Round-up: Calling for a collaborative performance Oscar
Also: Clothing 'Jane Eyre,' and rejecting the idea of 'Oscar bait'
Andy Serkis on the set of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes."
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With many grousing that the Academy's technophobia deprived Andy Serkis of an Oscar nod for "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," Matt Zoller Seitz makes a case for a compromise honor: a new Oscar category for Best Collaborative Performance, for characters created by heavily altered actors in conjunction with motion-capture artists, animators and makeup wizards. Serkis aside, performances Seitz suggests could have won here include Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly" and Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" -- though his notion that anti-FX bias cost Pitt the 2008 Best Actor Oscar is an empty one when you consider his competition. Overall, It's an intelligent suggestion, though it would surely hinder the possibility of such performances cracking the main acting races. [Press Play]
Michael O'Connor, both my prediction and my personal pick for the Costume Design Oscar, talks us through his gorgeous work on "Jane Eyre." [Entertainment Weekly]
Melinda Newman talks to the great Sergio Mendes about the Oscar-nominated "Real in Rio," the first song he's ever written for a film. [The Beat Goes On]
David Poland rails against the idea that any of this year's nominees (or, indeed, some high-profile non-nominees) set out to make an "Oscar movie." [Hot Blog]
The Academy is worried that Sasha Baron Cohen will pitch up to the Oscars at "The Dictator." Because, you know, that would risk amusing people. [Deadline]
Jeff Wells whinges that "nobody of any consequence" loves "The Artist." Nobody of as much consequence as Jeff Wells, at any rate. [Hollywood Elsewhere]
Predicting the visual tech categories, Mark Harris bets against "Anonymous" in Costume Design because "no movie that terrible" has won the award. I dunno -- "Elizabeth 2: The Deadly Art of Illusion?" [Grantland]
Sasha Stone picks her "favorite cinematic moments" from this year's Oscar contenders. I had no idea she was a fan of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." [Awards Daily]
Phil Hoad bemoans the fact that the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar is essentially designed to exclude international co-productions. [The Guardian]
Should have mentioned this ages ago, but hey, pretty pictures don't have a sell-by date: BAFTA's awesome official posters for their Best Film nominees. [The Film Experience]
2012-2013 OSCAR PREDICTIONS
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Makeup And Hairstyling
Best Original Score
Best Original Song
Best Production Design
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects
Best Animated Feature Film
Best Documentary Feature
Best Foreign Language Film
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupGraysmith
February 22, 2012 at 11:53AM EST Reply to CommentGood luck finding enough contenders for such a category.
Going by something like the Animated Feature Film category you need 16 films to produce 5 nominees, and more than 8 to have a category at all. Would there really be that many in a year that would qualify? I can't imagine it, especially since there'd have to be other requirements for eligibility as well (like the character being a major character in the film and such things).
In 20 years maybe, but definitely not now.
Andrej As it was presented, I think it's a bit redundant (it would be both an acting and a special effects category?). I think there's more to this field than just motion capture and puppetry - what about voice acting, or Rango's emotion capture? These analog-to-digital conversions are also worth considering as collaborative performances, too.
February 22, 2012 at 12:11PM ESTGuy Lodge Well, if you read the article, you'll see that Seitz is considering those disciplines.
February 22, 2012 at 2:13PM ESTAndrej It mentions voice acting, but only tied to motion capture or puppetry. I'm talking about voice acting for any sort of animated films - the marriage of voicework and handmade 2D, 3D or stop motion animation into a character is a kind of collaborative performance, too.
February 22, 2012 at 9:11PM ESTGuy Lodge Seitz mentions in the comments that he'd consider that kind of work too.
February 22, 2012 at 9:13PM ESTDylanS
February 22, 2012 at 12:35PM EST Reply to CommentIs it possible that Andy Serkis' performance just happened to be very good without it being on that tier. I'm not denying that the academy has a certain aversion to mo-cap, but I really just don't get the outrage over this performance not being nominated. If this performances skill has nothing to do with mo-cap and animation, and everything to do with Serkis, than he's playing an ape with a rather conventional character arc. I just don't get it, and I think a category like this would suffer a great deal from not having enough quality nominees each year and it would just end up being a basement category.
Guy Lodge I more or less agree with you. I don't mind considering Serkis's performance alongside human-form ones, but I wouldn't even consider nominating it. Not enough there.
February 22, 2012 at 2:16PM ESTDylanS "I don't mind considering Serkis's performance alongside human-form ones"
February 22, 2012 at 3:40PM ESTNor do I, I'd have supported his being nominated for Gollum/Smeagol in "Two Towers", and Ceasar, while a fine performance, pales in comparison to that one.
The reason I was singling out the "ape" aspect is that once you think about it and look past the unique mo-cap quality of the performance, it's rather conventional, well-done to be sure, but not really unique enough as a character to be worthy of a nomination.
DylanS
February 22, 2012 at 12:38PM EST Reply to CommentGuy: your sarcastic commentary on each link is such a delight at this juncture in the season, particularly in reference to Stone and Wells. :)
DylanS
February 22, 2012 at 12:51PM EST Reply to CommentInteresting, Mark Harris compares the makeup transformation of Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady" to the "intense prosthetic transformations" of "The Wolfman", "Star Trek" and "The Grinch". So apparently Mark Harris thinks "The Iron Lady" was a monster movie, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the intention of the film.
Kel
February 22, 2012 at 1:09PM EST Reply to CommentForget about a collaborative performance Oscar, just give Andy Serkis a Special/Honorary Oscar. It's the only way he is going to win one for a mo-cap performance.
Now how about a Best Stunt Work category? They did it SAG and they should do it with the Oscars, giving the award to the stunt coordinator rather than the whole stunt ensemble.
Also, how about a best ensemble category? That would be a wonderful way to acknowledge performances that somehow go unnoticed during the awards season (ala Corey Stoll, despite his Indie Spirit nod). They would just have to recognize an actual ensemble and not just pick and choose nominees as they did with Midnight in Paris and The Descendants
Kel *as SAG did with MiP and The Descendants
February 22, 2012 at 1:09PM ESTGuy Lodge As much as I like the idea of a Best Ensemble category, I have no confidence that the Academy would actually vote wisely for it. Like SAG, it would turn into just another gathering of Best Picture frontrunners, with the occasional outside film thrown in simply for having a large cast.
February 22, 2012 at 3:11PM ESTParrill
February 22, 2012 at 2:07PM EST Reply to CommentWorse than Elizabeth 2 was just last year: Alice in Wonderland.
Anonymous is just having fun and not that terrible at all.
Guy Lodge God, I'd somehow suppressed the memory of Alice in Wonderland winning two Oscars.
February 22, 2012 at 2:17PM ESTDylanS One of the disturbing lows among many in the thought process of Academy voters. "Hay, wasn't "Alice in Wonderland" a Tim Burton film? And gee, look at all those gaudy colors. The categorie's called "Art Direction", right? So that HAS to win" If the category had been named "Best Production Design" (as it should be), I believe "Inception" would've deservedly walked away with it. Everything to do with what they associate the name of the category to mean.
February 22, 2012 at 3:42PM ESTJJ1 Yeah, Anonymous was not bad, at all. Nor was it uniformally disliked among critics (Ebert, LA Times, NYPost, NY Observer enjoyed it, etc.).
February 22, 2012 at 5:38PM ESTLukas
February 22, 2012 at 3:15PM EST Reply to CommentWill this finally be the year of the Leaf?
http://www.theonion.com/video/leaf-from-tree-of-life-frontrunner-for-best-actor,27461/
DylanS absolutely brilliant
February 22, 2012 at 5:34PM ESTDooby
February 22, 2012 at 4:22PM EST Reply to CommentI don't understand the disgust pointed towards Anonymous. I thought it was a great, entertaining, well-acted film that was exciting visually and had a complelling script.
Is it the incest? The hubris of suggesting Shakespeare isn't Shakespeare? Give me a clue people (honestly I thought The Descendents was ten times worse...)
Kieran S
February 22, 2012 at 4:39PM EST Reply to CommentRe: Jeff Wells comment about how no one of consequence likes "The Artist," has anyone else noticed the shift in Oscar discourse, especially over the past two years? We also had another blogger earlier this week stating that "no one wants 'The Artist' to win." At what point should honesty enter the picture? Wouldn't it be more earnest, rather than trying to figure out what's "wrong" with the Academy to just come out and say "Why don't they nominate the movies I like?" Because, not to step on any toes, that's really what it's about, right? Especially this year. The Oscars lose their relevance, according to these pundits, because they don't nominate or crown their personal favorites. And yet...the amount of discourse they dedicate to it suggests that it is indeed still relevant. I dunno. I'm talking in circles.
In the vast world that is cinema, surely there are other things to talk about and other angles to write from rather than think piece after think piece talking about how the Academy is of a limited mindset, which we always knew and they make no bones about. I come here because I can read interviews with tech people and other below the line craftsmen. Also, Guy and Kris aren't so unaware that they're going to dedicate several articles a week railing against the Academy for not nominating "Weekend" and "Margaret," respectively.
DylanS
February 22, 2012 at 6:03PM EST Reply to CommentFor somebody who's so apathetic towards the Oscars, (particularly this year) it's amazing how many of Sasha's favorite moments came from BP nominees (all but one, and that one was pretty close to being one too)
DylanS oh, just realized that list was specific to Oscar contenders. I take that back, lol.
February 23, 2012 at 1:31AM ESTMayukh
February 23, 2012 at 12:32AM EST Reply to Comment"I had no idea she was a fan of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.""
I can't even handle myself right now. Chortling so hard...