ScottFeinberg.com

By Joey Magidson
Film Contributor

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I always enjoy looking at alternate versions of the Oscar race. It’s just an experiment, but there are still a number of interesting dynamics that I notice about the year in awards contenders when playing around with eligible films.

In years past, I’ve wondered what were the No. 11 films in the two years that Oscar had a guaranteed crop of 10 Best Picture nominees. I’ve also considered what the Oscars nods would have looked like if you removed every contender that was actually nominated. This time around, I’m trying something a little different.

With the Academy only days away from announcing their noms, I wanted to look at how the race would look if you took out any of the contenders that hit in the final part of the year. Essentially, if you disqualified the films that went into release after September, what might the Oscar nominations look like this week?

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By Scott Feinberg
The Hollywood Reporter

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I recently had the opportunity to sit down in New York with the Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal following a screening of his hit film End of Watch for a wide-ranging conversation about his life and career. Gyllenhaal, who will turn 32 next month and has now been acting professionally for 21 years, says that he recently arrived at something of a turning-point in both: after his experience with End of Watch and now the acclaimed off-Broadway play If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet, he has decided that he will only take on projects that challenge and mean as much to him as they do. Together — as you can see for yourself by checking out the video at the top of this page or read about below — we took a look back at his remarkable journey to this conclusion.

By Rachel Bennett
Television Editor & Columnist

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Movies used to be gold standard for actors, with George Clooney, Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio leaving the small screen for the big to achieve great professional and financial success.

However, times are changing, and many actors who left TV to work in movies are coming back, including Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams and Michael J. Fox. Due to the addition of cable and subscription-based original programming, better roles are being created that will give actors a chance for the recognition, awards and job security that movies no longer  provide. Just look at Claire Danes, who returned to TV to star in Showtime’s Homeland, for which she’s nominated for an Emmy.

There are several actors who should return to TV, but not all of them will. Take a look at the top 10 TV stars who’ve left TV but should return:

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By Josh Abraham

End Of Watch stars Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña as young Los Angeles police officers Taylor and Zavala as they patrol the city’s meanest streets of south central Los Angeles.

Click to read more…

It seems to me that an unusual number of films from this year revolve around characters morphing, through one process or another, into “better” versions of themselves… and not just in adaptations of comic-books. I can’t think of anything, in particular, that might explain this trend — maybe it’s just a strange coincidence — but it is real. Consider the following examples (amongst which are obviously numerous spoilers)…

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“Deep Vote,” an Oscar winning screenwriter and a member of the Academy, will write this column — exclusively for ScottFeinberg.com — every week until the Academy Awards in order to help to peel back the curtain on the Oscar voting process. (His identity must be protected in order to spare him from repercussions for disclosing the aforementioned information.)

Thus far, he has shared his thoughts in column one about his general preferences; column two about “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions, 6/11, R, trailer) and “Solitary Man” (Anchor Bay Films, 5/21, R, trailer); column three about “Alice in Wonderland” (Disney, 3/5, PG, trailer), “Toy Story 3” (Disney, 6/18, G, trailer), and “Mother and Child” (Sony Pictures Classics, 5/7, R, trailer); column four about “Get Low” (Sony Pictures Classics, 7/30, PG-13, trailer), “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features, 7/9, R, trailer), and “The Social Network” (Columbia, 10/1, PG-13, trailer); column five about “127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight, 11/5, R, trailer), “Biutiful” (Roadside Attractions, 12/17, R, trailer), and “Shutter Island” (Paramount, 2/19, R, trailer); column six about “Inception” (Warner Brothers, 7/16, PG-13, trailer), “Made in Dagenham” (Sony Pictures Classics, 11/19, R, trailer), and “Somewhere” (Focus Features, 12/22, R, trailer); column seven about “Another Year” (Sony Pictures Classics, 12/29, PG-13, trailer), “Fair Game” (Summit, 11/5, PG-13, trailer), and “Rabbit Hole” (Lionsgate, 12/17, PG-13, trailer); column eight about “Blue Valentine” (The Weinstein Company, 12/29, R, trailer), “The Fighter” (Paramount, 12/10, R, trailer), and “True Grit” (Paramount, 12/22, PG-13, trailer); column nine about “The Ghost Writer” (Summit, 2/19, PG-13, trailer), “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company, 11/26, R, trailer), and “The Town” (Warner Brothers, 9/17, R, trailer); column ten about “Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight, 12/3, R, trailer), “Conviction” (Fox Searchlight, 10/15, R, trailer), and “I Am Love” (Magnolia, 6/18, R, trailer); column eleven about his nomination ballots; and column twelve about “All Good Things” (Magnolia, 12/3, R, trailer), “Animal Kingdom” (Sony Pictures Classics, 8/13, R, trailer), and “The Way Back” (Newmarket, 12/29, PG-13, trailer).

This week, he assesses three more films: “Barney’s Version” (Sony Pictures Classics, 12/3, R, trailer), “Love and Other Drugs” (20th Century Fox, 11/24, R, trailer), and “Tangled” (Disney, 11/24, PG, trailer).

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Last week, I had the opportunity to chat by phone for about 35 minutes with the actor Jake Gyllenhaal, 30, who will be attending the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday night as a best actor (musical or comedy) nominee for his performance opposite Anne Hathaway in Edward Zwick’s edgy romantic-dramedy “Love and Other Drugs” (20th Century Fox, 11/24, R, trailer). In the film, which is largely based on Jamie Reidy’s autobiography, Gyllenhaal inhabits a classic leading man role that Cary Grant would have played if the censors had allowed films like this to be played in his day (and if Viagra had already been invented). His Jamie is a charismatic pharmaceutical salesman who wants perhaps the only woman in the world who doesn’t want him — because, he eventually discovers, she is suffering from early-onset Parkinson’s Disease and dreads the thought of becoming a burden.

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To see a full list of the film nominees, click here!

Key Factoids

• “The King’s Speech” leads the field with seven nominations: the film for best picture (drama), Tom Hooper for best director, Colin Firth for best actor (drama), Geoffrey Rush for best supporting actor, Helena Bonham Carter for best supporting actress, David Seidler for best screenplay, and Alexandre Desplat for best original score. (“The Fighter” and “The Social Network” were close behind with six each.)
• Johnny Depp scored two nominations, one for his performance in “Alice in Wonderland” and the other for his performance in “The Tourist,” both of which came in the best actor (musical or comedy) category.
  

Noteworthy Inclusions

• “The Tourist” may have bombed at the box-office and been panned by critics, but that didn’t stop the HFPA from recognizing it in all three major categories in which it was eligible: the film for best picture (musical or comedy), Johnny Depp for best actor (musical or comedy), and Angelina Jolie for best actress (musical or comedy). How could the HFPA resisted that kind of star power?!

• Halle Berry, returning to the screen after a three-year absence, was a surprise nominee for best actress (drama) for her performance as a woman with multiple personality disorder in “Frankie and Alice.”

• Emma Stone, the 22-year-old actress who will next be seen in the reboot of the “Spider-Man” franchise, is now a certified member of Hollywood’s A-list thanks to her nomination for best actress (musical or comedy) for “Easy A.”

• It was rumored that HFPA members really liked the unusual action flick “Red,” and indeed the film was nominated for best picture (musical or comedy), if not for the performances by its aging cast.

• Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, the stars of the controversial indie “Blue Valentine,” were nominated for best actor (drama) and best actress (drama), respectively. These nominations were anything but assured.

• Both female stars of “The Kids Are All Right,” Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, were nominated for best actress (musical or comedy). There was certainly a dearth of options in the category this year, but this could pre-sage a rare double-nomination at the Oscars.

• Many people speculated that even if “The Fighter” did well, its director David O. Russell, who still bears scars from a YouTube shouting incident from years ago, would be left behind. This was not the case. Indeed, “The Fighter” was nominated in every major category in which it was eligible — the film for best picture (drama), Mark Wahlberg for best actor (drama), Christian Bale for best supporting actor, both Amy Adams and Melissa Leo for best supporting actress, and, yes, Russell for best director.

• Actors who were the sole nominees from their films: Paul Giamatti (“Barney’s Version”) and Kevin Spacey (“Casino Jack”) for best actor (musical or comedy), Halle Berry (“Frankie and Alice”), Nicole Kidman (“Rabbit Hole”), and Jennifer Lawrence (“Winter’s Bone”) for best actress (drama), Emma Stone (“Easy A”) for best actress (musical or comedy), Michael Douglas (“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”) and Jeremy Renner (“The Town”) for best supporting actor, and Jacki Weaver (“Animal Kingdom”) for best supporting actress.

Noteworthy Snubs

• “True Grit,” the last major awards contender to be released this year, has been greeted warmly by critics, but was completely snubbed by the HFPA. There was always some doubt about whether Hailee Steinfeld, who arguably gives it finest performance, would be left behind due to category confusion (the HFPA wanted her in lead and Paramount wanted her in supporting), but several other nominations still seemed likely — the film for best picture (drama), Ethan Coen and Joel Coen for best director; Jeff Bridges for best actor (drama), and Matt Damon for best supporting actor.

• The British dramedy “Made in Dagenham” was thought to be a serious contender in several categories — the film for best picture (musical or comedy), Sally Hawkins for best actress (musical or comedy), and possibly even Miranda Richardson for best supporting actress — but it wound up with zero nominations.

• “Love and Other Drugs” was denied a best picture (musical or comedy) nomination even though both of its stars were nominated — Jake Gyllenhaal for best actor (musical or comedy) and Anne Hathaway for best actress (musical or comedy).

• There was apparently only enough room for one of the three co-stars from “The Social Network,” as Andrew Garfield was nominated — but Armie Hammer and Justin Timberlake were snubbed — in the best supporting actor category.

• A number of HFPA favorites from years past were denied nominations this morning: seven-time nominee/one-time winner Leonardo DiCaprio was not nominated in the best actor (drama) category for either of the two performances for which he was eligible, the one in “Inception” (even though the film was nominated for best picture, best director, best screenplay, and best original score) or the one in “Shutter Island”; six-time nominee/two-time winner Jim Carrey was not nominated in the best actor (musical or comedy) category for his performance in “I Love You Phillip Morris”; and five-time nominee/two-time winner Robert Downey, Jr. was not nominated in the best actor (musical or comedy) category for his performance in “Due Date.”

Photo: Halle Berry in “Frankie and Alice.” Credit: Freestyle Releasing.

• AMPAS: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences shares over 20 clips taken from its second annual Governor’s Ball, which took place on Saturday night. Among them are acceptance speeches from Irving G. Thalberg Award recipient Francis Ford Coppola (as well as toasts to him from director Kathryn Bigelow; director Roman Coppola, Francis’ son; actor Robert De Niro; and director George Lucas) and two of this year’s three honorary Oscar recipients, silent film historian Kevin Brownlow (toasted by actor James Karen; producer Lindsay Doran; and actor Kevin Spacey) and veteran actor Eli Wallach (toasted by actor Josh Brolin; actress Anne Jackson, Wallach’s wife; singer Tony Bennett; De Niro, again; and actor/director Clint Eastwood). Jean-Luc Godard, the night’s other honoree, elected not to attend the event (but was still toasted by cinematographer Haskell Wexler; film editor Mark Goldblatt; producer Mark Johnson; documentary filmmaker Lynn Littman; composer Charles Fox; writer/director Phil Alden Robinson; and actor Vincent Cassel).
• Thompson on Hollywood: Anne Thompson recounts the scene at Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre on Sunday afternoon when moviegoers attending a retrospective of the four films on which director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio have collaborated — including, most recently, this year’s “Shutter Island,” which Paramount hopes will land a best picture nomination like the other three — were treated to a Q&A with the two A-listers. (Both were beamed in via satellite from overseas cities, Scorsese from London where he is shooting a film and DiCaprio from Tel Aviv where he is celebrating his 36th birthday with his Israeli girlfriend and her family.) Scorsese said that his favorite film with DiCaprio was “The Aviator” (2004)
• Awards Tracker: Tom O’Neil thinks that Melissa Leo (“The Fighter”) has “got a choke hold on Oscar’s supporting-actress bout,” noting that “we haven’t seen this much ’tude expressed in a loud, working-class twang since Marisa Tomei pulled off an upset win” for “My Cousin Vinny” (1992). O’Neil supports this fascinating comparison by listing even more parallels: “Both roles are over-the-top, demanding shrews who can’t 1.) stop whining, 2.) take ‘no’ for an answer, or 3.) keep their faces out of everybody else’s. They’re defiant dees-and-dems gals from blue-collar environs who wobble in high heels, wear their hair too big and their skimpy clothes too tight. Yeah, Tomei’s role is comedic, but, really — let’s be honest — so is Leo’s.”
• People: Reagan Alexander speaks with “Black Swan” stars Natalie Portman, a best actress contender, and Mila Kunis, a best supporting actress contender, about the intense training they undertook in order to convincingly portray professional ballet dancers. “I started a year ahead of time,” Portman tells him, “and by the end I was doing eight hours a day.” Kunis, meanwhile, says she “lost 20 pounds” as a result of her regimen, at the end of which she “looked like Gollum from ‘Lord of the Rings’… everything was just protruding.” Kunis also shot down reports that she and Portman sought “liquid courage” before filming their lesbian sex scene: “There was no tequila! Not sure where that rumor came from, but it’s false. I don’t think we could have done that scene if we were intoxicated.”
• Vanity Fair: Krista Smith profiles 12-year-old actress Elle Fanning, the precocious younger sister of Dakota Fanning, whose career “takes a giant step forward this month” with the release of Sofia Coppola’s “Somewhere,” a film in which she plays the daughter of a famous Hollywood figure with whom she winds up hanging out at the Chateau Marmont hotel. Fanning essentially serves as a surrogate for Coppola herself, who often tagged along with her father, the director Francis Ford Coppola, when she was a kid.
• The Hollywood Reporter: Jay A. Fernandez posts the new red-band trailer for “Love and Other Drugs,” the sexy new romantic-dramedy that finds “Brokeback Mountain” (2005) lovers Jake Gyllenhaal, a best actor contender, and Anne Hathaway, a best actress contender, back in the sack together again. The trailer, which is “for restricted audiences only” (and requires a prospective viewer to insert his or her birthdate in order to try to ensure that those are the only people who see it), is, as Fernandez puts it, “full of naughty words with hard ‘k’ sounds and visual jokes about just plain being hard.”

Photo: Eli Wallach, Francis Ford Coppola, and Kevin Brownlow at the 2nd annual Governors Awards. Credit: AMPAS.