At the end of the New York Film Critics Circle awards ceremony, No Country for Old Men producer Scott Rudin “came up with the Coen brothers at the end of the night and dedicated [their] best film win to Sydney Pollack,” reports N.Y. Times columnist David Carr. Rudin’s key remark: “If you grow up in New York, this is the award you hope you win and these are the two guys you hope you win it with.”

Hillary Clinton has been trying to “sell” her warm and fuzzy side for weeks now, and today — about three hours ago — she finally scored without “trying” to score. You can call her little Edmund Muskie-like meltdown “calculated” (as my 19 year-old son did on the phone an hour ago), but I sense a real person here — and for the first time in this campaign, I really kind of half-felt for her. For about a minute, I mean.

Imagine what the news media would make of, say, Mitt Romney‘s eyes turning red as he talks about how hard the campaign has been and how tired he is and how much he cares, etc.. Ask yourself honestly — what would they say? You know most of them would say that he’s soft and lacks the backbone to be a tough leader, etc. But because Hillary has been so clenched and frosty for so many months, people feel a little sorry for her when she cracks, and she actually gets points for this…it helps her.

But not from fellow campaigner John Edwards. He hadn’t seen the Hillary meltdown tape when he told CNN’s Dugald McDonnell earlier today, “I think what we need in a commander in chief is strength and resolve, and presidential campaigns are a tough business, but being President of the United States is also a very tough business. And the President of the United States is faced with very, very difficult challenges every single day, difficult judgments every single day.” But he said it nonetheless.

What? NBC And Hollywood Foreign Press Association are going to announce sometime this afternoon that not only is the 1.13.08 Golden Globes Awards telecast cancelled, but the show itself — tuxedos, red carpet, podiums, applause, acceptance speeches, etc. — won’t happen either. Not even happen as a private “senior prom” event. Instead, it will be a bare-bones news telecast of some kind, handled by NBC News. Why not just stage a senior prom? The ego and obstinacy of NBC honcho Jeff Zucker…that’s why.
A rep for HFPA spokesperson Mike Russell told me an official announcement would be coming out sometime after lunch. Order takeout, guys! Have it delivered! 4:31 pm update: Still no announcement!
Broadcast Film Critics Awards co-honchos Joey Berlin and John DeSimio are almost certainly dancing in the aisles and doing cartwheels as we speak. The Golden Globes collapse makes their Critics Choice Awards, which begins with red-carpet arrivals later this afternoon, the only visible awards show in town (along with the SAG Awards).
“The Hollywood writers strike can now claim its first awards show casualty,” Nikki Finke reported about an hour ago. “NBC will not be broadcasting a big Golden Globes show as planned for January 13th. Nor will a much ballyhooed unbroadcasted event be held, either. Instead, a stripped down announcements telecast will be aired by NBC News. It will consist of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association handing out Golden Globes to the winners, who will then pick up the awards and pass through a press room for photos and interviews.”
Presumable this means that Golden Globe after-parties are still happening? If so, where? Not near the Beverly Hills Hilton, right? Because with the BHH now shut down as Golden Globes central (the HFPA uses its ballroom for the event each year), what’s the point?

A week or so ago N.Y. Times Oscar blogger David Carr (a.k.a., “the Bagger”) called Atonement the Hillary Clinton of the ’07 Oscar season — a presumptive Best Picture nominee, early front-runner status, now falling behind and possibly even toast. Let’s just say it — it is toast as far as a Best Picture win is concerned. And yet it’s a very strong film. It moved me deeply at Toronto. What happened?

Is it fair to draw linkage?

“The media called it the front-runner early on and it had that hanging around its neck,” says Envelope handicapper and Maxim critic Pete Hammond. “And that’s what’s hurt it, those high expectations attached to the front-runner, like with Hillary I think people like the picture, but they go in with such high expectations, and it’s doesn’t seem to be getting that passionate, first-place vote. It seems to be getting third and fourth-place votes, but that may not be enough. It’s hard to say.”
I’m not saying the Atonement should withdraw from the race — it’s a respectable, touching, very well-made film with a great performance from Vanessa Redgrave at the finale. But Focus Features has definitely had a tough Oscar year sdo far with the complete collapse of Lust Caution and these Hillary/Atonement analogies that are getting around.
Amazingly, a lot of people are saying that David Cronenberg‘s Eastern Promises is one of their favorites, so this may be their strongest hand at this point. Speaking as a life-long Cronenberg fan stretching back to the ’70s, I’m personally saying “no to this film. It left me cold and hating all things Russian, and particularly unhappy with Armin Muehler Stahl‘s performance as the big papa-bear Russian maifioso …”eat the borscht!…play the balalaika!…subjugate and inseminate the women! Awwwgggghhhh!”

In a 1.7.08 story that is partly about the latest fluctuations between the WGA, NBC and the Golden Globe Awards (as well as the WGA-United Artists side-deal), N.Y. Times reporters Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply write that “frantic behind-the-scenes wrangling over the Globes continued [yesterday. Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of NBC Universal, convened a conference call on Sunday to explore ways of salvaging the Golden Globes, according to people briefed on the matter. One conceivable situation might involve producing a completely staged show around film clips, and perhaps without an audience or stars.”
Forget it, Zucker! Just pull the plug and hang it up. You’re making it very difficult for hundreds of people who need to make plans regarding the Golden Globes (attendance, parties…dozens of contingencies) and are under loads of pressure because of this. There’s supposed to be some kind of formal announcement from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association sometime today.

The Envelope‘s Tom O’Neil has asked 11 award-season handicappers for predictions about tomorrow’s Directors Guild nominations for Best Director.
The respondents are columnst & critic Pete Hammond, MSN’s Greg Ellwood, Red Carpet District‘s Kris Tapley, Entertainment Weekly‘s Dave Karger, N.Y. Daily News critic Jack Matthews, Awards Daily‘s Sasha Stone, myself, Rolling Stone‘s Peter Travers, Coming Soon‘s Edward Douglas, The Envelope‘s Mark Olsen, and And The Winner Is blogmeister Scott Feinberg.
My predictions for the DGA Best Director nominations: Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men; Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood; David Fincher, Zodiac (consolation prize for all the Zeligs refusing to even consider Zodiac for Best Picture prizes]; Sidney Lumet, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Tony Gilroy, /Michael Clayton.
Note: No obsessive Russian penis/naked steambath knife-fight movies, so no DGA nomination for David Cronenberg.

Last Friday Screen Actors Guild president Alan Rosenberg informally asked big-talent publicists repping actors who’ve been nominated for a Critics Choice Award to keep them away from attending tonght’s awards ceremony. That didn’t go over — talent will be attending. To clarify or reposition, a SAG spokesperson said this morning that “the Screen Actors Guild is not discouraging its members from attending the BFCA [Critics’ Choice] Awards, nor will there be repercussions for any members that choose to do so. It is not a struck production and there will not be a picket line. Members who make a personal choice to attend the event will [therefore] not be crossing a picket line to do so.”