The 82nd Annual Academy Awards

[MacGuffin]

Academy sets honorary Oscars
Producer John Calley to get Thalberg
Source: Variety

Veteran studio exec and producer John Calley has been tapped to receive the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' prestigious Thalberg Award.

Lauren Bacall, Roger Corman and cinematographer Gordon Willis have also been selected for honorary Oscars. The awards will be presented at a Nov. 14 ceremony at the Acad's inaugural Governors Awards event, to be held in the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland.

Calley began his career as an exec at Filmways in 1960. He went on to hold top posts at Warner Bros., United Artists and Sony Pictures Entertainment. As a producer, he has shepherded such pics as "The Da Vinci Code," "Angels and Demons," "Postcards From the Edge," "The Remains of the Day" and "Closer."

The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is given to producers whose work "reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production."

Bacall is a legend of the bigscreen but has earned only one Oscar nom, for supporting actress in 1996's "The Mirror Has Two Faces."

Producer Corman is known for his prolific output of low-budget pics for more than five decades. His productions gave early breaks to such luminaries as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Ron Howard and Jonathan Demme.

Willis served as d.p. on landmark pics ranging from "The Godfather" and "The Godfather: Part II" to "All the President's Men" and "Annie Hall." He's earned two career Oscar noms, for 1983's "Zelig" and 1990's "The Godfather: Part III."

"These four individuals have each, in their own unique way, made lasting impressions on the motion picture industry and audiences worldwide," said AMPAS prexy Tom Sherak.

[Gold Trumpet]

I haven't watched the awards in the last few years, but this news may get me to watch it....


LOS ANGELES – Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are taking on the Oscars.

The two Hollywood veterans will share hosting duties at the 82nd Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Tuesday.

Telecast producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman said Martin and Baldwin are "the perfect pair of hosts for the Oscars." The producers have said they hope to resurrect Oscar's ratings and make the show more fun by building on the changes introduced at February's ceremony, which tinkered with the way awards were presented and featured Broadway-style musical interludes.

Bringing in a pair of hosts, while not unprecedented, continues that theme of change.

"Very early on, we talked about a pairing as part of our concept of the show, having tradition and also freshness walking hand in hand," Shankman said in an interview Tuesday. "Steve anchors it in so much tradition and Alec ... besides being a former Oscar nominee, he is just hot, hot, hot right now. And the two of them I know adore each other."

A pair of hosts helmed the inaugural Oscar ceremony in 1929: Douglas Fairbanks and William DeMille, then president and vice president of the film academy, co-hosted the show. The last time multiple hosts graced the Oscar stage was in 1987, when Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn and Paul Hogan shared hosting duties.

"In the modern television era, this is the first time there will be two co-hosts on the same stage," academy spokeswoman Leslie Unger said Tuesday.

Hugh Jackman sang and danced as host of last year's Academy Awards, which saw a ratings boost from the previous year. The 41-year-old actor declined to reprise his hosting role before Mechanic and Shankman were named as producers.

Splitting hosting duties between two funny fellows ups the show's fun factor, Mechanic said — "taking a little starch out of the shirts, so to speak."

"We can move things along more easily by taking out some of the stilted banter that goes on between presenters and let the hosts guide us through the evening," he said Tuesday.

Martin has hosted the show twice before, in 2001 and 2003, and has appeared as a presenter several times. Baldwin is a first-timer as Oscar host, but was a co-presenter in 2004.

Baldwin, 51, who stars on NBC's "30 Rock," called the Oscar gig "the opportunity of a lifetime." He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2003 for his supporting role in "The Cooler."

Martin said that he is "happy to co-host the Oscars with my enemy Alec Baldwin." The 64-year-old entertainer is currently on tour in support of his latest banjo album. He and Baldwin share the screen in Nancy Meyers' film "It's Complicated," due in theaters next month.

Besides the dual-host approach, the 2010 Oscars have already undergone a major makeover. The academy moved its honorary Oscars, often a long-winded affair that bogged down the ceremony, to a separate event in November.

And in the biggest change in decades, the academy doubled the number of best-picture nominees from five to 10. Academy overseers hope that might open the top category to a wider range of films, including commercial movies that could attract more TV viewers.

Telecast plans are shaping up well, said Mechanic, who made three promises about the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony on March 7, 2010: "It will be more fun this year, it will be faster this year and it will be the best of the best."

[MacGuffin]

Best Picture
"Avatar" James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
"The Blind Side" Nominees to be determined
"District 9" Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
"An Education" Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
"The Hurt Locker" Nominees to be determined
"Inglourious Basterds" Lawrence Bender, Producer
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
"A Serious Man" Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
"Up" Jonas Rivera, Producer
"Up in the Air" Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side"
Helen Mirren in "The Last Station"
Carey Mulligan in "An Education"
Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia"

Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart"
George Clooney in "Up in the Air"
Colin Firth in "A Single Man"
Morgan Freeman in "Invictus"
Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker"

Actress in a Supporting Role
Penélope Cruz in "Nine"
Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air"
Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Crazy Heart"
Anna Kendrick in "Up in the Air"
Mo'Nique in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"

Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon in "Invictus"
Woody Harrelson in "The Messenger"
Christopher Plummer in "The Last Station"
Stanley Tucci in "The Lovely Bones"
Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds"

Directing
"Avatar" James Cameron
"The Hurt Locker" Kathryn Bigelow
"Inglourious Basterds" Quentin Tarantino
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" Lee Daniels
"Up in the Air" Jason Reitman

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"District 9" Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
"An Education" Screenplay by Nick Hornby
"In the Loop" Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
"Up in the Air" Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)
"The Hurt Locker" Written by Mark Boal
"Inglourious Basterds" Written by Quentin Tarantino
"The Messenger" Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
"A Serious Man" Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Up" Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

Cinematography
"Avatar" Mauro Fiore
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" Bruno Delbonnel
"The Hurt Locker" Barry Ackroyd
"Inglourious Basterds" Robert Richardson
"The White Ribbon" Christian Berger

Film Editing
"Avatar" Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
"District 9" Julian Clarke
"The Hurt Locker" Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
"Inglourious Basterds" Sally Menke
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" Joe Klotz

Sound Editing
"Avatar" Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
"The Hurt Locker" Paul N.J. Ottosson
"Inglourious Basterds" Wylie Stateman
"Star Trek" Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
"Up" Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Sound Mixing
"Avatar" Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
"The Hurt Locker" Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
"Inglourious Basterds" Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
"Star Trek" Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Visual Effects
"Avatar" Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
"District 9" Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
"Star Trek" Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Foreign Language Film
"Ajami" Israel
"El Secreto de Sus Ojos" Argentina
"The Milk of Sorrow" Peru
"Un Prophète" France
"The White Ribbon" Germany

Animated Feature Film
"Coraline" Henry Selick
"Fantastic Mr. Fox" Wes Anderson
"The Princess and the Frog" John Musker and Ron Clements
"The Secret of Kells" Tomm Moore
"Up" Pete Docter

Art Direction
"Avatar" Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
"Nine" Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
"Sherlock Holmes" Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
"The Young Victoria" Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Costume Design
"Bright Star" Janet Patterson
"Coco before Chanel" Catherine Leterrier
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" Monique Prudhomme
"Nine" Colleen Atwood
"The Young Victoria" Sandy Powell

Documentary (Feature)
"Burma VJ" Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
"The Cove" Nominees to be determined
"Food, Inc." Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
"The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers" Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
"Which Way Home" Rebecca Cammisa

Documentary (Short Subject)
"China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province" Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill
"The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner" Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
"The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant" Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
"Music by Prudence" Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
"Rabbit à la Berlin" Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Makeup
"Il Divo" Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
"Star Trek" Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
"The Young Victoria" Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Music (Original Score)
"Avatar" James Horner
"Fantastic Mr. Fox" Alexandre Desplat
"The Hurt Locker" Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
"Sherlock Holmes" Hans Zimmer
"Up" Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song)
"Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36" Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
"Take It All" from "Nine" Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart" Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Short Film (Animated)
"French Roast" Fabrice O. Joubert
"Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty" Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell
"The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)" Javier Recio Gracia
"Logorama" Nicolas Schmerkin
"A Matter of Loaf and Death" Nick Park

Short Film (Live Action)
"The Door" Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
"Instead of Abracadabra" Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
"Kavi" Gregg Helvey
"Miracle Fish" Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
"The New Tenants" Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

[modage]

Up, Inglourious Basterds, A Serious Man, Hurt Locker, District 9 = Yay.

The Blind Side = Invalidated.

If there had only been 5 Best Pic nominees it would have been Avatar, Hurt Locker, Precious, Up In The Air and ???

Ha to Avatar and The Blind Side, the only 2 Best Pic nominees NOT nominated for screenplay.

[children with angels]

Why is In The Loop adapted? Because the characters already existed? I guess the same thing happened with Before Sunset. It does seem an odd definition of adaptation though.

[©brad]

What a weird year.

[Pas]

Best Picture
"The Blind Side" Nominees to be determined

WELL I hope the only nominee is Sandra Bullock because the film has no nomination in writing, directing, sound, cinematography or anything else. So Sandra Bullock must be so FUCKING good that she makes the movie the best of the year just by her wondrous acting. She should get a lifetime achievement award for this film, really.

jk all the Oscars I've watched sucked it's like the Grammys really so I'm not surprised.

[Pubrick]

worst year ever.

i noticed that too pas and LOLd. it's like they hav no idea who made the movie. i'm sure they'll cut to her anyway when the worthless nomination is announced.

only interesting category is supporting actor, and that's cos waltz is such a shoe-in that it could easily be an upset on par with rourke or something, not that i give a shit if waltz gets it or even think he deserves it. the whole thing is such a weird combination of deserved and non-deserved nominations. even with the expanded pic category it still feels like the kind of nominations you'd get after a last minute ballot at the xixax awards. where you just write the films you remember best even if u didn't see them. there's nothing at all interesting here, the song list will be the most boring thing ever.

invictus wtf. oh right, oscars.

[pete]

weak year.
any of those perennial snubs could've made a film this year and swept everything.

[Stefen]

It was a good year, but they fucked it up as usual.

Avatard is officially the most overrated movie ever.

[Captain of Industry]

Yes!

[matt35mm]

Avatard is officially the most overrated movie ever.

Is it, though?  It's talked about a lot but I don't know anyone who thinks it's the greatest.  It's not really sweeping the awards or anything--it gets nominated in Best Picture and Best Director, then technical stuff, mostly.  Yeah, it got nominated for best score, but that's because none of the voters could think of anything else, so it's a default nomination, because when stuck, they always just nominate James Horner, Hans Zimmer, or John Williams.

And even when it is nominated, the film doesn't win all the time.  The Hurt Locker's been winning nearly as many of the major directing and best picture awards.  Bigelow even won the DGA award over Cameron.  Up in the Air also won some major best picture stuff toward the beginning, but it seems like the buzz on that has died down.

Anyway, I think that there have been other movies that were way more overrated.  I don't even think that Avatar will win best picture this year.  The Hurt Locker seems to have a better shot at this point, and the appeal of giving the directing award to a woman for the first time instead of to James Cameron for the second time, plus the fact that she's been "legitimized" by the DGA, makes me think that the odds are in Bigelow's favor.

The trajectory of The Hurt Locker is a bit like Crash, where nobody was talking about it when it was released and now suddenly people are taking the movie seriously.  The Hurt Locker is a lot better than Crash, if only by virtue of not being Crash, but the quality of a movie is really a non-factor when we're talking about the Oscars.

[Stefen]

Everything about Avatard screams overrated. It's good for what it is and now I think my initial overrating of it comes from the fact that I was 99% sure it was going to be fucking stupid, and when it wasn't completely stupid, I fell for it.

It's not very good. It's actually not good at all. It's pretty fucking stupid, but it's pretty kick-ass and that doesn't constitute the best picture of the year. I know the Academy fucks this up more often than not (actually ever), but this one just bugs me because it really reinforces that fact that if it makes money, it must me good. Blind Side too. WTF?

[modage]

It's not very good.

Part I:
Part II:

[Stefen]

haha, yeah, pretty much.