Oscarweb Round-up: How about cutting the double-dippers a break?
Also: David Fincher on Scarlet Johansson and 'Dragon Tattoo' and a list of underdog actors
Ryan Gosling in "The Ides of March"
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Mark Harris cherry picks three areas of the Academy's rulebook that really need some reconsideration. And one of them drives me absolutely nuts, too. The stipulation that an actor can't be nominated for two different films in the same category. Not that I spend a lot of time trying to understand it, but really, I can't figure out what the point of this nonsense is. Is it some kind of bizarre fairness thing? I don't know. But Ryan Gosling gives two of the year's best performances, and by golly, he should be nominated for each if voters see fit! #pissinginthewind [Grantland]
Among other things, David Fincher admits "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (the book) has its issues and Scarlett Johansson would have been too (hot and) distracting as Lisbeth Salander. [Vogue]
George Clooney tunes out Oscar buzz. [USA Today]
Anyone gotten a load of the (legit) Ellen Barkin Twitter insanity? [Twitter]
Peter Knegt writes up 13 underdog actors who deserve Oscar attention. [indieWIRE]
Sasha Stone takes an Oscar flashback to romance films that registered with the Academy. [Awards Daily]
Matt Brennan revisits Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life," now that it's on DVD and Blu-ray. [Thompson on Hollywood]
Random: Beck is remixing Philip Glass. [Pitchfork]
Amid question on any and everything he's working on, William Monahan lays out his idea for a sequel to "The Departed." [Collider]
John Lasseter gets a bit defensive on "Cars 2" and has a friend in Brooks Barnes to carry the message across strongly. [New York Times]
Sharon Waxman gossips that Mark Wahlberg has fallen out with friend and collaborator David O. Russell. [Waxword]
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October 18, 2011 at 1:16PM EST Reply to CommentWhat do you think of Ryan Gosling's chances are for Drive? I know it kind of a long shot, but genre films occasionally does well with the Academy. L.A. is shot beautifully. And his character and the film as a whole is a great throwback to the great heros of the past action films (where action films still had some substance). Probably not made as an Oscar film but a nom for Gosling, Brooks or Refn would be one of the most entertaining choices in years (since
Frank Lee
October 18, 2011 at 1:19PM EST Reply to CommentIt's fairly obvious why the acting branch does not allow multiple nominations in the same category: they don't want to lose the biggest stars to vote splitting in the nomination process, and they don't want the biggest stars to have to compete against themselves for the award. I read once that an actor's votes are combined in the nomination process. In other words, Dennis Hopper's votes for Blue Velvet and Hoosiers (is that what he was nominated for?) were combined, guaranteeing his one nomination. I've asked about this more recently on this forum, and someone insisted that this is not in fact the system the Academy uses, though this fellow did not cite any rules or substantiate his claim at all. Nor does Mark Harris look at the actual rules in his column. Maybe someone should pin this down. If an actor's votes are not combined, then it truly is a foolish system. But if an actor's votes ARE combined, then Kris or others may still not like it for very good reasons, but at least there's some logic behind the policy of not having multiple nominations in the same category.
Jorge I agree that that is probably the reason they have it - i.e. the actor's branch wants it that way. Doesn't mean it's not a silly rule from the perspective of "rewarding the best of the year." But, like in all things, profits matter more than anything else. If Ryan got 3 nominations for Best Actor, that would be two fewer popular artists that the award shows could invite to their red carpets, etc.
October 18, 2011 at 1:30PM ESTJJ1 ^ that's been discussed many times here and elsewhere, but nobody seems to know if that's the real case or not. I would assume not. But I remember the source of that ideology came in '08 when it was rumored that Kate Winslet actually had enough votes in Lead for both The Reader and Rev. Road, but she got it for The Reader because more votes came in for that particular performance. But I'm not positive.
October 18, 2011 at 1:33PM ESTKristopher Tapley Yes, they combine the votes for the actor. And whichever performance has the most nominations is the one that gets in. I think it's nonsense. And who cares if they are competing against themselves? It's just silly.
October 18, 2011 at 4:14PM ESTFrank Lee Who cares if the actors are competing against themselves? The actors themselves, of course. Sean Penn presumably did not want to see his votes split between "Mystic River" and "21 Grams" and thereby miss out on an Oscar (or possibly even a nomination). You know, there's something sort of useful in this system in that, if Jessica Chastain or Fassbender or Gosling don't get nominated, then we know there was not much support for any one of their performances since the cummulative tally from three or four admired performances still didn't match five other actors' tallies from just one performance each (in most cases). By the way, did I notice an unusual frequency of folks mentioning Bryce Dallas Howard (sp?) in the comments about the Best Supporting Actress category? I wonder if that very unrandom sample is indicative of her level of support more generally. I hope it is. I would like to see more of her.
October 18, 2011 at 7:02PM ESTJJ1 But if they combine the votes for the actor, wouldn't BOTH performances (let's say Drive and Ides) 'have' to be in the top 5 for the rule to work (Winslet in '08)?
October 19, 2011 at 1:22PM ESTOr is it simply that Gosling could get a lot of votes in general and the film with the most votes - while accumulating a top 5 tally - is what he's nommed for?
To me, it would seem like that favors any actor/actress who gives good performances in multiple films in one particular year; but it certainly doesn't always happen that way.
DylanS I really don't believe in vote-splitting between two performances. I just don't buy that people would see say Kate Winslet nominated for both "The Reader" and "Rev Road" and say "well, I like both of those performances, so I'm gonna vote for someone else." It doesn't make seems to me, wouldn't they just picked the one they like more.
October 19, 2011 at 6:05PM ESTIn regards to the vote combining, that's ridiculous. Who's to say that the people who liked Penn's performances in "Mystic River" therefore also liked his performance in "21 Grams". It makes it more about who's a popular actor and not what was the best performance, which is what it should be about.
Andrew Rech
October 18, 2011 at 1:41PM EST Reply to CommentWhat the hell with Ellen Barkin? Haha she's hilarious, but it's kinda surreal.
JJ1 It's fun to read in a kind of absurd way, haha.
October 18, 2011 at 2:40PM ESTHoustonRufus
October 18, 2011 at 2:03PM EST Reply to CommentI agree with Mark on his other pet peeves in that article, but for some reason, limiting an actor to one nomination per category makes a certain amount of sense to me. I think it's better overall for the awards and all nominees and the few movies that get oscar exposure each year to have five different actors nominated per acting category. Some actors like Fassbender and Gosling who've shone big time this year won't get all their performances recognized, but there is no ideal situation here. As for Gosling, if he can't get one performance nominated, he sure as heck isn't going to get two.
HoustonRufus
October 18, 2011 at 2:16PM EST Reply to CommentVery much enjoyed Brennan's reconsiderationof Tree of Life. I watched it again this weekend. In the theater, I found myself often adjusting to the film and Malick's techniques. In the privacy of my home I found myself genuinely moved both by the potency of the images and story and also Malick's audacious ambition. I still have problems with certain choices he made. I'll probably never be right with dinosaurs thrown in? And some of the voice over narration for me clunks for me and is unnecessary, for example. But my admiration for the film as a whole has only increased since I first saw it.
Rashad
October 18, 2011 at 3:13PM EST Reply to CommentCars 2 really wasn't that bad. Fun plot, good action, so what if Mater was a bit annoying.
linus
October 18, 2011 at 4:15PM EST Reply to CommentErm, is there a picture of Jean Dujardin for every category on the sidebar for anyone else?
Linus Oh OK, it's gone now. It was very weird though.
October 18, 2011 at 4:31PM ESTLiz
October 18, 2011 at 6:43PM EST Reply to CommentRegarding the Indiewire underdog article, "The Trip" isn't eligible for Oscars, is it? I thought it aired on British TV before its American release.
Laura Stewart
October 18, 2011 at 7:41PM EST Reply to CommentIn other news, what Fincher MEANT to say was that Scarlett Johansson (while being very hot) is also a terrible actor.
bayana
October 19, 2011 at 12:38AM EST Reply to CommentFincher is so f**king unprofessional. Stop talking about the auditions of actors you didn't cast. Who does that? petty, demeaning and outright sexist. You can't wait for her to take off her clothes? if that how you felt during Justin Timberlake's audition for The Social Network? prick! I hope your movie flops. Good riddance.
ugh First of all, he complimented her great audition. However professional he is or isn't, he's right about the "you can't wait" part. He's talking about the audience. Scarlett is universally considered a sex symbol. The second her shirt comes off the majority of the audience will be salivating. It's not sexist to say so. Timberlake is not comparable as his character wasn't raped repeatedly in the film, nor did he have to do lesbian sex scenes. In fact, he wasn't naked at all in the film.
October 19, 2011 at 8:18PM EST