I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is the finest actor working today, and that by the time his career comes to an end, could be the greatest actor to ever grace the silver screen. Born April 29, 1957 in London, England, Day-Lewis is notoriously known for being an incredibly hard working method actor, often staying in character off-screen for the duration of whatever film he is shooting. He first appeared in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), at the age of 14, in an uncredited role where he played a vandal. He performed in the National Youth Theatre in London as well as working in television (BBC). Another early look at the talented young actor includes a small role in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi (1982) playing a taunting street thug.
How there any lovers of Steven Spielberg’s Lincolnthat are still bummed it lost Best Picture at last year’s Oscars? We have a chance to make this time a bit more managable for you. We are giving away a few copies of the film that racked up 47 wins, 108 total nominations, and won two Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Daniel Day-Lewis) and Best Production Design this past award season.
There a few clips of the film down below along with bonus clips that you will find on your Blu-Ray + DVD copy if you win. How do you win, you ask? All you have to do is watch the clips and comment down below using your Facebook, Twitter, or Google sign-in and answer the following:
Tell us what your favorite scene from Lincoln is and why?
Who gave your favorite performance from the film and why?
What President do you want to see get the biopic treatment next and who do you want to play him?
We have three copies to give away. One will be chosen at random, one will be chosen by myself, and the last will be chosen by one of my writers. Pretty easy, eh? Only one entry per reader, please.
Hello again, Awards Circuit readers! I hope you all had an enjoyable week, be it celebrating Easter, Passover, or appreciating the simple joys derived from moviegoing. As usual, there was plenty to hunt for at the site this week, though we aren’t in the business of hiding anything worth entertainment value. We began the festivities with a new episode of Power Hour, where much was discussed and announced, including the Top 16 results of March Oscar Madness and a preview of what’s to come from the Tribeca Film Festival. Speaking of large venues, while Tribeca is being covered on one side of the coast, Wondercon also gets the reporter treatment on the opposite shore, courtesy of our very own Terence Johnson. Thanks to Wondercon and Terence, you guys get the early scoop on Warner Bros.’ Pacific Rim and The Conjuring. Read more on Circuit Round-Up (Week Ending 3/31)…
I knew this day would come, and it is with a sense of both excitement and sadness. By the end of my long deployment, I will have earned the most difficult and significant achievement of my life – Surface Warfare Officer Qualification, and finally perform the mission that my ship and I have been training toward for over a year. On the other hand, I must sacrifice the time and effort I have placed into a site that has grown so much in such a short time.
As our Editor himself would agree, what makes me value Awards Circuit is the staff – all the different backgrounds and perspectives on film from all walks of life. To proudly welcome Nicole and Tiff into our family, I will be assisting Clay in integrating them into the staff top tens dating all the way back to 2000 before my departure. After that, for operational security purposes, you will not be hearing from me for a while. But I will not be gone forever! One of my shipmates advised me a long time ago not to let the Navy become my sole identity, and I will hold to that. Come late 2013/early 2014, I will be back to resuming my full staff writer duties. Read more on Oscars 2013: Will Win/Should Win (Hamer)…
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)
The calendar year for most people runs January through December, but for such Oscar-obsessed people as you will find writing here at The Awards Circuit the year ends with Oscar Sunday. Everything we do at this site leads to and culminates in the big ceremony. We’ve spent countless hours going back and forth trying to figure out just where the pieces fit best into the jigsaw puzzle that the Academy Awards race has become, and I have to tell you, I have never seen a year quite like this.
Years from now when I think back on 2012 and what it had to offer, I’m sure the cinematic landscape that was presented will surely stick out as many directors and filmmakers pushed the thematic narrative with breathtaking visuals, stupendous performances, and uniquely driven story structures. One thing that will be near the top was the daunting task the Academy, pundits, and even myself, had in narrowing down the Lead Actor race to five simple slots.
There were debates going back and forth about who deserved a spot, who was miscategorized, and who was given the light of a day for consideration. The Academy did an admirable job and when push comes to shove, these five performances that are nominated are all worthy of citation and acceptable as a Best Actor winner.
This week’s Circuit 3 is simple enough. I am the Oscar Genie, here to grant you three wishes! If you had the power to stuff the envelopes for three categories this weekend, what categories would you control the fate of and who would you hand the Oscar to in each?
(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)
The most wide-open and unpredictable Oscar season in modern history is set to twilight in less than 100 hours and perhaps the biggest surprise Oscar has in store for us is that there will be no surprises. An anti-climactic ending would be fitting to a season that, for one year at least, has rewritten so many of the hard and fast rules we Oscar pundits and prognosticators have come to rely on in making our predictions.
(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)…
Alan Arkin – Argo Oscar Scene: “Argo fuck yourself”
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook Oscar Scene: “When life reaches out with a woman like this it’s a sin if you don’t reach back, I’m telling you its a sin if you don’t reach back!”
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master Oscar Scene: Lancaster Dodd processing Freddie Quell
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln Oscar Scene: Thaddeus Stevens facing off with Mary Todd Lincoln
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained Oscar Scene: Dr. King Shultz introducing himself to Django
There may be no category as up in the air this time around as Best Supporting Actor. Very few people are confident about their picks, and this is certainly as wide open as any the category has seen in years. It’s also noteworthy for featuring five nominees who are each prior winners, including one actor seeking his third Oscar. At least a three horse race, Best Supporting Actor may very well come down to who actually gave the best performance of the group. There are 100% other factors to consider, but with this tight a contest, it’s conceivable that voters actually took quality into account. The gentlemen nominated all are favorite sons to one degree or another, so lets dive in and take a look at them, shall we?
It is the costume designer’s job to properly design a wardrobe of costumes that symbolize the characters in a film and to set the right mood for every scene. The following nominees did a fantastic job completing this task.
And the nominees are…
Anna Karenina- Jacqueline Durran
Les Miserables- Paco Delgado
Lincoln- Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror- Eiko Ishioka
Snow White & The Huntsman- Colleen Atwood
It’s no lie Oscar voters tend to go for a particular style of costumes. With past winners including Alice in Wonderland, Young Victoria, The Duchess, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Marie Antoniette, and Memoirs of a Geisha, it’s easy to see Oscar voters like elaborate costumes. But sometimes we get fooled and films like The Aviator and The Artist take the top honor. I can’t say I disagree with their voting process; if I was voting I too would vote for the costumes that pay the most attention to detail over a simple suit. This category has been locked up for a while with Anna Karenina winning most of the costume design awards. Let’s review the nominees for Best Costume Design. Read more on Oscar Circuit: Best Costume Design…
(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)
2012 has been a great year for movie music, therefore it would be no surprise that the nominees for the International Film Music Awards would be pretty good. Lincoln and Life of Pi lead the nominated field with 4 nominations, including citations for their composers in Film Composer of the Year, John Williams and Mychael Danna, respectively. Cloud Atlas also managed 3 nominations including Score of the Year, Best Original Score for a Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Film, and Composition of the Year for Cloud Atlas Sextet. The International Film Music Critics Association will announce the winners of the 9th IFMCA Awards on February 21, 2013. By now, everyone has seen a million of these posts, so I thought it’d be fun to add a little bit of commentary along with the categories, so check it out after the jump! Read more on International Film Music Award Nominations highlight ‘Cloud Atlas’ and ‘Life of Pi’…
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…
The Oscars are less than two weeks away. It seems everyone and his mother is choosing Argo to take it all in the end, which is perfectly sound since the film did pick up Producers Guild, Directors Guild, SAG Ensemble, Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and – a bit surprisingly – BAFTA. If Ben Affleck had been nominated for Best Director, there would be no argument that the film would be taking it on Oscar night, but Affleck was snubbed, and 2012 was an amazing year for cinema. I suspect Oscar is going to want to spread their love in a lot of areas for different films.
Argo is nominated for seven Oscars, with two of them being in Sound Mixing and Sound Editing – two categories I wouldn’t name as Argo‘s strong points. Terence said it best on this week’s Power Hour, Argo winning Best Picture is an expected achievement, but there are some problems with the thinking that the film could pull in a sweep in categories like Sound Mixing, Original Score, and Adapted Screenplay. The LA Times article that cited the votes of four Academy members had some scratching their heads, as they went for their favorite film in every single category in which it was nominated. Read more on Oscar Predictions – State of the Race and Peaking at Oscar Ballots…
Argo - John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
Les Miserables - Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
Life of Pi - Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
Lincoln - Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
Skyfall - Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson
Arguably one of the most competitive years in Oscar history, the Sound Mixing category follows the same suit where any of the five nominated films can win. While there are some nominations that are questionable, there’s no denying the multitude and passion these mixers have for their craft. As many eyes that read this article can easily name the stars of Argo, the person who played Mary Todd Lincoln, not many, I dare to say any, can name any Sound Mixers besides the ones that follow in line with Oscar. If there are unsung heroes of cinema, a Sound craftsman (or woman) is near the top of the list. Read more on Oscar Circuit: Sound Mixing…
Original Score is one of the most interesting categories year in and year out, with the list of films that were disqualified being almost as good of a list as the nominees. This year was not only a great year for film but film music, with the 5 nominees beating out many worthy adversaries to make it in the Oscar lineup.
The nominees are:
Anna Karenina – Dario Marinelli Argo – Alexandre Desalt Life of Pi – Mychael Danna Lincoln – John Williams Skyfall – Thomas Newman
The Walt Disney Studios publicity team has issued a birthday card of sorts to honor our greatest president, while at the same time throwing in some last minute campaigning for Steven Spielberg’s film, Lincoln. Have a look at their sentiments toward our 16th President – and more notably the film – after the jump.
The Awards Circuit Power Hour generates some lively discussions this week among the staff. I’m joined by Terence, Joey, and Mark to dive into the Oscar race as well as other various topics:
We talk about the BAFTA Awards that took place on Sunday where Argo reigned supreme. How many awards will Ben Affleck’s film win? Does the surprise win for Emmanuelle Riva mean anything? (time of recording was Sunday as I was at the time unaware that she didn’t attend the ceremony)
We take a question via one of our readers, Michael Napoli, that generates some discussion about Daniel Day-Lewis winning this third Oscar. Katharine Hepburn won four Oscars over fifty years while Day-Lewis seems to be winning three over thirty, having an average of one nomination every five films. Could there be an upset in his future?
I deliver your Academy Idol Results. The Top 4 competed during “Scores Week.” With no Bottom Two named, which of the films, Amour, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Silver Linings Playbook, and Zero Dark Thirty, would surprise you with an elimination? Listen for the Top 3 announcement.
Argo wins the USC Scripter award over heavy hitters Silver Linings Playbook and Lincoln. Is Chris Terrio lined up for an Adapted Screenplay win?
Final Oscar ballots are out! When is the best time to make your final predictions?
In light of Nicole Melkonian’s newest series, Writer’s Block, we discuss some of favorite screenplays of all-time. I also announce that the staff will be writing up their “10 Greatest Screenplays of All-Time” following the Oscars light last year’s popular, “10 Greatest Films of All-Time.”
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.
Argo – William Goldenberg Life of Pi – Tim Squyres Lincoln – Michael Kahn Silver Linings Playbook – Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers Zero Dark Thirty – Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg
Supporting Actress has proven to be one of the best categories recently for the Academy Awards. For every year there was a clear front runner (Spencer, Monique, Hudson), there was another year when we had no idea who was winning (Leo, Swinton, Weisz, Cruz). Although after a few award shows, it’s clear that this year’s race is shaping up to be one of those “Frontrunner wins everything” years, there’s still an interesting slate of nominees and narratives to discuss.
New name. Same Category. The Academy Award for Best Production Design celebrates the best in art direction and set design. Production designers have an incredibly difficult role in the making of film. Whether it’s a fantasy film set in far off world or a recreation of a historical building, production designers create the physical building blocks that allow us into the world of the film. Last year this award (called the Academy Award for Art Direction), went to Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo for Hugo.
And the 2012 Nominees are…
Sarah Greenwood – Anna Karenina
Dan Hennah – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Eve Stewart – Les Miserables
David Gropman – Life of Pi
Rick Carter, Jim Erickson, and Peter T. Frank – Lincoln Read more on Oscar Circuit: Best Production Design…
It is the costume designer’s job to properly design a wardrobe of costumes that symbolize the characters in a film and to set the right mood for every scene. The following nominees did a fantastic job completing this task.
2012 has been a great year for movie music, therefore it would be no surprise that the nominees for the International Film Music Awards would be pretty good. Lincoln and Life of Pi lead the nominated field with 4 nominations, including citations for their composers in Film Composer of the Year, John Williams and Mychael Danna, respectively. Cloud Atlas also managed 3 nominations including Score of the Year, Best Original Score for a Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Film, and Composition of the Year for Cloud Atlas Sextet. The International Film Music Critics Association will announce the winners of the 9th IFMCA Awards on February 21, 2013. By now, everyone has seen a million of these posts, so I thought it’d be fun to add a little bit of commentary along with the categories, so check it out after the jump!
Original Score is one of the most interesting categories year in and year out, with the list of films that were disqualified being almost as good of a list as the nominees. This year was not only a great year for film but film music, with the 5 nominees beating out many worthy adversaries to make it in the Oscar lineup.
Supporting Actress has proven to be one of the best categories recently for the Academy Awards. For every year there was a clear front runner (Spencer, Monique, Hudson), there was another year when we had no idea who was winning (Leo, Swinton, Weisz, Cruz). Although after a few award shows, it’s clear that this year’s race is shaping up to be one of those “Frontrunner wins everything” years, there’s still an interesting slate of nominees and narratives to discuss.
New name. Same Category. The Academy Award for Best Production Design celebrates the best in art direction and set design. Production designers have an incredibly difficult role in the making of film. Whether it’s a fantasy film set in far off world or a recreation of a historical building, production designers create the physical building blocks that allow us into the world of the film. Last year this award (called the Academy Award for Art Direction), went to Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo for Hugo.
