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I hate doing this from afar, but hey, we do what we can. And I imagine John will chime in with his thoughts on Aaron Schneider’s “Get Low” in due time, but apparently the film received a standing ovation in Toronto tonight. And word is, Robert Duvall might be on course for some Oscar attention.
Duvall stars in the film as a Tennessee hermit, derived from a mixture of truth and folk tale, who famously threw his own funeral while still alive. I think in tandem with good graces for his cameo in “The Road,” Duvall could be in the mix. But the film needs a distributor first.
Funnily enough I was in the middle of an email exchange with a colleague regarding the lead actor Oscar race when I began putting this post together. As much as I loved “Up in the Air,” I don’t feel like this is a win for George Clooney. Plus, he already has a (recent) statue. Matt Damon is wonderful in “The Informant!,” but the film may be too slight. Of course, Morgan Freeman is still lurking. But maybe we have a potential winner here? Duvall hasn’t won in 25 years, and damn if he isn’t consistent (which can’t be said of a number of his contemporaries). There’s also Michael Caine flying under the radar in the still distributor-less “Harry Brown” to consider.
Check out a clip from “Get Low” after the jump.
35 responses so far
1 9-12-2009 at 6:04 pm
Alex said...
I think an ‘Adrien Brody’ of sorts will walk away with the Best Actor Oscar.
By the way, who decided to screen three films over the same fortnight with the titles:
A Single Man
A Serious Man
S0litary Man
I’m already confused.
2 9-12-2009 at 6:09 pm
Kristopher Tapley said...
Tell me about it! I acidentally called the Coen film A Simple Man in a tweet.
3 9-12-2009 at 6:10 pm
Loyal said...
Having a great cameo in The Great certainly helps his chances. But you’re right, distributor first.
4 9-12-2009 at 6:12 pm
Kristopher Tapley said...
And I’m not sure there is an “Adrien Brody” out there. Renner, maybe. But that’ll be a chore just getting the nod.
5 9-12-2009 at 6:16 pm
AmericanRequiem said...
hmmm lets see,
Clooney=just won/to subtle,
Damon=not imprtant enough movie
DayLewis=Just won, cant beat There Will be Blood
Viggo= Never won, great actor
Freeman=great actor, never won best actor
Renner-Unknown, far to small of a role
Whalberg-Dramatic Role, never won
Depp-Not that great, movies gone
Penn-JUST WON
Norton-great actor, never won
soo, norton vs viggo vs whalberg with duvall halbrook caine and deniro on the side lines waiting for a weak year
6 9-12-2009 at 6:22 pm
Alex said...
I mean some previously unanointed actor (not necessarily younger) among all these Oscar winners. Just like when Mickey Rourke beat previous winner Sean Penn.
(if not, my money’s on George Clooney)
7 9-12-2009 at 6:24 pm
Kristopher Tapley said...
RE: Rourke/Penn…What Oscar telecast were you watching this year, Alex?
8 9-12-2009 at 6:25 pm
Bill said...
I hope the Adrien Brody isn’t Tobey Maguire.
9 9-12-2009 at 6:25 pm
Alex said...
Quentin Tarantino’s
10 9-12-2009 at 6:28 pm
Danny said...
Haha! I wish Mickey would’ve won.
11 9-12-2009 at 6:28 pm
Speaking English said...
***Tell me about it! I acidentally called the Coen film A Simple Man in a tweet.***
Got Lynyrd Skynyrd on the mind?
12 9-12-2009 at 6:30 pm
Loyal said...
If Clooney wins, he’s essentially the new king of Oscar. Best Supporting Actor win, Best Actor Win, Best Screenplay nomination, Best Director nomination.
He would be where Eastwood is now, though not taking nearly as long to get there.
Assuming the project is baity enough (like the film about a presidential election he’s working on), he’ll win BD within the next 5 years. Clooney will have the keys to the kingdom until his mid 60s when he’ll then launch his own political career.
13 9-12-2009 at 6:33 pm
Robert Hamer said...
“I wish Mickey would’ve won.”
*grumble* Don’t we all…
14 9-12-2009 at 7:09 pm
James D. said...
First DeNiro, now Duvall? Who could be next – Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire!? Maybe Abe Vigoda will go to work again.
15 9-12-2009 at 7:10 pm
James D. said...
By the way Kris, is it true you like Part III?
16 9-12-2009 at 7:21 pm
Kristopher Tapley said...
Part III?
17 9-12-2009 at 7:25 pm
James D. said...
Sorry, The Godfather Part III.
18 9-12-2009 at 7:29 pm
Kristopher Tapley said...
Oh, actually, yeah, I do. It’s obviously (understatement) quite inferior to the rest, but I think it has a beautiful ending and brings some things together quite nicely.
19 9-12-2009 at 7:33 pm
slayton said...
Lots of the contenders for this award are falling by the wayside, but what’s left is quite interesting.
I think Depp’s chances are null, now, and I don’t think the focus will be on Day-Lewis at all when his film opens.
I really hope Freeman doesn’t win for this performance, if only because it is such an obvious ploy for Oscar gold and such an obvious (and boring) role for him to play. Also, I’m sick of standard-issue biopics.
So what’s left? Clooney, Renner, Stuhlbarg and maybe Rockwell and Plummer are all possibilities, and so are Duvall, Firth, Bettany and Aaron Johnson (”Nowhere Boy”) – if they get distributors and are released this year stateside.
20 9-12-2009 at 7:34 pm
slayton said...
Forgot about Mortensen. He’s still in the race methinks, even if his film might have tanked as far as awards go.
21 9-13-2009 at 3:52 am
Glenn said...
Don’t forget Colin Firth. He plays a tragic gay! The Academy loves their gays when they have tragedy forced upon them.
Perhaps John Malkovich can still enter the fray with “Disgrace”. I’m sure it’s release next week is going to be absolutely tiny and from an upstart distributor, but it’d be nice.
Wouldn’t it be odd if Johnny Depp suddenly became someone to take seriously for the win. Like one of those “we got nobody else to give it to” type of situations that arise every now and then.
22 9-13-2009 at 4:22 am
Loyal said...
Whenever I read about Depp, I keep thinking
“what film was he in this year? Oh yeah, Public Enemies.”
Never a good sign.
23 9-13-2009 at 4:44 am
John H. Foote said...
Duvall just became the talk of the festival with this performance, shades of “The Apostle” in ‘97 — and yep, he could very well win the Oscar — more later.
24 9-13-2009 at 6:06 am
Markku said...
Firth’s turn tomorrow. We’ll see if his buzz survives the transatlantic journey.
There’s always a chance he’ll end up like Jim Broadbent in Topsy-Turvy or Brad Pitt in Jesse James: win in Venice, but thunder stolen by someone or something else.
25 9-13-2009 at 7:45 am
j said...
I want Penn & Whishaw to get noms but don’t think either of them could win. For now, I’ll root for Firth, with Freeman somewhat behind.
Clooney can’t exactly be the next Eastwood; he has an acting Oscar while Eastwood lost in both his bids. He probably has a decent chance of getting a Director win before he’s in his 60’s. It’s interesting, though; Eastwood had a 1992 breakout, then Oscar didn’t come knocking again till mid-2000’s and he’s averaged 0.5 BD noms/yr for 6 yrs.
26 9-13-2009 at 8:00 am
JAB said...
this year’s Adrien Brody type…
Peter Sarsgaard? he’s gone overlooked so many times now, I really think there’s gonna be room for him for at least a nomination. I feel like it’s been too long since one film has won Best Actor and Best Actress, An Education could pull it off.
27 9-13-2009 at 8:27 am
Adam Smith said...
I saw tweets about this movie for most of the weekend, but frankly, I always assumed that they MUST have had the title wrong. I mean, how can I take seriously a film that shares its title with a Lil Jon song?
28 9-13-2009 at 3:43 pm
j said...
There’s more talk of Mulligan than everything else about the movie. And I don’t like it when an actor/actress wins though it’s the only role in their career for which they get major accolades [I'm hoping Whishaw will do well w/The Tempest; & Firth has 3 Bafta noms & an Emmy nom.]…though, ok, Sarsgaard has one Globe nom.
Plus, I want Actress to be Streep. For the guys, Clooney & Freeman are both looking for a Lead to go along with their Sup statue. Day-Lewis’ role isn’t even the one in the play that got the most noms/awards; that’d be Cruz then Cotillard then Dench’s, I believe. I’d love for Sean Penn to join the 6-nomination actors’ club and join Kate Winslet as the only other non-senior there.
29 9-13-2009 at 5:21 pm
Guy Lodge said...
“And I don’t like it when an actor/actress wins though it’s the only role in their career for which they get major accolades…”
Wow, those are some impressive clairvoyant skills there. Care to write off the future careers of any other young actors while you’re about it?
30 9-13-2009 at 6:09 pm
John H. Foote said...
If they give the best performance, they deserve to win, though we all know it does not work that way. Look how many great performances have lost to inferior ones — you cannot win.
31 9-13-2009 at 7:41 pm
j said...
Actually, while I implied Sarsgaard, I was actually talking about actors who in the last 40 years only had one role that got them acclaim for which they got Oscars. Mostly brought it up because of Brody mention. It is possible one or more will get another good role, though multiple of these are not young at all.
Actor: Whitaker, Brody, Benigni, Abraham
Sup Actor: Coburn, Gooding, Ameche, Ngor , Burns, Johnson
Actress: Paltrow, Matlin, Fletcher
Sup Actress: Hudson, Zeta-Jones, Basinger, Fricker, Hunt, Straight, O’Neal
Cotillard/Weisz I’m guessing will get noms this year.
32 9-13-2009 at 9:18 pm
j said...
Scratch Whitaker & Matlin. But also I would have chosen differently from the Oscars: Nicolas Cage>Brody; Ian McKellan>Benigni; Albert Finney>Abraham; Ed Harris>Coburn; Edward Norton>Gooding, Eric Roberts>Ameche; I’d keep Ngor’s because he’s the only winning Asian male actor ever; Brad Dourif>Burns; Jeff Bridges>Johnson; Meryl Streep>Paltrow; Ann Margret>Fletcher; not sure about Hudson vs. Kikuchi; Meryl Streep>Zeta-Jones; Julianne Moore>Basinger; Lena Olin>Fricker; Piper Laurie>Straight; Madeline Kahn>O’Neal; Glenn Close>Hunt
As for Cotillard & Weisz, I would prefer Ellen Page & Michelle Williams, but think all four seem to have good careers ahead of them.
33 9-14-2009 at 3:10 am
Guy Lodge said...
Weren’t you referring to Carey Mulligan, J? That’s how it read. My point was that I don’t see how you can predict that this will be the “only role in their career for which they get major accolades,” when talking about a rising 24 year-old actress.
Anyway, no matter.
34 9-15-2009 at 12:12 pm
j said...
Really? No, I think she will have a wonderful career. She’s starring in an Oliver Stone film with Brolin, Langella, Sarandon, and Michael Douglas, a six-time Oscar nominated director’s next film with Natalie Portman & Gyllenhaal, and an adaptation of a (somewhat overrated) novel co-starring fellow rising Brit Keira Knightley. Plus she’s young and beautiful. It still remains to be seen whether the overblown “next Audrey” comparisons are valid, though.
I’m intrigued to see her, Cornish, and Ronan’s performances. Though I do want Streep to get #3.
35 9-15-2009 at 12:15 pm
j said...
Oh, I just re-read my earlier comment. I suppose if you didn’t see that it was a response to an above comment you wouldn’t get that I was saying that Sarsgaard seems an unlikely winner. Though the end of my sentence says that. But the middle part was long, I guess?