Day: January 13, 2008

Terrible news concerning Beowulf producer-cowriter Roger Avary, with whom I just spoke a couple of days ago. I’d let it alone but it’s all over the news services and it may as well be acknowledged. Strength, faith, prayers. I’m so sorry.

Okay, I made the mistake of watching NBC’s “fake” time-delayed, Stepford Showbiz News presentation of the Golden Globe Award winners. If I had watched CNN or whomever else, the announcements would have been revealed to me earlier. I should have known that NBC would drag things out to make a full-hour show out of it. It was my mistake, but HE is hereby delivering a resounding thumbs-down to NBC’s decision to play games.

Atonement is back in the game, having won the Golden Globe award for Best Drama. With Joel and Ethan Coen having lost the Best Director award besides and No Country having fallen to Atonement, the question is to what degree are these two No Country losses indicative of general Academy sentiment…if at all? In any event, Joe Wright‘s admirable period romance has gotten a reprieve. It was thought to be a dead duck, and now it doesn’t seem to be. Again — how widely shared is this liking? And to what extent is this decision an anti-No Country vote (possibly due to “that ending”) as much as a pro-Atonement one?

Best Actress, Drama is expected to go to Away From Her‘s Julie Christie, but it’ll be cool if it goes to A Mighty Heart‘s Angelina Jolie…but it’s gone to Julie Christie, and that’s fine. A very fine performance, no quibbles…and won without a lot of campaigning.
And There Will Be Blood‘s Daniel Day Lewis has won for Best Actor (Drama).

The Golden Globe Best Director award goes to Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly…what? Everyone had called this for No Country‘s Joel and Ethan Coen. What happened? Does this mean something? Did anyone at all predict this?
Sweeney Todd‘s Johnny Depp has won the Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical award…deserved, not muchy of a surprise, good call.
The Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture Comedy/Musical goes not to Juno but Sweeney Todd! With Ellen Page having lost the Best Comedy/Musical actress award to Marion Cotillard, this amounts to a double Juno shut-down. I don’t get it — didn’t the Golden Globes voters consider Juno‘s box-office receipts? Perhaps some of them came to the conclusion that Todd is…you know, all things considered, a richer, fuller, better film?

Best Supporting Actor award is sure to go to No Country‘s Javier Bardem, and the winner is….uhm, Javier Bardem. Great performance, total shoo-in, locked for the Oscars.

Golden Globe winner for Best Animated Feature: Ratatouille. No surprise, excellent film, deserving winner. Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical winner: La Vie en Rose‘s Marion Cotillard, which I called a few minutes ago. Big cheers for Cotillard, director Oliver Dahan, Picturehouse’s Bob Berney…yay, team! Hairspray‘s Nikki Blonsky and Juno‘s Ellen Page…shut-down!

Access Hollywood‘s Billy Bush and Nancy O’Dell are hosting NBC’s broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards press conference annoucements…and the winner of the Best Supporting Actress award is I’m Not There‘s Cate Blanchett!! The Amy Ryan blitzkreig has been stopped in its tracks! Temporarily, at least. Good vibrations.

HE’s final Golden Globes predictions with only minutes to spare. Best Picture, Drama: No Country for Old Men…duhhh. Best Director: Joel and Ethan Coen. Best Comedy or Musical: Juno…because money talks. Best Actor, Drama: Daniel Day Lewis, There Will be Blood. Best Actress, Drama: Julie Christie, Away From Her. Best Actress, Musical or Comedy: Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose…giving great perk shouldn’t be enough to give it to Ellen Page. Best Actor, Musical or Comedy: Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd. Best Actress, Supporting: Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone…I offer this prediction under protest and duress — the winner should be I’m Not There‘s Cate Blanchett. Best Actor, Supporting: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men.

Hollywood Interrupted‘s Mark Ebner sent along a URL with a group of what appear to be Scientology-produced video propaganda spots, four of which feature Tom Cruise. Most entertainment journalists look the other way at the whole Cruise/Scientology thing, and I suppose I’m one of them. But watch these spots and tell me what kind of vibe you get from them. Tell me they don’t creep you out.
The site‘s password is 2004event
There is an unmistakably robotic and strident tone to these pieces. Particularly in the copy read by the narrator, whose belligerent huckster voice makes him sound like a fiend out of 1984. (It reminds me of the voice of the “leader” in that Twilight Zone episode called “The Eye of the Beholder.”) It’s genuinely unnerving. This piece in particular, which barks about how Cruise paid more attention to Ground Zero air quality in the wake of 9.11 than New York authorities, speaks for itself.

I’ll be back by 5 pm to riff on the pre-show chit-chat that will begin prior to the Golden Globes press conference, which goes on at 6 pm Pacific, 9 pm Eastern. NBC, E!, CNN and the TV Guide channel will be airing it. There’s also the option of clicking on TheEnvelope.com right after the announcements for a Golden Globes discussion between Tom O’Neil, Elizabeth Snead and Pete Hammond.

Snapped earlier this afternoon at the Beverly Hilton hotel. (Pic stolen from Tom O’Neil’s Gold Derby column.)

The narrator in the Focus Features trailer for In Bruges pronounces the city as “Brugerh” (another pheonetical spelling would be “Brugge”, which is an anagram of bugger). Other sources and dictionaries seem to favor “Broozh.” Which is it?