Tag: Best Actress Oscar (81-90 of 98)

Feb 10 2009 05:10 PM ET

Revisiting 'The Reader'

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I first saw The Reader in the middle of November and thought it was, well, fine. I certainly liked and respected the film, but I felt that it was something of a flatline, without any sufficiently gut-punching moments (for the viewer, not the characters) to make it truly memorable. I specifically was looking for Ralph Fiennes, playing a man who unknowingly had an affair with a Nazi guard as a teenager, to have a killer “Oscar scene” near the end of the film, which he doesn’t.

This past weekend, I decided to give The Reader a second chance. It’s fascinating to learn which films grow on you with repeat viewings and which don’t. This year, I enjoyed Slumdog Millionaire and Milk more when I watched them again, while my love for Frost/Nixon faded a bit the second time. (And I simply don’t have enough time to sit through Benjamin Button again.) With The Reader, though, the difference was the most dramatic. This time, I found myself quite moved by it, particularly during Kate Winslet’s centerpiece courtroom scene in which the film’s surprising plot twist is revealed. By the end, I was a wreck.

Since then I’ve been asking myself what was different the second time. Did I miss something when I first watched it? Am I simply being swayed by the five Oscar nominations it received? I don’t think so, but I do believe my shifting opinion has to do with the awards strategy for the film. Back in November, the Weinstein Co. was campaigning Winslet for Best Supporting Actress, meaning there were no lead-acting candidates from the film. So I watched it as if it were more of an ensemble piece, which it clearly isn’t. With Winslet now firmly in my mind as a Best Actress contender, her performance really jumped out at me as the true anchor of the film. Though I remain a huge Revolutionary Road fan, I am in awe of what she was able to pull off in The Reader.

So do I suddenly think The Reader has a shot to top Slumdog Millionaire for Best Picture? Not a chance. But I’m more convinced than ever that Winslet will win Best Actress next Sunday. And if the actress was at all disappointed that she didn’t get nominated for her husband’s film (it seemed like it when she declined to do any interviews on nomination day), she’s certainly on board with her current campaign:  She’s set to appear at a luncheon honoring the film in New York tomorrow.  It’s been a punishing awards season for Winslet, but I’m feeling like it’s going to pay off in the end.

Jan 28 2009 05:53 PM ET

The unsinkable Harvey Weinstein

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I just read an interesting item over at InContention in which writer John Foote speculates that Harvey Weinstein’s successful campaign for The Reader may end up costing Kate Winslet the Oscar this year. His view is that Winslet gave a better performance in Revolutionary Road and may now lose to Meryl Streep next month since she was nominated for Best Actress for The Reader instead. I’m not so sure about that. While I agree that her turn in Revolutionary Road was spectacular, the Academy obviously feels much more love towards The Reader, and that she only received one nomination this year means voters have only one place to vote for her. So in a way, a vote for her Reader performance will be a vote for both performances.

But I also know that Weinstein has been counseled by some of his friends and colleagues to back off on the overall campaign for The Reader between now and the Oscar ceremony, the argument being that while a Best Actress prize is certainly within the film’s reach, it really doesn’t have a shot at surpassing Slumdog Millionaire for Best Picture or Best Director. (I’d say only The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Milk have even the slightest chance at an upset, and that’s a stretch in both cases.) This would be Weinstein’s chance, these advisers say, to run a classy, understated campaign and basically acknowledge the film’s nominations for Best Picture and Best Director as its wins in those categories. Particularly at a time when tons of costly For Your Consideration ads might not be the smartest move for a company said to be in a spot of financial trouble of late.

But let’s get real: That’s just not going to happen. Even though as recently as three weeks ago, Weinstein was telling acquaintances that he’d “be back in the Oscar race next year” with movies like Nine and Inglourious Basterds, now that he’s got a surprise Best Picture nominee, you just know that he’s going to go whole hog with the campaign. Otherwise he wouldn’t be Harvey Weinstein. And while it may end up being a waste of money as far as the biggest prize is concerned, consider this: With Winslet out of the Best Supporting Actress race, Penélope Cruz may just pick up the Oscar for her amazing work in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, meaning Weinstein could very well be responsible for both female acting winners on Feb. 22.

addCredit(“Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com”)

Jan 26 2009 04:00 PM ET

SAG and PGA: 2 more wins for 'Slumdog'

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Slumdogwins_lCan Slumdog Millionaire be stopped? Danny Boyle’s endearing drama picked up top honors at the Producers Guild and Screen Actors Guild awards this weekend, winning best picture at the PGA and the best cast prize at SAG. I had predicted Milk to win the big ensemble prize, thinking that the SAG voters would be more likely to give an award to established actors like Sean Penn and Josh Brolin than a bunch of unknown kids from India, but as an astute Academy member said to me after the awards last night, “A lot of times SAG treats the best cast award like Best Picture, because it’s the closest thing they have.” If that’s the case, then the outcome makes perfect sense. In any case, Slumdog now has two more huge wins to add to its victories at the Golden Globes, Broadcast Film Critics Awards, and National Board of Review.

The four acting races lined up with my predictions. Sean Penn topped Mickey Rourke for Best Actor, making him the frontrunner for the Oscar next month, while Heath Ledger was named Best Supporting Actor to the surprise of no one. Kate Winslet won her third consecutive supporting-actress trophy for The Reader, while Meryl Streep won the only award for Doubt. This means that the two female SAG-winning performances will duke it out for the Oscar, since the Academy placed Winslet in the lead category for The Reader. Now the race is really on.

addCredit(“Kevin Winter/Getty Images”)

Jan 21 2009 06:27 PM ET

What will be tomorrow's biggest surprise?

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We’re now less than 24 hours away from the big Oscar nominations announcement. I’ll be up early to react to the news live on the Today show (please tune in!), and I’m wondering: What will be the big shocker among the nominees tomorrow? Surely everything won’t go as predicted, right? Here are my top 10 possible stunners.

1. The Reader or Gran Torino sneak into Best Picture over The Dark Knight.
2. Richard Jenkins bumps Brad Pitt out of Best Actor.
3. Melissa Leo snags Angelina Jolie’s Best Actress slot.
4. Voters ignore Kate Winslet’s supporting-actress campaign and nominate her for Best Actress for The Reader, leaving Revolutionary Road out of the acting races completely.
5. Dev Patel scores a Best Actor nod instead of landing in the supporting category.
6. The Dark Knight trumps The Reader in the adapted-screenplay race.
7. Doubt scores four acting nods after all, as Amy Adams pushes Taraji P. Henson out of supporting actress.
8. Happy-Go-Lucky‘s Mike Leigh displaces Ron Howard or Gus Van Sant in Best Director.
9. Milk takes two supporting-actor slots and leaves Robert Downey, Jr., in the cold.

And finally…
10. Slumdog Millionaire tops Benjamin Button and scores the most overall nominations.

What do you think the biggest surprise will be? And if any of these actually happen, don’t say I didn’t warn you!

addCredit(“Melinda Sue Gordon”)

Jan 20 2009 04:56 PM ET

Oscar nominations: Beat my predictions!

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With just two days to go before the Oscar nominations are finally announced, I’m resisting the urge to change any of my predictions, which went to press in EW before the Producers Guild or Directors Guild nominees were revealed. Can The Dark Knight bump The Reader out of the screenplay running? Will someone like Richard Jenkins or Melissa Leo fight his or her way into the acting races? Will the Academy overrule campaigns and put Kate Winslet for The Reader or Dev Patel for Slumdog Millionaire in the lead-acting category? I’m standing by my predictions, listed again below. Last year I lucked out with 34 out of 40 correct. Let’s see which of you can score the most this year. Post your predictions and I’ll give a shout-out to the OscarWatcher who gets the most right.

Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Director
David Fincher
Christopher Nolan
Ron Howard
Gus Van Sant
Danny Boyle

Actor
Clint Eastwood
Frank Langella
Sean Penn
Brad Pitt
Mickey Rourke

Actress
Anne Hathaway
Sally Hawkins
Angelina Jolie
Meryl Streep
Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road)

Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin
Robert Downey, Jr.
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Heath Ledger
Dev Patel

Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz
Viola Davis
Taraji P. Henson
Marisa Tomei
Kate Winslet (The Reader)

Original Screenplay
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Wall-E

Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

addCredit(“Kevin Winter/Getty Images”)

Jan 19 2009 07:27 PM ET

Can speeches ruin Oscar campaigns?

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Over the last 10 days I’ve heard a lot of people, in the Academy and otherwise, bad-mouthing Kate Winslet and Anne Hathaway for their emotional acceptance speeches at this month’s Golden Globes and Critics Choice awards, respectively. Upon sharing the Critics Choice prize with her idol, Meryl Streep, Hathaway — who certainly meant to say this a bit more artfully — said it was “fitting” that she tied for the prize with Streep since she thought the Doubt star was the best actress around. But it came off condescending to all the other actresses in the room, particularly her category-mates like Angelina Jolie and Melissa Leo. The usually composed Winslet, meanwhile, nearly had a heart attack when she won her two Golden Globe prizes. To many people, the reactions seemed over-the-top. Or worse, fake.

Now, I’m of two minds about this. On the one hand, I understand why Hathaway and Winslet would be emotional about their victories. I can’t even begin to imagine how many times, in interviews and in regular conversations, Hathaway has talked about how Rachel Getting Married seems like her bid to be a “serious” actress. Or how many times Winslet, who worked so hard on Revolutionary Road and The Reader, had been reminded that she’d never won a big award like an Oscar or a Globe. So it must have been overwhelming for both of them to hear their names called. But on the other hand, let’s remember that both of these awards are handed out by groups of journalists, for God’s sake — people that big stars like Hathaway and Winslet usually don’t give a hoot about. Why should they then fall to pieces over what those journalists think about them? Particularly in comparison to Laura Linney, who accepted her Globe for John Adams with such understatement and class, it was very surprising.

But here’s the question: Should award contenders’ speeches at pre-Oscar ceremonies affect how many votes they get from the Academy? Or should it be simply about their performances and nothing else? Regardless of what you think, apparently at least a few Oscar voters are now less likely to vote for Hathaway and Winslet. Maybe Streep did herself a big favor by skipping the Critics Choice ceremony.

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Jan 16 2009 04:17 PM ET

Best Actress: Could it be Meryl?

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I’ve been thinking about this year’s Best Actress race over the last few days and something interesting occurred to me: Whereas there are three men (Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke, and Frank Langella) who have landed on every major awards list so far, almost all the strongest female contenders have been overlooked by at least one important pre-Oscar group. Kate Winslet won the Golden Globe but was left off the Broadcast Critics nominees list (and they even included six competitors). Sally Hawkins picked up the other Globe and swept the big critics prizes (New York, Los Angeles, and National Society) but was snubbed by SAG, BAFTA, and the Broadcast Critics. Anne Hathaway won Best Actress honors from the National Board of Review and tied for the BFCA win but didn’t make it on the BAFTA list either (and yes, she was eligible). And Angelina Jolie made all the major shortlists (SAG, BFCA, BAFTA, and Globes) but hasn’t actually won a single influential prize. That leaves the one actress who’s been recognized by each and every big pre-Oscar group and has a substantial win under her belt: Meryl Streep, who claimed the other Best Actress prize from the BFCA. Even though she received some harsh A-list reviews when the film was released last month, she’s remained at the top of the contenders list in her category. In this year’s tightest major race, will consistency make the difference and propel Streep to her third Oscar win after all? Or will Winslet or Hathaway overcome a past snub to win favor with the Academy? When the nominations are announced next Thursday, we’ll see perhaps the most important factor: How many nominations voters throw to Revolutionary Road, Rachel Getting Married, and, of course, Doubt. I’m convinced that overall Academy support for the eventual winner’s film will be the deciding factor in which actress goes home with the trophy.

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Jan 14 2009 09:01 PM ET

Best Actor and Best Actress: 2 real races

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The very astute Sasha Stone over at Awards Daily has put forth her theory that this year’s lead acting categories are wide open, in contrast to the Best Picture race, which clearly seems to be going Slumdog Millionaire‘s way. I couldn’t agree more, and I found a interesting statistic to prove the point. In the last five years, every eventual lead-acting Oscar winner, with the exception of La Vie en Rose‘s Marion Cotillard last year, won the Broadcast Critics award and a Golden Globe before picking up the big prize. So in a sense, all the other nine winners — Daniel Day-Lewis, Helen Mirren, Forest Whitaker, Reese Witherspoon, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Hilary Swank, Jamie Foxx, Charlize Theron, and Sean Penn — were basically foregone conclusions come Oscar night. This year, however, is a completely different story. For the first time since 2003, the BFCA winners and Globe winners were different performers in both lead-acting races. Back then, Far From Heaven‘s Julianne Moore won the BFCA prize, while Chicago‘s Renee Zellweger and The Hours‘ Nicole Kidman (the eventual Oscar winner) scored the Globes, and neither the BFCA Best Actor victor (Gangs of New York‘s Daniel Day-Lewis) nor the Globe honorees (About Schmidt‘s Jack Nicholson or Chicago‘s Richard Gere) forecasted the surprise Oscar winner, The Pianist‘s Adrien Brody.

This year the same thing is happening. Sean Penn won the BFCA but couldn’t repeat at the Globes, who recognized Mickey Rourke instead, while Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep tied at the BFCAs only to lose to Kate Winslet at the Globes. At this point (even though the nominations are still a week off), Penn seems like the best bet amongst the Academy but is by no means a lock. Meanwhile, the actress race strikes me as a complete toss-up between Winslet, Hathaway, Streep, and even a total wild-card like this week’s other Globe winner, Sally Hawkins. I’m dreading making my final prediction on this one. But whoever wins that statuette on Feb. 22, I can guarantee it’ll be close.

addCredit(“Winslet: Francois Duhamel; Streep: Andrew Schwartz; Hathaway: Bob Vergara”)

Jan 2 2009 06:26 PM ET

Oscar predictions: Am I right or wrong?

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Even though two of the most reliable Oscar predictors (the Producers
Guild and Directors Guild nominees) haven’t been announced yet, my
bosses at EW asked me to come up with my forecasted nominees for this
year’s Academy Awards. You can see my predictions for the eight major
races here, but here are my calls in the three
biggest categories.


BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk

Slumdog Millionaire


BEST ACTOR
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler


BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

So, am I on the money here or am I way off? What will my greatest oversight be when the nominees are revealed on Jan. 22? 

Dec 17 2008 02:26 PM ET

OscarWatch TV: 'Doubt' cast reunion

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Earlier this week I gathered the four Golden Globe-nominated cast members of Doubt–Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis–for an extensive conversation about their thought-provoking new film. In part 1 of the interview, we talk about whether it was helpful for them to see Doubt on Broadway and the differences between film and theater audiences. More to come in the next few days.