Notes on the Town: Early nominations set Oscar’s table
This morning’s 6 a.m. (Pacific time) announcement of the Screen Actors Guild nominations not only served as another wake-up call for bleary-eyed bloggers who with the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Movie Awards nominations have been doing this all week, it also served as a wake-up call for everyone who doesn’t believe that a consensus has formed in the acting categories.
The nominations from all three groups, generally all good bellwethers for Oscar, seem to agree on everything. Best actor consensus: Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Colin Firth, Morgan Freeman and Jeremy Renner, the latter making both Critics Choice and SAG lists while the Globes went with bigger-name but longer-shot Tobey Maguire. It’s likely Oscar goes with Renner in the fifth slot as “The Hurt Locker” has all the early award beat heat and “Brothers” is largely AWOL.
Best actress will be Meryl Streep (in “Julie & Julia”), Sandra Bullock, Gabourey Sidibe, Carey Mulligan and Helen Mirren, who made Globe and SAG lists and is an Oscar favorite. Emily Blunt’s “The Young Victoria,” with Globe and Critics Choice nods, could be a spoiler, but her omission from the SAG list, which reflects industry leanings, doesn’t bode well.
Best supporting actor should be the SAG rundown of Christoph Waltz, Woody Harrelson, Matt Damon and Stanley Tucci (”The Lovely Bones”) in common with both Globes and Critics Choice as well as never-nominated, 80-year-old veteran Christopher Plummer, who was omitted from Critics Choice in favor of “An Education’s” Alfred Molina. The latter still has a chance of being an Oscar spoiler but is an outside shot at this point.
Best supporting actress will be Mo’Nique, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick and a “Nine” thespian, according to all three groups, with Julianne Moore likely for Oscar over SAG’s surprise inclusion of “Inglourious Basterds’ ” Diane Kruger. When the cast of “A Single Man” did their obligatory SAG Q&A a few weeks ago, only Moore was absent, stuck in New York ( but it’s not clear why she didn’t make their list this morning as she is an actor’s actor). As a four-time Oscar nominee, the Academy actor’s branch is likely to sing her praises once again for “A Single Man” despite the SAG hiccup. There’s always at least one between the groups and it’s important to remember that despite their very similar voting patterns there is usually only a 1% crossover in voters between the SAG and the Academy each year. Explanation: Actors think alike.
As for the “Nine” situation, Penelope Cruz got Globe and SAG nods for supporting while Marion Cotillard got a Critics Choice nod for supporting but her Globe mention was for leading actress in a comedy or musical. Weinstein Co. is trying to have their cake and eat it too by squeezing Cotillard into lead when in fact most actors probably regard her as more appropriate in the lower category. All the women in “Nine” are supporting Daniel Day-Lewis, and if the confusing campaign strategy persists, Cotillard will probably be a casualty without enough votes in either category to prevail.
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Biggest loser of the week is Apparition’s debut film and Cannes competition entry “Bright Star,” which has failed to get mentioned in any significant contest so far. It’s not for lack of trying. Star Abbie Cornish has been very visible on the circuit, and late last week the company had a well-attended reception and screening on a rainy night at Clarity in Beverly Hills. I asked director Jane Campion, a screenplay Oscar winner for “The Piano” and one of the few women ever to be even nominated for best director, what she thought about the idea of stumping for votes.
“It’s all so foreign to me. I guess it’s good if it brings attention to the film but I’m not sure how all this works,” she said, sounding perplexed by the question. “I just want to talk about the film and get it seen by more people.”
Cornish, who is a knockout beauty and proves her acting mettle in this film, says it’s tough out there for a movie like “Bright Star.”
“It’s just not easy for middle-ground dramas that cost between 10 and 30 million to make. I hope this one gets recognition so it will be successful and we will be able to do more like it, but it’s getting harder.”
Perhaps the rain that night was an omen for the triumphant week that would not come for their movie. But hope springs eternal and the Oscars could still turn it around even though award pundits are starting to jump ship.
A couple of years ago “Atonement” was in a similar position but rallied when it counted most and landed seven Oscar nominations including best picture, so look on the ‘Bright’Â side, Apparition.Â
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After the Globe nominations were announced and Globes perennial Clint Eastwood received his seventh directing nod from the group for “Invictus” (he’s won three), two disgusted awards consultants for rival films both told me the same thing.
“How could they have nominated Clint when he didn’t even do a press conference for the HFPA this time?”
Shocker. It’s apparently understood that you must do a meet and greet with the foreign journalists or …else, and apparently Eastwood didn’t this time around. Maybe the members already have enough photos of Clint. Quite frankly, a lot of stars and directors who did do one didn’t hear their name called Tuesday morning.
And then another campaigner dejectedly called to say that they had been promised by reliable members that this consultant’s movie was in 100% for a Best Picture slot but it didn’t happen. Guess 100% isn’t good enough.
Oh those unpredictable Globe voters! When are we ever gonna figure them out?
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Finally, a sad note in Oscar history. The great actress and philanthropist Jennifer Jones died today at age 90. She won a best actress Academy Award 66 years ago at the age of 24 for her role as a saintly nun in “The Song of Bernadette”. Her four other nominations were for “Since You Went Away,” “Love Letters,” “Duel In The Sun” and finally in 1955 for “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing”. Her final film was 1974’s “The Towering Inferno,” which was appropriate considering her strong Oscar pedigree. It was nominated for best picture and won three. The year she actually won was 1943, coincidentally the last year the Academy had 10 nominations for best picture until 2009,which made her a living link to that part of renewed Oscar DNA. Even at 90 she was not the oldest living acting winner. Joan Fontaine, age 92 (”Suspicion” 1941) and back-to-back winner Luise Rainer, 99 (”The Great Zeigfeld” ‘36 and “The Good Earth ‘37) have her beat and are still going strong. In fact Rainer will turn 100 on Jan. 12.
–Â Pete Hammond
Photo: Diane Kruger stars in “Inglourious Basterds.” Credit: Weinstein Co.
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