SPECIAL POST: THE FINAL FAC COMING LATER TODAY/ Final Picks from Sasha, Kris and The Gurus

Good Wednesday...less than 24 hours before the Oscar nominations are announced...

I'm still waiting for the last couple of Oscar experts to post their calls, which should happen this morning.  As soon as they do, I'll post THE FINAL FILM AWARDS CLEARINGHOUSE before nominations are announced, so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, here are the final predictions from some of my usual suspects:

Sasha Stone/Awards Daily:

http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/the-state-of-the-race-final-oscar-nomination-predictions/

Kris Tapley/HitFix-Incontention:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/final-2014-oscar-nominee-predictions

Movie City News' Gurus of Gold:

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/01/gurus-o-gold-last-stand-before-nominations/

More in a couple of hours...a lot more...

SPECIAL POST: The FAC (Film Awards Clearinghouse) Vol. 5C/Questions About Oscar

Good Tuesday to All!

Down to less than 48 hours until Oscar announces his nominees for this year...excitement building.

THE FAC VOL. 5C

Today a look at the last set of "below the line categories": Original Song. Original Score, Animated Feature, Documentary Feature, Foreign Language Film and Visual Effects.


I use the publicly posted predictions of these Oscar experts:

Sasha Stone/Awards Daily

Kris Tapley/HitFix-InContention

Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood

Peter Knegt/IndieWire

Alex Carlson/Film Misery

Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience

Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit

Brad Brevet/Rope of Silicon

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

ORIGINAL SONG

1) "Let It Go"/Frozen (1)
2) "Young and Beautiful"/The Great Gatsby (2)
3) "Moon Song"/Her (5)
4) "So You Know What It's Like"/Short Term 12 (3)
5) "Ordinary Love"/Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (9)
6) "Happy"/Despicable Me 2 (6)
7) "In the Middle of the Night"/Lee Daniels The Butler (10)
8) "Amen"/All is Lost (4)
9) "I See Fire"/The Hobbit: Smaug (7)
10) "You and I Ain't Nothin' No More"/Lee Daniels The Butler (8)

Comment:  Biggest jump: "Ordinary Love".  Biggest drop: "Amen".

ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Gravity (1)
2) 12 Years a Slave (2)
3) The Book Thief (4)
4) Saving Mr. Banks (3)
5) Philomena (5)
6) Captain Phillips (6)
7) All is Lost (7)
8) Her (8)
9) Monsters University (9)
10) Rush (10)

Comment:  At this point, along with Animated Feature, this is the most stable, least fluid category.

ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Frozen (1)
2) The Wind Rises (2)
3) The Croods (3)
4) Monsters University (4)
5) Despicable Me 2 (5)
6) Ernest and Celestine (6)
7) Letter to Momo (7)
8) Epic (9)
9) Cloudy with a  Chance of Meatballs 2 (8)
10) O Apostolo (10)

Comment: Pretty hot race between "Despicable Me 2" and "Ernest and Celestine" for the fifth spot.

DOCUMENTARY

1) The Act of Killing (4) (TFF #39)
2) Stories We Tell (2) (TFF #39)
3) Blackfish (1)
4) 20 Feet from Stardom (3)
5) The Square (5)
6) Tim's Vermeer (6)
7) Cutie and the Boxer (7)
8) God Loves Uganda (10)
9) The Armstrong Lie (8)
10) Dirty Wars (New)

Dropping out: "After Tiller"

Comment: Documentary is always a tough category to pick and always very competitive.  Big jump for "The Act of Killing".


FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

(Note: The Academy has short listed this category to nine films)

1) The Hunt (1) (TFF #39)
2) Broken Circle Breakdown (6)
3) The Great Beauty (5)
4) Two Lives
5) The Notebook
6) The Grandmaster
7) Omar
8) The Missing Picture 
9) An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker

When TFF #40 misses making it to 40 overall nominations on Thursday morning it may well be because of this category.  TFF almost always has strong presence in the Foreign Language category but the Academy' s short list really put a damper on that.

VISUAL EFFECTS

1) Gravity (1)
2) The Hobbit: Smaug (2)
3) Pacific Rim (3)
4) Iron Man 3 (4)
5) Star Trek Into Darkness (5)
6) World War Z (7)
7) Elysium (6)
8) Oblivion (8)
9) The Lone Ranger (9)
10) Thor 2 (New)

Dropping Out: Man of Steel

Comment:  Another very stable category heading into Thursday morning's announcements.

Overall for these categories, if The FAC was 100% accurate, TFF #40 films would have 4 nominations and another 4 possibles.  TFF #39 would reap 3 nominations.

QUESTIONS ABOUT OSCAR

I sent out a brief survey to some of my friends and acquaintances (Academy members, Oscar experts, directors, screenwriters and film journalists) and asked them four questions:

1)      What will be the biggest surprise Thursday morning?

2)      What’s going to happen that you will dislike?

3)      What will happen that you’ll be happiest about?

      4)      What should happen that won’t? 
  
For example, my answers would be:

1) Meryl Streep doesn't get a Best Actress nomination for "August: Osage County".
2) If it were to happen, I'd dislike a nomination for Best Original Screenplay for "Gravity"...and that could happen.
3) "12 Years a Slave" will lead the field in number of total nominations.
4) Oscar Isaac will not get a Best Actor nomination.

What are your answers to those four questions?  Comment!


Tomorrow, with The Final FAC before nominations are announced, I'll post some of those answers.  Should be fun.

Golden Globes 2014/The FAC Vol. 5B (abridged)/IndieWire's 2014 List and Telluride

Good Monday Campers!

GOLDEN GLOBES 2014

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association handed out their Golden Globes last night.  There are 14 film categories.

Telluride #40 films won 3 Globes:

"12 Years a Slave" for Best Drama", Alfonso Cuaron for Best Direction for "Gravity" and Alex Ebert for Best Score for "All is Lost".

The biggest winner of the night was David O. Russell's "American Hustle" which won three Globes: Best Comedy/Musical, Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)-Amy Adams and Best Supporting Actress-Jennifer Lawrence.

"Dallas Buyers Club" was named twice in acting categories.  Matthew McConnaughey won for Best Actor (Drama) and Jared Leto won for Best Supporting Actor.

Other awards went to:

Cate Blanchett/Blue Jasmine-Best Actress (Drama)
Leonardo DiCaprio/The Wolf of Wall Street-Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)
Spike Jonze/Her-Best Screenplay
"Ordinary Love"/Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom- Best Song
"The Great Beauty" Best Foreign Language Film
"Frozen" Best Animated Film

Although they had multiple nominations neither "Nebraska" (5 noms) nor "Inside Llewyn Davis (3 noms) could break into the winners circle.

Also, oddly, the Foreign Language category only had one nominee that was unrelated to Telluride and it won: "The Great Beauty".

THE FILM AWARDS CLEARINGHOUSE VOL. 5B (abridged)



I had claimed last week that today's post would include updates of where Oscar predictors are in terms of six categories: Makeup/Hair, Costumes, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and the three categories devoted to short form film making.

And that's not going to happen.

First, the Makeup/Hair list won't change until Thursday morning's nomination announcement as the Academy had already named the nine films that are short listed from which the nominees must be chosen.

Additionally, I had thought/hoped that there would be more predictions for the Short Form categories (Live Action, Documentary and Animation) from the nine Oscar experts that I peruse, but alas, only two of them have weighed in on those categories so far.  I am hoping that they will all make some predictions for these categories before Wednesday and I will try to include that collation before nominations are announced on Thursday morning.

That being said, here's the update for Costumes, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.

I use the publicly posted predictions of these Oscar experts:

Sasha Stone/Awards Daily

Kris Tapley/HitFix-InContention

Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood

Peter Knegt/IndieWire

Alex Carlson/Film Misery

Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience

Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit

Brad Brevet/Rope of Silicon

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

COSTUMES

1) 12 Years a Slave (1)
2) The Great Gatsby (3)
3) American Hustle (2)
4) Saving Mr. Banks (4)
5) The Invisible Woman (7)
6) Inside Llewyn Davis (5)
7) Lee Daniels' The Butler (6)
8) Oz The Great and Terrible (9)
9) Hunger Games: Catching Fire (10)
10) The Hobbit: Smaug (8)

Comment:   No film dropped away but "Invisible Woman" made a significant move into the fifth slot.  "Llewyn's" prospects may have dimmed slightly due to the perception that the film is in some Oscar trouble overall.  The 1-4 spots seem solid but #5 looks like it'll be close.

SOUND EDITING

1) Gravity (1)
2) Captain Phillips (2)
3) Rush (3)
4) All is Lost (4)
5) The Lone Ranger (5)
6) Iron Man 3 (6)
7) Pacific Rim (7)
8) Man of Steel (8)
9) World War Z (New)
10) Star Trek Into Darkness (9)

Dropping Out: Oblivion.

Comment:  A remarkably stable category with the 1-8 spots unmoving.  At this point, "Gravity" is the only sure nomination with "Captain Phillips" a near lock.


SOUND MIXING

1) Gravity (1)
2) Rush (2)
3) Inside Llewyn Davis (5)
4) All is Lost (4)
5) Captain Phillips (3)
6) 12 Years a Slave (6)
7) The Lone Ranger (7)
8) The Hobbit: Smaug (9)
9) Frozen (New)
10) Man of Steel (8)

Dropping Out: Pacific Rim

Comment:  The one place on the charts where "Llewyn" actually picked up ground.  "Gravity", again, is a lock.  Spots 2-4 are probable.

And a reminder of the seven film short list for Best Makeup/Hair:

American Hustle
Bad Grandpa
The Lone Ranger
The Great Gatsby
Dallas Buyers Club
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

Among these categories TFF #40 films (assuming The FAC was 100% correct) would account for 7 nominations and another 2 possibilities.

 INDIEWIRE'S 2014 LIST AND TELLURIDE

IndieWire was up this week with their list of independent films that they have the greatest desire to see in 2014 and, of course, I have parsed it for the most likely TFF #41 titles.  The post is entitled : "50 Indie Films IndieWire Wants to See in 2014"

IndieWire listed the films alphabetically, so I will too.  Among the 50 listed, here are the films they mention that, in my view and at this time, have the greatest likelihood of playing TFF #41:

"Birdman"- Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's comedy starring Michael Keaton.  Fox Searchlight is producing and distributing.

"Carol"- Todd Haynes directs Cate Blanchett as an older woman who falls for a younger woman played by Rooney Mara.  The Weinstein Company is distributing and Film4 is among the producing partners.

"Every Thing Will Be Fine"- Wim Wenders directs James Franco who is haunted by a death he accidentally causes.

"Far From the Madding Crowd"-Thomas Vinterberg directs Carey Mulligan and Matthias Schoenaerts in the adaptation of the Thomas Hardy classic. Fox Searchlight is listed as a producing company by IMDb.  They'll probably distribute in the U.S. as well.

"Foxcatcher"-Bennett Miller directs Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo in this true story of Olympic wrestling hopes that go disasterously wrong.  I had this on the 2013 Telluride watch list for much of last year until it was pulled from the potential fall schedule.  It's back on this year as the speculation is that it is  now a likely awards player this year.  Sony Pictures Classics is distributing.

"Maps to the Stars"  David Cronenberg directing Robert Pattinson (again).  I'm back and forth on its Telluride chances.  It sounds intriguing but so did "Cosmopolis" and "A Dangerous Method" neither of which set the world on fire.  I expect it will play Cannes and the reaction there might well determine its Telluride potential.

"Mr. Turner"-Mike Leigh's project about English artist J.M.W. Turner.  Sony Pictures Classics is distributing and many of the producing companies have Telluride history.  This might be the surest TFF #41 bet of all the possible films on this list.

"Suite Francaise"-Saul Dibb directs this story of WWII french occupation and an unlikely love story.  Michelle Williams and the red hot Margot Robbie (Wolf of Wall Street) star.  The Weinstein's are distributing.

"While We're Young"-one of two Naoh Baumbach projects that might pop up at Telluride (the other didn't make the IndieWire list, but it's just as likely to be at TFF #41 as this).  The film stars Ben Stiller, Amanda Seyfried and Naomi Watts.

The complete IndieWire list can be found here:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/the-50-indies-indiewire-most-wants-to-see-in-2014


More tomorrow.

The FAC Vol. 5A/The Other Metric/Oscar's Look/Nebraska Notes/Labor Day Rush

Good Thursday Everyone...

I'm continuing to update Oscar categories as we get closer and closer to nomination morning (Jan. 16-one week away!),  Today, I'm updating the Screenplay categories, Cinematography, Film Editing and Production Design.

THE FILM AWARDS CLEARINGHOUSE VOL. 5A

I use the publicly posted predictions of these Oscar experts:

Sasha Stone/Awards Daily

Kris Tapley/HitFix-InContention

Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood

Peter Knegt/IndieWire

Alex Carlson/Film Misery

Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience

Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit

Brad Brevet/Rope of Silicon

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

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) 12 Years a Slave (1)

2) Captain Phillips (2)

3) Philomena (4)

4) Before Midnight (5)

5) The Wolf of Wall Street (3)

6) August: Osage County (6)

7) Short Term 12 (8)

8) Blue is the Warmest Color (7)

9) The Spectacular Now (New)

10) The Book Thief (Semi-New)

Dropping Out: "Lone Survivor" and "Labor Day".

Comment: The top six listed seem to be the serious players with "Wolf" dropping a bit, perhaps due to the conversation about whether the film glorifies/endorses the kind of behavior it depicts.  "August" still seems to be on the outside, but just barely and "Short Term 12" has a legit shot to make the field as a sleeper.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) American Hustle (3)

2) Nebraska (2)

3) Her (4)

4) Inside Llewyn Davis (1)

5) Blue Jasmine (5)

6) Gravity (7)

7) Enough Said (9)

8) Dallas Buyers Club (8)

9) Fruitvale Station (New)

10) Lee Daniel's The Butler (10)

Dropping Out: "Saving Mr. Banks"

Comment:  "Llewyn" takes a pretty big fall owing almost certainly to the lack of a WGA nomination last week.  This category is very tight with only the top three listed above as very likely Oscar nominees.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Gravity (1)

2) 12 Years a Slave (2-TIE)

2) Inside Llewyn Davis (2-TIE)

4) Prisoners (4)

5) Nebraska (6)

6) Captain Phillips (5)

7) Rush (7)

8) Her (8)

9) The Grandmaster (New)

10) All is Lost (9)

Comment:  Every few years some category appears to have the possibility of a complete Telluride slate of nominees.  This years it's Cinematography which, if these numbers don't lie, would happen next week.  Realistically, almost any of the top ten could end up with a nomination.

BEST FILM EDITING

1) Gravity (1)

2) 12 Years a Slave (2)

3) Captain Phillips (3)

4) American Hustle (4)

5) Rush (5)

6) The Wolf of Wall Street (6)

7) Inside Llewyn Davis (8)

8) All is Lost (7)

9) Her (9)

10) Lone Survivor (New)

Dropping Out: "Nebraska"

Comment: A very competitive category as well through the first six places with both "Llewyn " and "Lost" also realistic possibilities to sneak into a nomination.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) 12 Years a Slave (1)

2) The Great Gatsby (2)

3) Saving Mr. Banks (3)

4) The Hobbit: Smaug (4)

5) Inside Llewyn Davis (5)

6) Gravity (6)

7) Her (7)

8) American Hustle (8)

9) The Invisible Woman (9)

10) Oz The Great and Powerful (10)

Comment:  That's right, a category with absolutely no movement in the past couple of weeks.  This category seems ultra-competitive through the top seven spots and I have a feeling the #8 "American Hustle" might sneak in.

Overall, in these five categories Telluride #40 would have 12 additional nominations (if the metric is 100% accurate) and another 7 possibilities.

Beginning Monday I will post Oscar category updates each day leading up to Oscar Nomination announcement morning (Thursday).  Monday and Tuesday I'll update the remaining "under the line categories.  On Monday: The Shorts: Animated, Documentary, Live Action as well as Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Costumes and Makeup/Hair.  On Tuesday: Original Song, Original Score, Animated Feature, Documentary Feature, Foreign Language Film and Visual Effects.

THE OTHER METRIC

A week ago, I added another metric as a way of looking at the Best Picture race.  It utilized the results from Golden Globe nominations, The Screen Actors Guild, The American Film Institute, The Los Angeles Critics, The New York Film Critics Circle and The National Board of Review.  In the last week, three other guilds (Producers, Directors and Writers) have announced as well as The National Society of Film Critics and The British Association of Film and Television Arts.  That's a total of 10 organizational announcements that I have compiled.  If we believe that success among these organizations is indicative of Oscar nomination potential then here's what they tell us (if they tell us anything).

7 films get nominated for Best Picture

Leading the way is "American Hustle" named by nine of these groups (Golden Globes, SAG, AFI, NYFCC, DGA, PGA, WGA, NSFC and BAFTA).

Next is "12 Years a Slave" named eight times (Golden Globes, SAG, AFI, NBR, DGA, PGA, NSFC, BAFTA)

Two films were named seven times:
"Gravity" (Golden Globes, AFI, LAFCA, NBR, DGA, PGA, BAFTA)
"Her" (Golden Globes, AFI, LAFCA, NBR, PGA, WGA, NSFC)

Two films have six mentions:
"Captain Phillips" (Golden Globes, AFI, DGA, PGA, WGA, BAFTA)
"The Wolf of Wall Street" (Golden Globes, AFI, NBR, DGA, PGA, WGA)

"Nebraska" has five mentions (Golden Globes, AFI, NBR, PGA, WGA)

"Inside Llewyn Davis" has four mentions (Golden Globes, AFI, NBR, NSFC)

So this metric suggests that these are the eight most likely Best Picture nominees a week from today.

Films with three mentions and potential spoilers/additions:

"Dallas Buyers Club" (SAG, PGA, WGA)
"Saving Mr. Banks" (AFI, NBR, PGA)

It will be interesting to see how this metric plays out next week.

OSCAR'S LOOK FOR 2014

 
Here's the official poster for this year's Oscars featuring host Ellen Degeneres.  I have also links the HitFix story that goes with the poster/announcement:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/academy-unveils-official-poster-for-2014-oscars


NEBRASKA NOTES

The Wrap talks to the producers of Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" about the decade long process it took to get the film to the screen:

http://www.thewrap.com/nebraska-alexander-payne-producers-albert-berger-ron-yerxa


Then The Wrap added this conversation with "Nebraska" cinematographer Phedon Papamichael:

http://www.thewrap.com/nebraska-cinematographer-explains-bruce-derns-face-better-black-white/

Screenwriter Bob Nelson talks to Vulture.com's Kyle Buchanan about the toughest scene to write in the film:

http://www.vulture.com/2014/01/toughest-scene-i-wrote-nebraskas-bob-nelson.html


OSCAR PODCAST

Sasha Stone of Awards Daily posted her latest Oscar podcast which you can find here:

http://www.awardsdaily.com/oscarpodcast/?p=2264


LABOR DAY RUSH

The Playlist posted a story this week with new images and television spots for Jason Reitman's "Labor Day".  According to my latest FAC, "Labor Day" has the smallest of shots at two Oscar nominations next week:  Best Actress for Kate Winslet and Best Adapted Screenplay.  Here's the story from The Playlist:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/new-tv-spot-photos-of-jason-reitmans-labor-day-starring-kate-winslet-josh-brolin-20140103


More on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week in the run up to the Oscar nomination announcement.

BREAKING: BAFTA NOMINATIONS

BAFTA NOMINATIONS (via Variety)

BEST FILM
12 YEARS A SLAVE Anthony Katagas, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen
AMERICAN HUSTLE Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuaron, David Heyman
PHILOMENA Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward

DIRECTOR
12 YEARS A SLAVE Steve McQueen
AMERICAN HUSTLE David O. Russell
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Paul Greengrass
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Martin Scorsese

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
AMERICAN HUSTLE Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
BLUE JASMINE Woody Allen
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
NEBRASKA Bob Nelson

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
12 YEARS A SLAVE John Ridley
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Richard LaGravenese
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Billy Ray
PHILOMENA Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Terence Winter

LEADING ACTOR
BRUCE DERN Nebraska
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR 12 Years a Slave
CHRISTIAN BALE American Hustle
LEONARDO DICAPRIO The Wolf of Wall Street
TOM HANKS Captain Phillips

LEADING ACTRESS
AMY ADAMS American Hustle
CATE BLANCHETT Blue Jasmine
EMMA THOMPSON Saving Mr. Banks
JUDI DENCH Philomena
SANDRA BULLOCK Gravity

SUPPORTING ACTOR
BARKHAD ABDI Captain Phillips
BRADLEY COOPER American Hustle
DANIEL BRÜHL Rush
MATT DAMON Behind the Candelabra
MICHAEL FASSBENDER 12 Years a Slave

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
JENNIFER LAWRENCE American Hustle
JULIA ROBERTS August: Osage County
LUPITA NYONG’O 12 Years a Slave
OPRAH WINFREY The Butler
SALLY HAWKINS Blue Jasmine

ORIGINAL MUSIC
12 YEARS A SLAVE Hans Zimmer
THE BOOK THIEF John Williams
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Henry Jackman
GRAVITY Steven Price
SAVING MR. BANKS Thomas Newman

CINEMATOGRAPHY
12 YEARS A SLAVE Sean Bobbitt
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Barry Ackroyd
GRAVITY Emmanuel Lubezki
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Bruno Delbonnel
NEBRASKA Phedon Papamichael

EDITING
12 YEARS A SLAVE Joe Walker
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Christopher Rouse
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger
RUSH Dan Hanley, Mike Hill
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Thelma Schoonmaker

PRODUCTION DESIGN
12 YEARS A SLAVE Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker
AMERICAN HUSTLE Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Howard Cummings
GRAVITY Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woodlard
THE GREAT GATSBY Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn

COSTUME DESIGN
AMERICAN HUSTLE Michael Wilkinson
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Ellen Mirojnick
THE GREAT GATSBY Catherine Martin
THE INVISIBLE WOMAN Michael O’Connor
SAVING MR. BANKS Daniel Orlandi

MAKE UP & HAIR
AMERICAN HUSTLE Evelyne Noraz, Lori McCoy-Bell
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Kate Biscoe, Marie Larkin
THE BUTLER Debra Denson, Beverly Jo Pryor, Candace Neal
THE GREAT GATSBY Maurizio Silvi, Kerry Warn
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater

SOUND
ALL IS LOST Richard Hymns, Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor, Micah Bloomberg, Gillian Arthur
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro, Oliver Tarney
GRAVITY Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Niv Adiri, Chris Munro
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Peter F. Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff
RUSH Danny Hambrook, Martin Steyer, Stefan Korte, Markus Stemler, Frank Kruse

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
GRAVITY Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould, Nikki Penny
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds
IRON MAN 3 Bryan Grill, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick
PACIFIC RIM Hal Hickel, John Knoll, Lindy De Quattro, Nigel Sumner
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton, Patrick Tubach, Roger Guyett

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
THE ACT OF KILLING Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sorensen
BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR Abdellatif Kechiche, Brahim Chioua, Vincent Maraval
THE GREAT BEAUTY Paolo Sorrentino, Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima
METRO MANILA Sean Ellis, Mathilde Charpentier
WADJDA Haifaa Al-Mansour, Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul

DOCUMENTARY
THE ACT OF KILLING Joshua Oppenheimer
THE ARMSTRONG LIE Alex Gibney
BLACKFISH Gabriela Cowperthwaite
TIM’S VERMEER Teller, Penn Jillette, Farley Ziegler
WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS Alex Gibney

ANIMATED FILM
DESPICABLE ME 2 Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
FROZEN Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
MONSTERS UNIVERSITY Dan Scanlon

Telluride #40 had films with 31 BAFTA nominaitons and another 3 for TFF #39 films:

"Gravity"- 11 (some specifically British only)

"12 Years a Slave"-10

"Inside Llewyn Davis"-3

"Nebraska"-3

One each for: "Blue is the Warmest Color", "Tim's Vermeer", "All is Lost" and "The Invisible Woman".

TFF #39 films:
"The Act of Killing"-2

"Wadjda"-1

BREAKING: DGA NOMINATES

The Directors Guild has nominated:

Alfonso Cuaron/Gravity
Steve McQueen/12 Years a Slave
David O. Russell/American Hustle
Martin Scorsese/The Wolf of Wall Street
Paul Greengrass/Captain Phillips

No nomination from the DGA for Alexander Payne/Nebraska, The Coen Brothers/Inside Llewyn Davis, Woody Allen/Blue Jasmine or Spike Jonze/Her.

Will Oscar name the same five next week?

The Film Awards Clearinghouse 2014 Vol. 5-The Major Categories/HitFix's 25 "Prestige" 2014 Titles/McQueen and Cuaron

Good Monday Everybody...

I'm back to the "real world" today as classes resume and I start the second semester for this academic year. It's going to get busy!

Nevertheless, MTFB goes on as scheduled beginning with an update of Oscar predictions from The Film Awards Clearinghouse for the six major categories.

THE FILM AWARDS CLEARINGHOUSE VOL.5-MAJOR CATEGORIES

I use the publicly posted predictions of these Oscar experts as the metric for The FAC:

Sasha Stone/Awards Daily

Kris Tapley/HitFix-InContention

Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood

Peter Knegt/IndieWire

Alex Carlson/Film Misery

Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience

Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit

Brad Brevet/Rope of Silicon

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

BEST PICTURE

1) 12 Years A Slave (1)
2) Gravity (2)
3) American Hustle (3)
4) Nebraska (4)
5) Captain Phillips (5)
6) Wolf of Wall Street (6)
7) Inside Llewyn Davis (8)
8) Saving Mr. Banks (7)
9) Her (9)
10) Dallas Buyers Club (10)
11) Lee Daniels' The Butler (12)
12) Philomena (11)
13) Blue Jasmine (14)
14) August: Osage County (15)
15) Fruitvale Station (13)

Comment:  No film drops out from our last look at this category and there hasn't been drastic movement.  Clearly the news of this past week's snubs of "Inside Llewyn Davis" by the Producers Guild and the Writers Guild hasn't filtered into the predictions of the nine Oscar Experts that I use to put together the FAC.  I suspect that it will in the next week or so.  The Directors Guild announcement tomorrow may be "Llewyn's" last best chance to pull out a Best Picture nomination.

On the other hand, I have a theory that "Llewyn" may be exactly that kind of picture that may not engender love from all over the various parts of the 6,000 Academy members, but may have enough passionate supporters to get it a Best Picture nomination irrespective of what the Guilds have been saying.  As a number of Oscar bloggers have pointed out, if a film can get 300 #1 votes, it's a nominee and it doesn't much matter what the other 5,700+ Academy members think.  That's universally assumed to be the explanation for the Best Picture nomination for "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" a couple of years ago.

It's wroth thinking about.

It's also worth noting that the nomination ballot deadline is Wednesday.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Alfonso Cuaron/Gravity (1)
2) Steve McQueen/12 Years a  Slave (2)
3) David O. Russell/American Hustle (5)
4) Paul Greengrass/Captain Phillips (3)
5) Martin Scorsese/Wolf of Wall Street (4)
6) Alexander Payne/Nebraska (6)
7) Joel and Ethan Coen/Inside Llewyn Davis (7)
8) Spike Jonze/Her (8)
9) John Lee Hancock/Saving Mr. Banks (9)
10) Lee Daniels/Lee Daniels' The Butler (10)

Comment: Russell makes a substantial move.  I think the Scorsese and Greengrass support may be soft which likely opens the door for Payne.  Coens need some DGA help tomorrow.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Cate Blanchett/Blue Jasmine (1)
2) Sandra Bullock/Gravity (2)
3) Emma Thompson/Saving Mr. Banks (3)
4) Judi Dench/Philomena (4)
5) Meryl Streep/August:Osage County (5)
6) Amy Adams/American Hustle (6)
7) Brie Larson/Short Term 12 (7)
8) Adele Exarchopolous/Blue is the Warmest Color (8)

9) Kate Winslet/Labor Day (9)

10) Julie Delpy/Before Midnight (10)

Comment:  Is there a little softening in the notion that Meryl Streep's nomination is a lock?  In a category that has been remarkably consistent for months, that seems to be the only suspense at this point.  

Additionally, Blanchett has been on top (way on top) in EVERY FAC.  She gets a perfect score on The FAC metric again this time around (as do the leaders in both Supporting categories in this edition of The FAC).

BEST ACTOR

1) Chiwetel Ejiofor/12 Years a Slave (1)

2) Matthew McConnaughey/Dallas Buyers Club (3)

3) Bruce Dern/Nebraska (2)

4) Tom Hanks/Captain Phillips (5)

5) Robert Redford/All is Lost (4)

6) Leonardo DiCaprio/Wolf of Wall Street (7)

7) Forest Whitaker/Lee Daniels' The Butler (6)

8) Christian Bale/American Hustle (8)

9) Oscar Isaac/Inside Llewyn Davis (9)

10) Michael B. Jordan/Fruitvale Station (10)

Comment:  Redford's spot seems to still be shaky and although the latest number crunching suggests that DiCaprio is the most likely beneficiary, I'm keeping my eye on Bale and even Joaquin Phoenix for "Her".

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Lupita Nyong'o/12 Years a Slave (1)

2) Jennifer Lawrence/American Hustle (2)

3) Oprah Winfrey/Lee Daniels' The Butler (3)

4) June Squibb/Nebraska (4)

5) Julia Roberts/August: Osage County (5)

6) Sally Hawkins/Blue Jasmine (7)

7) Octavia Spencer/Fruitvale Station (6)

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

9) Scarlett Johansson/Her (9)

10) Lea Seydoux/Blue is the Warmest Color (New)

Comment: Margot Robbie (Wolf) drops off the top ten in this category.  Frankly, I think the only locks are Nyong'o and Lawrence.  

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Jared Leto/Dallas Buyers Club (1)

2) Michael Fassbender/12 Years a Slave (2)

3) Barkhad Abdi/Captain Phillips (3)

4) Daniel Bruhl/Rush (5)

5) Bradley Cooper/American Hustle (8)

6) James Gandolfini/Enough Said (6)

7) Tom Hanks/Saving Mr. Banks (4)

8) Jonah Hill/Wolf of Wall Street (7)

9) Will Forte/Nebraska (9)

10) James Franco/Spring Breakers (New)

Comment: Jake Gyllenhaal's "Prisoners" performance drops off the FAC.  This is the most fluid of any major category at this point with a big jump for Bradley Cooper and a big dive for Tom Hanks.  As I have said, I think "Mr. Banks" has been losing gas for about a month and this would seem to provide a little gas to the theory.  Cooper's rise underlines the general warm up for "American Hustle" as does Russell's movement in the directing category.  I've been saying for a good long time that I think "American Hustle" is the film that has a chance to knock off "12 Years" not "Gravity".  Some of the pros seem to be coming around to that possibility as well.

Bottom line, though, I still think "12 Years" is going to win the Big Prize on Mar. 2.

Finally, my bold prediction that TFF #40 films would get 40 nominations may be in some serious jeopardy. With "Llewyn" in trouble and Redford also looking more dicey, 40 nominations may not be achievable after all.

In all, in these six major categories and if these metrics were 100% accurate on Jan. 16 Telluride #40 films would have 13 nominations with another seven possibilities.

Next edition of MTFB/FAC will look at where we stand in Screenplay categories, Cinematography, Film Editing and Production Design.

HITFIX AND 25 "PRESTIGE" PICTURES FOR 2014...AND TFF #41?

Last week HitFix posted 25 films that were their "most anticipated" for 2014.  They've followed that up this week with a listing of 25 "Prestige" films that they're looking forward to and I thought it would be interesting to parse those for possible Telluride #41 titles.  So here's what they listed that seems to me to have some T-ride potential for 9 months from now:

# 20-Justin Kurzel's "MacBeth" with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard.  It's produced by See Saw and distributed by The Weinstein's, both of which make it at least a possibility.

#15-Alejandro Gonazalez Inarritu's "Birdman".  Frankly, I'll be surprised if this is NOT at Telluride unless Inarritus' foray into comedy (that's right, it's a comedy) proves too great a stretch for the man behind "Babel", "Biutiful" and "21 Grams".  That's a valid concern looking at his body of work.

#14-"Untitled Noah Baumbach/Greta Gerwig School Project".  Again, I'd kind of b surprised if this doesn't play at Telluride.  Baumbach and Gerwig's "Frances Ha" was well received at TFF #39 and Baumbach has a previous history with the fest.

#9-Mike Leigh's "Mr. Turner".  The third straight film to list here that I think is almost a lock to play Telluride.  Leigh has been a frequent guest of the fest, so I expect him to be back with this film about artist J.M.W. Turner.

#8-Thomas Vinterberg's "Far from the Madding Crowd".  This one isn't as solid a lock as the previous three but Vinterberg's "The Hunt" played well at TFF #39 and could still be a Best Foreign Language Oscar nominee in a few days.  It probably doesn't hurt that Carey Mulligan has been a Telluride gust previously with "An Education" and "Never Let Me Go".  Fox Searchlight is producing which could also decide to try to place the film in the Telluride lineup.

#7-Bennett Miller's "Foxcatcher".  Admittedly, I may be wishing for this to be true much more than it's real chances to play.  This film was included on the HitFix list last week as well.  Again, Miller and Sony Pictures Classics make it a not completely unrealistic possibility.

#4- Todd Haynes' "Carol".  Mostly I've included this because Haynes' "I'm Not Here" played at Telluride in 2007 and The Weinstein's are distributing...also Film4 is part of the producing group. I'd just like to stoke the fires for a possible Cate Blanchett tribute.

There are other films in the list of 25 that I'd LIKE to see show up at the SHOW.  Their #1 is Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice"..yes please.  But I don't think that's terribly likely.  Others on the list that I'd like to see in the San Juans but seem on the unlikely side, at least at the moment:
Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" (although friend of the blog Christopher Schiller thinks it might be a possibility), David Fincher's "Gone Girl", David Cronenberg's "Map to the Stars", Jon Stewart's "Rosewater" and Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken".

Finally, the article itself speculates that "Foxcatcher", "Birdman" and the Baumbach project could be Telluride material.

Find the article here:
http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/25-most-anticipated-prestige-films-of-2014-inherent-vice-nymphomaniac-the-grand-budapest-hotel



MC QUEEN AND CUARON

Here are major profiles of the two men who are expected to duke it out for the Best Director Oscar.  McQueen's is from The Guardian and Cuaron's if from The New York Times:

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/04/steve-mcqueen-my-painful-childhood-shame

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/movies/awardsseason/alfonso-cuaron-discusses-his-films.html?smid=tw-nytmovies&seid=auto&_r=0

BREAKING: NATIONAL SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS LOVES LLEWYN

BREAKING:

The National Society of Film Critics handed The Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis" a number of their awards yesterday.  The critical recognition comes in the wake of a week in which the film was not recognized by either The Producers Guild nor The Writers Guild nominations.

The Directors Guild announces their nominees on Tuesday.  That's the next major announcement could provide both a window to probable Oscar nominees and, perhaps, the last big push P.R. wise for films before voting for Oscar nominations ends.  Nominations will be announced the morning of Jan. 16.  Here are the awards announced by The NSFC yesterday and a link to analysis from HitFix/InContention and Awards Daily.

Picture: “Inside Llewyn Davis” (23)
Runners-up: “American Hustle” (17); “12 Years a Slave” (16); “Her” (16)

Director: Joel and Ethan Coen, “Inside Llewyn Davis” (25)
Runners-up: Alfonso Cuaron, “Gravity” (18); Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave” (15)

Actor: Oscar Isaac, “Inside Llewyn Davis” (28)
Runners-up: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave” (19); Robert Redford, “All Is Lost” (12)

Actress: Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine” (57)
Runners-up: Adele Exarchopoulos, “Blue Is the Warmest Color” (36); Julie Delpy, “Before Midnight” (26)

Supporting Actor: James Franco, “Spring Breakers” (24)
Runners-up: Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club” (20); Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips” (14)

Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle” (54)
Runners-up: Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave” (38); Sally Hawkins, “Blue Jasmine” (18); Lea Seydoux, “Blue Is the Warmest Color” (18)

Screenplay: Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, “Before Midnight” (29)
Runners-up: Joel and Ethan Coen, “Inside Llewyn Davis” (26); Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell, “American Hustle” (18)

Foreign-language film: “Blue Is the Warmest Color” (27)
Runners-up: “A Touch of Sin” (21); “The Great Beauty” (15)

Nonfiction: “The Act of Killing” and “At Berkeley” (tie, 20)
Runner-up: “Leviathan” (18)

Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel, “Inside Llewyn Davis” (28)
Runners-up: Emmanuel Lubezki, “Gravity” (26); Phedon Papamichael, “Nebraska” (17)

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/inside-llewyn-davis-jennifer-lawrence-and-james-franco-earn-key-nfsc-wins

http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/national-society-of-film-critic-awards/#more-70346

BREAKING: Producers and Writers Guilds Nominate: Llewyn Davis in Trouble?

Producers Guild nominations for Best Feature announced yesterday:

"American Hustle"
"Blue Jasmine"
"Captain Phillips"
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"Gravity"
"Her'
"Nebraska"
"Saving Mr. Banks"
"12 Years a Slave"
"Wolf of Wall Street"

Left out: "Inside Llewyn Davis", "Philomena", "August: Osage County", "Lee Daniels The Butler".

Writers Guild Nominations announced today:

Adapted Screenplay nominees:

"August: Osage County"
"Before Midnight"
"Captain Phillips"
"Lone Survivor"
"Wolf of Wall Street"

Original Screenplay nominees:

"American Hustle"
"Blue Jasmine"
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"Her"
"Nebraska"

Again, no "Llewyn Davis".

Boosts probably for "Dallas Buyers Club", "Blue Jasmine", "Nebraska" and "Her" in as far as the Best Picture race is concerned.  Some very real concerns about the prospects now for the Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis" which is finishing in the top 5 in about every critics poll.  Oscar nomination balloting is a week old and the nominations will be announced on Jan. 16.

Also, a reminder that some film scripts were ineligible under WGA guidelines...like "12 Years a Slave".

2014: The Oscars and TFF #40/Looking to TFF #41/Trailers from TFF #40/Conversations: Dern and Mulligan/Sound and Silence at Telluride

Good 2014 to Everyone...

I hope all the readers/followers and peeps that just stumbled onto this space had a safe and joyous start to their New Year.  The CEO and I saw in 2014 by watching the last few episodes of "Breaking Bad". Good stuff.  Hale Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul.


2014: THE OSCARS AND TFF #40

As we wait for the next two weeks for Oscar nomination morning (Jan. 16), I'll be posting Oscar prediction updates in each of the posts between now and then.  Today...looking at a different metric.  Just to see what it would tell me, I've put together the results of "Best Film" announcements from: The National Board of Review, The American Film Institute, The New York Film Critics Circle, The Los Angeles Film Critics, The HFPA's Golden Globes and The Screen Actors Guild.

Working with the choices from these six organizations and setting a standard that possible nominees had to be named by at least 2 of them, here's what they reveal as the "probable" Oscar nominees on Jan. 16.

Best Picture:  Four films were named four times and would, therefore seem the most likely nominees: "12 Years a Slave", "Gravity", "American Hustle" and "Her".

Three films have three mentions: "Nebraska", "Inside Llewyn Davis" and "The Wolf of Wall Street"

Three films are mentioned twice: "Captain Phillips", "Fruitvale Station" and "Saving Mr. Banks".

How accurate is this method?  I have no real idea as I've never tried it before.  I can tell you that in 2012 the same method would have suggested that the Best Picture nominees would be: "Argo", "Django Unchained", "The Life of Pi", "Lincoln", "Zero Dark Thirty", "Les Miserables", "Moonrise Kingdom", Silver Linings Playbook", "Beats of the Southern Wild" and "The Exotic Marigold Hotel" (seriously).

As you remember, the actual nominees included "Amour" and excluded "Moonrise" and "Marigold".  So this metric would have predicted 8 of the 9 Best Picture nominees last year.

Monday, I'll post an update for the Big Eight categories using my usual methods.

Finally, Kris Tapley at HitFix/InContention reminds us that the Producers Guild announces their nominees today.

LOOKING TO TFF #41

It's never too early to begin thinking about what might be on the bill of fare for the next Telluride Film Festival.  Even though we're still eight months away, we can begin to parse various pieces of information and start speculating.

For example, HitFix posted their "25 Most Anticipated Movies of 2014".  Form their list we can glean some films that have the potential to make the grade at TFF #41.  Obviously, there are some films that aren't likely, Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" for example...although, after seeing "Gravity" at T-ride last year, maybe I shouldn't close that door.  You can find the HitFix complete list here:

http://www.hitfix.com/motion-captured/25-most-anticipated-movies-of-2014-interstellar-x-men-mockingjay

From their list, films that could conceivably be on Telluride's radar include:

#24 "Foxcatcher"...yea, yea...I know.  I had this on the TFF #40 list for most of last year and then the decision came down to move the film to 2014.  The chances of it being held for an awards friendly release date are probably pretty good (it doesn't have an announced release date to the best of my knowledge) and as I have pointed out before, Bennett Miller had a decent run after "Capote" showed at the SHOW in 2005 and to top it off, its U.S. distributor is Sony Pictures Classics so call it a "maybe".

The only other two on the HitFix list that seem to have some Telluride "feel" are Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken" at #16 and Jon Stewart's (of The Daily Show) "Rosewater" at #8 and neither one would seem to be particularly strong candidate for Telluride inclusion based on the filmmakers, studios and distributors known to be involved at this time.

A COUPLE OF TRAILERS FROM TFF #40

One of the more popular, if not THE most popular film that screened at Telluride last Labor Day was Penn and teller's documentary "Tim's Vermeer".  It's in the conversation for a Best Feature Doc Oscar nomination and it's safe to say that Telluride audiences loved it.  It topped my "People's Telluride" film ratings with a 4.67 average rank on the five point scale, beating "12 Years a Slave" and "Gravity".

The Playlist linked to the trailer for the film in this story this week:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-trailer-for-acclaimed-oscar-contending-documentary-tims-vermeer-20131230

Meanwhile, one of the most divisive and least well received films of the fest also put up a trailer this week.  Jonathan Glazer's "Under the Skin" was dead last (of the 21 films that got enough ratings to warrant inclusion on the list) on The People's Telluride ratings with a 2.0.  I actually admired the film.  I think it succeeded in creating the world that Glazer wanted us to experience.

Thompson on Hollywood reported that the film will be released April 4 and also linked to its trailer here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/under-the-skin-jonathan-glazer-release-date-a24


CONVERSATIONS

Two of my favorite films from TFF #40 continue to get a lot of ink as the awards season goes on and that includes continuing interviews with the stars of "Nebraska" and "Inside Llewyn Davis".

Bruce Dern's awards offensive included an interview with Walter Scott of Parade that you can find here:

http://www.parade.com/243081/walterscott/bruce-derns-take-on-hollywood-today-you-cant-be-bigger-than-life/

And Carey Mulligan talked to Steve Pond of The Wrap about "Llewyn" (and includes a brief mention of TFF #41 possible film "Far From the Madding Crowd"):

http://www.thewrap.com/carey-mulligan-coen-brothers-inside-llewyn-davis-nasty-girl-swear-words


SOUND AND SILENCE AT TELLURIDE

Deadline put up a story this week about their take on the use of silence in films this past year and the impact that could have on the Sound Editing Oscar field.  The three films they focused on: "Gravity", "All is Lost" and "12 Years a Slave"...Telluride much?

Here's the link to that story:

http://www.deadline.com/2013/12/oscars-sound-editing-gravity-12-years-a-slave-all-is-lost/


More on Monday and Happy New Year one more time.

Loads of Goodies: Nebraska, Inside Llewyn Davis, Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, Feinberg

Good Monday and the last Monday of 2013...Happy New Year everyone.

LOADS OF GOODIES AT YEAR'S END

The blog has a lot of goodies to link to today but I wanted to start with a quick note that I will post atop ten list for 2013 sometime in early 2014.  I still have a couple of films I want to see before making out my list (i.e.: "Her" and "wolf of Wall Street").  If I get lucky, that could happen relatively soon.

Also, I'll re-visit the Top Six Oscar categories next week and each post thereafter, as we approach the nominations announcement set for Jan. 16.  Oscar nominating ballots went out on Friday, so the process has begun.

NEBRASKA GOODIES

The Bruce Dern Happening continues and I have included links to this interview with the 77 year old star of Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" from Gregory E. Miller and The New York Post:

http://nypost.com/2013/12/26/its-derns-turn-veteran-actor-gets-inside-treatment/

Meanwhile. Deadline's Anna Lisa Raya talks to Payne about the film here:

http://www.deadline.com/2013/12/oscars-alexander-payne-nebraska-interview/

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS GOODIES

Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere tweeted this pic, purportedly real, from Dave Itzkoff, purportedly in Minneapolis...I want it to be true.

The Wrap's Steve Pond looks and links to an "Inside Llewyn Davis" featurette about the music of the movie, which is a character unto itself:

http://www.thewrap.com/Coen-Brothers-T-Bone-Burnett-Inside-Llewyn-Davis


GRAVITY GOODIES

Speaking of featurettes, Kristopher Tapley at HitFix links to a new one for "Gravity" that focuses on the story and screenplay:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/new-gravity-featurette-focuses-on-story-and-screenplay

Meanwhile, Deadline's Christy Grosz talks to "Gravity director and co-writer Alfonso Cuaron:

http://www.deadline.com/2013/12/oscars-alfonso-cuaron-gravity-interview/


12 YEARS A SLAVE GOODIES

Here's an interview with "12 Years a Slave" director Steve McQueen from Deadline's Pete Hammond:

http://www.deadline.com/2013/12/oscars-steve-mcqueen-12-years-a-slave-intervew/


OSCAR GOODIES

Scott Feinberg, resident Oscar expert for The Hollywood Reporter has filed his latest projections for his Feinberg Forecast here:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/feinberg-forecast-oscar-race-heats-667616

Feinberg's latest snapshot of the Oscar race includes predictions in 16 of the 21 feature categories.  He doesn't include predictions for Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Costume or Production Design.

That being noted, Feinberg predicts 8 nominations in those 16 categories fro "12 Years a Salve" followed by "Gravity", "American Hustle" and "Captain Phillips" with 6 apiece.  Feinberg suggests four nominations each for: "Saving Mr. Banks", "Dallas Buyers Club" and "Nebraska" and 3 each for "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "Inside Llewyn Davis".

Telluride films in Feinberg's view:

"12 Years a Slave" with 8 nominations and 3 wins.
"Gravity" with 6 nominations and 3 wins
"Nebraska" with 4 nominations.
"Inside Llewyn Davis" with 3 nominations.
Single nominations for "All is Lost", "The Wind Rises", "Tim's Vermeer", "The Missing Picture".

TFf #39 nominations for "The Act of Killing" and "The Hunt".

Of course, I think these totals will be larger as the other five categories are included.


More coming in 2014!