The 78th Annual Academy Awards: Winners List on Page 7

Started by MacGuffin, January 05, 2006, 12:48:07 AM

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Bethie

Murderball.  8)

If it doesn't win, this is what I shall happen to each and every voting member   :hammer:


screw you, penguin.
who likes movies anyway

MacGuffin

Quote from: Bethie on January 31, 2006, 11:51:12 PM
Murderball.  8)

If it doesn't win, this is what I shall happen to each and every voting member   :hammer:

What happens to us when if it doesn't win the xixax awards?
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

polkablues

Quote from: MacGuffin on February 01, 2006, 12:03:54 PM
Quote from: Bethie on January 31, 2006, 11:51:12 PM
Murderball.  8)

If it doesn't win, this is what I shall happen to each and every voting member   :hammer:

What happens to us when if it doesn't win the xixax awards?



Don't blame me, I voted for Inside Deep Throat.
My house, my rules, my coffee

MacGuffin

Lee, Spielberg, Gyllenhaal, other Oscar nominees react

Ang Lee had just returned to his home in New York after taking his children to school and hoped to steal a few moments of sleep. That plan was foiled when word broke that his "Brokeback Mountain" leads the Oscar pack with eight nominations, including his citation for best director. Although "Brokeback's" string of guild nominations had positioned it for Oscar glory, Lee admitted, "We were hopeful, but there was a little anxiety, so this is very good." As the movie -- which skeptics initially warned might play only to a narrow demographic -- has slowly spread across the U.S., Lee said: "It gives me lots of hope and has taught me a big lesson -- that I should never categorize people. Certainly, I've come to realize that there are more gay people out there than I realized. And I also think the movie speaks to people who are very thirsty and hungry to see something with true emotion and some complexity." Lee was particularly gratified when "Brokeback" recently opened in his homeland, Taiwan, where it was rated as suitable for moviegoers ages 12 and older. It opened as the No. 1 film, he noted, and "all kinds of people have gone to see it."

"I was in bed with my husband, Bill Macy, when the phone rang," said Felicity Huffman, who in "Transamerica" plays a man struggling with his desire for a sex-change operation as well as his role as a father. "He chuckled and said, 'Ha ha, don't answer it.' I said, 'I have to answer it!' " Her first call was from her publicist, followed by Weinstein Co. co-founder Harvey Weinstein. "I screamed, and I was hopping around the bathroom talking to Harvey. It's like unalloyed steel. It's an Academy Award nomination -- there's no substitute. It's just the top. I've only had two dreams in my life -- to marry Bill Macy and to win an Academy Award, something I gave up on after I didn't work for two years straight. I feel pretty swell." The nomination also is what thrilled her family the most. "It's the first award that I actually don't have to explain to them," she said. "My mother said, 'Oh, glory be to God!' My sister made me remember when I was just happy to have a job, and my brother reminded me when I was just this sickly kid, and now I'm living in some parallel universe."

This may have been Steven Spielberg's 11th Oscar nomination and sixth directing nom, but the five nominations for "Munich" -- his thriller that wrestles with the thorny questions of how to respond to terrorism -- still made him giddy. "I didn't expect it, honestly," an elated Spielberg said. "I got a phone call at 10 to 6 (a.m.), and my wife picked it up and handed it to me, and I think I displayed the kind of happiness a 9-year-old shows. I was so happy my teeth started to itch." Because "Munich" came under attack from certain circles even before it was released, it fought an uphill battle to garner awards recognition and to reach out to audiences. "I think the biggest obstacle in our path was the armchair warriors who blogged badly about the film before even seeing it," Spielberg said. "The idea of the picture is a hot-button topic. But we lit a fire on purpose to get people talking."

Philip Seymour Hoffman may have been the front-runner for months in the best actor Oscar race for his amazing transformation in "Capote," but it hasn't sunk in just yet. "It's hard to take a step back, but I do have to say, people have called and said 'Do you understand (what this means)?' But it's hard to have objectivity about it," he said from his West Village home in New York. "I already feel very lucky." Hoffman repeatedly stressed that the nomination of his childhood friend, director Bennett Miller, "was almost better than anything." One reason may be that a letter from another childhood friend, nominated screenwriter Dan Futterman, motivated him to take the "Capote" role in the first place. "He said, essentially, 'What else are we in this for other than the opportunity to make a movie together?' It was a little leap of faith, but I was convinced."

"Are you kidding me? I was so surprised!" Jake Gyllenhaal said about getting his first Oscar nom, for best supporting actor in "Brokeback Mountain." Speaking from the set of "Zodiac," Gyllenhaal said he was asleep when his agent called with the news. "I try not to have expectations. I had given up expectations in the past little while, and it's done me a lot of good. I think it's good to leave your expectations at the door. I feel that way about my birthday, I feel that about Christmas, and I feel that way about this."

"I'm still over the moon, and I ain't coming down," said Terrence Howard, who capped off a magical year with a best actor nom for "Hustle & Flow." "I didn't think it would happen. You just gotta think of the talent in this category -- powerful pieces and powerful people. And three of them are real-life stories." But after the news of his first Oscar nomination had sunk in, Howard realized that he would be competing against two comrades. "Philip Seymour Hoffman is my friend, and Joaquin Phoenix is my friend," he said. "It's going to be a battle of friends up there. And we're going to be happy no matter who wins. I'm hoping it's me." Howard now finds himself in a comfortable position. "I don't mind being the underdog. I've always been the underdog," he said. "I'm so looking forward to how they respond to our howling."

"Capote" director Bennett Miller spent a long time in the wilderness before he reached the promised land. "I've felt on the outside my whole career," he said. Landing a best director Oscar nomination makes him feel "very grounded, grateful and relieved of all desire," he said. "We had big hopes, and they were satisfied. To get recognized and respected like this is a new dynamic for me. It resets the bar and makes me want to live up to it." Miller grew up with screenwriter Dan Futterman and knew "Capote" star Philip Seymour Hoffman for years. "I feel as happy for Phil and Danny as I am for myself and the film," he said. "We all respect each other a lot, so there was pressure to live up to each other's expectations of ourselves. We had a kind of familiarity with each other where we could be really honest." Miller thinks that audiences experience "Capote" "as intensely personal. It talks to people in a private, internal place. The story and characters are a vehicle to communicate and reach people."

For Rachel Weisz, "The Constant Gardener's" four Oscar nominations mean that "more people will see the movie," she said. "These themes are relevant today." She hopes that people who respond to the film will check out www.constantgardenertrust.com and donate money to their cause. They've already gone back to the poor areas in Kenya where they shot the film and built two schools and a bridge. "The message of the film is that if you can help one person, that's better than not doing anything," she said. Next up: Even though she is visibly pregnant, Weisz will star in the next untitled movie for Wong Kar Wai, his first English-language film.

Although Joaquin Phoenix has been down the Oscar-nominated road before, Tuesday's best actor mention for "Walk the Line" made him feel like a kid again. "Waking up this early made me reminisce about being a kid, waking up early to beat traffic so my siblings and I could make it to auditions," said Phoenix, who also nabbed a supporting nom for 2000's "Gladiator." "In all those long car rides, I never thought about awards for acting -- I didn't know they existed. I was an actor because the work was rewarding. I never imagined that it would all lead to this moment." In fact, being tapped for his Johnny Cash incarnation left Phoenix feeling a little speechless. "I don't possess the vocabulary to accurately express the sense of gratitude I feel for this great honor," he said. "It's made the entire journey more fulfilling than I ever expected."

When its filmmakers were shooting "Capote," first-time screenwriter Dan Futterman wondered "who's going to see this little movie? I know smart people, and they know smart people, so hopefully there was an audience for this. It turns out smart people are looking for smart movies. It's too bad they all seem to come out the last 90 days of the year." Futterman admitted that the determining factor in getting the movie made was Philip Seymour Hoffman's commitment. "He went to every fundraising meeting vouching for a first-time feature director and first-time screenwriter. It was Phil who said, 'I believe in them; you need to trust me.' " Finally, Futterman thinks "maybe people are starting to distinguish what is for mass consumption for fun and what is serious filmmaking. All the Oscar-nominated movies have a great deal of art and intelligence in them. To be included in this group is strange to me. The two biggest moments of my life were walking onstage (as an actor) in Tony Kushner's 'Angels of America' on opening night on Broadway (and) being nominated for a screenplay Oscar along with him."

"I found out about a half-hour ago," said Hubert Sauper, the French helmer who directed best documentary nominee "Darwin's Nightmare." "When it was announced, I was in the air flying from Paris to Marseilles. By the time I landed, I had 25 messages on my cell phone within an hour." It's ironic that he was flying because his film seeks to uncover certain mysterious cargo on flights to and from Tanzania. "It will be harder to make films about similar subjects, because Google is everywhere now, and they'll know I'm not just a travel filmmaker." Still, the director doesn't think he'll be thrown in jail on his upcoming return trip to the country, as he was while making the film. "With the Oscar nomination," he says, "now I have protection."

"I'm laying down on the floor, quietly staring at the ceiling," said Gavin Hood, director of the Oscar-nominated South African film "Tsotsi." Hood is in Los Angeles, far away from the rest of the film's team, who are celebrating together in his home country. "It's lunchtime, and my entire cast and crew are having a big old party. They're probably in a state of drunken chaos by now." He added: "We have no name actors, so this is a huge boost in getting the film out into the world. It's also a huge boost for Presley (Chweneyagae, who makes his film debut as the title character). Without him, the film would not be what it is." Hood sees the nom as a vindication for his investors and for the new regime at Miramax Films, which picked up the film in the summer before it won any accolades. "(Miramax president) Daniel Battsek flew out to the Edinburgh festival just to see it," he said. "It's the first film they picked up, which makes me feel really grateful to them."

Director Christian Carion's best foreign-language film nomination for "Joyeux Noel" marks the 35th foreign nomination for Sony Pictures Classics co-presidents Tom Bernard and Michael Barker, going back through their days with Orion Classics and United Artists. "We bought it in Cannes because it was one of the best anti-war movies we'd ever seen," said Bernard, who opted to hold the film for a March release in hopes of an Oscar nomination to boost awareness. Carion insisted on releasing the true story of a 1914 Christmas truce in Europe in three languages -- English, French and German -- with subtitles. "The people were not so lazy as we thought," he said. "Nobody in France knew this happened. It was taboo." Stanley Kubrick's 1958 "Paths of Glory" told the same story, Carion said, featuring a German woman singing to the French soldiers. But for 15 years the film was banned from being shown in France. "The French didn't want people to see their soldiers shaking hands and getting drunk with the enemy Germans. Now everyone knows it happened because of this movie, and this is my pride."

"The Squid and the Whale" writer-director Noah Baumbach awoke at 8:50 a.m. to dreaded silence. "I looked at the clock and realized I wasn't being woken up by the phone, which indicated to me that maybe it wasn't great news. In every one of these I've read, the person always seems to be woken by the phone," Baumbach said. But when he checked his cell phone, there were eight messages informing him that he had received his first Oscar nom for "Squid's" original screenplay. "Laura Linney was the first one. She was incoherent because she was yelling so loud. But it was great," he said. Although Baumbach was disappointed that neither Linney nor co-star Jeff Daniels was nominated, he found comfort in the fact that the small-budget indie will be represented come March 5. "What's been amazing is this film has hit every hurdle that we had to hit," he said. "A year ago, we were just coming out of Sundance. A year before that, we were making this movie in 23 days. It has all been gravy after we finished it. I feel like every little victory has been a victory for the whole movie." Now that Baumbach has an Academy Award nom of his own, he said he feels worthy of his one-time collaborator Wes Anderson. "Well, Wes is Academy nominated, too, so now I've matched him," joked Baumbach, who co-wrote with Anderson "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou." "Wes and I will definitely work together again."

In an awards race typically filled with lavish period pieces, "Good Night, and Good Luck's" monochromatic midcentury newsroom seemed like a long shot for an outstanding art direction nomination. "But as awards season crept closer, we started to see that people actually were paying attention," said Christa Munro, art director on the movie for production designer Jim Bissel. "We didn't have any money, so we had to be very clever." The art department set up camera tests with cinematographer Robert Elswit, also nominated, in order to envision Edward R. Murrow's black-and-white world.

It seems long ago and far away, but Amy Adams' best actress win at last year's Sundance started the ball rolling for her first Oscar nomination as a pregnant Southern belle in "Junebug." "This year has flown by," she said. "Sundance was important for 'Junebug'; it brought attention to the film and got the film seen." Adams thanked Sony Pictures Classics co-presidents Tom Bernard and Michael Barker for "picking the film up and getting the screeners out first." Adams had hoped to get a good night's sleep but "popped up at 5 a.m. and watched TV," she said. "I was in shock. It'll probably be next year this time before I feel what I should be feeling." Next up for Adams: the Walt Disney Co.'s live-action animation feature "Enchanted," in which she plays a princess who becomes real, opposite Susan Sarandon's queen.

Composing legend John Williams seemed a little staggered by the fact that he is now second only to Walt Disney in total Oscar nominations. Disney received 59 in his lifetime, while Williams' two nominations this year bring his tally to 45. "That's amazing," Williams said, "and he had a whole studio behind him. ... It's a hard reality to really comprehend." With his scores for Steven Spielberg's "Munich" and Rob Marshall's "Memoirs of a Geisha" going head-to-head, Williams chooses to espouse no favorite. "You have all of your children -- aspects about each one you admire and things you wish you could improve," he said. "I'm proud of both of them."

Michelle Williams found that being nominated alongside Heath Ledger for the same film was icing on the cake to an already harmonious relationship. "It's so uncommon, and I don't know if it could even happen again. We already share a house and a baby, and to share this, too? It's so cohesive. It's so sweet." Speaking of the baby, little Matilda kept waking Williams up -- at midnight, at 3 a.m., at 5 a.m. -- so when the nomination announcements came around, Williams was confused as to why anyone was calling so early. "I honestly didn't remember it was this morning," she said. "I didn't go to sleep thinking about it, so I thought it was a friend calling. I thought I was going to have to reprimand them or something." Williams said that to celebrate, the couple "might get a baby-sitter and go on a date."

MTV Films and Oscar have never been mutually synonymous. In fact, the Paramount Pictures label has snapped up only two Academy Award nominations: for "Election" (adapted screenplay) and "Tupac: Resurrection" (documentary). But this year, the Academy doled out a best-ever three nominations to the youth-skewing MTV. "I'm doing back flips," MTV Networks president Van Toffler said. "I mean, the pimps and hos movie, it's just unbelievable." In a shocker for Toffler, "Hustle & Flow" nabbed two noms: best actor for Terrence Howard and original song for "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," which now is one of his all-time favorite songs. "We were much more hopeful over (documentary nominee) 'Murderball,' " he said. "We love 'Hustle & Flow.' We were elated with the Golden Globe nomination Terrence got but didn't feel that the Academy would give him the Oscar nod. We are a little surprised and even more surprised that we got nominated in the original song category." After all, the Academy isn't best known for its edginess. " 'Hustle & Flow' is not the typical fare nominated by the Oscars," Toffler said. "I think it's great to see such creative risk-taking rewarded."

"I've distributed the film myself, (so) I was completely stunned," director Marshall Curry said of his docu "Street Fight," which chronicles the rough-and-tumble 2002 Newark, N.J., mayoral election. "I have a baby, and everyone thinks they have the cutest baby in the world. It's the same with a film, but getting this external validation is amazing. I think the film speaks to two issues: democracy and race," said Curry, who was only given access to the challenger in the contentious election. "Even though both candidates are African-American, one accuses the other of not really being black." He spoke with the accused candidate, Cory Booker, who he said was "pretty thrilled" by the nomination. "The next election is coming up pretty soon, so this means the film will have an even greater impact."

George Clooney was one of the few honest enough to say that he was up early to watch the nomination announcements. "I'd love to say that I was sound asleep and didn't notice them, but I woke up for them. Nobody does (admit it), but the truth is, I seriously doubt anyone actually slept through it," he said. While happy for the nomination for best supporting actor for "Syriana," he is particularly happy for the many noms his "Good Night, and Good Luck" received. "I'm happy because you can put on the DVD box that ('Good Night') is nominated for six Academy Awards, and that's a pretty big thing for a seven-and-a-half-million-dollar, black-and-white film. It will help get it out there. And it also means that we'll get another crack to do more films like that." Clooney, who was on a set shooting a commercial for a coffee maker -- "I'm doing a commercial for overseas to pay for my little black-and-white film," he laughed -- hoped to hook up with "Good Night" producer Grant Heslov for celebratory drinks.

Songwriter Kathleen "Bird" York, nominated with Michael Becker for "In the Deep" from "Crash," at this point might be as well known for her TV and film acting work as she is for her music. She has continuing roles on "The West Wing" and "In Justice" and co-stars with Anne Heche in the feature "Fatal Desire," airing this month on Lifetime. Said York, a first-time nominee, "I have an audition today for a pilot, but I just don't think I'm going to make it." She added: "I actually was a songwriter before I started studying acting on a professional level. I found it easier to move forward and make a living acting because it was hard to get bands together." York's major-label debut, "Wicked Little High," which features "In the Deep," will be released Feb. 21 by Narada EMI. "I was either the smartest person in the world or the dumbest person in the world," she said, "because I gave the label just seven weeks to put the record out."

Alex Gibney was "over the moon" when he learned his documentary, "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," earned a nom and immediately called his crew. "We had the smartest guys in the cutting room," he said. He was especially pleased at the timing for the film, which details the alleged crimes of the energy company's executives. "The (Enron) trial started (Monday), so I must say the irony was delicious. ... I can't help but feel it's a vote of confidence for stories routinely ignored by TV news" along with "a sense of moral outrage at the heart of the film." So far, the director, shooting a film about writer Hunter S. Thompson, called two people victimized by the scandal the film examines. "They were ecstatic," he said.

Even with a Golden Globe nomination and a SAG win, Paul Giamatti was still shocked about his best supporting actor nomination for "Cinderella Man." "It doesn't add up for me," he said. "I never put these things together. I figure it's just one lucky step as it goes along each step of the way. I don't usually tie them together." Giamatti recently arrived in snowy Toronto for the filming of "Shoot 'Em Up." He doesn't know anybody there -- "If I was home, I'd be having a high old time, but I'm in Canada, man" -- so how is he going to celebrate? "I have to go to a pistol range and fire some handguns off. That'll be a good energy release. I can get my yah yahs out doing that." And though Giamatti doesn't claim to be a fashionista, he already knows what he's not going to wear to the big show. "I don't wear the bow tie. I look kinda dorky with the bow tie," he said. "You can wear just a tie with the tux, right?"

Not only are the three producers of best picture nominee "Capote" in good company, they find themselves among comrades. "I'm so happy to be in that company," said William Vince, who has built friendships with the filmmakers from the other nominated films throughout this awards season. "I loved 'Munich.' Steven Spielberg has been very gracious to our team," he said. " 'Crash' I loved, and Paul Haggis is a very passionate filmmaker. George Clooney has been a class act. Ang Lee has been a class act." But after learning of "Capote's" five nominations, Vince celebrated by calling "all the little people" who helped catapult the film into rarefied territory. "There are so many little pieces of passion that strung this together," he said, singling out United Artists' input. For Michael Ohoven, the morning showing was an impossible dream come true. "I didn't dare to imagine -- I mean five nominations!" he said. "It's so important for this type of picture to get the recognition from the Academy. Even though we are a Sony Pictures Classics film, it's hard to compete with the films that have $50 million P&A budgets." As for the film's impact, Caroline Baron hopes that studios will begin to embrace quality movies that don't pander to the masses. " 'Capote's' success will help movies like this in the future," she said. "I do think the studios are looking at these films that are successful. People want to see smart, intelligent movies. There's a hunger for it, evidenced by the nominees."

Grant Heslov and his wife "jumped around the room" as they learned that "Good Night, and Good Luck" earned six nominations, including best picture and best original screenplay. Heslov, a veteran actor and executive producer of Section Eight's cable series "K Street" and "Unscripted," has sole producing credit on the movie he co-wrote with George Clooney. "I can't believe it," he said. "We made a seven-and-a-half-million-dollar movie in black and white that George is co-starring in, but the lead is David Strathairn, one of the great actors but not a movie star. We made a film about journalism and broadcast media and its role, ground away on it, and to have it turn out this way is amazing."

"This one really was a sidewinder," said Dolly Parton, who received her second best song nomination for "Travelin' Thru," from "Transamerica." The singer-actress added: "I didn't know (they wanted a song) until the movie was done. They were ready to go." Parton was contacted to contribute the song while she was in the middle of a national tour. "I had one day off on the tour, and we happened to be close by Nashville," she said. "We went right in the studio, and I got my band in and did it all in one day and mixed it the next morning. ... It was quick, and it was good." Said the much-honored musician of her Oscar kudos: "It's a different world than the one I normally live in. I've done a few movies, but I don't think of myself as an actress. This was just a great honor because it happened so quick. I just hurried up and wrote."

One of the first calls "Brokeback Mountain" cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto received after the Oscar nominations was from a popular radio station in Mexico City, his hometown. "It's an exciting day -- we have two Mexican cinematographers nominated," Prieto said of his colleague Emmanuel Lubezki, nominated for "The New World." But of the many projects Prieto has photographed in recent years, he said he is pleasantly surprised to see what clicks with audiences. A case in point is "Brokeback," which Prieto took right after shooting Oliver Stone's "Alexander." "I'd say the camera and lighting packages were 10 times smaller on 'Brokeback,' " the first-time nominee said. "That didn't make shooting 'Brokeback' less challenging. We worked on a short schedule, the weather was not cooperating, and (we had) so many locations and time periods. I just never imagined that it would get the attention it's getting. I didn't think it was the kind of cinematography that would get noticed -- we tried to be as organic and unnoticeable as possible -- so it's very exciting." Prieto's photography next will be seen in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel."

Matt Dillon felt a pang of bittersweetness about his nomination for best supporting actor for "Crash." "I'm very excited about it, but at the same time, part of me wishes that some more of my fellow castmembers could have gotten nominated, too, cuz there certainly were worthy performances. I wouldn't say overlooked because it's not a competitive sport, but Terrence (Howard) was certainly worthy. Don (Cheadle), Thandie (Newton). Ryan (Phillippe) was terrific. Michael Pena, Sandra Bullock. I really feel that. So I'm proud to represent the cast. But we all did it together. It's the best ensemble I've worked with," said Dillon, who has worked in such movies as "Malcolm X," "Singles" and "The Outsiders."

Composer Dario Marianelli, nominated for his "Pride & Prejudice" score, was in his London studio laboring on the score for director Asif Kapadia's forthcoming feature "The Return" when he got the call. Marianelli said, "Joe Wright, the director, rang me and said, 'Have you heard?' I said, 'No.' I had to sit down. I couldn't breathe for a few seconds. ... I was literally speechless. It was not something that was on my mind." Marianelli said that for Wright's adaptation of the Jane Austen novel, he attempted to approach the music organically. "One of the challenges was that I wanted to keep the score free from click tracks," he said. "I had to find a number of ways to work that I hadn't before. It was the first time I've done something that way. I learned a couple of new tricks."

Heath Ledger was in a Los Angeles hotel bed with fiancee and "Brokeback Mountain" co-star Michelle Williams and their baby daughter, Matilda, when they heard the news of their Oscar nominations. "Supporting my partner and enjoying this awards season for her makes it so much more bearable," said Ledger as Williams made calls from another room in their suite. "It means you're not wrapped up in your own nomination. It's exciting, and I'm extremely proud of her. It's sweet. I'm also excited for Jake (Gyllenhaal) and Ang (Lee) and the movie, which is really beautiful, and Annie Proulx, the creator of this story. The biggest reward of this movie was my two girls: I was given a family, which is bizarre." While he'd like to "stumble into a few more projects as good as this one," Ledger is in no rush to get back to work. First and foremost, "I'm going to bed to cuddle my girls," he said. "We're thinking of traveling this year. I have the cutest distractions here at home. It's so hard to think about leaving them to go out and work."

"The Constant Gardener" scribe Jeffrey Caine learned of his first Oscar nomination -- in the adapted screenplay category -- while watching a British TV station from his home in Ireland. Being wide awake -- it was 1:40 p.m. local time -- he was able to fully grasp the magnitude of the mention. "An Oscar is one of those three awards that are recognitions of excellence that the whole world knows. The other two are the Nobel Prize and an Olympic gold medal," he said. "To be nominated for one is indeed a great honor and very pleasing." Reeling with excitement, he credited "Constant Gardener" author John le Carre with "wonderful source material." Added Caine: "I had the most generous, original, spirited author one could hope for who always encouraged me to diverge where I needed to from his book and to make the film as cinematic as I could. He has gone on record as saying he is very pleased with the film and my work, which pleases me more than I can tell you."

Director Nick Park was at Heathrow Airport before his departure to New York, where he will promote the release of "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit." "Our palms were very sweaty, we were listening to live radio," Park said. "The British press has been saying we were a shoo-in. We didn't know either way, although we knew (because of all the conjecture by the press) it would be a bit embarrassing if we weren't." Since computer-animated characters have started making regular cameos during the Oscar broadcast, the question was raised whether Aardman Animations' clay-animated characters are available for similar appearances. "I don't know that there's any plan to do that, but (the characters) could be interpreted in CG," Park said. The director knew what Wallace would be wearing should the occasion arise: a big bowtie covered in sequins. "I think he'd say he was well chuffed," Park said. "Then he'd need to retire and have a good cup of tea." A sequel to "Wallace & Gromit" is a possibility, at least more so than Park's 1991 Oscar-nominated short "Creature Comforts," which probably will not end up as a feature film. "Because of the nature of the documentary style, I don't know if it would carry over 90 minutes," Park said. "We're taking a small break and planning what to do next. I think, for me personally, my next film will be clay animated. Clay is the thing for me."

When the nominations were announced, "Brokeback Mountain" composer Gustavo Santaolalla was in London, readying himself for a Tuesday evening Barbican Hall performance of "Ayre," a collaborative work with Argentinean composer Oswaldo Golijov; Santaolalla appears Friday and Saturday in New York at Lincoln Center with Bajofondo and the Kronos Quartet. Santaolalla, whose Golden Globe-winning song "A Love That Will Never Grow Old" was ineligible for an Oscar nomination because of its brief screen time, received his first Oscar nomination for just his fifth film score after a long career as a performer, songwriter, producer and label operator. "I started in the music business when I was 16," he said. "I've been at it since I was a kid. I'm totally aware of the speed in which things moved in this new phase. I'm excited and in a state of awe."

"When you grow up without many friends, your friends are movies, so I'm absolutely elated," said Henry-Alex Rubin, co-director (with Dana Adam Shapiro) of "Murderball," the documentary detailing the rough sport of rugby played by tough paraplegics in wheelchairs. "I was certainly a dork growing up, so this is a total dream. I wanted to make movies all my life." One real-life friend of Rubin's is James Mangold, director of "Walk the Line" (which has five nominations) and his mentor a decade ago at Columbia University. "We fantasized about us as teacher and student being in the same room at the Oscars a year ago, but we haven't talked about it since then so as not to jinx it," Rubin said. "He was the first person I talked to this morning. It's surreal." Rubin hopes the nomination helps murderball itself. "It shines a light on a sport that otherwise gets kept in the dark," he said. "It would be great if a company like Nike would sponsor these guys. I hope it helps bring the sport into the mainstream since we're the only country in the world that doesn't fund it." But the nomination probably means the most to the paraplegic athletes in the film. "I got an e-mail from Bob Lujano, who said this was an incredible moment," Rubin said. "I also got a text from Chris Igoe. He was insulting me -- that's how we express love to each other." And just what did he say? "It's unprintable."

"Working with director Fernando Meirelles on 'The Constant Gardener' was wonderful," nominated editor Claire Simpson said. "I'm very proud of the way our film's love story is conveyed through the editing, and I'm pleased that the members of the Academy appreciated my work."

Josh Olson, nominated for best adapted screenplay for "A History of Violence," was up early and watched the announcements live. "Of course I'm going to get up, of course I'm going to watch it. Those who say they aren't are lying!" It was a crazy morning for Olson, who was fielding nonstop calls. He stepped out at one point to go eat some pancakes with his girlfriend, and when he came back, his answering machine was full. "And I've had at least five calls from people I have no idea who they are. It's been kinda crazy." Olson was surprised that "Violence's" Maria Bello and Viggo Mortensen didn't get any love from the Academy and was shocked that director David Cronenberg wasn't nominated. "I thought this was going to be his year. I thought Hollywood loved the story of the guy who went off and made some determinately independent films over the last few years and came back to the studio system and made a film that did not give up any of his integrity. I thought, 'This was what they love, this is what they always reward, isn't it?'" Olson is happy to be recognized for adapting a graphic novel, hoping this might open people's eyes that comic books offer worlds beyond superheroes. "In the craziness to adapt comic books, Hollywood is stumbling over the fact that comic books are not some kind of unified field. They aren't just superheroes. It's ripe material for all sorts of films. Stuff like this wakes people up to the fact that comics is simply a medium and that you can tell any story in comics. If somehow I've helped people come to respect to the medium a little bit more, then it's great." Olson planned to spend the rest of the day catching up on movies, with "The Skeleton Key" atop his list.

How often these days do you hear the British say, "The Americans know exactly what they're doing"? That was the sentiment among the "Pride & Prejudice" crew when they heard they had earned four Oscar nominations, not the least of which was the one for Keira Knightley, who had been overlooked by the English for the BAFTA nominations. The self-coined "P&P crew" had gathered for a meeting on "Atonement," director Joe Wright and producer Working Title's next project, when they heard that three of them had been recognized. "It's 3 in the afternoon, and we were just having a very dull budget-cutting meeting," said Sarah Greenwood, "Pride's" Oscar-nominated production designer. "This is just brilliant, we're so excited for Keira."

"It's like a waking dream," said French director Luc Jacquet (via a translator) of the best documentary nomination for his film "March of the Penguins," the latest triumph for one of the highest-grossing documentaries of all time. When Jacquet heard about the nom, "Obviously, I didn't call the penguins," he said. Instead, he called the film's producers and crew, who had just finished celebrating the announcement of France's Cesar Awards nominations, which also recognized "Penguins." "We should have stayed together to celebrate some more," he said. Working on his upcoming fictional docu "The Fox and the Child," Jacquet expressed some surprise. "I didn't know if the film's success might hinder it's chances for a nomination," he said.

"It's like winning the lottery," said "Crash" editor Hughes Winborne. "I was driving my son to school, he went early today for a field trip, I pulled over and we both cried. It was a good cry." The editor said his film credits so far have been mostly overlooked indies. His work on "Crash," however, already has changed his career; he now is cutting "Pursuit of Happyness," starring Will Smith. "I'm very happy with my career, I have no regrets," Winborne said. "But 'Crash' could have been lost like so many indie films that get lost along the way. Somehow it managed to fight its way through, in a way that a lot of studio films don't have to. If you're an indie, the decks are stacked against you, so this is a miracle." Winborne also was nominated by BAFTA and the American Cinema Editors. "Unfortunately, they're the same night, so I'm going to the Eddies, which is 20 miles away," Winborne said. "Editors are fairly isolated people, so it's not often you get to be around people in a shared experience." Winborne said he hadn't any "Crash" moments lately, "but I haven't had 'Brokeback' moments either."

Pixar Animation Studios' short film "One Man Band" actually is the work of two men: Andrew Jimenez and Mark Andrews. The duo shared a terrifying moment at the end of production on Brad Bird's "The Incredibles." "We were called to go separately into a meeting with Ed (Catmull)," Jimenez said. "We thought we would be fired," Andrews added. Instead, Catmull asked each if he wanted to direct. "I said, yeah! Are you kidding?" Jimenez said. The guys, who had formed a fast friendship on Bird's "The Iron Giant," spent two months developing their story and then nine months in production. They finally screened the short for their toughest audience, the Pixar crew and families, in 2004 at the annual Christmas party. "We played it 11 or 12 times," Jimenez said. Their colleagues must have been riveted because, unlike most Pixar in-house screenings, none of the local jokesters fired up their laser pointers for an impromptu light show during the screening. "Oh, no, Mark and I would have escorted them out," Jimenez laughed.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Bethie

Quote from: MacGuffin on February 01, 2006, 12:03:54 PM
Quote from: Bethie on January 31, 2006, 11:51:12 PM
Murderball.  8)

If it doesn't win, this is what I shall happen to each and every voting member   :hammer:

What happens to us when if it doesn't win the xixax awards?

i will fight you.
who likes movies anyway

godardian

I hope Brokeback wins best picture, but I hafta to give it to Hoffman over Ledger for my best actor wishes. Williams over Keener in supporting actress, though.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

last days of gerry the elephant

Just a show of hands, who liked 'Crash' here?

Personally, I didn't find it anything special at all. Infact, I almost dislike it as a whole.

pete

you disliked crash!?  that's craaaazzzy yo.

but seriously.  did grizzly man break some kinda academy rule to invalidate its eligibility?
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Ravi

Quote from: musse on February 07, 2006, 10:48:47 PM
Just a show of hands, who liked 'Crash' here?

Personally, I didn't find it anything special at all. Infact, I almost dislike it as a whole.

Xixax hates Crash

MacGuffin

Quote from: pete on February 07, 2006, 11:00:36 PM
but seriously.  did grizzly man break some kinda academy rule to invalidate its eligibility?

Bear skinned
'Grizzly Man' is the best documentary of the year. So why can't it compete for an Oscar? Source: Los Angeles Times

Call it the OPEC of Oscars.

Thanks to a tiny cartel-like group within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the best-reviewed feature documentary of the year has already been eliminated as an Oscar contender in that category.

The movie is "Grizzly Man," Werner Herzog's look at Timothy Treadwell, a rather disturbed naturalist from Malibu. Treadwell spent more than a decade of summers living among grizzly bears in Alaska, until he and girlfriend Amie Huguenard were killed by one in October 2003.

Herzog told Treadwell's story with interviews and, more important, 100 hours of haunting archival footage shot by Treadwell himself. Those tapes show Treadwell at times talking to some of the earth's deadliest creatures up close, as if was bantering with a class of third graders.

A website called www.criticstop10.net, which ranks films according to how well they fared on 613 critic best-film lists, says "Grizzly Man" appeared on 154 lists for 2005 and was ranked No. 1 by nine critics.

According to the site, "Grizzly Man" stands ninth among all films, one place behind Steven Spielberg's "Munich," and ahead of such best picture contenders as "The Constant Gardener" and "Walk the Line."

Among 79 "Cream of the Crop Critics," "Grizzly Man" ranks eighth, just ahead of "Crash."

And when it comes to documentaries, "Grizzly Man" is by far the best-reviewed film. It appears on twice as many top 10 lists as runner-up "March of the Penguins," the most successful documentary at this box office last year.

Time's Richard Schickel went so far as to rank "Grizzly Man" No. 1 among all films in 2005, ahead of "Munich," "Crash" and "Cinderella Man." Schickel called it "the year's oddest, and therefore most arresting, film."

Film critic groups in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Toronto have already honored it as best documentary. The National Society of Film Critics named it best nonfiction film. On Wednesday, the Directors Guild of America named Herzog as one of its five nominees for outstanding directorial achievement in documentary film even though he's not even a member of the guild.

So why is "Grizzly Man" already out of the running for an Oscar?

Because it didn't make the cut of 15 feature documentaries picked from among 82 by a small group of academy members to be worthy of consideration for the five nominee slots that will be announced Jan. 31.

The 134 eligible members of the academy's documentary branch will pick via committee from among those 15 films — as long as they watch them — to determine which ones qualify for the five prized nominations. The academy's 5,798 eligible members then are allowed vote on which nominated documentary gets the Oscar after promising to watch them in a theater.

But none of those members gets to vote for "Grizzly Man," because the decision has already been made for them.

Asked why he thinks "Grizzly Man" didn't make the cut, Arthur Dong, one of the governors from the documentary branch, said: "We have certain procedures in our nomination process. It didn't rise to the top 15."

Members of the filtering group don't discuss openly why they voted the way they did, Dong said, so he doesn't have a clue why it didn't make it.

The "certain procedures" Dong refers to have led to another black eye for the academy, which in the past overlooked such films as "Hoop Dreams," "Roger & Me" and "The Thin Blue Line."

For a documentary, an Oscar nomination and win can be a coup not only artistically, but financially when it comes to DVD sales. In recent years, such documentaries as "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "March of the Penguins" have proved there's gold to be made in the genre.

"Grizzly Man" grossed $3.1 million at the box office, respectable for an art house documentary, and is said to be doing well on DVD.

Distributor Lionsgate, which understandably doesn't want to tick off academy members as it tries to score nominations for "Crash," was inexplicably mute when it was first revealed that "Grizzly Man" wasn't on the list. (One can't help but wonder how ballistic the Weinstein Co.'s Harvey Weinstein would have gone if one of his films had been slighted in the same way.)

To their credit, however, Lionsgate executives are finally speaking out.

"I was extremely disappointed it did not make the short list for feature documentaries," said Tom Ortenberg, president of Lionsgate Theatrical Films. "As other awards season committees have demonstrated, 'Grizzly Man' was easily one of the best documentaries of 2005."

For his part, Herzog, whose earlier work includes "Fitzcarraldo," "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" and "Nosferatu," is taking the high road.

The German filmmaker acknowledged that he's an outsider among documentarians, and that he's alienated some over the years in debating what the genre should be about.

Nonetheless, he said: "We shouldn't be losing sleep over this. I'm very pleased that this film caught on so well with audiences. I cannot ask for more."

Ironically, "Grizzly Man" is still on the list of more than 300 films eligible to be nominated for a best picture Academy Award. Absurdly, it has a better chance of getting nominated for Oscar's highest award, where it has no chance to win, than for feature documentary, where it would be one of the favorites.

The reason for having a group prune through all of the documentaries to identify the elite ones is entirely logistical: nobody has time to watch all of them, so someone has to do it for them.

Fair enough, but why not let the documentary committee release a list of the films it has determined are among the best, then let members vote for any film they want.

When I mentioned that to Dong, I expected a defensive reaction. Instead, his response floored me.

"That's an interesting thought," he said. "I don't think we've considered that idea, but we'll consider it."

It's always debatable and subjective whether "Grizzly Man" or any other film deserves an Oscar, let alone a nomination.

What's indefensible, however, is that the academy and its documentary branch have procedures in place that disenfranchise its members in deciding whether it does.

It's especially shameful in a category of filmmaking that should be the most democratic of all, one where people are always fighting against unfair odds to be heard and get the attention they deserve.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

last days of gerry the elephant

Quote from: Ravi on February 07, 2006, 11:02:19 PM
Quote from: musse on February 07, 2006, 10:48:47 PM
Just a show of hands, who liked 'Crash' here?

Personally, I didn't find it anything special at all. Infact, I almost dislike it as a whole.

Xixax hates Crash

Whoa, awesome! I'm glad i'm not alone on this!

matt35mm

Quote from: musse on February 07, 2006, 10:48:47 PM
Just a show of hands, who liked 'Crash' here?

Quote from: pete on February 07, 2006, 11:00:36 PM


That doesn't mean that Pete or I or anyone else liked it... I just thought it was funny that it was the first avatar after the question.

jigzaw

I just hope they do away with that despicable tier system of handing out the awards.  Making the "middle" class nominees stand on stage like a miss america pageant, and making the least "important" winners accept their awards from their seats, far away from the celebrities.  I may seriously have to stop watching the Oscars if they continue this because I think their priorities are screwed.  Another recommendation is to let the fucking winners SPEAK!!!  They let the superbowl go on as long as they like.  Drop a couple dance numbers and stop cutting off the speeches.  But most importantly, let every winner get up on stage for fucks sake.

Link

I completely agree, jigzaw.  That was just plain tacky.  It's like the joke at the Emmys where Eva Longoria says she doesn't feel she's treated differently because she wasn't nominated with the other Housewives, and they pull the camera back and she's way in the back of the auditorium.  Okay, maybe not EXACTLY like that.

I'm pretty happy with a lot of the nominations, namely the Best Actor category (though I do agree Hoffman has it locked, and for good reason).  I too was dumbfounded by Crash.  I guess I didn't realized so many critics were in agreement about it.  I thought it was so blatant and heavy handed, I couldn't understand why people loved it or "re-examined themselves" as a result of it.  Please!

Nice to see Good Night and Good Luck getting recognition.  Masterfully made, if you ask me.

I was a fan of The Constant Gardener, and I think it deserved more nominations, but I actually don't think Weisz deserves the award as many people say.  It was a great performance, but not spectacular.

I think it's just interesting to see so many fresh faces nominated.  I mean, a year or two ago, I would have never guessed that George Clooney, Matt Dillon, Reese Witherspoon, Amy Adams or Heath Ledger, among many others, would be Oscar Nominees.  But it was a good year, in my opinion.

BrainSushi

Hooray for Altman's Honorary Oscar.