MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting / THR's 30 Films for Best Picture /Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

Here's your Oscar Update for today's post.  This is a check on predicted nominees for the Lead Acting categories.  They were last posted here on Nov. 23rd.  Previous positions on the MTFB Oscar Update is listed to the right in parentheses.  As always TFF films are Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Emma Stone/Poor Things (1)

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

3) Carey Mulligan/Maestro (3)

4) Annette Bening/Nyad (5)

5) Sandra Huller/Anatomy of a Fall (-)

Alternates: Margot Robbie/Barbie, Fantasia Barrino/The Color Purple, Natalie Portman/May December.

BEST ACTOR

1) Bradley Cooper/Maestro (1)

2) Cillian Murphy/Oppenheimer (2)

3) Paul Giamatti/The Holdovers (3)

4) Colman Domingo/Rustin (4)

5) Jeffrey Wright/American Fiction

Alternates: Leonardo DiCaprio/Killers of the Flower Moon, Andrew Scott/All of Us Strangers and Zac Efron/The Iron Claw.

THR'S 30 FILMS FOR BEST PICTURE

I stumbled across this article from The Hollywood Reporter over the weekend.  It was posted/published a couple of weeks back.  I'm not really sure how I missed it, but I did.  Anyway, THR's Tyler Coates has put together a list of 30 films because, as the article says:

"These films are at the front of the race to the Dolby Theatre — a list that includes box office smashes, festival darlings and critical favorites."

From the list, here are the TFF films that Coates suggests are "in play":

All of Us Strangers

Anatomy of a Fall

The Bikeriders (though this looks likely to be released in 2024 now)

The Holdovers

Nyad

Poor Things

Rustin

Saltburn

The Taste of Things

The Zone of Interest

The complete article is linked here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Emerald Fennell for Saltburn from Time.com

Cinematographer Robbie Ryan for Poor Things from Awards Watch.

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MTFB Oscar Take: Lead Acting Update / BIFA Nominations and TFF #49 / Visitations: Field, Nighy, Strong and More

MTFB OSCAR TAKE: LEAD ACTING UPDATE

 I am updating predictions in the categories of Best Actress and Best Actor.  These were last predicted on Oct. 24th.  Past ranking is to the right of the performer in parentheses.  Performances from TFF #49 are in Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Cate Blanchett/TAR (1)

2) Michelle Yeoh/Everything Everywhere All at Once (2)

3) Michelle Williams/The Fabelmans (3)

4) Daniaelle Deadwyler/Till (4)

5) Olivia Colman/Empire of Light (5)

6) Viola Davis/The Woman King (6)

7) Margot Robbie/Babylon (7)

BEST ACTOR

1) Brendan Fraser/The Whale (1)

2) Colin Ferrell/The Banshees of Inisherin (2)

3) Austin Butler/Elvis (3)

4) Bill Nighy/Living (4)

5) Hugh Jackman/The Son (5)

6) Tom Cruise/Top Gun: Maverick (6)

7) Gabrielle LaBelle/The Fabelmans (7)

BIFA NOMINATIONS AND TFF #49

Five films from the TFF #49 lineup earned nominations from the British Independent Film Association this week.

Charlotte Wells' Aftersun lead all films with 16 nominations: Best British Independent Film, Direction, Debut Directing, Joint Lead Performance/Mescal and Corio, Screenplay, Breakthrough Performance/Corio, Debut Screenwriter, Casting, Cinematography, Costume Design, Editing, Original Music, Makeup and Hair, Music Supervision, Sound, Production Design.

Sebastian Lelio's The Wonder also did quite well with 12 nominations: Best British Independent Film, Direction, Screenplay, Lead Performance/Pugh, Ensemble Performance, Breakthrough Performance/Cassidy, Cinematography, Costume Design, Original Music, Makeup and Hair, Sound and Production Design

Oliver Hermanus' Living also had a good day with 9 nominations: Best British Independent Film, Direction, Screenplay, Lead Performance/Nighy, Supporting Performance/Wood, Casting, Costume Design, Music Supervision, Production Design.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed and Close were nominated for Best International Independent Film.

TFF #49 films totaled 39 nominations.

The complete list of all BIFA nominations is linked here from The Hollywood Reporter.

VISITATIONS

Writer/Director Todd Field talks about TAR with Variety.

Actor Jeremy Strong on Armageddon Time with Indiewire.

Actor Bill Nighy talks Living with Indiewire. 

Sound Designer Mark Mangini on Good Night Oppy with Indiewire.

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Oscar Updates: Director, Actress, Actor

 OSCAR UPDATES: DRIECTOR, ACTRESS, ACTOR

In this post, I catch up on my latest predictions and, for the first time this Oscar season, I include more than one category in a post.  As we get closer to the announcement nominations, it's time to accelerate predictions to begin to include categories beyond the major eight (picture, director, actress, actor, Supporting actress, supporting actor, adapted and original screenplays).  This week's posts (today's and Thursday's) will update the major eight categories and then next week I'll begin to add in some of the others.

BEST DIRECTOR

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Direction updated since I last posted this category on  Dec. 21st.  A director's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 films are indicated in Bold.

1) Chloe Zhao/Nomadland (1)

2) David Fincher/Mank (2)

3) Aaron Sorkin/The Trial of the Chicago 7 (3)

4) Regina King/One Night in Miami (5)

5) Lee Isaac Chung/Minari(4)

6) George C. Wolfe/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (6)

7) Paul Greengrass/News of the World (8)

8) Spike Lee/Da 5 Bloods (9)

9) Florian Zeller/The Father (7)

10) Shaka King/Judas and the Black Messiah (10)

Other Possibles: Emerald Fennell/Promising Young Woman, Darius Marder/Sound of Metal, Christopher Nolan/Tenet, Kelly Reichardt/First Cow (TFF #46)

Hot: Emerald Fennell/Promising Young Woman

Not: Florian Zeller/The Father

BEST ACTRESS

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Actress updated since I last posted this category on  Dec. 24th.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.

1) Frances McDormand/Nomadland (1)

2) Venessa Kirby/Pieces of a Woman (2)

3) Viola Davis/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (3)

4) Carey Mulligan/Promising Young Woman (4)

5) Andra Day/The United States vs. Billie Holiday (5)

6) Michelle Pfeiffer/French Exit (7)

7) Sidney Flanigan/Never Rarely Sometimes Always (-)

8) Kate Winslet/Ammonite (9)

9) Meryl Streep/The Prom (6)

10) Sophia Loren/The Life Ahead (8)

Other Possibles: Zendaya/Malcolm and Marie, Amy Adams/Hillbilly Elegy, Meryl Streep/Let Them Talk, Nicole Behaire/Miss Juneteenth

Hot: Sidney Flanigan/Never Rarely Sometimes Always, 

Not: Meryl Streep/The Prom, Sophia Loren/The Life Ahead

BEST ACTOR

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Actor updated since I last posted this category on  Dec. 28th.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.

1) Chadwick Boseman/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1)

2) Anthony Hopkins/The Father (2)

3) Riz Ahmed/Sound of Metal (3)

4) Delroy Londo/Da Five Bloods (4)

5) Steven Yeun/Minari (8)

6) Gary Oldman/Mank (5)

7) Tom Hanks/News of the World (6)

8) Kingsley Ben-Adir/One Night in Miami (7)

9) Ben Affleck/The Way Back (9)

10) LaKeith Stanfield/Judas and the Black Messiah (10)

Other Posssibles: Colin Firth/Supernova, John David Washington/Malcom and Marie

Hot: Steven Yeun/Minari

Not: Gary Oldman/Mank

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Oscar Update: Best Actor / IDA Nominations and TFF #47 / Dweck and Kershaw on The Truffle Hunters / Italy Chooses Notturno / THR's Favorites of the Decade

OSCAR UPDATE: BEST ACTOR

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Actor updated since I last posted this category on  Oct. 29th.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.

1) Chadwick Boseman/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2)

2) Anthony Hopkins/The Father (1)

3) Delroy Lindo/Da 5 Bloods/ (4)

4) Gary Oldman/Mank (3)

5) Riz Ahmed/Sound of Metal (6)

6) Tom Hanks/News of the World (5)

7) Steven Yeun/Minari (7)

8) Kingsley Ben-Adir/One Night in Miami (-)

9) Ben Affleck/The Way Back (8)

10) George Clooney/The Midnight Sky (-)

Others: Colin Firth/Supernova, Daniel Kaluuya or LaKeith Stanfield/Judas and the Black Messiah

Hot: Bosman, Ahmed, Ben-Adir, Clooney

Not: Firth

IDA NOMINATIONS AND TFF #47

The International Documentary Association announced nominations for this year's crop of docs and a couple of TFF #47 films were among the most nominated.  Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw's The Truffle Hunters and Sam Pollard's MLK/FBI were two of the most honored films as each film nabbed three nominations apiece.  

The Truffle Hunters (which admittedly has now become a bit of an obsession for me this awards season) was nominated for Best Feature Doc, Director(s) and Cinematography.  

Meanwhile, MLK/FBI was nominated for Best Doc Feature, Director an ABC Video Source Award and Director Sam Pollard was also cited for a career achievement.

Also from TFF #47, short docs The Lost Astronaut from director Ben Proudfoot was nominated as was Unforgivable from director Marlen Vinayo.

The complete list of IDA nominees is linked here from Next Best Picture.

DWECK AND KERSHAW ON THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS

A couple of big interviews this week with the directors of The Truffle Hunters.  Eric Kohn of Indiewire leads a 40ish minute video interview with Gregory Kershaw and Michael Dweck about the film as a part of the IDA Documentary Screening Series.  That is here from YouTube:

Additionally, Dweck and Kershaw also were interviewed by Pat Saperstein for Variety and that was posted yesterday.  That interview/profile is linked here.

ITALY CHOOSES NOTTURNO

Italy has anmed Gianfranco Rosi's documentary, Notturno as its official selection for competition for the Academy Awards Best International Feature category.  The film was a selection of TFF #47.  Notturno is described as:

"a new documentary is an immersive portrait of those trying to survive in the war-torn Middle East."

In addition to TFF #47, the film was also selected by Toronto, New York, London, IDFA and the AFI Fest among others.

Notturno was chosen over the Edoardo Ponti project The Life Ahead which features the first performance from legend Sophia Loren since Rob Marshall's Nine in 2009.

Variety has the story here.

THR'S FAVORITES OF THE DECADE

The Hollywood Reporter polled 3,500 "industry professionals" and asked them for their "favorite movies" of the decade.  The results of that poll were published Wednesday and TFF films did well.  Among the top 20 fave films of the decade that made an appearance at TFF:

#20 The King's Speech

#11 Birdman

#9 Argo

#6 La La Land

#2 12 Years a Slave

Lots of big budget actioners and superhero films made the list and Jordan Peele's Get Out was named the overall favorite of the decade.

The complete list of 20 films from THR can be found linked here.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

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Oscar Update: Best Actor / TFF #47 Films Score at Montclair / Concrete Cowboy Rides to Netflix / Odds and Ends: Chicago 7 and Midnight Sky

 OSCAR UPDATE: BEST ACTOR

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Actor updated since I last posted this category on  Sept. 24th.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.

1) Anthony Hopkins/The Father (1)

2) Chadwick Boseman/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (-)

3) Gary Oldman/Mank (2)

4) Delroy Lindo/Da 5 Bloods (4)

5) Tom Hanks/News of the World (3)

6) Riz Ahmed/The Sound of Metal (-)

7) Steven Yeun/Minari (-)

8) Ben Affleck/The Way Back (8)

9) Joaquin Phoenix/C'mon C'mon (7)

10) Colin Firth/Supernova (-)

Others: Bill Murray/On the Rocks, Daniel Kaluuya or LaKeith Stanfield/Judas and the Black Messiah.

TFF #47 FILMS SCORE AT MONTCLAIR

Chloe Zhao'e Nomadland and Mohammad Rasoulof's  There Is No Evil were awarded major prizes at the conclusion of the Montclair Film Festival.  The winners were announced Mnday at the conclusion of the ninth annual event.

Nomadland was named winner of the audience award for a fiction feature and There Is No Evil won the jury award for non-fiction feature.

Complete coverage of all of the winners from the Montclair fest can be found linked here from Variety.

CONCRETE COWBOY RIDES TO NETFLIX

Ricky Staub's Concrete Cowboy, a selection of the "would have been" 47th Telluride Film Festival, has been acquired by Netflix.  Concrete Cowboy stars Idris Elba and was screened as a part of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Variety reports that the film will be released by Netflix at some point in 2021.

The IMDb description of the film is as follows:

"A teenager discovers the world of urban horseback riding when he moves in with his estranged father in North Philadelphia."

The Variety story about the acquisition is linked here.

ODDS AND ENDS

Here are a few other tidbits that I found interesting...

1)The Hollywood Reporter reports that the entire cast of Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7 will be campaigned as Supporting Actors:  The link to the THR story is here.

For my money look at Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jeremy Strong, Mark Rylance and Frank Langella.

2) ShowBiz 411 reports that MGM has re-dated Leisl Tommy's Respect, which stars Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin, for August 13, 2021 which means two things.  First, the move bumps the film and Hudson out of this year's Oscar race and second...the August date guarantees that the film will NOT be a part of a TFF #48 (if that's what it's referenced as) lineup.  I had Hudson at #3 in the Best Actress predictions in last Monday's post.

Here's the ShowBiz 411 story.

3) Trailer drops for George Clooney's Midnight Sky from Netflix.  Here it is via YouTube:

The film is scheduled for release on Netflix on Dec. 23rd.

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Oscar Predictions Update: Best Actor / Oscar History and TFF: Best Supporting Actress / TFF Docs and Critic's Choice / New Teaser for Ford v. Ferrari

OSCAR PREDICTIONS UPDATE: BEST ACTOR

I last checked in on the Best Actor Oscar race on Sept. 19th.  Here's the new update for the category with the actor's previous position in parentheses.  Performances from TFF #46 films are in Bold.

1) Adam Driver/Marriage Story (1)
2) Joaquin Phoenix/Joker (4)
3) Jonathan Pryce/The Two Popes (3)
4) Leonardo DiCaprio/Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood (2)
5) Antonio Banderas/Pain and Glory (5)

Possibles: Robert DeNiro/The Irishman, Eddie Murphy/Dolemite is My Name, Adam Sandler/Uncut Gems.

Comment: Recency helps.  Buzz for Joaquin Phoenix's performance spiked with the film's release two weeks ago and he jumped from #4 to #2.  Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio, whose film opened in July.  Robert DeNiro has also benefited from The Irishman finally being in front of some eyes with its acting as the opening night film for the New York Film Fest.

Truth is that Banderas, DeNiro and Murphy are in a virtual tie for that fifth spot.

I'll update Best director predictions on Monday.


OSCAR HISTORY AND TFF: BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave

Here's the complete history of nominees and winners for the Best Supporting Actress category and the Telluride Film Festival:

1987-Ann Sothern/The Whales of August
1989- Brenda Fricker/My Left Foot-WINNER
1991- Diane Ladd/Rambling Rose
1993- Anna Paquin/The Piano-WINNER
1994- Dianne Wiest/Bullets Over Broadway, Jennifer Tilly/Bullets Over Broadway
1996- Jean-Marie Baptiste/Secrets and Lies
2000- Samantha Morton/Sweet and Lowdown
2004- Laura Linney/Kinsey
2005- Michelle Williams/Brokeback Mountain, Catherine Keener/Capote
2006- Adriana Barraza/Babel, Rinko Kikuchi/Babel
2007-  Cate Blanchett/I'm Not There
2008- Taraji P. Henson/The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (scenes screened)
2009- Anna Kendrick/Up in the Air, Vera Farmiga/Up in the Air
2010- Helena Bonham Carter/The King's Speech
2011- Berenice Bejo/The Artist, Janet McTeer/Albert Nobbs
2013- Lupita Nyong'o-12 Years a Slave-WINNER, June Squibb/Nebraska
2014- Emma Stone/Birdman, Laura Dern/Wild, Keira Knightley/The Imitation Game
2015- Rachel McAdams/Spotlight, Rooney Mara/Carol, Kate Winslet/Steve Jobs
2016- Michelle Williams/Manchester by the Sea, Naomie Harris/Moonlight
2017- Octavia Spencer/The Shape of Water, Laurie Metcalf/Lady Bird
2018- Emma Stone/The Favourite, Rachel Weisz-The Favourite, Marina de Tavira/Roma


Overall 35 nominations and three wins: Brenda Fricker/My Left Foot-1989, Anna Paquin/The Piano-1993, Lupita Nyong'o/12 Years a Slave-2013.


TFF DOCS AND THE CRITIC'S CHOICE

The Biggest Little Farm, which was featured last year at TFF #45 led all documentaries in total nominations from the Broadcast Film Critics Association for their doc awards with a total of seven nominations including Best Documentary Feature.

This year's TFF docs were represented by The Kingmaker which earned four nominations.

The BFCA also announced that they would recognize Michael Apted's Up series of docs.  His latest entry in that series- 63 Up- was also featured this year at TFF #46.

The complete rundown is linked here from Indiewire.

The BFCA will present their awards for documentaries on Nov. 10th.


NEW TEASER FOR FORD V. FERRARI

Twentieth Century Fox gave us a new teaser for the film this week.  Check it here from YouTube:

Ford v. Ferrari opens on Nov. 15th.



That's today's MTFB.  More Monday.

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R.I.P. Milos Stehlik / Telluride and Oscar Part Four: Best Actor / Judy Trailer Arrives with a Hint or Two

Hello again from MTFB.  Here's your Tuesday installment...


R.I.P. MILOS STEHLIK

Milos Stehlik at the 71st Cannes Film Festival via WBEZ.org

Independent and International film pioneer Milos Stehlik has died of cancer at 70.  Stehlik was a member of the Telluride Film Festival's Board of Governors and was a recipient of the fest's Silver Medallion back in 1997.


Here's the program entry from the 24th Fest (1997) complete with essay by the late Roger Ebert:

Stehlik was instrumental in bringing films from the Czech New Wave to America.

Variety has a very nice recap of Stehlik's life, career and ties to Telluride linked here.  Included in that story is the news that beginning with this year's fest, one of the 50 members of TFF's Student Symposium will named Milos Stehlik/Facets Scholar.


Additionally, from RogerEbert.com, this from Brian Tallerico.

Also from his hometown Chicago newspapers.  Here are stories from The Chicago Sun-Times and The Chicago Tribune.

Also, I reached out to former Telluride Film Festival Co-Director Gary Meyer who was kind enough to share some thoughts about Stehlik:

“Film is the most important art and it has the power to change the universe.”—Milos Stehlik


First, Milos Stehlik was a friend. He was a passionate yet gentle lover of cinema with a smile that made you especially happy to see him and his equally passionate wife Elizabeth. He enjoyed discussing practically any aspect of the movies and was especially interested in giving a platform to underrepresented voices from all over the world, especially the Czech films of his home country.

Milos was one of the most important film people on the Chicago scene. Facets MultiMedia was long an adventurous exhibition space with innovative programming and strong educational outreach to youth with classes, a film summer camp and the annual children's film festival he started 36 years ago that has an international impact. 

Early on Milos saw the opportunity to expand people's cinema awareness by starting a video rental and sales division so that patrons could go deeper into their movie exploration.  The catalogs they issued were huge and became essential reference books much like the Audio and Films Inc. rental catalogs of the 1970s. Look at this reference page. They also released for home video and libraries many hard-to-find films.  Keeping ahead of the curve Facets moved from VHS to DVD/BluRay as those changes happened and dove into streaming early on. 

Milos knew how to find and develop talented people to carry out his vision and keep Facets an essential and relevant place for film lovers. He had the vision to make certain a succession plan was in place to so his legacy would carry forward.

He was a staple on Chicago public radio's WBEZ, wrote about movies and was a popular film presenter.

Milos was a longtime attendee at the Telluride Film Festival, contributing his knowledge and connections. He had been on the Board of Governors for many years and was most recently President (2016-2017).


TELLURIDE AND OSCAR PART FOUR: BEST ACTOR

Picking up where I left off last week, I'm continuing an eight part series of articles tracing the connection between films that have played Telluride's Film Fest and the eight "major" Oscar categories.

Last Thursday I looked at T-ride and the Best Actress nominees from the past 14 years.  Today it's Best Actor.  Here are the actors that played films at TFF since 2005 who were Oscar nominated as leads.  Additionally, if that actor won it is indicated with ***.


2005: Joaquin Phoenix/Walk the Line, Heath Ledger/Brokeback Mountain, Philip Seymour Hoffman/Capote***
2006: Forest Whitaker/The Last King of Scotland***, Peter O'Toole/Venus
2007: Daniel Day Lewis/There Will Be Blood*** (I always count this and Benjamin Button even though we only saw a portion of each film in tributes to Daniel Day Lewis and David Fincher)
2008: Brad Pitt/The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2009: George Clooney/Up in the Air
2010: Colin Firth/The King's Speech***, Javier Bardem/Biutiful, James Franco/127 Hours
2011: Jean Dujardin/The Artist***, George Clooney/The Descendents
2012: No nominees

2013: Bruce Dern/Nebraska, Chiwetel Ejiofor/12 Years a Slave
2014: Michael Keaton/Birdman, Benedict Cumberbatch/The Imitation Game, Steve Carell/Foxcatcher
2015: Michael Fassbender/Steve Jobs
2016: Casey Affleck/Manchester by the Sea***, Ryan Gosling/La La Land
2017: Gary Oldman/Darkest Hour***
2018: No nominees

Notes: 22 nominees over the 14 years with seven wins.  2018 is the only year since 2005 that no TFF film had a Best Actor nominee.

Thursday we'll take a look at the History of Telluride and Best Supporting Actress.




JUDY TRAILER ARRIVES WITH A HINT OR TWO


As reported yesterday, the Judy Garland biopic starring Renee Zellweger landed a full length trailer yesterday.  Here it is from YouTube:

Included in a couple of stories I've seen is speculation as to the possibility of fall fest screenings for the film.  Andreas Wiseman writing for Deadline.com says, "We've heard that there's a good chance the the movie could debut at Telluride."

That Deadline story in its entirety is linked here.

Meanwhile, other coverage of the trailer release is linked here from The Hollywood Reporter, Indiewire and The Playlist.

Judy is scheduled for release on Sept. 27th.

More from MTFB on Thursday...

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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.


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Special to the FAC: Best Actor and WGA nominations

SPECIAL TO THE FILM AWARDS CLEARINGHOUSE: BEST ACTOR 18 DAYS OUT

The FAC takes a snapshot look at individual categories using the predictive resources of:

Awards Daily (Sasha Stone)

Incontention.com (Kristopher Tapley at HitFix)

The Hollywood Reporter (Scott Feinberg)

Entertainment Weekly (Dave Karger)

Hollywood Elsewhere (Jeffrey Wells)

Thompson on Hollywood (Anne Thompson)

Film Misery

Film Experience

Awards Circuit

BRAD PITT MAKES A MOVE

For the first time since I began tracking the various Oscar prognosticators back in September the Best Actor leader is NOT either George Clooney or Jean Dujardin.  It’s Brad Pitt for Moneyball (by a single point over Clooney).  It’s a tight race and here’s where it stands as of this morning (with Telluride #38 actors in bold).  If the nominations were announced this morning they would be (according to the combined wisdom of these prognosticators):

1) Brad Pitt/Moneyball

2) Geroge Clooney/The Descendants

3) Jean Dujardin/The Artist

4) Michael Fassbender/Shame

5) Leonardo DiCaprio/J. Edgar

In the running:

6) Gary Oldman/Tinker, Tailor and Demian Bichir/A Better Life (tie)

8) Michael Shannon/Take Shelter

9) Woody Harrelson/Rampart

10) Ryan Gosling/The Ides of March

Others receiving votes:

Ryan Gosling/Drive

Joseph Gordon-Levitt/50/50

The top five are all pretty solid right now.  There has been slight erosion on the part of DiCaprio so he’s the most vulnerable to a surprise, although I don’t think that Fassbender is a cinch yet either.  Among the “in the running” types, if there was to be a surprise or two, I think that Gosling is the only one who is entirely unlikely.

Overall, if I were a wagering man (and it was legal), I’d be pretty comfortable with these top 5 being the nominees.

Tomorrow: Best Actress!

WRITER’S GUILD NOMINATIONS

WGA and writing nominations were announced yesterday and here they are:

WGA ORIGINAL BEST SCREENPLAY NOMS: 50/50, WIN WIN, BRIDESMAIDS, YOUNG ADULT AND MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

WGA BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY NOMS: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, THE DESCENDANTS, THE HELP, HUGO AND MONEYBALL

Of course, so many scripts were ineligible because of the particular quirks of the rules for this organization that the Oscar predictive value isn’t all that remarkable.  Still, it doesn't hurt either.

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