Cinemascope

The statue of liberty’s three stages of abuse:

“Where’s my head?”

“oh, there it is”

“you maniacs! Damn you! God damn you all to hell!”

Here are the five nominees for best original song:

From “Once“: “Falling Slowly” (Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová)

From “August Rush“: “Raise It Up” (Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack, Tevin Thomas)

From “Enchanted“: “Happy Working Song” (Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz)

From “Enchanted“: “So Close” (Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz)

From “Enchanted“: “That’s How You Know” (Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz)

Best Original Score:

“Atonement“, Dario Marianelli

“The Kite Runner“, Alberto Iglesias

“Michael Clayton“, James Newton Howard

“Ratatouille“, Michael Giacchino

“3:10 To Yuma“, Marco Beltrami

You’ve read the list of nominees. Now read them online.

Adapted screenplay

“Atonement” Screenplay by Christopher Hampton

“Away from Her” Written by Sarah Polley

“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” Screenplay by Ronald Harwood

“No Country for Old Men” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

“There Will Be Blood” Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

Original screenplay

“Juno” Written by Diablo Cody

“Lars and the Real Girl” Written by Nancy Oliver

“Michael Clayton” Written by Tony Gilroy

“Ratatouille” Screenplay by Brad Bird
Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird

“The Savages” Written by Tamara Jenkins

Watch the following nominees online:

Documentary Feature:

No End in Sight
Directed by Charles Ferguson

(Watch the TV 60 minute cut of “No End In Sight”, via Yes, Israel’s DBS provider and its affiliate streaming website).

Animated Short:

My Love (full, 29 minutes)

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Madame Tutli-Putli (full, 17 minutes)

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Even pigeons go to heaven (full, 8 minutes)

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Peter & The Wolf (full, 29 minutes)

(or download it here)
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I Met The Walrus (trailer)

Two years ago I sat with five other international journalists in a round-table interview with Heath Ledger at the Berlin Film Festival. He was there to promote “Candy”, in which he played a heroine junkie, but this was just before the 2006 Oscars so many of the questions were about his Oscar nomination for “Brokeback Mountain”, alongside with then-wife fiancee Michelle Williams.
Although we threw him soft balls, he was surprisingly forthright and candid. The stories about him training to be a junkie, and learning how to shoot up, on “Candy” are chilling. His stories about his daughter Mathilda, then only several months old, are moving. And his review of his career - where he says “I did mediocre work in mediocre movies” - is refreshing. He seemed very much grounded back then, nothing that would make you suspect that this will be one of the next victims of the Hollywood burnout system.

I’m uploading the entire 22 minutes raw unedited audio file, because there’s something in his voice that now, after his death, sounds so alive, so aware. Heath Ledger was an actor only starting to realize his own talent and depth, and it seemed that his best work was still ahead of him. When I re-listened to this tape, I found it to be heartbreaking. So I’m sharing.

A round-table interview with Heath Ledger, February 2006

(listen here, download here)

A very reliable source in Park City, attending the Sundance festival, has sent along this message: Producers with whom he has spoken, who are close to the academy’s foreign language film screenings, which were held this past Friday and Saturday, are saying that three films have already secured a spot among the top five nominees: Russia’s “12″, Austria’s “The Counterfeiters” and Israel’s “Beaufort”. The remaining two spots are now a toss-up by points between the other six contenders.

The actual nominees will be announced Tuesday morning.

I am a far better predictor of winners then of nominees, but here goes. These are my guesses. The real nominations will be announced on Tuesday:

Best Picture:

No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Juno

(I’m adding “Juno” there just because it seems academy members love it so much, although I think giving a Best Picture nomination to this cute little film is over-doing it. But I prefer “Juno” to the way-overrated “Michael Clayton”).

Best Director(s):

Ethan and Joel Coen
Paul Thomas Anderson
Julian Schnabel
Sean Penn
Joe Wright

(Tony Gilroy or Tim Burton have a good chance of replacing one of the above).

Original Screenplay:

Juno
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
The Savages
American Gangster (or: Grace is Gone)

(I’m calling out the wild cards here. Some think “Lars and the Real Girl” and “Knocked Up” have a better chance).

Adapted Screenplay:

No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
Gone Baby Gone (or: “Zodiac”, or: “Away From Her”)

(I could’ve gone for the safer “Atonement”, but I feel adventurous).

Best Actor:

Daniel Day Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”
Johnny Depp, “Sweeney Todd”
Emile Hirsch, “Into the Wild”
George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”
Mathieu Amalric, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”

Best Actress:

Marion Cotillard, “La Vie En Rose”
Ellen Page, “Juno”
Julie Christie, “Away from Her”
Angelina Jolie, “A Mighty Heart”
Nikki Blonsky, “Hairspray”

Best Supporting Actor:

Javier Bardem, “No Country For Old Men”
Tommy Lee Jones, “No Country For Old Men”
Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Charlie Wilson’s War”
Paul Dano, “There Will Be Blood”

Best Supporting Actress:

Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There”
Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”
Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton”
Saoirse Ronan, “Atonement”
Helena Bonham Carter, “Sweeney Todd”

(Wouldn’t it be amazing if Ana-Maria Marinca, of “4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days” would be nominated here?)

Best Animated Feature:

Ratatouille
Persepolis
The Simpsons Movie

Best Foreign Film:

Austria
Canada
Italy
Israel
Serbia

FILM

AMERICAN GANGSTER – Brian Grazer/Ridley Scott
ATONEMENT – Tim Bevan/Eric Fellner/Paul Webster
THE LIVES OF OTHERS – Quirin Berg/Max Wiedemann
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN – Scott Rudin/Joel Coen/Ethan Coen
THERE WILL BE BLOOD – JoAnne Sellar/Paul Thomas Anderson/Daniel Lupi
(more…)

I think I kinda saw it coming. LA Weekly’s Scott Foundas (AND his mother) are shocked, but I’m not. I had a hunch, way back in December that Romania’s “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 days” won’t make the cut at the Oscars. I also had a feeling that after all the dust around “The Band’s Visit”’s disqualification will settle, Israel’s “Beaufort” will wow viewers (it is released stateside this weekend).
And it seems that at least four of Ken Rudolph’s favorite films made it into the nine.

The Counterfeiters (Austria)
The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (Brazil)
Days of Darkness (Canada)
Beaufort (Israel)
The Unknown (Italy)
Mongol (Kazakhstan)
Katyn (Poland)
12 (Russia)
The Trap (Serbia)

But I got this wrong: I also saw France’s “Persepolis” as a front-runner to win, and it’s not there. This could now make Austria’s “The Counterfeiters” the current front-runner.

(Shout-out to Spout’s Karina for mentioning my nearly-spot-on prediction)

Oh dear. I’m really behind with my updating chores. I’ve been away for a couple of days and then took the time to bring my Hebrew language movie blog up to speed.

Few quick updates:

- Told you “Diving Bell” will be big? Told you it will be this year’s “The Pianist”? It’s happening. Julian Schnabel snatched the Golden Globe for best director right under the Coen Brothers’ nose. And the movie was just nominated for a PGA.

- The HFPA and the BAFTAs prove: those who are not American don’t quite dig “No Country For Old Men”. Heck, they don’t dig westerns. It’s too much of an American mythology. And a damn creepy one. “Unforgiven” lost the Golden Globe to “Scent of a Woman” and the BAFTA to “Howard’s End”. So “Atonement” will still probably win the BAFTA. And although it’s not on either the PGA or DGA list of nominees I still see “Atonement” as a Best Picture Oscar nominee.

- I’m still rooting for “There Will Be Blood” for Best Picture.

- Ken Rudolph, the academy member whose blogged I linked to last week, was gentleman enough to post a comment on my site:

Thanks for the kind words. However, don’t expect my favorites to make it to the final nine. Some will, most won’t. I don’t think of myself as an average member of the foreign language film committee…and history bears that out. I have just one vote; and I can attest that there is no collusion on the part of the committee members at any level. My taste for the more avant guard submissions is a minority one, for sure.

Thanks Mr. Rudolph. Your site is indeed a great read. But your comment made me think: are active Oscar voters allowed to publicly prognosticate the outcome of the Academy Awards? If there is no clause barring it, it would be great to read (either on your blog or mine) which films you voted for and which do you think have the highest chances of being nominated.