Oscar Winners Predix #4: Lead Acting, Score, Song and Sound / DGA Awards Some Telluride Players / Speaking of Directors / BAFTA Winners

 OSCAR PREDIX #4: LEADING ACTOR, SCORE, SONG AND SOUND

I'm back predicting the winners of this year's Oscars with less than two weeks left until the awards are passed out.  Today I am updating the lead acting categories as well as predicting the winners for Score, Song and Sound for the first time since nominations were announced.  As always TFF #47 film are in Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Carey Mulligan/Promising Young Woman

2) Viola Davis/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

3) Frances McDormand/Nomadland

4) Andra Day/The United States vs. Billie Holiday

5) Vanessa Kirby/Pieces of a Woman

Note: This race is really tight, so it seems, with Viola Davis and Carey Mulligan neck and neck and just a hair in front of Frances McDormand and Andra Day.  I have Mulligan in the top spot but that could change by Oscar morning when I will be posting my final predictions in all 23 categories.

BEST ACTOR

1) Chadwick Boseman/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

2) Anthony Hopkins/The Father

3) Riz Ahmed/Sound of Metal

4) Steven Yeun/Minari

5) Gary Oldman/Mank

Note: Boseman stills seems to be the easy choice here but Hopkins BAFTA win yesterday does give one a little bit of a pause.

BEST SCORE

1) Soul

2) Mank

3) Minari

4) News of the World

5) Da 5 Bloods

Note: Soul is a prohibitive favorite.

BEST SONG

1) Speak Now/One Night in Miami

2) Io Si (Seen)/The Life Ahead

3) Fight for You/Judas and the Black Messiah

4) Husavik/Eurovision 

5) Hear My Voice/The Trial of the Chicago 7

Note: A fairly competitive category with Speak Now and Io Si (Seen) very close and a win for either Fight for You not out of the question.

BEST SOUND

1) Sound of Metal

2) News of the World

3) Mank

4) Soul

5) Greyhound

Note: Sound of Metal is a prohibitive favorite.

THE DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS SOME TELLURIDE PLAYERS

The Directors Guild of America named their winners for excellence for 2020/21 and a couple of the big awards went to directors who would have been in Telluride last September had the fest been able to occur.

Chloe Zhao was named Best Director for a feature film for Nomadland and Michael and Gregory Kershaw were named Best Director for The Truffle Hunters.  Both films were listed by the Telluride Film Festival as films that would have played at the 47th edition.

The complete list of winners can be found here at the DGA website.

SPEAKING OF DIRECTORS

Jane Campion (via Variety)

As I was writing about the DGA results, I saw that Variety's Clayton Davis had re-posted an article named "Directors Whose Work We're Excited to See in 2021".  So, here's the f=directors from that list that have been to Telluride before and the projects that we expect to appear before the end of the year:

Andrea Arnold/Cow

Jane Campion/The Power of the Dog

Joel Coen/The Tragedy of MacBeth

Guillermo Del Toro/Nightmare Alley

Tom McCarthy/Stillwater

Denis Villenueve/Dune

Chloe Zhao/The Eternals

The complete list and more is linked here.

BAFTA WINNERS

Nomadland had a really fine night last night at the awards ceremony for the British Academy of Television Arts and Sciences winning four of the organizations Golden Masks.

Chloe Zhao's examination of the wanderers that make up a large community of R.V. dwellers in the American west won Best Picture as well Zhao for Best Director, Frances McDormand for Best Actress and Best Cinematography.

Florian Zeller's The Father also pulled off a major upset and a minor upset.  Anthony Hopkins upset Chadwick Boseman in the Best Actor category while Zeller and Christopher Hampton won Best Adapted Screenplay over Zhao for her Nomadland screenplay.

You can find the complete listing of BAFTA winners here from The Hollywood Reporter.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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Coming Attractions: Farhadi and Haneke / A Look at The Coen Brothers / Bill Plympton Talks Animation

Good Monday everyone from the Big Apple.  The adventure comes to a close tomorrow as we head back to the real world.  It has been a great and wondrous trip to NYC with many, many memories. I'll be sad to climb onto the plane tomorrow afternoon but also ready to get back home.  Between Art Show and NYC, it's been awhile since I've been on the homestead.


Today on MTFB; Coming Attractions-two films that are announced and likely to be made that stand a better than even chance at a future Telluride play as well as a look at some people who have recently been a part of the scene at various Telluride Film Fests.  First, a new mini-documentary of 2013 TFF tribute recipients Joel and Ethan Coen and then an interview with frequent TFF participant, the wonderful animator, Bill Plympton.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Asghar Farhadi (via Indiewire) and Michael Haneke (via Salon.com)

In the post-Cannes afterglow, a couple of projects from auteurs who are frequent players at both Cannes and Telluride were reported recently as having forward momentum.  I'll be keeping an eye on both projects going forward as they stand very good chances at playing Cannes and T-ride.

Asghar Farhadi, fresh off of seeing his The Salesman win both a screen writing and best actor award at Cannes (which underscored that film's presence in the TFF #43 lineup conversation) is headed to Spain to shoot his next film which will probably star Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem.  Yes, it almost screams Telluride.

Check the report from Variety here:

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/penelope-cruz-javier-bardem-asghar-farhadi-movie-1201782734/


And another Cannes/Telluride regular Michael Haneke's Happy End looks posed to start filming per Isabelle Huppert.  The Guardian talked to her recently and, among many topics, talks about the new film:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/22/isabelle-huppert-woody-allen-noah-baumbach-interview-phaedra-elle

A LOOK AT THE COEN BROTHERS

The Brothers Coen at TFF in 2013

This appeared from The Film Stage over the weekend.  It's from Viceland, a 43 min. retrospective about the Brothers Coen including interviews with T-ride Tributee George Clooney and Jeff Bridges. Take a look at the post and the mini-doc here:

https://thefilmstage.com/news/watch-the-coens-closest-collaborators-walk-through-their-career-in-new-documentary/


BILL PLYMPTON TALKS ANIMATION

Bill Plympton (The Huffington Post)

Additionally, Indiewire recently talked to master animator/director and sometime TFF participant Bill Plympton here:


http://www.indiewire.com/2016/06/bill-plympton-pixar-anomalisa-hilters-folly-1201684474/


That's a wrap for Monday.

Contact me at:

michael_speech@hotmail.com OR

mpgort@gmail.com OR

via Twitter @Gort2 

Here Comes Da Judge(s)/Cannes Announces Director's Fortnight Films/News About Caesar/Do You Remember This Project?

Good Thursday Everyone.  Welcome to the Monkey House...

HERE COME DA JUDGE(S)

The Cannes poobahs had a couple of major announcements in the early part of the week, one of which was the announcement of the members of the Palme d"Or jury.  We already knew that Joel and Ethan Coen (TFF #40 co-tributees with T-Bone Burnett) had been named as co-presidents of the jury.  Thierry Fremaux and company announced that they would be joined by a number of well known names including Oscar nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal, director Guillermo Del Toro, actress Sienna Miller and director Xavier Dolan among others.  I have linked copious reporting and analysis on the jury selection here:

http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2015/04/gyllenhaal-miller-del-toro-join-coen-jury-for-cannes-film-fest/

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/jake-gyllenhaal-guillermo-del-toro-among-cannes-film-festival-jurors-1201476619/

http://www.indiewire.com/article/cannes-2015-jake-gyllenhaal-guillermo-del-toro-and-more-selected-for-competition-jury-20150421

http://www.hollywoodnews.com/2015/04/21/the-jury-of-the-68th-festival-de-cannes/


CANNES ANNOUNCES DIRECTOR'S FORTNIGHT FILMS

The announcement of the Director's Fortnight section of films for Cannes came on Tuesday.  The overlap between the Director's Fortnight section and films that play at Telluride is small/tenuous, there have been a couple of films in recent years that have played the Cannes segment and then played on Labor Day in the San Juans.  Specifically, "Jodorowsky's Dune" in 2013 and "No" in 2012.  And there's a title or two that I could see popping up in T-ride among the films that were announced earlier this week.  For example:  Miguel Gomes' "Arabian Nights" and Arnaud Desplechin's "My Golden Years".


Here's the breakdown of the Director's Fortnight films from Ioncinema and Variety:

http://www.ioncinema.com/news/film-festivals/2015-directors-fortnight-saulniers-green-room-bidegains-les-cowboys-among-dope-selections

http://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/cannes-directors-fortnight-lineup-unveiled-1201476479/


NEWS ABOUT CAESAR

And since we've already mentioned the Coen Brothers above, lets note that we found out some more details about their upcoming (and almost certainly NOT Telluride abound) film "Hail Caesar via frequent Coens collaborators Carter Burwell and Skip Lievsay in The Hollywood Reporter.  The most important of which is that it may not be as comic as we have been led to believe up to this point.  "Hail Caesar" has been frequently mentioned as part three of the Coens purported "Numbskill Trilogy" featuring George Clooney (the preceding films being "O Brother Were Art Thou?" and "Intolerable Cruelty").  The complete THR post is here:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/coen-brothers-hail-caesar-new-790580


DO YOU REMEMBER THIS PROJECT?

I wrote about this months and months ago...a film version that examines the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs that took place in the '70s'.  Now comes news that a cast has been brought together and it's very cool.  The Wrap reports that Steve Carell and Emma Stone are set to play the two tennis stars under the direction of Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton ("Little Miss Sunshine).  The project is being developed by Fox Searchlight and produced by Danny Boyle.  Both of those factors suggest that the film might be a theoretical Telluride possibility in the next year or two.

The post from The Wrap is here:

http://www.thewrap.com/emma-stone-steve-carell-to-play-tennis-stars-billie-jean-king-bobby-riggs-in-battle-of-the-sexes/


More on Monday.  Have a great weekend and if you're at the Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts...come by and see me in Tent 12B...I'll be slinging some art!

The FAC #3 Part Two/Interviews: The Coens, Penn and Teller/The Past Trailer/Gravity's Companion

Good Thursday Everyone...

Here's the second part of the latest Film Awards Clearinghouse focusing on Supporting Acting and Screenplays.

I use the publicly posted predictions of these Oscar experts:

Sasha Stone/Awards Daily

Kris Tapley/HitFix-InContention

Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood

Peter Knegt/IndieWire

Alex Carlson/Film Misery

Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience

Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit

Brad Brevet/Rope of Silicon

The position on the last FAC is in parenthesis.  Telluride #40 films are Bold.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Michael Fassbender/12 Years (2)

2) Jared Leto/Dallas Buyers Club (1)

3) Tom Hanks/Saving Mr. Banks (3)

4) Barkhad Abdi/Capt. Phillips (5)

5) Daniel Bruhl/Rush (4)

6) James Gandolfini/Enough Said (6)

7) Bradley Cooper/American Hustle (7)

8) Jonah Hill/Wolf of Wall Street (NR)

9) John Goodman/Inside Llewyn Davis (10)

10) Jeremy Renner/American Hustle (8)

Drop Out: Matthew McConnaughey

Hot: Jonah Hill

Not: Renner

Comment:

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Lupita Nyong’o/12 Years (2)

2) Oprah Winfrey/The Butler (1)

3) June Squibb/Nebraska (3)

4) Julia Roberts/August: Osage County (4)

5) Jennifer Lawrence/American Hustle (5)

6) Margo Martindale/August: Osage County (8)

7) Octavia Spencer/Fruitvale Station (6)

8) Sally Hawkins/Blue Jasmine (7)

9) Carey Mulligan/Inside Llewyn Davis (9)

10) Sarah Paulson/12 Years (NR)

Drop Out: Amy Adams

Hot: Martindale

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) 12 Years a Slave (1)

2) Captain Phillips (2)

3) Before Midnight (3)

4) August; Osage County (4)

5) Philomena (5)

6) The Wolf of Wall Street (6)

7) Blue is the Warmest Color (8)

8) Labor Day (7)

9) Short Term 12 (9)

10) The Book Thief (10)

No drop outs.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Blue Jasmine (3)

2) Inside Llewyn Davis (1)

3) Nebraska (2)

4) American Hustle (4)

5) Her (5)

6) Saving Mr. Banks (7)

7) Gravity (6)

8) Fruitvale Station (9)

9) The Butler (8)

10) Enough Said (NR)

Drop Out: Dallas Buyers Club

Hot: Blue Jasmine

Eight Telluride #40 films have a presence in this edition of the FAC led by "12 Years a Slave".

"12 Years": Six "Noms": Picture, Direction, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay.  Also a new "possible": Sarah Paulson for Best Supporting Actress.

"Nebraska": Four "Noms": Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress and Original Screenplay. "Possible" for Direction.

"Inside Llewyn Davis": Three "Noms": Picture, Direction and Adapted Screenplay.  "Possibles" for Actor, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress.

"Gravity": Three "Noms": Picture, Direction and Actress and one "Possible" for Original Screenplay.

"All is Lost": Two "Noms": Picture and Actor.  One "Possible" for Direction.

"Blue is the Warmest Color" has two "Possibles": Actress and Original Screenplay.

"Labor Day" has two "Possibles": Actress and Adapted Screenplay.

"The Past" has one "Possible" for Actress.

Total for Telluride films in the Big Eight Categories: 18 "Nominations" and 12 "Possibles".  Three weeks ago those numbers were: 18 "Noms" and 10 "Possibles".

Among non-Telluride films, Paul Grengrass' "Captain Phillips" has five "Noms" and  David O. Russell's "American Hustle" has four "Noms" and four more "Possibles".  "august: Osage County" and "Saving Mr. Banks" also appear strong as they each would have three "Noms" and two other "Possibles".

The film with the most "Possibles" and no expected nominations is Ryan Coogler's "Fruitvale Station" with four "Possibles".

Next Monday, I'll take a look at how The FAC stacks up to The Gold Derby website and also "The Gurus of Gold" from Movie City News.

INTERVIEWS:

Kris Tapley of HitFix/InContention talks to Joel and Ethan Coen about "Inside Llewyn Davis"...The soundtrack is playing in stereo in my office as I type this.

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/joel-and-ethan-coen-discuss-inside-llewyn-davis-long-time-collaborations-and-the-allure-of-new-york

Meanwhile, Beth Hanna of Thompson on Hollywood talks "Tim's Vermeer" with Teller...

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/teller-speaks-talking-wondrously-mind-boggling-art-doc-tims-vermeer


THE PAST TRAILER

Asghar Farhadi's "The Past" now has a U.S. trailer.  Rope of Silicon posted that here:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/past-official-u-s-movie-trailer-berenice-bejo/

GRAVITY'S COMPANION

Alfonso Cuaron's son, Jonas, co-wrote the film with his father and also directed a short film that played at Telluride as well.  It is a companion piece to "Gravity".  If you haven't seen the film, you may want to wait until you catch it before taking a look at the short which you'll find in any of the following posts:

CriticWire:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/gravitys-companion-short-aningaaq-finally-hits-the-web

The Playlist:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-jonas-cuarons-7-minute-gravity-spin-off-short-aningaaq-in-full-20131120

The Hollywood Reporter:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gravity-spinoff-watch-side-sandra-657919

Rope of Silicon:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/watch-jonas-cuarons-gravity-companion-piece-short-film-aningaaq/


More on Monday...