In Contention

Tag: The Way Back

  • TECH SUPPORT: Final analysis, part one

    So this is it. Over the last seven-plus months here at Tech Support, we have tried to illuminate and analyze the craft races as they unfolded. On Sunday, the winners will be revealed, ushering some new faces into Oscar’s club.  And indeed, I expect the vast majority of the winners to make their first trip to the podium.

    I’ll be breaking down each field in a two-parter.  Check back tomorrow for the final five categories, but for now…

    Best Art Direction

    As is the case in many categories, “The King’s Speech” is, to me, the safe bet for the win here. A royal period piece and likely Best Picture winner would be difficult to beat in any year. But in all fairness, this is in many ways not a typical “royal” winner in a category where style triumphs over substance.

    Production Designer Eve Stewart (11 years after her first nomination for “Topsy-Turvy”), along with set decorator Judy Farr, immaculately filled many of the film’s sets (despite late-breaking news of one location) with intimate details that feel very much in tune with the characters. A guild win also shows industry support.

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  • 2/23 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Leo speaks again on Adgate, hosts speak out on show, Burwell on ‘Grit’ score

    • Melissa Leo tells a different story on Adgate: She was doing what Parmount told her to do. [Daily Beast]

    • Telecast hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway in their first interview on the upcoming festivities. [Hollywood Reporter]

    • Meanwhile, Tom Sherak tells Susan Wloszczyna we’ll like the style of the show. [USA Today]

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  • TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The makeup of ‘Barney’s Version,’ ‘The Way Back’ and ‘The Wolfman’

    As we have noted a number of times, the makeup branch is one of the Academy’s most independently minded. While many people have criticized them in the past for bestowing the moniker “Oscar nominee” on many mediocre (or worse) films, the makeup artists clearly seem to take the work into account regardless of perceived film “quality.”

    This year, they proved their originality once again by nominating three films which did not manage nominations in any other category. The graceful and realistic aging in “Barney’s Version,” the ultra-realistic results of a battle with nature in “The Way Back” and the transformation of Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins (not to mention a plethora of blood) in “The Wolfman” made up the slate.

    I recently spoke with makeup department heads from all three of the nominated films – “Barney’s Version”’s Adrien Morot, “The Way Back”’s Edouard Henriques (nominated with Greg Funk and Yolanda Touessing), and “The Wolfman”’s Rick Baker (nominated with Dave Elsey).

    For Baker, a 12-time nominee and six-time winner, the journey on “The Wolfman” began very early. “I did something I don’t normally do,” he says. “When I heard Universal was going to do a remake of ‘The Wolfman,’ I kind of begged. I said, ‘I really have to do this movie.’ It didn’t make for the best negotiating position but I was one of the first hired on the film.”  The chance to update his own take on the genre 30 years earlier in “An American Werewolf in London” was clearly too difficult to pass up.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Makeup

    The makeup branch of the Academy has often been criticized for making “Oscar nominees” of artistically dubious films. But I submit that it’s one of the bravest and noblest branches, sticking properly by the point of their task: to single out the greatest achievement in their field, no matter the other factors.

    This year’s line-up is a clear indication of as much. Each nominee is unique to this category, having not been recognized in any other field. The variety of work is also compelling, including realism and fantasy in equal measure. But the branch once again turned its back on a number of more gruesome makeup depictions this year, which seems to be a hurdle yet to be cleared.

    The nominees are:

    “Barney’s Version” (Adrien Morot)
    “The Way Back” (Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng)
    “The Wolfman” (Rick Baker and Dave Elsey)

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  • ‘King’s Speech’ leads the pack with 12 Oscar nominations

    On the face of it, the nominees for the 83rd annual Academy Awards seemed fairly unremarkable. Aside from the deafening nature of not hearing Christopher Nolan’s name in the line-up for Best Director (the only true shock of the major categories), everything seemed to be within the expected parameters (even Javier Bardem sliding in, which seemed, increasingly, like a very real possibility these last few weeks).

    But then I got to looking through the craft category nominations and the real interesting beats started to surface. First and foremost, “The King’s Speech” led the field with a whopping 12 nominations, even scoring in the Best Sound Mixing category. That’s major, to say the least. And enough, along with the PGA win, to consider it the frontrunner to win the Oscar for Best Picture.

    “True Grit” wasn’t far behind with 10 nominations, including a bid for the Coen brothers in Best Director after all. Hailee Steinfeld stayed in Best Supporting Actress and Bridges was chalked up, but again, let me go back to the more intriguing crafts fields.

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  • Wish list 2010

    Tomorrow’s the big day.  And there are always surprises.  But rather than offer a space for predicting shockers, I thought I’d ask for your wish list picks.  Name three nominations (in the major categories) that seemingly have no chance whatsoever, but are still in the acceptable realm of possibility, which would send you over the moon.

    For example, I might consider “Exit Through the Gift Shop” to be the best film of the year, but for these purposes it’s more appropriate to go with something like “Shutter Island” or, better yet, “The Way Back” for my “wish list” picks in Best Picture.  Make sense?

    I’ll start…

    Best Picture: “The Way Back”
    Best Director:     Mike Leigh, “Another Year”
    Best Original Screenplay:     “Four Lions”

    You?  (My final predictions are here if you missed them.)

    [Photo: Drafthouse Films]

  • 1/24 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Rich’s two Americas, meet the foreign film exec committee, Jonze interviews Russell

    • Frank Rich sees two Americas in “The Social Network” and “True Grit.” [New York Times]

    • David Poland sits down with the latter’s cinematographer, Roger Deakins. [The Hot Blog]

    • Meet the executive committee charged with saving esoteric foreign films hopefuls. [The Odds]

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Final analysis, part two

    Yesterday I began a final look at the crafts categories. Today, a look at the four remaining fields: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Film Editing.

    BEST ART DIRECTION

    The precursors of the BFCA, BAFTA and Art Directors Guild have been fairly consistent in citing four titles in this category. Last year’s winner, Robert Stromberg, seems poised to dip again for creation of a 3D world on Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.” Eve Stewart, on the other hand, will likely be returning to the fold after an 11 year absence for “The King’s Speech.”

    Guy Hendrix Dyas and Jess Gonchor also have got all necessary precursors, and have fashioned surefire Best Picture nominees, in “Inception” and “True Grit” respectively. It is true that they have had difficulty being nominated in the past but Gonchor has also never had such an Oscar-friendly opportunity, whereas the impressive, integral-to-the-story nature of Dyas’s work has been especially embraced by the precursors.

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  • 1/19 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Affleck’s favorite heist films, Weinstein loves the Jets, Cameron going deep

    • Ben Affleck’s writes up his 11 favorite heist movies. [Daily Beast]

    • The Jets game was the Weinstein priority on Sunday night, not the Globes. [Page Six]

    • Dave Karger gets frisky and sticks with Hailee Steinfeld in lead for his final predictions. [Inside Movies]

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  • INTERVIEW: ‘The Way Back’ actor Jim Sturgess

    When Jim Sturgess’s agents set up a meeting with director Peter Weir, who was casting for his new film “The Way Back,” the actor’s brain was in a different place.  He was in the middle of filming Philip Ridley’s “Heartless” and portraying a troubled soul character.  He had filmed until six in the morning and hadn’t slept for what he says felt like weeks.  Naturally, he was unprepared.

    But he couldn’t leave it at that.  He couldn’t let this be his missed opportunity to work with Peter Weir, his chances blown due to the realities of being a working actor.  So he steeled himself, wrote the veteran helmer a letter and, in between shooting scenes from Ridley’s film, recorded himself acting out scenes from “The Way Back.”

    Something obviously clicked, and it’s a good thing he went to all the trouble, because Sturgess is pretty sure he wouldn’t have been offered the part otherwise.

    “He called me in and said that he really liked what I’d done on the tape and would I play Janusz in his film,” Sturgess recalls over a croque-monsieur at Palihouse in West Hollywood.  “I just couldn’t stop thanking him.”

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  • AMPAS narrows makeup category to seven

    I’ve been noting for a while now that “Barney’s Version” could be a sleeper in the Best Makeup category due to some impressive aging.  The film joins six others today as a bake-off finalist.  The only film missing that I’m currently predicting is “Shutter Island,” so replace that with “The Way Back” (which I was predicting once upon a time), and that’s my bet.

    The finalists:

    “Alice in Wonderland”
    “Barney’s Version”
    “The Fighter”
    “Jonah Hex”
    “True Grit”
    “The Way Back”
    “The Wolfman”

    Another potential sleeper is “The Fighter,” buy the way.  The work on Melissa Leo is pretty impressive.  Keep up with the race at its dedicated page here.

    [Photo: Sony Pictures Classics]

  • Quotable

    I’ve been trying to track one of these down for a while now, but it turns out the buggers are just too big to ship.  Nevertheless, nice to know I’m in print at the Oxford Circus tube station and the like for Londoners to have a gander.  And hey, too big to ship kind of matches the quote, no?  Click for a larger version if you like:

  • Predict the ASC nominees

    Now that the DGA has spoken, something to pass the time.  Tomorrow the crafts guilds continue to roll out the season as the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) offers its picks for the best work behind the camera in 2010.  This is perhaps my favorite of the below-the-line categories, so I thought I’d offer up a lengthy preview.

    The Society is usually good for 80% when it comes to Academy crossover with its nominees. Sometimes you get a 5/5, sometimes a 3/5, but generally it’s 4/5. The trick is figuring out what the oddball selection will be. But let’s see what’s looking good for a nod, first.

    Leading the way this time around, like most years, would have to be Roger Deakins. His work on “True Grit” will likely win him an Oscar and the road there could very well begin with a win from the Society. He seems to be papa bear these days. Chalk it up.

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  • 1/7 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Exit’ credit complaint, Rudin’s PGA record, tequila and that ‘Black Swan’ lesbian scene

    • Does a complaint about uncredited art used in “Exit Through the Gift Shop” lend credence to the veracity of the film? [The Carpetbagger]

    • Tim Appello on “Black Swan”‘s supposedly tequila-laced lesbian scene. [The Race]

    • The narrative on Peter Weir this year continues to be about the unfortunate fact that he’s part of a dying (if not dead) breed. [The Wrap]

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  • 12/31 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Way Back’ last on the scene, 70 votes gets you in, Sparling breaks the rules

    • Peter Weir’s “The Way Back” intentionally hits voters’ doorsteps last, just s ballots are arriving.  Shrewd, given the P&A budget.  Will it pay off? [Deadline]

    • Steve Pond does the Oscar math and discovers that fewer than 70 votes will secure you a nomination everywhere except the four acting categories and Best Picture. [The Odds]

    • Dave Karger reports on Chris Sparling’s gross self-promotion to the Academy in the form of the “Buried” screenwriter’s best Nicolas Chartier impression. [Inside Movies]

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  • 12/30 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Pixar postage stamps, ‘Inception’ most-Tweeted, what Hollywood can do better

    • Your favorite Pixar characters soon to grace postage stamps. [USPS]

    • “Inception” tops 2010’s list of most-tweeted movies. [The Independent]

    • Neville Page on his part in designing “TRON Legacy.” [The Wrap]

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  • Inevitable list of WGA ineligibilities surfaces

    Steve Pond is on the news today that a number of this year’s screenplays will be ineligible for WGA consideration (and therefore should be kept in mind when nominations are revealed next week).

    First and foremost, we all know Pixar films never fall under WGA signatory regulations, so Michael Arndt’s work on “Toy Story 3” will not be in the mix for Best Adapted Screenplay.  Nor will fellow animated contender “How to Train Your Dragon.”  Also perennially ineligible is Mike Leigh, who works outside of the guild’s procedures, so “Another Year” won’t be showing up in the original field.

    Joining Arndt on the adapted sidelines will be “Winter’s Bone,” while “Blue Valentine” and potential winner “The King’s Speech” won’t be eligible for original consideration.

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  • 12/24 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Coen mustache history, year’s most overlooked, Cronenweth on ‘Social’

    • The 15 greatest mustaches in Coen brothers history. [Vulture]

    • The Gurus o’ Gold get their last licks in before the new year. [Movie City News]

    • Betsy Sharkey writes up the 10 most overlooked films of 2010, and yes, it’s a valid point to put the nearly $300 million worldwide grosser “Shutter Island” on there. [Los Angeles Times]

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