It’s time to dive, dive in deep…well, at least as deep as you can in May. As I attempted to unveil the newest set of Oscar Predictions, I realized how many promising films are left to be seen in the remaining seven months. As of now, the only real Best Picture contender that has the legs to make it until the end of the year would be Sarah Polley’sStories We Tell, and that’s a longshot at best given its genre. You can make arguments for films like The Place Beyond the Pines by Derek Cianfrance and even Mud by Jeff Nichols but those will need a well-placed DVD release with a focused campaign, something I’m not sure the studios are willing to bet on. Cianfrance’s film also has an outside shot for Screenplay and a Supporting Actor mention for Ryan Gosling. If anything, this helps him for Nicolas Winding Refn’sOnly God Forgives, if they’re feeling like recognizing him a second time. It feels like eons ago when Gosling was nominated for Ryan Fleck’s Half Nelson (2006) and then later missed other opportunities for Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Blue Valentine (2010), and Drive (2011). Not sure when it will be before he gets back onto the Oscar radar.
Awards Circuit Power Hour is up and alive again this week with a jammed-packed agenda for all of your listening pleasures. A lot of great stuff to talk about from the past week:
Film Independent has released a statement announcing David O. Russell as the Guest Director for the 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival (along with other programming highlights). Russell is coming off directing the award-winning Silver Linings Playbook, while working on his new film, American Hustle (read Joey’s Awards Profile here). Have a look at the official release after the jump, or visit the Film Independent site, here.
Directed by: David O. Russell Written by: Eric Singer
Cast: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K., Robert De Niro, Michael Pena, Jack Huston, Alessandro Nivola, Elisabeth Rohm, Dawn Olivieri, and others…
Synopsis (courtesy of IMDb): The 1970s-set true story of a con artist and his partner in crime, who were forced to work with a federal agent to turn the tables on other cons, mobsters, and politicians – namely, the volatile mayor of impoverished Camden, New Jersey. (formerly the Untitled David O. Russell Abscam Project)
David O. Russell’s follow-up to Silver Linings Playbook now has an official title. The film based on the real-life Abscam sting operation formerly titled American Bullshit now has a more user-friendly title: American Hustle. Most are anticipating this one to be a strong contender in this year’s awards circuit (no plug intended). The incredible cast includes Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Robert De Niro, Jeremy Renner, Michael Pena, Louis C.K., and Jack Huston. American Hustle is slated for a limited release on December 13 before going wide on Christmas Day.
Your Oscar predictions will need to be updated. It was previously assumed that David O. Russell’s upcoming Abscam project would not be released until 2014, but you know what they say about assuming, right? It now appears that the untitled film based on the true story of “An FBI sting operation in the 1970s called Abscam that leads to the conviction of United States Congressmen” will see be seen this year. More details after the jump.
Amour – Michael Haneke
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Benh Zeitlin Life of Pi – Ang Lee Lincoln – Steven Spielberg Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
Best Picture Will Win: Can it be anything other than Argo at this point? When you win the BFCA, Globe, DGA, PGA, SAG, Scriptor and WGA Awards, it’s clear that industry really loves your movie. Should Win:Lincoln ranks one spot higher than Argo on my top 10 films of the year and I would love to see it win on Oscar night. Spielberg teamed up with Tony Kushner to create a biopic that was tightly focused, expertly acted and just executed very well. Should Have Been Nominated: A nomination for Cloud Atlas here would have sent me over the moon but given the support for Skyfall in the Tech categories, I’m amazed it didn’t make it in. Considering they changed the rules to allow for well regarded blockbusters to make it in, you would think the “best” Bond film in the series could have been nominated. Read more on Oscar 2013 Will Win/Should Win Selections(Terence)…
Looks like Academy Award Nominees Jennifer Lawrence and Writer/Director David O. Russell will be teaming back up with The Weinstein Company for one of his next project, “The Ends of the Earth.” The Weinstein Company gave a press release today announcing.
David O. Russell is scheduled to be releasing “Nailed” starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessica Biel, and James Marsden and an “Untitled Abscam Project” starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence from his Oscar-nominated Silver Linings Playbook.
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
It’s here, the Big One. The Oscars are finally upon us, generating a frenzy of excitement and a torrent of ever-changing predictions in its path to the big stage on Sunday. This is the highly anticipated annual organized free-for-all when ideals shatter, frustrations bubble over, and sometimes (though not often) pleasant surprises challenge the odds. The final results could go any which way, and especially in such a quality-loaded year, it’s been a dizzying process trying to peg the sway of Academy Voters. Finally dashing aside unrealistically hopeful designs of one candidate over another, I’ve joined my Awards Circuit colleagues in settling on the probable winners, though not without putting up a fight for my preferred winners. In the spirit of the games, here are my “Win Will/Should Win” Oscar Selections: Read more on Oscar 2013 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Melkonian)…
As we sit six days before the Oscar ceremony attempting to finalize predictions and racking our brains trying to decipher this race, I find myself thinking of different scenarios for Oscar night. You can choose which one looks good to you and chime in with your own, but it makes for interesting conversations this close to the ceremony, especially since it’s up in the air.
Scenario #1 – Silver Linings Graduate
After the BAFTA Awards, many pundits, including myself, thinkEmmanuelle Rivais a possible spoiler forJennifer Lawrencewho has won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards. With Chris Terrio winning the Writers Guild Award yesterday forArgo, Russell looks unlikely to garner an Adapted Screenplay consolation prize for himself.
What if David O. Russell wins Best Director and that’s the only award that representsPlaybook? As an unprecedented year for the all awards,Silver Linings Playbookand David O. Russell will now becomeThe Graduateand Mike Nichols.
As I spoke to six Academy voters last week, I was in awe when I saw how many voters were placing Silver Linings Playbook in multiple categories on their Oscar ballots. As David O. Russell and his film gain momentum in the final leg of the race, some are thinking a sweep is a feasible scenario where the film wins multiple awards including Robert DeNiro and Jacki Weaver. While this may be a likely occurence, we are in for some jaw-dropping moments at the ceremony. Although there are some glaring similarities between the 1967 film that won Best Director, there are some obvious differences as well: Read more on 2013 Oscar Scenarios – Russell Becomes the New Nichols…
The Writers Guild of America will be announcing their winners tomorrow, Sunday, February 17. All season long there have been many instances, which I’m just as guilty of, where we doubt Argo’s chances in an awards show. The BFCA and Golden Globes seemed expected. The Producers Guild of America was cool. The SAG Ensemble win was jaw-dropping. The Directors Guild of America was a fine achievement and something that should have happened anyway. For me, the BAFTA win was very telling since Argo never seemed like it would appeal to an overseas group like BAFTA when films like LesMiserables and Life of Pi were nominated alongside it.
ChrisTerrio’s script is beloved among critics and audiences however, of all the seven nominations that Argo has received with the Academy Awards, the Adapted Screenplay category is clearly a three-horse race with Tony Kushner (Lincoln) and David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook). Please note the WGA is not an indicator of Best Picture like PGA, DGA, and SAG. This is citing the screenplay and the screenplay alone. If that was the case, masterpieces like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) would have had more a shot for a Motion Picture mention. Read more on 2013 Writers Guild of America Preview…
Two-time Oscar nominee, Jennifer Lawrence, is the latest star to join David O. Russell’s next project, a film about the 1970s FBI sting operation Abscam, which brought down several corrupt U.S. congressman, marking her second effort with the acclaimed director. Written by Eric Singer and Russell, the picture formerly titled American Bullshit already has Christian Bale and Lawrence’s Silver Linings Playbook co-star, Bradley Cooper, attached.
The USC Scripter awards are tonight and you can watch the live stream here at the Awards Circuit. At the Oscars, the category that will most likely reveal early on what will win Best Picture is Adapted Screenplay, where Tony Kushner (Lincoln), Chris Terrio (Argo), and David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) will all go head to head. Along with the awards that the Writers Guild of America will present (on February 17th), the Scripter might be one of the last hopes any film not named Argo has at winning the big prize at Oscar. In other words, if Argo takes both Scripter and WGA, it would be the proverbial nail in the coffin. What I really like about the Scripter is that it honors both the original work and the adaptation.
Faithfully and successfully adapting an original source into a workable feature film screenplay often poses itself as a daunting task to even the most seasoned writers. Combined with the constant concern of providing a captivating narrative to drive a story, the added pressure of doing justice to the source increases expectations. Ranging from a stage play to best-selling novels to a sweeping biopic, this year’s nominees tackle their adaptations with the vigor and mastery to propel their respective films into the life-affirming endzone, out of a hostage crisis, within safe distance from ancient aurochs, out of a morally-divisive Civil War, and into a colorful voyage of survival.
The Nominees are:
Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell
Argo – Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Lucy Alibar, Benh, Zeitlin
Lincoln – Tony Kushner
Life of Pi – David Magee
In his adaptation of the Matthew Quick novel, David O. Russell provides his Silver Linings Playbook cast with the necessary ammunition to fire off at one another with the electric energy that’s the lifeblood of this human comedy. As one of only two director-writer combos in this category, he exerts a masterful command over the material his actors deliver, coaxing a natural chemistry between them. This marks the first time the three-time nominee–including Best Director for The Fighter in 2011 and this year for director and adapted screenplay– has been in contention for a writing award with the Academy. Read more on Oscar Circuit: Adapted Screenplay…
Since Oscar nominations, everyone is trying to get their heads around what each nomination means and which films are building momentum after the Critics Choice Movie Awards and Golden Globe Awards. On January 27, the Screen Actors Guild Awards will weigh in on their choices for the best of 2012 and then four weeks will go by until the Oscar ceremony. The only thing in between that time will the BAFTA on February 10 with Oscar ballots due nine days later.
The leading nomination tally for Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln and Ang Lee’s Life of Pi puts them in a prime position to battle it out for the rest of the season however, Ben Affleck’s Argo, a film without a Best Director nomination attached, has done exceedingly well in the televised award shows. Could Argo become the first film since Driving Miss Daisy to win the top award without a directing nomination? Argo has won the Critics Choice and the Golden Globe Awards which many are calling the kiss of death since only two films in the last ten years have gone on to win the Oscar. Read more on Oscar Updates Begin – Could ‘Argo’ pull it off?…
David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook won and won big with the Golden Satellite Awards. SLP won five awards, including the big four: Picture, Director (Russell), Actor (Bradley Cooper), and Actress (Jennifer Lawrence). On the TV side of business, Homeland took the top prizes – speaking of which, did you see that nail-biting finale Sunday night? It’s the best show on TV now, and if you aren’t watching, you should probably start. See the full list of winners after the jump.
Winners to be announced live on the CW Television Network from the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica on January 10, 2013.
BEST PICTURE Argo Beasts of the Southern Wild Django Unchained Les Miserables Life of Pi Lincoln The Master Moonrise Kingdom Silver Linings Playbook Zero Dark Thirty
As LAFCA, NYFCO, and BSFC all proved yesterday, you can’t keep a good ol’ film when its down. The Master resurrected after being nearly shut out thus far and won Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress with the prestigious Los Angeles Film Critics.
Normally, and I mean in any other year, I wouldn’t put so much stock into these awards but with SAG ballots due today, Critics Choice Nominations being announced tomorrow, followed by Golden Globes and SAG, Oscar will be looking for some validation of their choices. AMPAS ballots are due January 10 and they’ll be looking for some guidance in places where they can. DGA won’t announce until after the Oscar nominations.
I’ve made some updates to the Oscar Predictions and most notable is the change in Supporting Actor. Robert DeNiro, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Tommy Lee Jones all still seem good for nods. The big win for Dwight Henry yesterday from LAFCA and the many runner-up mentions for Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained have started a buzz that only seems deserving. The latter performance I’m not allowed to comment on until Wednesday but I’ll say it’s something that many can get behind and in THE RIGHT category. Ann Dowd makes her appearance in the top five for Compliance and if you heard our Awards Circuit Power Hour yesterday, she’s very likable and will play the awards circuit very well.
Washington Film Critics have announced their winners after just announcing their nominees a day ago. Zero Dark Thirty emerged victorious along with director Kathryn Bigelow.
Washington Film Critics have announced their winners after just announcing their nominees a day ago. Zero Dark Thirty emerged victorious along with director Kathryn Bigelow.
Read the Press Release and check out the full list of winners down below:
With two (really one) contender left to be unveiled, this is the most exciting awards race I’ve covered in all my years of Oscar prognosticating. Every category is competitive and with races like this, anything can happen. Along with updating the official Oscar Predictions, I’ve updated the major precursors such as the Golden Globe Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
As New York gets ready to lift on Monday, which I’ve attempted to take a stab at, the National Board of Review and Los Angeles Film Critics will start the chain reaction of the awards season. Before anyone knows the winners, I’m seeing this as a three-horse race between Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables, Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, and Ben Affleck’s Argo, more particularly the first two films. Currently I’m foreseeing Hooper’s film to lead the way on Oscar nomination morning with 13 nominations, assuming lead Hugh Jackman and standout Eddie Redmayne can plow through some of the veterans in their categories. Read more on Oscar Circuit – Music vs. History…
I had a hell of a weekend at the theatres, as one would expect with the cornucopia of films presented during the long Thanksgiving weekend. I was fortunate to not only take in two strong candidates in the Best Picture race (Life of Pi and Silver Linings Playbook), but also legitimate contenders for Foreign Language (Denmark’s A Royal Affair), Documentary Feature (The Queen of Versailles), and Animated Feature (Rise of the Guardians). What follows are my brief reactions and reviews for each film. Read more on Snippet Reviews: ‘Life of Pi,’ ‘Silver Linings Playbook,’ and More…
On the Awards Circuit Power Hour this week, one of our esteemed readers asked why David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook was not being considered the one to beat in the Oscar race? Was it the comedy genre factor or the likes of Argo, Lincoln, and Les Miserables trumping its parade? It seemed unanimous that comedy struggles with true recognition from Oscar especially in the technical categories like Film Editing and that’s what will ultimately shoot Russell’s film in the foot.
Many people can name several films they would nominate in a Best Picture lineup, but is there a true comedy you would consider the very best of the year and award the coveted Best Motion Picture Oscar to? That is our question today, name at least one film you would award Best Picture of the Year at the Academy Awards, either this year or any year. Read more on Oscar Question of the Day – Comedy is No Laughing Matter…
It’s time to dive, dive in deep…well, at least as deep as you can in May. As I attempted to unveil the newest set of Oscar Predictions, I realized how many promising films are left to be seen in the remaining seven months. As of now, the only real Best Picture contender that has the legs to make it until the end of the year would be Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell, and that’s a longshot at best given its genre. You can make arguments for films like The Place Beyond the Pines by Derek Cianfrance and even Mud by Jeff Nichols but those will need a well-placed DVD release with a focused campaign, something I’m not sure the studios are willing to bet on. Cianfrance’s film also has an outside shot for Screenplay and a Supporting Actor mention for Ryan Gosling. If anything, this helps him for Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives, if they’re feeling like recognizing him a second time. It feels like eons ago when Gosling was nominated for Ryan Fleck’s Half Nelson (2006) and then later missed other opportunities for Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Blue Valentine (2010), and Drive (2011). Not sure when it will be before he gets back onto the Oscar radar.
Directed by: David O. Russell
