In Contention

Tag: Frankie & Alice

  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 42 — ‘The Way Back’ woes, Sturgess and Renner make the rounds, Best Actress race (kind of) taking shape and ‘The King’s Speech’ opens

    Oscar TalkWelcome to Oscar Talk.

    In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds.

    Anne and I are in a bit of a food coma today, so the podcast was a bit all over the place. We free associate from topic to topic bringing in your questions where applicable, but there’s a lot to digest. Let’s see what’s on the docket today…

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  • ‘Frankie & Alice’ poster

    The Halle Berry starrer “Frankie & Alice” screens tonight and throughout the week in Los Angeles.  And Berry may or may not be a contender in this year’s competitive Best Actress race.  (Dave Karger seems to think she is.)  Regardless, I can’t make the screening tonight, but I’ll catch up with it later in the week.  For now, we have a look at the one-sheet for you.  Check out the full image after the jump.

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  • UPDATED: Did Halle Berry just exit the Best Actress race?

    UPDATE (10/26): Kris here, following up on Guy’s report yesterday.  I’m told there is correspondence between reps from the film and AMPAS acknowledging that the film would not open in 2009 and that AMPAS has acknowledged the film will be eligible for 2010 consideration.  I’m also told this sort of hiccup is not uncommon.  Steve Pond has a report up quoting AMPAS publicity on the matter.  So Berry is very much in the race this year.

    EARLIER: A few hours ago, Kris mentioned the moves being made by Freestyle Releasing to launch an awards campaign for the long-delayed Halle Berry starrer “Frankie & Alice.” The distributor plans to give the film an Oscar-qualifying release on December 17, explicitly stating its award-oriented motives in the press release.

    So far, so good. But it seems to me there’s a slight snag: “Frankie & Alice,” although never formally released, actually qualified for the 2009 Oscars. As proved here, the film was on the Academy’s official list of 274 films eligible for last year’s awards:

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  • Did Halle Berry just enter the Best Actress race?

    I feel like I’ve been hearing about Geoffrey Sax’s “Frankie & Alice” for over a year now.  The film was on our early charts last year as one of a million possibilities, but it never nailed down distribution.  This year I just kind of forgot about it, but here’s a press release landing this afternoon making sure we’re aware that Freestyle Releasing will be opening the film on December 17 for an Academy qualifying run.

    Now, this might mean there is awards potential for Halle Berry’s performance in the true story of Frankie Murdoch, a woman suffering with multiple personality disorder in early 1970s Los Angeles (the release tells me).  Or it might mean, simply, being in that discussion is worth a few more dollars at the box office, which would be seen as a win for an indie.  I can’t say.  I haven’t seen the film.  And this is a fiercely competitive lead actress line-up as it is.  But hey, there’s always room for one more…as long as you’ve got the goods.  (Of course, I wrote something similarly titled about Michelle Monaghan last year, so you never know.)

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  • Can Halle Berry turn it around with ‘Frankie & Alice?’

    Halle Berry in Monster's BallPoor Halle Berry has become something of a communal punchbag in recent years among critics seeking examples of the age-old post-Oscar curse; with every disappointing film she makes, the comments about her career (and even her winning performance) get progressively snarkier.

    Look no further than this rather odd (and somewhat out-of-nowhere) piece in today’s Guardian — in which Benjamin Lee makes the curious claim that it is color-blind casting (which others might see as progress of a sort) that has sunk Berry’s career following her Oscar win.

    Lee’s argument essentially boils down to this: non-white actresses are better off sticking to roles (such as Berry’s breakthrough parts in “Monster’s Ball” or the TV film “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge”) that are dependent on their race.

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