Trailers for TFF #43 Films: Maudie and Norman / For Fun / And Speaking of La La Land

Hello on a Monday...



TRAILERS FOR TFF #43 FILMS

Within the last ten days or so, we got trailers for two films that made a splash at last year's Telluride Film Festival.  Some folks were talking animatedly about Sally Hawkins performance in Aisling Walsh's film.  The film is slated for release on June 16th.

MAUDIE

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

I have also linked coverage of the trailer from:

Indiewire

The Film Stage


NORMAN

Also making a recent appearance was a trailer for Joseph Cedar's Norman...which we saw at Telluride with the rather more lengthy title: Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer. Richard Gere stars.  Norman opens on April 14th.   Here's that trailer:

And coverage from:

FirstShowing.net


FOR FUN

And speaking of trailers, I couldn't resist linking readers to a couple of "trailers" that appeared within the last week just for fun.  The first comes from Late Night with Seth Meyers and is called "Oscar Bait".  As you might guess from the title, it lampoons a certain type of film...

Seth Meyers Oscar Bait

And, this mash up appeared last week as well.  It envisions Damian Chazelle's La La Land as if directed by David Lynch.  It's fantastic:

Davis Lynch's La La Land

AND SPEAKING OF LA LA LAND...

Winner of six Oscars including Best Direction, this video has been making the rounds and shows Chazelle doing the prep for that terrific opening number "Another Day of Sun":

La La Land Opening Number Rehearsals

Here are stories about that process from:

The Playlist

Flickreel

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.

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

COMMENT to the blog.

Sundays TBAs by Venue / Day Two Comments / Day Three / Day Two Images

Welcome to Sunday and Day Three of the 43rd Telluride Film Festival


SUNDAY TBA'S BY VENUE

Galaxy

9:00am Bleed for This (replacing Amazing Grace)
9:30pm Sully

The Zog

9:30 am Arrival
10:00pm The B-Side (Free)

Masons
12:45 Graduation

Nugget

4:30pm Through the Wall
10:00pm Things to Come

Pierre

4:00pm  Frantz
6:30pm Student Prints
9:15pm Toni Erdmann

DAY TWO COMMENT

Opened with Sully which I really enjoyed much more than I expected to.  Nice turn by Hanks.  Maybe he will be in the Best Actor conversation.

Then Bright Lights which I also enjoyed.  Very warm and entertaining.  Highlight was during the and A when Debbie Reynolds phoned in to her son Todd Fisher and was able to speak briefly to those of us in the theater.

Then caught Barry Jenkins Moonlight.  Moving with fine performances across the board.  Naomie Harris could be in the Supporting Actress picture.

Ended the evening with Denis Villenieuve's Arrival and the Amy Adams tribute.  Adams was a joy in the pre-show Q and A.  It'll be interesting to see if Oscar voters warm to the SciFi story.

DAY THREE SCHEDULE (at least as it stands now)

Toni Erdmann
Una
Wakefield
Norman

Winners so far: La La Land and (surprise) Sully.  Liking Arrival, Moonlight.  Still not sold on Manchester.

DAY TWO IMAGES

Clint Eastwood exiting after Sully:

Amy Adams at her Tribute:

Carrie Fisher following Bright Lights:

Drector and cast of Sully at Q and A (Aaron Eckhardt, Laura Linney, Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks):

Contacts:

mpgort@gmail.com

michael_speech@hotmail.com

Twitter: @Gort2

Arrival First Looks / Frantz Shows Up / Oppenheimer Becomes Norman...Gere in T-ride / Moonlight All But Confirmed

Hello on a Tuesday...



ARRIVAL FIRST LOOKS

Amy Adams in Arrival via USA Today

We're pretty sure that Denis Villenueve's Arrival will arrive in Telluride after its Sept. 2 bow in Venice.  Yesterday we began to see more images from the film that stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.  I'm hoping that an Amy Adams tribute is a part of the festivities in the second half of the weekend.

The rumor mill suggests that we may see a trailer for the film today...Stay tuned.

The film's plot centers on humanities first contact with alien life and the attempts to communicate with those entities.  Renner has been reported as saying it's a cross between Spielberg and Kubrick.  I've also seen comparisons to Malick.  Heady stuff indeed.

Here's the latest coverage of the film that accompanied the new views:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2016/08/08/sneak-peek-exclusive-arrival-amy-adams-jeremy-renner/88308602/

http://www.awardsdaily.com/2016/08/08/first-look-at-arrival-and-a-hint-about-tone-and-scope/

https://thefilmstage.com/news/first-look-at-amy-adams-and-jeremy-renner-in-denis-villeneuves-sci-fi-drama-arrival/

http://theplaylist.net/first-look-amy-adams-jeremy-renner-denis-villeneuves-arrival-20160808/

http://www.awardscircuit.com/2016/08/08/check-first-look-denis-villeneuves-arrival-amy-adams-jeremy-renner/

http://www.slashfilm.com/arrival-first-look/


FRANTZ SHOWS UP

We are fully expecting to see Francois Ozon's Frantz in Telluride after its screening in Venice.  The film looks intriguing.  Beautifully shot in black and white, we were treated to a subtitled trailer for the film yesterday.

Frantz trailer from YouTube\

Take a look at these stories that were posted with the trailer yesterday:

https://thefilmstage.com/trailer/first-trailer-for-francois-ozons-post-wwi-romantic-drama-frantz/

http://theplaylist.net/first-trailer-francois-ozons-wwi-film-frantz-screening-venice-tiff-20160808/

OPPENHEIMER BECOMES NORMAN...GERE IN T-RIDE?

Richard Gere via Getty Images

One of the films that has been at the periphery of my Telluride speculation has been Joseph Cedar's (Footnote, TFF 2011) The Oppenheimer Strategies.  The film jumped into the news yesterday with the announcement of its acquisition by Sony Picture Classics.

That news might indicate an increased chance at it playing TFF #43.  However, the film is currently dated for March 2017 which might suggest otherwise.  The film stars Richard Gere and, if yesterday's reports are accurate, has been retitled as Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer...the character Gere plays.

I'll be keeping an eye open the next couple of weeks for other hints that Norman might make the trip to the San Juans.

Here's coverage:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sony-pictures-classics-nabs-richard-918051

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/richard-gere-norman-sony-classics-1201832789/


MOONLIGHT ALL BUT CONFIRMED

Moonlight director Barry Jenkins via Deadline.com

Weeks ago Jason Osiason led me down the oath of suspecting that Barry Jenkins Moonlight would be playing Telluride.  Jason made a persuasive  case and a s result, Moonlight jas been ensconced as a fixture in the Ten Bets updates throughout the summer.

Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere reported last night reporetd on the film and all but confirmed its slot for TFF #43.

Feeling pretty good about its Ten Bets inclusion and very appreciative to Mr. Osiason for sharing his expertise.

Here's the story from HE:

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2016/08/serious-moonlight/

Contact MTFB at:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Michaels-Telluride-Film-Blog-and-The-Film-Awards-Clearinghouse-107846269309712/

Or leave a comment.