The Proust Questionnaire -- the renowned personal inquisition perhaps best known around these parts for concluding issues of Vanity Fair and episodes of Inside the Actors Studio -- has finally found its way to the dogs. Or at least to the dog. Trust me, you've heard of him.
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Anyone? "I don't think the Oscars like commercial films, or kids' films, unless they're directed by Martin Scorsese. I was watching Hugo the other day and going, 'Why is this nominated and we're not?' I was slightly miffed." [Radio Times via NY Post]
Chances are at least a few of your casual conversations about Bridesmaids have revolved around the scene in which Melissa McCarthy is forced to use a bridal shop sink as a toilet. The true beauty of that scene was Kristen Wiig’s Annie, sweat-drenched, trying to stay composed while she was berated over choosing a restaurant that caused some serious gastrointestinal horrors for the ladies. Not to suggest that McCarthy doesn’t deserve the praise; she’s a terrific actress (Sookie forever!).
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I had a feeling this was coming: Two years after songwriter Ryan Bingham photo-bombed his own Oscar-nominee luncheon group photo, the customary portrait once again met its match with animators Brandon Oldenburg and William Joyce. Good for them! Someone's gotta have some fun at these things.
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If you feel like whiling away the afternoon following updates about a room full of wealthy entertainers and/or movie-industry craftspeople eating, the Academy's Twitter feed might be for you.
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Forget Transformers TV spots and Oscar frontrunner Jean Dujardin's racy French posters; let's talk about Best Actor nominee Gary Oldman and the Jersey Shore bump he's about to get from this dramatic reading of Snooki peeing her pants. Jimmy Kimmel put the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy star up to the stunt on his late night show -- Which is on television! That thing that Oscar voters watch!
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Banned in France! Well, kinda: Movie posters featuring Oscar-nominated Jean Dujardin, up for Best Actor for his turn as a silent film star in the sweet and wholesome The Artist, have been deemed too racy by French censors who recommended that certain billboards for Dujardin's French language film Les Infidels (The Players) be taken down. Judging from the film's redband trailer, Les Infidels is a comedy that features lots and lots of sex. Dirty sex. Upside down sex, suggest the naughty, naughty posters!
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Yes, I just wrote the words "Transformers Oscar campaign." Sigh. It's time we come to terms with the fact that each installment in Michael Bay's robot action series has technically been nominated for one or more Academy Awards -- deservedly so, really, given the technical achievements these CG metal-on-metal bashfests have under their belt, even if everything else in these films are aggressively, brain-numbingly mediocre. But Paramount aims to take home one of them statuettes this year, by god, and so they've created an awards campaign to break through to Oscar voters in the most effective way possible: Through their TV sets.
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For the grand finale of Contest Week at Movieline -- which previously entailed conjuring Daniel Radcliffe-flavored fan fiction and Hunger Games haiku -- I humbly bring you the single greatest prize we have ever offered our readers. One word: Pawtograph. (UPDATE: Many thanks to everyone who played along here, on Twitter and Facebook; read on for our winners!)
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News surfaced on Wednesday that Kodak, the once-proud photography giant whose heavy-duty film shackles have tripped it into bankruptcy, has gone to court to get out of its 20-year naming agreement with the owners of the Kodak Theater. Of course, the Academy Awards can't just be held at any anonymous old auditorium in the heart of Hollywood. This calls for creative solutions, and fast. Naturally, that's where Movieline readers come in.
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File under the ever-thickening berth labeled "Dirty Oscar-Season Tricks": No sooner did the sun rise on the Academy's final-ballot mailing day than word circulated about the author and publishers of The Reader suing The Weinstein Company for undercompensation. I know, I know -- you're shocked.
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"You think if Brad Pitt wins the Oscar this year, people will say he’s had it coming since Seven Years in Tibet? Guys, let’s all say that!" [This Had Oscar Buzz]
"At 2 P.M. on Tuesday, January 31 Councilman Tom Labonge will present The Artist with the 'Made In Hollywood' honor to the film’s cast and crew. Including Academy Award Nominee Michel Hazanvicious [sic], Academy Award Nominee Jean Dujardin, Academy Award Nominee Bérénice Bejo, Missi Pyle, Penelope Ann Miller, Beth Grant, David Cluck – 1st Assistant Director, Richard Middleton- Executive Producer, Antoine De Cazotte- Executive producer, Heidi Levitt- Casting Director and the Los Angeles crew. The Honor will be presented at RED Studios which substituted for Kinograph Studios in the film. 846 North Cahuenga Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90038-3704. Be it further resolved that the Los Angeles City Council does name this day, January 31, 2012, as The Artist Day in the City of Los Angeles." Yikes! Time is running out! Start getting sick now! [Press Release]
"I wanted to run Michael Parks from Red State for an Oscar this year, and I was told I'd need $250,000 minimum to do that. We thought we were eligible for SAG Awards, but it turns out that you have to actually submit to the SAG Awards, even if you're a SAG member, which doesn't make sense to me. And then the Golden Globe people didn't want to give Michael Parks consideration because we didn't screen the movie for them specifically when the movie was out in theaters, but it never was out in theaters so it was kind of ridiculous. You have to jump through these ridiculous little rings to even be considered, and then it's a popularity contest around who has the most money to run." [Moviefone]
So we've already established that The Artist is going to pretty much dominate next month's Academy Awards -- a certainty that we've seen reflected in the behavior of certain awards-season foes who've taken aim at the silent film's ubiquitous wonder dog Uggie. Christopher Plummer led the offensive last week on behalf of his Beginners co-star (and Uggie's fellow Jack Russell terrier) Cosmo, joined over the weekend by an unlikely ally hoping to raise another dog's profile as we sleepwalk toward Oscar.
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