Boy Erased Mystery Intrigues / Indiewire's Oscar Contenders and Telluride / Ad Astra Could Fly

Good Monday everyone...hope you had a pleasant weekend...


BOY ERASED MYSTERY INTRIGUES

Indiewire raised the question at the end of last week..."Where is Boy Erased?".  I wrote about conflicting information coming from Anne Thompson who tweeted that the film was headed to Toronto and then backtracked on that in a story that was posted after that tweet on the Indiewire website.

The mystery deepened somewhat with the Friday release of the Indiewire podcast ScreenTalk when Anne and her co-host Eric Kohn again suggested that Telluride is still a possibility as is a World Premiere at TIFF.

Adding to the fire was this on Twitter from Deadline's Pete Hammond which was a response to a Kris Tapley tweet (and thanks to my buddy Jason Osiason for catching the Hammond tweet and calling it to my attention early last Friday morning):

and The Playlist's Greg Ellwood responded with:

 Ellwood's tweet had this context from an earlier Tweet of his:

So, it seems to me that Ellwood, at least, thinks that it's Joel Edgerton's Boy Erased (though On the Basis if Sex and Mary Queen of Scots are also possibilities).  But hold on...

There has been some "No Focus Features at the fests" chatter including the Ellwood tweet above and in other places and Thompson and Kohn are certainly pretty squishy about where the film will ultimately land.

My takeaway, at least at this point...SOME film that hasn't been announced anywhere and that Pete Hammond must think is a BIG DEAL looks to be headed to T-ride and it could be but isn't necessarily Boy Erased.  

Other possibilities include: Radegund, Welcome to Marwen, Backseat, Destroyer, Mary Queen of Scots, On the Basis of Sex, Mid 90s, Vox Lux, Green Book, Share and Outlaw King.  There are others that it could be.

Add to all of that is the story that broken Friday of the criticism of Boy Erased by actress Chloe Grace Moretz.  Moretz is starring in the season's other gay conversion therapy film, The Miseducation of  Cameron Post.  Moretz took Edgerton's film to task saying "Queer movies should be ...created by queer people" per the Los Angeles Times.

Perhaps this week's additional announcements from Toronto, New York and the Venice schedule will solve the mystery.

INDIEWIRE'S OSCAR CONTENDERS AND TELLURIDE

Indiewire posted a cavalcade of 31 Oscar contenders last Friday.  The list included a whopping 11 films on my Ten (Plus) Bets list from last week:

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Cold War

The Favourite

First Man

The Front Runner

The Old Man and the Gun

The Other Side of the Wind

Peterloo

Roma

Shoplifters

White Boy Rick

Additionally, there are another five films that are on the Indiewire list that are still possible for Telluride: 22 July, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, No Known Author (AKA Never Look Away), Suspiria and Vox Lux.

The entire album of Indiewire's 31 picks is here.

AD ASTRA COULD FLY

Clayton Davis form Awards Circuit tweeted over the weekend that James Gray's Ad Astra looks to be dated for a late December Oscar qualifying release.  Our friend Jason Osiason pointed out that Jamie Kennedy, one of the stars of the film had indicated that a couple of months ago in an interview.

What is more interesting to me in the tweet from Davis is the notion that it "could pop up at a fall festival".

I'm keeping my ear to the ground here as we're relatively certain the Venice lineup is set.  Could "fall" include AFI (Nov. 8-15)?  I normally don't think of it as a fall fest but it would offer a fest closest to that December release date and so for that reason seems to be the most probable landing point for the film.  Still, "a fall festival"?  Makes you wonder...

New York?  Seems like if NY had their hands on it that they would have scheduled as one of their opening, centerpiece or closing films.

That leaves Telluride and/or Toronto...

We'll see.

That's your Monday.  Tomorrow I am likely to post at the normal time 8:30am EDT/5:30am PDT and quite probably I'll have an additional update as new information from other film festivals becomes available.

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

Digging for News Nuggets / Focus Where Art Thou? / Shorts at TFF #45

Good Monday everyone...hope you had a great weekend.

DIGGING FOR NEWS NUGGETS

As last week ended a number of film-centric sites assessed the week's news from both Toronto and Venice's announcements.  Some of the included detective work regarding Telluride.  I took a look at a couple of of those stories to confirm or dispute my conclusions as well as theirs.

Here's what I discovered.

Deadline's Pete Hammond agrees with my reading of the leaves in as far as Telluride as a destination for: 

First Man

Dogman

White Boy Rick

The Front Runner

The Old Man and the Gun

Roma 

Shoplifters

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Hammond is unsure about The Favourite.  I feel fairly strongly that it makes TFF's lineup.

The Hammond story is linked here.

Meanwhile, Scott Feinberg at The Hollywood Reporter also took aim at last week's festival reveals.  His analysis says that these films are headed to Telluride that I agree are probable:

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

The Old Man and the Gun

The Front Runner

White Boy Rick

Non Fiction

First Man

Roma

Cold War

Dogman

Shoplifters

Feinberg also includes Galveston, which I suspect will not play Telluride as it screened earlier this year at South by Southwest.  Peterloo (form Mike Leigh) which I can't deduce from the TIFF or Venice announcements but still believe will play TFF #45 and the documentary Reversing Roe...which I now nothing about so I will defer to Scott.

The Feinberg piece is linked here.

This Anne Thompson piece for Indiewire suggests The Favourite is likely for Telluride.  Anne also says T-ride is probable to include:

Roma

The Other Side of the Wind

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

The Old Man and the Gun

First Man

The Front Runner

White Boy Rick

In a separate story Thompson suggests Peterloo will be added to Telluride's list.

FOCUS WHERE ART THOU?

Both Indiewire's Anne Thompson (in the second story cited above and The Playlist's Gregory Ellwood (via Twitter) mentioned that Focus Features is M.I.A. thus far from Fall Fest announcements.  Ellwood going so far as to say that he had been told that Focus wasn't going to Toronto, Venice or Telluride.

Ellwood did, however suggest that Focus Film would be playing a prime slot in Toronto during its first four days:

We also know from TIFF's announcement that Asghar Farhadi's Everybody Knows (from Focus) will play there.

I just find it hard to believe that Mary Queen of Scots, Boy Erased and On the Basis of Sex won't be playing ANY of the triumvirate of early fall fests.  Stay tuned...

SHORTS AT TFF #45

Since the discovery last week that Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk would World Premiere at Toronto, I have wondered if Jenkins would still curate this year's shorts program for TFF #45 and additionally, if he would attend Telluride with TIFF following so closely on the heels of TFF (TIFF opens Sept. 6th).

Over the weekend we got at least part of the answer to those questions from Jenkins himself via his Twitter account:

So we now now that the master has, in fact, programmed the aforementioned shorts program.  Now the only question that remains is if Barry will be in town on Labor Day weekend.

That's your MTFB for this last Monday in July.  More tomorrow!

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

Testing...Testing... / Venice Certainties? / Trailer for On the Basis of Sex

Good Tuesday everyone...

TESTING...TESTING...

Variety's Kris Tapley tweeted late Sunday evening that both Josie Rourke's Mary Queen of Scots and James Gray's Ad Astra starring Brad Pitt, Ruth Negga and Tommy Lee Jones will be test screening this week:

I have avoided talking/thinking about Ad Astra all summer as it has been dated as a 2019 release.  However, I have seen some mention that if 20th Century Fox thought the film had a strong play that they might move the release to compete in this season's awards melee.

This sounds as if that process is on-going.  The other 20th Century Fox player is Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born.

Could it play at The SHOW?  Still very unlikely but the fact that it's testing this week suggests that it's not entirely outside the realm of possibility.

Similarly, Tapley later added that Backseat (the Dick Cheney film with Christian Bale) is also testing.  The film is being distributed by Annapurna which I am morally certain will be at TFF with If Beale Street Could Talk.  I could see them bringing a second film and they have a deep bench of other possible films: Backseat, Destroyer, The Sisters Brothers.

VENICE CERTAINTIES?

Jordan Ruimy's World of Reel posted "Venice Certainties" on Sunday night.  Ruimy says he's (as I mentioned yesterday) that he's hearing the same Venice rumor about The Other Side of the Wind opening that fest. 

He also says he's heard four films are locks for Venice:

Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria

Jacques Audiard's The Sisters Brothers

Alfonso Cuaron's Roma

and Francois Ozon's Alexandre.

The inclusion of the films from Audiard and Cuaron would not surprise nor would they preclude a double play at Telluride.  Frankly, I doubt that we'll see Suspiria.  However, the Ozon is another matter.  That popped up from nowhere.  Alexandre is dated for 2019 according to IMDb.  

It's worth noting that Ozon's Frantz played at TFF in 2015.

The Ruimy post at World of Reel is here.

TRAILER FOR ON THE BASIS OF SEX

We got word last week that the trailer for Mimi Leder's Ruth Bader Grinsburg flick starring Felicity Jones as the young but eventual Supreme Court justice would be dropping soon.  "Soon" was yesterday.

Here's the trailer via YouTube:

On the Basis of Sex is set to open on Dec. 25th.

I have linked coverage of the trailer release from:

The Film Stage

Indiewire

Variety

BTW: rumors are swirling that trailers for Biy Earsed and Bohemian Rhapsody will appear tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

That's your Tuesday wrap for MTFB.

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

The Distributors 2018: Not so Much / And Some Overlooked Distribution Notes / Trailers Looming: On the Basis of Sex and Mary Queen of Scots / First Venice Speculation

Welcome back from your weekend to MTFB.


THE DISTRIBUTORS 2018: NOT SO MUCH

Today's final look at distributors that seem to have films in play for the 45th Telluride Film Festival is actually a look at films that seem like they could be players that do not have distribution deals in place for the U.S.

That could still change in the next eight weeks and we'll be keeping a close eye on that as an acquisition of any of these titles could signal an increase or decrease in the chances that a film would potentially be TFF bound.

Here's the list of films:

The Other Side of the Wind-Netflix is listed as having the TV distribution for this but pointedly is not listed as being the theatrical distributor.  Producer Frank Marshall is on record as saying that the film will be screened in theaters...sooo???

At Eternity's Gate-Julian Schnabel's Vincent Van Gogh pic.

The Death and Life of John F. Donovan- Xavier Dolan...been floating around for a long time.

Sunset-Laszlo Nemes' follow-up to his brilliant Son of Saul (IMDb currently lists Playtime as having world wide rights for all media)

And a slew of Cannes films that garnered good critical buzz in May: Long Days Journey Into Night, The Wild Pear Tree, Ash Is the Purest White and Dogman.

Additionally add Karlovy Vary top prize winner I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians.

From this list I feel that The Other Side of the Wind and Sunset are the most likely for Telluride (The Other Side of the Wind has been at the #2 spot on my first two Ten Bets of this summer).  All of the others would be credible entrants for TFF #45 (and I do have a vibe for Matteo Garrone's Dogman).


AND SOME OVERLOOKED DISTRIBUTION NOTES

As I was going over my notes for films that lack distribution, I ran across three films that have a serious shot at Telluride that DO have U.S. distribution but which I left off of previous posts.  Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War is with Amazon and Cannes entrants Happy as Lazzaro and Girl are both under the wing of Netflix.

Also add in Karyn Kusawa's Destroyer starring Nicole Kidman.  It's being distributed by Annapurna Pictures.




TRAILERS LOOMING: ON THE BASIS OF SEX AND MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS

Anton Volkov's Trailer Track site notified subscribers over the weekend that we could expect to see trailers from Focus Features for both Mimi Leder's On the Basis of Sex which features Felicity Jones as a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg and also for Josie Rourke's Mary, Queen of Scots featuring Saorise Ronan and Margot Robbie.

Here are links to Volkov's posts flagging the expected arrival for both trailers soon:

Mary, Queen of Scots

On the Basis of Sex



FIRST VENICE SPECULATION

I ran across a serious speculative piece about films that might make the Venice lineup from an Italian website over the weekend: Ilsussidiario.net.  There are several films listed there that could certainly make the Venice/Telluride double play.

That Venice to Telluride (or in some instances the other way...Telluride to Venice) has become a stronger connection over the past few years.

Last year saw Oscar Best Picture winner The Shape of Water make that connection as well as Downsizing, First Reformed, Foxtrot, Human Flow, The Insult, Lean on Pete and Wormwood screen in both places.

Among the films listed in the post that I have been talking about for Telluride are:

The Death and Life of John F. Donovan
First Man
The Favourite
Roma
The Sisters Brothers
If Beale Street Could Talk
Radegund
Sunset
Beautiful Boy
A Star Is Born
Non-Fiction
Boy Erased

The Google translated version of the piece is linked here.


That's your Monday version of MTFB.  More to come tomorrow including a start on this year's look at "The Usual Suspects".

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

Quick Note / The Distributors 2018: Warner Brothers / Boy Erased and On the Basis of Sex Move / It's Nice to Have Friends

It's Tuesday and after an unexpected hiccup. MTFB has returned!

QUICK NOTE

As you may have noticed, there was no Monday post yesterday.  My apologies for that.  I was in Southern Colorado and caught up by the outage of Verizon, Comcast and Spectrum and had no real Internet connectivity from Friday until last night.

That kept me from getting MTFB's normal Monday post up.  I'm back today...

THE DISTRIBUTORS 2018: WARNER BROTHERS

Here's today's take on film distributors and their Telluride history which could give insight into films that might play at TFF #45.

I'm looking today at a major studio which used to have an independent arm that was a  serious presence at Telluride (Warner Independent) and who has, on occasion since the demise of that arm, still made the field of TFFs.

Warner Bros recent history:

2012: Argo
2013: Gravity, Prisoners
2014:
2015: Black Mass
2016: Sully

Warner Independent played Telluride in 2006 with Infamous and 2007 with Rails and Ties.

If Warners is to return to Telluride this year it would almost certainly be with Bradley Cooper's remake of A Star Is Born starring Cooper and Lady Gaga in the story that has been filmed four times now by Hollywood.  A Star Is Born has a ton of buzz and is set for releases on Oct. 5th.

WB had great success in '12 and '13 with Argo winning Best Picture and Gravity just being edged by 12 Years a Slave (but winning Best Direction and six other Oscars) but both Black Mass and Sully failed to generate that same success.

Ultimately, I regard A Star Is Born as a 1 in 3 shot at making the TFF lineup.  Maybe I should have it with slightly better odds.  If Warners really thinks it is a serious Oscar player (and considering Telluride's recent track record regarding Oscar winners) you'd have to think that they'll push to get it in the lineup.

Here's the trailer for A Star Is Born from YouTube:

BOY ERASED AND ON THE BASIS OF SEX MOVE

Focus Features announced yesterday that they were shifting release dates for two of their fall releases.  Joel Edgerton's Boy Erased has moved from its original Sept. 28th release to a prime Nov. 2nd and On the Basis of Sex has moved from Nov. 9th to Dec. 26th.

A number of outlets reported on the change suggesting that the moves were made to better position both for awards consideration.

Especially intriguing is the new spot for Boy Erased which moves into a release spot that would allow it to play any or all of the fall fests including New York.

Alan French at Awards Circuit says the changes increase the "traction" potential for Boy Erased and does not mean that On the Basis of Sex won't be a part of the Festival scene.

Anne Thompson at Indiewire says that Boy Erased is "Expected to debut at the fall festivals".

My feeling here is that the move probably increases the Telluride chances for Telluride audiences to see Boy Erased and lowers them for On the Basis of Sex though it doesn't remove its chances of making The SHOW.

Coverage is linked here from Variety, Indiewire, Deadline and Awards Circuit.


IT'S NICE TO HAVE FRIENDS

I posted the first Ten Bets list of predictions for the Telluride lineup for 2018 last Friday. I always see an uptick in traffic to the blog each summer when I start the Ten Bets lists as people’s interest in the fest increases as we get closer to Labor Day weekend.

Friday’s post got an extra boost, however, thanks to an article written by Sasha Stone and posted to her website Awards Daily. Sasha has been a good friend to me as well as a supporter and booster of MTFB for quite awhile.

Many readers of the blog can’t help but noticing that I’m a big fan of hers as well as I often link to film news, trailers and such at her site. Sasha has also served as one of the industry pros that rate films for me during TFF. I also rely on her Oscar predicting prowess once the fest is over each year and I begin focusing on which films from TFF will be a part of the awards season conversation. You’ve also probably noticed that I added a blurb recently from Sasha to the banner at the top of my posts.

We’re buddies.

Another note from her Friday post...the films she thinks sound like good T-ride bets are: Beautiful Boy, If Beale Street Could Talk and Cold War.

So, my thanks to Sasha and here’s the link to the story at Awards Daily.




That's today's MTFB.  More to come on Thursday as I get back to the regular summer posting schedule.

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

The Distributors 2018: Focus Features / Werner's New Project / Another Angel Could Be in Play

Good Friday everyone...


THE DISTRIBUTORS 2018: FOCUS FEATURES

Normally, I would have examined the Focus Feature lineup a bit later in the process because their TFF participation has been spotty over the last dozen years.  These are the Focus films that have played Telluride since 2006:

2006- Catch a Fire
2012- Hyde Park on Hudson
2015- Suffragette
2017-Darkest Hour

So, why evaluate them this early?  I have a couple of reasons.  First, I think Focus really benefited last year with Darkest Hour playing TFF #45.  It ended up with two Oscar wins (for Gary Oldman's performance and for Best Makeup/Hair) and another four Oscar nominations.

The second reason is that Focus has, on paper, a very good slate of films going into the fall:

Asghar Farhadi's Everybody Knows (no release date yet)
Joel Edgerton's Boy Erased (Sept. 28)
Mimi Leder's On the Basis of Sex (Nov. 9)
Josie Rourke's Mary Queen of Scots (Dec. 7)

All of which have at least a shot at making the fest.  I'm guessing Focus lands at least one of these at Telluride and, for the first time since I started covering TFF, maybe two films.

Here's my analysis for each:

Cruz and Bardem on the set of Everybody Knows

Everybody Knows- Farhadi directs Penelope Cruz (a past TFF Tribute recipient in 2006) and Javier Bardem in a Spanish language mystery.  This would seem the most likely fit for TFF as it checks off a number of TFF boxes: It was a Cannes film, Farhadi's past with the fest and Cruz's past tribute status.  However, the critical reception to the film at Cannes was less than enthusiastic.  As a matter of fact, the Reini Urban composite critical rankings had it at 19th of the 21 competition films.  Ouch.
Chances 50%.

Boy Erased- Edgerton directs Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Lucas Hedges and himself in a film that tackles the issue of gay conversion therapy.  That's a lot of acting and Oscar firepower in one film and the film has a timely hot button issue.  Chances 40%.

On the Basis of Sex- Looks at the rising career of a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In light of the success and buzz around the Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary, RBG, and Ginsburg's legendary status...this film is expected to be high profile.  With a buzzy cast including Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer and Justin Theroux. Chances 40%.

Margot Robbie as Elizabeth I in Mary Queen of Scots

Mary Queen of Scots- The story of the struggle for power and the British throne between Mary and Elizabeth I.  The film features red hot actresses Margot Robbie as Elizabeth and Saoirse Ronan as Mary and both women are coming off of Oscar nominations last year.  Robbie for I. Tonya and Ronan for Lady Bird.  Additionally, Ronan is rumored to have been the probable third tribute last year that did not happen (due to filming schedule conflicts-at a guess).  Chances 40%.

As a gauge...here were my guesses for Focus Films last year.  That Darkest Hour % looks a little silly in retrospect.

Victoria and Abdul 35%
Darkest Hour 10%
Phantom Thread 0%

Bottom line is that I think Focus will be back at Telluride this year.


WERNER'S NEW PROJECT

The Playlist reported yesterday that Telluride regular Werner Herzog has signed on to Executive Produce and direct (at least some episodes) of Fordlandia based on Greg Grandin's Pulitzer Prize winning book of the same name.

Fordlandia outlines the true story of Henry Ford's attempt to create a small town America in the Amazonian jungle.

No details about when we could see episodes on the USA Network, which owns the rights to the book.

You'd have to think that, depending on what timeline occurs, that some episodes would be screened as a part of TFF #46 in 2019. 

I'll keep an eye open for further information.


ANOTHER ANGEL COULD BE IN  PLAY

Sorry Angel still via Indiewire

Variety reports that Strand Releasing has obtained the distribution rights for Cannes Palme competition film Sorry Angel fro director Christophe Honore. 

The film played to fair-ish reviews at Cannes but was not an award winner at the end of that fest.

The Variety story says that Strand plans a fall release for the film.  Strand has had an occasional presence at Telluride which suggests that we ought to keep it in mind as a potential TFF #45 selection.

The Variety story is here.

That's your Friday MTFB.  Have a great weekend and come back for more on Monday.


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

The Oscar Dust Settles / Looking Ahead to Oscar 2019 and Telluride

It's the Thursday after the Oscars....


THE OSCAR DUST SETTLES

Let it be said that I personally enjoyed Oscar Night 2018.  Largely for these reasons:

1) The Telluride Film Festival Streak of screening the Best Picture winner clicked over to eight straight years in a row  and nine of the last ten.   That's cool.  More about that a little later.

2) I had a big night in the prediction department going 21 of 24 (and 20 of 21 in the non-shorts categories.  The only feature category that I whiffed on: Visual Effects where I had War for the Planet of the Apes and Blade Runner 2049 won.  In a side note: I did list BR 2049 as a possible player in the category.

3) I loved seeing Guillermo Del Toro win.  Such a warm and kind fellow human.  Needless to say, I plastered the pic he took of himself with me and my wife all over Twitter and Facebook...again.  And here it is:

This was taken at the Fox Searchlight party at the New Sheridan Bar.

Notes on the season...

As mentioned in Monday's post, Telluride films picked up seven Oscars:

The Shape of Water had four: Best Picture, Direction, Production Design and Original Score

Darkest Hour had two: Best Actor and Makeup and Hair

A Fantastic Woman was Best Foreign Language Film

In addition to TFF #44 continuing the Best Picture string, I'm going to note that the People's,  Pro's and Composite Telluride rankings featured here every year after the fest have become surprisingly predictive.

For example, I've done The People's Telluride Ratings and The Professionals Ratings (or some version of them) here now since 2012 and the Composite of the two since 2013.

Up until last year, and Moonlight's win, the film that finished as the second highest rated film in the People's Ratings won the Best Picture Oscar.  Moonlight broke that string when the 2016 T-ride crowd rated it #1.  This year...the #2 spot was golden again as that's where The Shape pf Water finished (2nd to Lady Bird).

However, the Composite ratings have been five straight years of invincible with the composite top rated film in each year since I started it in 2013 winning Oscar's top prize.

Of the three metrics, the Pros are a bit more all over the place:

2012- Argo was #2 to The Central Park Five

2013- 12 Years a Slave was #1

2014-  Birdman was #1

2015- Spotlight was #3 behind Son of Saul and Anomalisa

2016- Moonlight was #1

2017- The Shape of Water was #1

So...if you're looking to wager next fall after TFF #45 concludes, check the #1 Composite rated film in this space about two weeks after the fest.

LOOKING AHEAD TO OSCAR 2019

The Oscar season never really ends.  Any number of Oscar Prognosticators have already started the running tote board for next year's awards.  That. as you know, can offer us clues about what films might be on the Telluride SHOW list in six months.  So...because this is what it is...I'll be looking at some of the "year-out" predictions for clues for possible films make The SHOW lineup starting with this article from Awards Circuit's Clayton Davis.

Among Davis' Best Picture predictions are some that have a real chance to be at Telluride:

Backstreet (the Adam McKay Dick Cheney movie with last year's TFF Tribute recipient Christian Bale as Cheney)

If Beale Street Could Talk (Telluride favorite Barry Jenkins follow-up to a little film called Moonlight...maybe you've heard of it)

Martin Scorsese's The Irishman. I can see Netflix wanting to play this at Telluride.

Boy Erased.  Joel Edgerton's drama about gay conversion therapy.

At Eternity's Gate-could Julian Schnabel return to Telluride with this story of Vincent Van Gogh starring Willem Dafoe?

Mary Queen of Scots with Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie and from Focus Features (which had a very nice Telluride 2017 with Darkest Hour.

On the Basis if Sex-Mimi Leder's Ruth Bader Ginsburg pic starring Felicity Jones and also from Focus Features.

Private Life-Tamara Jenkins first feature since 2007's The Savages, which was great and played Telluride.  Paul Giamatti stars.

Widows-Steve McQueen.  He's played Telluride with Hunger, Shame, 12 Years a Slave.  

Roma-Alfonso Cuaron.  After Gravity's success at T-ride and the great run that he and his amigos -Inarritu and now Del Toro have also had a TFF play wouldn't surprise.

That's all for today.  More to come on Monday!

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