Awards Season

The Coen Brothers join Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron and Billy Wilder in the list of directors that have received three awards for a single film at the Oscars. Their brooding, bloody tale of violence No Country for Old Men won best picture, director and adapted screenplay. Javier Bardem also won a best supporting actor Oscar for his role as Anton Chigurh in No Country. Full list of winners after the jump.  read more »

Some fashion week models are wearing T-shirts backstage that tout Angelina Jolie's Global Action for Children to attract attention to the cause as they get their pre-show hair and makeup done. [WWD]

Amy Winehouse was denied a US visa to attend the Grammy Awards, but she may appear via satellite. [Us]  read more »

Vanity Fair just announced that they are planning to cancel their annual Oscars after-party.

Here's the entire announcement, as posted on VF Daily this afternoon:

After much consideration, and in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike, we have decided that this is not the appropriate year to hold our annual Oscar party. We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year.

The 80th Annual Academy Award nominations have recently been announced amid the usual mix of old and new uncertainties and anxieties. After the political pollsters and pundits bombed out in foretelling the New Hampshire Democratic primary results, it is certainly a calculated risk on the part of this self-ordained prophet to predict this year’s Oscar winners at this early date.  read more »

The Writers Guild of America showed mercy on Grammy Awards producers by approving an interim agreement that would allow striking scribes to write a script for the ceremony, which takes place on Feb. 10. Last week, the W.G.A. announced that they would not picket the awards show, which would allow the stars to strut the red carpet in peace. Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America West, acknowledged the music unions in a statement Monday and added, “Professional musicians face many of the same issues that we do concerning fair compensation for the use of their work in new media,” according to the New York Times.

The Writers Guild of America decided not to picket the Grammy Awards telecast, organizers announced yesterday. “This really creates a comfortable environment for everybody to come,” said Neil Portnow, chief executive of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Though it is unclear whether writers guild members will be able to write for the Feb. 10 ceremony, Mr. Portnow said, “we’ve got time” until the program and added that, “with all due respect to the writers, we’re really about the music.”  read more »

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Atonement were the big winners at the 65th Annual Golden Globes awards. Period drama Atonement, the on-screen adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel, won best drama. Sweeney Todd took home the best comedy or musical award and its star, Johnny Depp, received the best actor in a musical or comedy Globe.

But there were no dithering acceptance speeches or cheesy one-liners presented by hosts. Because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was unable to make a deal with the Writers Guild of America, which would have allowed the Globes to be televised without a picket line, the usual awards show glitz (stars paraded down the red carpet and industry parties galore before and after the champagne dinner) was replaced by a news conference. Award winners were read by television entertainment journalists from the shows The Insider, CNN's Showbiz Tonight, E!, Extra, Inside Edition and Entertainment Tonight. HFPA president Jorge Camara presented the final award of the night.

Full list of winners after the jump.

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Now that the Golden Globes has flopped and the Academy Awards are in jeopardy, the Screen Actors Guild and Film Independent Spirit awards shows have a chance to shine this year. Both shows—the proverbial bridesmaids—have been granted waivers from the Writers Guild of America, so the stars are expected to show up in their designer finest. What else are they going to do with those red carpet gems they've been hording all year?  read more »

The People's Choice Awards (a.k.a. the most meaningless of awards ceremonies) aired last night, although nobody watched it and actors received their awards like they were pox-diseased blankets from the pilgrims. Because celebrities refuse to cross the Writers Guild of America's picket lines, a "newsmagazine" version of the original ceremony aired. "Host" Queen Latifah giddily introduced the winners' previously recorded acceptance speeches. Grey's Anatomy's Katherine Heigl, who plays the bleeding-heart baker Izzie Stevens, was named favorite female star, while Patrick Dempsey, "McDreamy", was the favorite male star; Chandra Wilson, who plays the feisty Miranda Bailey, won favorite scene stealer.  read more »

After the Hollywood Foreign Press Association officially announced the cancellation of the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards telecast yesterday, studios and television channels began cancelling their own parties that usually take place after the champagne dinner at the Beverly Hilton. HBO, Universal and InStyle/Warner Bros. were nixing their plans last night, according to Nikke Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily.  read more »

Forty-one New York and Los Angeles movie critics from Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker and Salon.com gathered at Sardi's Restaurant in Times Square Saturday night to vote on the top films of the year.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s much-touted There Will Be Blood took four prizes, including best picture, at the 42nd annual National Society of Film Critics Awards. Daniel Day-Lewis drew actor kudos, while Mr. Anderson won for director and Robert Elswit for cinematography.

After the jump, Day-Lewis talks to The Observer about life with Anderson, and the complete list of winners.  read more »

NBC executives have emerged from their Sunday night sweat-lodge, in which an answer was sought as to how they might telecast the Golden Globe awards without brining an angry storm of controversy upon their tribe.  read more »

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association had hoped last-minute negotiations with the Writers Guild of America would allow the Golden Globes show to go on. But the guild announced yesterday afternoon that striking writers still intend to picket along the red carpet.  read more »

Panicked at the prospect of having to confront strikers as they walk up the red carpet, celebrities have sent what Hollywood publicity executives describe as a near-unanimous signal: If striking writers show up at the Golden Globes, the stars will not.

The New York Times reports:  read more »

In 2005, the early release Crash pulled off its big win in the Screen Actors Guild ensemble race — which foreshadowed its big upset on Oscar night—after ambushing Hollywood with non-watermarked DVDs. According to Tom O'Neil at the Los Angeles Times' Gold Derby blog, yesterday's SAG Awards nominees prove two points: "how key it is to get your movie out early in theaters and then to campaign to voters with DVDs and Q&A screenings."

Films like "Into the Wild" and even "3:10 to Yuma" that got screeners into the hands of voters early—after having an early theatrical release—rallied after mostly being snubbed at earlier kudos. Filmmaker Sean Penn is a four-time nominee, whose "Into the Wild" led the SAG derby today with three acting nods and an ensemble nomination. No small surprise that actors so enthusiastically backed a movie director and co-written by an actor.

Early release "Hairspray," which also blitzed Hollywood with DVDs, got an ensemble bid after faring well at the Golden Globes. (But, hey, where's John Travolta?) George Clooney didn't do a SAG Q&A screening till late, but "Michael Clayton" rolled out to theaters early and so did its campaign DVDs, resulting in recognition for the performances of Clooney, Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton.

Late-breaking films that didn't get screeners out like "There Will Be Blood" (SAG fave Daniel Day-Lewis made the cut, yes, but no nom for supporting star Paul Dano) and "The Great Debaters" didn't fare well either.

Since the Writers Guild of America denied the People's Choice Awards a strike waiver, producers of the Los Angeles ceremony worried if celebrities would show up to the extravaganza. So they nixed their original plan to tape a ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium and instead will offer a series of pre-taped clip packages featuring honorees receiving their awards. Queen Latifah will remain as host but now shoot her segments from a soundstage.

Variety reports:  read more »

Into the Wild led contenders for the Screen Actors Guild Awards with four nominations, including honors for lead actor Emile Hirsch and supporting players Hal Holbrook and Catherine Keener. The nominations were announced this morning.

Directed by Sean Penn, Into the Wild also was nominated for performance by its overall cast, along with the Western 3:10 to Yuma, the crime sagas American Gangster and No Country for Old Men, and the musical Hairspray.

Guild awards will be presented Jan. 27 in a ceremony televised on TNT and TBS.

The Associated Press reports that unlike the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes, which face turmoil caused by striking Hollywood writers, the guild awards look as though they can come off as planned. With actors showing strong solidarity on strike issues, SAG has reached an agreement with the Writers Guild of America for one of its members to write the ceremony.

Full list of nominees after the jump.  read more »

Continuing to play hardball, the Writers Guild of America turned down waiver requests for both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. Writers won't be drafting a script and the organizations won't be able to use use clips of movies and past Academy Awards shows.

Broadcasting & Cable reports:

In a letter, WGA West president Patric Verrone said, “We must do everything we can to bring our negotiations to a swift and fair conclusion for the benefit of writers and all those who are being harmed by the companies’ failure to engage in serious negotiations.”

Days after Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton were delivered the news of their joint Golden Globe nominations for the new film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, they returned the favor—with a wee baby. Late Saturday night, People reports, the weird and wacky duo added a new member to their family, which already includes four-year-old Billy. “They are absolutely delighted they have a daughter. It’s a lovely Christmas present for the family,” said Karen Maskill, a rep. for Ms. Bonham Carter, 41. According to the actress, the lovers were discussing inducing the birthing process in a doctor’s office when Mr. Burton, 49, got a call telling him about the nominations. “I do look like a globe, so it's kind of funny. I am very round,” she said, adding with a laugh: “Maybe the baby's going to come out with his hands on his ears, [saying,] 'Shut up!'” As long as the infants hands were made of pink flesh—instead of, say, scissors—they’re sure to be a happy pair.

This year’s Golden Globe nominees were announced today. And while Joe Wright’s historical romance Atonement cleaned house, garnering 7 nods in this round, there was still room enough for Jodie Foster. After learning of her best actress nomination for her role in Neil Jordan’s The Brave One today, Ms. Foster, 45, apparently reacted with glee. “I can’t wait to have some rubber chicken and listen to the unscripted banter with all of those fine actresses,” she said, according to the AP.

Of course, the operative word here is neither rubber nor chicken; it just has to be actresses. That’s because today is also when CNN.com decided to out the heretofore cagey actress, calling her a lesbian. In the segment, “Jodie Foster thanks gay partner,” (which you can view here), the news outlet’s entertainment correspondent, Kiki King, drew this conclusion from a recent speech Ms. Foster delivered. On Dec. 4, the star of the forthcoming Nim’s Island was given the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award. During her thank-you routine, Ms. Foster acknowledged “my beautiful Cydney, who sticks with me through all the rotten and the bliss.” She was almost certainly referring to her “best friend,” Cydney Bernard.

Atonement, a movie so good it's almost sinful, according to the Observer's Andrew Sarris, leads the drama contenders in the Golden Globe race with seven nominations. No Country For Old Men, Michael Clayton and Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd also bubbled to the top with four nominations apiece.

Full list of nominees, which were announced this morning, after the jump.  read more »

Johnny Depp will likely never drive around L.A. bumping into people and things in a convertible Mercedes. Instead, the Sweeny Todd star, 44, looks forward to the time when he can achieve some semblance of anonymity. In Esquire’s January issue, on newsstands Friday, the actor imagines what that freedom will be like, saying, “I'm sure it will be a possibility someday again. Maybe when I get old. They get tired of you,” he told the highbrow lad mag. “‘Didn't you used to be Johnny Depp?' That will be the clincher." Apparently, he leaned the value of privacy from his friend and mentor, the late Marlon Brando, recalling how the screen legend told him: ‘“That's your world and it's nobody else's business. It's not anybody's entertainment.”’ (He does, in the end, throw the paparazzi a bone by revealing that he likes to enter restaurants and hotels through the back door.)

"It'll definitely make you a little weird if you're constantly being stared at," Mr. Depp went on. "I don't want to be a product. Of course you want the movies to do well. But I don't want to know ... who's hot now and who's not and who's making this much dough and who's boffing this woman or that one. I want to remain ignorant of all this. I want to be totally outside and far away from all of it." [AP via HuffPo]

Panic has set in for Golden Globes producers. They have asked the Writers Guild of America for a waiver to allow writers to pen the Jan. 13 show's script, but few expect it will be granted, according to Variety. Maybe it will actually be an entertaining show without the lame puns and half-baked chuckles, but who will actually cross the picket line and fill up The Beverly Hilton's seats?  read more »

They're wild for Sean Penn, those movie critics. Into the Wild received seven nominations for the 13th Critics Choice Awards, announced today by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The film got nods for picture, director, writer, actor, supporting actor for Hal Holbrook, supporting actress for Catherine Keener and best song for Eddie Vedder's "Guaranteed" (What? No props for Emile?).

The Observer's Rex Reed wrote about Into the Wild:

It’s a sad story that runs two and a half hours, and you already know going in that the protagonist is going to die in the end, so it is positively amazing that Into the Wild is so consistently fresh, riveting and profoundly moving. Its seismic impact must be credited to Mr. Penn’s passion for and enormous dedication to his material.

...

Here’s something else: As much as I admire Mr. Penn’s consuming drive to get this story on the screen, I also salute him for resisting the temptation to nominate McCandless for sainthood. God knows he was brave, but a hero? In addition to his fearlessness, he was also something of a selfish brat, never once making an effort to contact caring parents back home, driven to the lip of madness with worry, not knowing if he was dead or alive. In my opinion, he was thoughtless, arrogant, cruel in his ignorance of the needs and feelings of others and a train wreck waiting to happen. I applaud his spiritual quest, but heading into the wild without maps, compasses or matches is more than a little bit loopy. In the end, McCandless learns life’s most valuable lesson—that real happiness and personal fulfillment come not in alienation from the society you distrust, but through relationships with others. Tragically, McCandless was never able to share what he learned, but his story does teach us something vital about the human condition. He was a breed apart from what you would call average; his life is still haunting, and so is this film.

Juno racked up six nominations, while Atonement, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, Sweeney Todd and Hairspray each got five nominations apiece. The winners will be announced on Jan. 7 in Santa Monica.

Full list of nominees after the jump.

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About 10 minutes into the new Will Smith movie I Am Legend, which opens in Manhattan theaters on Friday, my heart rate went up to about 200 and stayed there for the next hour and a half.

Staggering back out into Times Square's holiday crush from the screening room it seemed we'd just been through an aerobic workout before even facing the crowds of tourists and commuters--surprisingly not zombies.

And the lingering questions were weird ones. Would corn naturally grow in Madison Square Park if humanity were wiped out, or did Will Smith have to plant it there himself? Should I get a German shepherd?

But what really stuck was this: why is Hollywood (and, it sometimes seems, much of the rest of the world the world) so keen to see New York City obliterated?  read more »

Joan Rivers says she’s become bored of talking about celebrities’ designer duds on the red carpet. But Regis Philbin, 76, is just preparing to reinhabit the you-look-fantastic red carpet roost he ruled back in the 1970s. It turns out the morning chat-show host has just been tapped to cover the textile beat during ABC’s Academy Awards preshow on February 24.

“Regis is the perfect guy to serve as host…He knows everyone and everyone loves Regis! I’m thrilled that he has greed to be the ringmaster for this year’s extravaganza,” said Dennis Doty, a producer of the Academy Awards. This means that Mr. Philbin will have free reign of the carpet for the entire half-hour preceding the show’s start-time. This means that American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest, who offers garment gab for E! on Oscar night, will have to stand back and observe as Mr. Philbin takes to the stars. This news comes just days after the cheery TV personality let a future scheduling agreement slip on Live with Regis and Kelly. Apparently, beginning in the fall of 2008, he will co-host the caffeine-fueled chat-fest only three days a week.

While The Golden Compass (No. 1) will be stealing headlines this morning for its lackluster performance—$26 million nationally ($420,000 of that from Manhattan) to offset its reportedly $180 million budget—this weekend’s box office receipts portended the rise of two Academy Award contenders: Jason Reitman’s Juno (No. 2) and Joe Wright’s adaptation of the Ian McEwan novel, Atonement (No. 5).

The comedy starring Ellen Page and Michael Cera averaged an astronomical $63,000 on three screens, beating out Atonement—currently, according to buzz and conventional wisdom, the Oscar forerunner for best picture—which had an impressive $55,000 average on two screens and The Golden Compass, which managed a rather respectable $42,000 average on 10 screens. So, to recap, in a town where neither Atonement, nor The Golden Compass faltered, Juno shined brightest. A Reitman hasn’t been this popular in this city, since the first Ghost Busters in 1984.  read more »

The New York Film Critics Circle follows the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures route and gives the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men top accolades during today's voting. The film won best film, best screenplay, best director and Javier Bardem received the best supporting actor award.

Full list of awards recipients after the jump.  read more »

Every year, the music nerd community does a massive eye roll when the Grammy nominations are announced. Sitting on their high bar stools, they thumb their noses and whine that all of their favorite, totally obscure, "indie" artists will never get the recognition they deserve. Even if those artists do make the list, they complain, they'll lose out to whichever act has the most radio play, the best PR people, or maybe the nicest ass.

This year is no different: How is Feist a "Best New Artist" when she released her debut solo album Monarch (Lay Your Jewelled Head Down) in 1999? What the hell does an "Best Urban/Alternative Performance" even mean? How did the Soulja Boy dance become a nomination for best rap song? And even though we adore her and her giant booty, there is no way Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" belongs on the "Record of the Year" list.

Shrug. What can you do?  read more »

The genuinely talented Joe Wright has made a film to make us believe in movies again. MORE ...  read more »

The New York Times' David Carr takes a look inside the mind of Daniel Battsek, the man whom the Weinstein brothers left behind at Miramax to carry on their tradition of making risky, quality films.  read more »

Kanye West (8 nods) and Amy Winehouse (6 nods) top the Grammy Award nominations, announced today. They better bring big tote bags—green friendly!—to the Feb. 10 ceremony because they're looking to take home a lot of those little record player statues.

Read the Grammy press release after the jump.  read more »

Get out your Oscar pool cards, kids! The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, which usually tests the awards-season winds early in the season, announced their annual awards this afternoon, naming the Coen brothers' No Country For Old Men 2007's Best Film of the Year. They also got the best adapted screenplay award and the cast, which includes Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Kelly MacDonald, was named the best ensemble.  read more »