Tonight I’m taking Jett and Cait to a 9 pm New York Film Festival screening of Manchester By The Sea. Tomorrow evening is the all-media for Gavin O’Connor‘s The Accountant. On Thursday night I’ll be catching an unusual 8:30 pm screening of a secret movie. There’s an Ang Lee press breakfast on Friday morning at 9 am, then a 12:30 pm NYFF press screening of Elle (which I saw in Toronto but it’s certainly good enough to catch twice) followed by a press conference with Elle director Paul Verhoeven and star Isabelle Huppert. And then at 6 pm I’ll be catching Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk at a special NYFF showing at the AMC Lincoln Square. (There’s another one at 9 pm.) Finally on Saturday morning there’s an 11 am NYFF screening of James Gray‘s fact-based The Lost City of Z. What am I missing?
1. Are you named after someone? / JW: “Yeah, some character in a novel. My mom told me the particulars once, forgot ’em.”
2. When’s the last time you cried? / JW: “Nine months ago. The first time I watched Manchester by the Sea. I didn’t exactly cry but I got a little misty.”
3. Do you like your handwriting? / JW: “Like it? I can’t even read it.”
4. What is your favorite lunch meat? / JW: “Spicy Italian salami.”
5. Do you have kids? / JW: “Two sons.”
6. If you were another person, would you be friends with you? / JW: “Certainly.”
7. Do you use sarcasm? / JW: “Infrequently. Only when it’s right. Which is rarely.”
8. Do you still have your tonsils? / JW: “The fuck?”
9. Would you bungee jump? / JW: “I’m past that point.”
10. What is your favorite cereal? / JW: “Open Nature strawberry vanilla granola with vanilla yogurt.”
11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? / JW: “Is this a trick question?”
12. Do you think you are strong? / JW: “Emotionally, not as strong as I could be. Physically, yeah, as far as it goes. I’m not weak.”
13. What is your favorite ice cream? / JW: “Cookies and cream.”
14. What is the first thing you notice about people? / JW: “Whether or not they look me right in the eye and hold it for two or three seconds when we first say hello.”
15. Red or pink? / JW: “Neither. Okay, red.”
Hollywood Elsewhere will make its annual visit to the Savannah Film Festival between Friday, 10.21 and Thursday, 10.27. I can’t wait to savor the shady, 19th Century serenity that this beautiful old town owns. SFF films are often award-season favorites, and this year the hotties are Pablo Larrain‘s Jackie, Damien Chazelle‘s La La Land, Kenneth Lonergan‘s Manchester By The Sea and Denis Villeneuve‘s Arrival. Other big-draw screenings will include Paterson, Christine, 20th Century Women, American Pastoral, Bleed for This, Moonlight, Lion, Loving and I, Daniel Blake. SFF is sponsored by the Savannah College of Art and Design.
I think the Best Picture Oscar race is going to come down to three films when all is said and done — Damien Chazelle‘s La La Land, Denzel Washington‘s Fences and Kenneth Lonergan‘s Manchester By The Sea.
And possibly Ang Lee‘s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, which no one has seen but will debut at the New York Film Festival on the evening of Friday, 10.14 — two weeks hence. Hollywood Elsewhere will be there with bells on.
It’ll be La La Land because of that knockout freeway beginning and that brilliant, transcendent ending and a very good middle portion. It’ll be Fences because it’s a venerated August Wilson classic with killer performances (certainly from Washington and Viola Davis) that will allow everyone to respectably “get their black on” (and because it’ll probably turn out to be better than Barry Jenkins‘ Moonlight). And it’ll be Manchester By The Sea because it just reaches in and destroys you — so far it’s the saddest, best acted, most skillfully assembled film of the year, and because — bold as brass — it doesn’t deliver the typical Act Three redemption thing that you always see in sad-white-guy movies.
I really think it’s going to be one of those three, although right now it looks like La La Land has the edge because people simply like it the most. It’s almost The Artist in this sense but is way, way less gimmicky (i.e., not gimmicky at all) and because it excitingly re-vitalizes the big-screen musical in a Jacques Demy way.
For some reason the award-season blogaroonies have tumbled for La La Land in a way that seems almost final and absolute. For some reason they’re not affording Manchester the bow-down respect it absolutely deserves, and for the lamest of reasons — because it leaves them with a feeling of emotional devastation when they’d much rather feel happy.
Like everyone else I was knocked flat when I saw Joel and Ethan Coen‘s No Country For Old Men on 5.19.07 at the Cannes Film Festival, and I think the venue — the cavernous Grand Lumiere — was part of the reason. The screen is huge, the projection perfect, the sound crisp and clear (if sometimes overly bassy). Plus I was in the company of a few hundred whip-smart journalists who were absorbing every line and scene like world-class connoisseurs. I was on a cloud when it ended.
Welcome to the Fairbanks screening room and stretch out.
Then I saw it again a few months later inside one of the shoebox rooms at Raleigh Studios — the absolute worst way to see a film outside of watching it with a crowd of sandal-wearing, popcorn-munching mooks at that shitty Regal plex just south of Union Square. It was still No Country For Old Men, of course, but it was like listening to Beethoven’s ninth on a tinny, ’60s-era Japanese radio. If you want to severely reduce if not nullify the impact of your movie, by all means screen it for critics inside one of the Raleigh shoeboxes — the 36-seat Douglas Fairbanks or 38-seat Mary Pickford room. (The 161-seat Chaplin theatre is, on the other hand, a generally okay facility.)
I was surprised to see Martin Scorsese‘s Silence ranked among Kris Tapley‘s top Best Picture spitballs. (Along with Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Fences, Florence Foster Jenkins, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Lion, Live By Night, Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight.) Last August I speculated that Silence (which story-wise is no stroll in the park) might get a year-end platform release at best. Yeah, I know — Marty is still cutting it and until he finishes it won’t be dated. This is Scorsese’s pattern. The fate of The Wolf of Wall Street was up in the air until it screened on 11.29 — that’s when it was ready and that’s when it screened.
Yesterday afternoon Mashable‘s Jeff Sneider posted his first award-season handicap piece, and I must say he seems to have given every contender and angle a lot of careful thought and weighed their chances with an old-fashioned hand scale. I found myself agreeing with…oh, 80% to 85% of his assessments.
I agree that at this point Manchester By The Sea‘s Casey Affleck is the only contender who “feels like a lock,” as Sneider puts it.
I agree that three of the top Best Picture contenders are probably Ang Lee‘s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Damian Chazelle‘s La La Land and Kenneth Lonergan‘s Manchester by the Sea, but I’m not so sure about Barry Jenkins‘ Moonlight or Martin Scorsese‘s Silence, .
Sneider’s #6 through #8 are Denzel Washington‘s Fences (which is “good but being worked on,” I heard tonight), Clint Eastwood‘s Sully and Ben Affleck‘s Live By Night. I doubt if Tom Ford‘s Nocturnal Animals will rate as a muscular Best Picture contender.
In the view of Hollywood Reporter columnist Scott Feinberg, the following films are, in this order, apparent frontrunners for a Best Picture Oscar nomination:
1. Damian Chazelle‘s La La Land (HE opinion: Definitely).
2. Denzel Washington‘s Fences (HE opinion: Without a doubt).
3. Theodore Melfi‘s Hidden Figures (HE opinion: What? The trailer clearly indicates this is a lightweight you-go-girl confection).
4. Ang Lee‘s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (HE opinion: Probably).
5. Barry Jenkins‘ Moonlight (HE opinion: 50-50 toss-up. Telluride foo-foos have over-praised this intimate, Boyhood-like saga of a black Miami gay guy, which may result in pushback when the schlubby-dubbies catch it).
Manchester by The Sea director-writer Kenneth Lonergan and star Casey Affleck sat for a Sunday afternoon q & a at Telluride’s Werner Herzog theatre. I showed up to record it — here’s the mp3. I said last January that Affleck is a lock for a Best Actor nomination, and right now it’s hard to envision any male lead performance that will pose a serious threat, much less nudge him aside. Yeah, I know — Tom Hanks as Sully, right? A very good performance but I don’t think so.
Here’s a partial transcript of what Affleck said yesterday about his working relationship with Lonergan during the shoot:
Manchester By The Sea star Casey Affleck, apparently snapped during a recent Telluride event. (I wasn’t there and I’m not going to guess or call around to find out.)
“I felt very, very safe. I had to show up every day emotionally charged. That was my responsibility, to be in a really shitty mood or feeling very, very sad or whatever. But Kenny would not resent me or fire me. Nor would he be afraid of me. And he would set very firm parameters. A very firm guiding light. That’s right, this isn’t right, this is the right spot. To be out of control is a real luxury [for an actor on a film set], and I was able to be out of control because Kenny had drawn the map, so all I had to do was walk it with conviction. And I knew that he knew I’d be going into the right places.”
Message sent to Hollywood Reporter award-season columnist Scott Feinberg about an article he posted earlier today (9.3) about Telluride’s response to Manchester By The Sea: “At the end of your piece you’ve written that ‘a Best Picture nomination [for Manchester By The Sea] is possible, although it strikes me as an uphill climb since this is a film that is likely to engender respect and admiration more than passion or enthusiasm.’
“I’m reading the words but they’re not sinking in because they so brutally violate my sense of what this film is and how it’s playing. I just came from a 1:15 pm Galaxy screening and this movie is destroying people — it’s a broken-hearted masterpiece — and you’re saying it’s facing a tough haul to land a Best Pic nomination? Especially in this, one the weakest award seasons in recent memory? You’re astonishing, man.”
10:42 pm in cool, almost chilly Telluride after waking up at 4 am in Los Angeles, and enduring a hugely stressful day. If it weren’t for a Red Bull I just chugged, I wouldn’t be able to write much. I need to crash and maybe write a bit more at between 6 and 8 am. There’s a hoity-toity Telluride hotshot party happening right now near the NE corner of Galena and Fir. Tom Hanks is here for Sully but what about Clint? Deflecting, gunshy Casey Affleck is sitting for a couple of tributes prior to screenings of Manchester By The Sea, which I don’t think I can see here. Too much going on. I’m not even seeing Sully tomorrow. The flicks start around 2:30 or 3 pm with the Patron’s screening at the Chuck Jones, followed by Bleed For This at 6:15 pm, Moonlight at 8 pm and finally La La Land at 10:15 pm. That’s a full day. Right now I feel like Peter O’Toole after he brought Gasim out of the Nefud.
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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