Another Bump / Babylon's Fate? / White Noise Rumors / Dardennes' Tori and Lokita Acquired

ANOTHER BUMP

Pardon the interruption.  MTFB didn't publish last Thursday as I was in the middle of a trip to NYC.  But I'm back (albeit later than normal) today.  Apologies to any and all that were waiting on on a Thursday post.  To be honest, this summer is crazy busy so don't be all that surprised if the Blog isn't as consistent as it usually is regarding the Monday/Thursday posting schedule.

BABYLON'S FATE?

Margot Robbie on the set of Babylon (per Fox)

Jordan Ruimy (World of Reel) is reporting that the highly anticipated Damien Chazelle film Babylon ,ay or may not be a festival player.  Ruimy says that Paramount hasn't yet decided on what path they want to take with the film which is set for a December release.  

Babylon has been high on the MTFB radar since it was announced as Chazelle was selected for Telluride twice over the last few years for La La Land in 2016 and First Man in 2018.

Babylon is described as a history of Hollywood as the film community makes the transition from silent films to talkies.  The film stars Margo Robbie and Brad Pitt.

The World of Reel post is here.

WHITE NOISE RUMORS

Another story from Jordan from the last week concerns rumors of a difficult shoot of another film that has been high on the MTFB anticipation and TFF expectation list: Noah Baumbach's White Noise.  Baumbach's Telluride pedigree has been solid with appearances for Margot at the Wedding (2007), Frances Ha (2012) and Marriage Story (2019).

Nevertheless, the Ruimy post suggests the film might be on shaky ground.  

IMDb has the film listed as being in post-production and expected as a 2022 release from Netflix with A24 also acting in a production capacity.

DARDENNES' TORI AND LOKITA ACQUIRED

Deadline reports that The Dardenne's Brothers' Tori and Lokita, which picked up a special 75th Anniversary prize at Cannes last month has been picked up for U.S. distribution by the combination of Janis and Sideshow.  That coupling was the same crew that brought Oscar winner Drive My Car to the U.S. (and Telluride) last year.

That acquisition surely keeps the Dardennes fellows on the TFF #49 watch list.

Anthony D'Alessandro reported the acquistion for Deadline.

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Catching Up / Indiewire's 25 Most Anticipated /PGA Awards 1917 / SAG Award Winners Announced Last Night / ACE Award Surprise-Parasite

CATCHING UP

In the blur that has been the last couple of weeks of Oscar nomination announcement buildup and then the subsequent parsing...some notes and stories that I would have normally included in this space got left behind...so...time to catch up:

Mark Cousins article about the death of the late great Buck Henry is here from Indiewire.

Kris Tapley talks with The Two Popes Oscar nominated scribe Anthony McCarten on The Call Sheet Podcast.

Indiewire reports HBO and Bong Joon-ho are developing Parasite as a project for the premium channel.

The Film Stage on Pedro Almodovar's Pain and Glory.

Damien Chazelle's new Netflix joint will be featured at the Berlin Film Festival.



INDIEWIRE'S 25 MOST ANTICIPATED

Indiewire writers Eric Kohn, David Ehrlich and Kate Erbland published their collective list of 25 films that they have high hopes for on Jan. 11th.  I took a look at their list to continue to try to get an early bead on what might be in the TFF #47 conversation as we move toward spring, Cannes and ultimately the summer season when Telluride Film Fest energy grows and grows.

Consequently, here are the films from their list that seem TFF-y or that are just on my own personal wish list (presented alphabetical as is done in the original post):

Ana de Armas who will star in Blonde (photo via Indiewire)

BLONDE- Andrew Dominik's thinly veiled examination of a Marilyn Monroe-like character played by the currently red hot Ana De Armas (Knives Out).  From Netflix.  Release date: TBD.

DUNE- From director Denis Villenueve.  Villenueve tackles the Frank Herbert sci-fi classic and will certainly have a different approach than we can find in David Lynch's 1984 version.  Villenueve's fairly consistent presence at Telluride makes this a possibility ...or maybe more a wish on my behalf.  From Warner Bros.Release-Dec. 18th.

THE FRENCH DISPATCH- Wes Anderson is back.  A film reportedly about journalism and journalists with Anderson's usual array of regular stars (Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Saoirse Ronan) and a batch of new talent (Timothee Chalamet, Elizabeth Moss).  I expect that some version of the film will bow at Cannes, which as TFF followers know, doesn't preclude at Telluride play.  From Searchlight.  Release: TBD.

I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS- Directed by Charlie Kaufman.  Could Kaufman return to Telluride after screening Anomalisa there in 2015?  Could be.  Jesse Plemons and Jesse Buckley star.  From Netflix.  Release: TBD.

MANK- Director David Fincher's first feature film gig since 2014's Gone Girl finds him directing a script written by his father about the genesis of the film classic Citizen Kane.  Gary Oldman stars as Herman Mankiewicz, the screen writer of the film many regard still as the greatest film ever made.  At this point, it's the film I most ardently hope makes it to Southwest Colorado over Labor Day weekend.  From Netflix.  Release TBD.

Chloe Zhao (photo via Indiewire)

NOMADLAND- Chloe Zhao's follow up to The Rider.  I had this on my 2019 watch lists and that, obviously didn't happen.  Now I'm expecting a Cannes debut and a possible awards friendly release date.  Frances McDormand stars.  From Searchlight.  Release TBD.

ON THE ROCKS- Sofia Coppola re-teams with her Lost in Translation star Bill Murray.  Rashida Jones is cast as well in this father/daughter film.  Coppola screened Lost in Translation at TFF in 2003.  Could this mark a return for her?  From Apple.  Release TBD.

Check out the rest of the Indiewire 25 here.


PGA AWARDS 1917

The Producers Guild of America announced their winners for films and television for 2019 on Saturday night. 

Sam Mendes 1917 took the film top prize which might mean that the World War I set film that is shot to appear to be essentially one take is your front runner for the Best Picture Oscar.  Indiewire reports that the PGA winner is a 72% successful indicator of the eventual BP Oscar winner.

1917 beat out three TFF films that were also in the running: Parasite, Marriage Story and Ford v Ferrari.

Toy Story 4 was named the PGA winner for Animated Feature while the producers named Apollo 11 the Best Documentary of the year.

The complete PGA story is linked here.


SAG AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED LAST NIGHT

Telluride 2019 had a good night at the SAG Awards last night with TFF #46 film actors scooping up two prizes and a TFF film also won Best Ensemble.  Here's the rundown of winners for film:

Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern/Marriage Story
Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt/Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood
Best ACtress: Renee Zellweger/Judy
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix/Joker
Best Ensemble: Parasite

The Parasite win was something of a surprise and positions it along with PGA winner 1917 as the two most likely front runners at this point for the Best Picture Oscar.  Though, I wouldn't rule out Once Upon a Time...just yet.

Now we wait to see what the DGA and WGA do.



ACE AWARD SURPRISE-PARASITE

The American Cinema Editors group surprised the film world on Friday awarding Bong Joon-ho's Parasite as the best edited film drama of the year.  Parasite beat Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood, Ford v Ferrari, Marriage Story and Joker.

Jojo Rabbit won the Eddy for Film-Comedy.  Toy Story 4 won for Animated Feature and Apollo 11 won for editing for a Feature Documentary.

The complete list of nominees and winners is linked here from Awards Watch.



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Oscar History and TFF Part 10: Directors / Oscar Predictions: Best Picture Updated / Old Hollywood to Be Featured in New Films

OSCAR HISTORY AND TFF PART 10:  DIRECTORS

I'm turning now to a breakdown of the history between TFF and The Academy Awards as related to each of the feature categories.  Today I bring you the Best Director nominees from films that have screened at the festival since its inception in 1974:

1986- David Lynch/Blue Velvet
1989- Jim Sheridan/My Left Foot
1990- Barbet Schroeder/Reversal of Fortune
1992- Neil Jordan/The Crying Game
1993- Krzysztof Kielowski/Blue
1994- Woody Allen/Bullets Over Broadway
1996- Mike Leigh/Secrets and Lies
1997- Atom Egoyan/The Sweet Hereafter
2000- Ang Lee/Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
2001- David Lynch/Mulholland Drive
2002- Fernando Meirelles/City of God, Pedro Almodovar/Talk to Her
2003- Sophia Coppola/Lost in Translation
2005- Ang Lee/Brokeback Mountain-WINNER, Bennett Miller/Capote
2006- Alejandro Inarritu/Babel
2007- Jason Reitman/Juno, Julian Schnabel/The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Paul Thomas Anderson/There Will Be Blood (scenes screened)
2008- Danny Boyle/Slumdog Millionaire-WINNER, David Fincher/The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (scenes screened)
2009- Jason Reitman/Up in the Air
2010- Tom Hooper/The King's Speech-WINNER, Darren Aronofsky/Black Swan
2011- Michel Hazanavicius/The Artist-WINNER, Alexander Payne/The Descendants
2012- Michael Haneke/Amour
2013- Alfonso Cuaron/Gravity-WINNER, Steve McQueen/12 Years a Slave, Alexander Payne-Nebraska
2014- Alejandro Inarritu/Birdman-WINNER, Bennett Miller/Foxcatcher
2015- Tom McCarthy/Spotlight, Lenny Abrahamson/Room
2016- Damien Chazelle/La La Land-WINNER, Barry Jenkins/Moonlight, Kenneth Lonergan/Manchester by the Sea, Denis Villenueve/Arrival
2017- Guillermo Del Toro/The Shape of Water-WINNER, Greta Gerwig/Lady Bird
2018- Alfonso Cuaron/Roma-WINNER, Yorgos Lanthimos-The Favourite

Total of 44 nominations for Best Director with nine winners...Alfonso Cuaron twice.


OSCAR PREDICTIONS: BEST PICTURE UPDATED

Here's my updated prediction for the Best Picture Oscar nominations.  These were last posted at MTFB on Sept. 19th.  Each film is followed by its position in the last prediction posting in parentheses.  TFF #46 films are Bold.


1) Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood (2)
2) Marriage Story (3)
3) The Irishman (2)
4) JoJo Rabbit (7)
5) Parasite (5)
6) A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (10)
7) 1917 (6)
8) Ford v. Ferrari (4)
9) The Two Popes (9)
10) The Farewell (8)

Other possibles: Joker, Waves, Judy, Little Women

You're seeing a nice jump up for JoJo Rabbit and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.  Tough dive for Ford v. Ferrari.  I expect that The Irishman will move back up to the #23 or even #1 slot when I next check in as it has now screened as a part of the New York Film Fest and will be rolling out at Mill Valley, Hamptons, London, Rome, Chicago and Tokyo Fests over the next couple of weeks.



OLD HOLLYWOOD TO BE FEATURED IN NEW FILMS

Photo from Shutterstock and Deadline

Deadline.com shared a few weeks back the ongoing news about the development of two films that harken back to old Hollywood for their setting.  Both films could end up on TFF watch lists in the next year or two.

Deadline reported recently that Brad Pitt could be joining Damien Chazelle's next feature project which is currently titled Babylon.  The film is also rumored to be seeking past Chazelle collaborator Emma Stone who won the 2017 Best Actress Oscar for Chazelle's La La Land.  Lionsgate is rumored to be out front in terms of the studio where the project could land.

Meanwhile, in the same story, Deadline also says that David Finches is lining up a project focused on the life of Casablanca screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz.  The film is said to be set up at Netflix and would feature Gary Oldman in the lead.  The film is tentatively titled Mank.

Each feature reported for both films by Deadline would suggest at least the possibility of a play at The SHOW.

The complete Deadline story is linked here.


That's today on MTFB.

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Telluride and the Oscar Part Six: Supporting Actor / Chazelle Back in the Game / THR's 20 Venice Possibles

Welcome to the Monkey House...


TELLURIDE AND THE OSCAR PART SIX: BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Today is Part Six of my series looking at the relationship between films from the Telluride Film Festival and the Oscars "Big Eight" categories with the focus today on Best Supporting Actor.  Beginning with 2005 (the year before I began attending the fest) here are all the Oscar nominees for that category.  Winners are indicated with ***.


2005: Jake Gyllenhaal/Brokeback Mountain
2006: Jackie Earle Haley/Little Children
2007: Hal Holbrook/Into the Wild
2008: No nominees
2009: Christopher Plummer/The Last Station
2010: Geoffrey Rush/The King's Speech
2011: No nominees
2012: Alan Arkin/Argo
2013: Michael Fassbender/12 Years a Slave
2014: Mark Ruffalo/Foxcatcher, Edward Norton/Birdman
2015: Mark Ruffalo/Spotlight
2016: Mahershala Ali/Moonlight***, Lucas Hedges/Manchester by the Sea
2017: Richard Jenkins/The Shape of Water
2018: Richard E. Grant/Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Notes:  The category that Telluride has held the least sway over in the 14 years with only 14 nominations during that time and just the single win for Mahershala Ali in 2016.

Mark Ruffalo is the only actor with two nominations in this category from TFF films and they came in back to back years with Foxcatcher in 2014 and Spotlight in 2015.

2008 and 2011 saw no nominations at all from T-ride films in the category.

To the best of my ability, it appears that the first TFF nominee in this category was Jaye Davidson for The Crying Game in 1992.

Thursday a look at Best Adapted Screenplay.



CHAZELLE BACK IN THE GAME

Emma Stone and Damien Chazelle

(Photo via Michael Buckner/Deadline/Shutterstock)

Mike Fleming writing at Deadline.com has reported as of yesterday that Damien Chazelle is in the process of lining up his next project.  Fleming reports that the film is an "original drama set in period Hollywood.  He further reports that Chazelle's Oscar winning star of his La La Land, Emma Stone, is considering taking the lead and that Lionsgate, which distributed  La La Land is said to be in the running to do the same for the new picture.

Deadline reports that the film's current title is Babylon.

It's worth noting for TFF fans as Chazelle's last two films have made their way there-La La Land and First Man.

Deadline does not report any specific timeline for the film.

The Deadline story is here.

Variety has reported that Paramount is also interested.

The Hollywood Reporter suggests that Netflix may also be interested and that Stone may be looking at playing real life early Hollywood star Clara Bow.


THR'S 20 VENICE POSSIBLES

The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Roxborough published a story yesterday listing 20 films that he/THR feel have some likelihood of playing the Venice Fest.  They announce the bulk of their lineup on July 25th.

As most readers here know, the Venice/Telluride connection has been significant over the past few years.

Among the 20 titles the one's that seem to have the most chance of being a Venice/Telluride combo film are:

James Gray's Ad Astra
Taika Waititi Jojo Rabbit
Kelly Reichardt's First Cow
Chloe Zhao's Nomadland
Fernando Meirelles' The Pope
Pablo Larrain's Ema
Hirokazu Kore-eda's The Truth

A couple of others to mention that are outside shots: Todd Phillips' Joker and Steven Soderbergh's The Laundromat

The article also includes Martin Scorsese's The Irishman which almost everyone believes will not be ready for Venice (and Hence Telluride).  Also mentioned is Greta Gerwig's Little Women, which is the only film among the 20 that Roxborough specifically mentions as a Telluride possibility...though he does also write about the current bizz that Little Women may not do any fest at all.

The complete THR article is linked here.


That'll do for this Tuesday.  I'll have more on Thursday.

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Oscar Predictions: Specialty Categories / Latest Gurus of Gold / Directors Interviews

Oscar nomination announcements are Tuesday!

OSCAR PREDICTIONS: SPECIALTY CATEGORIES

Here are my latest predictions for Oscar nominations in the specialty categories.  Telluride films are Bold.  All of these categories will have five nominees except Makeup/Hair which will have three.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Roma

2) A Star Is Born

3) First Man

4) Cold War

5) The Favourite

6) Black Panther

Possible: If Beale Street Could Talk

COSTUMES

1) The Favourite

2) Mary Poppins Returns

3) Black Panther

4) Mary Queen of Scots

5) Bohemian Rhapsody

6) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Possible: BlacKkKlansman Vice, If Beale Street Could Talk,  

FILM EDITING

1) A Star Is Born

2) Roma

3) Vice

4) BlacKkKlansman

5) First Man

6) The Favourite

Possible: Bohemian Rhapsody, Black Panther

MAKEUP/HAIR

1) Vice

2) Black Panther

3) Mary Queen of Scots

4) Bohemian Rhapsody

Possible: Border, Stan and Ollie, Suspiria

ORIGINAL SCORE

1) If Beale Street Could Talk

2) First Man

3) Mary Poppins Returns

4) Isle of Dogs

5) Black Panther

6) BlacKkKlansman

Possible: A Quiet Place, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

ORIGINAL SONG

1) Shallow/A Star Is Born

2) All the Stars/Black Panther

3) I'll Fight/RBG

4) Girl in the Movies/Dumplin'

5) Trip a Little Light Fantastic/Mary Poppins Returns

6) Where Lost Things Go/Mary Poppins Return

Possible: Revelation/Boy Erased

PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) The Favourite

2) Mary Poppins Returns

3) First Man

4) Black Panther

5) Roma

6) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Possible: BlacKkKlansman

SOUND EDITING

1) First Man

2) A Quiet Place

3) Black Panther

4) Roma

5) Mary Poppins Returns

6) Ready Player One

Possible: A Star Is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody, Annihilation

SOUND MIXING

1) A Star Is Born

2) First Man

3) Mary Poppins Returns

4) Roma

5) A Quiet Place

6) Black Panther

Possible: Bohemian Rhapsody

VISUAL EFFECTS

1) First Man

2) Black Panther

3) Ready Player One

4) Avengers: Infinity War

5) Mary Poppins Returns

6) Solo: A Star Wars Story

Possible: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

I'll have my )mostly) final predictions on Monday for all Oscar categories.

LATEST GURUS OF GOLD

The upcoming Gurus of Gold post from Movie City News will focus on the Oscar acting categories and Best Picture.  Not sure exactly when it will go up.  Likely in the next day or two.  Jump on over to their site to check out last week's Gurus and a look from me and 12 other Oscar experts.  

Here's the link to MCN.

DIRECTORS INTERVIEWS

As we steer the ship toward Tuesday's Oscar nominations reveal, here's a look a three recent interviews from directors whose films played TFF #45 and are now a part of the awards conversation:

From The Hollywood Reporter, Roma's Alfonso Cuaron takes us on a tour of his the Mexico City that serves as a setting for the film:

From The New Yorker, Elaina Patton talks to Cold War director Pawel Pawlikowski.  Linked here.

And from The Playlist, Griffin Schiller talks to First Man director Damien Chazelle (and also a bit with actress Claire Foy).  That is linked here.

That's today's MTFB.  A reminder again that next Monday's regularly scheduled post I'll have (mostly) final Oscar predictions.

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The Latest from Gold Derby / Interviews

Welcome to the Lull...that week between Christmas and New Years...

THE LATEST FROM GOLD DERBY

It's not a secret that I have been really pleased to be included as an "Oscar Guru" for MOvie City News' Gurus o' Gold this Oscar season but I'd also be silly to ignore the Oscarologists compendium that is Gold Derby.  So, I'm not.

I took a look at their latest collective predictions and this is where there set of pros have Telluride films situated in their prognostications as 2018 comes to a close.

I am assuming nine films make the Best Picture field;

Leading the way for TFF #45 films in Gold Derby's estimation are both The Favourite and First Man.  Both films are pegged fro 10 nominations.  Roma is close behind with a projected eight nominations.

The Favourite is predicted for: Best Picture, Direction, Actress, Supporting Actress (for both Stone and Weisz), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Costumes, Film Editing and Production Design.

The Derby has First Man predicted for: Best Picture, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Production Design, Original Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects.

Roma is picked for: Best Picture, Direction, Actress, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Editing and Foreign Language Film.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? is named thrice: Actress, Supporting Actor and Adapted Screenplay.

Single nominations are predicted for:

Free Solo: Best Documentary Feature
Cold War: Best Foreign Language Film
Shoplifters: Best Foreign Language Film
Caroline: Best Live Action Short

That's a total of 35 predicted nominations for TFF #45 films.

Additionally, First Reformed from TFF #44 is predicted to earn nominations for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay.

The complete latest Gold Derby odds are linked here.


INTERVIEWS

Damien Chazelle/First Man with SoundworksCollection.com

Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz/The Favourite with The Hollywood Reporter

Pawel Pawlikowski/Cold War with Vox

Alfonso Cuaron et. al./Roma with Indiewire


Thanks for reading.  More on Monday.


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

Good Thursday film fans...


OSCAR PREDICTIONS UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTOR

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

BEST PICTURE

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


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

Others: Vice, Widows, Boy Erased

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

BEST DIRECTION

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

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

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

I'll update the lead acting races on Monday.


NEW BOY ERASED TRAILER ARRIVES


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

Here's the new trailer from YouTube:

NETFLIX SETS ROMA RELEASE

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

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

The complete story from Indiewire is linked here.


MORE FROM JASON REITMAN ON THE FRONT RUNNER

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

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

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

Here's the interview.


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


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

Good Monday Ladies and Germs...


UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS: BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTOR

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

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

BEST PICTURE

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

Others: Eighth Grade, Widows, Boy Erased


BEST DIRECTION

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

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

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


FIRST MAN LAUNCHES

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

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

The Hollywood Reporter

Time

Indiewire


NEWS FOR CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

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

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

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

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

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

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Trailers for Foreign Film Contenders from TFF #45 / Chazelle Talks First Man and More / Indiewire's List of 32

Welcome back form the first weekend of October.  Fall arrived here in Oklahoma over the weekend with temps in the 90's Friday and in the 60's Saturday.  Hello Autumn!

TRAILERS FOR FOREIGN FILM CONTENDERS FROM TFF #45

Both Hirokazu Kore-eda's Palme d'Or Cannes prize winning Shoplifters and Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War which won Best Director at Cannes figure to be serious contenders for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominations and could give Alfonso Cuaron's Roma a run for the money to win the award.  Both films had releases at the end of this past week of trailers to best their hype before their U.S. release.  Cold War is dated for a Dec. 21st release whereas Shoplifters is Nov. 23rd.  (By the way, it appears that Roma is likely to be released in some theaters on Dec. 14th prior to its streaming availability from Netflix , which produced the film per Indiewire).

Here is the trailer for Cold War from YouTube:

And also from YouTube, the trailer for Shoplifters:

I have linked stories of the trailers' releases.  For Cold War from Indiewire and for Shoplifters from The Playlist and Indiewire.

CHAZELLE TALKS FIRST MAN AND MORE

With the release of Damien Chazelle's First Man just days away (opening Oct. 12th, this Friday), it was not surprising to see Chazelle turn up at the end of last week as Kris Tapley's guest on Variety's Playback Podcast.

Chazelle talks, of course, about his upcoming film that tells the story of Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) and the first moon landing.  He also talks about other topics including that famous Oscar moment from a year and a half ago.

Here's the link to the podcast.  Enjoy!

INDIEWIRE'S LIST OF 32

Eric Kohn, David Ehrlich and Kate Erbland at Indiewire have compiled a list of 32 independent films that they claim are the best 32 Indies of the year thus far.  

The list includes several films from TFF #44.  Why only one TFF #45 Indie's you ask?  Many have yet to be officially released.  I suspect the list will get larger and the crew at Indiewire says as much in the article.

Included on the list from TFF #44 are:

First Reformed

The Rider

Lean on Pete

Foxtrot 

A Fantastic Woman

The lone TFF #45 film so far is Free Solo which opened Sept. 28th.

Their top choice of all 32 films is Tamara Jenkins Private Life (First Reformed sits at #2).

The complete list from Indiewire is here.

That's your MTFB for this Monday.  I'll have more in my next regularly schedule post on Thursday.

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

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Friday Done, Saturday Looms / TBAs for Saturday / The Other Big News

TBAs for Saturday:

Massons Hall

11:45am-Watergate
8:00pm-Great Expectations
10:30pm-Dogman

The Zog

10:00pm-Free Solo


MY FRIDAY

Things changed with the discovery that the Patron/Press screening would be The Old Man and the Gun.  I took that in and then caught the North American premiere of Damien Chazelle's First Man.

Robert Redford talks with John Horn after the world premiere of David Lowery's The Old Man and the Gun

Sissy Spacek

Old Man and the Gun- Pleasant.  Was like a warm blanket to see Redford in fine form playing a lovable character.  Sissy Spacek and Casey Affleck are capable in support.  Tom Waits damn near steals the film.  Honestly, I felt like the film suffered a bit from lack of depth.  Again, pleasant.

First Man-is first rate.  Gripping, pulse pounding but also moving with genuinely touching moments. Gosling and Foy are great and Jason Clarke as doomed astronaut Jason Clarke also does a bang up job in support.

I was a big fan of La La Land two years ago and First Man does not disappoint as a follow up.  The Venice raves were earned.  I think it's a "can't miss" for you Telluriders this weekend.

MY SATURDAY...depending on if I can make the appropriate moves around town and Mountain village: Roma (Cuaron tribute), Destroyer, Can You Ever Forgive Me and The Favourite (Stone tribute).


THE OTHER BIG NEWS

Tom Luddy is not here in Telluride this year.  Co-director Julie Huntsinger revealed during the opening press conference today that Luddy is back in Berkeley as a health pre-caution.  She says not serious or life threatening but rather a decision based on cautiousness.


That's it for today.

Ten (20) Bets for TFF #45 #9 / Damien Chazelle Talks First Man with THR / New Posters for The Favourite and Roma / The People's Telluride

It starts in a ONE WEEK!!!   Telluride 2018....


TEN (20) BETS FOR TELLURIDE #9

Here's your penultimate Ten Bets list for TFF 2018 beginning, as always with a review of last week's Ten (20) Bets:


1) The Old Man and the Gun
2) Roma
3) First Man
4) The Front Runner
5) Destroyer
6) The Favourite
7) Cold War
8) Dogman
9) Shoplifters
10) Can You Ever Forgive Me?
11) Non-Fiction
12) Boy Erased
13) White Boy Rick
14) Peterloo
15) The Other Side of the Wind
16) Meeting Gorbachev
17) Free Solo
18) Graves Without a Name
19) Birds of Passage
20) Girl

And now, the latest Ten (20) Bets:

1) The Front Runner
2) The Old Man and the Gun
3) First Man
4) Roma
5) Destroyer
6) The Favourite
7) Cold War
8) Can You Ever Forgive Me?
9) Shoplifters
10) Boy Erased
11) Non-Fiction
12) White Boy Rick
13) Dogman
14) Peterloo
15) The Other Side of the Wind
16) Meeting Gorbachev
17) Free Solo
18) Graves Without a Name
19) Birds of Passage
20) Girl

Other films still in play:

Angels Are Made of Light, The White Crow, Watergate, Ghost Fleet, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, On the Basis of Sex, He Dreams of Giants, The Biggest Little Farm, Cheney (Backseat), Nothing Like a Dame, Mary Queen of Scots, The Aspern Papers.

I might mention here that I have heard via very, very hush-hush sources about two or three additional titles that are not listed anywhere above may pop up at Telluride.  I may be able tell you next week...maybe not. 




DAMIEN CHAZELLE TALKS FIRST MAN WITH THR

First Man director Damien Chazelle is basking in the spotlight of presenting the opening film for the Venice Film Festival, after which we are morally certain, he will wing his way to Colorado to screen the eagerly awaited film at TFF #45 (will he bring along the film's star Ryan Gosling?)

The Oscar winning director of La La Land offers up the true story of man's first moon landing through the lens of astronaut Neil Armstrong (who had strong roots in Telluride).  Other cast members who would be cool to see in T-ride include Corey Stoll who plays Buzz Aldrin, Claire Foy who is Armstrong's wife Janet and Kyle Chandler who plays Deke Slayton.

As a part of the run up to the big lift off for the film coming next week, The Hollywood Reporter has a huge feature on Chazelle this week.

The complete story is linked here.


NEW POSTERS FOR THE FAVOURITE AND ROMA

I have to admit that one of the films that I am most intrigued by among the list of films that I'm saying will play in Telluride next week is Yorgos Lanthimos' The Favourite.  The trailer looks interesting and I'm a sucker for Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.

In addition to those factors is the claim from Indiewire's Anne Thompson a few days back that The Favourite might be the early favorite to win Best Picture.

Needless to say, it's on my list to catch next week in the mountains.

The film got a new international poster yesterday and here it is:

You have to admit...it is unique.

Also adding a new poster yesterday was another film that is getting huge buzz prior to screening at all four fall film fests (T-ride, TIFF, Venice and NYFF).  Alfonso Cuaron's Roma's new poster is spare but maybe that's the point:

Roma is also high on my list for next week.


THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

For the seventh consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

When the time comes, you can send those ratings to me in any of the following ways listed as contact info for me listed below.

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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

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This Year's Oscar Crop and TFF Regulars / More on Don Q

Welcome back from your weekend.  Hope you had a good one...


THIS YEAR'S OSCAR CROP AND TFF REGULARS

At the end of last week not one but three major Oscar prediction groups published articles focusing on the films that they see as possible players for awards season glory.  Writers for Awards Daily, Variety and Entertainment Weekly all provided lists.

Taking a look, I noticed, to little surprise, that a number of films appeared on all three lists and a number also will be directed by people with past appearances at Telluride which means they have to be considered among the films that could make the SHOW.  So...here are the films from all three lists that have a TFF legacy director:

Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk
Damien Chazelle's First Man
Steve McQueen's Widows

Making at least two of the lists:

Mike Leigh's Peterloo
Jacques Audiard's The Sisters Brothers
Jason Reitman's The Frontrunner
Alfonso Cuaron's Roma
Yann  Damange's White Boy Rick


And with one mention:

David Mackenzie's Outlaw King
Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War
Julian Schnabel's At Eternity's Gate

The complete articles can be found here from Entertainment Weekly, Variety and Awards Daily



MORE ON DON Q

In light of last week's news that Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote has been programmed to screen at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival despite having lost a court case in France concerning the ownership of the film's rights, came another story at the end of last week from Indiewire's Michael Nordine.

The IW story focuses on the claims of producer Marilea Besuievsky who says  that Paulo Branco, who won the court case, may have over claimed the extent of the court victory.

Besuievsky, being quoted from a Spanish language publication, El Espanol, says that Gilliam has the right to release the film anywhere in the world.

So...back on the TFF watch list it goes...

The Indiewire article is here.


More to come tomorrow.

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

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First Man Trailer and Poster Too / Moving Parts / Could The Angel Appear?

Monday dawns and MTFB is waiting...

FIRST MAN TRAILER...OF COURSE (AND POSTER TOO)

As expected, the first trailer for Damien Chazelle's First Man was released Friday night.  I included it on my Twitter feed almost as soon as I could lay my hands on the YouTube link.  Here it is:

The release generated a lot of interest online and the number of sources that reported on it Friday/Saturday were numerous.  Much of that coverage is linked below but to distill the more interesting nuggets:

Awards Daily's Sasha Stone suggests that First Man "maybe going to Telluride but might hit the Venice/Telluride one two punch".  [My guess is the latter if the film does make a T-ride appearance I suspect it will come after a Venice bow]

First Showing's Alex Billington isn't as specific writing that "This film is expected to premiere at a few film festivals in the fall first."

The film is slated to open in the U.S. on Oct. 12th.

Other coverage for the trailer release is linked here from:

Variety

The Hollywood Reporter

Deadline

Entertainment Weekly

The Playlist

The Film Stage

Awards Watch

The Wrap

MOVING PARTS

You can take a couple of films off your Telluride wish list/prediction charts.  Over the weekend we discovered that Lenny Abrahamson's follow up to Room, for which Brie Larson won the Best Actress Oscar (and the film also was nominated for Best Picture, Direction and Adapted Screenplay), The Little Stranger will open domestically on August 31st so you can scratch that.

That tidbit is here from Awards Watch

We also discovered that Where'd You Go Bernadette from director Richard Linklater has been moved to March 22, 2019 so it becomes very unlikely in our Telluride calculations.

COULD THE ANGEL APPEAR?

Pic from Marcos Ludevid and Variety

Distributor The Orchard has acquired the rights to El Angel.  The film debuted at Cannes to reasonable critical response as a part of the Un Certain Regard section.  The Orchard brought Pablo Larrain's Neruda to Telluride in 2016 so that suggests it's a possibility.  

On the other hand, I was really confident that BPM, which The Orchard distributed last year, was going to make a Telluride play and was very, very wrong.

Variety's Brett Lang reported the acquisition on Thursday.

That's your MTFB for this Monday.  I'll be back tomorrow as we begin dissecting the offerings from the distributors that most often play Telluride.  Starting with the most frequent player: Sony Pictures Classics.

Bye now...

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

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