Oscar Update: Supporting Acting / Trailers: Werner Herzog-Radical Dreamer / Interviews and Profiles: Payne, Haigh and More

OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING

Here's MTFB's first Oscar Update for the Supporting Acting categories since the original set of predictions On Sept. 25th.  As usual TFF #50 films are in Bold.  A film's previous position on the MTFB Oscar chart is listed in parentheses.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Da'Vine Joy Randoplh/The Holdovers (1)

2) Emily Blunt/Oppenheimer (2)

3) Jodie Foster/Nyad (3)

4) Danielle Brooks/The Color Purple (5)

5) Julianne Moore/May December (4)

Alternates: America Ferrera/Barbie, Rosamund Pike/Saltburn, Viola Davis/Air and Taraji P. Henson/The Color Purple

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Robert Downey, Jr./Oppenheimer (1)

2) Ryan Gosling/Barbie (3)

3) Robert DeNiro/Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

4) Mark Ruffalo/Poor Things (2)

5) Willem Dafoe/Poor Things (5)

Alternates: Charles Melton/May December, Dominic Sessa/The Holdovers, Sterling K. Brown/American Fiction.

 

I'll update the screenplay categories next week.

TRAILERS: WERNER HERZOG-RADICAL DREAMER

From Shout Studios we have the U.S. trailer for TFF #49 entrant Werner Herzog-Radical Dreamer.  The documentary is set for release on Dec. 5th.  Here's the trailer from YouTube:  

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES: PAYNE, HAIGH AND MORE

Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi on the set of Free Solo

Alexander Payne on The Holdovers from The Los Angeles Times.

Alexander Payne on The Holdovers from Uproxx.

Andrew Haigh on All of Us Strangers from Indiewire.

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin on Nyad from Indiewire.

Ilker Catak on The Teachers' Lounge from Awards Radar.

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Gotham Awards Nominations / Occupied City Poster and Trailer / Interviews and Profiles: Payne, Hawke and More

GOTHAM AWARDS NOMINATIONS

The Gotham Awards nominees for 2023 were revealed on Tuesday.  It's the first of many, many awards groups and critics' group's recognitions for film of the year.

Seven TFF #50 films combined to earn 13 nominations lead by Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers with four.  Here's the nomination breakdown as reported by Next Best Picture. 

All of Us Strangers: Best International Feature, Lead Performance (Andrew Scott), Supporting Performance (Claire Foy) and Screenplay.

The Zone of Interest: Best International Feature, Supporting Performance (Sandra Huller), Screenplay.

Anatomy of a Fall: Best International Feature, Screenplay.

Poor Things: Best International Feature.

Totem: Best International Feature.

The Taste of Things: Best Supporting Performance (Juliette Binoche)

The Holdovers: Best Supporting Performance (Da'Vine Joy Randolph)

The Gotham Awards will be presented on Nov. 27th.

OCCUPIED CITY POSTER AND TRAILER

A24 has released a poster and a trailer for Steve McQueen's four hour long documentary focusing on the city of  Amsterdam; its occupation during World War II and the after effects of that.

Here's the poster:

And the trailer from YouTube:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES: PAYNE, HAWKE AND MORE

Alexander Payne on The Holdovers from The Upcoming on YouTube.

Ethan Hawke on Wildcat from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Koji Yakusho on Perfect Days from The Hollywood Reporter.

Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi on Nyad from Vanity Fair.

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Oscar Update: Lead Acting / Trailers: Poor Things, Nyad, Saltburn, Rustin / Interviews: Butler

OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

Here's MTFB's first Oscar Update for the Lead Acting category since the original set of predictions On Sept. 25th..  Today I'm updating the Lead Acting categories.  As usual TFF #50 films are in Bold.  A film's previous position on the MTFB Oscar chart is listed in parentheses.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Emma Stone/Poor Things (2)

2) Lily Gladstone/Killers of the Flower Moon (1)

3) Carrie Mulligan/Maestro (3)

4) Margot Robbie/Barbie (-)

5) Annette Bening/Nyad (4)

Alternates: Sandra Huller/Anatomy of a Fall, Natalie Portman/May December and Fantasia Barrino/The Color Purple

BEST ACTOR

1) Cillian Murphy/Oppenheimer (1)

2) Bradley Cooper/Maestro (4)

3) Colman Domingo/Rustin (2)

4) Paul Giamatti/The Holdovers (5)

5) Leonardo DiCaprio/Killers of the Flower Moon (3)

Alternates: Jeffrey Wright/American Fiction, Andrew Scott/All of Us Strangers and Barry Keoghan/Saltburn.

Comment: Among the Best Actress category is still seems a death match between any of the top six women.  In the Best Actor category-a nice uptick for Cooper and Giamatti.

Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan. 23rd, 2024

TRAILERS: POOR THINGS, NYAD, SALTBURN, RUSTIN

Within a few hours of last Thursday's post distributors/producers for four TFF #50 films released teaser/trailers for their films.  I honestly thought about updating Thursday's post with them but that post was already lengthy.  So, ultimately I decided to post the trailers in today's regularly scheduled MTFB offering.  Here they are from YouTube:

POOR THINGS:

NYAD:

 

SALTBURN:

RUSTIN:

INTERVIEWS: BUTLER

Austin Butler on The Bikeriders from Entertainment Weekly (and Interview Magazine).

Austin Butler from Indiewire.

Austin Butler from The Hollywood Reporter.

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American Symphony Leads Critics' Choice Doc Nominations / The Bikeriders Moves On /Trailer for The Zone of Interest / Featurette for Nyad / Trailer for The Last Repair Shop / Interviews: Payne, Huller, Morris, Triet and Baker / Last Note: KOTFM

AMERICAN SYMPHONY LEADS THE CRITICS CHOICE DOC NOMINATIONS

The awards season has well and truly gotten out of the starting gate with the announcement earlier this week with The Critics Choice awards nominations being announced.  American Symphony which debuted at Telluride a few weeks back led the parade with six nominations including Best Doc Feature, Best Music Doc,  Best Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Score according Erik Anderson of Awards Watch.

Other films that screened at TFF #50 also earned mention among the nominees including:

Beyond Utopia: Best Doc Feature, Best Political Doc, Best Direction, Best Editing

The Mission: Best Doc Feature, Best Editing, Best Score

Occupied City: Best Historical Doc, Best Direction, Best Cinematography

Orlando: My Political Biography: Best First Doc Feature

Bobi Wine: The People's President (from TFF #49): Best First Doc Feature, Best Political Doc

The Last Repair Shop: Best Short Doc, Best Score

Anselm: Best Cinematography

The Pigeon Tunnel: Best Score

The Last Song from Kabul: Best Short Doc

The Critics Choice Documentary winners win be announced on Nov. 12th.

THE BIKERIDERS MOVES ON

The word came yesterday that Jeff Nichols' The Bikeriders has moved off of its previously announced release date.  Originally the film was supposed to have debuted on Dec. 1st.  Screen Daily, among others, reported the date change.  At this point no replacement date has been announced although I did see some mention in other reports that suggest that Disney still plans to release the film in time for awards season.

TRAILER FOR GLAZER'S ZONE OF INTEREST

A24 has released a first teaser/trailer for Jonathan Glazer's brilliant The Zone of Interest.  The film is set for a limited release on Dec. 15th.  Of all of the films I saw at TFF #50, Zone is the one that has stuck with me most strongly.  Here's the teaser from YouTube:

FEATURETTE FOR NYAD

Netflix has released a "behind the scenes" featurette (3:32) for Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi's Nyad.  The film is set for a limited release on Nov. 3rd.  Here's the featurette from YouTube:

TRAILER FOR THE LAST REPAIR SHOP

INTERVIEWS: PAYNE, HULLER, MORRIS, TRIET AND BAKER

Alexander Payne from Indiewire.

Alexander Payne from Gold Derby.

Annie Baker from InterviewMagazine.com

Sandra Huller from The A.Frame

Errol Morris from Pop Culture Confidential

Justine Triet from the Canadian Broadcast Company

LAST NOTE: KOTFM

If you go see Killers of the Flower Moon this weekend, like I'll be doing, look for me.  If I made it into the film as a background player it's likely in one of two scenes.  The arrests of DeNiro and DiCaprio's characters.  Those were shot separately.  The best chance you'll have to actually see me is in the DiCaprio scene as I am in a crowd clamoring as DiCaprio is put in a car and driven away.

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Oscar Update: Best Picture and Direction / New Fingernails Clip / Interviews: The Holdovers' Payne, The Pigeon Tunnel's Errol Morris and Baltimore's Molloy and Lawlor

OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTION

Here's MTFB's first Oscar Update since the original set of predictions three weeks ago.  Today I'm updating the Best Picture and Direction categories.  As usual TFF #50 films are in Bold.  A film's previous position on the MTFB Oscar chart is listed in parentheses.

BEST PICTURE

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Poor Things (3)

4) Barbie (4)

5) The Holdovers (7)

6) Maestro (5)

7) Past Lives (8)

8) American Fiction (6)

9) The Color Purple (10)

10) The Zone of Interest (9)

Alternates: Anatomy of a Fall, Air, Saltburn and The Iron Claw.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Christopher Nolan/Oppenheimer (1)

2) Martin Scorsese/Killer of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Yorgos Lanthimos/Poor Things (3)

4) Greta Gerwig/Barbie (4)

5) Jonathan Glazer/The Zone of Interest (5)

Alternates: Alexander Payne/The Holdovers, Bradley Cooper/Maestro, Celine Song/Past Lives and Justine Triet/Anatomy of a Fall. 

NEW FINGERNAILS CLIP

Apple TV released a new clip from Christos Nikou's Fingernails this past week.  The film will be in limited release on Oct. 27th and is expected to stream on Apple TV on Nov. 3rd. Here's the clip via YouTube:

INTERVIEWS: THE HOLDOVERS' PAYNE, THE PIGEON TUNNEL'S ERROL MORRIS AND BALTIMORE'S MOLLOY AND LAWLOR

From 1011Now, Alexander Payne talks the creation of The Holdovers.  The film is set for limited release on Oct. 27th and wide release on Nov. 10th.

From Pop Culture Confidential, Errol Morris talks about his John Le Carre documentary The Pigeon Tunnel.

Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor's Baltimore was a TFF #50 selection.  It was also a choice of the BFI London Film Festival which just concluded.  The couple were interviewed by Loud and Clear Reviews for its London screening and you can find that here.

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Awards Daily's Oscar Squad and Telluride / Maria Callas, Angelina and Pablo / Interviews: Huller, Vasarhelyi, McBaine and Moss

AWARDS DAILY'S OSCAR SQUADE AND TELLURIDE

Today I'm continuing my occasional look at some of the Oscar experts and their predictions as concerns films that played at TFF.  Today I have a rundown from the newly released first attempt from Awards Daily's Oscar Squad.  The "Squad" consists of AD Head Sasha Stone and 10 of the folks affiliated with the site.

The Squad predicts for13 categories including: Picture, Director, Actress, Actor, Supporting Acting, Screenplays, Editing, Cinematography, Production Design, Costumes and Animated Feature.

Here's the breakdown of their predictions for TFF #50 films:

Poor Things (9): Best Picture, Direction, Actress, Supporting Actor (Ruffalo), Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, Costumes and Production Design.

The Holdovers (5):Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay.

Anatomy of a Fall (4): Best Picture, Actress, Original Screenplay, Editing.

The Zone of Interest (3): Best Picture, Direction, Adapted Screenplay.

Rustin (1): Best Actor,

Nyad (1): Best Supporting Actress.

Saltburn (1): Best Cinematography.

A total of 24 nominations in these categories.

VASARHELYI TALKS NYAD

Gold Derby's Bill McCuddy has the interview with Nyad co-director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi from the opening night of The Hamptons International Film Festival.

MARIA CALLAS, ANGELINA AND PABLO

We have a first look at a couple of photos of Angelina Jolie as opera superstar Maria Callas,  Per Indiewire the film has a SAG/Aftra interim agreement and is set to begin production this week.  An eight week shoot is planned.

I would not be surprised to see this pop up at Venice next fall and then make an appearance at TFF #51.

INTERVIEWS:

From Indiewire: Sandra Huller on both anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest.

New Trailers for TFF #50 Docs /Interviews from NY and London: Green, Glazer and Fennell

NEW TRAILERS FOR TFF #50 DOCS

We have a couple of trailers that appeared in the last week for documentaries that screened at Telluride a few weeks back.  First, here's a look at Paul D. Preciado's Orlando, My Political Biography from YouTube:

The film's IMDb description:

"Academic virtuoso turned filmmaker Paul B. Preciado's Berlin Film Festival award-winning doc tells his and others' stories of transition through unique reenactments and visual interpretations of Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography."

The film doesn't have a release date set yet for here in the U.S. but has screened since TFF at NYFF and The Hamptons International Film fest.  It is also slated to screen at The AFI Fest.

Also appearing last week was a trailer for Nick  Hooker's AKA Mr. Chow.  The HBO film explores the life and career of restaurateur Michael Chow.  The film is set for releases on MAX on Oct,].  22nd.  Here's a look at the trailer from YouTube:

INTERVIEWS FROM NEW YORK AND LONDON

As film festival season has moved on from Telluride we still get interviews from TFF players as their films continue to screen at other festivals.

THE ROYAL HOTEL

Kitty Green for Slantmagazine.com

Kitty Green, Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick for MovieFone via YouTube

THE ZONE OF INTEREST

Jonathan Glazer for Deadline.com

SALTBURN

Emerald Fennell for Deadline.com

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Apologies / Entertainment Weekly Surveys the Oscar Landscape / Lanthimos on Poor Things / U.S. Trailer for The Taste of Things

APOLOGIES

Usually I have the up on its regular Thursday.  Missed it yesterday as I am on the road.  Here it is...

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY SURVEYS THE FALL FILM LANDSCAPE

EW reviews the fall lineup of films with an eye toward Oscar and popular success.  TFF #50 films that get mentioned:

Strange Way of  Life/Almodovar

Anatomy of a Fall/Triet

Nyad/Chin and Vasarhelyi

Fingernails/Nikou

Rustin/Wolfe

Saltburn/Fennell

LANTHIMOS ON POOR THINGS

The New York Film Fest posted the live post-screening interview with Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos and a number of members of the creative team from the film.

The film was a huge success at TFF #50 topping the People's and Pro polls run by this blog.

Here's the link to the post-screening interview.

U.S. TRAILER FOR THE TATSE OF THINGS

From IFC on Wednesday, a new U.S. trailer for Tran Anh Hung's The Taste of Things.  The film was #3 on The Professionals' Poll posted here on Sept. 11th.

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Indiewire's Fall Film Fest Assessment / Mexico Chooses Totem / Poster for All of Us Strangers

INDIEWIRE'S FALL FILM FEST ASSESSMENT

Late last week Indiewire's Anne Thompson and Marcus Jones posted their assessment of fall film fest titles that they characterize "key players in the Oscar race".  Here are the Telluride titles that made that list arranged in order of their Metacritic score (included here in parentheses):

All of Us Strangers/Andrew Haigh (96)

The Zone of Interest/Jonathan Glazer (95)

Poor Things/Yorgos Lanthimos (91)

Anatomy of a Fall/Justine Triet (88)

Beyond Utopia/Madeliene Gavin (85)

The Holdovers/Alexander Payne (83)

The Taste of Things/Tran Anh Hung (80)

The Pigeon Tunnel/Errol Morris (78)

Cassandro/Roger Ross Williams (76)

The Teachers' Lounge/Ilker Catak (75)

The Promised Land/Nicolaj Arcel (74)

The Bikeriders/Jeff Nichols (74)

Perfect Days/Wim Wenders (72)

Rustin/George C. Wolfe (68)

Nyad/Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (65)

Saltburn/Emerald Fennell (59)

MEXICO CHOOSES TOTEM

Deadline, among other outlets, reports that Mexico has chosen Lila Aviles' Totem for consideration for the International Film Oscar.  The film joins a number of TFF #50 (and one TFF #49) titles that have entered the race.  As of this past weekend, here are the TFF films that have been put forward thus far:

The Monk and the Gun/Bhutan

The Promised Land/Denmark

Fallen Leaves/Finland

The Taste of Things/France

The Teachers' Lounge/Germany

Godland/Iceland (TFF #49)

Perfect Days/Japan

Totem/Mexico

The Zone of Interest/United Kingdom

POSTER FOR ALL OF US STRANGERS

Searchlight has dropped a new poster for Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers.  The film stars Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal and is currently set for release on Dec. 22nd.  Here's the poster:

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