Jean Dujardin of The Artist and Michelle Williams from My Week With Marilyn walked away with the top acting honors at the 27th Film Independent’s Spirit Awards. The Seth Rogen-hosted indie film kudosfest — which took place this afternoon in Santa Monica, Calif. — will be broadcast tonight at 10 p.m. on IFC. If you wish to watch the show and don’t want the experience ruined any further: SPOILER ALERT! READ FULL STORY »
Hollywood’s biggest night is only two days away — do you have your special Academy Awards sweats picked out yet?
Get a head start on your Oscar weekend debates with Movie Talk with Owen and Lisa — in which EW critics Owen Gleiberman and Lisa Schwarzbaum lament how the Oscars aren’t channeling the public anymore and name their picks for who should win Lead Actor and Lead Actress. Spoiler: It’s not “this French guy no one has ever heard of”! READ FULL STORY »
Chris Matthews has Election Day. Rich Eisen has the Super Bowl. And a movie dork like me has Oscar Sunday. I’m excited to be returning as the Academy’s official red-carpet greeter this year; you’ll be able to see me introduce and welcome all the nominees and presenters (like that pretty lady to the left) here on EW.com as well as on Oscar.com starting at 7pm Eastern/4pm Pacific on Sunday.
And as the Academy has just announced, once the ceremony starts, I’ll be stationed backstage for Oscar.com where I’ll be the first person to interview all the winners as soon as they finish their speeches. The Oscar.com “Backstage Pass” show will be hosted by the always unpredictable Sherri Shepherd and the ridiculously charming Cameron Mathison; they’ll toss to me throughout the evening for all the scoop on what’s happening behind the scenes.
In the meantime, check out my 10-part Oscar.com series, “Nominated,” which looks at all the Best Picture nominees and gives you tips on how to win your Oscar pool. See you all Sunday!
Dave on Twitter: @davekarger
The winners of the 14th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards were announced last night. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and Oscar-nominated W.E. took home the big awards for film. TV honors went to Glee, Boardwalk Empire, and Downton Abbey. Swiffer’s “Country Dirt Cowgirl” took home the sole commercial prize.
Four honorary awards were also presented to Kate Beckinsale, costume designer Marlene Stewart (Real Steel, Tropic Thunder), Glee designer Lou Eyrich, and longtime collaborators Deborah Hooper and Clint Eastwood. Jane Lynch hosted the event. Glee creator Ryan Murphy, actor Columbus Short, Marcia Gay Harden, Ken Watanabe, and supermodel-turned-Revenge star Amber Valletta were on hand to present a few of the night’s awards. See the full winners list below. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images
Five years ago, Knocked Up costars Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel appeared in a short film-cum-spec trailer called Jay and Seth Versus The Apocalypse. The movie found the playing-themselves pair waiting out some nightmare-ish, post-apocalyptic scenario in a ratty apartment and bickering like foul-mouthed, near-future versions of Oscar and Felix from the Odd Couple. (Rogen to Baruchel: “Every time I think about how scary it is out there I listen to you speak and I think, ‘Maybe I should walk out that door and let whatever’s out there rip my f—ing head out through my a–hole, that’s better than listening to Jay for five more f—ing minutes!’”) The clip ended, tantalizingly, with the words “COMING SOON” but little has been subsequently heard of the project…
Midnight in Paris and The Descendants, along with Showtime’s Homeland and ABC’s Modern Family, were among the big winners at the annual Writers Guild Awards, held Sunday at ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York City. The WGA honors achievement in writing for screen, television, radio, and news, among for other forms.
The night’s big winners were:
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Midnight in Paris, written by Woody Allen
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY The Descendants, screenplay by by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash; Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY Better This World, written by Katie Galloway & Kelly Duane de la Vega
DRAMA SERIES Breaking Bad, written by Sam Catlin, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Gennifer Hutchison, George Mastras, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett
COMEDY SERIES Modern Family, written by Cindy Chupack, Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Ben Karlin, Elaine Ko, Carol Leifer, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Dan O’Shannon, Jeffrey Richman, Brad Walsh, Ilana Wernick, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker
NEW SERIES Homeland, written by Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Gideon Raff, Meredith Stiehm
EPISODIC DRAMA “Box Cutter” (Breaking Bad), written by Vince Gilligan; “The Good Soldier” (Homeland), written by Henry Bromell
EPISODIC COMEDY “Caught in the Act” (Modern Family), Written by Steven Levitan & Jeffrey Richman
LONG FORM – “Cinema Verite,” written by David Seltzer
LONG FORM ADAPTED – “Too Big to Fail,” written by Peter Gould, Based on the book written by Andrew Ross Sorkin
ANIMATION “Homer the Father” (The Simpsons), written by Joel H. Cohen; Fox
COMEDY / VARIETY – The Colbert Report, writers: Michael Brumm, Stephen Colbert, Rich Dahm, Paul Dinello, Eric Drysdale, Rob Dubbin, Glenn Eichler, Dan Guterman, Peter Gwinn, Jay Katsir, Barry Julien, Frank Lesser, Opus Moreschi, Tom Purcell, Meredith Scardino, Scott Sherman, Max Werner; Comedy Central
COMEDY / VARIETY – MUSIC, AWARDS, TRIBUTES – SPECIALS After the Academy Awards, Head Writers: Gary Greenberg, Molly McNearney; Writers: Tony Barbieri, Jonathan Bines, John N. Huss, Sal Iacono, Eric Immerman, Jimmy Kimmel, Jonathan Kimmel, Jacob Lentz, Danny Ricker, Richard G. Rosner
DAYTIME DRAMA General Hospital, written by Meg Bennett, Nathan Fissell, David Goldschmid, Robert Guza, Jr., Karen Harris, Elizabeth Korte, Mary Sue Price, Michele Val Jean, Susan Wald, Tracey Thomson.
The Descendants and The Artist were the big winners at the 62nd annual Ace Eddie Awards, picking up trophies for Best Edited Feature Film (Drama) and Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy or Musical), respectively. The Eddie Awards — which recognize the year’s best editing in film and television — also handed out awards to Rango (Best Edited Animated Feature Film) and Freedom Riders (Best Edited Documentary).
The big television winners were episodes of Homeland and Curb Your Enthusiasm. An episode of No Reservations won in the reality TV category. For more on the Ace Eddie Awards, click here.
Meanwhile, over at the Scripter Awards, The Descendants‘ Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, and Kaui Hart Hemmings picked up the top prize (see more about the ceremony here) while Hugo‘s sound mixers won big at the Cinema Audio Society Awards (see their full winner list here).
Read more:
EW Special Coverage: Oscars 2012
We’re less than a week from the Oscar-ballot deadline, and not much has changed with my Oscar predictions. Best Actor remains the tightest of the four acting races, and I could equally see it going to George Clooney or Jean Dujardin. (Many people have asked me recently whether those two guys could split, resulting in a Brad Pitt win. I don’t really understand their question: What vote would Clooney and Dujardin split? Anyway, it’s not going to happen.) Meanwhile, my only predicted-winner change is in the Best Adapted Screenplay category. Although single-credited screenplays usually win, I feel like most voters will consider The Descendants (for right or wrong) basically the work of Alexander Payne. Here are my current predictions in the eight major races.
Best Picture
1. The Artist (last week: 1)
READ FULL STORY »
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced its winners. SPOILER ALERT: Do not keep reading if you plan to watch the ceremony tonight on BBC America. Oscar frontrunner The Artist swept the awards with seven wins, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay. Meanwhile, Meryl Streep, Christopher Plummer, and Octavia Spencer took home the other acting prizes. Hugo and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy each won two awards. Will all the BAFTA winners repeat at the Oscars later next month? Probably not all the actors, but the craft awards in particular often give a sign of where the Academy may be heading. The complete list of winners is below.
Best Film The Artist
Best Director Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Actor Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Actress Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Best Supporting Actor Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress Octavia Spencer, The Help
Best Original Screenplay Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Adapted Screenplay Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Best British Film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Best Film Not in the English Language The Skin I Live In
Best Animated Film Rango
Best Documentary Senna
Best Editing Senna
Best Costume Design The Artist
Best Cinematography The Artist
Best Original Music The Artist
Best Make-Up & Hair The Iron Lady
Best Visual Effects Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Best Production Design Hugo
Best Sound Hugo
Best British Debut Tyrannosaur
Orange Rising Star Award Adam Deacon
Best Animated Short A Morning Stroll
Best Live-Action Short Pitch Black Heist
Dave on Twitter: @davekarger
British writer-director Ben Wheatley made a cult splash with his critically acclaimed 2010 gangster movie Down Terrace, a film EW’s Lisa Schwarzbaum hailed as “a dark and hilarious thwomping of the whole miserablist British gangster genre” in the course of her “A-” review. Now Wheatley is boggling the minds of terror fans with his second feature, the brutal hit men-horror movie Kill List, which earned Michael Smiley the Best Supporting Actor trophy at last year’s British Independent Film Awards and which is currently on theatrical release and available on VOD.
