Month: January 2007

“When was the last time a film led in total nominations and got shut out of Best Picture, Director and Writing, as Dreamgirls was this morning?,” asks Hollywood Wiretap‘s Pete Hammond. “The answer, going back to the Academy’s beginnings 79 years ago is…never (at least as far as we can tell).
“‘We did everything we could (to get the Best Picture nomination),’ a truly dejected DreamWorks consultant lamented after the announcement.
“Of course those three, count `em, three Best Song nominations ballooned the total Dreamgirls noms, making composer Henry Krieger the most nominated person of the year, garnering by far the biggest number of song nods ever for an adaptation of a Broadway musical. (The original B’way musical tunes aren’t eligible — only the ones written for the film.)
“Although it was a somewhat bleak morning overall on the Dreamgirls front, it could have the last laugh by winning the most Oscars. The film has great shots for supporting actor (Eddie Murphy), supporting actress (Jennifer Hudson), Costumes, Art Direction, Sound and the aforementioned songs. It just might turn out to be the biggest winner of the evening if that’s any consolation right now to the DreamWorkers.
“The fact now remains however the Academy once again gave up it’s chance to honor a film starring all African American actors as Best Picture (ironic in a year that includes five African-American acting nominees).”

The 22nd Santa Barbara Film Festival (1.25 to 2.4) will have 32 of this morning’s announced Oscar nominees in attendance — Helen Mirren, Will Smith, Forest Whitaker, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jackie Earle Haley, Djimon Honsou, Jennifer Hudson, Queen screenwriter Peter Morgan, Babel director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, Little Children helmer Todd Field, Little Miss Sunshine screenwriter Michael Arndt, etc. The list goes on…you get the idea.

With Dreamgirls out of the running, which of the five nominated Best Picture films is the front-runner at this stage? Opinions, please. I suspect that Little Miss Sunshine is going to get dissed the most between now and ballot-closing day, even though the odds of winning don’t seem all that great because Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris weren’t jointly nominated for Best Director. LMS could win , of course. As a a big-name producer told me after last weekend’s PGA win, “Sunshine is the only [likely] Best Picture nominee without negatives — it’s a very good film and everybody likes it.”

“It’s obviously possible for a movie to get nominated for Best Picture without its lead actors getting their own nominations. But is it possible for a film to be a Best Picture contender when its lead performances were widely panned, even by people who otherwise liked the movie? I’m referring, of course, to Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx and Dreamgirls.

“Let’s face it — as much as everyone seemed to like Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson, and as much as you could legitimately call this an ensemble picture, Jamie Foxx and Beyonce Knowles were the ostensible leads. The fact that they didn’t register in their roles might not entirely be their faults; look at the script. But whoever should be blamed, those are two pretty big holes right at the center/forefront of the film.
“Can anyone remember another Best Picture nominee about which most people said, ‘Yeah, I really loved that movie, even though the two leads were no good?’ I can’t even come up with a non-nominee right now that had viewers saying that en masse.
“For me, there were lots of other reasons why Dreamgirls was a failure, but I think that one had to at least subliminally factor into the voting among people who liked it a lot more than I did.
“I’m pleased with its omission. I can remember, after one of the very first screenings, when you quoted one lone naysayer to the effect that it was possible that it wouldn’t even get a nomination. That seemed far-fetched at the time, given the love, but when I shortly thereafter caught a screening, I wrote in wanting to affirm whatever hesitations you were having, just as another reality check.
“And I’m glad you’ve been temperate on the movie all along. I don’t think it deserves major hate, and I don’t begrudge you or anyone who liked it a little more than me for having some good things to say about it. But the idea that anyone really thought this was Best Picture material still floors me. Of course, I thought that about Crash, too. Nice to see the gods of rationalism prevail this time.
“Go, Departed. Go, Peter O’Toole. I don’t hate Little Miss Sunshine but please, God, don’t let it win.” — Los Angeles based journalist, in an e-mail received around 9:30 ayem.

Once again, Warner Bros. deserves double credit as far as Leonardo DiCaprio is concerned — a plus for getting him a Best Actor nomination in Blood Diamond (!), a not-very-good film, and a minus for not putting him up for Best Actor in The Departed, which would have been the right and proper move because the guy is flat-out great in the “mole” role. Congrats also to Mark Wahlberg for his Best Supporting Actor nomination.

“Many in our office are still getting over the fact that Dreamgirls was snubbed. I say, tough luck!” — New York-based advertising executive in just-received e-mail.

The morning’s flimsiest call has to be the Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for the Borat gang — Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter Baynham & Dan Mazer. Adapted from “Da Ali G Show” because of very similar elements, concept, attitudes, etc.

You can get the whole Oscar nomination rundown anywhere at this point, but my two favorites are Variety and Oscar Watch. I just wish that the esteemed Sasha Stone would boldface her categories.

No Best Foreign Language Film nomination for Pedro Almodovar‘s Volver? And I was shocked, frankly, that Susanne Bier‘s After the Wedding, her weakest film ever, was nominated in this category. Guillermo del Toro‘s Pan’s Labyrinth and Florian von Henckel Donnersmarck‘s The Lives of Others were nominated….good calls. Less enthusiasm in this corner for Days of Glory and Water, but fine.

Another significant surprise (and a feather in the cap of not only Universal Oscar strategist Tony Angellotti but every impassioned, hard-pushing advocate of United 93 in the industry and press circles): Paul Greengrass, the director of United 93 — a movie that many Academy members reportedly refused to even see, has been nominated for Best Director. A significant victory, no question. Whoda thunk it?
We’ll never know the precise vote tallies, but this indicates that the vote to nominate United 93 for Best Picture was (probably) fairly sizable. A very surprising thing, and a hint that the Academy’s “deadwood” faction (geezers, reactionaries, old schoolers) isn’t as strong as presumed.

Dreamgirls, the musical that many, many people (David Poland included) said over and over would win the Oscar for Best Picture, hasn’t even been nominated for Best Picture….double, no, triple-strength shocker!…an omission that will live in the annals of Oscar nomination history.

Eight Dreamgirls noms, but not for Best Picture

The gloom clouds hanging over the Dreamgirls camp right now are extremely dark and Cecil B. DeMille-y. For what it’s worth, my sincere condolences to Bill Condon, Larry Mark, Terry Press, Nancy Kirkpatrick, David Geffen and the gang. I never hated Dreamgirls or campaigned for its demise, and while we all knew it couldn’t win the Best Picture Oscar, I honestly thought it would be nominated this morning for Best Picture.
I think it’s entirely fair to say in the wake of the Dreamgirls Best Picture wipeout that there is now a supportable cautionary assumption called the Curse of Poland. Phantom of the Opera, Munich and now Dreamgirls — if David Poland pushes your movie early and hard for Best Picture during the final months of the year, the producers and publicists behind this film will have reason for concern.

The Salt Lake City NBC channel cut off the live feed from the Academy right in the middle of the announcement of Best Adapted Screenplay nominees (I know…why am I watching television at all?), but the first early surprise (prior to the impact grenade of Dreamgirls‘ non-inclusion among the Best Picture nominees) was Little Miss Sunshine‘s Abigail Breslin getting nominated for Best Supporting Actress. That’s an indicator of general industry sentiment about this Fox Searchlight film, and a further suggestion that Sunshine might really win the Best Picture race.