Day: August 26, 2016

Reaction among execs running A24, the distributor of Andrea Arnold’s American Honey (opening on 9.30.16): “It’s so great when this kind of buzz gets around. This is why we love this business because when a movie has the right kind of chemistry and the right kind of chops, something magical happens and it just takes off with ticket buyers…it becomes this mystical, unstoppable act of art and nature that people feel they just have to see.”

Reaction among execs running IFC Films, the distributor of Olivier Assayas‘s Personal Shopper (no U.S. release date): “Why don’t guys like Lawson leave us alone? We’re letting the Toronto and New York film festivals show Personal Shopper, fine, but we’re not sure how we feel about it. Some people in Cannes weren’t fans and that gives us the willies. The concept of releasing Personal Shopper intimidates us financially, if you want to know the truth, and so we’re almost sorry we acquired it and we’re not sure we even want to release it any time soon. Okay, maybe sometime next spring. But please, just stop it. We hate tweets like this. They just make things worse.”

Audiences took one look at Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun and said, “He’s cool, an okay guy, decent, I trust him, reminds us of a friend from college or high school, obviously good looking.” If I were gay I would think “hmm, in my dreams.” I took one look at Joe Alwyn, the lead in Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, and said, “Ang Lee chose this guy to be the lead? He looks like he doesn’t get it, like he can’t get it for lack of brain cells. I’ve seen guys like this working at yogurt shops, and I certainly have no interest in hanging with him…at all.”

Roughly 15 years ago I was having a chat with a professional woman of some size, and I was about to allude to people of girth when I realized I might get myself in trouble. I needed to put on my tiptoe shoes. Before I knew it I was scrambling and a bit anxious. I obviously didn’t want to say “fat” or “obese” or “overweight” — all shaming terms. It would have also been wrong to say “person with a weight problem” because in p.c. circles excess weight isn’t a problem. I also knew that “rotund” was out because it sounded snide. This was all whirring through my brain within three or four seconds, mind. So I seized on the term “calorically challenged.” It seemed respectful, no attitude or judgment implied — the equivalent of calling a short person “height-challenged.” And you know what? The professional woman took offense. She didn’t say in so many words that I was being an insulting smart-ass, but that’s what she was thinking. It was then that I realized that there’s no winning in this atmosphere. You just have to live and think in denial. Overweight people don’t exist. All shapes and sizes are beautiful. You just can’t say anything else. You realize what I’m describing, don’t you? In a sense we’re all living in that 1961 Twilight Zone episode called “It’s a Good Life,” and all the p.c. militants are a version of Anthony.

Here are my initial stabs at award-season acting contenders, as posted on Gold Derby. I’ve been saying since catching Manchester By The Sea last January that Casey Affleck is a cast-iron lock for Best Actor, but I’m also presuming that one of the stand-out supporting performances — by 19- or 20-year-old Lucas Hedges or veteran Kyle Chandler — will generate awards chatter. Likewise, Manchester‘s Michelle Williams will almost certainly be a Best Supporting Actress contender; ditto Moonlight‘s Naomie Harris, who’s allegedly the standout in Barry Jenkins‘ film. Best Actress-wise, it still seems that the likely headliners are Loving‘s Ruth Negga (saw it/her in Cannes) vs. Fences‘ Viola Davis.

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I don’t know for a fact that Clint Eastwood‘s Sully (Warner Bros., 9.9) will have its first public showing at the Telluride Film Festival, but signs are pointing in this direction. I was told a while back that a major American release about a true-life saga would debut there. Plus a certain East Coast critic has been hearing Sully-at-Telluride rumblings. As I understand it one of the factors is that Sully producer Frank Marshall has a home in Telluride and that feelings of regional loyalty and kinship kicked in. (Or something like that.) So that’s it, fellas — the other 20 (give or take) plus Sully. Sure, I could be wrong about this. But I doubt that I am. I sure wish I could attend tonight’s special Sully junket screening in Los Angeles, but that’s only for “interview” press.

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Among the Gurus of Gold spitballers, the “friends” of Birth of a Nation (i.e., those who’ve afforded it a marginal recognition) are Vox.com’s Gregory Ellwood, Toronto Star critic Peter Howell, TheWrap‘s Steve Pond, The Film Experience‘s NathanielR, Susan Wlosczyna (a.k.a. “Suzie Woz”), L.A. Times‘ pulse-taker Glenn Whipp and Daily Beast‘s Jen Yamato. In this, the first round of all-but-meaningless Oscar speculation, Manchester By The Sea, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, La La Land, Fences, Arrival, Loving and Moonlight are leading the Best Picture pack. The Gold Derby gang is just starting to be heard from, but Birth of a Nation support is faint with them also. Right now GD honcho Tom O’Neil is Nate Parker‘s best friend with Birth in sixth place among his Best Picture spitballs.