National Board of Review

[jack]

By the way, if Langella's nominated, would this make Richard Nixon the first U.S. president to have two actors nominated for Oscars for portraying him?

Yes. The Presidential portrayals that have been Oscar nominated were Anthony Hopkins as Richard Nixon (Nixon), Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams Armistad), James Whitmore as Harry S Truman (Give 'em Hell, Harry), Alexander Knox as Woodrow Wilson (Wilson) and Raymond Massey as Abraham Lincoln (Abe Lincoln in Illinois).

And Morgan Freeman as Barak Obama in his 9th term waging war on a comet...

[VanHelsing]

Belatedly, their top 10 indies:

FROZEN RIVER
IN BRUGES
IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS
MR. FOE
RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
SNOW ANGELS
SON OF RAMBOW
WENDY AND LUCY
VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
THE VISITOR

Then Kate Beckinsale should have WON Best Actress!!!

[paperboy]

By the way, if Langella's nominated, would this make Richard Nixon the first U.S. president to have two actors nominated for Oscars for portraying him?

Yes. The Presidential portrayals that have been Oscar nominated were Anthony Hopkins as Richard Nixon (Nixon), Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams Armistad), James Whitmore as Harry S Truman (Give 'em Hell, Harry), Alexander Knox as Woodrow Wilson (Wilson) and Raymond Massey as Abraham Lincoln (Abe Lincoln in Illinois).

[abcinyvr]

He was the one who pushed for the extra love scenes between him and Franco.

Was this during the period when he and Robin Wright Penn were separated?

[dylanfan23]

Don't get me wrong...i would love to see penn win...i can't say i prefer him over eastwood just because i haven't seen clint's performance yet....but if they give it to sean at least i know they will be giving it to an outstanding performance. Which is something they have been doing recently. My point was just that if this film that clint is in is the type of film that makes people fall for the performance, i can see a lot of members jumping on the lets give clint an acting oscar bandwagon...thats all i was saying. And that may be tough to beat.

[Sabin]

Emphasis on the word superlative. The year isn't over yet but I'd be surprised if there was a better Hollywood movie released this year (I consider 'WALL*E' and most every PIXAR film to be diametrically opposed aesthetically to what Hollywood fundamentally does); unlike 'Brokeback Mountain', 'Milk' is not about a relationship but a cause, and what could be squarer and straighter than that? The Dustin Lance Black makes a choice to eschew Harvey's private identity for his public one, and there are a couple of holes in the film that would need filling in order for Harvey Milk to shine through as an individual. Sean Penn's performance makes you feel close to this man.

This is something of a moot point but I'll make it anyway: this decade has shown that the winner of Best Actor usually goes to a showcase performance. Something showy that feels inherently given for the actor to just dominate. Forest Whitaker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jamie Foxx, Sean Penn in 2003, Denzel Washington...these are roles of varying degrees of difficulty but they feel somewhere between being tailor-made and a Gimmee, a cross between something made to knock out of the park (Washington, Penn) and an impersonation. I would say that Sean Penn's role is a cross between a one of these and a more superlative performance designed to fill in the emotional gaps in the screenplay, such as Russell Crowe, Adrien Brody, and Daniel Day-Lewis. On the page, these parts don't necessarily SCREAM pathos, but each one of these actors created an indelible impression in tapestries that do not inherently lend themselves to such - which is not to say that Polanski, Anderson, or Scott are necessarily unfriendly towards actors but these are different kinds of performances.

Right now, there are seven contenders for Best Actor we can all agree on:

Leonardo DiCaprio
Clint Eastwood
Richard Jenkins
Frank Langella
Sean Penn
Brad Pitt
Mickey Rourke

i've seen only Jenkins and Penn but I can say with certainty that Sean Penn fits both qualifications stated above. That doesn't necessarily guarantee his victory. Retroactively, Heath Ledger fits both of them more than Philip Seymour Hoffman, Daniel Day-Lewis more than Adrien Brody, Russell Crowe more than Denzel Washington, Javier Bardem more than Russell Crowe...

There are other factors involved: age, attitude, track record. All of these can hurt Penn severely, but on the strength and type of his performance and how embraced his film already is, I think that he can't be considered anything other than a strong front-runner at this point.



Edited By Sabin on 1228510306

[Penelope]

He doesn't give a shit about Oscars. He cares about the cause and the film. He cares about 'Milk'. He will show up whether he wins or loses. After what's happened to Prop 8, he would present.

And that, combined with his superlative performance, may be why he wins.

[Sabin]

He doesn't give a shit about Oscars. He cares about the cause and the film. He cares about 'Milk'. He will show up whether he wins or loses. After what's happened to Prop 8, he would present.

[flipp525]

Do you really think that he pushed for those scenes because he wanted to win another Oscar, or do you think he did it for the benefit of the film?

The latter.

[MovieWes]

The thing about Sean Penn is, he doesn't care about the Oscars. The only reason he showed up to accept the Oscar for Mystic River was because Clint Eastwood asked him to. Do you really think that they would award an actor who doesn't even care his second Best Actor Oscar five years after he won his first?

I think Penn feels very passionately about Milk, though. He was the one who pushed for the extra love scenes between him and Franco. He obviously did his research on the character and it shows in his performance. And with the topicality of the film against the backdrop of Proposition 8, you can better believe he realizes the perfect storm of recognition and awareness the film and his performance have. If nominated, I believe he will attend the ceremony.

Do you really think that he pushed for those scenes because he wanted to win another Oscar, or do you think he did it for the benefit of the film?

And Penn doesn't need to Oscars to politicize. He has plenty of opportunities to do that for Milk's PR campaign. I'm sure he'll be making several late night/morning talk show appearances over the coming weeks.

Anyway, Marlon Brando didn't need to show up in order to politicize when he won Best Actor for The Godfather. :p

[flipp525]

The thing about Sean Penn is, he doesn't care about the Oscars. The only reason he showed up to accept the Oscar for Mystic River was because Clint Eastwood asked him to. Do you really think that they would award an actor who doesn't even care his second Best Actor Oscar five years after he won his first?

I think Penn feels very passionately about Milk, though. He was the one who pushed for the extra love scenes between him and Franco. He obviously did his research on the character and it shows in his performance. And with the topicality of the film against the backdrop of Proposition 8, you can better believe he realizes the perfect storm of recognition and awareness the film and his performance have. If nominated, I believe he will attend the ceremony.



Edited By flipp525 on 1228502361

[OscarGuy]

I would bet Sean Penn would show up for this one. The reason I say that is, what better way to recognize the struggles of gay people everywhere and validate the courage of the Academy to recognize this performance. Penn likes politics and this would give him a stage to voice his opinions, so I'd bet he'd show up for this one.

But, I have been saying this is Langella's to lose all year. He hasn't won a precuror yet, which is disconcerting, but I still think it blends the right part with the right actor at the right time.

[MovieWes]

I don't think his recent win is too much of a deterrent for Penn. First off, he is showing a different side to him. Second, he is a beloved actor whom most in Hollywood would not begrudge a second Oscar. Plus, he won 5 years ago, which is a longer time span than say Kevin Spacey had before his second Oscar. Add in that he is in a Best Picture frontrunner (possibly...ala Spacey) and you have a good shot at an Oscar here.

The thing about Sean Penn is, he doesn't care about the Oscars. The only reason he showed up to accept the Oscar for Mystic River was because Clint Eastwood asked him to. Do you really think that they would award an actor who doesn't even care his second Best Actor Oscar five years after he won his first?

I'm beginning to get the feeling that this is Frank Langella's year.

By the way, if Langella's nominated, would this make Richard Nixon the first U.S. president to have two actors nominated for Oscars for portraying him?



Edited By MovieWes on 1228502094

[rolotomasi99]

Leo will probably win his first Oscar on his 7th or 8th nomination and when he's well over 40 or 50 (or older). The Academy generally doesn't like to give pretty boy movie stars their Oscars until they've got wrinkles.

luckily for richard dryefuss and adrian brody they are not considered classical beauties or they never would have won at such young ages. they fall in the comfort zone of the male actors' idea of beauty. apparently the women do not vote based on looks, even though that is the way they are judged.



Edited By rolotomasi99 on 1228507268

[Zahveed]

Poor Leo. He should have won for Gilbert Grape when he wasn't so "pretty". Who knows if he'll even be around when he's old and wrinkled.

He won't have work when Scorsese passes.