December
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Oscar Watch: Late Arrivals The Reader, Valkyrie, Gran Torino, Seven Pounds
The late entries in the award screening derby are Stephen Daldry's The Reader, which started unspooling last week, Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino, which screens Monday night, and Will Smith-starrer Seven Pounds, which starts screening this week. Their distribs are scrambling to get the movies seen before The National Board of Review announces its list Thursday; the L.A. Film critics vote on Tuesday, December 9; the NYFCC on December 10; and the Hollywood Foreign Press makes its Golden Globes announcement on December 11. That's not even to mention all the guild nomination deadlines coming up.
The Weinstein Co. will be playing a bit of catch-up with The Reader. While the film is beautifully written, shot and acted, it is as carefully constructed and calibrated as a delicate souffle that could collapse at any moment. (Here's Todd McCarthy's review.) Kate Winslet gives a precise, moving performance as the damaged, secretive 30ish Hanna, who conducts an intense, sexual affair with a 15-year-old German boy (David Kross).
It's too bad that Winslet is competing with herself for best actress this year; Revolutionary Road is likely to gain her the Oscar nom. It's hard to imagine her role in The Reader being considered for supporting actress when she is clearly its name star: Ralph Fiennes and Kross split the second lead role as teen and adult. Lena Olin could be a candidate for supporting, in two fierce dramatic scenes as an older Holocaust survivor and later, her daughter. UPDATE: The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, at least, decided to go the Weinstein Co.'s way, putting Winslet in the supporting catgeory.
MGM/UA hasn't screened Valkyrie widely for critics, who are crucial drivers of year-end awards, although the few who have seen it are spreading good buzz. MGM/UA is taking the initial Warners approach to Martin Scorsese's The Departed: let them come to us. Last year Warners started out pushing Ed Zwick's Blood Diamond over The Departed, but changed direction as the movie picked up awards steam. For now, MGM/UA is selling the movie, which stars a strong ensemble led by Tom Cruise, as a commercial thriller.
Sony, on the other hand, is campaigning for Smith in Seven Pounds before most have even seen it. The studio has scheduled a massive number of upcoming screenings for the late arrival, which opens December 19. The Hollywood Foreign Press saw the film November 19th; invites are going out to guilds and critics this week. The National Board of Review, which announces its votes Thursday, saw the film Monday. The DGA will screen it Tuesday. The press junket will be held this week. "We're screening the movie like mad," said one Sony PR exec.
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Two things that were offputting:
the weinsteins, and that ghastly picture of Kate Winslet.
Posted by: Binky | December 15, 2008 at 07:19 PM