In the grand tradition of the late, great Robert Opel: "It's long been rumored that Opel’s streak across the screen was not necessarily a unilateral act of transgression by Opel, and that he may have had a co-conspirator or two. The facts that he gained access to the backstage area in order to stage the streaking, and that he was given a post-show press conference, give rise to the suspicion that the event was set-up by the producers of the broadcast, maybe to give the long-venerated institution a little jolt." [The Awl]
Another Oscars promo video, another vain attempt to show some personality and pep by the Academy; this time around the Oscars have tapped Mike Myers to do an uppity butler type straight out of the discards of the Austin Powers supporting character brainstorming boards, who teaches Oscar winner Kevin Kline the proper way to hold his statuette. If this kind of humor tickles you silly and makes you set your TV calendar for Sunday, then hold on to your pants and chill a few cans of Ensure!
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The Academy Awards are not a contest, the humble nominees might demur, taking the high road through the gory scrum that is awards season. But do you really think, say, Glenn Close wouldn’t cut a bitch for an Oscar? Alas, the odds are against her, literally; online books have her at as much as 100:1 odds to win her first statuette for Albert Nobbs. Take a peek at how the internet’s enterprising bookies have handicapped the 84th Academy Award nominees and adjust your bets accordingly.
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Minutes ago came this terrible reminder from Moviefone: "Good news and bad news: awards season only lasts another five days — which means you've only got five more days to bask in the glow of Uggie the dog. [...] He's the dog you love to love; after all, despite Martin Scorsese's campaigning, you don't see Blackie from Hugo with a Facebook fan page numbering nearly 12,000 members." Or with his own cookies! Anyway, this calls for a slideshow. Bring Kleenex. [Moviefone]
Everybody knows that George Clooney broke out on The Facts of Life in the mid-'80s. But in the quarter-century before the once and possibly future Oscar-winner and all-around Hollywood royal's media profile encompassed morning-show house tours and magazine covers from Esquire to Vanity Fair, where was the 25-year-old Clooney developing his public persona? Where else? Tiger Beat!
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Academy Awards ballots are due today at 5 p.m. PT, and procrastinators in the actors' branch might do well to take note: One of your eldest peers has an upset or two in mind.
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The latest in a series: "The Oscars have become the golden fig leaves that the industry wears to pretend it’s as committed to being in the quality business as it was in the past." [NYT]
The Writers Guild of America gave out its annual awards on Sunday night, bestowing its hardware to the year's most accomplished film and television scribes... whose work was developed and produced under WGA rules and conditions, which disqualified Artist writer-director (and Oscar frontrunner) Michel Hazanavicius among a few others, but whatever. Congrats to all!
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Noooooooooooooo: "But get this — there's another MIA actor that's getting far more attention for the fact that he'll be missing the ceremony this year. In fact, our source says it's who most inquiries are about these days: The Artist's Uggie. Yep, our sources confirm the pooch is out for the grand ceremony. And that breaks our hearts! Heck, the dog probably is more deserving of a Best Supporting Actor nomination that Jonah Hill, but that's just our humble opinion." Preach it, boys, preach it. [E!]
I'm thrilled and honored to welcome you to the first of several virtual roundtables featuring Oscar's nominee class of 2012 -- commencing today with those behind the five films nominated for Best Documentary Feature. They are (in alphabetical order):
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New to the distribution arena, Alamo Drafthouse co-founder Tim League became enamored of a small Belgian crime drama called Bullhead at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Less than a year later, he and his Drafthouse Films operation have an Oscar contender on their hands. Not too shabby for a company younger than the Obama administration.
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"I hated this so much. It also has a very good shot of winning." [The Awl]
Stop me if you've heard this one before: The Artist made off with Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and and fistful of other hardware at tonight BAFTA Awards ceremony in London, its final stop before the silent film's Oscar express pulls into the Kodak Theater terminus on Feb. 26. Meryl Streep also won a key awards-race victory as the institute's Best Actress, while Octavia Spencer and Christopher Plummer continued their own hot streaks in the supporting categories. Read on for all of 2012's winners, and drop back by Movieline on Wednesday to find out how the latest developments affect our Oscar Index.
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"There was one particular time I knew I wasn’t going to win, and when they’d train the camera on me as one of the losers, I wanted to be able to rip open my tuxedo shirt and just have stenciled on my chest, 'Oh, shit.' But my wife wouldn’t let me do it." While he's at it, here's more vivid imagery from Hoffman recalling his days rooming with fellow Oscar winner Robert Duvall: "One time he came home when a girl and I were taking a shower, and the next thing you know he had taken off all his clothes, got in with us, put his hand out, and said, 'Hey, I’m Dusty’s roommate, Bob Duvall. Can I have the soap?'" [Maxim via Moviefone]
No one should be surprised anymore at these announcements, but: DreamWorks and Working Title Films are remaking Alfred Hitchcock's Oscar-winning noir Rebecca, because nothing is sacred. At least they've got people at the wheel with respectable creds; veteran producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are onboard while Eastern Promises screenwriter Steven Knight is scripting based on Daphne du Maurier's original 1938 novel, which saw a few deviations when Hitch made his version (which, incidentally, went on to be the only Best Picture Oscar-winner of his career).
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