First They Killed My Father
3) In the Fade
4) Foxtrot
5) A Fantastic Woman

Others: The Square, BPM, The Insult


ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Coco
2) The Breadwinner
3) Loving Vincent
4) The Lego Batman Movie
5) Ferdinand

Others; The Bass Baby, The Girl Without Hands, Cars 3


That's your wrap for this Monday.  More will appear here on Thursday...

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

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Telluride Re-wind: TFF #16 / The FAC: Updating the Screenplay Categories / More from Gerwig and the Lady Bird Crew

Good Thursday everyone.

TELLURIDE RE-WIND: TFF #16

My Telluride Film Festival history project continues today with a look at the 16th Fest that occurred on Sept. 1-4, 1989.

Guest Director: Errol Morris

Tributes: Dennis Potter, Peter Greenaway, Shohei Imamura

Shows:

The Big Bang
Black Rain
Blue Remembered Hills
Born to Kill
China My Sorrow
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
The Entertainer
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Herdsmen of the Sun
I Went to the Dance
The Icicle Thief
La Salle de Bain
Land of Liberty
My 20th Century
My Left Foot

Mystery Train
Nuovo Cinema Paradiso
Penn and Teller Get Killed
Pennies from Heaven
Roger and Me
Solovki Power
Strapless
Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren
Testament
There's Always Tomorrow
The Trip to Tilsit
Trop Belle Pour Toi
Twin Peaks
Water and Power
When the Clouds Roll By
The Yellow Curse

Guests:

Mark Frost
David Hare
Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Werner Herzog
Jim Jarmusch
Penn Jillette
Chuck Jones
Daniel Day Lewis
John McNaughton
Michael Moore
Michael Ontkean
Arthur Penn
Michael Rooker
Teller



THE FAC: UPDATING THE SCREENPLAY CATEGORIES


The last Adapted Screenplay predictions from Oct. 19th:

1) Call Me By Your Name
2) Mudbound
3) Molly's Game
4) Last Flag Flying
5) Wonderstruck

Others in contention: Stronger, The Disaster Artist, First They Killed My Father

Here's the latest FAC assessment of the category:

1) Call Me By Your Name
2) Mudbound
3) Molly's Game
4) The Disaster Artist
5) Last Flag Flying

Others: Wonderstruck, Stronger, Wonder Woman



The last Original Screenplay predictions:


1) Three Billboards
2) The Shape of Water
3) Darkest Hour
4) Get Out
5) Lady Bird


Other in contention: The Post, The Big Sick, I Tonya

Here are your updated Original Screenplay predictions:

1) Three Billboards
2) The Shape of Water
3) Get Out
4) Lady Bird
5) Darkest Hour

Others: The Post. The Big Sick, I, Tonya


MORE FROM GRETA GERWIG AND THE LADY BIRD CREW

Esther Zuckerman posted for The Rolling Stone this week about Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird which is tearing it up on the specialty circuit.

I said earlier this week in a Twitter conversation that it could be the sleeper in this year's Best Picture Oscar race:

I'm not the only one out there that is beginning to think it could happen as well. Here and there are Oscar experts who are beginning to think that it's a real possibility.

I think that it's going to benefit from a preferential ballot.  I can see it rounding up a bunch of #1 votes but also being on a lot of Academy member's ballots in a #2 or #3 spot.

At any rate, here's the story from The Rolling Stone in which Zuckerman talks to Gerwig as well as actors Saoirse Ronan and Tracy Letts.


 And that's the MTFB for this Thursday.  Have a good weekend and I'll have more on Monday.


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FAC Oscar Predix: Supporting / New Trailer for Downsizing / Future Telluride: Mike Leigh's Peterloo / Interviews: Gerwig, Oldman, Jolie and Cooper

Monday, Monday...Nov. 6, 2017


FAC OSCAR PREDIX: SUPPORTING

Today's post begins with an update of the FAC (Film Awards Clearinghouse) Predictions for nominations for the Supporting Acting categories.

Telluride films are in Bold.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Last posted prediction for this category was Oct. 16th and it looked like this:

1) Alison Janney/I, Tonya
2) Laurie Metcalf/Lady Bird
3) Holly Hunter/The Big Sick
4) Octavia Spencer/The Shape of Water
5) Melissa Leo/Novitiate

Others: Kristen Scott Thomas/Darkest Hour, Mary J. Blige/Mudbound, Hong Chau/Downsizing

Today's update:

1) Alison Janney/I, Tonya
2) Laurie Metcalf/Lady Bird
3) Holly Hunter/The Big Sick
4) Octavia Spencer/The Shape of Water
5) Kristen Scott Thomas/Darkest Hour

Others: Melissa Leo/Novitiate, Mary J. Blige/Mudbound, Hong Chau/Downsizing


SUPPORTING ACTOR

From Oct. 16:

1) Sam Rockwell/Three Billboards
2) Willem Dafoe/The Florida Project
3) Armie Hammer/Call Me By Your Name
4) Michael Stuhlbarg/Call Me By Your Name
5) Ben Mendelsohn/Darkest Hour

Others: Michael Shannon/The Shape of Water, Mark Rylance/Dunkirk, Kevin Spacey/All the Money in the World


Today's update:

1) Willem Dafoe/The Florida Project
2) Sam Rockwell/Three Billboards
3) Armie Hammer/Call Me By Your Name
4) Michael Stuhlbarg/Call Me By Your Name
5) Michael Shannon/The Shape of Water

Others: Mark Rylance/Dunkirk, Ben Mendelsohn/Darkest Hour, Richard Jenkins/The Shape of Water



NEW TRAILER FOR DOWNSIZING

Paramount released a new trailer this week for Alexander Payne's Downsizing.  The film is slated to hot theaters on Dec. 22.  Here's the new trailer from YouTube:

I have also linked some coverage of the trailer's release from Alex Billington's FirstShowing.net.  That is linked here.

FUTURE TELLURIDE

Back in the Sept. 25th post I included a segment on possible future Telluride films called "Looking Ahead".  The list consisted of ten films (out of 56) that I have been tracking that still could, eventually, be in a TFF lineup.  One of the films that was not on that list of ten but is in the long list is Mike Leigh's Peterloo.

I mention this because Peterloo popped up this week with a "first look" still from the film:

It appears the thinking is that Leigh will have the film ready for Cannes.  Should that be true, I'd think it was a very solid choice to be at the top of the TFF #45 speculation list.  Leigh has had a significant history with Telluride.  Additionally, the film will be distributed by Amazon Studios which also does not hurt its T-ride chances.

Peterloo is based on the 1819 massacre of protesters in Manchester, England.  60,000 protesters were gathered seeking voting reform.  15 were killed.

Leigh's previous films at Telluride include: Mr. Turner, Another Year and Happy-Go-Lucky.

Here are a couple of stories about the photo and the film from Indiewire and from The Film Stage.

INTERVIEWS: GERWIG, OLDMAN, JOLIE AND COOPER

I have included here the link to a new Indiewire interview with Lady Bird director and writer Greta Gerwig.  The interview is with Anne Thompson.

 Also, The Deadline Contender series of interviews was rolled out this week and includes interviews with Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) , Angelina Jolie (First They Killed My Father) and Scott Cooper (Hostiles).

The Oldman (with Joe Wright as well) interview is here conducted by Pete Hammond.

Jolie and her subject, Luong Ung are interviewed here.

Cooper (along with actors Wes Studi and Q'orianka Kilcher) is interviewed here.

That's your MTFB for Monday, Nov. 6th.  There will be more on Thursday.


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FAC Oscar Update: Lead Acting / Oscar Updates from Experts / Interviews with TFF #44 Guests / Correction

It's November and here is your first MTFB of the new month...


FILM AWARDS CLEARINGHOUSE OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

Oscar season continues and so does my meager attempt to predict the eventual nominees.  Today's focus is on the lead acting races which were first predicted here on Oct. 12th.

As always, predicted nominees connected with TFF #44 are in Bold.

Let's get to it...

BEST ACTRESS

Here is what the last FAC set of predictions had for the Best Actress race:

1) Frances McDormand/Three Billboards
2) Sally Hawkins/The Shape of Water
3) Meryl Streep/The Post
4) Margo Robbie/I, Tonya
5) Jessica Chastain/Molly's Game

Others: Kate Winslet/Wonder Wheel, Emma Stone/Battle of the Sexes, Saoirse Ronan/Lady Bird


And the updated predictions:


1) Frances McDormand/Three Billboards
2) Sally Hawkins/The Shape of Water
3) Margot Robbie/I, Tonya
4) Meryl Streep/The Post
5) Saoirse Ronan/Lady Bird

Others: Emma Stone/Battle of the Sexes, Jessica Chastain/Molly's Game, Kate Winslet/Wonder Wheel

BEST ACTOR

From Oct. 12th:

1) Gary Oldman/Darkest Hour
2) Jake Gyllenhaal/Stronger
3) Daniel Day Lewis/Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Film
4) Timothee Chalamet/Call Me By Your Name
5) Hugh Jackman/The Greatest Showman

Others: Andrew Garfield/Breathe, Denzel Washington/Roman Israel Esq., Tom Hanks/The Post

And today's updated predictions:

1) Gary Oldman/Darkest Hour

2) Jake Gyllenhaal/Stronger

3) Timothee Chalamet/Call Me By Your Name

4) Daniel Day Lewis/Phantom Thread

5) Denzel Washington/Roman Israel, Esq.

Others: Steve Carell/Last Flag Flying, Andrew Garfield/Breathe, Tom Hanks/The Post


OSCAR UPDATES FROM THE EXPERTS

Both Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter and Jason Osiason of Fantastic Film Fans (and also one of The Gold Rush Gang over at Awards Watch) have updated their Oscar predictions as of Nov. 1.

The latest Feinberg Forecast can be found here.

Osaison's latest take is linked here.

Feinberg  predicts 15 categories and has the following nominations predicted for films that played at Telluride in 2017:

The Shape of Water: Best Picture, Direction, Actress, Original Screenplay, Production Design, Cinematography and Score.

Lady Bird: Best Picture, Actress, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay

Darkest Hour: Best Picture, Direction, Actor, Cinematography and Score

Wonderstruck: Supporting Actress, Production Design, Cinematography, Score

Loving Vincent: Animated Feature

Foxtrot: Foreign Language Film

Loveless; Foreign Language Film

Downsizing: Production Design

An Inconvenient Sequel: Best Song

Osiason predicts the major eight categories including these for TFF #44 films:

The Shape of Water: Best Picture, Direction, Actress, Original Screenplay

Lady Bird; Best Picture, Actress, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay

Darkest Hour: Best Picture, Actor

MORE INTERVIEWS WITH TFF #44 GUESTS

Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird opens tomorrow.  The film, which was quite the hit at T-ride,  has continued to gain fans through the rest of the fall film festival season.  Writer-director Gerwig was recently interviewed by Harry Haun for Film Journal which posted it this week.

Here's the link to that from Film Journal.


Meanwhile, Joe Wright's Darkest Hour, the detailed account of the events that led to the rescue at Dunkirk, opens Thanksgiving weekend.  Gary Oldman plays Winston Churchill and is widely regarded as the prohibitive favorite to pick the Best Actor Oscar next March.

Oldman is featured by Interviewmagazine.com in a piece authored by Jack White.

You can read that here.


CORRECTION

In my previous post on Oct. 30th I wrote that Ai Weiwei's refugee documentary, Human Flow, was still without distribution.  An eagle-eyed reader, who shall remain anonymous, pointed out that Human Flow was picked up for distribution by Amazon back in June according to The Hollywood Reporter.

I regret the error.  The original story has been corrected to reflect this.

That's your MTFB for this Thursday.  As always, there will be more on Monday.




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