20 Days til Oscar nominations!
Every time the Producers Guild of America announces their awards, I have a split second of alternate universe confusion wherein I imagine the golfers on the PGA Tour breaking to vote on their ten favorite movies of the year. I'm pretty sure they'd have found room for DRIVE.
wocka wocka wocka
(I'm sorry! I couldn't resist.)
The other notable exclusion from the PGA's list is Terrence Malick's THE TREE OF LIFE but considering that the two most notable exclusions are auteur movies which didn't exactly light the box office on fire it makes sense that the PGA would embrace bigger and more producer-driven hits in their place. But I don't think this is bad news for The Tree of Life in the best picture race since it's obviously going to get a healthy portion of #1 votes. Enough though? Who knows.
Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures
- THE ARTIST Thomas Langmann
- BRIDESMAIDS Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend
- THE DESCENDANTS Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
- THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Ceán Chaffin, Scott Rudin
- THE HELP Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, Brunson Green
- HUGO Graham King, Martin Scorsese
- THE IDES OF MARCH George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Brian Oliver
- MIDNIGHT IN PARIS Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum
- MONEYBALL Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt
- WAR HORSE Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg
The inclusion of Dragon Tattoo is the most interesting because it is neither a big hit nor a critical darling nor a sound Oscar contender (though I suppose the last point is debatable). Was it Scott Rudin directed sympathy for Embargo-Gate? Was it just lazy just-saw-that voting? Did they genuinely love it?
The inclusion of The Ides of March might be the most telling since it also scored with the Golden Globes rather unexpectedly. When I first saw it I thought "my god, everyone is underestimating its Oscar chances" but then everyone quickly shoved it to the side as an also ran and I followed suit. Perhaps my initial instinct was closer to the truth than I knew? Do you think there's Oscar life left in THE IDES OF MARCH?
animation and tv after the jump
Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:
- THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN Peter Jackson, Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg
- CARS 2 Denise Ream
- KUNG FU PANDA 2 Melissa Cobb
- PUSS IN BOOTS Joe M. Aguilar, Latifa Ouaou
- RANGO John B. Carls, Gore Verbinski
Awards bodies are so lazy. Cars 2? Seriously? Let us speak of it no more. Please please please Oscar animation branch: Save face here and ignore it lest you expose the category for the mess that it is. If Oscar's Best Picture category had the same eligible films to nominee proportions as the Animated Category there would literally be 87 Best Picture nominees announced on January 24th! Nobody in their right mind would ever think this was a good idea so why are there so many Animated nominees even in a weak year for cartoons? (Rango notwithstanding)
Disgruntled Reader / Cars enthusiasts: Didn't you just say "let us speak of it no more"? SHUT UP.
The David L. Wolper Producer of the Year Award in Long-Form Television:
- “Cinema Verite” (HBO) Zanne Devine, Karyn McCarthy
- “Downton Abbey” (Masterpiece) (PBS) Julian Fellowes, Nigel Marchant, Gareth Neame
- “The Kennedys” (ReelzChannel) Jon Cassar, Jonathan Koch, Stephen Kronish, Steve Michaels, Michael Prupas, Jamie Paul Rock, Joel Surnow
- “Mildred Pierce” (HBO) Todd Haynes, Pamela Koffler, Ilene S. Landress, Christine Vachon
- “Too Big To Fail” (HBO) Carol Fenelon, Jeffrey Levine, Paula Weinstein
Good morning HBO Executives. None of them have ever had a "nomination morning"?