Last night’s Santa Barbara Film Festival tribute was a double-header — Room‘s Brie Larson and Brooklyn‘s Saoirse Ronan splitting the Outstanding Performer of the Year award. It was a reasonably okay evening, and was at least invigorated by a dramatic last-minute announcement that Larson wouldn’t be able to attend. My initial reaction was “what?” but I gradually realized it wasn’t Larson’s fault.
Brooklyn‘s Saoirse Ronan during last night’s SBIFF tribute.
Room‘s Brie Larson during her Skype chat with moderator Pete Hammond.
Even though her SBIFF plans had been set weeks ago, the producers of Kong: Skull Island suddenly insisted that Larson had to return to Australia a day early, which meant Larson had to catch a 10 pm flight last night. (For what it’s worth I found a Quantas flight that left at 11:30 pm, but she still couldn’t have made it.) So while Larson was able to fit in Monday afternoon’s Oscar luncheon and a Jimmy Kimmel appearance she had to blow off poor Santa Barbara. But she sat for a Skype chat with host Pete Hammond, and that went pretty well.
Ronan showed up live and in-person, and her discussion with Hammond was pleasant enough.
I had to leave just before Ronan’s segment ended but I didn’t hear Hammond mention something interesting, which is that one of her recent films, Nikole Beckwith‘s Stockholm, Pennsylvania, is essentially about the same captive situation that Room is about — a young girl taken prisoner by a guy, kept prisoner for years in a basement, etc.
It also wasn’t mentioned that both Larson and Ronan have adapted a Michael Caine-like approach to their careers — i.e., work often, keep banging ’em out, pocket those paychecks, grab the good stuff when it’s offered but average over two films per year.
What mattered to everyone who helped make this moderately appealing Bud Light ad is that they got well paid. Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen were most certainly paid a shitload; ditto Paul Rudd for sitting around for a day and saying one line. But I’m genuinely impressed with the production values — the carefully measured lighting, the convincing CG work, the elegant cutting. Who directed this thing? The articles I’ve read so far don’t say.
The geniuses who directed last night’s Critics Choice Awards show refused to project video of the announcers and recipients on two monster-sized screens that hung above the stage. They chose instead to show this footage on four or five smaller monitors in the right rear of the seating area, which were easily viewable by only a portion of the audience. I was sitting so far back in the loser section (table #98) that Amy Schumer looked with a little white push pin with blond hair, and you know what happens? You don’t even listen after a while because the winners are over a football field away and you can’t even see their faces much less expressions, and so you wind up saying “fuck it” and just tweeting about stuff.
Deadline‘s Pete Hammond, Variety/Gold Derby‘s Tom O’Neil and The Hollywood Reporter‘s Scott Feinberg sat way up front and good for them, but table #98 was shit. Every person who sat at that table knew in their heart of hearts they’d been labelled as a temporary second- or third-stringer by the BFCA guys, but we did our best to ignore this. At least in conversation among ourselves. In my own private realm I felt humiliated and shat upon, but I could have rolled with the experience if the BFCA had only shown the faces on the two super-sized screens. But they couldn’t be bothered.
Don’t kid yourself — Spotlight‘s ass was saved tonight when it won the Critics Choice award for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Ensemble.
That gut-punch feeling after The Revenant surged the weekend before last (winning the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, Drama plus earning a better than expected $39 million when Alejandro G. Inarritu‘s film went wide) was alleviated or medicated away tonight. Not to mention last Thursday’s gulpy feeling after The Revenant landed 12 Oscar nominations compared to Spotlight‘s 6 (Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Film Editing, Best Original Screenplay)…temporarily forgotten.
As Tennessee Williams once wrote, “Sometimes there’s God so quickly!”
Spotlight producer Steve Golin (l.) and the supporting team (r.).
Spotlight Best Supporting Actress nominee Rachel McAdams, Boston Globe reporter Sacha Pfeiffer accepting the Best Ensemble Award.
The cynical, know-it-all blogaroonies will try to dismiss or minimize the significance of tonight’s Spotlight comeback, and I won’t argue that the real test of the situation will come when the Producers Guild hands out its Daryl F. Zanuck award on Saturday, 1.23.
If Spotlight takes the top PGA prize, champagne time. If The Big Short takes it, confusion and craziness. If The Revenant wins, back to that feeling of despair and defeatism for the Spotlight-ers. And if Mad Max: Fury Road pulls it out of the hat, whoopee for George Miller along with an even crazier sense of lettuce leaves being tossed in the air and landing every which way.
I’m only telling you that the Spotlight team (Rachel McAdams, Sacha Pfeiffer, producer Steve Golin, Open Road’s Tom Ortenberg but minus Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber and director Tom McCarthy) breathed a collective sigh of relief when they won the Best Picture trophy. The Critics Choice awards have proven a better statistical predictor of the Oscars than the Globes, and there’s nothing the cynics can say that will alter that.
8:02 pm: Will The Revenant steal the Best Picture — Drama from Spotlight? Yes, that’s just happened. Shocker — really, really unexpected. What a mindblower, what an unexpected triumph…whoa. Who predicted a three-award sweep for one of the roughest sits of the year? The Revenant is the show’s wowser winner. The Spotlight guys must be in shock…sorry but again not sorry.
7:55 pm: The Revenant‘s Leonardo DiCaprio wins Best Actor – Drama. Huge cheers and screams inside the Fox tent. Fully deserved, obviously paving the way to Best Actor Oscar. Leo concludes his “thank you” speech with a little Marlon Brando flourish, paying tribute to Native Americans.
7:53 pm: Room‘s Brie Larson wins for Best Female Performance — Drama. Heavily predicted. I would have preferred Brooklyn’ s SaoirseRonan. I’ll bet the vote was close.
7:41 pm: Jim Carrey wickedly mocking the “two-time Golden Globe winner” intro. And the Best Motion Picture Comedy award goes to The Martian, hands down the biggest laugh riot of the year. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the realm of the Golden Globes. HE to readership: What are your favorite laugh-riot moments in this wonderfully satisfying film? Seriously, The Martian is a very well-made entertainment. Cheers for any win it manages to get from the HFPA, no matter how loony the classification might be.
7:32 pm: Another surprise win — Jennifer Lawerence takes Best Actress Comedy award for Joy. Did anyone see this one coming? Thank God they didn’t give it to The Lady In The Van‘s Maggie Smith. I would have preferred a win by Trainwreck‘s Amy Schumer but this is fine.
7:23 pm: Alejandro G. Inarritu wins Best Director award for The Revenant! What a weekend for The Revenant with the unexpectedly huge box-office and now this. Sorry, Scott Feinberg, but no Gold Watch award for Ridley Scott. Fucking wifi just died in Fox Pavillion so I’m on the iPhone now. Okay, it’s back now. What a shocker. Did anyone see this coming? Very happy and gratified.
7:04 pm: Congested, cold-afflicted Tom Hanks introducing Denzel Washington, recipient of this year’s Cecil B DeMille Award.
6:57 pm: Mr. Robot wins for Best TV Series. No comment. Okay, I have a comment: Congrats!
6:53 pm: Ricky Gervais announcing that he’s “in the awkward position of having to introduce” Mel Gibson again after insulting him some years back. Kicker: “I’d rather have a drink with [Mel Gibson] tonight, in his hotel room, than with Bill Cosby.” Another: “What the fuck does ‘Sugartits’ even mean?” Best Golden Globes moment so far?
6:39 pm: Laszlo Nemes wins Best Foreign Language Golden Globe for Son of Saul! This is the first time tonight that things have really gone Hollywood Elsewhere’s way. It’s been a bit of a weird show so far. Hooray for Lady Gaga, whose facial features I’m still trying to assimilate and hang onto. Nobody cares about Best Song.
6:28 pm: Aaron Sorkin wins Screenplay Award for Steve Jobs, a movie that wasn’t especially lovable or satisfying and which tanked when it went wide? Spotlight was supposed to win this handily. This is the second Jobs shocker of the night after Kate Winslet winning for Best Supporting Actress, all but stealing it from Alicia Vikander.
6:19 pm: J.K. Simmons and Patricia Arquette announcing winner of the Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor award, and…Sylvester Stallone takes it. Okay, roll with it — Sly was very,very good in Creed. Kicker: “I’m gonna thank my imaginary friend Rocky Balboa for being the best friend I ever had.” But he doesn’t thank Ryan Coogler.
6:15 pm: Kurt Russell and Kate Hudson announced Golden Glove for Best Animated Feature: Inside Out. No joy in Mudville about this one. Anomalisa should have won. Bored with Pixar dominance.
I dawdled all morning and now I’m fucked with only four hours to file before going to the Golden Globes awards, which in my case means driving over to Century City for a shuttle that will take at least 15 minutes to navigate the barriers surrounding the Beverly Hilton garrison state . The 20th Century Fox viewing party begins around 4 pm, I guess. Black suit, black tie, cool shoes, cruel shoes…as long as they’re not brown.
Best Motion Picture — Drama: Will Win — Spotlight / Should Win — Spotlight…even though I have to say that The Revenant has continued to grow and grow in my head and Mad Max: Fury Road, my third place favorite, is an epic apocalyptic action film that will be part of the streaming conversation for many years to come.
Best Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical: Will Win — I know I should predict The Martian but the more hoo-hah that accumulates around this smart but lightweight rescue flick, the more I feel like putting it down. Plus there’s no way that the biggest and whoriest HFPA contortionist can call The Martian a “comedy”…get outta here! So I’m going to predict The Big Short because its rep has been ascending for the past couple of weeks. The question is whether or not HFPA members have been hip enough to pick up the signals.
Best Director — Motion Picture: Will Probably Win — all hail Ridley Scott (a.k.a., Mr. Gold Watch) for totally succumbing to corporate escapism and betraying the impulses that led to the making of one of his greatest films, also for 20th Century Fox — The Counselor. Should Win — Alejandro G. Inarritu for The Revenant and/or George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama: Will Win/Should Win: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant. He’s rich, he shoulda won it for The Wolf of Wall Street, he’s due, he’s been slamming it for 23 years, he suffered in Alberta, ate the liver, etc. Who could vote for The Danish Girl‘s Eddie Redmayne? Somebody tweeted this morning that they deserve an Oscar for watching Tom Hooper‘s film.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama: I know I should predict Room‘s Brie Larson, but I hated, hated, HATED so much of Lenny Abrahamson‘s film (except for the escape-and-salvation sequence and the touching finale) that I just can’t do it. I can’t do it! Should Win/Might Win: Brooklyn‘s Saoirse Ronan, a consummate pro who totally deserves the prize.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical: Should Win/Oughta Win — Trainwreck‘s Amy Schumer. She touched bottom and found the ache and the longing in this smart, impudent Judd Apatow comedy, and truly out-pointed her competitors (Grandma‘s Lily Tomlin, The Lady In The Van‘s Maggie Smith, Joy‘s Jennifer Lawrence, Spy‘s Melissa McCarthy) in the bargain. I don’t want to hear about any kneejerk Maggie Smith sentiment. Way too many trophies and accolades…enough.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical: Will Win — Matt Damon, The Martian. I would prefer to see Steve Carell or Christian Bale win for their Big Short performances, but I know it’s not gonna happen.
The Golden Globe Awards are happening Sunday at 5 pm Pacific. Predicting the final preferences of those 93 Hollywood Foreign Press Association members is, of course, lacking in dignity. Plus it lends an aura of unwarranted respect. But this is the world I live in and the business I’ve chosen so here we go:
Best Motion Picture — Drama: Carol, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, Room, Spotlight. HE prediction: Spotlight. If A Big Surprise Happens: Won’t happen.
Best Director — Motion Picture: Todd Haynes, Carol; Alejandro G. Iñárritu, The Revenant; Tom McCarthy, Spotlight; George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road; Ridley Scott, The Martian. HE prediction: George Miller or Tom McCarthy — can’t decide. If A Big Surprise Happens: Ridley Scott.
Best Performance by a Motion Picture Actor — Drama: Bryan Cranston, Trumbo; Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant; Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs; Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl; Will Smith, Concussion. HE prediction: Leonardo Liver-Eatin’ DiCaprio. (Note: Jeremiah Johnson, the rugged outdoorsman portrayed by Robert Redford in that 1972 Sydney Pollack film, was famously nicknamed “Liver-Eating Johnson.”) If A Big Surprise Happens: Bryan Cranston.
Best Performance by a Motion Picture Actress — Drama: Cate Blanchett, Carol; Brie Larson, Room; Rooney Mara, Carol; Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn; Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl. HE prediction: Saoirse Ronan. If A Mild Surprise Happens: Brie Larson, but I’m sensing that the whole Room thing is deflating.
Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy: The Big Short, Joy, The Martian, Spy, Trainwreck. HE favorite: Trainwreck. HE prediction: The Big Short IF that film’s gaining momentum managed to penetrate the HFPA membrane. Almost As Likely: The Martian. although a rescue drama peppered with humor is most assuredly not a comedy.
In a 12.17 Hollywood Reporter round-table discussion moderated by Stephen Galloway and Matthew Belloni and titled “Amy Schumer, Aaron Sorkin and Four More Top Scribes on Sexism and How to Deal With Steve Jobs’ Widow,” Schumer talks about last February’s Schumergate episode: “The things that you’re afraid they’re going to say are so much worse than anything they actually say. But you’ve already put your nervous system through that fear.
“With Trainwreck coming out, I was like, ‘Everyone’s going to say she’s not pretty enough to be in this movie.’ And then only one dude wrote that, and people really attacked him, and then he redacted that and wanted to date me. I’ve been waiting for this rainstorm of hate, and it’s never really come.”
Schumer isn’t far off but what I felt was more of a spiritual kinship thing. Her Trainwreck performance melted me down, and I became a total fan. As I wrote last July, “I was persuaded that the movie version of ‘Amy’ is who Schumer really is deep down, and that realization touched me like very few comedies have in my entire life. I’ll never say a word against her again.” And for expressing this I was called a phpny and a liar.
BEST PICTURE: 1. Spotlight; 2. The Revenant; 3. Love & Mercy; 4. Mad Max: Fury Road; 5. Carol.
BEST ACTOR: 1. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant, 2. John Cusack, Love & Mercy, 3. Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs (even though I didn’t like his company).
BEST ACTRESS: 1. Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years; 2. Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn; 3. Rooney Mara, Carol.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: 1. Paul Dano, Love & Mercy; 2. Michael Shannon, 99 Homes; 3. Sylvester Stallone, Creed.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: 1. Jane Fonda, Youth; 2. Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl; 3. Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs (even though she bothered me).
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS: 1. Jacob Tremblay, Room; 2. Whatsername, the little girl in Joy; 3. Any suggestions?
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE: 1. Spotlight; 2. The Revenant; 3. Youth.
BEST DIRECTING: 1. Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant; 2. Tom McCarthy, Spotlight; 3. George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road.
BEST SCREENWRITING (Original): 1. Spotlight; 2. Trainwreck; 3. Inside Out.
BEST SCREENWRITING (Adapted): 1. Carol; 2. Brooklyn; 3. The Big Short.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: 1. The Revenant; 2. Mad Max: Fury Road; 3. Carol.
The 2016 Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning by The Hollywood Foreign Press Association. GG noms stir the conversational pot, help SAG-snubbed contenders get back into the psychological/emotional swing of things, focus attention in the major categories, toss in a couple of surprises, etc. Here are the nominees plus HE mood-pocket commentary:
Best Motion Picture, Drama: Carol, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, Room, Spotlight. HE comment: This is Spotlight‘s to lose. These five are almost certainly the biggies right now in terms of the general conversation, even if Love & Mercy, Brooklyn and Beasts of No Nation deserve their place at the table. I don’t need to remind the community that The Movie Godz are particularly behind Love & Mercy, and concurrently distressed that so many people have said it doesn’t rate because it was released last June. C’mon!
Best Motion Picture, Comedy: The Big Short, Joy, The Martian, Spy, Trainwreck. HE comment: Huzzah for The Big Short! The HFPA can nominate The Martian as a comedy and even give it an award and that’s fine, but that doesn’t change the fact that it died yesterday as a Best Picture contender when SAG declined to give it a Best Ensemble nomination. The likeliest winner is…I don’t know.
Best Actress in a motion picture, drama: Cate Blanchett, Carol; Brie Larson, Room; Rooney Mara, Carol; Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn; Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl. HE comment: Larson is the presumptive favorite (am I wrong?) but HE’s rooting interest is for Ronan first and Vikander second. It’s probably safe to say that Blanchett/Mara will cancel each other out.
Best Actress in a motion picture, comedy: Jennifer Lawrence, Joy; Melissa McCarthy, Spy; Amy Schumer, Trainwreck; Maggie Smith, The Lady in the Van; Lily Tomlin, Grandma. HE comment: Schumer is in the running! (Please note that I put her in an earlybird HE Oscar chart last September.) This is mainly between Lawrence and Smith; Lawrence is the likely winner…right?
Best Actor in a motion picture, drama: Bryan Cranston, Trumbo; Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant; Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs; Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl; Will Smith, Concussion. HE comment: Leo totally wins this. No way Smith prevails (not with that “I make movies to please my grandmother” remark) but he should nonetheless send a basket of fruit and a bottle of wine to THR‘s Scott Feinberg for getting him this far. Redmayne is a non-starter.
Best Actor in a motion picture, comedy: Christian Bale, The Big Short; Steve Carell, The Big Short, Matt Damon, The Martian; Al Pacino, Danny Collins; Mark Ruffalo, Infinitely Polar Bear. HE comment: Pacino takes it in a walk. Seriously, no clue. Bale and Carell cancel each other out so…what, Damon takes it as a consolation prize for The Martian getting rejected in yesterday’s SAG nominations?
Best Actress in a supporting role in a motion picture: Jane Fonda, Youth; Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight; Helen Mirren, Trumbo; Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina; Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs. HE comment: Fonda owns! Okay, Fonda or Vikander to win. Mirren, Winslet and especially Leigh are placeholders, thrown in to round out the pack. The chief distinction in Leigh’s performance is that she gets slugged six or seven times by Kurt Russell and winds up…okay, no spoiling.
Best Actor in a supporting role in a motion picture: Paul Dano, Love & Mercy, Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation; Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies; Michael Shannon, 99 Homes; Sylvester Stallone, Creed. HE comment: Strongest nominee roster of them all — it’s probably between Rylance, Dano and Stallone but don’t call Elba or Shannon slouches. I’m a Dano guy but I respect each and every performance in this category.
Amy Schumer knows what she’s doing with her 2016 Pirelli calendar appearance. She’s saying “most women look like me and I can get all the guys I want anyway so fuck it.” Fine. Earlier today she tweeted the below photo with the following: “Beautiful, gross, strong, thin, fat, pretty, ugly, sexy, disgusting, flawless, woman. Thank you @annieleibovitz.” Lena Dunham has been making the same brash socio-political statement since Girls began. And you know who used to be on that page? Melissa McCarthy (i.e., “Leave me alone, I’m a big girl and that’s that,” etc.) Until she awoke one morning and said, “Okay, did that, next.” Schumer and Dunham will never admit it, but they’ll be doing a McCarthy sooner or later.
I walked down and back up the Exorcist steps last night. You can’t leap out of Regan McNeil’s second-story bedroom window and onto the steps — way too far.