I think that was her husband (with whom she's been since 1979, but only married a few months ago), journalist Duncan Campbell, who does look a lot like Terence Stamp, now that you mention it.Mister Tee wrote:Speaking of best actress: was that Terence Stamp alongside Julie Christie? I realize they go back far (and madding), but are they some item I don't know about?
80th Annual Academy Awards
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Mister Tee
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I was somewhat bedraggled yesterday, and left out a few observations. For anyone who still cares:
At first, I thought I'd misjudged Gil Cates, who for once deferred the first supporting award (and the Times TV critic lambasted him for it) and sensibly had it be the less competitive supporting actor prize. However...he undid the good by following with supporting actress what seemed ten minutes later, and then not only pushing lead actress far too early (before documentaries, for god's sake) but also, as dws pointed out, choosing the lead category that had upset potential (potential realized, it turned out) over the one that was a sure thing.
Speaking of best actress: was that Terence Stamp alongside Julie Christie? I realize they go back far (and madding), but are they some item I don't know about?
Christie's non-win gave us another percursor fact to discard -- previously, all non-populist candidates who won SAG have gone on to Oscars. No more.
What of the other precursors? SAG itself goes only 2 for 4 among performers, and remains about a 50-50 shot for ensemble matching best picture.
The DGA remains the gold standard -- even with the chaos of recent years, betting its choice for picture and director beats blind guessing.
WGA, in the past very spotty, has racked up four straight years of perfect matches. Please, return us to the days of American Splendor and Election.
The design and sound guilds failed, but the editors and, of all groups, cinematographers matched. All of which means...very little.
But I'll bet all the folks looking for the silver bullet predictor will point us to...BAFTA!...which foretold both Cotillard and Swinton. (We'll gently ignore the fact they also chose Atonement) By the way, I'll stick to my call of two weeks ago: had BAFTA not happened, the Swinton win would have been a jaw-dropper of Adrian Brody proportions. It's really sad how much fun precursors can drain from the process.
Stat possibly no one noticed: for the sixth year running, best director went to someone with at least one previous nomination (counting Fargo as a Coen brothers nod). This would have been unexceptional during the first 40 years of the awards, but from 1970 through 2001, a staggering number of directing winners made it on their first tries (even well-known folk like Eastwood). This appears to back up Dennis Bee's premise, that Oscar has belatedly adopted the auteur theory.
The Coens also became the first to break a certain trend: starting in '92, some hipper nominated directors began to be pensioned off with screenplay wins -- Jordan, Campion, Tarantino, Hanson, S. Coppola, Payne. The Coens are the first to return to claim the directing trophy. (They also now hold prizes for both original and adapted screenplay -- a distinction achieved in the past by, at minimum, F. Coppola, William Goldman, Horton Foote and Paddy Chayefsky)
At first, I thought I'd misjudged Gil Cates, who for once deferred the first supporting award (and the Times TV critic lambasted him for it) and sensibly had it be the less competitive supporting actor prize. However...he undid the good by following with supporting actress what seemed ten minutes later, and then not only pushing lead actress far too early (before documentaries, for god's sake) but also, as dws pointed out, choosing the lead category that had upset potential (potential realized, it turned out) over the one that was a sure thing.
Speaking of best actress: was that Terence Stamp alongside Julie Christie? I realize they go back far (and madding), but are they some item I don't know about?
Christie's non-win gave us another percursor fact to discard -- previously, all non-populist candidates who won SAG have gone on to Oscars. No more.
What of the other precursors? SAG itself goes only 2 for 4 among performers, and remains about a 50-50 shot for ensemble matching best picture.
The DGA remains the gold standard -- even with the chaos of recent years, betting its choice for picture and director beats blind guessing.
WGA, in the past very spotty, has racked up four straight years of perfect matches. Please, return us to the days of American Splendor and Election.
The design and sound guilds failed, but the editors and, of all groups, cinematographers matched. All of which means...very little.
But I'll bet all the folks looking for the silver bullet predictor will point us to...BAFTA!...which foretold both Cotillard and Swinton. (We'll gently ignore the fact they also chose Atonement) By the way, I'll stick to my call of two weeks ago: had BAFTA not happened, the Swinton win would have been a jaw-dropper of Adrian Brody proportions. It's really sad how much fun precursors can drain from the process.
Stat possibly no one noticed: for the sixth year running, best director went to someone with at least one previous nomination (counting Fargo as a Coen brothers nod). This would have been unexceptional during the first 40 years of the awards, but from 1970 through 2001, a staggering number of directing winners made it on their first tries (even well-known folk like Eastwood). This appears to back up Dennis Bee's premise, that Oscar has belatedly adopted the auteur theory.
The Coens also became the first to break a certain trend: starting in '92, some hipper nominated directors began to be pensioned off with screenplay wins -- Jordan, Campion, Tarantino, Hanson, S. Coppola, Payne. The Coens are the first to return to claim the directing trophy. (They also now hold prizes for both original and adapted screenplay -- a distinction achieved in the past by, at minimum, F. Coppola, William Goldman, Horton Foote and Paddy Chayefsky)
Ok Sabin. Thanks for your clarification. Anyway, I´m not so sure Polanski had an Oscar in mind while filming The Pianist.Sabin wrote:Hustler, what I meant was that the other directors all made their films with the intention of winning an Oscar. Maybe not Scorsese as much with 'The Departed' but it still crossed his mind. I don't think The Coen Brothers have any intention to make movies to win Oscars ever.
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Precious Doll
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My partner and I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Tilda Swinton at a screening of her rarest film Man to Man (1992 - directed by John Maybury) at the Forum Des Images in November 2001.Sonic Youth wrote:I think she's very beautiful, and her wide-eyed delight was cute and charming. But I find her beautiful only as an icon, a vision. Gorgeous to look at, and that's about as far as it goes. Nothing really seductive about her. Tilda Swinton isn't half as beautiful as Cotillard, but she looks like she'd be a lot more fun in the sack.
At the time the Forum Des Images was holding a complete Tilda Swinton retrospective, in line with the French release of The Deep End.
Tilda attended the screening of Man to Man because she had never seen the film which was made by the BBC but never shown. If you ever get a chance to see the film please do so as not only is it still her best performance to date, it's a one woman tour-de-force.
She introduced the film and answered questions after the screening in English, apologizing that her French was not up to scratch.
After the session was over we chatted with her for for a few minutes, mainly about how great Derek Jarman was. When we parted company I mentioned that I admired her unorthodox choices in roles and films wishing her luck in the future.
She is very beautiful in the flesh and was wearing a plain shirt and jeans.
Anyway that's my brush with a future Oscar winner.
I was glad when I heard she had won even though I didn't like Michael Clayton and thought she had a rather thankless role. At least she had two good scenes in the film, the best in film (practising her speech in a hotel room & the final confrontation with Clooney).
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
I mentioned this elsewhere, but this is one of the few times the presenters have made as big an impact on me as some of the speeches. Forest Whitaker's introduction to best actress was very well written (and he said it with conviction. Nothing robotic about it). And what can one say about Helen Mirren? I for one think she should host the damn thing. She's clever, classy, sexy, and she can hold the stage like nobody's business.
And yeah, Blanchett cringeing at her clip almost makes up for the nomination.
And yeah, Blanchett cringeing at her clip almost makes up for the nomination.
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Big Magilla
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It had been rumored that Colin Farrell is the one who insisted on Marketa Irglova being given the ability to make an accceptance speech after she was cut off by Bill Conti's music. However, Gil Cates has since said it was his idea, that Conti had been looking down and queued the music as soon as Glen Hasard finished speaking, and accidentally cut her off.
Regardless of whose idea it was, it was the moment of the evening.
Regardless of whose idea it was, it was the moment of the evening.
I'm sorry if someone else already noted this, but this is fourth straight year that the Golden Globe pick (for either Drama or Comedy) failed to predict the Best Picture Oscar winner (and the third year in a row that a Comedy Picture Globe winner -- once seen as a likely candidate -- failed to even score a Best Picture nomination: Walk the Line, Dreamgirls, Sweeney Todd).
This is also the fourth year in a row that the Best Picture winner claimed four or less trophies: Million Dollar Baby (4), Crash (3) The Departed (4), and No Country for Old Men (4). And pretty much all the wins were in top categories, with the early tech awards not giving any hint as to the eventual Best Picture winner (other than Film Editing which both Crash and The Departed won. And Editing is arguably -- together with Cinematography -- one of the upper-tier tech categories).
Other than the obvious fact that Oscar has been spreading the wealth and staying away from sweeps since Return of the King, I have no idea what else this means.
Edited By Akash on 1203985402
This is also the fourth year in a row that the Best Picture winner claimed four or less trophies: Million Dollar Baby (4), Crash (3) The Departed (4), and No Country for Old Men (4). And pretty much all the wins were in top categories, with the early tech awards not giving any hint as to the eventual Best Picture winner (other than Film Editing which both Crash and The Departed won. And Editing is arguably -- together with Cinematography -- one of the upper-tier tech categories).
Other than the obvious fact that Oscar has been spreading the wealth and staying away from sweeps since Return of the King, I have no idea what else this means.
Edited By Akash on 1203985402
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Mister Tee
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As usual, getting to it late in the day, having digested all the many reactions in the varous threads. My scattered thoughts:
I don't get the antipathy to Jon Stewart, except the general tendency to trash any Oscar host who's not Billy Crystal. I heard Stewart say the other day that, two years ago, he hadn't felt in command at the start, with which I agree (his '85 monologue was weak) but that he got better as the night went on. This time, I thought his monologue was up to par, starting with "invite the writers to the Vanity Fair party", and he felt in full control throughout. And it certainly seemed like it was his idea to give the Once composer her chance to speak, which was a great Revolt of the Plebeians moment. If you didn't like him, I don't know what to say except, we disagree.
To get right to the big item: the best actress upset. I can't say I was shocked; it always struck me the intensity of the Cotillard claque could have impact. I was no doubt rooting for Christie, but I don't dislike Cotillard's performance so much that I was in throwing-something-at-the-screen mode. And, confession: unless a choice repels me to the bone (see: best picture '05), I get a bit off on any upset, simply because it makes the Oscars seems a bit more like a vital organism than the rote, predictable thing too many Oscar bloggers seem to want it to be. That, combined with Cotillard's clearly heartfelt joy, made it a memorable moment even if it wasn't one I rooted for. (Though it would have been nice to make it through the night with no biographical character, for the first time since, I believe, 1997)
In fact, I'd say I was more disappointed in the supporting actress choice, since Swinton, for me, ran at best third in the category. I like HER alot -- wanted her for best actress for The Deep End -- but her winning for this performance was comparable to Kidman winning in The Hours (after being skipped for To Die For). Or maybe like Kim Basinger -- winning as a way to honor her film, when she was one of the least interesting elements of it.
Day-Lewis and Bardem were my choices for best of the year in their categories, so I cheered their wins. Had they been joined by Christie and Ryan or Clanchett, it would have been the rare All Four Winners Outstanding year by my standards. But I'm grateful I didn't hate any of the substitute winners.
Best moments of the night?
The Once win -- clearly beloved by the audience (BJ was right to question the film's overrating last summer, but, so long as it stayed out of the major categories, it's wonderful it produced the win for this lovely ballad).
Sweeney winning its deserved art direction prize (Ferretti was denied so many times, but now has a pair of well-earned wins in 4 years).
The glorious triumph of The Golden Compass for visual effects! Never have I been so happy for a movie I haven't seen to win something...simply because of how much I disliked Transformers. I don't know if you're like me: I'm not geek enough to know the names of the nominees in these minor categories, but I try to remember the top contender or two while they're reading off the nominations. I knew instantly something had gone wrong when names I hadn't regsitered started being named -- but I thought, if anything, it would be Pirates mentioned. Complete shock at Golden Compass.
And it was a wonderful moment for Oscar connoisseurs, comparable to when, say, a baseball fan notices a pitcher's arm dropping down a bit, and knows it means the opposing team will shortly begin scoring off him. Transformers failing to cash in this seemingly sure win meant the dream of a Transformers sweep carrying Kevin O'Connell home was dust, and that my one solid instinct of the year -- that Bourne Ultimatum was a winner in the techs -- was going to be vindicated. All you people holding onto your Greengrass hate -- stick it in your ear. And just wait for his Imperial Life in the Emerald City movie, which will contend for best picture and director, and really tick you off.
As for best picture/director...No Country represents the first time since The English Patient that my literal favorite film of the year has won best picture, so count me pleased. I'm still rather amazed a film that seemed so antithetical to Academy taste could win best picture. I've come to think maybe it's analogous to Lost -- the suspense/action elements are compelling enough to win over some, and the oo-ey mystical aspects give enough artistic cred to push it over the top.
Last thought: it's odd that last year we spoke so much of it being the most international set of nominees ever, yet this year's set of winners easily trumps last year's for "foreignness".
I don't get the antipathy to Jon Stewart, except the general tendency to trash any Oscar host who's not Billy Crystal. I heard Stewart say the other day that, two years ago, he hadn't felt in command at the start, with which I agree (his '85 monologue was weak) but that he got better as the night went on. This time, I thought his monologue was up to par, starting with "invite the writers to the Vanity Fair party", and he felt in full control throughout. And it certainly seemed like it was his idea to give the Once composer her chance to speak, which was a great Revolt of the Plebeians moment. If you didn't like him, I don't know what to say except, we disagree.
To get right to the big item: the best actress upset. I can't say I was shocked; it always struck me the intensity of the Cotillard claque could have impact. I was no doubt rooting for Christie, but I don't dislike Cotillard's performance so much that I was in throwing-something-at-the-screen mode. And, confession: unless a choice repels me to the bone (see: best picture '05), I get a bit off on any upset, simply because it makes the Oscars seems a bit more like a vital organism than the rote, predictable thing too many Oscar bloggers seem to want it to be. That, combined with Cotillard's clearly heartfelt joy, made it a memorable moment even if it wasn't one I rooted for. (Though it would have been nice to make it through the night with no biographical character, for the first time since, I believe, 1997)
In fact, I'd say I was more disappointed in the supporting actress choice, since Swinton, for me, ran at best third in the category. I like HER alot -- wanted her for best actress for The Deep End -- but her winning for this performance was comparable to Kidman winning in The Hours (after being skipped for To Die For). Or maybe like Kim Basinger -- winning as a way to honor her film, when she was one of the least interesting elements of it.
Day-Lewis and Bardem were my choices for best of the year in their categories, so I cheered their wins. Had they been joined by Christie and Ryan or Clanchett, it would have been the rare All Four Winners Outstanding year by my standards. But I'm grateful I didn't hate any of the substitute winners.
Best moments of the night?
The Once win -- clearly beloved by the audience (BJ was right to question the film's overrating last summer, but, so long as it stayed out of the major categories, it's wonderful it produced the win for this lovely ballad).
Sweeney winning its deserved art direction prize (Ferretti was denied so many times, but now has a pair of well-earned wins in 4 years).
The glorious triumph of The Golden Compass for visual effects! Never have I been so happy for a movie I haven't seen to win something...simply because of how much I disliked Transformers. I don't know if you're like me: I'm not geek enough to know the names of the nominees in these minor categories, but I try to remember the top contender or two while they're reading off the nominations. I knew instantly something had gone wrong when names I hadn't regsitered started being named -- but I thought, if anything, it would be Pirates mentioned. Complete shock at Golden Compass.
And it was a wonderful moment for Oscar connoisseurs, comparable to when, say, a baseball fan notices a pitcher's arm dropping down a bit, and knows it means the opposing team will shortly begin scoring off him. Transformers failing to cash in this seemingly sure win meant the dream of a Transformers sweep carrying Kevin O'Connell home was dust, and that my one solid instinct of the year -- that Bourne Ultimatum was a winner in the techs -- was going to be vindicated. All you people holding onto your Greengrass hate -- stick it in your ear. And just wait for his Imperial Life in the Emerald City movie, which will contend for best picture and director, and really tick you off.
As for best picture/director...No Country represents the first time since The English Patient that my literal favorite film of the year has won best picture, so count me pleased. I'm still rather amazed a film that seemed so antithetical to Academy taste could win best picture. I've come to think maybe it's analogous to Lost -- the suspense/action elements are compelling enough to win over some, and the oo-ey mystical aspects give enough artistic cred to push it over the top.
Last thought: it's odd that last year we spoke so much of it being the most international set of nominees ever, yet this year's set of winners easily trumps last year's for "foreignness".
Damien, all she has to do is play a real life person (preferably dead) in a mediocre biopic who "overcame adversity" and whose complex life has been reduced to a "triumph of the human spirit" story, and she'll win.
By the way, Julie Christie? Also hot, man. Women over 30 -- I'm learning -- are amazing in many, many ways...
By the way, Julie Christie? Also hot, man. Women over 30 -- I'm learning -- are amazing in many, many ways...
It's hard to imagine Julie getting such a strong role again -- although we can hope. But if the Academyis not going to reward such a great performance as she gave in Away From Her, it's not likely they would honor her for anything else (unless she does a complete 180 degree turnaround and gives a mannered, showy indulgent oneHustler wrote:mashari wrote:Wow, this is like the first time I got both Actress categories wrong. I wonder if this'll be Julie's last shot at another Oscar?
Oh, and I almost didn't recognize Tilda!
Do you really think guys it will be Julie´s farrewell?
)"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
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FilmFan720
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I don't know...she is hot and all, but my current love is Ellen Page.Akash wrote:Anyway, Cotillard was the most fuckable person at the Oscars. That I saw anyway.
I think Cotillard has a lot of talent in her, and I have said here that she has moments of brilliance in La Vie en Rose. I just didn't find it a finely shaped performance, or very consistent. I think with the right director, and better material, she could be a wonderful presence. And Marco, I am sorry if my name-calling offended you. It was writen in a moment of rage.
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