Image Credit: Stuart Wilson/Getty Images
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts handed out their awards Sunday in London. Argo walked away the big winner with Best Film and Best Director for Ben Affleck.
Lead acting prizes went to Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln and Emmanuelle Riva for Amour, with supporting awards going to Christolph Waltz for Django Unchained, and Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables. Click past the jump to take a look at the full list of winners.
Image Credit: Director/producer Kathryn Bigelow and writer/producer Mark Boal on set of ‘Zero Dark Thirty’(Jonathan Olley)
“Disruptive filmmaking.”
That’s a new term coined by Zero Dark Thirty screenwriter Mark Boal, who gave a speech this week about the criticism the Osama bin Laden takedown drama has endured from both sides of the political divide in America.
Conservatives complained long before the film was seen by anyone that it was a propaganda designed to highlight the anti-terror accomplishments of President Barack Obama, while some liberals were rankled by what they perceived to be an endorsement of torture interrogations (erroneously, as Michael Moore points out in this essay debunking those accusations.)
Director Kathryn Bigelow has already said numerous times that “depiction is not endorsement,” and now Boal — who is nominated in the Original Screenplay category at the Oscars, and won for penning 2009′s The Hurt Locker — is speaking out about why he wanted Zero Dark Thirty to strike a nerve as a film, rather than as a piece of traditional reporting. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Warner Bros.
Some people can win for losing.
Ben Affleck claimed the Directors Guild of America Award for Argo on Saturday in Hollywood’s latest thumb-in-the-eye to the small group of filmmakers in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who failed to nominate him for an Oscar.
“I worked really, really hard to become the best director I could be, by putting in as [many] hours as I can, and banging my head against a wall, berating myself, lying to myself about whether it’s going to work,” Affleck told the crowd, never mentioning the snub. “Basically, I got to a point where I was nominated for this award. And I don’t think this makes me a real director — but I think it means I’m on my way.”
It’s the third time in its 65-year history that the DGA Award has gone to a filmmaker who was not also up for Best Director at the Academy Awrds. It happened to Ron Howard, who claimed the DGA honor in 1995 for Apollo 13, and Steven Spielberg, who won in 1986 for The Color Purple.
Image Credit: William Lucas Walker/IFC Films
“If you think you know the story of AIDS—and everybody thinks they know the story of AIDS—this movie will be a surprise.” That’s what David France, director of the documentary How to Survive a Plague, tells audiences before they see his film. And that’s what he’s telling as many Academy members as possible between now and February 24, when he’ll find out if How to Survive a Plague wins the Oscar for best documentary.
“It’s taken us a while after last year’s premiere [at Sundance] to get the word out that this isn’t the story you think it is,” France says. “It’s really like a medical thriller—and true on top of that.”
How to Survive a Plague tells the story of activists who—through their work with AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and, later, the Treatment Action Group—saved millions of lives. They shut down New York City, stormed the FDA, and even tented former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms’ home with a gigantic condom. By doing so, they drew much-needed attention to the plight of people with AIDS and shattered standard practices around clinical drug trials—leading to the creation life-saving protease inhibitors.
“No drug has had such an impact on any virus — any virus,” France says.
READ FULL STORY »
Norah Jones will sing the jazzy Everybody Needs a Best Friend from the stuffed-bear comedy Ted on the upcoming Oscar telecast, the producers have announced.
The tune, which is up for Original Song, was co-written by Academy Awards host (and Ted filmmaker) Seth MacFarlane — so when producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron revealed last week that Adele would be crooning her nominated song from Skyfall, it was easy to assume this number would be part of the telecast as well. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Laurie Sparham
After losing a key Oscar nomination, Argo continues its run of winning every other top prize.
The film claimed the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble on Sunday, giving it yet another top prize as it heads into the Feb. 24 Oscars. The night before, it claimed the Producers Guild Award for Best Production. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Claire Folger
As goes the Producers Guild, so goes the Oscar for Best Picture …
At least, that’s how the past five years have worked out. So Argo‘s win on Saturday night is the strongest indicator yet that the rescue thriller is the frontrunner in the most fiercely competitive Academy Awards race in recent memory.
The 10 nominees in the producers race were Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Moonrise Kingdom, Silver Linings Playbook, Skyfall, Zero Dark Thirty. Only nine nominees are in the Academy’s top race, with Skyfall and Moonrise Kingdom out, and the French drama Amour ranking instead.
There are 15 separate branches within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but the board of governors for the Oscar organization has decided to separate one more.
Costume Designers will no longer be a part of the overall Designers Branch, which includes art directors, set decorators and production designers, and will instead stand alone as their own entity.
In addition to stronger representation within the Academy, this now means only costume designers will select nominees for that Oscar category, and only those who work on sets will vote for the production design contenders. As part of the same branch, they previously were able to weigh in on the other profession’s fields. (Final voting for winners remained open to the Academy at large.) READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: David James
This hills won’t come alive with the sound of music, and nobody will be singin’ in the rain, but The Oscars will be dedicating a portion of this year’s ceremony to movie musicals.
The producers of the Feb. 24 show announced today that they are planning a celebration of musical films from the past ten years, an era that starts with one they helped produce themselves — Chicago, which won Best Picture at the 2003 Academy Awards. READ FULL STORY »
It’s always a question: Will the Academy Awards telecast feature performances of the Original Song nominees?
Sometimes the answer is no, but this time … it’s looking like a yes.
Producers have indicated the frontrunner in that category, Adele’s massively popular theme to the James Bond thriller Skyfall, will be performed live during the Feb. 24 ceremony.
While the other nominees weren’t mentioned in the announcement, it’s unlikely one nominee will be allowed to perform unless the other contenders are welcome too — especially since one of them is written by Oscar host Seth MacFarlane and another could be performed by Hugh Jackman.
