Odd Man Out - Which director will it be

[FilmFan720]

A couple of things...

First off, I have never heard anyone refer to Juno as schmaltz before. I didn't find the film that sentimental, over dramatic or nostalgic in the least. Not like a Seabiscuit or Finding Neverland. What makes you think it is schmaltzy?

Second, is there really some sort of conspiracy against directing duos? I know only 3 have ever been nominated (and 2 of those won!), but I can't seem to remember too many that were overlooked. How many contenders were there that were directed by a duo. Surely there is no one claiming the Wachowskis missed a nomination for The Matrix because there were two names on the credit, or that the Farrellys have been unfairly overlooked for that reason. The only example I can think of was Little Miss Sunshine, and I think the film had a lot of other detractors affecting the director's branch decision there.

Finally, I have always enjoyed the acting in Danny Boyle films, from some great work in Shallow Grave and Trainspotting (Ewan McGregor's best work hands down) through 28 Days Later to last years exquisite Sunshine (which had some great ensemble work and a great lead performance from the underrated Cillian Murphy).



Edited By FilmFan720 on 1222981318

[rolotomasi99]

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Milk
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Million

Best Director
Darron Aronofsky- The Wrestler
Danny Boyle- Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Christopher Nolan- The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant- Milk

your lineup is very possible moviewes.

just out of curiousity, though, am i the only person who thinks CHANGELING is going to be nominated for picture and director? i thought we would have learned by now not to underestimate eastwood. i thought the word out of cannes was good. was it not good enough, or do people think the academy is just tired of eastwood?

[rolotomasi99]

Well, when a director makes a film as energizing as Trainspotting was for me, I tend to be excited about his career.

However much or little you meant it as an insult, calling him another Guy Ritchie is, for me, like saying Ang Lee is another Ron Howard.

"Not great with actors" could certainly also be said of Terence Malick -- and alot of people might say it about Kubrick as well.

The Little Miss Sunshine people weren't left off the directors' list because there were two of them. They were left off because the film was sentimental -- sentimental glop, in my opinion (it was also visually indifferent, but that was just gravy).

I mean, are you seriously suggesting if Schindler's List had been directed by a duo it somehow would have been excluded from best director?

aww TRAINSPOTTING. so much life, so much energy, so much creativity, so much promise. then there was A LIFE LESS ORDINARY (terrible followup but maybe the pressure just got to him), followed by THE BEACH (out of his element with a studio film perhaps), 28 DAYS LATER (some of the magic is back), MILLIONS (sentimental but no heart), SUNSHINE (extraordinary command of the language of cinema, but boy was the acting bad), and now SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

if you are a boyle fan, i am certainly not trying to turn you against him. i just do not think the academy has been eagerly waiting for him to release a film they can embrace. as always, i could be totally wrong though. my comparison of boyle to ritchie was not of talent but style (inventive visuals). i said high end to make clear boyle was better. just like ron howard and robert zemeckis have similar styles but howard is clearly more talented.

malick and kubrick had a cold relationship with their actors but they never delivered bad acting as far as i am concerned. plus, they made up for their shortcomings with actors by delivering incredible cinematic visions.

"sentimental glop" is how i have heard SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE described. if THE FULL MONTY, FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL, SEABISCUIT, CHOCOLAT, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, RAY, FINDING NEVERLAND, and JUNO can be nominated for best picture, i have no doubt about SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. only three of those films though had corresponding director nominations. i am not sure why the director's branch forgave those three directors for the schmaltz, but they did.

i think if martin scorsese and steven spielberg both directed SCHINDLER'S LIST, the academy would have nominated them both. just like it took the clout of the coen brothes and the quality of the film for the academy to make the exception for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. they were not going to make the exception for two nobodies who directed something as weak as LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. are you honestly saying SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is going to be on par with the quality of SCHINDLER'S LIST and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN?

i am not pointing to the directing team as the only reason boyle and tandan will not be nominated. it is the double directors plus the schmaltziness of the film. good enough for best picture (as we have seen repeatedly) but not director.

obviously my argument would be a little bit stronger if it was not undermined by ivan reitman's nomination for schmaltz-fest and visually craptastic JUNO. what were the director's thinking? did they feel they were recognizing his dad by proxy? just bizarre.



Edited By rolotomasi99 on 1222980949

[FilmFan720]

i was impressed with TRAINSPOTTING and enjoyed 28 DAYS LATER and SUNSHINE, but he is nothing more than the high end version of guy ritchie (which is not as insulting as it might sound).

Uttering anyone's name in the same sentence as Guy Ritchie should be read as an insult.

[Big Magilla]

If Millions is any indication, Danny Boyle is great with child actors.

You're kidding, right? Millions was so shamelessly schmaltzy and saccharine it made The Sound of Music look like Schindler's List.

Not kidding at all.

[MovieWes]

Right now, I would say...

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Milk
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Million

Best Director
Darron Aronofsky- The Wrestler
Danny Boyle- Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Christopher Nolan- The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant- Milk

Darron Aronofsky is the odd-man out director, in place of previous winner Sam Mendes for Revolutionary Road.

[Penelope]

If Millions is any indication, Danny Boyle is great with child actors.

You're kidding, right? Millions was so shamelessly schmaltzy and saccharine it made The Sound of Music look like Schindler's List.

[Big Magilla]

If Millions is any indication, Danny Boyle is great with child actors.

As for the director credits, I don't know. Co-director (India) is not the same as directed by X and XX. We'll have to see how the DGA interprets it.

[Mister Tee]

i was impressed with TRAINSPOTTING and enjoyed 28 DAYS LATER and SUNSHINE, but he is nothing more than the high end version of guy ritchie (which is not as insulting as it might sound).


...he knows how to shoot his films, but has no idea what to do with his actors. they are no more than talking props which need to be placed properly in the camera frame....


...i doubt they will make an exception for a no-name like boyle and the even more obscure loveleen tandan. this is exactly what happened to the LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE team.

Well, when a director makes a film as energizing as Trainspotting was for me, I tend to be excited about his career. However much or little you meant it as an insult, calling him another Guy Ritchie is, for me, like saying Ang Lee is another Ron Howard.

"Not great with actors" could certainly also be said of Terence Malick -- and alot of people might say it about Kubrick as well. Are they somehow inferior directors as a result? Kazan, conversely, was great with actors, but I don't put him remotely in Kubrick's class.

The Little Miss Sunshine people weren't left off the directors' list because there were two of them. They were left off because the film was sentimental -- sentimental glop, in my opinion (it was also visually indifferent, but that was just gravy). This is the profile of many of the films that get nominated for best picture but fail to score directing nods -- Seabiscuit, Chocolat, Finding Neverland. Some such, if they have enough heat in the best picture race, can manage to score the directing nod anyway (like A Beautiful Mind or Crash), but they're the most expendable when the directors get involved. I just don't think the two-ness of them played any part in the non-nomination.

I mean, are you seriously suggesting if Schindler's List had been directed by a duo it somehow would have been excluded from best director? People vote for the films, not the credit sheet. If critics and audiences love Slumdog, it'll get nominated for directing, easy.

[rolotomasi99]

Most often, the odd man director is a well respected director who has never gotten significant career recognition.

just looking at the past 8 odd-man-out nominees in this decade:

4 of the nominees had pretty thin resumes
Julian Schnabel
Paul Greengrass
Fernando Meirelles
Stephen Daldry

5 of them were first time nominees
Julian Schnabel
Paul Greengrass
Fernando Meirelles
Stephen Daldry
Pedro Almodóvar

7 of them were foreigners
Julian Schnabel
Paul Greengrass
Fernando Meirelles
Stephen Daldry
Pedro Almodóvar
Mike Leigh
Ridley Scott

3 of them had a previous director/picture nomination
David Lynch
Mike Leigh
Ridley Scott

all of the films left out of best picture but nominated for their directors were small indies except BLACK HAWK DOWN, which is why i do not think DEFIANCE, VALKYRIE, or MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA will be nominated for director without a best picture nom. also, of the four well established directors who were nominated, only almodóvar had not previously been nominated. i do not think the academy uses the odd-man-out nomination as career regonition the way supporting actor is.

i thought THE ROAD's john hillcoat was a possibility because he is a foreigner with a short resume who was noticed by critics for his previous films and his new film seems too dark and small to be nominated for best picture.
aronofsky also fits all these criteria except he is not a foreigner.



Edited By rolotomasi99 on 1222973957

[OscarGuy]

The directing branch doesn't have a choice. If they are submitted as co-directors on the official screen credit form, then the directors will have to vote for both, they can't pick and choose one of a pair of co-directors to be nominated.

[rolotomasi99]

Well, rolo, we continue to see Slumdog Millionaire from precisely opposite ends of the telescope. When a hipster/indie favorite somehow gets a film into the best picture race, it's pretty much a given they get the directing nod a well -- The Coens, Gus van Sant, Steven Soderbergh, Terence Malick. In fact, it's generally the best picture mention that's harder to come by.

wow, you really like boyle. you just compared him to the coens, van sant, soderbergh, and malick. ???

i was impressed with TRAINSPOTTING and enjoyed 28 DAYS LATER and SUNSHINE, but he is nothing more than the high end version of guy ritchie (which is not as insulting as it might sound). he knows how to shoot his films, but has no idea what to do with his actors. they are no more than talking props which need to be placed properly in the camera frame.
TRAINSPOTTING is the only film of his which even pretends to care about fleshing out its characters.
my favorite film of his is SUNSHINE. such an amazingly visual piece of cinematic storytelling. i wish he had the courage or the clout to have done it as an almost silent film like 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.

even putting all of that to the side, just because the academy finally nominated the coens as a directing team does not mean they are going to make a habit out of it.
as few times as they have done it, i doubt they will make an exception for a no-name like boyle and the even more obscure loveleen tandan. this is exactly what happened to the LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE team.

unless you think they would actually nominate boyle, but snub tandeen. boy would that be insulting, and probably create charges of sexism. it would be easier to just not nominate either one.

[Penelope]

Has a proper director credit been determined for Slumdog Millionaire? IMDb still lists two directors.

[Big Magilla]

Go, Danny, go.

In a year when all the anticipated films pretty much raise a shrug the situation is ripe for a Danny Boyel to emerge victorious and carry his film with him into the best picture race. I can even see him winning while his film loses to something else.

[Mister Tee]

Well, rolo, we continue to see Slumdog Millionaire from precisely opposite ends of the telescope. When a hipster/indie favorite somehow gets a film into the best picture race, it's pretty much a given they get the directing nod a well -- The Coens, Gus van Sant, Steven Soderbergh, Terence Malick. In fact, it's generally the best picture mention that's harder to come by.

Ed Zwick actually seems to me the exact sort of personality-less director who is the victim of odd man out syndrome, not the beneficiary.

I'm rooting for one day again seeing a 3-director discrepancy. It happened three times in the 60s but hasn't happened since.