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2003-03-16
s purchased in
newspapers, crafted mailers with catchy candidate pitches, black tie promotional
soirées, mud slinging and word of mouth media blitzes enticing every magazine
and newspaper hack with an audience to resonate a line for that one particular
nominee… no… its isn’t time to for the presidential or congressional races,… it is
time for the Oscars. On March 23rd,
2003, actors, actresses, directors, and various other movie craft persons will
grace the stage of the Kodak Theater in Hollywood California, collect there
gold statuette and ironically announce to the audience and world, that they
were just happy to be nominated.
In what should be an evening where awards are
bestowed to nominees based on merit and work, the true value of aggressive and
costly ad campaigns really comes to light. Sometimes crossing the lines of
shameless self-promotion, into outright voter tampering; a yearly issue facing
Academy Award Executives that actually has required organizers to appoint
persons in charge of monitoring the campaign activities and possible violations
of studios.
This season, amid the regular ad campaigns and
finger pointing, Ric Robertson, executive administrator of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has become
aware of "several disturbing campaign acts," he said. "Among
those are the private parties to which members are being invited, in order to
press the flesh with various nominees."
"Since many of the members in
question don't even know the hosts or anyone connected to these parties, we can
only assume that they're being invited solely because of their status as voting
members of the Academy. That is a clear violation of our guidelines."
And in continuing with a fast approaching Oscar date, other
more certain violations have stirred commotion among Oscar voters, causing Miramax Films to pull its ads featuring an
opinion column that called on them to give Martin Scorsese
an Academy Award for directing Gangs of New
York. A column written by the Oscar-winning director,
and former president of the Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Robert Wise had been
reprinted in advertisements that appeared in Hollywood trades, the Los Angeles
Times and The New York Times.
Academy President Frank Pierson: "It's an outright violation of academy rules. It's a
corruption of the process."
In the past, the Academy has taken away tickets for violating
Academy rules. A punishment considered severe to people in the industry.
However, in an extreme case of Academy rule violations, a nominated movie can
also be declared ineligible but to date, that has never happened.
As an interesting side bar, one possible reason for such intense
nominee campaigning could be linked to a little known 2 year old study
conducted by a Dr. Don
Redelmeier, deSouza chair in clinical trauma research at U of T and Sunnybrook
and Women's College Health Sciences Center. In the study he has found that
Academy Award winners live almost four years longer than their less recognized
peers.
The study, published in an early
2001 edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine, examined the life
expectancy of nominated and winning performers over the 73-year-history of the
Academy Awards. The research was conducted by looking at nominated movies and
comparing actors or actresses that had major roles in those same films. A total
of 1,649 performers were grouped according to whether they won, were nominated
and never won, or were never nominated. The study, which was funded by the
Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care and the Canadian Institutes of
Health Research found that:
"Performers who
won Academy Awards had a life span of 79.7 years, compared to 75.8 years for
those who did not win. Survival for those who were nominated but did not win
was about the same as for those who were never nominated. Actors with many
nominations had no advantage over those with single nominations and there was
no difference in survival between supporting and leading roles. However,
winners had a 22 per cent reduction in mortality for each additional Oscar."
So there we have it folks. Oscar
night is more then awards and accolades, more then sequin gowns and tuxedos,
more then the red carpet and Joan Rivers… the Oscars are a matter of
life… and… death…
George W. Horta III
Additional Sources: www.cbsnews.com
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2003-02-11
ruary 11th, 2002) nominations for the 75th Annual Academy Awards were announced by Academy President Frank Pierson and Marisa Tomei. Chicago lead all nominees with 13 nominations. Gangs of New York and The Hours nearly tied for second with 10 and 9 nominations respectively.
Best Picture:
Chicago
Gangs of New York
The Hours
The Pianist
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Best Director
Pedro Almodóvar for Talk to Her
Stephen Daldry for The Hours
Rob Marshall for Chicago
Roman Polanksi for The Pianist
Martin Scorsese for Gangs of New York
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Selma Hayek as “Frida Kahlo” in Frida
Nicole Kidman as “Virginia Woolf” in The Hours
Diane Lane as "Connie Summer" in Unfaithful
Julianne Moore as "Cathy Whitaker" in Far From Heaven
Renée Zellweger as "Roxie Hart" in Chicago
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Adrien Brody as "Wladyslaw Szpilman" in The Pianist
Nicolas Cage as "Charlie Kaufman / Donald Kaufman" in Adaptation
Michael Caine as “Thomas Fowler” in The Quiet American
Daniel Day-Lewis as "Bill the Butcher" in Gangs of New York
Jack Nicholson as "Warren Schmidt" in About Schmidt
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Chris Cooper as "John Laroche" in Adaptation
Ed Harris as "Richard Brown" in The Hours
Paul Newman as "John Rooney" in Road to Perdition
John C. Reilly as “Amos Hart” in Chicago
Christopher Walken as "Frank Abagnale Sr." in Catch Me If You Can
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Kathy Bates as "Roberta Hertzel" in About Schmidt
Queen Latifah as "Mama Morton" in Chicago
Julianne Moore as "Laura Brown" in The Hours
Meryl Streep as "Susan Orlean" in Adaptation
Catherine Zeta-Jones as "Velma Kelly" in Chicago
Best Animated Feature Film
Ice Age
Lilo & Stitch
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Spirited Away
Treasure Planet
Foreign Language Film
The Crime of Father Amaro (Mexico)
Hero (China)
Hotel Paraiso (Netherlands)
The Man Without a Past(Finland)
Nowhere in Africa (Germany)
Documentary - Feature
Bowling for Columbine
Daughter From Danang
Prisoner of Paradise
Spellbound
The Travelling Birds
Documentary - Short Subject
The Collector of Bedford Street
Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks
Twin Towers
Why Can't We Be a Family Again?
Short Film - Animated
The Chubbchubbs
Das Rad
Katedra
Mike's New Car
Mt. Head
Short Film - Live Action
Gridlock
J'attendrai le suivant...
Inja
Johnny Flynton
This Charming Man
Art Direction
John Myhre and Gordon Sim for Chicago
Felipe Fernández del Paso and Hannia Robledo for Frida
Dante Ferretti and Francesca LoSchiavo for Gangs of New York
Grant Major, Dan Hennah and Alan Lee for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Dennis Gassner and Nancy Haigh for Road to Perdition
Cinematography
Dion Beebe for Chicago
Edward Lachman for Far from Heaven
Michael Ballhaus for Gangs of New York
Pawel Edelman for The Pianist
Conrad L. Hall for Road to Perdition
Costume Design
Colleen Atwood for Chicago
Julie Weiss for Frida
Sandy Powell for Gangs of New York
Ann Roth for The Hours
Anna B. Sheppard for The Pianist
Film Editing
Martin Walsh for Chicago
Thelma Schoonmaker for Gangs of New York
Peter Boyle for The Hours
D. Michael Horton for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Hervé de Luze for The Pianist
Makeup
Beatrice De Alba and John E. Jackson for Frida
John M. Elliott Jr. and Barbara Lorenz for The Time Machine
Music - Original Score
Elmer Bernstein for Far from Heaven
Philip Glass for The Hours
Elliot Goldenthal for Frida
Thomas Newman for Road to Perdition
John Williams for Catch Me If You Can
Music - Original Song
"Burn It Blue" from Frida
· Music by Elliot Goldenthal
· Lyric by Julie Taymor
"Father and Daughter" from The Wild Thornberrys Movie
· Music and Lyric by Paul Simon
"The Hands That Built America" from Gangs of New York
· Music and Lyric by Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen
"I Move On" from Chicago
· Music by John Kander
· Lyric by Fred Ebb
"Lose Yourself" from 8 Mile
· Music by Eminem, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto
· Lyric by Eminem
Sound
David Lee, Michael Minkler and Dominic Tavella for Chicago
Ivan Sharrock, Tom Fleischman and Eugene Gearty for Gangs of New York
Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, and Hammond Peek for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Bob Beemer, Scott Millan and John Pritchett for for Road to Perdition
Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Ed Novick for Spider-Man
Sound Editing
Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom for Minority Report
Scott Hecker for Road to Perdition
Visual Effects
Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
John Frazier, John Dykstra, Anthony LaMolinara and Scott Stokdyk for Spider-Man
Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll and Ben Snow for Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Screenplay - Adaptation
Chris Weitz & Paul Weitz for About a Boy
Charlie Kaufman &Donald Kaufman for Adaptation
Bill Condon for Chicago
David Hare for The Hours
Ronald Harwood for The Pianist
Screenplay - Original
Pedro Almodóvar for Talk to Her
Todd Haynes for Far From Heaven
Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian and Kenneth Lonergan for Gangs of New York
Nia Vardalos for My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Alfonso Cuarón, Carlos Cuarón for And Your Mother Too
Submitted by: C.
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2003-02-06
imdb.com/Name?Moore,+Michael+(II)">Michael Moore’s latest documentary, Bowling for Columbine received a surprising nomination for best original screenplay from the Writers’ Guild of America. This is the latest in a long string of firsts and records for the Guerilla Filmmaker. In May of 2002 Bowling for Columbine became the first documentary to compete for the Golden Palm at the Cannes film festival. When it was released it set box office records for documentaries across the globe. And now it’s the first documentary to ever get a WGA nomination.
Bowling for Columbine will complete against My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Far From Heaven, Gangs of New York and Antwone Fisher.
Submitted by:
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2003-01-28
Award nominations were announced today (Tuesday January 28th) at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Chicago lead the way with 5 nominations and Julianne Moore received two nominations, a feat matched by Sean Hayes in the Television categories.
Theatrical Categories:
Outstanding Performance by a Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture
· Adaptation
· Chicago
· The Hours
· The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
· My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
· Salma Hayek, Frida
· Nicole Kidman, The Hours
· Diane Lane, Unfaithful
· Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven
· Renee Zellweger, Chicago
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
· Adrien Brody, The Pianist
· Nicolas Cage, Adaptation
· Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York
· Richard Gere, Chicago
· Jack Nicholson, About Schmidt
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
· Kathy Bates, About Schmidt
· Julianne Moore, The Hours
· Michelle Pfeiffer, White Oleander
· Queen Latifah, Chicago
· Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
· Chris Cooper, Adaptation
· Ed Harris, The Hours
· Alfred Molina, Frida
· Dennis Quaid, Far From Heaven
· Christopher Walken, Catch Me If You Can
At the award ceremony, which will take place on March 9 at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center,
Clint Eastwood will be awarded the Life Achievement Award.
Submitted by: C.
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2003-01-23
news has appeared at Dark Horizons. First up is the new project
Steven Spielberg is posed to do: A film about the life and times of Abraham
Lincoln. Spielberg told columnist Cindy Perlman that his feelings for history and
Lincoln are strong and the production should hopefully be underway within two years.
Writer John Logan as already been penned to write the screenplay.
Recent Golden Globe winner Renee Zellweger stated she'll gladly put on weight,
again, to play Bridget Jones in a Dairy sequel. Zellweger was nominated for a best
actress Oscar last year for her performance in Bridget Jones's Diary, and the
film, based on the beloved novel by Helen Fielding, was an enormous hit with
American and foreign audiences alike.
Australian song goddess Kylie Minogue looks to be set to star in Grease 3,
despite rumors that she denied having anything to do with the sequel. According
to several sources, Minogue will play the daughter of the Olivia Newton-John and
John Travolta characters. Travolta, Newton-John, and Stockard Channing are all
supposedly on board to reprise their roles from the 1978 musical blockbuster. Just
pretend Grease 2, with Michelle Pfeiffer, never happened.
On the DVD news side, Martin Scorsese said that his Gangs of New York will
not receive a director's cut on disc. The 168-minute theatrical version now playing
in theaters will be the only version to hit DVD and VHS. Test screenings of the
$90 million film have ranged in length from 156 to 220 minutes. Scorsese did add that
deleted scenes will appear on DVD. Last up is The Ring spooking its way
onto disc March 4. The $128 million-plus grossing remake of the Japanese phenomenon
will include a 15-minute experimental short by director Gore Verbinski, based on the
legend surrounding the Ring story.
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
