MTFB Oscar Update: International, Documentary and Animated Features and Song / What the Experts Are Saying / Interviews and Profiles: Scott, Mescal, Glazer and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: INTERNATIONAL, DOCUMENTARY,  ANIMEATED FEATURES AND SONG

In this post I'm continuing my first "educated" set of predictions for who/what will win on Oscar night, March 10th.  The focus for this post is initial projections for the International. Documentary, and Animated Feature races as well Best Original Song.  As always TFF films are in Bold.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) The Zone of Interest/United Kingdom

2) Society of the Snow/Spain

3) The Teachers' Lounge/Germany

4) Perfect Days/Japan

5) Io Capitano/Italy

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) 20 Days in Mariupol

2) Bobi Wine: The People's President

3) Four Daughters

4) The Eternal Memory

5) To Kill a Tiger

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse

2) The Boy and the Heron

3) Elemental

4) Nimona

5) Robot Dreams

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) What Was I Made For?/Barbie

2) I'm Just Ken/Barbie

3) It Never Went Away/American Symphony

4) Whazhazhe/Killers of the Flower Moon

5) The Fire Inside/Flamin' Hot

Comment: Of the five TFF nominees from this group of categories only The Zone of Interest looks like a winner.  

At the moment the closest of these four categories looks to be Original Song where the two tunes from Barbie appear to be slugging it out.  It does beg the question of whether the two songs might split enough votes that something else sneaks in for the win.

WHAT THE EXPERTS ARE SAYING

I've decided for each post between now and the Oscars to share where some of the top Oscarologists are in terms of predicting the 23 category winners. Today I'm sharing the publicly posted current predictions from Variety's Clayton Davis and The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg.  as with my predictions above, TFF films are in Bold.

From Clayton Davis...the current predictions have Oppenheimer winning eight Oscars.

Oppenheimer (8): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Score and Sound.

The Holdovers (2): Best Actor and Supporting Actress.

Poor Things (2): Production Design and Costumes.

Single wins for:

Killers of the Flower Moon: Best Actress.

Barbie: Best Song (What Was I Made For?)

Anatomy of a Fall: Best Original Screenplay.

The Zone of Interest: Best International Feature.

Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse: Best Animated Feature.

20 Days in Mariupol: Best Documentary Feature.

Maestro: Best Makeup/Hair.

The Creator: Best Visual Effects.

The Last Repair Shop: Best Documentary Short.

Letter to a Pig: Best Animated Short.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar: Best Live Action Short.

If Clayton nails it, TFF films snag seven Oscar wins.

Here's the link to Clayton's predictions.

Meanwhile, Scott Feinberg at The Hollywood Reporter is currently predicting the same category wins for Oppenheimer that Davis has.

Oppenheimer (8): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay. Cinematography, Editing, Score and Sound.

The Holdovers (3): Best Actor, Supporting Actress and Original Screenplay.

Barbie (3): Costumes, Song (What Was I Made For?), and Production Design.

Single wins for:

Poor Things: Best Actress.

The Zone of Interest: Best International Feature.

Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse: Best Animated Feature.

Bobi Wine: The People's President: Best Documentary Feature.

Maestro: Best Makeup/Hair.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3: Best Visual Effects.

War Is Over: Best Animated Short.

The ABC's of Book Burning: Best Documentary Short.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar: Best Live Action Short.

If Feinberg is 100% accurate, TFF films earn six Oscar wins.

Here's the link to Scott's predictions.

INETRVIEWS AND PROFILES: 

Behind the scenes of Poor Things from On the red Carpet via YouTube.

Composer Jerskin Fendrix for Poor Things from Gold Derby.

Writer/Director Jonathan Glazer behind the scenes of The Zone of Interest from A24 on X.

Producer James Wilson on The Zone of Interest from Gold Derby.

Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal for All of Us Strangers from Pop Culture Confidential.

Writer/Director Lila Aviles for Totem from The Los Angeles Times.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (TWITTER): @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

BLUE SKY: https://bsky.app/profile/gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture and Direction / The Bikeriders Riding to a New Home / Trailers and Clips: The Teachers' Lounge, Poor Things and Saltburn / Interviews and Profiles: Giamatti, Dafoe, Domingo, Mescal and More

 OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTION

Here's MTFB's  Oscar Update.  Today I'm updating the Best Picture and Direction categories.  The last prediction for these two categories were posted on Nov. 9th.  As usual TFF #50 films are in Bold.  A film's previous position on the MTFB Oscar chart is listed in parentheses.

BEST PICTURE

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Barbie (3)

4) Poor Things (4)

5) The Holdovers (6)

6) American Fiction (5)

7) Maestro (7)

8) The Color Purple (-)

9) Past Lives (8)

10) The Zone of Interest (10)

Alternates:  Anatomy of a Fall, Air, May December

BEST DIRECTION

1) Christopher Nolan/Oppenheimer (1)

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

3) Greta Gerwig/Barbie (3)

4) Yorgos Lanthimos/Poor Things (4)

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

Alternates: Alexander Payne/The Holdovers, Cord Jefferson/American Fiction and Bradley Cooper/Maestro.

THE BIKERIDERS RIDING TO A NEW HOME

Variety and other outlets reported that New Regency and Disney/20th Century were looking for a partner to distribute Jeff Nichols' The Bikeriders.  The film was originally set for a Dec. 1st release but was removed from the release calendar in the midst of the Actors' and Writers' strikes.

We have word from yesterday afternoon that Focus Features has snagged North American distribution rights and plans to release the film in 2024.  The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets, reported the deal.

The film stars Austin Butler, Tom Hardy and Jodie Comer.

TRAILERS AND CLIPS: THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE, POOR THINGS AND SALTBURN

U.S. TRAILER FOR THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE

NEW U.K. TRAILER FOR POOR THINGS

CLIP FROM SALTBURN VIA INDIEWIRE

https://twitter.com/IndieWire/status/1726993876555284600

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES: GIAMATTI, DAFOE, DOMINGO AND MORE

POOR THINGS

Writer/Director Yorgos Lanthimos for Poor Things from Entertainment Weekly.

Willem Dafoe for Poor Things from Gold Derby.

RUSTIN

Colman Domingo and screenwriter Julian Breece for Rustin from Next Best Picture.

THE HOLDOVERS

Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers from The Playlist.

Actress Da'Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers fromVulture.

Actor Dominic Sessa for The Holdovers from Gold Derby.

Producer Mark Johnson for The Holdovers from Awards Daily.

Cinematographer Eigil Bryld for The Holdovers from Awards Radar.

ALL OF US STRANGERS

Paul Mescal for All of Us Strangers from Awards Watch.

Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal from Entertainment Weekly.

Writer/Director Andrew Haigh for All of Us Strangers from The Playlist.

Andrew Haigh for All of Us Strangers from Awards Watch.

SALTBURN

Barry Keoghan and Emerald Fennell for Saltburn from TheRinger.com

Writer/Director Emerald Fennell for Saltburn from Entertainment Weekly.

Emerald Fennell from SlashFilm.

NYAD

Annette Bening and Jodie Foster for Nyad from Awards Radar.

THE ZONE OF INTEREST AND ANATOMY OF A FALL

Sander Huller for both films from Awards Watch.

FALLEN LEAVES

Actors Alma Poysti and Jussi Vantanen for Fallen Leaves from Next Best Picture.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (TWITTER): @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

BLUE SKY: https://bsky.app/profile/gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

Oscar Update: Best Picture and Direction / European Film Awards Nominations and TFF / Interviews and Profiles

OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTION

Here's MTFB's  Oscar Update.  Today I'm updating the Best Picture and Direction categories.  The last prediction for these two categories were posted on Oct. 16th.  As usual TFF #50 films are in Bold.  A film's previous position on the MTFB Oscar chart is listed in parentheses.

BEST PICTURE

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Barbie (4)

4) Poor Things (3)

5) American Fiction (8)

6) The Holdovers (5)

7) Maestro (6)

8) Past Lives (7)

9) Anatomy of a Fall (-)

10) The Zone of Interest (9)

Alternates: The Color Purple, Air, Saltburn, All of Us Strangers

BEST DIRECTION

1) Christopher Nolan/Oppenheimer (1)

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

3) Greta Gerwig/Barbie (3)

4) Yorgos Lanthimos/Poor Things (4)

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

Alternates: Alexander Payne/The Holdovers, Cord Jefferson/American Fiction,  Bradley Cooper/Maestro and Justine Triet/Anatomy of a Fall. 

EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS NOMINATIONS AND TFF

The European Film Academy announced its nominations for film excellence on Tuesday and a number of TFF films were in the mix:.  Here's the listing of EFA nominations earned by TFF films:

The Zone of Interest (5): Best European Film, Best Direction, Best Actress (Huller), Best Actor (Freidel), Best Screenplay.

Fallen Leaves (5): Best European Film, Best Direction, Best Actress (Poysti), Best Actor (Vatanen), Best Screenplay.

Anatomy of a Fall (4): Best European Film, Best Direction, Best Actress (Huller), Best Screenplay.

The Teachers' Lounge (2): Best Actress (Benesch), Best Screenplay.

La Chimera (1): Best Actor (O'Connor).

The Promised Land (1): Best Actor (Mikkelsen).

Here's the complete listing of all nominees from Ioncinema.

The EFA's winners will be announced on Dec. 9th.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES: 

Alexander Payne on The Holdovers from apnews.com.

Composer Mark Orton on The Holdovers from Screen Rant.

 

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (TWITTER): @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

BLUE SKY: https://bsky.app/profile/gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

Ten Bets # 7 / New View of The Zone of Interest / Monday-Thursday / A Reminder and Other Thoughts

TEN BETS #7

Well, we're kind of in a bit of a lull as far as useful intelligence regarding Telluride's lineup,  After the flurry of information last week concerning titles announced by both Toronto and Venice things have gone quiet.  TIFF did announce ten films for their "Platform" section all of which were World Premiere designees meaning no Telluride implications.

Here's a review of last week's Ten Bets:

1) The Holdovers

2) Nyad

3) Anatomy of a Fall

4) The Zone of Interest

5) The Royal Hotel

6) Rustin

7) Wildcat

8) Fingernails

9) Saltburn 

10) The Pigeon Tunnel 

And here's the shuffling of titles for this week's bets:

1) The Holdovers

2) Nyad

3) The Zone of Interest

4) Anatomy of a Fall

5) The Royal Hotel

6) Saltburn

7) Rustin

8) Wildcat

9) Fingernails

10) El Conde

Other possibilities: The Pigeon Tunnel, Poor Things, Without Blood, The End, The Bikeriders, The American Buffalo,  Fallen Leaves,  The Teachers' Lounge, The Pot-au-Feu, Freud's Last Session.

 NEW VIEW OF THE ZONE OF INTEREST

A24 has announced that Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest will be released on Dec. 8th (more about A24's other plans in the story below).  Along with that news the distribution company released a new still from the film which I have included here via World of Reel:

The Zone of Interest premiered to great acclaim at Cannes winning the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI Prize. Zone was announced as a Canadian Premiere by Toronto which indicates a play at Telluride.

Currently Metacritic has the film rated at 98 and Rotten Tomato Critics have it at 96%. 

Glazer's last film, Under the Skin, played as a part of the TFF #40 program.

MONDAY-THURSDAY

Last Monday I wrote about the emergence of a couple of films that were generating Telluride buzz: Jeff Nichols" The Bikeriders and Angelina Jolie's Without Blood.  I am here to tell you that in the intervening three days that buzz has not dissipated. If anything, for both films, the hype for a TFF #50 bow has increased.  Should either or both land at T-ride in a few weeks they would almost certainly be World Premiering there.

The Bikeriders is being distributed in the U.S. by 20th Century and is set for a Dec. 1st release.  Jolie's Without Blood is distributed by Freemantle.  It has not yet been dated for release.

A REMINDER AND OTHER THOUGHTS

Saw on X or Twitter or, you know, Elon's Sandbox, a reminder about Pedro Almodovar's short film, Strange Way of Life, that played at Cannes will debut on MUBI on Oct. 20th.  That reminded me that I still think that it might make an appearance in the San Juans over Labor Day weekend.

Here's the poster:

I also saw a story from Indiewire concerning A24's slate of films which reminded me of a title that I wouldn't normally consider as a Telluride contender.  

I wrote back in February that I thought Angus MacLachlan's A Little Prayer starring David Strathairn might continue the recent trend of a big Sundance title playing at TFF.  That scenario disappeared when it played several other domestic festivals.

But...I'm thinking maybe a different Sundance '23 title might be in the mix.  Raven Jackson's All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (which is an excellent title) debuted at Sundance on Jan. 22nd.  Since then it has not played any other fests.  Additionally, to my knowledge "Salt" has not been named as a TIFF film.  

With Barry Jenkins and his PASTEL production company credited as producers on the film, would A24 make the play to get the film into TFF #50?

It's a real possibility.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays