MTFB Oscar Update: Screenplays / Gotham Awards Nominations and TFF / TFF Films Being Honored /New Clip from A Real Pain / Interviews and Profiles: Rossellini, Stewart, Sarsgaard and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Screenplay categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Oct. 17th.  An film's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave (1)

2) Emilia Perez (2)

3) Sing Sing (3)

4) Nickel Boys (4)

5) Dune Part Two (5)

Others: The Room Next Door, A Complete Unknown and Gladiator II.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anora (1)

2) The Brutalist (2)

3) A Real Pain (3)

4) September 5 (4)

5) Saturday Night (5)

Others: The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Hard Truths and The Substance.

GOTHAM AWARDS NOMINATIONS AND TFF #51

Seven TFF #51 films and one other from TFF #50 earned a combined 14 Gotham Awards nominations which were announced on Tuesday, Oct. 29th.  Sean Baker's Anora led all films with four nominations.  Here's the breakdown of TFF nominees:

Anora (4): Best Feature, Direction, Lead Performance (Madison), Supporting Performance (Borisov).

Nickel Boys (3): Best Feature, Direction and Breakthrough Performance (Wilson).

All We Imagine as Light (2): Best International Feature, Direction.

No Other Land (1): Best Documentary.

The Outrun (1): Best Lead Performance (Ronan).

A Real Pain (1): Best Supporting Performance.

The Piano Lesson (1): Best Supporting Performance (Deadwyler).

And from TFF #50: Janet Planet (1): Best Screenplay.

A rundown of all the Gotham nominations is linked here from IndieWire.

TFF FILMS BEING HONORED

We are in the midst of various organizations honoring films in this interim between the start of the awards season and nomination morning.  TFF films are reaping their share.  Just this week we saw a number of those.

Will Ferrell and Harper Steele honored by the ACLU with their "Bill of Rights" Award.

The Santa Barbara Film Festival named Ralph Fiennes Performer of the Year.

The Palm Springs International Film Festival announced that Emilia Perez will receive its Vanguard Award.

NEW CLIP FROM A REAL PAIN

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Martha Stewart on her documentary from Entertainment Weekly.

John Magaro for September 5 from Variety.

Peter Sarsgaard for September 5 from The Hollywood Reporter.

Karla Sofia Gascon for Emilia Perez from Deadline.

Karla Sofia Gascon, Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez for Emilia Perez from The Los Angeles Times.

Isabella Rossellini for Conclave from The Credits (MPA).

Sean Baker for Anora from The Contending.

Behind the Scenes of Saturday Night from Gold Derby.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X @Gort2 or @TheMTFB

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com

MTFB Oscar Update: Supporting Actors / Trailers: September 5, No Other Land and Santosh / Interviews and Profiles: Fiennes, Rossellini. Lithgow and More

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTORS

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Supporting Acting categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Oct. 14.  An actor's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson (2)

3) Isabella Rossellini/Conclave (4)

4) Saoirse Ronan/Blitz (5)

5) Felicity Jones/The Brutalist (3)

Others: Ariana Grande/Wicked, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor/Nickel Boys and Selena Gomez/Emilia Perez.

SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain (1)

2) Denzel Washington/Gladiator II (3)

3) Guy Pearce/The Brutalist (2)

4) Charles Maclin/Sing Sing (56)

5) Stanley Tucci/Conclave (4)

Others:  Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice, John Magaro/September 5 and Peter Saarsgard/September 5.

TRAILERS

SEPTEMBER 5

NO OTHER LAND

SANTOSH

  

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Ralph Fiennes for Conclave from IndieWire.

Ralph Fiennes for Conclave from The Playlist.

Isabella Rossellini for Conclave from IndieWire.

John Lithgow for Conclave from The Playlist.

Author Robert Harris for Conclave from Time.

Jacques Audiard for Emilia Perez from The Hollywood Reporter (interviewer: Guillermo Del Toro).

Karla Sofia Gascon for Emilia Perez from Awards Watch.

Jason Reitman for Saturday Night from Awards Watch.

Mikey Madison and Sean Baker for Anora from Entertainment Weekly.

Adam Eliot for Memoir of a Snail from AnimationScoop.com

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X @Gort2 or @TheMTFB

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com

MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting / Middleburg Film Festival Awards Are All TFF films / Interviews and Profiles: Tucci, Baker and Berger

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today.  These categories were last updated on Oct. 10th.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria (2)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Nicole Kidman/Babygirl (4)

5) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun (5)

Others: Mariann Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths, Demi Moore/The Substance, Fernanda Torres/I'm Still Here.

BEST ACTOR

1) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (3)

2) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)

3) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (2)

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Others: Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice, John David Washington/The Piano Lesson

I'll be updating the Supporting Acting categories on Monday.

MIDDLEBURG FEST AWARDS ARE ALL TFF #51 FILMS

The Middleburg Film festival is one of America's standout regional festivals.  They traditionally schedule an incredible lineup of films each year.  This year, as usual, a number of films that screened at TFF made their way to Middleburg.  Four of those films earned Audience Awards as the fest concluded last Sunday.  

Conclave and September 5 tied for the Audience Award for Narrative Features.  The Seed of the Sacred Fig was named Best International Feature and Martha won the award for Documentary.

Other TFF films in the MFF included: All We Imagine as Light, Anora, Better Man, Carville: Winning Is Everything...Stupid,  Emilia Perez, The End, Maria, Memoir of a Snail, Nickel Boys, No Other Land, The Piano Lesson,  A Peal Pain, Santosh, Saturday Night and Separated.  

Other high profile  and non-TFF films included: Blitz, The Brutalist, Flow, Hard Truths, I'm Still Here, The Last Showgirl, Nightbitch. The Room Next Door, Sing Sing and The Wild Robot.

Complete coverage of the awards is linked here from Variety.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Sean Baker for Anora from The New Yorker

Edward Berger for Conclave from The Playlist.

Stanley Tucci for Conclave from Vanity Fair.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com

MTFB Oscar Update-Best Picture and Direction / Snail Wins London / Interviews and Profiles (a lot of Anora)

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE-BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTION

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Best Picture and Direction for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Oct. 7th.  A film's or director's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold. 

BEST PICTURE

1) Anora (2)

2) Conclave (3)

3) The Brutalist (4)

4) Emilia Perez (1)

5) Dune Part Two (5)

6) Gladiator II (7)

7) Sing Sing (6)

8) September 5 (9)

9) Blitz (8)

10) A Real Pain (-)

Others: A Complete Unknown, Saturday Night and The Room Next Door.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist

2) Sean Baker/Anora

3) Jacques Audiard/Emilia Perez

4) Edward Berger/Conclave

5) Denis Villenueve/Dune Part Two

Others: Ridley Scott/Gladiator II, Walter Salles/I'm Still Here and Coralie Fargeat/The Substance.

Thursday I' be updating the Lead Acting categories.

SNAIL WINS LONDON

Memoir of a Snail which screened at TFF #51 (and earned a solid 4.03 average rating in The People's Telluride poll) was named Best Film in the competition section of the BFI London Film Festival last night.  IFC Films is distributing the film which is set to be released on Oct. 25th.

Complete results of the awards from the London Film Fest are linked here from The Hollywood Reporter.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Mikey Madison for Anora from IMDb.

Sean Baker for Anora from the Los Angeles Times.

Mikey Madison and Sean Baker for Anora from The Academy Conversations.

Mikey Madison and Sean Baker for Anora from Vanity Fair via NEON.

Mikey Madison and Sean Baker for anora from SlantMagazine.com

Mikey Madison for Anora from The New York Times.

Mikey Madison for Anora from The Rolling Stone.

Mikey Madison for Anora from LA Weekly.

Isabella Rossellini for Conclave from Vanity Fair.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com

MTFB Oscar Update-Screenplays / Zuwarski v. Texas Has a Plan / New Posters: Conclave, The Piano Lesson, All We Imagine as Light / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE-SCREENPLAYS

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Screenplay categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Sept. 30th.  An film's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave (1)

2) Emilia Perez (-)

3) Sing Sing (2)

4) Nickel Boys (4)

5) Dune Part Two (3)

Others: The Room Next Door, The Piano Lesson and Hit Man.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anora (1)

2) The Brutalist (3)

3) A Real Pain (4)

4) September 5 (-)

5) Saturday Night (2)

Others: The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Hard Truths and Blitz.

I'll be updating the Best Picture nomination predictions on Monday.

ZUWARSKI V. TEXAS HAS A PLAN

Many of you know that I'm high on the documentary Zurawski v. Texas.  I think it was the best thing I saw at TFF #51...and that's saying something as I was a big fan of Emilia Perez, Saturday Night, Conclave and September 5.  Sadly I missed out on seeing Anora. 

Consequently, I have been low key pushing it forward as awards season has become fully alive. I honestly think it should be a serious player for the Best Doc Oscar at a minimum and if I had an Oscar ballot, at this point it would be atop my Best Picture ballot.

The film was the top rated movie on this year's MTFB People's Telluride.  It didn't make the Pros Poll or The Composite because not enough of the Pros saw it Labor Day weekend.  The limited Pros rating was a 4.25 which would have put it at #2 and combined with its Peoples rank (had there been a sufficient number of Pro ballots that kept the 4.25 average) would have put it atop of the Composite Poll.

It's that good.  But...

So, I have been understandably a bit nervous as no distributor has picked up the film since it's stunning debut at T-ride.  So nervous that I reached out to some of the journos I know to ask them if they were hearing anything about distribution or a release date.  By and large the responses were along of the lines of "no idea".  I did get an encouraging note from one prominent journalist that there was a plan in place for the movie to qualify for Oscar consideration.  Then yesterday afternoon came the word from Deadline.com:

"EXCLUSIVE: Zurawski v Texas, the urgent documentary about women who sued Texas after the state’s strict anti-abortion laws almost cost them their lives, will reach theaters before the presidential election.

Deadline can report the film directed by Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and executive produced by a team including Jennifer Lawrence, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, will launch in New York, Los Angeles and cities across Texas beginning October 25."

Deadline continued:

"The theatrical run will qualify the film for Oscar consideration as Best Documentary Feature."

In addition to the announced screenings in New York, Los Angeles and in Texas the film will screen at the upcoming AFI Fest.  I'd encouraging anyone who didn't catch in Telluride to grab a chance to screen it.

The complete Deadline story is linked here.

TRAILER FOR BIRD

NEW POSTERS

CONCLAVE

THE PIANO LESSON

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT

INETRVIEWS AND PROFILES

Saturday Night Behind the Scenes.

Mikey Madison for Anora from BFI.org.

Sean Baker for Anora from Awards Radar.

The Cast and Sean Baker for Anora from Next Best Picture.

Morgan Neville for Piece by Piece from Den of Geek.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X @Gort2 or @TheMTFB

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com

MTFB Oscar Update-Supporting / New Things: Trailer for Martha, Poster for Emilia Perez / Interviews and Profiles: Mikey Madison, Jason Reitman, Ali Abassi

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE-SUPPORTING

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Supporting Acting categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Sept. 30th.  An actor's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson (2)

3) Felicity Jones/The Brutalist (-)

4) Isabella Rossellini/Conclave (3)

5) Saoirse Ronan/Blitz (4)

Others: Selena Gomez/Emilia Perez, Aunjanue Ellis-Tayor/Nickel Boys, Lady Gaga/Joker: Folie a Deux.

SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain (1)

2) Guy Pearce/The Brutalist (5)

3) Denzel Washington/Gladiator II (2)

4) Stanley Tucci/Conclave (4)

5) Clarence Maclin/Sing Sing (3)

Others: John Magaro/September 5, Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice, Samuel L. Jackson/The Piano Lesson.

NEW THINGS

TRAILER FOR MARTHA (the Martha Stewart doc)

POSTER FOR EMILIA PEREZ

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Behind the Scenes of Saturday Night from Time.com.

Jason Reitman and and Gil Kenan for Saturday Night from SlashFilm.

Mikey Madison for Anora from The Playlist.

Mikey Madison and Sean Baker for Anora from The Hollywood Reporter.

Ali Abassi for The Apprentice from IndieWire.

Ali Abassi for The Apprentice from The Hollywood Reporter.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X @Gort2 or @TheMTFB

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com

MTFB Oscar Update-Lead Acting / New Trailers: Anora, Scared Fig, Better Man and More / Interviews and Profiles: Ronan, Madison, Williams and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE-LEAD ACTING

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today and they look a whole lot like the initial predictions from Sept. 30th.   An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria (2)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Nicole Kidman/Babygirl (4)

5) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun (5)

Others: Amy Adams/Nightbitch, Tilda Swinton/The Room Next Door, Fernanda Torres/I'm Still Here.

BEST ACTOR

1) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)

2) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (2)

3) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (3)

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Others: Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice, Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, John David Washington/The Piano Lesson.

NEW TRAILERS!!!

ANORA

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG

BETTER MAN

SEPARATED

CARVILLE: WINNING IS EVERYTHING, STUPID

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun from IndieWire.

Mikey Madison for Anora from Awards Watch.

Director Ali Abassi for The Apprentice from IndieWire.

Ali Abassi for The Apprentice from The Hollywood Reporter.

Pharrell Williams for Piece by Piece from Vanity Fair.

Pharrell Williams for Piece by Piece from The Los Angeles Times.

Director Morgan Neville for Piece by Piece from Focus Features.

Actor Dylan O'Brien for Saturday Night from Men's Health.

Director Josh Greenbaum for Will and Harper from IndieWire.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com

MTFB Oscar Update / More Saturday Night / Poster for The Seed of the Sacred Fig / Interviews and Profiles: Strong, Stan and Lowden

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE

For the next few weeks I'll be posting updated Oscar Predictions for the Big Eight categories.  I'll be updating these categories as pairs so that all eight are updated over a two week period.  Soon I'll begin to add in all the other feature categories.  Today's predix will include Best Picture and Best Direction.  A film's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold.

BEST PICTURE

1) Emilia Perez (2)

2) Anora (1)

3) Conclave (3)

4) The Brutalist (4)

5) Dune: Part Two (5)

6) Sing Sing (6)

7) Gladiator II (7)

8) Blitz (8)

9) September 5 (10)

10) A Complete Unknown (-)

Other possibles: Saturday Night, A Real Pain, The Room Next Door.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Jacques Audiard/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Sean Baker/Anora (2)

3) Edward Berger/Conclave (3)

4) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist (4)

5) Denis Villenueve/Dune: Part Two (5)

Other possibles: Ridley Scott/Gladiator II, Pedro Almodovar/The Room Next Door, Jason Reitman/Saturday Night.

MORE SATURDAY NIGHT 

Alan Zweibel on the Early Years at SNL from Pop Culture Confidential.

Entertainment Weekly Breaks Down Fact and Fiction in Saturday Night.

Gabriel LaBelle on SNL from IndieWire.

POSTER FOR THE SEED OF THE SCARED FIG

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan for The Apprentice from Entertainment Weekly.

Producer Jack Lowden for The Outrun from Gold Derby.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com

Oscar Experts Predict-Awards Radar / New Trailer for Emilia Perez / Maria Q+A from New York / Interviews and Profiles

 OSCAR EXPERTS PREDICT-AWARDS RADAR

I'm getting back to checking in on the current Oscar predictions for TFF #51 films from some Oscar experts.  Today I turn to Awards Radar's Joey Magidson.  Magidson's website currently has 11 TFF #51 films predicted to get 47 total nominations lead by Conclave and Saturday Night.  Awards Radar currently has no predictions for Original Song, International feature, Documentary feature or any of the Shorts categories.

Here's the breakdown:

Conclave (10): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actress  (Rossellini), Supporting Actor (Tucci), Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Cinematography, Film Editing and Score.

Saturday Night (10): Best Picture, Direction, Original Screenplay, Production Design, Cinematography, Film Editing, Costumes, Makeup/Hair, Sound and Score.

Emilia Perez (9): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Makeup/Hair and Score.  (Note here that I fully expect Emilia to pick up at least one nomination for Song)

Anora (5): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Madison), Original Screenplay, Film Editing.

Maria (5): Best Actress (Jolie), Cinematography, Costumes, Makeup/Hair and Sound.

September 5 (2): Best Picture, Original Screenplay.

The Apprentice (2): Best Actor (Stan), Supporting Actor (Strong).

The Outrun (1): Best Actress (Ronan).

A Real Pain (1): Best Supporting Actor (Culkin).

The Piano Lesson (1): Best Supporting Actress (Deadwyler).

Piece by Piece (1); Best Animated Feature.

Here's the link to all of Magidson's predictions at Awards Radar.

NEW TRAILER FOR EMILIA PEREZ

From YouTube:

MARIA Q+A FROM NEW YORK

Via Next Best Picture and YouTube, here is the post-screening Q+A for Maria from the New York Film Festival featuring Angelina Jolie, Ed Lachman and director Pablo Larrain:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Director/Writer RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys from The Hollywood Reporter.

Director/Writer RaMell Ross on Nickel Boys from Film Comment.

Producers Dede Gardner and Joslyn Barnes on Nickel Boys from Indiewire.

Producers Hillary Clinton, Jennifer Lawrence and Chelsea Clinton for Zurawski v. Texas from Vanity Fair.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com