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Much as I admire his spunk, I think Awards Daily contributor Ryan Adams might be getting ahead of himself with his Oscar hopes for “The Dark Knight.”
In a recent post, he labels the categories of Best Makeup, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Supporting Actor and Best Visual Effects as “virtual certainties.” The other categories mentioned he feels are Oscar-worthy enough and have a good shot as well.
Best Visual Effects isn’t going to happen. This branch abandoned practical effects considerations long ago. The makeup, meanwhile, could find some trouble from aging and transformative efforts later in the season, so I wouldn’t call it a sure thing either.
We can all, I think, assume that Heath Ledger is on his way to a nod, and, indeed, the sound work in the film is top notch and worthy of serious consideration. The rest…nah. In fact, I think the most hastily over-predicted category for this film so far has been Best Art Direction, where Nathan Crowely scored at the BAFTAs in 2005 for “Batman Begins.”
There aren’t a lot of manufactured sets here. All the stuff that looks like a creation was even, for the most part, a practical set. London’s Battersea Power Station really shows up well when used in the film, for instance, and looks like a manifestation. But it’s not.
Lee Smith’s film editing is certainly a possibility, as he took things up a notch (to say the least) in this effort, but James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer will not be eligible for their brillaint score because of that pesky rule Rule 16b.
(By the way, speaking of the boys, anyone else just LOVE that creepy two-note string theme for the Joker that is a clever inversion of the Batman theme?)
I would, however, call Wally Pfister’s work behind the camera this film’s closest thing to a lock. The lensers have tons of respect for this guy (I’d say his nod in 2005 was a surprise) and given the technological steps taken here with the IMAX technology — the sheer balls of lugging those cameras around for these action sequences — I’d say he’s in.
And of course — I’ve always felt Christopher Nolan has a play here. But I’m not willing to go there. Yet.
Just my two cents.
14 responses so far
1 7-19-2008 at 2:07 pm
Fei said...
Does 16b really apply to The Dark Knight? I think that it depends…
My reading of the rule is that if two composers work together on a single score, it IS still eligible. The rule is to keep out scores that are cobbled together from the work of multiple composers. So I think that Zimmer and Howard’s eligibility depends on the exact nature of the collaboration: Did they truly write the score together, or did each of them contribute separate pieces? The latter case clearly violates the rule, but the former doesn’t.
You’ll notice that the rule is carefully worded. It doesn’t say that only the scores by a single composer are eligible.
2 7-19-2008 at 2:21 pm
Joseph said...
I disagree about the cinematography. I think it’s a significant step down from his wonderfully rich work on “Batman Begins,” and I don’t think a nomination in this case would be very deserved – especially considering what we haven’t seen yet. Supporting Actor and Sound seem likely. Wouldn’t bet on anything else.
3 7-19-2008 at 2:57 pm
Brian Kinsley said...
Make-Up might be ineligible too, because of the CG on Harvey.
I’d feel okay calling 4 noms – Ledger, Cinematography and the two sounds. That’s about it. Maybe editing and art direction if they’re really lucky and things really bomb.
4 7-19-2008 at 3:07 pm
Brian Kinsley said...
Soundtrack might also be mangled because of their weird rules about previously exisiting material.
I think cinematography is a step up from “Begins,” but a step down from “Prestige”. Regardless, it’s sublime work, easily the best I’ve seen this year (aside from “The Fall”).
5 7-19-2008 at 3:23 pm
Joel said...
Definitely Supporting Actor for Ledger’s stunning work in the interrogation scene, or the scene with Rachel at the party, or the final showdown. Many choices.
Cinematography was excellent in my opinion.
Sound awards definitely.
Score DEFINITELY if it counts.
6 7-19-2008 at 3:45 pm
Ryan Adams said...
Thanks for the link, Kris. For the record, it’s not unusual for my main page comments to be primarily a springboard for discussions and feedback in the comments — where my original assertions are open to adjustment and refinement. I try to dive into conversations with our readers when I can, so that many of our topics (Sasha’s included) become an open chat where our ideas get worked over (in every sense of the phrase.)
The nine categories I listed were those I feel are probably strong enough to rival anything that might come later, but even in the main post I say that the final tally could max out at 7 of those 9.
I mention “3 or 4″ of the newer tech categories, but I truly have no clue which 3 might score.
Overall, I’m sticking to my hope that we’ll see 5-7 nominations for TDK (I have that same dream about best director as you, Kris, but we all know we’ll need to see more of what’s coming in the months ahead before I go that far. Also, I don’t want to cause Sasha to cringe too badly at the risky forecast I’m making (which is clearly my personal position; it may or may not reflect her own. We haven’t talked about it.)
I mean, c’mon. 4 noms for Jackson’s King Kong. The Dark Knight is a vastly superior film, and one would hope the eventual honors would reflect the step up to higher level. Sure, it’s apples and oranges, but still.
Finally, the Academy gets few enough chances to reward a truly astonishing artistic acheivement that’s also a crowd-pleaser (and audience magnet for the actual Oscar broadcast.) They could pass up this chance — and enjoy another year of low ratings and hang wringings about lack of Oscar relevance. Or they could take the opportunity to honor the kind of movie that provides the financial foundation for all the smaller “prestige” pictures we see in November and December.
I’d suggest what we have with The Dark Knight is that exceedingly rare beast — a spectacular example of the triumph of popular movie-making, that also happens to be a prestige picture on its own terms.
Really the only quibble I have with what you say here, Kris, is the visual effects category. Instead of being a movie in which the drama screeches to a halt every 20 minutes for a CGI showcase to be inserted, TDK has effects that serve the plot and blend seamlessly — without making me think, “oy, here we go again.” (as I did with The Incredible Hulk, Indy IV, and even Iron Man.)
One of these days maybe the effects category will return to recognizing some old-school visual effects that don’t have to scream, “Hey look at me, I’m a bunch of cool 1’s and 0’s!” and come to see that those kind of plasticized show-stoppers are doing just that: stopping the show in it’s tracks.
I’ll concede that’s just a dream. But The Dark Knight has succeeded in fulfilling my wildest dreams so far, so I’m repaying it by propagating some of those dreams at AwardsDaily.
7 7-19-2008 at 4:44 pm
Brian Kinsley said...
Kong’s 4 noms (2 sounds, VFX and art direction) were all pretty huge no-brainers though.
The biggest CG card I think TDK has is incidentally the same card that would make it ineligible for make-up: Two Face. I think it could get one, or the other, but not both. The CG was great in TDK, but it was very seldom except for Two Face (who was seldom seen anyway). And I just can’t see TDK getting in over Half-Blood Prince, Australia, Benjamin Button, Iron Man, or a slew of other films.
8 7-19-2008 at 4:48 pm
Kristopher Tapley said...
“One of these days maybe the effects category will return to recognizing some old-school visual effects that don’t have to scream, “Hey look at me, I’m a bunch of cool 1’s and 0’s!†and come to see that those kind of plasticized show-stoppers are doing just that: stopping the show in it’s tracks.”
This is, indeed, the key language.
End of the day, I think TDK will fall in line with heavily appreciated actioners like “The Bourne Ultimatum.” I think Cinematography is a cinch, and one if not both of the sound categories. Ledger is probably secure too, and film editing has a definite shot. And then maybe makeup, but in my opinion, nothing past that.
Though an adapted screenplay nomination would be richly deserved, and if they’ll give it to fucking “Borat”…
Basically (and, of course, personally) I see 6 nods as the ceiling here.
9 7-19-2008 at 5:39 pm
Ryan Adams said...
January’s a long way off, isn’t it? and anything (or nothing) could happen. Totally agree about the screenplay worthiness. Not simply adapted, but synthesized, reinvented, expanded and deepened.
I know I’m still in afterglow stage and shouldn’t be given the car keys when I’m still still reeling, so I appreciate you guys helping me sober up a little.
It’s just that last summer I had less confidence and was still finding my footing, so consequently I buried some potentially prescient thoughts deep inside out-of-the-way threads.
Like this gushing giddy comment I made about The Bourne Ultimatum last August (and pulled out of the archives to republish on Oscar Eve)
http://www.awardsdaily.com/2007/?p=1507
I actually posted that in an exclusive hidden clubby topic where a few of us used to go geek out where nobody could see us ;-) This year I wanna try to not be so shy about opening up about my opinions that might mean something.
I’d much rather be publicly wrong than secretly right.
For all our occasional differences, Kris, our respect for expertly-crafted genre films is something I’m happy we share.
6 nominations would rock. And then there’s that elusive tipping point where the number of cumulative noms in artistic & tech categories begins to demand some recognition for the man at the top who pulled it all together.
Fincher and Nolan both nominated for Best Director? How sweet would that be?
(Eastwood would get off on a geek wrestling match like that, as much as McCain enjoyed seeing Clinton and Obama pummel each other. ;-)
10 7-19-2008 at 6:02 pm
Casey said...
Ryan just made me smile the biggest smile I’ve smiled since… not including my viewing of this film… like two weeks ago. Fincher is one of my personal heros and imo the one director who needs a nomination more than anyone else… much more than spike lee. And I think Nolan is the director of the decade… bordering a personal hero after TDK
11 7-19-2008 at 11:42 pm
Liz said...
I’d love to see TDK get some Oscar nods, but I’m not lobbying for a coup. Let the other movies have some time to shine.
12 7-20-2008 at 10:20 am
Blake Rutherford said...
Ledger, cinematography, both sounds. Yes. I think those are the four locks at this point. I like it as a darkhorse for editing and art direction as well as score depending on the Academy’s (destined to be absurd) application of the rule. Screenplay and direction would be very welcomed by me as well.
13 7-20-2008 at 12:37 pm
AJ said...
Well if the Academy wants to regain some relevance, The Dark Knight is it’s ticket. With the right precursors, Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actor (Bale), Actor/Supporting Actor (Ledger), Supporting Actor (Eckhart), Score, and a slew of techs are not out of reach.
14 11-26-2009 at 11:27 pm
Hans said...
Reading this now was fun. Turns out we didn’t have to worry at all about nods in any of those cute little categories. The real disappointment came later. =(
Thanks for keeping this stuff up, Kris. I’ve been going down memory Bat-lane for an hour now, reliving the hype and, ultimately, the great satisfaction that was the zeitgeist of 2008.