Thompson on Hollywood

Oscar Talk: True Grit vs. Social Network, Party Circuit, Vulnerable Contenders, Spoilers, 2011 Picks

During this week's Oscar Talk (on the jump), Kris Tapley and I debate the Hailee Steinfeld category issue for True Grit. He thinks she's best actress material, while I argue that she's a rookie who belongs in supporting. At Thursday night's The Social Network DVD party at Spago, producer Scott Rudin was all smiles (True Grit is also vying for best picture). He opted to compete in the supporting category, he said, because it would seem "brazen" to put a newcomer up for best actress. Besides, he argued, Mattie Ross is the instigator of the plot, not the protagonist. The movie is about Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges); he is the character that changes. (Here's my Rudin interview.)

By Anne Thompson
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January 7, 2011 5:05 AM
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Oscar Talk: Late December Openings, Frontrunners, WGA and Oscar Music, DGA Predicts

In Contention's Kris Tapley and I weigh the impact of year-end releases on the Oscar race. Will Another Year's Lesley Manville squeak into best actress contention, is Nicole Kidman hurt by the weak performance of Rabbit Hole? And what about frontrunner Natalie Portman's new pregnancy? What would it take to push Biutiful's Javier Bardem or I Am Love's Tilda Swinton into the race?

By Anne Thompson
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December 31, 2010 5:11 AM
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Production Watch: Bale in Nanjing Heroes, Dark Knight Rises; Stone & Garfield In Spiderman(s)

- China's premiere director Zhang Yimou (Hero, the Beijing Olympic Games) has named Christian Bale to star in Nanjing Heroes. The $90 million period epic tells the story of the Nanjing Massacre, when Japanese troops killed thousands of Chinese in the capital city (1937). Bale will play an American priest who assists citizens in escaping impending death. Zhang also announced the hiring of special effects house Dark Side FX (The Dark Knight). The film will mix English and Mandarin (40/60), he said. No Chinese film or director has ever taken home an Academy Award in a major category. (Zhang himself had back-to-back Oscar nominations for Ju Dou in 1990 and Raise the Red Lantern in 1991.) "It's the overall strategy for Chinese cinema to approach the world and broaden its influence," Zhang told THR. The casting of Bale was not a box office ploy, but rather "a coincidence because the script happened to have an English-speaking part in the lead." Shooting Nanjing Heroes will begin shooting January 10. Bale will be due on The Dark Knight Rises set May 2011.

By Sophia Savage
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December 22, 2010 6:45 AM
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Oscar Talk: Predicts Post-Critics Groups, Globes, SAG

Does Blue Valentine or Another Year or Biutiful still have a shot? Will Winter's Bone or The Town make it onto the Oscar Ten? In Contention's @KrisTapley and @GuyLodge and I read the Oscar tea leaves in the wake of the critics votes, Golden Globes, and SAG nominations. We explain why critics' fave The Social Network isn't necessarily a shoo-in for best picture. And why the SAG Awards count more than the Golden Globes in the Oscar race, and why the HFPA didn't nominate How Do You Know? as a comedy. The guys like Tron: Legacy and Daft Punk a lot more than I do, that's for sure.

By Anne Thompson
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December 17, 2010 5:00 AM
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Screen Actors Guild Surprises: John Hawkes and Hilary Swank; Blue Valentine Shut Out

The Screen Actors Guild nominations--which actually do have some impact on the Oscar race, given that Academy actors are so dominant in the voting--were announced Thursday morning. The SAG equivalent of best picture is the ensemble award; the five nominees could well be considered the top five contenders at the Oscars as well. The King's Speech and The Fighter led the fray with four noms each, followed by Black Swan, The Kids Are All Right and The Social Network. Left off the best cast list but grabbing two acting nominations each were True Grit, which had been ignored by the Golden Globes, and Winter's Bone. Blue Valentine was shut out, with no noms for Ryan Gosling or Michelle Williams.

By Anne Thompson
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December 16, 2010 2:25 AM
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2010 Best Performances: Stand-Outs, Ensemble, Symbiotic

Here are Sophia Savage's Ten Stand-Out Performances, Five Best Ensemble Performances, and Best Symbiotic Performance of 2010 (in aphabetical order).

By Sophia Savage
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December 15, 2010 7:26 AM
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Social Network's Armie Hammer Gets Actor-Nerdy Talking Winklevi, Fincher, Sorkin, Rowing

TOH's Sophia Savage sat down with The Social Network's scene stealer Armie Hammer on Tuesday afternoon:

By Sophia Savage
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December 8, 2010 9:05 AM
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Oscar Watch: Social Network's Eisenberg Talks Zuckerberg, Guilt, Perfectionism and Fincher

The Social Network star Jesse Eisenberg and I met for a bite at Hollywood's fabled Musso & Frank's Grill to dig into his lauded role as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The youthful New Yorker has been juggling school, theater, TV and film since he was a kid; at 27 he's got quite a few juicy film roles under his belt, from The Squid and the Whale to Adventureland and Zombieland. 2011 could well mark his debut as an Oscar contender.

By Anne Thompson
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November 23, 2010 4:04 AM
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Oscar Watch: How Box Office Impacts Oscar Contenders

Does a film's box office performance have an impact on its Oscar hopes? TOH box office analyst Anthony D'Alessandro crunches the numbers and evaluates the current field of Oscar contenders.

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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November 11, 2010 9:00 AM
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Oscar Talk: Little Movies That Can't, Michael Douglas, Animated Top Three, Alice in Wonderland

In this week's Oscar Talk, for those of you who haven't listened to the podcast, Anne Thompson and Kris Tapley discuss films that may deserve Oscar consideration for performances, but likely won't get any. Welcome To The Rileys, for example, would in another world get attention for James Gandolfini, perhaps even Kristen Stewart. Thompson thought that it could have a chance when she first saw it at Sundance, but now "in the sober light of day," believes it "has no chance in hell." Many movies are in that category because their distributors can't give them the push that they need.