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Five Questions with Patricia Clarkson
Filed under: Drama, Awards, Interviews
In an industry where actresses face fewer options as they get older, Patricia Clarkson has defied the odds. Years after making her debut in Brian de Palma's 1987 crime pic The Untouchables and landing a breakthrough role in 1998's High Art, she's hit her stride and become one of Hollywood's most popular character actresses. In the decade of the '00s alone, the plaudits and awards have come left and right: an Oscar nomination for Pieces of April, two Emmy wins for HBO's "Six Feet Under,"and critics' awards for Far From Heaven, The Station Agent, Good Night, and Good Luck. (In 2009, the Year of the Cougar, Clarkson was also handpicked to star in Saturday Night Live's "Motherlover," an honor of another kind.)
So when Cinematical met Clarkson during last month's Savannah Film Festival, we jumped at the chance to talk with the actress about her career – past, present, and future. She was dressed to the nines and in town to accept an award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinema for her turn as an eccentric, conservative Southern belle-turned-Manhattan artist in Woody Allen's Whatever Works. Minutes before taking the stage to accept her award, Clarkson sat down to answer Cinematical's Five Questions.
Howard Stern's Time on the SAG Nomination Committee
Filed under: Awards
Back in April, shock-jock Howard Stern was one of the random SAG members picked to be a part of the guild's nominating committee for their award ceremony. As The Wrap reports, approximately 4,200 members get picked (about 10% of the membership), and this year, Stern found his way in 12 years after he starred in the movie of his life -- Private Parts. Not surprisingly, Stern has made a show of it, saying: "I'm going to take this seriously, and reward our friends. I don't give a s*** if they were good or not." SAG spokesperson Rosalind Jarrett reiterates that the committee is "charged with nominating what they believe are the outstanding performances of the year," but Stern has other plans."I don't care if they're good actors, who gives a f*** if someone can pretend to be somebody?" So, Stern's picks include Robert Downey Jr. for Sherlock Holmes, Kevin Bacon and Renee Zellweger for My One and Only, and Jimmy Fallon for his stint as Hot Tub Johnny Rocket in Whip It. His criteria -- they've either been on the show or been nice to him in some way. No concern over the role or how well an actor pulled it off.
It's annoying, sure. But the annoyance comes from the straightforwardness more than an act, because let's be honest -- these things are absolutely subjective, and if everyone was completely forthright about their reasoning, there would be annoyance up the wazoo. Perhaps the other voters are not as stringently anti-talent, but there's always subjective rationale in play, whether it's simply preferring a certain style of acting or wanting to support a beloved friend.
The big question: Will SAG now reconsider their members, or at least, who can be part of the nominating committee?
Just How Often Does the NBR Predict Oscar Winners?
Filed under: Awards, Oscar Watch
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By: Erik Childress
It's sad that every year the awards season is kicked off with the National Board of Review (see our post from yesterday for the complete list of winners). As unknown as the members of the MPAA or the Hollywood Foreign Press – and about as credible as serious-minded critics of film – we nevertheless entrust their choices to help steer our curiosity towards the eventual Oscar nominees. Christening this flying wasp yesterday with the announcement that Up In The Air has taken their prize for Best Picture of 2009, they can now await their RSVP from George Clooney, amongst others to their annual party. Which is what it's really all about for them. But if the Academy Awards have taught us anything, it's to respect the trends and traditions in place. Plus a few people who have seen only about a quarter of the films released this year could use a tip in the right direction.
Coming up tops is indeed Jason Reitman's Up In The Air, widely considered to be a frontrunner for this year's Best Picture honors at the Oscars. The film certainly has a leg up for a nomination with this win as 9 of the last 10 NBR winners have gone on to a nod. Quills was the lone holdout in 2000. But only three of their choices in that time (American Beauty, No Country for Old Men and Slumdog Millionaire) have jetted on to winning the big prize.
'Up in the Air' Named Best Film of the Year by NBR
Filed under: Awards, Newsstand, Oscar Watch
For the past two years in a row, the National Board of Review (aka NBR) and the Academy Awards have each honored the same film as their top pick of the year. Will that streak now continue with Jason Reitman's Up in the Air? Paramount couldn't have picked a better release date for Up in the Air because 24 hours after the film was named best of the year by NBR, it will arrive in theaters in limited release. Aside from taking top honors, Reitman's film about a corporate downsizer who can't seem to connect with anything (or anyone) also won Best Adapted Screenplay (Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner) and Best Supporting Actress (Anna Kendrick). Other big winners include Clint Eastwood for Best Director (Invictus), Morgan Freeman for Best Actor (Invictus), Carey Mulligan for Best Actress (An Education) and Woody Harrelson for Best Supporting Actor (The Messenger). The Cove, which is a film we've been heavily championing all year long, won for Best Documentary, while Pixar's Up took home Best Animated Feature. The biggest and most talked-about surprise so far is that top awards contender Precious was nowhere to be found, and wasn't even listed among the year's top ten list, though as a fan of both films it was nice to see District 9 and Moon make the top ten independent films list (along with a special mention for Moon director Duncan Jones in NBR's Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut).
Check out all the winners after the jump.
Annie Nominations Announced, Still No 3D Category
Filed under: Animation, Awards, Disney, Universal, Family Films, Dreamworks
This has been such a good year for animated films (maybe even the beginning of a golden age) that I've never been more excited or curious about the Annie Awards. The International Animated Film Society has just announced the nominees for their honors, and the fact that Pixar's Up is not necessarily a front-runner only goes to show that animation is in a good place. Up came in second for number of nominations received, one short of Coraline's ten. Both movies are in contention for the top prize, Best Animated Feature, with slight competition coming from Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
The last of those titles is the one that had me most impressed with the state of animation this year. Considering I went into it with some of the lowest expectations I've ever had for a film and came out in love with the very loose children's book adaptation, I've been relatively optimistic about animated films since.
Norman Jewison Will Get DGA Lifetime Achievement Award
Filed under: Awards
Norman Jewison, the Oscar-nominated director of In the Heat of the Night, Fiddler on the Roof, and Moonstruck will add another line to his resume on Jan. 30, when the Directors Guild of America gives him its lifetime achievement award. It's a fairly exclusive honor, too -- the DGA has been around for 73 years but only gives lifetime achievement awards occasionally. Jewison is the 33rd recipient; the last one was Clint Eastwood, in 2006. Jewison, an 83-year-old Toronto native, is a somewhat unusual choice for the DGA in that he hasn't been active lately. The most recent recipients -- Eastwood, Mike Nichols, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola -- had all been working pretty regularly at the time of their awards, but Jewison has only made three theatrical features in the last 15 years: Bogus (1996), The Hurricane (1999), and The Statement (2003).
His past work is exemplary, though. In addition to the films I mentioned, he also made The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966) and A Soldier's Story (1984), both nominated for Best Picture Oscars. (Moonstruck and Fiddler were, too.) Other notable films in his catalog include The Cincinnati Kid (1965), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Rollerball (1975), and Agnes of God (1985). All told, the 24 theatrical features he's made since 1962 have earned 12 Oscars and another 29 nominations. Jewison himself was given the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the 1999 Oscars, in recognition for his work as a producer, a title he has held on almost every film he's directed.
Gotham Indie Awards Crown 'Hurt Locker,' 'The Maid'
Filed under: Awards, Newsstand
In case you missed the live-Tweeting and live-blogging from last night's Gotham Independent Awards at NYC's Cipriani, we're here to help. Indie favorite The Hurt Locker took home the two big awards, Best Feature and Best Ensemble Performance, although The Maid's Catalina Saavedra snagged the award for Best Breakthrough Actor, beating out The Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner, Ben Foster (The Messenger), Patton Oswalt (Big Fan), and Souleymane Sy Savane (Goodbye Solo). Robert Siegel, who also wrote The Wrestler and wrote and directed Big Fan, snatched the Breakthrough Director award from The Hurt Locker's Kathryn Bigelow and the Coens. Meanwhile, the stomach-churningly fascinating Food Inc. won best doc for its close look at how what's on our plates really got there, and how big biz helped (or harmed, as the case may be). And the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You award went to You Wont Miss Me, which was directed by Russo-Young, who cowrote the film with Stella Schnabel. (The missing apostrophe is on purpose, natch.)
Sounds like there were some indie hijinks happening, as those on the scene reported that Rosie Perez congratulated Willem Dafoe, who was there to present Kathryn Bigelow with a career tribute, on his, uh, performance in Antichrist, declaring it a "sick-ass movie." (Truth.)
Do you think that these awards will have any affect on the rest of the award season? As Monika noted last night in her latest Girls on Film column, the Academy Awards Best Actress pool is a bit shallow. Could we see Catalina Saavedra ready to hit the red carpet for the Oscars? Have you seen any of the IFP films, and if not, are you going to seek them out now?
Check out the complete list of noms here.
Does 'Paranormal Activity' Deserve a Best Picture Nomination?
Filed under: Awards, Mystery & Suspense, Fandom, Oscar Watch
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The Indie Spirit Awards announced their nominations this morning, honoring a whole bunch of films that were only seen by film critics, artsy intellectuals and/or people who accidentally walked into the wrong theater while on their way to watch Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I kid, of course, because if it wasn't for shows like the Spirit Awards, a number of really great independent films (and performances) would probably go unnoticed. So I command you to check out the list of nominees after the jump and start tracking them down one by one (either in theaters or on DVD). Go! Now!
This year's crop of nominees is definitely stirring the pot a little bit. Surprises include Maria Bello for Best Female Lead in Downloading Nancy, a film that all of about one person (me!) actually enjoyed. 500 Days of Summer also took home a couple nods for Best Feature and Best Male Lead (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and even the viciously panned Gentlemen Broncos walked away with a nod for Best Supporting Male (Jermaine Clement). One of the more interesting (and talked-about) nominations went to Paranormal Activity in the Best First Feature category, alongside other notable indies like A Single Man, Crazy Heart, Easier with Practice and The Messenger.
But does Paranormal Activity really belong there, or is it being honored more because of what it achieved at the box office versus how good it actually is? I've seen some already poking fun at the nomination on Twitter, as if it doesn't deserve to shine the shoes of the other films listed alongside it. But is that just because it doesn't fit the 'Best Picture" mold? Is it because it's become a "fanboy" film?
Girls on Film: The Academy's Shallow Actress Pool
Filed under: Awards, Girls on Film
With the werewolves out of the way, back to our regularly scheduled programming. A few weeks ago, The Hollywood Reporter ran a piece called "Shallow pool for Oscar's actress contenders." The basic premise: While the list of female directorial hopefuls is stronger than ever for the 2010 Academy race, the actress nods aren't so hot with Meryl Streep leading only a handful of other front-runners (Carey Mulligan and Gabourey Sidibe). The piece also noted the other potential Best Actress candidates, the possibility of notable performances in the remaining releases, the struggles women still face in Hollywood, and -- egads -- the fact that some are talking about Sandra Bullock getting a nod for The Blind Side.
Reading the article through, I quickly had a thought .... and it was most definitely not about that previously mentioned werewolf flick getting any award love. Usually a discussion like this might be disheartening or aggravating, but the thought wasn't negative. It was, in fact, quite positive.
Why don't we use this "shallow pool" as a reason to celebrate unconventional roles and performances?
'Nine', 'Up in the Air' Lead Satellite Award Nominations
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Music & Musicals, Awards, Quentin Tarantino, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, Oscar Watch
There are a few good reasons to hate on the Satellite Awards. First of all, we really don't need any more end of the year movie and television honors. Second of all, the Satellites seem to be little more than a knock-off of the Golden Globes, which are already pretty unnecessary. Third, they happen way too early, missing out on seeing and thereby qualifying perhaps the biggest film of the year (Avatar). But over the years I've come to appreciate the Satellites and their bestowing organization, the International Press Academy, for their constant surprises when it comes to nominating and awarding unlikely films and talent. Just look at some of last year's acting winners: Richard Jenkins; Rosemarie DeWitt; Ricky Gervais; Michael Shannon.
Now check out this year's nominees, which continue to prove that IPA voters like to go at least slightly against the grain. Okay, so there are a lot of predictable titles in the lot, including Up in the Air and Nine, which leads with 11 nominations. Yet there are some films I don't expect to be recognized by the Golden Globes, let alone the Oscars, such as The Maid and The Stoning of Soraya M., both of which feature in the Best Actress (Drama) category.
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