The following list and remarks reflect my personal opinions and do/will not in any way impact my projections or analysis on this site, wherein I strive above all else to correctly forecast what will happen, not what I believe should happen.
By Sean O’Connell
On Sunday, multiple critics groups from New York to L.A. gathered to analyze the year in film and vote on their winners. “The Artist” performed well in Boston and Manhattan, while L.A. went with Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants.” But late in the evening, San Francisco revealed its collective suggestions for year’s best, going with Terrence Malick’s brilliant “The Tree of Life.”
By Sean O’Connell
The Oscar race expects to narrow (slightly) over the next few days, with new critics’groups weighing in on their selections for year-end bests, and the HFPA expected to reveal its Golden Globenominations on Thursday.
By Sean O’Connell
“Pulp Fiction.” “The English Patient.” “Good Will Hunting.” “Shakespeare in Love.” “Chicago.” “The Aviator.” “Gangs of New York.” “The Reader.” “The King’s Speech.”
For decades, Harvey Weinstein’s name has been synonymous with the Academy Awards, and his influential fingerprints have been all over the Oscar season.
By Carlos de Abreu
Happy Thanksgiving from Hollywood Film Awards, Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywoodnews.com. We want to thank all of our friends, associates, filmmakers and supporters for their continuous support and hard work. Without you we could not pursue our quest of discovering emerging filmmakers, honoring excellence in the art of filmmaking, and helping others through our “Hollywood Gives Back(r)” initiative.
These, in my judgment, are the five awards-related stories from the past week that every self-respecting movie buff should know about…
The Academy has never missed the late, great Oscar show producer Gil Catesmore than it does today, as it seeks a replacement for Brett Ratner, who had been expected to serve in that capacity for February’s 84th Academy Awards. Ratner submitted his resignation yesterday after making a series of comments that offended many in the industry, and Eddie Murphy, whom Ratner directed in the film Tower Heistand recruited to serve as the host of this year’s Oscars, also withdrew from the show this morning, leaving things in disarray.
As THR reported this morning, Academy president Tom Sherak reached out to Brian Grazer, the 60-year-old producer and co-chief of Imagine Entertainment, about the job — but that communication may have taken place before Murphy withdrew from the show. Grazer, who won the best picture Oscar for A Beautiful Mind (2001), made a lot of sense when Murphy was still on-board: he served as a producer on Tower Heist and was credited by the actor with “saving” the film when it ran into trouble during development. It is less clear, though, if he’d still be needed or amenable now that the circumstances have changed.
THR has been surveying the industry for ideas about other candidates whom the Academy might tap if things don’t work out with Grazer. Two leading possibilities include…
The 25th annual AFI Fest got underway tonight at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood with the world premiere of Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar, Warner Brothers’ highly anticipated bio-pic of legendary FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who is portrayed in the film byLeonardo DiCaprio.
The 15th annual Hollywood Awards took place on Monday night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, kicking off a months-long season of self-congratulations and chicken dinners shared by the same core group of people.
There is something special about this event, though, because it offers industry observers our first opportunity to see how dozens of awards hopefuls handle the spotlight. There is no tension about who will get called to the podium, since the honorees are announced weeks before the ceremony (determined by the event’s executive director Carlos de Abreu and a panel of advisors), but there is still plenty on the line. Indeed, a highlight clip, introduction, or acceptance speech can immensely help or hurt a contender’s prospects, as the many studio publicists, executives, and chiefs in attendance (including The Weinstein Company’s Harvey Weinstein and Sony Pictures Classics’s Michael Barker) were well aware.
Based on what I was able to gauge last night from a seat in the audience and access that I was exclusively granted to the backstage area and green room throughout the show, nobody really set themselves back very much at this particular awards show, but a few people certainly came away from the festivities stronger than they entered them.
Some highlights…
Among the things that factored into this week’s projections (which appear further down on the page)…