The FAC Updates the Oscar Acting Races / Producers Guild Nominees Feature TFF #43 / BAFTA Loves La La Land and Arrival

Good Thursday...if the country is still here...

THE FAC UPDATES THE OSCAR ACTING RACES

The FAC last updated the four acting race 3-4 weeks ago and some of the ground has shifted in the lead categories.  The supporting categories have remained largely the same.  The largest influences in the last month have been the Golden Globes and the BAFTA announcement of nominees (see below). Those two events within the past week have moved some people around.  Here's the latest, up-to-date look at the acting races with a mere dozen days left until Oscar announces.

I have used the publicly available Oscar predictions from the following pundits:

Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Greg Ellwood/The Playlist-Awards Campaign
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Joey Magidson/Hollywood News
Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/Variety-InContention
Anne Thompson/Indiewire

TFF #43 films are in Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Emma Stone/La La Land (1)
2) Natalie Portman/Jackie (2)
3) Amy Adams/Arrival (6)
4) Isabelle Huppert/Elle (5)
5) Meryl Streep/Florence Foster Jenkins (7)

6) Anette Bening/20th Century Women (3)
7) Ruth Negga/Loving (4)
8) Taraji P. Henson/Hidden Figures (8)
9) Jessica Chastain/Miss Sloane (9)
10) Emily Blunt/The Girl on the Train (NR)

Hot: Adams, Streep, Blunt
Not: Bening, Negga and Marion Cotillard who dropped off the list.
On the Cusp: Kate Beckinsale/Love and Friendship
Comment: Adams gets a boost from BAFTA.  Streep gets a boost from her GG Lifetime acceptance speech.  The race at the top between Stone and Portman is incredibly close.

BEST ACTOR

1) Casey Affleck/Manchester by the Sea (1)
2) Denzel Washington/Fences (2)
3) Ryan Gosling/La La Land (4)
4) Andrew Garfield/Hacksaw Ridge (6)
5) Viggo Mortensen/Captain Fantastic (8)

6) Tom Hanks/Sully (3)
7) Joel Edgerton/Loving (5)
8) Andrew Garfield/Silence (9)
9) Warren Beatty/Rules Don't Apply (7)
10) Michael Keaton/The Founder (NR)

Hot: Garfield (Hacksaw), Mortensen and Keaton
Not: Hanks, Edgerton and Adam Driver who dropped from the list.
On the Cusp: Jake Gyllenhaal/Nocturnal Animals
Comment: Mortensen continues to march up the list with his SAG, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations showing that he has serious momentum.  Andrew Garfield also continues to rise.  The race still seems to be between Affleck and Washington for the win.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Viola Davis/Fences (1)
2) Michelle Williams/Manchester by the Sea (2)
3) Naomie Harris/Moonlight (3)
4) Nicole Kidman/Lion (4)
5) Octavia Spencer/Hidden Figures (5)

6) Greta Gerwig/20th Century Women (6)
7) Janelle Monae/Hidden Figures (7)
8) Molly Shannon/Other People (8)
9) Helen Mirren/Eye in the Sky (9)
10) (TIE) Felicity Jones (10) and Lily Gladstone/Certain Women (NR)

On the Cusp: Haley Squires/I, Daniel Blake
Comment: An incredibly stable category that will be won by Viola Davis.

SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Mahershala Ali/Moonlight (1)
2) Jeff Bridges/Hell or High Water (2)
3) Dev Patel/Lion (3)
4) Hugh Grant/Florence Foster Jenkins (4)
5) Lucas Hedges/Manchester by the Sea (5)

6) Ben Foster/Hell or High Water (6)
7) Kevin Costner/Hidden Figures (8)
8) Michael Shannon/Nocturnal Animals (7)
9) Aaron Taylor-Johnson/Nocturnal Animals (NR)
10) Issey Ogata/Silence (9)

Hot: Taylor-Johnson has exploded into the conversation just this week with his stunning Golden Globe win and his BAFTA nomination.
Not: Aaron Eckhart
On the Cusp: Stephen Henderson/Fences



PRODUCERS GUILD NOMINEES FEATURE TFF #43

One of the most well regarded precursors of probable Oscar Best Picture nominees is the Producers Guild of America (PGA).  The PGA named their list of ten feature film nominees on Tuesday and it included four films that played at Telluride last September.

Those named were: Arrival, La La Land, Manchester by the Sea and La La Land.  The nomination for Arrival is being perceived as a strong sign that it will likely be among the films nominated for Best Picture when the Oscar nominations are announced on Jan. 24.  La La Land, Manchester and Moonlight have been considered locks for some time and the PGA accolade just added to that view.

Other films named by the PGA were: Deadpool, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures and Lion.

Deadpool was a real surprise to the otherwise expected list of films.  Left off: Sully, Silence and Loving.

The PGA also named The Eagle Huntress, which also played TFF #43 among the five Best Documentaries.

Coverage and analysis of the PGA nominations is here from:

Indiewire

Awards Daily

The Playlist

The Film Experience


BAFTA LOVES LA LAND AND ARRIVAL

Damien Chazelle's La La Land led all films in the number of nominations it received from the British Academy of Film and Television Artists on Tuesday with 11 nods.  Denis Villenueve's Arrival and Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals followed in second place with nine nominations apiece.

Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea had six nominations while Barry Jenkins Moonlight was only mentioned four times.

Here are the respective nominations for each:

La La Land: Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Actor, Actress, Original Music, Cinematography, Editing. Production Design, Costume, Sound

Arrival: Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actress, Original Music, Cinematography, Editing, Sound, Visual Effects

Manchester: Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Actor, Supporting Actress, Editing

Moonlight: Picture, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress

Other notes: Toni Erdmann was nominated for Best Film not in the English Language, as was TFF #42 film Son of Saul.  The Eagle Huntress was nominated for Best Documentary and Manchester by the Sea's Lucas Hedges was nominated for the Rising Star award.

Complete BAFTA nominations and analysis is here from:

Indiewire

The Playlist

The Hollywood Reporter


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The Force Dimmed This Week / The FAC Updates Best Picture and Director / Scene Work from Manchester by the Sea

It's Thursday...the last one of 2016...aren't you glad?

THE FORCE DIMMED THIS WEEK

Carrie Fisher at this year's Telluride Film Festival

I'm not sure I can add anything new or worthy to the outpouring of grief and remembrances at the Tuesday passing of Carrie Fisher.  I tweeted Tuesday my appreciation to the Telluride Film Festival because they had made it possible for an old Star Wars fan to be in the same room with Carrie with the inclusion of Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.  The documentary was excellent and it was a once-in-a-lifetime treat to get to hear Carrie and her brother Todd talk about the film and their lives.

I also wanted to thank directors Fisher Stevens and Alexis Bloom (as I did in person in T-ride) for bringing this story to us.  Bright Lights is set to screen on HBO sometime early in 2017.

Carrie was 60 when she died Tuesday.  I'm a 59 year old man.  That kind of sudden reminder of mortality will jolt a guy.  2016 seems to have been full of more than its share of greatness leaving us.  Ali, Bowie, Prince...so many others.

I have talked with a couple of friends about the notion that we're experiencing what seems like more deaths of more culturally significant people than is normal.  I have a theory about why it seems that way.

I am at the tail end of the baby boomer generation and my theory suggests that my generation, and the generations that have come after, are more susceptible to mass grief in these moments as we are generations for whom being immersed in popular culture is so much easier and, largely expected, as a part of of our normal daily routines and discourse.

The rise of television in the 60's and then the computer revolution seems to have created more pop culture icons and have made them all far more accessible.  The rise of music videos in the 80's and the freedom to download popular music from your desktop is another component of this. As a result, those pop icons are much a more integral part of our lives than they have been for previous generations. Thus, we feel that crushing sense of loss more frequently for more figures than was possible for those that preceded us.

I think the addition of video, the fact that we can see the people that we admire and that enthrall us, has made it all the more dramatic.  The expansion in my lifetime from a television that gave someone three channels to the multiplicity of delivery mechanisms for pop culture that we have now has magnified this.

And there are just more of us.  It's a matter of sheer numbers.  The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there are now 319 million of us.  The 1960 census had our population at 181 million.  Add those demographics to the explosion of access and it becomes another factor in this theory.

So my theory goes.  The hell of it is that we'd better get used to years like 2016 because, if my theory is anywhere close to right... all of our years to come will feel like 2016...grim, I know.

Or maybe that's all just baby boomer self-centeredness.  Or maybe I'm talking out of my ass.

Nevertheless, as a final exhibit, your honors, look at the flood of grief and outpouring of love that has happened over and over again in 2016 and, what seems to me, a loud and constant collective plea that this year limp to a conclusion.  It overwhelms.

In closing, thanks to Carrie for being a giant part of endless hours of fascination and diversion and for proving this past September that she was every bit the bright, fierce and funny woman that I had thought she was.  And, again, thanks to the TFF #43 programmers for making those moments happen.

The force dimmed this week.

I have selected a few posts that went up this week memorializing Ms. Fisher.  They are linked here:

From Telluride regular Leonard Maltin

From the Staff at RogerEbert.com

From Liz Shannon Miller of Indiewire

And an unpublished interview from October with Greg Ellwood from The Playlist

Finally, the IMDb page for Bright Lights


ADDENDUM:  As I'm sure you heard last night, Carrie's mother and entertainment legend Debbie Reynolds died yesterday.  It's just heart breaking and adds another layer of poignancy to what we were a part of this past Labor Day weekend.



THE FAC UPDATES BEST PICTURE AND BEST DIRECTOR

We're three weeks passed the last BP and BD FAC update (it was Dec. 8) so I thought that a current feel for where the Oscar experts think those two races are would be a good idea before we turn the calendar over to 2017.

I have used the publicly available Oscar predictions from the following pundits:

Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Greg Ellwood/The Playlist-Awards Campaign
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Joey Magidson/Hollywood News
Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/Variety-InContention
Anne Thompson/Indiewire

TFF #43 films are in Bold.  The person's previous position follows its title in parentheses.

BEST PICTURE

1) La La Land (1)

2) Moonlight (2)

3) Manchester by the Sea (3)

4) Hell or High Water (5)

5) Fences (4)

6) Arrival (8)

7) Lion (6)

8) Hidden Figures (NR)

9) Hacksaw Ridge (12)

10) Silence (7)

11) Jackie (11)

12) Sully (9)

Hot: Arrival, Hidden Figures, Hacksaw Ridge

Not: Silence, Sully, Loving

On the Cusp: Loving

Comment:  I think Silence may be in a stronger position than some because of where Scorsese ranks on the Best Directing chart (see below).  There does seem to have been a flutter in support for La La Land at the top spot due to its lack of a Best Ensemble nomination from the SAG Awards but not enough to remove it from a still solid hold on that position.  Moonlight and Manchester are bunched very tightly and the distance between the top three and the next film (Hell or High Water...a great story in its rise as awards season has progressed) is substantial.

BEST DIRECTOR

1) Damien Chazelle/La La Land (1)

2) Barry Jenkins/Moonlight (2)

3) Kenneth Lonergan/Manchester by the Sea (3)

4) Martin Scorsese/Silence (4)

5) Denis Villenueve/Arrival (6)

6) Denzel Washington/Fences (5)

7) Mel Gibson/Hacksaw Ridge (NR)

8) David Mackenzie/Hell or High Water (10)

9) Garth Davis/Lion (8)

10) Pablo Larrain/Jackie (7)

Hot: Gibson and Mackenzie

Not: Larrain and Jeff Nichols/Loving

On the Cusp: Nichols and Clint Eastwood/Sully

Comment"  The top four stay the same over the last three weeks.  Villenueve and Washington swap spots,  Chazelle, Jenkins and Lonergan are very tightly bunched.

SCENE WORK FROM MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

Michelle Williams and Casey Affleck in a clip from Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea (from YouTube)

The Wrap recently talked to actress Michelle Williams about her role in Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea.  Williams is a likely Oscar nominee next month for her work in the film and she should be.  She and acting partner Casey Affleck provide one of the most emotionally honest and effective scenes in any film of this year as a part of the film.  The Wrap talked to Williams about the film and about that scene in particular in this story posted yesterday.

Admittedly, I haven't seen Viola Davis who is everyone's front runner for Best Supporting Actress this year in Fences but she's got a high bar to get over in Williams' performance.  

Manchester by the Sea is in theaters now.

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The FAC Assesses Support / Shortlists / Berlin 2017 Begins Revealing

Good Monday everyone and welcome to Michael's Telluride Film Blog and The Film Awards Clearinghouse.  I hope everyone enjoyed and survived their weekend.

THE FAC ASSESSES SUPPORT

Supporting Acting categories that is.  The last FAC look at the Supporting races was a month ago (Nov. 17) and a lot has changed since then on the men's side.  The women's side is remarkably stable. Let's take a look at the latest assessment...

I have used the publicly available Oscar predictions from the following pundits:

Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Greg Ellwood/The Playlist-Awards Campaign
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Joey Magidson/Hollywood News
Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/Variety-InContention
Anne Thompson/Indiewire

TFF #43 films are in Bold.  The person's previous position follows its title in parentheses.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Viola Davis/Fences (1)
2) Michelle Williams/Manchester by the Sea (3)
3) Naomie Harris/Moonlight (2)
4) Nicole Kidman/Lion (4)
5) Octavia Spencer/Hidden Figures (6)

6) Greta Gerwig/20th Century Women (5)
7) Janelle Monae/Hidden Figures (8)
8) Molly Shannon/Other People (10)
9) Helen Mirren/Eye in the Sky (7)
10) Felicity Jones/A Monster Calls (9)

Hot: Shannon
Not: Mirren
On the Cusp: Lily Gladstone/Certain Women
Comment:  As I wrote above, a very stable category over the past month with no additions pr deletions from the top ten and only minor movement among them.  Viola Davis is clearly the prohibitive favorite.  It increasingly seems that the only person with a chance to pull the upset is Michelle Williams who has taken a number of critic's prizes in the category.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Mahershala Ali/Moonlight (1)
2) Jeff Bridges/Hell or High Water (2)
3) Dev Patel/Lion (3)
4) Hugh Grant/Florence Foster Jenkins (4)
5) Lucas Hedges/Manchester by the Sea (6)

6) Ben Foster/Hell or High Water (NR)
7) Michael Shannon/Nocturnal Animals (7)
8) Kevin Costner/Hidden Figures (NR)
9) Issei Ogata/Silence (NR)
10) Aaron Eckhart/Bleed for This (8)

Hot: Foster, Costner and Ogata who jump into the top ten for the first time this season.
Not: Eckhart, and Stephen Henderson, Liam Neeson and Peter Saarsgard who dropped out of the top ten over the past month.
On the Cusp; Ralph Fiennes/A Bigger Splash
Comment: Ali has become a juggernaut of sorts as he has won critic's prize after critic's prize for his work in Moonlight.  He's not as prohibitive a favorite as Davis is among the women but he's getting there.

Thursday...a look at the screenplay categories and we'll measure the effect of Moonlight and Loving being moved from the Original to the Adapted category.


SHORTLISTS



The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences narrowed a number of categories this past week and those decisions had immediate ramifications for films that played at Telluride in September.

For example, the Foreign Language field was pared down to nine films:

Australia: Tanna
Canada: It's Only the End of the World
Denmark: Land of Mine
Germany: Toni Erdmann
Iran: The Salesman
Norway: The King's Choice
Russia: Paradise
Sweden: A Man Called Ove
Switzerland: My Life as a Zucchini

The field includes only one T-ride title-and possibly the ultimate favorite for the trophy-Toni Erdmann.  Left off were both Neruda and Fire at Sea which played TFF #43 and were thought to be serious players for a FLF Oscar nomination.  The final five nominees will be announced Jan. 24th.

Coverage of the shortlist announcement is here from:

Awards Daily

Gold Derby

Indiewire

Deadline

Awards Watch

Also, The Academy pared down the list of films still eligible for the Visual Effects nomination and Telluride still has a player in that race as Denis Villenueve's Arrival was named one of the ten films still under consideration.  Having a Telluride film in contention for the Visual Effects Oscar is a rare but not unheard of occurrence (Gravity was nominated and won in 2013).

Entertainment Weekly has the story which includes all of the films still alive in addition to Arrival.

Additionally, The Oscar Documentary shortlist was announced last week.  Among the 15 films making the shortlist were  a number that screened at TFF #43.  The Eagle Huntress, The Ivory Game and Fire at Sea made the list that will be whittled to five films on Jan. 24th.

The New York Times  has coverage here of the announcement.


BERLIN 2017 BEGINS REVEALING

We heard this week a few of the titles that will debut at the Berlin International Film Festival which runs Feb. 9-19, 2017.

Here's why that matters to readers of this space.  You can make a safe bet that a couple of Berlin titles make their way to Telluride in nine months.  Last year, for example, Mia Hansen-Love's Things to Come and Gianfranco's Fire at Sea both premiered at Berlin and then made the trip to the San Juans. In 2015 Taxi and 45 Years did the same thing.  So, we can cast a glance at the few announced films from this week and pick out some films that make the most sense for a Telluride play and there are a few that have some characteristics (i.e. directors that have had films play TFF in the past) that make them prime suspects:

The Party/Sally Potter (TFF 2012- Ginger and Rosa)
Spoor/Angnieska Holland (TFF 2013-Burning Bush, TFF 2011-In Darkness)
The Other Side of Hope/Aki Kaurismaki (TFF 2011-Le Havre)
A Fantastic Woman/Sebastian Lelio (TFF 2013-Gloria)

Coverage of the Berlin reveals is here from:

Variety

The Playlist

The Film Stage


That's Monday's post.  Come back for more on Thursday.


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SAG Acting Awards Nominations are 40% Telluride / Oscar Changes the Lay of the Land / Norman Makes an Appearance

Good Thursday film fans...

SAG AWARDS NOMINATIONS ARE 40% TELLURIDE

The Screen Actors Guild announced their nominees for acting excellence for 2016 yesterday morning.  Actors from TFF #43 films were named in 10 of the 25 slots.  SAG nominates the traditional Actresses and Actors in Lead and Supporting roles in addition to their Ensemble nomination and stunt cast nominations.

Here's what went down vis-a-vis Telluride among those nominations yesterday.

Manchester by the Sea-4: Ensemble, Casey Affleck/Male Lead, Michelle Williams/Female Supporting, Lucas Hedges/Male Supporting.

Moonlight-3: Ensemble, Naomie Harris/Female Supporting, Mahershala Ali/Male Supporting

La La Land-2: Emma Stone/Female Lead, Ryan Gosling/Male Lead

Arrival: Amy Adams/Female Lead.

Complete nominations:

Ensemble: Captain Fantastic, Fences, Hidden Figures, Manchester, Moonlight

Female Lead: Amy Adams/Arrival, Emily Blunt/Girl on the Train, Natalie Portman/Jackie, Emma Stone/La La Land and Meryl Streep/Florence Foster Jenkins

Male Lead: Casey Affleck/Manchester, Ryan Gosling/La La, Andrew Garfield/Hacksaw Ridge, Viggo Mortensen/Captain Fantastic, Denzel Washington/Fences

Female Supporting: Viola Davis/Fences, Naomie Harris/Moonlight, Nicole Kidman/Lion, Octavia Spencer/Hidden Figures and Michelle Williams/Manchester

Male Supporting: Mahershala Ali/Moonlight, Jeff Bridges/Hell or High Water, Hugh Grant/Florence Foster Jenkins, Lucas Hedges/Manchester, Dev Patel/Lion

Thoughts:  It seems to me that Hidden Figures and Fences pick up some heat for a Best Picture nomination and that 20th Century Women and Loving are losing steam.  I think her nomination is terrific news for Amy Adams.  Meanwhile, Tom Hanks campaign for Sully looks like it's in trouble.


Category by category:

Ensemble: The inclusion of Captain Fantastic was a bit of a stunner.  La La Land's exclusion doesn't seem to me to be that problematic.  It's not an ensemble piece so I don't think even calling it a snub would be accurate but a number of the big time Oscar pros think that it IS a deal.  Their point being that its been over 20 years since a Best Picture winner emerged without a SAG ensemble nomination.

Best Actress looks like the category where the most weirdness occurred.  As of last Monday's FAC post only 2 of the 5 "probable" Best Actress Oscar nominees made the SAG list yesterday: Stone and Portman.  Adams was listed at #6 and Streep #7 last week and Emily Blunt was nowhere to be found. Not included on the SAG list but on the latest FAC are Ruth Negga/Loving (#4), Anette Bening/20th Century Women (#3) and Emily Blunt/Girl-Train who had dropped out of The FAC top ten.

Best Actor: Kind of a bit of a surprise that Mortensen is a SAG nominee.  He edges out Joel Edgerton who I had as the #5 guy in the latest FAC.

Best Supporting Actress: #6 on the FAC Octavia Spencer is in for #5 Greta Gerwig.

Best Supporting Actor: #6 Lucas Hedges is in for the FAC's #5 Liam Neeson.

The SAG is the first of the guilds to weigh in with other major guilds still to come: Producers, Directors and Writers.

I'll be interested to see if Wednesday's announcement moves the needle for some Oscarologists in the next few days.

The next big precursors isn't until the Writers Guild nominations on Jan. 4.  The editors Guild announces their nominations the day before.

Here's the complete list of nominees for film and television from SAG-AFTRA.

Additionally, here's analysis from Sasha Stone at Awards Daily.


OSCAR CHANGES THE LAY OF THE LAND

In the space of the three days since MTFB/FAC's last post, a couple of Oscar racers got some big changes as a result of determinations made concerning eligibility.

AMPAS has determined that both Moonlight and Loving, which have been thought to be competing in the Original Screenplay category will. in fact by relegated to the Adapted category.  That probably makes Moonlight the favorite for that trophy on Oscar night.

Coverage of the switch of categories is here from:

The Los Angeles Times

Indiewire

Entertainment Weekly


Meanwhile, as seems to happen every year, there were some surprise decisions about Original Scores and there eligibility including the decision that Arrival's score is not eligible for Oscar consideration nor is the score from Manchester by the Sea.

Here's reportage from Variety , Indiewire and Entertainment Weekly.


NORMAN MAKES AN APPEARANCE

I saw three films at TFF #43 that have really flying under the radar since Labor Day:  Una (still without U.S. distribution), Wakefield and Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer.

Now, the Richard Gere starrer (Norman) looks like its peeking its head out as we saw the arrival yesterday of a teaser trailer for the film.

You'll find the teaser as well as coverage of the release for the film from Sony Pictures Classics in these dispatches from The Playlist as well as this story from my friend Alex Billington at FirstShowing.net



That'll be a wrap for this second full week of December.  Next Monday's post will include an update of the Supporting Acting categories.

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Many Manchester Moments This Week / Bleed for This Highlighted / Musical Notes on La La Land

It's Monday...wake up!

A parenthetical note before we begin...both Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea and Ben Younger's Bleed for This opened this past weekend, thus explaining the slew of pieces/posts that we saw about both films from the latter part of the previous week...


MANY MANCHESTER MOMENTS THIS WEEK

Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea was the focus of a good amount of publicity this weekendas it opened for public consumption.  The film has garnered terrific reviews ( 95 on Metacritic and 99% on Rotten Tomatoes) and is considered to be in play for a number of high profile Oscar nominations (Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and it has at least four cast members that are part of the conversation with Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams thought to be very likely nominees).

Consequently, here are links to a few of the stories for MBTS that popped at the end of the week:

Here's Anne Thompson's take on how the film was put together.

Kate Erbland/Indiewire  on the editing for the film.

And Indiewire's Bill Desowitz writes about the constrction of the film's flashback sequences.


BLEED FOR THIS HIGHLIGHTED

Also opening this past weekend was Ben Younger's boxing flick based on the life of boxer Vinnie Pazienza.  Miles Teller (of Whiplash fame) plays Pazienza and Aaron Eckhart shines as his trainer Kevin Rooney).

The Hollywood Reporter posted this Miles Teller piece on Friday.  Meanwhile, the film's publicity folks posted this behind-the-scenes video on its Facebook page.



MUSICAL NOTES FROM LA LA LAND

Last Thursday I posted a link to a story from Variety that featured among other things about the film, a focus on the music that is such a fundamental part of it.  As the weekend approached I started seeing stories elsewhere that included a full rendition of the song City of Stars from La La Land's soundtrack (it's a very likely Oscar nominee for Best Original Song).  The stories also included the complete track list from the film's forthcoming album (I can't really wait for the album to become available).

Here, for your listening pleasure is the YouTube version of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone dueting their hearts out:

And here are links to a three of those stories that include the duet as well as the film's official track list:

From The Film Stage.

From SlashFilm.

From The Playlist.

The film's soundtrack will reportedly be available on Dec. 9th, the day the film opens.


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FAC Update: The Acting Races in November / Stone, Gosling and the Musicof La La Land / Arrival Scene on the Cutting Room Floor

Welcome to Thursday.  Thanksgiving in one week...


FAC UPDATE: THE ACTING RACES IN NOVEMBER

It's been about a month since The Film Awards Clearinghouse (FAC) portion of this blog took a look at where the Oscar acting races are so I felt like it was update time.  Since those October predictions Viola Davis/Fences and Dev Patel/Lion have both moved from the lead categories into supporting and both changes have made a significant difference across these categories.  Additionally, the fall out from the reactions to Birth of a Nation and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk have essentially removed those films and their casts from serious Oscar consideration...at least as far as the experts are concerned.

Here's the latest FAC for Best Actress, Actor, Supporting Actress and Supporting Actor.

I have used the publicly available Oscar predictions from the following pundits:

Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Greg Ellwood/The Playlist-Awards Campaign
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Joey Magidson/Hollywood News
Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/Variety-InContention
Anne Thompson/Indiewire

TFF #43 films are in Bold.  The film's previous position follows its title in parenthesis.


BEST ACTRESS

1) Emma Stone/La La Land (1)
2) Natalie Portman/Jackie (2)
3) Annette Bening/20th Century Women (4)
4) Ruth Negga/Loving (5)
5) Meryl Streep/Florence Foster Jenkins (6)

6) Amy Adams/Arrival (7)
7) Isabelle Huppert/Elle (8)
8) Jessica Chastain/Miss Sloane (9)
9) Taraji P. Henson/Hidden Figures (NR)
10) Marion Cotillard/Allied (NR)

Hot: Henson and Cotillard
Cold: Amy Adams for Nocturnal Animals
On the Cusp: Jennifer Lawrence/Passengers
Comment:  Viola Davis was at the #3 spot last time we did this and her move to supporting has essentially meant that everyone moved up a spot.  If I were to quibble with anything at this point, it might be that I have a feeling...for the moment...that Adams gets in and Streep doesn't.  The FAC metric between them for the five and six spots is very tight.


BEST ACTOR

1) Denzel Washington/Fences (2)
2) Casey Affleck/Manchester by the Sea (1)
3) Ryan Gosling/La La Land (3)
4) Tom Hanks/Sully (4)
5) Joel Edgerton/Loving (5)

6) Warren Beatty/Rules Don't Apply (NR)
7) Andrew Garfield/Hacksaw Ridge (NR)
8) Viggo Mortensen/Captain Fantastic (9)
9) Andrew Garfield/Silence (7)
10) Matthew McConnaughey/Gold (NR)

Hot: Beatty, Garfiled (for Hacksaw) and McConnaughey.
Not: Ben Affleck (Live by Night), Jake Gyllenhaal/Nocturnal Animals
On the Cusp: Michael Keaton/The Founder
Comment:  Releases of Rules Don't Apply and Hacksaw Ridge massively boosted both Warren Beatty and Andrew Garfield in the Best Actor conversation.  It will be interesting of that boost takes hold over the next month or so.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Viola Davis/Fences (NR)
2) Naomie Harris/Moonlight (1)
3) Michelle Williams/Manchester by the Sea (2)
4) Nicole Kidman/Lion (3)
5) Greta Gerwig/20th Century Women (4)

6) Octavia Spencer/Hidden Figures (6)
7) Helen Mirren/Eye in the Sky (9)
8) Janelle Monae/Hidden Figures (7)
9) Felicity Jones/A Monster Calls (10)
10) Molly Shannon/Other People (NR)

Hot: Davis, of course, who became the instant favorite once the decision was made to campaign her here rather than as a lead.  Also Mirren and Shannon.
Not: Kristen Stewart for Billy Lynn who has completely disappeared from the chart.
On the Cusp: Lupita N'yong'o (Queen of Katwe)
Comment: It's Viola and then the "just an honor to be nominated" crew at least for the moment.  What was set to be a very competitive race probably isn't now.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Mahershala Ali/Moonlight (6)
2) Jeff Bridges/Hell or High Water (3)
3) Hugh Grant/Florence Foster Jenkins (2)
4) Dev Patel/Lion (NR)
5) Liam Neeson/Silence (1)

6) Lucas Hedges/Manchester by the Sea (4)
7) Michael Shannon/Nocturnal Animals (5)
8) Aaron Eckhardt/Bleed for This (8)
9) Peter Saarsgard/Jackie (9)
10) Stephen Henderson/Fences (7)

Hot: Patel and Ali
Not: Neeson, Hedges, Henderson and Steve Martin (Billy Lynn) who drops completely off the list
On the Cusp: Kevin Costner/Hidden Figures
Comment: Dev Patel's move to Supporting has gotten a big response...though not Viola Davis-level. Liam Neeson appears to be suffering from word that his role in Silence is very small.


From the four acting categories, if The FAC is 100% accurate then TFF #43 films would earn seven nominations with another three possibilities.


STONE, GOSLING AND THE MUSIC OF LA LA LAND

Variety's Jenelle Riley sat down with La La Land stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling a couple of months ago in the midst of the Toronto International Film Festival for an interview that ran just this week.  The lengthy piece also focuses on the music for the film and also includes comments from writer/director Damien Chazelle.  You can find that story here.


ARRIVAL SCENE ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR

Cinemablend reported this week that one of Amy Adams best scenes from the Denis Villenueve's Arrival ended up on the cutting room floor.  Sean O'Connell reports that the decision to excise the specific scene was so successfully acted that it actually was too revealing.  Check out the story here but BE AWARE that it does contain substantial SPOILERS.

That's your MTFB/FAC for Thursday.  More on Monday.


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

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FAC Updates Best Picture and Director / Nomination News: BIFA, H'Wood Music, CinemaEye / Jeremy Renner in Arrival / Views of Manchester

Good Thursday film friends...

THE FAC UPDATES BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTOR

The last look by The FAC for these two major categories was three weeks ago (Oct. 13) and, woo-boy, have the fortunes have changed for Ang Lee's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.  I noted a couple of weeks back as I was updating the screenplay categories that we were beginning to see the results of a less than stellar NYFF reception to the film as the script had dropped from 1st to fifth in the Adapted Screenplay category.  As you'll see below, the fall is all but complete for the film that was at one time regarded as a real contender for multiple major awards.


I have used the publicly available Oscar predictions from the following pundits:

Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Greg Ellwood/The Playlist-Awards Campaign
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Joey Magidson/Hollywood News
Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/Variety-InContention
Anne Thompson/Indiewire

TFF #43 films are in Bold.  The film's previous position follows its title in parenthesis.

BEST PICTURE

1) La La Land (1)
2) Manchester by the Sea (3)
3) Fences (4)
4) Moonlight (5)
5) Lion (7)
6) Silence (6)
7) Jackie (8)
8) Arrival (9)

9) Loving (10)
10) Sully (11)
11) Hidden Figures (N/R)
12) (TIE) Hell or High Water (N/R), Live By Night (N/R), 20th Century Women (12)

Hot: La La Land, Lion
Stone COLD: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
On the Cusp: A Monster Calls
Comment:  La La Land couldn't move up any spots because it was previously at #1 but its stranglehold on the top spot has only strengthened on the past three weeks.  Billy Lynn's Long Walk has gotten impossibly long regarding major Oscar nominations.  It dropped from the #2 spot to a tie for 20th.  I'm not sure I recall any more precipitous drop in the years The FAC has been in existence.

This note too:  I'm getting the feeling that the biggest challenge to La La Land might well be Garth Davis' Lion.  It seems to be picking up a lot of Audience Awards at various regional film fests.


BEST DIRECTOR

1) Damien Chazelle/La La Land (1)
2) Kenneth Lonergan/Manchester by the Sea (3)
3) Barry Jenkins/Moonlight (5)
4) Martin Scorsese/Silence (4)
5) Denzel Washington/Fences (7)

6) Denis Villenueve/Arrival (8)
7) Pablo Larrain/Jackie (6)
8) Garth Davis/Lion (9)
9) Jeff Nichols/Loving (10)
10) Clint Eastwood/Sully (N/R)

Hot: Jenkins, Washington
Not: Lee
On the Cusp: Ben Affleck/Live by Night
Comment:  Ang Lee also takes a hit in this category with the BLLHTW swoon.

NOMINATION NEWS

     BIFA NOMS THREE TFF #43 FILMS

The British Independent Film Association announced the nominees for their superlatives earlier this week.  Obviously the films that received the most attention were British.  The leading film was Ken Loach's Palme d'Or winner I, Daniel Blake.  

Telluride 2016 films popped up in a big way in the Best International Film category with Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea and Toni Erdmann earning nominations in the category.  The other two films nominated were Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Mustang.

Find full coverage of the BIFA nominations here from BIFA itself as well as from Indiewire here. 



     LA LA LANDS MUSIC NOMS

Justin Hurwitz and his collaborators have been thrice nominated for music in Damien Chazelle's La La Land.  Hurwitz was nominated by The Hollywood Music in Media awards for Original Score and two songs from the original musical were nominated for Best Original Song Audition and City of Stars which Hurwitz co-wrote with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.  La La Land led the pack with the three nominations.  Additionally, Howard Britell was nominated for Score for Moonlight.  Coverage of all of the nominations is here from Variety.

     CINEMAEYE NOMS FIRE AT SEA

And in other nomination news, Gianfranco Rosi's Fire at Sea which played Telluride and won the Golden Bear at this year's Berlin Film Fest was nominated for Best feature documentary by CinemaEye.  Rosi was also nominated for outstanding documentary direction.  The complete coverage of the CinemaEye nominations can be found here from The Wrap.





JEREMY RENNER IN ARRIVAL

Amy Adams has gotten the lion's share of attention for her leading role in Denis Villenueve's Arrival including serious Best Actress Oscar buzz (which may well have gotten a boost last week with the announcement that Viola Davis would be campaigned for a Supporting Actress nomination for Fences).  Capably offering solid support for Adams is Jeremy Renner.  Renner was profiled recently as the focus of this featurette at Collider.



VIEWS OF MANCHESTER

The Playlist passed along a couple of clips from Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea earlier this week including this 38 second clip that introduces one of the best acted scenes from any film this year.  At this point, I am all about a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Michelle Williams and the win.  Casey Affleck is tremendous in the scene as well, but Williams...oh my.  

Here's the clip via YouTube:

The second clip and story can be found via this link to The Playlist.

That will wrap it for this Thursday.  More for your perusal next Monday.  Have a good weekend friends.


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