winner

ACADE
Best Pi
ONE OF THE BEST PICTURES OF THE YEAR
American Film Institute - National Board of Review - New York Film Critics Online - Houston Film Critics Society
The San Francisco Examiner - BBC America - Southeastern Film Critics - Us Weekly
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
New York Magazine
David Edelstein
New York Post
Kyle Smith
Rolling Stone Magazine
Peter Travers
Time Magazine
Richard Corliss
CRitiCs’ CHOiCe AWARD
WiNNeR
BEst CINEMAtOGRAPHY
ACe eDDie AWARD
NOMiNee
BEst FILM EDItING: Dramatic
BAFtA NOMINATIONS
5BEst ORIGINAL MUsIC • BEst PRODUCtION DEsIGN • BEst sOUND
BEst CINEMAtOGRAPHY • BEst sPECIAL VIsUAL EFFECts
VisUAL eFFeCts sOCietY
NOMiNee
BEst VFX IN A FEAtURE
MOtiON PiCtURe sOUND eDitORs
NOMiNee
Best sound Editing: Dialogue and ADR
Best sound Editing: sound Effects and Foley

MY AWARD® NOMINATIONS
CTURE OF THE YEAR
Produced by
STEVEN SPIELBERG,
KATHLEEN KENNEDY
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Janusz Kaminski
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
John Williams
BEST ART DIRECTION
Production Designer:
Rick Carter
Set Decorator:
Lee Sandales
BEST SOUND MIXING
Production Sound Mixer:
Stuart Wilson
Re-Recording Mixers:
Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson,
Tom Johnson
BEST SOUND EDITING
Supervising Sound Editors:
Gary Rydstrom,
Richard Hymns
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
www.DreamWorksPicturesAwards.com
©2012 DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC

The Awards Edition 2011-2012
Issue 06
Editorial Team
DEADLINE AWARDS COLUMNIST & CONTRIBUTOR
Pete Hammond
DEADLINE FILM EDITOR & CONTRIBUTOR
Mike Fleming
DEADLINE TV EDITOR & CONTRIBUTOR
Nellie Andreeva
DEADLINE EXECUTIVE EDITOR & CONTRIBUTOR
David Lieberman
DEADLINE MANAGING EDITOR
Patrick Hipes
AWARDS|LINE MANAGING EDITOR & CONTRIBUTOR
Anthony D’Alessandro
AWARDS|LINE CONTRIBUTORS
Tim Adler
Sharon Bernstein
Monica Corcoran Joe Donnelly
Diane Haithman Ari Karpel
Cari Lynn
Craig Modderno
Ray Richmond Scott Timberg
Design, Production, & Marketing
DEADLINE MARKETING CONSULTANT
Madelyn Hammond
SR. DIRECTOR, MARKETING
Mica Campbell
SR. DIRECTOR, ADVERTISING OPERATIONS
Cham Kim
ADVERTISING OPERATIONS COORDINATOR
David Letchworth
DESIGN & ART DIRECTION | VERSION-X DESIGN
Keith Knopf
Jason Campbell
FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN & CEO
Jay Penske
PRESIDENT
Alyson Racer
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
Paul Woolnough
V.P. ENTERTAINMENT SALES
Nic Paul
V.P. PARTNERSHIPS & PRODUCT
Craig Perreault
04 The Awards Edition 2011-2012 Issue 06
V.P. STRATEGY
Will Lee
SR. ENTERTAINMENT SALES DIRECTOR
Cathy Goepfert
CONSUMER SALES DIRECTOR
Debbie Goldberg
ENTERTAINMENT SALES MANAGER
Beau LeMire
ACCOUNT MANAGERS
Carra Fenton
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ADVERTISING INQUIRIES
Nic Paul 310.484.2517 / npaul@pmc.com
IS THE PARENT COMPANY AND OWNER OF:

NOW’S THE TIME
“
GARY OLDMAN GIVES
THE PERFORMANCE OF HIS LIFE.
HE HOLDS YOU SPELLBOUND. PREPARE TO BE AWED. ”
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
“
PERFECTION. ”
“
SUPERB. ”
“
EXTRAORDINARY. ”
“
REMARKABLE. ”
TIME OUT NEW YORK
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
PLAYBOY
MOVIELINE
“
A GREAT
ACCOMPLISHMENT. ”
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
“
FASCINATINGLY
GRIPPING. ”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
“
DELICIOUSLY
CONTROLLED. ”
PEOPLE
“
GRANDMASTER
CONCENTRATION. ”
NEW YORK POST
“
SUBLIME. ”
“
MAGNIFICENT. ”
“
GENIUS. ”
“
STUNNING. ”
NEWSDAY
THE BOSTON GLOBE
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
THE TELEGRAPH
“
COMPELS US TO
HANG ON HIS
EVERY WORD. ”
GQ
“
FULLY UNDERSTANDS
THE POWER INHERENT
IN RESTRAINT. ”
LOS ANGELES TIMES
“
ONE OF THE
GREAT ACTORS OF
HIS GENERATION. ”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“
A CHAMELEON.
HE CAN DO
EVERYTHING. ”
EBERT PRESENTS AT THE MOVIES
“ A MASTER-CLASS.
”
ROLLING STONE
“ WONDERFULLY NUANCED.
”
USA TODAY
“ FANTASTIC.
”
VANITY FAIR
“ CAREER-DEFINING.
”
THE SUNDAY TIMES
ACADEMY AWARD ® NOMINATIONS
BEST ACTOR GARY
INCLUDING
OLDMAN
BAFTA AWARD NOMINATIONS
INCLUDING
BEST ACTOR GARY OLDMAN
TINKER TAIL0R S0LDIER SPY
For up-to-the-minute screening information, exclusive video content, the score,
screenplay and more on this extraordinary film, go to: www.FocusAwards2011.com

And Then There Were Nine:
Oscar ® Ballots Still Boost a
Bulk of Best Pic Noms in
Wake of Rule Changes
By Pete
Hammond
©
A.M.P.A.S.
Although the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ® instituted its
controversial move to 10 best picture nominees just two years ago, it decided to
tweak it a bit this year by ratcheting up the importance of first place votes and allowing
a more flexible result of anywhere from five to 10 nominations as a result. For this first
year of the new rule voters surprised pundits by nearly going all the way and choosing
nine diverse and, in some cases, surprising nominees. Here’s how they stack up.
| BEST PICTURE NOMINEES |
06 The AwArds ediTion 2011-2012 Issue 06
THE ARTIST
THE ARTIST
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: This is the little movie that could.
It's a black and white silent film that won the hearts of
critics and audiences and now threatens to become the
first – and only – silent to win the best picture Oscar ®
since Wings took the very first best picture Academy
Award ® in 1927-29. With wins across the board from
the New York Film Critics to Critics Choice Movie
Awards, the Golden Globes ® and the Producers Guild
among others this improbable ode to the golden age
of cinema when films were just learning how to talk
is now the one to beat, but will it be perceived as too
slight to go all the way?
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: 3 Golden Globe ® wins (best comedy/musical,
actor and score), 4 Critics' Choice Movie
Awards (CCMA) (picture, director, costume design,
score), Producers Guild Award (PGA) win, Cannes
Film Festival win (best actor); 12 BAFTA noms (picture,
actor, actress, director, cinematography, costumes,
CATEGORY
PICTURE
LEAD ACTOR
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
DIRECTOR
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
CINEMATOGRAPHY
ORIGINAL SCORE
ART DIRECTION
EDITING
COSTUME DESIGN
TOTAL NOMS:
NOMINEE
Thomas Langmann (Producer)
Jean Dujardin
Bérénice Bejo
Michel Hazanavicius
Hazanavicius
Guillaume Schiffman
Ludovic Bource
Laurence Bennett (Prod. Designer), Robert Gould (Set Decoration)
Anne-Sophie Bion, Hazanavicius
Mark Bridges
make-up/hair, editing, score, screenplay, production
design, sound), 5 Indie Spirit noms (feature, director,
screenplay, male lead, cinematography), 3 Screen Actors
Guild ® (SAG ® ) noms (cast, actor, supporting actress)
and Directors Guild (DGA) nom.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: New York Times critic A.O. Scott praised,
“The Artist is more than a clever pastiche of antique
amusements. It may be something less than a great
movie, but it is an irresistible reminder of nearly everything
that makes the movies great,”
Continued on p10

C r i t i c s’ C h o i c e A w a r d
WINNER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
National Board of Review
WINNER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
G o l d e n G l o b e ®
A w a r d
WINNER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
ACADEMY AWARD ®
NOMINEE
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPHER
PLUMMER
INT Hal’s dining/kitchen
HAL:
Let’s say, when you were
little, you always
dreamed of some day
getting a lion... And you
wait and you wait and
you wait and you wait
and the lion doesn’t
come. Then along comes
a giraffe... You can be
alone or you can be
with the giraffe.
OLIVER:
I’d wait for the lion.
HAL:
That’s why I worry
about you.
SAG AWARD NOMINEE
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
WINNER
OVER 18 CRITICS AWARDS
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
BAFTA AWARD NOMINEE
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
For up-to-the-minute screening information and more on this wonderful fi lm
and extraordinary performance, go to: www.FocusAwards2011.com

4
BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis
ACADEMY AWARD ®
NOMINATIONS
BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR
Produced by Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain
5BAFTA AWARD NAACP IMAGE
NOMINATIONS AWARD NOMINATIONS
————————— INCLUDING —————————
BEST PICTURE
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Octavia Spencer
8————————— INCLUDING —————————
BEST PICTURE
WINNER
VIOLA DAVIS
BEST ACTRESS
CRITICS’ CHOICE AWARDS
WINNER
OCTAVIA SPENCER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
WASHINGTON DC FILM CRITICS
WINNER
OCTAVIA SPENCER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
GOLDEN GLOBE® AWARDS
WINNER
JESSICA CHASTAIN
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE
WINNER
VIOLA DAVIS
BEST ACTRESS
GOLDEN SATELLITE AWARDS
WINNER
OCTAVIA SPENCER
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
PALM SPRINGS FILM FESTIVAL
WINNER
OCTAVIA SPENCER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
CRITICS’ CHOICE AWARDS
WINNER
JESSICA CHASTAIN
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER
NEW YORK FILM CRITICS ONLINE
WINNER
VIOLA DAVIS
BEST ACTRESS
ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS
WINNER
BEST ENSEMBLE
NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW
HOLLYWOOD FILM FESTIVAL
WINNER
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
PHOENIX FILM CRITICS SOCIETY
BLACK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE
WINNER
JESSICA CHASTAIN
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
DETROIT FILM CRITICS SOCIETY
NOMINEE
TATE TAYLOR
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
WRITERS GUILD of AMERICA
NOMINEE
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
EXCELLENCE IN PERIOD FILM
COSTUME DESIGNERS GUILD
NOMINEE
BEST SOUND EDITING
DIALOGUE AND ADR IN A FEATURE
MOTION PICTURE SOUND EDITORS
NOMINEE
BEST ART DIRECTION
BEST PROD. DESIGN: PERIOD FILM
ART DIRECTORS GUILD
ONE OF THE BEST PICTURES OF THE YEAR
AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE • AFRICAN-AMERICAN FILM CRITICS • HOUSTON FILM CRITICS SOCIETY
ROLLING STONE • PHOENIX FILM CRITICS SOCIETY • NEW YORK FILM CRITICS ONLINE
THE NEW YORK TIMES • LAS VEGAS FILM CRITICS SOCIETY • FOX-TV • NEWSDAY • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES TIMES • SOUTHEASTERN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION • US WEEKLY
“Sensitive, deeply moving, inspired, honest, and unforgettable. The nuance,
the attention to details, and the underlying humanity all add up to a canvas
of life in the South cut from the same fabric as ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’”
THE NEW YORK OBSERVER, Rex Reed
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
www.DreamWorksPicturesAwards.com
©2012 DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC

Continued from p6
WHAT THE PUBLIC SAID: $37 million, worldwide, $13 million, domestic
(as of Jan. 24).
WHAT THE MOGULS SAID*: “I just thought the movie was great, and
I think greatness or quality stands out,” Harvey Weinstein,
on why he preemptively acquired the film at the 2011
Cannes Film Festival.
WHAT THE FILMMAKER SAID: “I really think there is something
beautiful with that format, the silent format. I think
the directors, when they made their movies back in the
1920s, they didn’t have an option to do talking movies,
they were just doing movies and it was a new type of a
universal language and I think it is very touching when
you see the silent movie because it has no language so it’s
just images and music. It’s like paintings and all music.
It’s really a language with emotions and feelings and it’s
deeper than talking movies.” Hazanavicius explains.
THE DESCENDANTS
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: This Hawaiian-set comedy/drama
is director Alexander Payne’s first feature film since
winning the Oscar ® for adapted screenplay and gaining
his first best picture nomination for Sideways fi ve
years ago. With its effortless weave thru lightness and
darkness the film has been compared to Billy Wilder in
his prime and features an outstanding ensemble cast,
led by George Clooney, that ought to have great appeal
to the all-important actors branch, largest in the Academy.
Its Golden Globe ® win for best picture – drama
certainly won’t hurt its chances, but it may not get the
“passion” vote so crucial for a win.
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: 2 Golden Globe wins (drama, actor),
1 CCMA win (actor), 3 BAFTA noms (film, actor,
adapted screenplay), PGA, DGA, WGA adapted
screenplay nom.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: “To call The Descendants perfect would
be a kind of insult, a betrayal of its commitment to,
and celebration of, human imperfection. Its flaws are
impossible to distinguish from its pleasures,” New York
Times’ Scott praises.
WHAT THE PUBLIC SAID: $62 million, worldwide, $52 million,
domestic (as of Jan. 24).
WHAT THE MOGULS SAID*: “Films which don’t submit easily to
a 30-second television spot need to be nurtured, they
need to be distributed with true patience and commitment
for the long haul. We’ve got something happening
now that is very fortunate with The Descendants,” Fox
Filmed Entertainment co-chairman and CEO Tom
Rothman said.
WHAT THE FILMMAKER SAID: “Clooney is right for this one. He
has the good looks that those rich guys out there in Hawaii
have. A few people have said, ‘Clooney is playing
the closest he’s ever come to playing a regular guy in
this.’ I don’t entirely agree with this. His emotions and
carriage may be that of a regular guy and the character
aspires to be more of a regular guy…but he’s meant to
be more of a patrician,” Payne told Awardsline Issue 1.
*Quoted at studio moguls’ panel at Deadline’s The Contenders
event, Dec. 10, 2011
THE DESCENDANTS
CATEGORY
PICTURE
LEAD ACTOR
DIRECTOR
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
EDITING
NOMINEE
Alexander Payne, Jim Burke, Jim Taylor (Producers)
George Clooney
Payne
Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, Payne
Kevin Tent
THE DESCENDANTS
TOTAL NOMS:
10 The AwArds ediTion 2011-2012 Issue 06
EXTREMELY LOUD &
INCREDIBLY CLOSE
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: Scott Rudin produced this adaptation
of the 9/11 - set novel about a boy searching for
clues after the death of his father in the Twin Towers.
With a crackerjack cast and direction from Stephen
Daldry whose three previous films all won him best
director Oscar ® noms, this was tipped to be a major
Oscar ® player right from the start, but a late December
opening and mixed reviews hurt its mojo so much that
it was basically an afterthought in the race until the
Academy spoke with its heart and emotions and gave it
just two nominations, but one of those was for best picture.
With no directing, writing or editing nods though
the nomination will be the prize.
CATEGORY
PICTURE
SUPPORTING ACTOR
TOTAL NOMS:
NOMINEE
Scott Rudin (Producer)
Max von Sydow
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: 4 CCMA noms (picture, director,
adapted screenplay) and a win for best young actor
(Thomas Horn)
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: Ella Taylor of NPR said, “Extremely
Loud and Incredibly Close unfolds as a tough-minded but
tender tale of suffering, confusion and redemption for
children old enough to remember or know about the
attack on the Twin Towers
WHAT THE PUBLIC SAID: $12 million domestic box office (as of
Jan. 24)
WHAT THE PRODUCER SAID: “If you’re gonna do this movie, you
had to go for the building falling. You had to deal with
the idea of the falling man and what that means to
people. I think that once we had this idea of this phone
call from Sandy Bullock and Tom Hanks, we would
EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE
Continued on p14

3
ACADEMY AWARD ® NOMINATIONS
BEST ACTRESS • GLENN CLOSE
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS • JANET MCTEER
BEST MAKEUP • MATTHEW W. MUNGLE — LYNN JOHNSTON — MARTIAL CORNEVILLE
“A brave performance by Glenn Close.
Close never steps wrong, never breaks reality.
Janet McTeer brings the film happiness and life.”
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
“Great acting. Nobbs is played by the dazzling
and infinitely resourceful Glenn Close. She imparts
a mysterious glow to his smallest gestures and actions.
Janet McTeer’s sly, exuberant performance
is a pure delight.”
- A.O. Scott, The New York Times
“A gem…Glenn Close gives a performance
that transfixes, and succeeds in spades.
Janet McTeer’s performance is generous,
warm and alive with playful good energy.”
- Mary Pols, Time
“A career-crowning role for Glenn Close.”
- Peter Debruge, Variety “A jaw-dropping performance by Glenn Close…
brilliant.”
- Marlow Stern, Newsweek
“Close delivers one of the year’s standout
performances. She disguises her famous features,
but it’s her attention to detail that makes the
performance indelible.”
- Adam Markovitz, Entertainment Weekly
www.roadsideawards.com
©2012 Roadside Attractions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Continued from p10
have the plan for the movie. But, it couldn’t happen
right away. That was probably years after the process
of working on the scripts,” Scott Rudin told Deadline's
Mike Fleming in Awardsline Issue 5.
WHAT THE LEAD ACTRESS SAID: In a roundtable discussion with
Hammond, Sandra Bullock described why the feature
adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel was so powerful,
“I was in New York that day and you saw every person
reaching out to someone else…It just bonded everyone. I
think there is a great line in the film that [actor] Thomas
[Horn] says, ‘We’re all bonded by loss. If you have a
good life, you’re going to experience loss. It connects us
all. It makes us all the same.’ I think there’s a healing in
that. That you go, ‘You’re not alone. You’re not different.’
We’re all connected by this event, this catastrophic event,
that actually now is showing signs of hope. It brought
hopeful things; the hopeful things it brought out in people.
And that is what I responded to because you saw that
hopefulness in his eyes as he met all those people."
EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE
THE HELP
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: This August release from the bestselling
book was a smash hit and remains the only film
in this year’s lineup to eclipse the magic $100 million
dollar mark. The Civil Rights-era setting and a superlative
ensemble cast made this very attractive to the
Academy, particularly the actors branch which gave
three of its stars, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and
Jessica Chastain nominations too. But those were the
only nods outside of best picture. No film since Grand
Hotel in 1930 has ever won without writing, directing
or editing nods so this is a real uphill climb if you go
by Academy history.
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: 3 CCMA wins (best acting ensemble,
best actress — Davis, supporting actress — Spencer),
Golden Globe ® win (supporting actress — Spencer), 5
BAFTA noms (film, actress, supporting actress for Spencer
and Chastain), 4 SAG ® noms (cast, actress and two
supporting actress nods), PGA and WGA noms.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: “It's an intimate epic, not a historical
one. And the tale written on the eloquent faces of
Davis and Spencer speaks to the heart,” Rolling Stone’s
Peter Travers wrote.
WHAT THE PUBLIC SAID: $205 million worldwide and $170
million domestic.
THE HELP
CATEGORY
PICTURE
LEAD ACTRESS
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
TOTAL NOMS:
NOMINEE
WHAT THE MOGULS SAID*: “In the case of The Help we endeavored
to create an extensive word of mouth campaign
all summer, and to build word and emotion around the
movie. We left it to audiences to remark on the fact that
these performances were extraordinary, and in their
acknowledgment, this creates a patina,” DreamWorks
co-chairman/CEO Stacey Snider said.
WHAT THE PRODUCER SAID: Brunson Green beamed, “We never
thought this book would become a sensation. No one
wants to make a movie from a little book in the south.
As it gained popularity in the top 10, it served as perfect
timing as [director] Tate [Taylor] had just finished
the screenplay ... We met with several studios and the
movie was a tough sell. It’s a southern story and these
types of films don’t have a huge international appeal.
DreamWorks took a leap of faith with the material.”
Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, Brunson Green (Producers)
Viola Davis
Octavia Spencer & Jessica Chastain
14 The AwArds ediTion 2011-2012 Issue 06
HUGO
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: Martin Scorsese working in 3D
and adapting from a popular children’s novel for the
first time, put all his personal passion about the dawn
of movies into this dazzling film that features the best
overall lineup of craftspeople working in the business
today. At first Paramount didn’t quite know who to
sell this to and that may have hurt as the movie is a box
office disappointment earning far less so far than what
HUGO
CATEGORY
PICTURE
DIRECTOR
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
CINEMATOGRAPHY
ORIGINAL SCORE
ART DIRECTION
EDITING
COSTUME DESIGN
SOUND EDITING
SOUND MIXING
VISUAL EFFECTS
TOTAL NOMS:
NOMINEE
it cost to make and market. Nevertheless its leading
11 nominations speaks for itself and Hugo could provide
the toughest direct competition for that other film
about the beginnings of the movie industry.
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: Golden Globes ® win (director),
CCMA win (art direction); 9 BAFTA noms (director,
Graham King, Martin Scorsese (Producers)
Scorsese
John Logan
Robert Richardson
Howard Shore
Dante Ferretti (Prod. Designer), Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set)
Thelma Schoonmaker
Sandy Powell
Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty
Tom Fleischman, John Midgley
Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman, Alex Henning
cinematography, costume design, editing, score, makeup/hair,
production design, visual effects, sound) PGA,
DGA, WGA noms.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: “Hugo is more than a love letter to
film preservation, a charitable donation to movie lovers,
critics included. It is a fable as sensitive and powerful as

any Scorsese film since The Age of Innocence nearly two
decades ago,” exclaimed Time’s Richard Corliss wrote.
WHAT THE PUBLIC SAID: $83 million, worldwide, $56 million,
domestic (As of Jan. 24)
WHAT THE MOGULS SAID*: “This is a movie where you have one
of the best filmmakers taking on a new technology and
doing something spectacular with it, it’s one that we’re
very excited to be part of, and hope that people will
see it in 3-D,” Paramount Pictures vice chairman Rob
Moore said at Deadline's The Contenders Event
WHAT THE FILMAKER SAID: “If you think back at your childhood,
you think about where you grew up and if you ever go
back there, it’s different. It has a different feel to it from
what a child sees and perceives. I thought that would
be amazing in 3D,” Scorsese told Deadline's Fleming
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: It has been 25 years since a movie
written and directed by Woody Allen has graced the
best picture category but this is no ordinary Allen film
and it became the prolific filmmaker’s highest grossing
movie ever. That it was remembered this fondly after
opening eight months ago is a tribute to the staying
power of its creator. That rare comedy in the best picture
circle it still is something or a long shot to become
Allen’s second best picture winner ever 34 years after
Annie Hall.
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: Golden Globe ® win (original screenplay),
CCMA win (original screenplay); BAFTA nom
(original screenplay) SAG nom (cast), PGA, DGA and
WGA noms
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: New York Observer’s Rex Reed
writes, “Mr. Allen is an artist brimming with vitality
and imagination, always ready to explore new ideas.
When they work, the screen lights up like a Yuletide
tree in Rockefeller Center and Midnight in Paris works
in spades...diamonds, clubs and hearts, too. It’s his best
movie in years, and 94 minutes of total enchantment.”
WHAT THE PUBLIC SAID: $148 million, worldwide and $56 million,
domestic.
WHAT THE PRODUCER SAID: Letty Aronson, Allen’s sister and
producing partner points out, “It’s been a crossover
film in terms of younger folks which I attribute to either
the parents going and saying ‘You gotta see this’
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
CATEGORY
PICTURE
DIRECTOR
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
ART DIRECTION
TOTAL NOMS:
NOMINEE
or taking their kids to it. This was also a breakout film
partially because people have a love affair with Paris,”.
WHAT THE FILMMAKER SAID: “I (thought) of the city first. I was
going to make a picture about Paris. And then the
title occurred to me later, Midnight in Paris, because it
was such a romantic title. And I thought, this guy is
in Paris, the hero, and has dinner in Paris, takes a walk.
And Paris is so beautiful at night, so the lights are so
gorgeous and he walks over the bridges and I thought
… what happens?...And then it just occurred to me one
day, he’s walking and a car pulls up next to him and
he gets in. And at first I thought, they take him to
party, and he’s a little drunk … and the party was very
romantic and really glamorous and all of sudden it’s
the 1920s and there’s Cole Porter at the piano and F.
Scott Fitzgerald. That gave me a story and from there
everything went fine.”
Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum (Producers)
Woody Allen
Allen
Anne Seibel (Prod. Design), Hélène Dubreuil (Set)
MONEYBALL
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: Who would have thought a book
drowning in the statistics of the business of baseball
could have become a hit film and major best picture
Oscar ® contender. With Brad Pitt hitting it over the
fence and a superlative script, the only thing holding
this one from running the bases at the Oscars ® is the
lack of Oscar ® and DGA nominations for its director
Bennett Miller. Movies rarely, if ever, win best picture
without that kind of imprimatur.
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: CCMA win for best adapted screenplay,
4 Golden Globe ® noms (best picture – drama, actor
– drama, supporting actor and screenplay) 3 BAFTA
noms (actor, supporting actor, adapted screenplay), 2
SAG ® noms (actor, supporting actor), PGA nom.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: The New Yorker’s David Denby wrote,
“Statistics and their alleged true meaning are at the heart
of this film, adapted from Michael Lewis’s 2003 nonfiction
book, but it’s also one of the most soulful of baseball
movies—it confronts the anguish of a very tough game.”
WHAT THE PUBLIC SAID: $106 million worldwide, $76 million
domestic box office (as of Jan. 24)
WHAT THE PRODUCER SAID: De Luca explained, “[The project]
is inspirational weather you are making widgets or
movies or running a baseball team, but, that you could
be a revolutionary thinker and speak truth to conventional
wisdom and have it work out. And then there
was also the secondary theme that [Rachael Horovitz
CATEGORY
PICTURE
LEAD ACTOR
SUPPORTING ACTOR
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
FILM EDITING
SOUND MIXING
TOTAL NOMS:
NOMINEE
Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
Jonah Hill
Steve Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
Christopher Tellefsen
and I] really liked that had to do with someone’s price
isn’t always their value….Sometimes in our culture
and our society we get carried away with what we are
paying people and what someone’s price is, and we
overlook hidden value. Because it’s really about giving
people second and third chances in the end.”
WHAT THE FILMMAKER SAID: Director Bennett Miller said, “A
movie like this, the moment it reaches for something
cheap at the expense of the veracity and the integrity
of the film, I think you doom the film. It’s the kind of
film that unravels very quickly if you’re not succeeding
in a number of categories, and one of them is credibility
and truthfulness. If you load it down with jokes – if
it becomes a joke – the movie unravels.”
Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco, Ed Novick
MONEYBALL
Continued on p16

Continued from p15
THE TREE OF LIFE
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: Terrence Malick’s films are an acquired
taste but this one is his most ambitious and personal
and after being delayed several years it hit the
ground running in awards season by taking the Palme
d’Or in Cannes last May. With a so-so box office take
and no major guild nominations it was thought dead in
the best picture category despite enormous critical support.
With only three nominations, albeit important
ones in cinematography and directing, it’s a long shot
to become the first film since Marty in 1955 to win the
top prize at both Cannes and the Oscars ® .
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or,
CCMA win (cinematography),
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: The New York Times' A.O. Scott wrote,
“This movie stands stubbornly alone, and yet in part by
virtue of its defiant peculiarity it shows a clear kinship
with other eccentric, permanent works of the American
imagination, in which sober consideration of life
on this continent is yoked to transcendental, even prophetic
ambition. More than any other active filmmaker
Mr. Malick belongs in the visionary company of homegrown
romantics like Herman Melville, Walt Whitman,
Hart Crane and James Agee.”
WHAT THE PUBLIC SAID: $54 million worldwide, $13 million
WHAT THE FINANCIER SAID: In an interview at the Cannes Film
Festival with Deadline’s Mike Fleming, Pohlad said,
“One day [Terrence Malick and I] went to lunch and
he told me the story of Tree of Life. It was a three hour
pitch, basically. It was an amazing project but I was just
getting my feet on the ground with him on Che, which
was itself a major project. Terry has a different way of
approaching things that I was just getting used to. Jumping
into something else with him sounded so huge and
overwhelming … Neither of us ended up doing Che but
we stayed in touch. He sent me the script four or five
years ago, I loved it. By then, I knew Terry’s writing
style, so I wasn’t shocked by it or put off by it at all. I
thought it was emotional, really amazing.”
WHAT THE PRODUCER SAID: Gardner told Deadline,” Quite often,
there’s the discussion of box office, demos and release
patterns when it comes to producing [and distributing]
a movie and it detracts from the film. With Tree of Life all
that mattered was the film itself ”
THE TREE OF LIFE
CATEGORY
PICTURE
DIRECTION
CINEMATOGRAPHY
TOTAL NOMS:
NOMINEE
Dede Gardner, Sarah Green, Grant Hill, Brad Pitt, Bill Pohlad † (Producers)
Terrence Malick
Emmanuel Lubezki
† Producer Credits to be Determined by Academy
16 The AwArds ediTion 2011-2012 Issue 06
WAR HORSE
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: Its best play Tony Award ® was a
great way to start for this emotional, heart breaking
story of a boy and his horse in World War 1. With
Steven Spielberg on board it became an early favorite
to take all the marbles in this year’s Oscar ® race but
then Spielberg got snubbed in the directing category
from both DGA and the Academy and the same indifference
happened with the writers and editors making
this horse suddenly a real underdog for best picture,
likely to be back in the pack on Oscar ® night.
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: CCMA win (best cinematography);
5 BAFTA noms (cinematography, score, production
WAR HORSE
CATEGORY
PICTURE
CINEMATOGRAPHY
ORIGINAL SCORE
ART DIRECTION
SOUND EDITING
SOUND MIXING
TOTAL NOMS:
NOMINEE
Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg (Producers)
Janusz Kaminski
John Williams
Rick Carter (Prod. Design), Lee Sandales (Set)
Richard Hymns, Gary Rydstrom
design, sound, visual effects), 2 Golden Globe ® noms
(best picture – drama, score), PGA nom
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: New York Post’s Kyle Smith praises,
“It’s not a knock on Steven Spielberg to say he is history’s
finest maker of children’s movies. His capacity
to evoke simplicity, awe, beauty and unconditional love
are his genius, and his vision of the children’s story
War Horse is a gorgeous, majestic fable about a boy who
yearns to be reunited with his steed.”
WHAT THE PUBLIC SAID: $90 million, worldwide and $73 million,
domestic.
WHAT THE MOGULS SAID*: DreamWorks co-chairman/CEO
Stacey Snider said “(Spielberg) led us this time around
Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Stuart Wilson
WAR HORSE
to do something we had never done before, which was
screen it widely to a regular audience and let them go
and experience it with their hearts.”
WHAT THE PRODUCER SAID: “I took our two teenage girls to
see the play [in London], having no idea that it would
be something I would be attracted to as a fi lm. It was
around the same time we were doing the score on
Tintin. So I was sitting on the scoring stage with Steven,
and told him I had seen this extraordinary play. I
told him, I keep thinking about whether it’s a movie
– it was extraordinary to watch the puppeteering, but I
couldn’t help thinking how majestic real horses could
be. Steven instantly said that sounds like a perfect
movie story.” - Kathleen Kennedy in Awardsline Issue 2
WHAT THE FILMMAKER SAID: “What attracted me to the project
was that this very soulful narrative about a family of
farmers whose very existence depends on the land.
And the father buys the wrong horse. A little bit like
Jack in the Beanstalk in that sense. And yet the horse
is able to overcome its own breeding to be able to help
the farm through and the heart the horse displays in
that. Then the horse gets transferred over to France in
no man's land…There’s probably only 12 minutes of
combat in the actual movie. This movie is really about
the connections of courage and hope but mainly about
the connections between people and animals and how
much this horse brings into everybody's life,” Spielberg
told Dealine's Fleming in an Awardsline Issue 2. □
ANTHONY D'ALESSANDRO
CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE

F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R A T I O N
ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEES
BEST PICTURE
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
MAX VON SYDOW
“EXQUISITE.
ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR.”
BETSY SHARKEY,
“MAX VON SYDOW IS MAGNIFICENT.”
MARY POLS,
“A STANDOUT PERFORMANCE FROM 82-YEAR-OLD MAX VON SYDOW WHO PUTS A
PROFOUND AMOUNT OF NUANCED INFLECTION BEHIND EVERY EXPRESSION.”
NICK PINKERTON,
SCREENING DATE TIME SCREENING ROOM
LOS ANGELES RSVP: 818.954.2066 or awardsoffice@warnerbros.com
Saturday, February 4 7:00pm WGA Theater – 135 S. Doheny Dr., Beverly Hills
(FOLLOWED BY A Q&A WITH MAX VON SYDOW)
Sunday, February 5* 7:00pm Samuel Goldwyn Theater – 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills
NEW YORK RSVP: 212.636.5094 or nyrsvp@warnerbros.com
Friday, February 3 8:30pm Warner Bros. Screening Room – 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York
Thursday, February 9 6:00pm Warner Bros. Screening Room – 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York
*OFFICIAL AMPAS SCREENING, NO RSVP NECESSARY.
WWW.WARNERBROS2011.COM

The Academy Opts for Acting
Chops Over Good Looks in a
Best Actor Category
By Pete
Hammond
©
A.M.P.A.S.
Before the Oscar ® nominations were announced the best actor category looked
like it could be a TV producer’s dream with names like Clooney, Pitt, DiCaprio,
Gosling, Dujardin and Fassbender competing for slots. This year best actor could
also have doubled for the cover of People’s Sexiest Man Alive. But alas the voters
changed it up and offered slots to underdogs Demián Bichir from Mexico and Gary
Oldman from England joining France’s Dujardin along with our own Clooney and
Pitt to make the best actor race an international affair if ever there was one.
18 The AwArds ediTion 2011-2012 Issue 06
DEMIÁN BICHIR
CARLOS GALINDO A BETTER LIFE
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: With a June release date, a paltry
box office take of less than $2 million and little left
in the budget for an Oscar ® campaign a nomination
seemed well out of reach for this Mexican star who is
known primarily in America for his co-starring role on
Showtime’s Weeds. But with a guerilla campaign and
an effort ensuring it was the first screener sent to voters
in early September, Bichir pulled off a SAG® nomination
and then followed it up here where he faces stiff
competition but should be thrilled that this recognition
could make a real difference to the 11 million illegal
immigrants his character represents.
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: Best actor noms from Indie Spirit
and SAG ® .
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: The New York Observer’s Rex Reed remarked,
“Mr. Bichir is nothing less than perfect … The
planes of his face seem salted by hard labor and determination,
showing the dilemma of a man forced to break the
law in order to stand up for his rights as a human being.”
WHAT THE PUBLIC SAID: $1.8 million domestic B.O
WHAT THE FILMMAKER SAID: Producer-director Chris Weitz explained
at Deadline’s Contenders conference, “We are able
DEMIÁN BICHIR
to talk about one another in statistics and figures and not
think of each other in terms of being people. Sometimes
we’d rather not because it makes us worry about the morality
we are engaging in … People in congressional offices
and think tanks started seeing the film. Eventually
Demián and I came back from DC where we did a panel
alongside the Mexican ambassador. I never imagined
winding up in that place.”
WHAT BICHIR SAID: “It was not only a great chance to approach
such a beautiful character in a wonderful script,
but also the chance, the honor and responsibility to give
to all these 11 million human beings and (Mexican) immigrants.
That’s been changing a lot of things already and
for me has been a wonderful ride.”
GEORGE CLOONEY
MATT KING THE DESCENDANTS
WHAT THE ACADEMY SAID PREVIOUSLY: Oscar ® win, best supporting
actor Syriana (2005), 4 other Oscar ® noms for best actor –
Michael Clayton (2007) and Up in the Air (2009), best director
and screenplay – Good Night, and Good Luck (2005).
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: Clooney gained his third nomination
in this category and may be the quintessential Oscar ®
campaigner, tirelessly participating in Q&A's and charming
his way with potential voters. But this Oscar ® winner’s
turn as Matt King in Alexander Payne’s striking
film is not only his riskiest role yet, it is also his best and
a real character turn for a handsome leading man. With
Golden Globe ® , Critics Choice and the National Board
of Review awards in his pocket Clooney may soon have
a bookend for that supporting Syriana Oscar ® he won in
2005.
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: Golden Globe ® win best actor, drama;
CCMA win: noms from BAFTA and SAG ®
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: Roger Ebert glowed, “What essence
does Payne see in him? I believe it is intelligence. Some
actors may not be smart enough to sound convincing; the

GEORGE CLOONEY
ing, breathing silver-screen artifact: He resembles Gene
Kelly, but with an absurdly rousing sunbeam of a smile
that marks him as a wholesome rogue in the Douglas
Fairbanks mold.”
WHAT DUJARDIN SAID: In an interview with ABC’s Peter Travers,
“When Michel told me about it, I said, 'What, are you
crazy?' It’s very difficult to finance this kind of project. I
asked, ‘What kind of silent movie would you like?’ So I
saw with him a lot of movies … I was scared to pantomime,
I didn’t want to do Chaplin or Keaton. And I saw
Sunrise and City Girl and understood what Michel wanted.”
GARY OLDMAN
GEORGE SMILEY TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: Incredibly, Oldman is only receiving
his first Oscar ® nomination in a 25 year career. And he
really wants it, dutifully working the circuit at Q&A's and
parties in order to get people to see this complex film in
which he plays an iconic spy. With little traction among
critics groups or other awards shows, Oldman finally
scored a BAFTA nod in his home country and that led to
this long overdue Oscar ® recognition, but a win might be
too big a hurdle to cross.
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: Best actor nom from BAFTA.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern
wrote, “This version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy turns on
the presence of Mr. Oldman, and he is an actor of great
wrong actor in this role couldn’t convince us that he understands
the issues involved. Clooney strikes me as manifestly
the kind of actor who does.”
WHAT THE FILMMAKER SAID: Alexander Payne told Charlie Rose, “The
character calls for someone who is a bit emotionally detached,
having a bit of an awakening. I thought Mr. Clooney is often
cool in his parts, not all of them, but many and to see him wake
up to a more emotional state I thought would be interesting.”
WHAT CLOONEY SAID: “I have tried to, as I get older and as I
grow as person and as an actor; constantly push myself
into uncomfortable zones … (Matt King) sort of has his
act together and finds out that he doesn’t. And now you
are getting to the spot in your life and in your performances
where you know it’s about talking about a guy
who didn’t ever have his act together, who loses every argument
and isn’t competent and isn’t particularly strong.
And those are tricky things to do for two reasons. One is
because they are not particularly easy for me to do, but
also because it’s not particularly easy for the audience to
see you do. You know, people get used to you in a certain
way. So part of it was also just about having to change the
way people see you, just by doing it enough.”
JEAN DUJARDIN
GEORGE VALENTIN THE ARTIST
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: A French superstar, Dujardin won
the best actor award at Cannes and a Golden Globe ®
for his touching turn as a silent film star unable to make
the transition to talkies. As the first performance in a
silent film to land in the best actor category in at least
80 years, Dujardin’s portrayal was not only charming
but really touches a nerve with industry workers struggling
with change as new technologies take over their
business. He could be a spoiler if Clooney and Pitt split
the superstar vote.
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: Best actor wins at the Golden
Globes ® (comedy/musical) and Cannes Film Festival;
noms from BAFTA, CCMA and SAG ® .
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman
wrote, “The hero, George Valentin, is a silent-film
superstar who is sitting on top of the world. He’s played
by the wonderful Jean Dujardin, who functions as a liv-
JEAN DUJARDIN
Continued on p20

GARY OLDMAN
20 The AwArds ediTion 2011-2012 Issue 06
Continued from p19
experience and accomplishment who has finally found a
film that fully deserves him … Mr. Oldman’s emphasis is
on self-containment, but what his Smiley seems to contain
is all the wisdom of a blighted world.”
WHAT THE PUBLIC SAID: $50 million worldwide, $19 million domestic
(as of Jan. 24)
WHAT THE PRODUCER SAID: “In many ways, Gary’s role is the
complete antithesis of Bourne and Bond because he’s
got to do nothing compellingly. Gary can clean his glasses
and it’s as electrifying as somebody else punching someone
out,” said working Title co-founder and Tinker Tailor
producer Tim Bevan in Awardsline, Issue 1. The film’s
second producer Robyn Slovo said, “Gary did come in
to the editing suite before the film was finished. He’s very
much got ownership of this film as well. He considers this
to be his greatest role.”
WHAT OLDMAN SAID: “A big clue to me, in the book, there’s
a passage and it’s the wife Ann describing Smiley…it’s
something like he’s a ‘swift.’ That he can modulate, or
regulate his body temperature to that of a room or a situation
that he’s in. I really anchored to that. And that’s
where the physical kind of stillness and the quiet of Smiley
[came from] … that was a key for me to unlock the
door. You know, scenes and, in screenplays and plays,
they often begin in the middle and it’s up to you to fill
in what happened before. So I picked John [LeCarré’s]
brain about the earlier days of Smiley as an agent in the
field so I could get a bit of an understanding of that life
lived before the movie starts. And he, it was fascinating
the way he said often, you’d be on an assignment and
it’d be tedium, bone-crushing boredom and intense levels
of paranoia. You were always waiting for the footstep
on the stairs, that your cover was blown.” - in conversation
with Awardsline/Deadline columnist Pete Hammond
BRAD PITT
BILLY BEANE MONEYBALL
WHAT THE ACADEMY SAID PREVIOUSLY: 2 previous Oscar ® noms for
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) (best actor) and
Twelve Monkeys (1995) (best supporting actor)
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: As Oakland A’s general manager
Billy Beane, this is a dream movie star role and Pitt persevered
to bring it to the screen on a rocky road of starts
and stops. It is the kind of role Redford or Newman
might have played in their prime, but for which they were
never awarded Oscars ® . Admiration for Pitt as both an
actor and producer who shepherds his own work and that
of others could make him a major player here and with
New York Film Critics and National Society of Film Critics
awards in the bag Oscar ® voters may decide his time
has finally come but he’ll have to duke it out with his good
buddy and Ocean’s Eleven compatriot.
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: Actor noms from BAFTA, CCMA,
Golden Globe ® – drama and SAG ® .
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman
observed, “As an actor, Brad Pitt has aged like a fine wine.
In Moneyball, he’s in classic, game-on movie-star mode, his hair
flopping with boyish insolence over his rugged features, but beneath
his funny, exhilarating, tossed-off strut of a performance,
he gives Billy a deep river of self-doubt, as well as a need to
prove himself that never quite comes out and shows itself.”
BRAD PITT
WHAT PITT SAID: The actor explained in Britain's Empire
magazine,, “I don’t spend a lot of time watching [baseball],
but I became obsessed with this book. These guys
were questioning a system and going up against it, and
I admired what that took … It’s an unfair game, forcing
these guys to say, ‘We can’t fight the other guys’ fight.
We have to question everything. We’ve got to search for
new baseball knowledge. We’ve got to re-examine the
sport and where we place.’”
WHAT THE PRODUCERS SAID: Michael De Luca remarked, “Brad
was so committed to that character (Oakland A’s manager
Billy Beane ) and the story of Moneyball in total, from Billy
Beane’s real life experience to what was in the book. And
he really connected to the material from its ground zero
on up. So he was very committed to playing that character
and I think that’s what carried him through this transitional
period (of development).” □
ANTHONY D'ALESSANDRO
CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE

F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R A T I O N
“The setup works like a charm. So do the songs,
with several new ones by Conchords star Bret McKenzie.
And the heartfelt ballad “Man or Muppet” deserves
Academy attention as the movie song of the year.”
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
“By the time Gary and Walter get to a showstopping
number that asks the burning question—‘Am I a man,
or a Muppet?’—you are completely hooked.”
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times
ACADEMY AWARD ®
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Man or Muppet”
Music and Lyrics by Bret McKenzie
NOMINEE
www.WaltDisneyStudiosAwards.com
© 2012 DISNEY

PARAMOUNTGUILDS.COM

It's Awards Royalty vs.
Fresh Faces for Best
Actress Oscar ®
By Pete
Hammond
©
A.M.P.A.S.
Of all the acting races, maybe all the Oscar® races period , this year’s best actress
lineup promises a fierce and exciting contest with veterans including the 17-
time nominated Meryl Streep, now 6-time nominated Glenn Close going up against
the younger crowd in the guise of Michelle Williams and newcomer Rooney Mara.
In the middle Viola Davis may not need any ‘Help’ at all to pull off a victory. This
one is anybody’s guess.
GLENN CLOSE
ALBERT NOBBS ALBERT NOBBS
WHAT THE ACADEMY SAID PREVIOUSLY: 5 Oscar ® noms – The World
According to Garp (1982) , The Big Chill (1983), The Natural
(1984) (supporting actress), Fatal Attraction (1987)
Dangerous Liaisons (1988) (best actress).
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: Close is in this race for the fi rst
time since 1988 for reason: actors love her story. She
played this complex role – of a woman passing as a
man in order to survive – Off-Broadway 30 years ago.
For the past 15 years she has tried to bring it to the
screen and fi nally succeeded , now playing the same
role she did in 1982 and pulling it off with seeming
ease. The fi lm may be too small to win her many
votes outside of the actors branch though and that
makes her unlikely to fi nally win the Oscar ® rather
than just adding another nomination to her resume.
24 The AwArds ediTion 2011-2012 Issue 06
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: Actress noms from the Golden
Globes ® , Screen Actors Guild Awards ® (SAG)
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: The New York Times’ A.O. Scott
praised her portrayal of Albert, noting "He is not,
indeed, a fellow at all, but a woman who has lived
most of her life disguised as a man. And not just any
woman: this self-effacing, cautious character, whose
name is also the title of Rodrigo Garcia’s lively and
touching new fi lm, is played by the dazzling and infi -
nitely resourceful Glenn Close.”
WHAT THE MOGULS SAID “[The producers] never told us, ‘We
won’t sell you the movie unless you are going to do an
Oscar® campaign.’ When we saw the movie, everybody
agreed that it was the right thing to do for the
fi lm, it wasn’t really a question. When we saw the
movie, because of her particular career and the story
of the fi lm, it all made sense,” Roadside Attractions
CEO Howard Cohen said at the independent studio
moguls panel at Deadline's The Contenders event, Dec.
11, 2011
WHAT CLOSE SAID: (On playing the role now versus 30 years
ago on the stage) “Because so much time had gone
GLENN CLOSE
by, Rodrigo [García, the film’s director] organized a
screen test for me…I always thought my face would be
a burden in this movie, that the whole exercise would
be to forget that it was me. It was during that test that
there was a moment when I looked up and it was not
me anymore. I do think the years that have gone by
only make the character more poignant.”
VIOLA DAVIS
AIBILEEN CLARK THE HELP
WHAT THE ACADEMY SAID PREVIOUSLY: 2008 best supporting nominee
for Doubt.
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: “A Tony ® winner for Fences, a
previous nominee for supporting actress for Doubt,
Davis could offer real competition here for her moving

VIOLA DAVIS
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: The New Yorker’s David Denby screamed,
“You can’t take your eyes off Rooney Mara as the notoportrayal
of Aibileen Clark in The Help. It is in its
power and dignity almost the female equivalent of
Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird
and the same fate, an Oscar ® , could be awaiting Davis.
The big drawback is some may look at this as not much
more than a supporting turn, part of a larger ensemble
but her presence in the category should trump any of
those doubts. There seems to be a rooting factor for
her and indeed, she would be only the second African-
American actress to ever win in this category.”
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: Best actress wins from CCMA;
noms from BAFTA, Golden Globes ® and SAG leading
actress nom.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: “The Help belongs to Viola Davis …
She has eyes unlike other actress’s: hard, unyielding, with
no give back … It’s a tough, beautifully judged performance
— it gives this too-soft movie a spine,” New York’s
David Edelstein heralds.
WHAT THE PRODUCER SAID: The adjectives that come to Brunson
Green’s mind when he thinks of Davis: “Strength, intensity,
professionalism and a leader. Tate Taylor was adamant
that Davis be involved. She elevated the work ethic of the
other actresses and brought everyone’s game up.”
WHAT DAVIS SAID: Davis told Charlie Rose. “To transform into
a character that has a realized life, vulnerability, sexuality
and for that character to go on a journey – it’s very rare
for me to do that. I have the need to do that, but I have
to always try to do it in the context of two or three scenes
in a movie or less. This was a chance for many African-
American actresses to play fully realized human beings.”
ROONEY MARA
LISBETH SALANDER THE GIRL WITH THE
DRAGON TATTOO
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: “Mara is the only one in the category
who did not get a corresponding SAG ® nomination, not
a good sign. Also as the newcomer here, she will be written
off by many as too young to win the prize. And hey,
Noomi Rapace, the actress who created the role of Lisbeth
Salander in the Swedish original trilogy failed to get
an Oscar ® nod even though some think she was better in
the role. It is probably not the talented Mara’s time, but
she’ll be back no doubt.
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: Best actress nom from the Golden
Globes ®
ROONEY MARA
rious Lisbeth Salander … (she) cuts through scene after
scene like a swift, dark blade…It’s Mara’s shot at stardom,”
WHAT THE PUBLIC SAID: Worldwide B.O. $166 million, $95 million
domestic (as of Jan. 24)
WHAT THE PRODUCER SAID: “David (Fincher) had a very specific
idea of who the character was that really fit her (Mara)
perfectly … I think she’s unbelievably brilliant in the
movie and I couldn’t possibly say I had an idea at the beginning
how good she would be. And, really, Fincher de-
Continued on p26

26 The AwArds ediTion 2011-2012 Issue 06
MERYL STREEP
Continued from p25
serves all the credit for it. He thought she had ferocity and
he loved how young she was. I think he thought she could
grow into the [role over the course of the trilogy] and that
he could deliver the version of the part he wanted to with
her,” Scott Rudin told Mike Fleming.
WHAT MARA SAID: “It’s hard not to be sympathetic toward
Lisbeth. She’s had such a horrible life, being systemically
abused by people. I think everyone can relate to that at
some point in their life: People in a position of power,
abusing that power over others. She also doesn’t hold a
lot of sympathy for herself which makes her more sympathetic.
She never thinks of herself as a victim.”
MERYL STREEP
MARGARET THATCHER THE IRON LADY
WHAT THE ACADEMY SAID PREVIOUSLY: 16 noms: for The Deer Hunter
(1978), Adaptation (2002) (supporting actress); The French
Lieutenant’s Woman (1981), Silkwood (1983), Out of Africa
(1985), Ironweed (1987), A Cry in the Dark (1988), Postcards
From the Edge (1990), The Bridges of Madison County (1995),
One True Thing (1998), Music of the Heart (1999), The Devil
Wears Prada (2006), Doubt (2008), Julie & Julia (2009) (best
actress): 2 wins, for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) (best supporting
actress) and Sophie’s Choice (1982) (best actress).
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: Streep is a wonder. This reps her
17th nomination, far more than any performer has ever
received in Academy history. She has won twice but it
has been a very long 29 years since her last Oscar ® , for
Sophie’s Choice in 1982, a fact the Weinstein Company is
trying to pound home. As she likes to say yes, she has won
twice but she’s also lost more than any actor living or dead.
Certainly her flawless work here as Margaret Thatcher is
beyond reproach, but the film is less adored. Streep’s only
bridge between this nomination and an actual third Oscar
® is that voters expect her to be as good as she always is
and may take her for granted.
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: Golden Globe ® win – actress in
a motion picture, drama; leading actress noms from
BAFTA, CCMA and SAG ® .
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: New York Post’s Kyle Smith said, “Streep’s
range in capturing Thatcher’s many sides — affectionate
wife, uncertain outsider, decisive military commander,
confused elder — marks this performance a standout
even by her standards ... She simply vanishes behind the
Iron Lady (as the Soviet press dubbed Thatcher). And the
voice: uncanny.”
WHAT THE PUBLIC SAID: Worldwide B.O. $38 million, $13 million
domestic (as of Jan. 24)
WHAT THE MOGULS SAID: “I’ve done five movies with Meryl; I’ve
never seen her prouder of a movie than this and I feel she
had a great deal to do with this movie, too, behind the
scenes,” Harvey Weinstein told Mike Fleming.
WHAT STREEP SAID: In an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes,
Streep disclosed what attracted her to the role of playing
the controversial British Prime Minister, “Just the opportunity
to deal with the deep, buried discomfort that people
still have, men and women, with women in leadership
positions … I am in awe of what she did. The policies
you can argue with. But to sit in the hot seat, I can’t even
imagine having that steadfastness.”
MICHELLE WILLIAMS
MARILYN MONROE MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
WHAT THE ACADEMY SAID PREVIOUSLY: 2 Oscar ® noms for Blue
Valentine (2010) (actress) and Brokeback Mountain (2005)
(supporting actress)
WHAT PETE HAMMOND SAYS: Williams is an Oscar ® winner in
waiting. Her previous nominations for Brokeback Mountain
and last year’s Blue Valentine prove that, but nothing prepared
us for the multi-faceted and complex portrait she
paints of the iconic Marilyn Monroe. Williams displays
three distinct looks of Marilyn and nails each one. Oscar
® voters have shown they are suckers for real life portrayals.
Unfortunately for Williams, Streep is doing one
too and they both could cancel out the biopic vote and
hand it to Davis.
WHAT OTHER AWARDS SAID: Golden Globe ® win – best actress in
a comedy or musical; noms from BAFTA, CCMA, Indie
Spirit and SAG. ®
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times
raved, “What matters is the performance by Michelle
Williams. She evokes so many Marilyns, public and pri-
vate, real and make-believe. We didn’t know Monroe,
but we believe she must have been something like this.”
WHAT THE PUBLIC SAID: Worldwide B.O. $20 million, domestic
B.O. $12 million (as of Jan. 24)
WHAT THE MOGULS SAID: Harvey Weinstein told The Huffi ngton
Post, “She met the physical demands of the role and
she could sing, which we didn’t know, and she could
dance. Thank God she could, ‘cause she dances four
times, she sings four times in the movie. And that’s all
her – she rehearses and she does it. She reads. She’s
like a school kid. You see her with books, you go, ‘Oh
my god, we’re back in college.’ It was like the smart
girl walked into the room. When she takes her glasses
off, she turns into Michelle Williams, but she’s got her
glasses on most of the time, her nose in a book. She’s
reading the biography of Arthur Miller, the first interview
with Marilyn, Norman Mailer, looking at pictures
– she immersed herself.”
WHAT WILLIAMS SAID: “I watched everything that she ever
did. You see her experimenting and forming Marilyn
Monroe over time. In her early work, her face doesn’t
have the same kind of agility that it does later on in
her more famous roles. She hasn’t mastered her control
over how she positions her mouth or raises her
eyebrows but you see it beginning to gestate in those
roles. Her voice also early on is much lower, the sexy
husky thing is in a lower register, it became breathier
and higher as she developed her character. So I could
actually see it being built, so I could follow her steps
and that was a cool discovery. It gave me courage. This
didn’t come naturally to her, so I didn’t have to expect
it to come naturally to myself.” □
ANTHONY D'ALESSANDRO
CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE
MICHELLE WILLIAMS

By pete
hammond
Vets Crowd the Best
Supporting Actor Bench
a.M.P.a.S.
Jonah Hill must be feeling a bit intimidated. The young Moneyball co-star faces a
formidable array of veteran stars all competing for their first Oscar ® , and maybe
their last good chance to get it. It’s a solomon’s choice for the Academy with a group of
legendary stars in one of the richest and most impressive supporting contests in years.
keNNeth BrANAGh
siR laURenCe oliVieR MY WeeK WiTH MariLYn
What the academy said previously: 4 Oscar ® noms for Henry V
(1989, actor and director), Hamlet (1996, adapted screenplay),
Swan Song (1992, live action short).
What pete hammond says: Playing an Oscar ® winning star
actually won an Oscar ® for Cate Blanchett when she
portrayed Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator. Branagh deserves
one too for his wry and entertaining look at his idol
and mentor Laurence Olivier as he tried to direct Marilyn
Monroe in The Prince and the Showgirl. Branagh’s first two
Oscar ® nominations came as star and director of Henry V
in 1989 just as Olivier himself had once done so the correlations
are fairly remarkable. In a less competitive year
kenneth BRanaGh
the Oscar ® probably would have gone to Branagh in a
walk but this is one of the toughest categories imaginable.
What other aWards said: Supporting actor noms from BAFTA,
CCMA, Golden Globes ® and SAG ® .
What the critics said: The New Yorker’s David Denby remarked,
“Branagh has become jowly in middle age, but his looks
are passably close to Olivier’s, and he has mastered Olivier’s
elegantly phrased, caressing graciousness and his
indignant bellow.”
What the producer said: At first producer David Parfitt was
concerned that Branagh might turn the role down because
he was always branded as the new Olivier in the
Bristish press. Parfitt said, “We obviously made a list of
all the parts and wrote them down. Top of the list was
Kenneth Branagh and a big part of me said, ‘He’ll never
do it. He’ll never do it.’ But in fact, he responded quite
well … it was his response to the material that brought
him to the project.”
What branagh said: “Every morning I would listen to Olivier
reciting the Bible while I was having make-up and a
prosthetic chin applied. I would listen to the incantatory
spell of his tenor, listening endlessly to that amazing vocal
instrument of his, trying to understand his achievements
and industry. All of that preparation was about
forgetting the voice and the clipped accent and the falling
inflection. Instead, I was trying to present the man
who sits at the dressing room mirror. The aim is always
the same: to get yourself out of the way and reveal the
simple truth of the character.”
JoNAh hill
PeTeR BRand MoneYBaLL
What pete hammond says: Best known for movies like Superbad,
Hill is transforming into a serious actor, losing pounds
and trying to change his image. His delightful turn in
Moneyball has won him SAG ® and Oscar ® nominations
and he certainly proved he could hold his own in a wry
portrayal of a numbers cruncher opposite Brad Pitt’s
Billy Beane. Hill has to be the longest shot in the category
due not only to the age but the nature of the other actors
here who each give indelible performances. Hill should
be happy just to be in this company and content that he
beat out such non-nominees as Albert Brooks and Patton
Oswalt who did not make the cut.
What other aWards said: Supporting actor noms from BAFTA,
Golden Globes ® and SAG ® .
What the critics said: Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times
said, “Jonah Hill’s performance is understated and fascinating;
a pudgy kid who has never played a baseball game
in his life, Peter has analyzed decades of baseball stats to
prove that game-winning qualities are not always the ones
veteran scouts look for. He’s shy and quiet, advancing his
theories tentatively but with firm certainty; he’s an amusing
contrast with the team’s grizzled, tobacco-chewing
scouts — who are looking for all the wrong things, Brand
argues.”
What the producer said: “(Director) Bennett Miller believed
Jonah was our guy from the beginning. His acting chops
were there. This is a guy with a big heart and he has
the ability to put that on screen. Jonah fits into this track
record of great comedy actors who can give dramatic
turns,” Moneyball producer Michael De Luca said.
Continued on p28

Continued from p27
What hill said: “Peter is a character that myself, Aaron, Bennett
and Steve created. He’s an amalgamation. In him
are elements of those guys who worked for Billy and elements
of a person who never had a light shown on them
before. In preparing for the role, I spent as much time in
MLB front offices as I could as well as with Paul [DePodesta]
who was using saber metrics at that time… I thought
Moneyball was a beautiful story from my characters’ point
of view: About a guy who blends into the wall and how
a big spotlight that shines on him changes his life and
makes him grow.”
Nick Nolte
Paddy Conlon Warrior
What the academy said previously: 2 Oscar ® noms for Affliction
(1999) and The Prince of Tides (1991) (actor)
Jonah hill
28 The AwArds ediTion 2011-2012 Issue 06
nick nolte
What pete hammond says: Nolte’s first supporting nomination
comes after his only two previous nods, both for best actor
in 1990s films The Prince of Tides and Affliction. Were
it not for Anthony Hopkins iconic Hannibal Lecter he
would have taken that Oscar ® for Prince of Tides and indeed
did win a Golden Globe ® . As a n’er do well father
in the under seen and underappreciated Warrior, Nolte
gets a dream role and turns in a performance actors
crave. His one killer scene in a hotel room where he relives
past reveries is the money moment but he would
have to hope for a split between the two 82 year olds
battling it out for the gold.
What other aWards said: Supporting actor noms from the
CCMA and SAG ®
What the critics said: Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said,
“When we meet Paddy in the film, he is approaching Day
1,000 of sobriety after a lifetime of drinking, and embodies,
as only Nick Nolte can, the shaggy, weathered heroism
of a man who is trying one more time to pull himself
together.”
What the public said: $24 million worldwide and $14 million
domestic.
What the mogul said: “A brutally honest, layered performance
that reminds us why Nick Nolte is so great — he takes a
seriously flawed character and makes us love him while
elevating the performances of everyone around him.
(Director) Gavin (O’Connor) and Nick worked together
intensively, developing this character and dissecting his every
nuance. The result of that collaboration shows up on
screen in a big way. We’re so proud of Warrior, and proud
of Nick.” — executive producer and Lionsgate Motion
Picture Group production president Michael Paseornek
What nolte said: “I was profoundly moved by what he
(O’Connor) did with the family dynamics (of the role).
Especially when you raise children, even if you’re perfect,
you’re not.”, the actor said at Deadline's The Contenders
Event
christopher
plummer
Hal Fields Beginners
What the academy said previously: Oscar nom for The Last Station
(2009) (supporting actor)
What pete hammond said: “Plummer incredibly only received
his second ever Oscar ® nomination as a man coming
out of the closet at age 75 only to face cancer in the
prime of his new life. In fact Plummer wasn’t even
a member of the Academy until three years ago and
shortly after got his first nomination for The Last Station.
With wins already across the board and a good deal of
sentiment, Plummer is the front runner and the one to

chRiStoPheR PlUMMeR
beat. Like Dujardin in The Artist he also gets to play opposite
a cute Jack Russell Terrier and STILL manages
to steal every scene.
What other aWards said: Best supporting actor wins from
CCMA and Golden Globes ® ; noms from BAFTA, Indie
Spirit and SAG ® .
What the critics said: New York’s David Edelstein exclaimed,
“Plummer’s Hal speaks into the camera when he gives his
son the news, and it’s not the Plummer we thought we
knew. Here, in flashbacks, the actor (English theatre critic)
Kenneth Tynan called ‘saturnine’ is light and lithe and
buoyed by his new life in the open, his rasp often rising to
a cheery tremolo. He’s joyously uncomplicated. Is Plummer
skipping along the surface of the man? Anything but.
He’s portraying, with brilliant empathy, a man elated to
be skipping along the surface of his own life—a surface
on which he had never been permitted to tread.”
What the public said: $14 million worldwide and $6 million
domestic.
What the director said: Mike Mills, who also wrote the film,
described some of the challenges in getting Beginners
financed, “To be honest, people liked Hal the (gay) father
figure, because he was so strong and heroic. But
the couple had so many interior problems, and the film
world doesn’t really like people with interior problems.
There weren’t any external obstacles in terms of a villain,
or an explosion or a bullet coming at them. It was
inside their emotional lives, their own doubts and fears.
The sort of stuff that the American film paradigm
doesn’t seem to like.”
What plummer said: On playing a homosexual character
that was based on the director’s father, “I was terribly
nervous. I thought, Oh God, he’s going to be so picayune
about everything because I’m doing his father. So
I don’t think I’m going to enjoy this very much. And
then I met Michael and he said for 'God sake just do
anything you want. I don’t care. You couldn’t possibly
have known my father and he was dead…so do what
you want and that’s fine.' And that was the nicest bit of
direction I’ve ever had in my life.”
mAX VoN sYDoW
THe RenTeR eXTreMeLY LoUD &
inCreDiBLY CLose
What the academy said previously: Oscar ® nom for Pelle the Conqueror
(1988). (actor)
What pete hammond says: Von Sydow is a certified legend but
also only had one previous nomination, for lead actor
in 1988’s Pelle the Conqueror. It’s a mystery why the Academy
has never voted him an honorary award but they
can make it up to him now for his amusing and touching
wordless portrayal. Only problem is Plummer, eight
months his junior is nominated in the same year. One
advantage von Sydow could have is he is in a film also
nominated for best picture, a distinct advantage in getting
your performance seen by the entire Academy.
What the critics said: L.A. Times Betsy Sharkey wrote, “If
(Thomas) Horn is the film’s diamond in the rough channeling
Oskar’s sorrowing and searching, yearning and
regretting, von Sydow is its buried treasure. He’s the
film’s enigma with a past so shadowy and troubled, he
has chosen not to speak, though his shrugs and sighs and
outstretched palm — 'yes' tattooed on one, 'no' on the other
— telegraph volumes. The boy and the old man, both
damaged, both trying to make amends for past mistakes,
become the film’s point-counterpoint on coping.”
What the producer said: “There are a couple of very substantial
changes from the book. There was no renter character
in the book that directly relates to the character Max von
Sydow plays in the movie. The guy who goes with him in
the book is a deaf character who isn’t related to the boy.
We made that his grandfather. The note under the swing,
the actual payoff to the idea was that this was a quest,
that’s in the movie but not in a book. It’s tied together in
a more satisfying cinematic way than the book was designed
to be,” Scott Rudin told Deadline’s Mike Fleming.
What von sydoW said: “When you reach a certain age, the
parts offered aren't that really that interesting. What’s
interesting with them is that they’re old. And many of
them are grandfathers who are ill and who die on page
25 which is not particularly interesting. But this grandfather
was a very extraordinary grandfather and I enjoyed it
very much. Also, because it was a very interesting grandfather
who doesn’t speak. It’s not mentioned very much
of what his background was. In the novel you learn that
he was young in Germany during the war and he was in
Dresden when the city was bombed. It was an extraordinarily
cruel bombardment of the city of Dresden. Burnt,
melted, and disappeared on par with Hiroshima in a way.
And that was the shock that made the grandpa shut up
for his lifetime.” □
MaX Von SYDoW
ANTHONY D'ALESSANDRO
CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE

Period Dramatists
Square-off Against a
Brassy ‘Bridesmaid’ in the
Supporting Actress Race
By pete
hammond
©
a.M.P.a.S.
If ever there is a category that is always ripe for an upset it’s this one. But it would seem
based on early precursor awards like the Globes ® and Critics Choice Movie Awards
that Octavia Spencer has the wind at her back. Even with another co-star of The Help
in contention opposite her (Jessica Chastain), Spencer looks like the odds on favorite.
But never say never and the make up of this intriguing lineup of talented women, all but
one receiving her first nomination, might suggest otherwise. Don’t bet the farm, yet.
30 The AwArds ediTion 2011-2012 Issue 06
BÉrÉNice BeJo
PePPy MilleR THe arTisT
What pete hammond says: She sings, she dances, she acts her
heart out and we never hear her utter a word. The delightful
Peppy Miller is brought to vivid life by this star
who proves she can do it all in The Artist, giving us the
essence of great screen acting by using everything but
her voice. If The Artist can develop a sweep, Bejo could
be swept in with it upsetting the apple cart – and Spencer.
It’s a once-in-a-movie-lifetime role and the Academy
might not want to waste the chance to honor her.
What other aWards said: Best supporting actress noms from
CCMA, Golden Globes ® and SAG ® , best lead actress
nod from BAFTA
What the critics said: The New York Post’s Lou Lumenick
pointed out, “Argentinean actress Bejo (director Michel
Hazanavicius’ real-life wife) seems a tad sophisticated for
her role, at least at the beginning. But she has an infectious
smile, a dazzling screen presence and a talent for dancing
that becomes increasingly crucial to the film’s plot.”
What beJo said: “This kind of movie is not made to be
something else. It’s just a beautiful love story, set in the
1930s, told with images. For me, I grew up watching so
many movies from the Hollywood Golden Age, and I
really wanted to be an actress because of that. So when
Michel (Hazanavicius) started writing this movie, and he
said it was going to be set in the 1930s and it going to be
in Hollywood, for me it was like, ‘Oh my God, I am going
to be one of them.’”
JessicA chAstAiN
Celia FooTe THe HeLP
What pete hammond says: No actress has been more visible
on the screen in 2011 than Chastain who came out of
BÉRÉnice BeJo

melissA mccArthY
MeGan BriDesMaiDs
What pete hammond says: Broad comedic turns rarely win
Oscars ® . Hell, they rarely get nominated for them. Kevin
Kline in A Fish Called Wanda was an exception. McCarthy
could be another. She steals every scene in the hilarious
Bridesmaids from some very talented comic co-stars and it
has brought her a SAG ® nomination on top of her first
Oscar ® nod. All of this comes in the wake of her Emmy ®
win for the CBS sitcom, Mike and Molly in September.
The contrast between those roles could be enough to give
her a surprise upset win and also be a way to honor one
of the year’s most acclaimed , but raunchy, comedies.
What other aWards said: Best supporting actress noms from
BAFTA, CCMA and SAG ® .
What the critics said: Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern
raved, “Each bridesmaid has her daft appeal, though
none is as genuinely crazed — or outrageously entertaining
— as Melissa McCarthy’s Megan, a creature of formidable
girth and unstoppable id.”
What the public said: $288 million worldwide, $169 million
domestic.
What mccarthy said: “(Bridesmaids co-screenwriter) Annie
Mumolo told me that they were about to get rid of the
Megan character because it wasn’t working out. I came
in and, luckily, they did not, because I loved it … For me,
I love that there’s a real emphasis on characters. You can
be big and broad and stretch to the furthest limits, but in
some way you have to ground your characters. You can’t
just play crazy. It makes you push yourself to stay in the
realm of reality. And when you do that, it’s a lot funnier.
That’s my favorite, when you think it’s a real strange person
and not just someone being wacky.”
JANet mcteer
HUBeRT PaGe aLBerT noBBs
What pete hammond says: Everything leading up to the first
screening of Albert Nobbs indicated it would be Glenn
Close’s movie all the way. Then the film was shown at
Telluride and Toronto and suddenly everyone was talking
about Janet McTeer. She steals the film lock, stock and barrel
and delivers the definition of a perfect supporting role as
another woman disguised as a man and Albert’s confidante.
The only Oscar ® veteran in the category, she’s a bit of a
long shot but like we say anything is possible here.
What the academy said previously: Best actress Oscar ® nom for
Tumbleweeds (1999)
What other aWards said: Best supporting actress noms from
Golden Globes ® , Indie Spirit and SAG ® .
JeSSica chaStain
nowhere and exploded in several movies including two
of the year’s best picture nominees, the other being The
Tree of Life. Giving voters the chance to see her very
different work in both movies up for the big prize could
offer a distinct advantage to Chastain that her award winning
co-star Spencer does not have. Voters just may want
to acknowledge her breakout year in a slew of different
roles in different movies and hand her the Oscar ® for one
of them, The Help, but it is an uphill climb.
What other aWards said: Best supporting actress noms from
BAFTA, CCMA, Golden Globes ® and SAG ®
What the critics said: Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times
noticed, “The blonde is Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain,
from The Tree of Life), who is married to a well-off businessman,
is desperate to please him, and knows she never
learned anything about being a housewife ... Chastain is
unaffected and infectious in her performance.”
What the producer said: Recalling Chastain’s audition, The Help
producer Brunson Green said, “Our casting director
learned about Jessica Chastain from casting her in Texas
Killing Fields. I had heard great things about her, but when
she walked through the door with her red hair, she looked
nothing like the character Celia Foote …. Jessica flew in
from a project in Louisiana. She has the ability to create
a woman who has strength and vulnerability at the same
time. Though she didn’t have the physical characteristics of
Celia, her history came out through her facial expressions.
Jessica has this ability to transform into her character,
which is a rare treat ... After she finished her audition with
Octavia, everyone was crying in the room. We knew we
had found Celia.
What chastain said: “I first heard about The Help from my
grandmother; she was such a fan of the book, and when
she saw [the movie] and loved it, I thought, ‘OK, it passed
the Grandma Test,’ so I knew the rest of the audience
would love it as well.”
MeliSSa MccaRthY
Continued on p32

Continued from p31
What the critics said: The New York Times' A.O. Scott acknowledged,
“McTeer’s sly, exuberant performance
is a pure delight, and the counterpoint between her
physical expressiveness and Ms. Close’s tightly coiled
reserve is a marvel to behold.”
What the producer-Writer-star said: When asked about whether
they would keep certain moments of the film a
surprise a la The Crying Game, Glenn Close responded,
“We thought about that, trying to keep Janet quiet, but
ultimately we came to the conclusion that it doesn’t
matter. There have been instances even when people
know she’s in the movie, they don’t know that that’s
actually her until she reveals her incredible breasts.”
What mcteer said: When Close approached her with the opportunity
to portray a woman-hiding-as-a-man in 19th
century Ireland, “It was a no-brainer. The part was
a real stretch and it was an easy decision to make in
terms of committing to the project. I had heard a bit
about the subject matter – women working as men – a
situation that effected the middle and working classes
back then, especially in London … Hubert is a delightful
person who you would love to have as a friend; a
person who is kind, non-judgmental. Hubert is the best
of male and female, the yin and the yang.” - McTeer
told Anthony D'Alessandro on the day that Oscar ®
nominations were announced.
octAViA speNcer
Minny JaCKson THe HeLP
What pete hammond says: Many think Spencer’s very funny
and dynamic Minny Jackson is the ticket to ride for
supporting actress. After all, Monique won two years
ago for Precious and was actually talked about for Minny.
But Tate Taylor, director and screenwriter, insisted
his old roommate Spencer should have the role
and he got his way. It’s defi nitely the kind of part that
wins awards and without question, Spencer is the one
to beat at this point but in terms of pure performance
chops everyone in this category is on equal footing.
Janet McteeR
32 The AwArds ediTion 2011-2012 Issue 06
octaVia SPenceR
What other aWards said: Best supporting actress wins from
CCMA and Golden Globes ® , noms from BAFTA and SAG ®
What the critics said: “The biggest surprise is Spencer, a
savory bit of truth-telling sass as Minny. She’s more
than a match for her nemesis, Hilly (Bryce Dallas
Howard), a separate-but-equal harpy, who would
have benefited from a bit more shading. These two
are on a collision course that Spencer keeps comically
churned up almost from start to finish,” L.A.
Times critic Betsy Sharkey wrote.
What the producer said: Brunson Green recalls, “Kathryn
Stockett needed a character in her book that spoke
her mind, particularly since African-American
house maids weren’t able to speak their minds. She
then met Octavia, who has this amazing, plucky
personality and speaks her mind. Kathryn then created
a specific character to be the voice of truth.”
What spencer said: “I suspect Kathryn Stockett, author of
The Help, who I knew while she was writing the book,
might have modeled the character after me. But there
are a lot of other short and round black women in the
south who also seem to not hesitate in speaking their
minds … (My character is) more like (the fi lm’s) muscle.
We, the ensemble as a unit, were the soul. I’d go
one step further and say Mississippi herself is the soul
of the fi lm. It’s on the backs of domestics that she and
other states were cultivated into what we know today
as an imperfect union seeking perfection.” □
ANTHONY D'ALESSANDRO
CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE

By Pete
hammond
Oscar ® Voters and Best
Director: No Matter What the
DGA Decides, the Academy
Vies to Have Its Own Say
Usually the nominees for achievement in direction for the DGA match up well with
the eventual Oscar ® nominees, and that's the case for four of five this year. But
there is always one discrepancy, so where DGA went for David Fincher’s The Girl
With The Dragon Tattoo, the Academy’s director’s branch offered up a somewhat
surprising bid to the elusive Terrence Malick for The Tree Of Life. This probably
shouldn’t be too surprising since if The Tree of Life is anything, it is certainly a
personal director’s movie, the kind most who vote in the category would love to get the
chance to make.
WOODY allen
MiDNiGhT iN PAris
What the acadeMy said Previously: 21 previous nominations,
for Annie Hall (1977) (actor), Interiors (1978) (director,
original screenplay), Manhattan (1979) (original screenplay),
Broadway Danny Rose (1984) (director, original
screenplay), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) (original
screenplay), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) (director),
Radio Days (1987) (original screenplay), Crimes and Misdemeanors
(1989) (director, original screenplay), Alice
(1990) (original screenplay), Husbands and Wives (1992)
(original screenplay), Bullets Over Broadway (1994) (director,
original screenplay), Mighty Aphrodite (1995) (original
screenplay), Deconstructing Harry (1997) (original
screenplay), Match Point (2005) (original screenplay); 3
wins for Annie Hall (director, original screenplay) and
Hannah and Her Sisters (original screenplay)
What Pete haMMond says: This is Allen’s seventh nomination
in this category. But that’s just a drop in the bucket because
he also has an incredible 16 additional nominations
for writing bringing his overall total to 23 against
three wins, one of those coming in 1977 for directing
Annie Hall. In fact this year he broke Billy Wilder’s
long standing record by earning seven nominations for
writing and directing the same picture. Woody is more
likely to win another writing Oscar ® this year, than one
for directing but the numbers tell the story: in Oscar ®
history he’s one of a kind.
What other aWards said: Noms from DGA, Golden Globes ®
(director)
What the critics said: New York’s David Edelstein shouted,
WOOdY allen and OWen WilsOn
Continued on p34

Michel hazanavicius and Jean duJardin
34 The AwArds ediTion 2011-2012 Issue 06
Continued from p33
“This supernatural comedy isn’t just Allen’s best film in
more than a decade; it’s the only one that manages to
rise above its tidy parable structure and be easy, graceful,
and glancingly funny, as if buoyed by its befuddled hero’s
enchantment.”
What the Moguls said: "Woody Allen has personally now received
23 Oscar nominations and counting. With Midnight
in Paris, our most disciplined filmmaker has reached
a new peak in form. He has created the unthinkable, a
fantasy film without special effects, that also happens to
be a seamless work of art and his most successful film with
the public to date. He's currently finishing his next film,
Nero Fiddled. Wow. Bravo, Woody." - Michael Barker
and Tom Bernard, co-presidents, Sony Pictures Classics
What the filMMaker said: In an interview with Hammond, Allen
said “The film turned out to be an enormous success.
.[That's surprising] because there is no correlation, well
not no, but very little correlation, between what the filmmaker
sets out to do and what the audience likes. You
know, if I go home and write a film and I make a good
film out of it and I fulfill my idea, then it doesn’t matter
to me if anybody comes, or what the critics say or if the
audience comes it doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s because
I have been in a situation where I have made a film
that I hated and it made an enormous amount of money
and that did nothing for me … I was pleasantly surprised
that the audience all over the world embraced Midnight in
Paris so enthusiastically, and it’s great. I love that. But it’s
strictly a case of luck.”
Michel
hazanavicius
The ArTisT
What Pete haMMond says: As the odds-on favorite for best picture,
it probably figures The Artist could take this category
as well . That’s usually the case but Hazanavicius is a newcomer
to these directors’ ranks and faces stiff competition
from some pretty imposing veterans. Of course we could,
and did, say the same thing about first timer Tom Hooper
last year and wound up taking both the DGA and the
Academy Award ® for The King's Speech. Plus Hazanavicius
created such a pure original valentine of a movie it would
seem a shame not to honor him somewhere for it.
What other aWards said: Win from CCMA (director); noms
from BAFTA, DGA, Golden Globes ® , Indie Spirit
What the critics said: The New York Observer’s Rex Reed
beamed, “This is amazing stuff from a French director,
but his obvious fascination with — and passion for —
movie history ignites The Artist with a colossal entertainment
value that speaks volumes in any language.”
What the Producer said: Thomas Langmann told Awardsline,
“Cinema is gambling. It is better to gamble on a film you
hope can be something unique even if it seems like suicide.
I told [Michel], especially when The Artist went over
budget – he kept asking for more money, we went to the
U.S. to make it a real American movie – I told him: ‘The
only way is if you make a masterpiece. Otherwise we are
in deep shit.’”
What the filMMaker said: In a Q&A with Hammond, Hazanavicius
said “I really like the way the story is told in a
silent movie. As an audience you take part in the storytelling
process. I like silent movies. In a way I did a sort of
crook thing. I cheated. I have the benefit of 80 years of
sophistication, of narration and I took the old movies and
I did a modern one with the oldest ones.”
Terrence Malick
The Tree of Life
What the acadeMy Previously said: 2 noms for The Thin Red Line
(1998) (director, adapted screenplay)
What Pete haMMond says: Malick is the true maverick in the
category. He doesn’t campaign. He doesn’t give interviews.
He is a bit of a mystery but his dogged independence
and ability to get his unique vision on screen
makes him a major force to be reckoned with. He’s only
made five films so winning his second nod in this category
makes for a pretty good track record. The Palme d’Or in
Cannes and a boatload of critics awards give him a lot
of gravitas coming into this race but his film has had a
polarizing effect on Academy members who love it, hate
it or just can’t get through it.
What other aWards said: Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or
What the critics said: Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times
divulged, “Terrence Malick’s new film is a form of prayer.
It created within me a spiritual awareness, and made me
terrence Malick

more alert to the awe of existence. I believe it stands free
from conventional theologies, although at its end it has
images that will evoke them for some people. It functions
to pull us back from the distractions of the moment, and
focus us on mystery and gratitude.”
What the financier-Producer said: Bill Pohlad told Deadline’s
Mike Fleming at Cannes, “You go into a Terry Malick
project with your eyes open. You are not thinking
you’re going to run the show or tell him what to do,
because then you wouldn’t be allowing him to do the
things that attracted you to his artistry in the first place.
But there does have to be give and take, and I felt that
from Terry. That’s not to say we always agreed. If the
roles were reversed, would the movie be different?
Yeah, but Terry is the filmmaker and if I’m a good
producer, I need to know where that line is, in trying to
impose my will as opposed to the filmmaker’s.”
What the Producer said: Dede Gardner told Deadline, “Terrence
Malick is a student of the world first. He learns
from someone else’s interpretation and is committed to
that elasticity in filmmaking. He’ll tell an actor ‘Now say
it in words’ then direct them ‘Now say it with no words’ –
it’s an exercise that he believes in whereby the truth comes
out. That’s what he is committed to.”
aleXanDer PaYne
The DesCeNDANTs
What the acadeMy said Previously: 3 noms, for Sideways (2004)
(director, adapted screenplay), Election (1999) (adapted
screenplay) and 1 win, Sideways (adapted screenplay)
What Pete haMMond says: Payne is a great director of humanist
comedies laced with drama and The Descendants is perhaps
his most mature and assured work to date. If the film
gains traction in the Oscar ® race he can grab the gold
here as well but it seems more likely he will compete for it
in the adapted screenplay race where the film has its best
chance to win.
What other aWards said: Director noms from CCMA, DGA,
Golden Globes ® and Indie Spirit.
What the critics said: Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers extols,
“Director Alexander Payne is a master of the human
comedy, of the funny, moving and messy details that
define a fallible life. “
Martin scOrsese
aleXander PaYne
What the Producer said: Producer Jim Burke described his
duties on a Payne project to Awardsline, “He [Alexander]
needs the brush to be cleared away, so the sun gets on him
and he can grow. Essentially, I feel like, in my position,
I’m someone who can, in some ways, shield him from so
much of the, not just minutiae, but issues, so that he can
be free to be a filmmaker.”
What the filMMaker said: Payne told Charlie Rose, “It was very
appealing (to make a film in a Hawaii) and not just for the
obvious reasons of the sun and the surf and the nature,
which is all present and fantastic. I had been to Hawaii
many times and was aware of that unique and complex,
social and cultural structure and fabric. Making this film
allowed me to wear a documentarian’s hat as well.”
Martin scorsese
hUGo
What the acadeMy said: 8 noms, for Raging Bull (1980), The
Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Gangs
of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004) (directing), Goodfellas
(1990) The Age of Innocence (1993) (writing) and 1
Oscar ® win for best director for The Departed.
What Pete haMMond says: With his seventh nomination in the
category against only one win for 2006’s The Departed, it
would seem a talent as prodigious as Scorsese’s would
be worthy of at least two directing Oscars ® so this is the
perfect chance to do that. Even if Hugo doesn’t win best
picture, the Academy might want to split the bounty and
give the film its due as a true love letter to movies and
their infancy. Also Scorsese managed to make 3D palatable.
For that alone he deserves another Oscar ® .
What other aWards said: Golden Globe ® win (best director)
and directing noms from BAFTA, CCMA AND DGA.
What the critics said: New York’s David Edelstein raves,
“In Hugo, Martin Scorsese is hell-bent on bedazzling us,
and Scorsese rarely doesn’t get what Scorsese wants —
by any means necessary. The means in this case are to
swoon over. Together with a bunch of A-plus-list artists
and techies, he has crafted a deluxe, gargantuan train
set of a movie in which he and his 3-D camera can
whisk and whizz and zig and zag, a place where he can
show off all his expensive toys and wax lyrical within
the film itself on the magic of movies. Marty the film
buff has built his own matrix.”
What the financier-Producer said: Graham King rejoiced to
Deadline on the day of Oscar ® noms, “I’m still in awe of
this guy. We go back to 2000 when we started working on
Gangs of New York. His knowledge of film is like no other.
He’s taught me so much in my career. When I sit next
to him on the set, I get blown away. Hugo stands apart
from the other work he’s done. It’s a genre-defining movie,
ground-breaking technology wise. For me to have Scorsese
at the prime of his career take on a genre that’s new
to him – many filmmakers can’t do that and he’s made a
masterpiece.”
What the filMMaker said: In his interview with Mike Fleming
of Awardsline/Deadline, Scorsese said “I just think
3D is open to any kind of storytelling. It shouldn’t be
limited to fantasy or sci-fi or anything like that. Look at
Herzog’s use of it [in the Cave of Forgotten Dreams], Wim
Wenders with Pina. 3D should be considered a serious
narrative element, a serious narrative tool, how you tell
a story with depth as narrative.” □
ANTHONY D'ALESSANDRO
CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE

Material by Farceurs and Authors
Crowd Oscar’s ® Unpredictable
Screenplay Slots
By Pete
Hammond
The adapted screenplay category is capable of pulling off a surprise every now and
then. Two years ago Precious upset Up in the Air despite the prediction of just
about every pundit. Is there another upset in the making? The original screenplay
category has two heavy dramas that examine pressing issues of our times, one from
Iran and the other from Wall Street.
But for comic relief it also features an unusually high
number of comedies including the first silent ever
nominated for writing, a raunchy female laugh fest and a
Woody Allen masterpiece.
| ADAPTED SCREENPLAY|
THE DESCENDANTS
ALEXANDER PAYNE, NAT FAXON and JIM RASH
Again Payne (and his collaborators), who won a
screenplay Oscar ® in this category for his last feature
Sideways in 2004 and was previously nominated for
Election in 1999, creates a beautiful script that’s not only
humanistic but shows a side of Hawaii never seen in
mainstream American films. Along with Moneyball this
is probably the script to beat.
HUGO
JOHN LOGAN
Logan is one of today’s most prolific screenwriters. In fact
his script for Rango is one of the reasons that film is a
front runner for best animated feature and he also wrote
the Shakespearean adaptation Coriolanus in addition
to his nominated work for Hugo. The downside for Logan
36 THE AWARDS EDITION 2011-2012 ISSUE 06
LOGAN
ZAILLIAN
here is that Hugo is very much considered a directorial
achievement more than one reliant on its screenplay even
though his adaptation of a very long and dense children’s
book is superb. Hugo is more likely to win elsewhere.
THE IDES OF MARCH
GEORGE CLOONEY, GRANT HESLOV
and BEAU WILLIMON
Early in the season Ides of March seemed like a sure bet
but then its fortunes started dwindling until the Golden
Globes ® rescued it and gave it key nominations including
writing. Now, like he did in 2005, Clooney finds he is
nominated for writing one movie while also being up
for acting in another (which ironically is his competition
in this category). In a political year, the script is very
timely but with only a single nomination it has about as
much chance of winning here as Ron Paul does for the
Republican nomination.
MONEYBALL
STEVEN ZAILLIAN and AARON SORKIN
STORY BY STAN CHERVIN.
With a dream team of writers, this adaptation of Michael
Lewis’ complicated business book about the Oakland A’s
has been turned into an extraordinary script that takes
the material to new levels and gives it heart and soul

and new meaning. Oscar ® winners Zaillian and Sorkin
are probably the best bet to turn one of Moneyball’s six
nominations into pure Oscar ® gold.
TINKER TAILOR
SOLDIER SPY
BRIDGET O’CONNOR and PETER STRAUGHAN
The adaptation of John LeCarré’s famous spy novel
went back to the book rather than the popular BBC
mini-series and succeeded in creating a dense, if not
always completely coherent, version of the book. Not
easy to follow but intelligent beyond reproach, this sadly
also marks the only Oscar ® nod given posthumously this
year, to O’Connor who died too young.
| ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY|
THE ARTIST
MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS
Although The Artist could take home a number of Oscars ®
including best picture and director it is unlikely to win
here. Voters generally tend to go for scripts with lots of
pungent dialogue, the essence of how they would define
“writing.” Yet this black and white silent ode to the movies
earliest days is every bit as written as the other nominees.
Still it is a long shot here.
BRIDESMAIDS
ANNIE MUMOLO and KRISTEN WIIG
The most unlikely candidate for inclusion here is the
creation of former Groundlings actors Annie Mumolo
and Kristen Wiig who wrote a female Hangover that not
only is raunchy in parts and hysterically funny, it’s also real
and a real female buddy movie that transcends the genre
of most Judd Apatow – produced movies to actually be
profound, and profoundly funny. It’s got a shot but will
probably be a bridesmaid in this category.
MARGIN CALL
J.C. CHANDOR
The biggest surprise in the category is also the biggest
surprise indie hit of the year. A pickup from last year’s
Sundance Film Festival, it pioneered a day and date VOD
QUINTO, LEFT, WITH CHANDOR
and theatrical release proving both could be successful
and now it has become the first major VOD movie to
earn an Oscar ® nod. It also says a lot about the times we
live in and the economic meltdown we live through. The
nomination is the victory here.
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
WOODY ALLEN
Allen's amazing 16th nomination in the original
screenplay category is also his most successful box
office hit ever, proving that even in his mid 70s Woody is
just getting cranking. Clearly the opportunity to make
his first full film in Paris got his creative juices flowing
again and inspired him to write this brilliant, funny and
inventive time travel comedy. This is the unquestioned
frontrunner. Get ready for your fourth Oscar ® , Woody.
You’re the one to beat and closest thing to a sure thing
in the major categories.
A SEPARATION
ASGHAR FARHADI
Iran’s nominated foreign-language film also qualified for
other categories but only showed up as well in this original
screenplay group. It’s not unusual for foreign films to be
recognized by the writing branch. They have done it often
over the years and A Separation has an extraordinary script.
Farhadi is more likely to win for best foreign language film
where it is the front runner. □
ALLEN WITH CAST

Deadline’s ‘The Contenders’ Event
Brought Together Execs From Major
Indies to Offer Fresh Insights on
Oscar ® Campaigning
Hollywood is commonly thought of as an industry town, with the assumption that
everyone knows everyone else, does business with everyone else, is aware of each
other’s work. That’s a fallacy, of course, as film productions are tightly contained entities.
38 THE AWARDS EDITION 2011-2012 ISSUE 06
It typically takes special events – award shows, big
premieres or industry association gatherings – to
get peers together in the same room. Deadline’s The
Contenders event on Dec. 10 & 11, 2011, in West LA
was another such gathering, a place where major studios
and awards-savvy independent companies showcased
their contenders and where senior executives sat down
for insightful and informative conversations about their
strategies, war stories and views of an often crazy and
unpredictable game – Oscars. ®
On Sunday, Dec. 11 Roadside Attractions’ co-president
Howard Cohen, Relativity Media CEO Ryan Kavanaugh
and Open Road CEO Tom Ortenberg sat down for
a wide-ranging conversation with Awardsline/Deadline
columnist Pete Hammond and Deadline Film Editor Mike
Fleming. What follows on the next two pages are edited
highlights from their discussion.
ALBERT NOBBS
When it comes to serious, challenging independent fi lms, a
nomination for the best picture Oscar ® can mean the
difference in the commercial prospects for a fi lm. Executives at
independent companies are especially tuned in to the costs of
Oscar ® campaigning, how to maximize limited funds for an
awards push, and what value a successful campaign can have
on fi lms that don’t have huge production or marketing budgets.
The potential offered by a best picture nomination effort can be
enough to inspire a leading independent.
Still, it always starts with a discussion of cost.
HOWRD COHEN: I don’t think [the cost of campaigns has] risen
over the past couple of years, because with the economy,
it was hard to ask people for more money to do the same
thing. But I think it’s expensive to do that kind of bells
and whistles, the sort of cardboard foldout things that cost
$100,000 that the majors do in various issues, the amount
of trade advertising, the number of screenings, the phalanx
of consultants, all those things add up to the millions,
and they don’t make sense for an independent film.
RYAN KAVANAUGH: Last year, one of the things that seemed
really noticeable to me, with what’s happening with the
economy; the studios are under a lot of pressure to perform,
they are actually spending more money on the Oscar
® race to kind of prove their performance is worth the
cost. It’s tougher on us.
TOM ORTENBERG: I would agree. In 2010 there seemed to be
a nod to a new dichotomy and a tough economy, while
in 2011, people were feeling a need to somehow justify
themselves and their pictures and their other expenditures
by spending more money. I’m not sure it pays off.
Just get the movies seen, and almost everything takes care
of itself.
Spending a large amount of money isn’t always the answer, as
Ortenberg learned at Lionsgate, which engineered a pioneering
low-cost campaign for the ultimate – and unexpected – best
picture winner, Crash.
ORTENBERG: We were the first ones to send screeners to
the entire SAG membership. After it was nominated
by SAG’s nominating committee for best ensemble cast,
we sent out 100,000 additional screeners to everybody
in SAG, to make sure to get the movie seen. Frankly it
wasn’t that expensive, in fact it was ridiculously inexpensive
to print them, to put them in plain paper mailers and
let SAG mail them out for us, it cost a fraction of what
studios spend with bigger budgeted items.
But we learned early – the first Lionsgate campaigns were
back in 1998 for Gods and Monsters and Affl iction. None of us
had ever worked on an Oscar ® campaign before, we were
just trying to pay attention, and we didn’t know what we
were doing. We were tinier than tiny, and we didn’t have a
pot to piss in. But we managed to get those two little movies
nominated for multiple Academy Awards ® including best
actor for both leads. Each won an Oscar ® – we proved to
ourselves we didn’t’ need money to run a campaign back
then. Every campaign was different, but there was proof
that we didn’t need to buy nominations.
Then a couple years later [in 2001] with Monster’s Ball
and Halle Berry, it was different. We still didn’t have the
money, but we told Halle before the campaign started, she
was going to have to be everywhere, that she was going to
have to shoulder it, we weren’t going to outspend anybody,
the movie was tougher than tough, we released it I think
on Dec. 26, we knew we needed the awards recognition
to give the film lift-off, and she was going to have to be
everywhere. She was, we screened the film aggressively
and great things happened for her.
And then the same thing with Crash a couple of years
later, was the conscious decision to release it early in the
year, and have people talk about it as maybe the first
contender of the year. Our hope was by the end of that
year, again without spending big money, that if all of
what were perceived to be the top contenders wouldn’t
quite measure up, people might look back and say, you
know, the movie I really liked was Crash. And I think if we
had released Crash in December, that never would have
happened, but looking back, it worked out. So for all of
those things, no extra money was spent.
COHEN: That brings up an interesting point in regard to
cost, because what I find is costing so much and so is prohibitive
for us is actually the release of the movie into the
awards season. I think this year-end timing is the most
expensive thing. Because we did it on Biutiful and again
on Albert Nobbs: doing a qualifying run in December and
then opening it on the weekend of the nominations. Because
I think the really big money gets spent keeping the
film out there, especially in New York and L.A., with huge
amounts of advertising for week after week after week
during this period, when you are competing with 20 other
films all going after the same audience, you are trying to
do like four things at once. □

For Indies, a Strategic Oscar ®
Campaign Means Strong Reviews,
Key Endorsements and a Bit of Luck
Whether you’re pushing a major studio tentpole title or are hoping for awards
glory for a made-on-a-shoestring indie, success in the entertainment business
always requires strategic thinking.
Executives from two of the leading independent companies – Roadside
Attractions co-president Howard Cohen and Open Road CEO Tom
Ortenberg, both veterans of past Oscar ® seasons – shared insights into
how they’d previously scored awards despite limited funds. It comes
down to securing positive reviews, soliciting high-profi le support and
some clever timing. Those, coupled with a little luck, might just yield
not only Oscar ® gold, but box offi ce gold too.
HOWRD COHEN: We usually send out the screeners to all the
critics groups first, and hope to get their support going
into the season. We use the critics and that praise to
launch us into awards season because I think a smaller
film that didn’t get amazing reviews has a harder time.
If critics love a movie, it’s a way you can start to get the
Academy to notice it as well. And then, when you are
in the midst of it, you are never going to outspend the
studios, you just try to be more strategic.
Last year we had Biutiful, and were doing a campaign for
Javier Bardem for best actor. [At the end of] last year, it
did not get a Golden Globe ® nomination, it did not get a
SAG ® nomination, it did not get a Broadcast Film Critics
nomination, nothing. We thought we were dead, basically.
Then in the middle of January we had screening at CAA;
Julia Roberts was the host and she had a memorable
quote that got spread virally on the Internet: “If talent
doesn’t matter, we’re all fucked.” Because of that, I think
the entire actor branch basically picked it up DVD of
Biutiful and watched it. And a month later, Javier was
nominated. So, it’s one story, but it is kind of very much
an indie movie story. You can spend millions of dollars,
or you can try to be strategic, make sure that the people
who need to see your movie see your movie.
TOM ORTENBERG: For a movie like Crash, we had done all
of our box office, the film had been on DVD since
September. One thing that [the best picture Oscar ® win]
did was, it cemented in the public’s minds for something
like five years after Crash won best picture, it was the No.
1 requested movie on Netflix, for five straight years, it
was remarkable. So it had a lot of ancillary revenues to it.
For a film like Monster’s Ball or Affl iction, those four weeks
between Nomination Day and what we call Election Day,
those are like the four weeks that change the world in the
theatrical box office for an Oscar ® nominated film. So if
The Hurt Locker was something of a theatrical bust, it was
ridiculously successful on DVD.
They were also asked how much sway Oscar ® potential has on
deciding which titles to acquire.
ORTENBERG: Speaking for myself, you always have to guard
against buying into the hype, even your own hype.
There have been certain times when a film is launched
at a festival and it seems pretty clear that unless you
BIUTIFUL
really screw it up, this film is going to get nominated for
Oscar. ® When Gods and Monsters premiered at Sundance
[in 1998], we liked the movie very much, but it was a
challenging economic equation; Showtime had financed
the film, we had to find the right release window, it was
very complicated. But as we were reading the clippings –
this was back in 1998, the Stone Ages, so we still had to
have our publicity people in LA fax the reviews to learn
about it – I remember sitting in the bus in Park City, going
through Gods and Monsters and saying ‘Gee, unless I’m a
total loser, Ian McKellen is getting nominated for a best
actor Oscar. ® In fact, it gave us some confidence to go out
and be even more aggressive, but if you are buying a film
because it is Oscar ® -worthy and you are convinced it’s
going to get nominated and those nominations are going
to help the financial performance of the picture, you’d
better be right because it gets really expensive to play in
that game.
COHEN: I don’t want to say Oscars ® is the last thing we think
about, but it’s way down on the list. If a film can’t succeed
without it, that’s very scary. Launching into this period is
very tricky; it’s so expensive, if that’s the only way to make
the movie successful. □

Recalling the 1975 Oscars, ® the Year
when Surprises - and ‘Nutcases,’
Could Still Dominate the Show
By Craig
Modderno
It’s easy to forget that the Academy Awards® wasn’t always the marathon event it is
today. There once was a time when there were no awards consultants, no multi-milliondollar
campaigns, no Oscar® season.
Take, for example, the 48th Academy Awards. ® Awardsline
contributor Craig Modderno, who covered the Oscars for the fi rst
time on March 29, 1976 for Rona Barrett’s Hollywood
magazine, offers recollections of a different sort of Oscar ® show.
There were fi ve hosts – and Billy Crystal wasn’t one of them;
he’d just made his TV debut as part of the ensemble of the
ABC variety show, Keep on Truckin’. Not everything was
different that night, however: the hosts and the TV cameras paid
considerable attention to Jack Nicholson.
The 48th Academy Awards ® honored the best in film for
1975 and it was a landmark year. The five nominees for
best picture were One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Dog Day
Afternoon, Jaws, Nashville, and Barry Lyndon. Amazingly,
not one of those pictures was a reboot, sequel, remake
or based on a comic book.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was set in a mental
institution and based on Ken Kesey’s novel, to which
Kirk Douglas bought the rights, and later turned into
an off-Broadway play.
Director Sidney Lumet and Frank Pierson, who would
win an Oscar ® that evening for his original screenplay
of Dog Day Afternoon, created a powerful film based on a
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, DOUGLAS, FORMAN, FLETCHER, NICHOLSON, ZAENTZ
40 THE AWARDS EDITION 2011-2012 ISSUE 06
NICHOLSON, LEFT, WITH HUSTON
real event starring Al Pacino as a flamboyant, married
homosexual who robs a New York City bank in order
to finance a sex change for his male lover.
Jaws, which Carl Gottlieb and Peter Benchley wrote,
based on the latter’s best-selling novel, was the story
of a small New England town giving a fresh meaning
daily to the phrase “Don’t go near the water!”
Director Robert Altman’s Nashville was an American
metaphor, capturing the dramatic, diverse, and rapidlygrowing
country music scenes’ influence on a troubled nation,
and director Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon was a slow-moving,
beautifully shot depiction of an 18 th century society where
men wore wigs and women wore more clothes than ever seen
on screen since the Silent era.
Inside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, a large, upscale
theatre in downtown Los Angeles, the buzz was “The
movie with the nutcases in the loony bin will do
battle with the nutcase in the bank.” The reasoning
of the people I polled was simple: Barry Lyndon was a
box office bomb. Nashville was about country music,
which was then considered a down-market, Southern
phenomenon. As for “that shark movie,” it didn’t
even garner a best director nomination for its talented
young director, Steven Spielberg, who might have
taken solace from the fact that his slot went to the
legendary Federico Fellini.
Back then there wasn’t an “Awards Season,” or the
intense, extensive nomination process that spawned or
gave added credence to now-popular Oscar ® competitors
like the Golden Globes, ® the People’s Choice Awards, the
Screen Actors Guild ® Awards, and lesser critics’ awards
presentations. But, Hollywood being Hollywood, there
was noticeable campaigning and competition. With its
much respected director and setting, Dog Day Afternoon was
considered the East Coast or “New York Movie.” What
better film to represent Hollywood and its bizarre lifestyles
than one titled One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?
Actor (and Kirk’s son) Michael Douglas, who produced and
financed the independent One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest with
records executive Saul Zaentz, knew how to work the room
and the media. With his lovely girlfriend, actress Brenda
Vaccaro (who was nominated for best supporting actress
for Once Is Not Enough), Douglas used his considerable
Hollywood connections to make sure people saw a film
whose topic made them uncomfortable.
Douglas also had media magnet Jack Nicholson, who
had earned four Academy Award ® nominations during
the previous six years, promoting the picture. Like the
father and son Douglas duo, Nicholson owned a large
percentage of the United Artists pickup project. Since
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was shot in an actual
mental institution in Oregon with half the male cast
being played by inmates, all the principal players would
get extremely rich if they struck Oscar ® gold that night.

FORMAN
The evening got off to a rousing start when Ray Bolger
and 24 dancers opened with a special number entitled
“Hollywood honors its own.” It’s hard to believe in
retrospect, but the show’s five hosts, Walter Matthau,
Gene Kelly, Goldie Hawn, George Segal and Robert
Shaw, all worked in harmony together. (Matthau was
best actor nominee that evening for The Sunshine Boys).
Lee Grant, a well-liked Hollywood veteran, won best
supporting actress for her role as a sexy, slutty Beverly
Hills socialite in director Hal Ashby’s Shampoo. She
was a worthy choice based on the audience and
media’s response.
The first faceoff for the front runners came when Dog Day
Afternoon’s Chris Sarandon and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest’s Brad Dourif competed in the best supporting actor
category. But everyone knew that wasn’t the real battle;
nobody that night was going to deny God (aka George
Burns) the coveted statue. It was a historical victory
because Burns, at 81, became the oldest performer to win
a competitive Academy Award. ® For one brief shining
moment the Hollywood community acknowledged it was
OK to be over the age of 25!
Later in the show a special moment passed within the
building when, during a commercial break, Shaw broke
Academy protocol. To the surprise and amusement of
everyone, he started talking about an award before
it was announced. Shaw–a little profane, larger than
life and extremely likeable–looked at the sunglass-clad
Nicholson, who was seated nearby with his daughter
Jennifer and his girlfriend, actress Anjelica Huston,
and said: “You know I love you Jack, even though I
can’t remember when I met you. You’re an Irishman,
just like me, so let’s have a drink tonight after you
lose. It’s not that you weren’t great but everyone thinks
you were playing yourself.”
Nicholson laughed loudest when Shaw turned his
attention to a stunned Pacino, seated a few rows back,
whose tuxedo seemed as if it was stapled on him. The
native New Yorker looked like a toy doll in an oversized
chair who was at an event with his parents and he
didn’t know why.
“You’re a sneaky little shit, Pacino, and we all know
Hollywood loves a sneaky little shit. I’m told you’re a ladies
man, but whatever you played in that film certainly wasn’t
that. So you’re going to win, Pacino so practice getting out
of your big seat,” Shaw said. Pacino had an embarrassed,
pasted-on smile as the audience laughed, Shaw grinned
and the cameras went live again after the break.
BURNS
Backstage in the media room things were quiet until
Louise Fletcher won for best actress in One Flew Over
the Cuckoo’s Nest, which now looked to be onto a major
awards sweep unless Pacino made it a Dog Day evening,
as Shaw predicted. Clearly stunned, Fletcher made a
gracious and heartwarming acceptance speech, then
thanked her deaf parents via sign language.
In the media room where I was watching the ceremony,
the press went crazy. A handful of reporters (including
one speaking French) became instantly irate and
pounded the surrounding television sets while cursing
the lack of sound, believing that Fletcher had to resort
to using hand signals to communicate with the audience.
It was a surreal introduction to another magical moment.
When Nicholson won the best actor Oscar ® even Pacino
appeared relieved. As he approached the podium, his
sunglasses somehow disappearing, he had the winner’s
smile of a genuine movie star whose time had finally
come. After all, he was the favorite to be in the same
spot the previous year for his iconic role in Chinatown,
only to lose to the New York-based, beloved television
star Art Carney for his role in director-screenwriter Paul
Mazursky’s surprise hit Harry and Tonto.
“I guess this proves there are as many nuts in the
academy as anywhere else,” Nicholson said before
thanking his cast, crew and Mary Pickford who he
believed was “ the first actor to get a percentage of
their pictures.” He ended his speech by thanking his
agent “who advised me 10 years ago that I had no
business being an actor.”
When the evening was over and the winners’ backstage
press rounds completed, I found myself with Nicholson and
his two guests in the elevator. Nicholson didn’t say anything,
but politely nodded when I offered my congratulations.
Instead he held the Oscar ® and kept staring at it like
Humphrey Bogart did at the end of The Maltese Falcon.
Was he thinking that One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest had
become the first film in 41 years to sweep the five major
categories? Was he recalling his own personal longtime
quest to finally earn his own statue that represented
“the stuff dreams are made of ?” Nicholson, who would
later win two more Academy Awards ® for acting, was
silently introspective and in the elevator. Before he exited
I saw a tight smile on his face. Nicholson would then
forever become Jack to the world and one assumes all
his dreams achieved. But for now Nicholson knew “the
nutcase” had become acknowledged by his peers in the
profession he so clearly loves. □

Costume Design Nominees Share
By Monica
Corcoran
Insights, and Offer the Unthinkable:
Fashion Advice for Oscar ® Himself
W
hen it comes to meting out naked statuettes for costume design, the Motion
Picture Academy loves its period looks. Consider the most recent winners:
Alice in Wonderland, The Young Victoria, The Duchess, Elizabeth: The Golden
Age and Marie Antoinette.
This year, again, there’s no shortage of organza, tweed
and cloches from films spanning the late 1920s to the
early 1960s. Sure enough, a contender such as The Girl
with the Dragon Tattoo – with its contemporary gritty style –
couldn’t upset the trend. Awardsline talked to the nominees
about their craft and asked each to do the unspeakable,
clothe Oscar ® himself.
ANONYMOUS
LISY CHRISTL
Known for her collaborations with Michael Haneke
(Funny Games), the Berlin-native is a Hollywood newcomer
who says she was lucky to get the chance to work with
director Roland Emmerich on this Elizabethan drama.
“He gave me artistic license and there were no borders,”
she says.
WHY IT’S OSCAR ® -WORTHY: The costume designer built almost
200 costumes and boiled, shrank and dyed garments (including
Indian saris) to emulate the period. She outfitted
Queen Elizabeth I in exaggerated silhouettes that telegraph
her outsize ego and love for fashion.
THE SHOW-STOPPER: The black and white gown with exaggerated
sleeves and huge, pleated skirt that the Queen wears
to meet the Earl of Oxford is more dramatic than Karl
Lagerfeld. The Medusa-like headdress — made of glass
leaves and created at Sands Films in London — feels both
antiquated and futuristic.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE: For Christl, it was daunting to costume
Vanessa Redgrave, a stage veteran with a scholar’s knowledge
of the Elizabethan period.
THE OSCAR ® MAKEOVER: “I see him in a dark blue heavy wool
three-piece suit,” Christl says. “Maybe with a classic white
shirt and a simple dark blue tie. I love suits from the 1930s.”
THE ARTIST
MARK BRIDGES
Bridges is Paul Thomas Anderson’s go-to costume designer.
His film credits cover myriad eras, from the sophisticated
late 1950s in Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus to South
Boston’s hardscrabble ’80s in The Fighter.
42 THE AWARDS EDITION 2011-2012 ISSUE 06
ANONYMOUS
WHY IT’S OSCAR ® -WORTHY: Three words: Black and white. In lieu
of color, Bridges had to rely on textures like a sequined
dress or a brocade robe and outfits with fluidity to convey
vibrancy. “It was all about the movement of a fringe skirt
or a silk dress,” he says.
THE SHOW-STOPPER: A sensuous black satin and lamé art decoinspired
dress with fur stole that Peppy Miller (Bérénice
Bejo) wears to be interviewed. “It’s the pivotal scene in
which she puts on the dog and plays the grand movie star,”
Bridges says.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Finding hats and fabrics that were
authentic to the period, which traversed the 1920s and
early 1930s. Because the film takes place nearly 90 years
ago, Bridges couldn’t source many costumes. (Fragile silks
and wools couldn’t withstand the duress of a day’s shoot.)
His team recreated most of the looks in eight weeks.
THE OSCAR ® MAKEOVER: “Oh, the sacrilege!” Bridges says. “I’d
put him in white tie and tails with a top hat.”
HUGO
SANDY POWELL
With nine Academy Award ® noms and three Oscars ® to
her name, the British Powell is Hollywood’s queen bee.
She and Martin Scorsese have teamed up for almost a
decade, starting with Gangs of New York.
THE ARTIST
HUGO

THE SHOW-STOPPER: In a brilliant dovetail of costume and
production design, the lines of one purplish-gray tartan
linen frock worn by Jane mirrors the Jacobean windows
of Thornfield Hall. Diagonal panels in the bodice also
follow the pattern of the smaller windows of the castle.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE: O’Connor struggled to maintain
authenticity, while slightly abridging the overbearing look
of the early 1800s. “It’s hard to keep it simple when you
are dealing with those grand and fussy shapes,” he says.
A few shortened hems and minimized silhouettes did the
trick. He and director Cary Fukunaga also looked to the
mid-1800s for inspiration.
THE OSCAR ® MAKEOVER: “I would keep him nude, but add a
bow tie,” says O’Connor. “Why would you change that
beautiful shape?”
W.E.
ARIANNE PHILLIPS
Oscar ® nominated for Walk the Line, Phillips has a rep
for obsessively researching periods and dropkicking
clichés. After all, this is the woman who dressed the
villain in the period Western 3:10 to Yuma in white. She
has collaborated with Madonna as her personal stylist for
more than a decade.
WHY IT’S OSCAR ® -WORTHY: After studying the Duke and Duchess
of Windsor for more than two years, Phillips created 60
looks for Andrea Riseborough as Wallis Simpson. No small
task when you consider that the royal favored couture by
Vionnet and Christian Dior. The end effect is intricate,
breathtaking suits and dresses that make you understand
how a handsome woman commandeered the spotlight.
THE SHOW-STOPPER: One delightful striped silk day dress with
an organza underskirt stands out because it showed
Simpson’s fetish for fashion — even while walking her dog.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE:Phillips felt pressure to accurately capture
the style icons and their predilection for lavish custom
accessories. Case in point: The Duke presented Simpson
with a gold medal from Cartier when her terrier Slipper
died. (Both Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels made
costume jewelry for the film.)
THE OSCAR ® MAKEOVER: “Is Oscar a man or a woman?” asks
Phillips, who, in the end, refused to restyle the prize.
“The power of design is also realizing when something
works on its own.” □
W.E.
WHY IT’S OSCAR ® -WORTHY: Set in a Paris train station in 1931,
Powell sourced and created more than 800 costumes
for extras and had to nail the “exaggerated picture book
quality” of the film. “You’re seeing everything through
the eyes of a child,” she says.
THE SHOW-STOPPER: The elaborate Dali-esque costumes
(fairies, lobsters) seen in the flashbacks to films of Georges
Méliès evoke the transporting power of movie-making.
Also, Sacha Baron Cohen’s stiff, showy costume as the
station inspector perfectly sums up his officious character.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE:Because Powell never knew which extra
would be featured in the film, she treated each one as a
principal character. “There was no background, so we
couldn’t get away with any artistic license,” she says. Also,
she had to continually remake the clothes for the spunky
young leads (Asa Butterfield and Chloë Grace Moretz)
because they grew during the filming.
THE OSCAR ® MAKEOVER: “It has to be elegant, so I would dress
him as Fred Astaire in tails and a top hat,” Powell says.
JANE EYRE
MICHAEL O’CONNOR
British-born O’Connor has a resume steeped in period
finery, waistcoats and bustles. He started out as a dresser at
London’s Old Vic Theater and went on to nab an Oscar ®
for his sumptuous and lavish looks in 2009’s The Duchess.
WHY IT’S OSCAR ® -WORTHY: What you don’t see is impressive. For
Jane’s copious undergarments, O’Connor handmade
pantaloons, knickers and three pleated petticoats. All
the hems are hand-turned too. He also managed to
make plain Jane — in her palette of grays, slate blues
and browns — become the focal point amidst more
flamboyantly dressed characters.
JANE EYRE

The TAO of Oscar: ® Nominees Offer
Axioms to Live, or at Least
Campaign, By
By Cari Lynn
What is the mindset that gets a beaten-down screenwriter, legendary actress
and a funny kid to the Kodak Theater? We asked some of the nominees about
the mantras that have pulled them through the impossibility and absurdity of
the Hollywood machine.
44 THE AWARDS EDITION 2011-2012 ISSUE 06
“I always loved the Amish saying,
‘Head down to the ground/Heart
to the sky/Pray but move your
feet/Work but keep dreaming.’ I
knew what I wanted to do [in life]
and it takes one person to give you
the chance to try it.”
– BEST ACTRESS NOMINEE MICHELLE
WILLIAMS (MY WEEK WITH MARILYN)’S
CAREER PHILOSOPHY
“You hear it a lot, but it’s that you can’t give up.
First of all, you have to believe in your vision
and then you just can’t give up if you want to
create something. It’s a very fine line — you
don’t want to beat a dead horse, you know?
But this was a situation where I was just not
willing to give up because I believed this story
had a lot of power. It was exactly the kind of
story I wanted to be a part of. If one door closes,
you’ve got to find another door that will open.
If traditional ways don’t work, you’ve got to
think out of the box … I actually asked my
lawyer the other day what year I took out the
first option on the George Moore short story
(Albert Nobbs), and it was 1988.”
– BEST ACTRESS NOMINEE GLENN CLOSE
ON THE LONG ROAD OF BRINGING
ALBERT NOBBS TO THE BIG SCREEN. THE
YEAR SHE OPTIONED THE RIGHTS WAS
WHEN DANGEROUS LIAISONS WAS
RELEASED, THE LAST FILM THAT EARNED
HER AN OSCAR ® NOMINATION.
“What’s the one on the
water bottles — ‘Keep calm
and carry on.’”
– BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY NOMINEE
ANNIE MUMOLO (BRIDESMAIDS)’S
AWARDS SEASON MANTRA
“I deeply believe in movies that shed light
on the human condition: Philadelphia,
Brokeback Mountain or A Beautiful
Mind. Ones where the human experience
is exemplified and uplifted. I felt strongly
about the themes in The Help and am a
sucker for great writing. If someone can
write a great script like Tate Taylor, then
they’re feeling the material in a deep way.
I’ve often supported first time directors
when they’ve written a great screenplay … If
someone writes a script that moves you and
makes you laugh and cry, then they can tell a
story. They just need to tell it with a camera.”
– DREAMWORKS CO-CHAIRMAN AND
CEO STACEY SNIDER
“I learned that if you want something really
bad, you can get it. People have a really
tough time seeing somebody as anything
else other than what they first saw them as.
So me, as a comedic actor, was all anyone
really wanted to see me as. It was really
amazing to get to do this and prove I can be
a dramatic actor.”
– BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR NOMINEE
JONAH HILL (MONEYBALL) ON SLUGGING
HIMSELF OUT OF A BOX
“You cannot learn acting
theoretically, you have to do it
and do it and do it, and fail, and
then do it again. It’s constantly
interesting and stimulating.
Each character is a new lesson.”
– BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR NOMINEE
MAX VON SYDOW (EXTREMELY LOUD
AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE) ON
PERFECTING HIS CRAFT
“As you get older, ideas come and go.
Questions, answers, loss of the answer
again and more questions -- and this
is what really interests me. Yes, the
Cinema and the people in my life and
my family are most important, but
ultimately as you get older, there’s got
to be more. Much, much more. The very
nature of secularism right now is really
fascinating to me, but at the same time
do you wipe away what could be more
enriching in your life, which is an
appreciation or some sort of search for
that which is spiritual and transcends?”
– BEST DIRECTOR NOMINEE MARTIN
SCORSESE (HUGO) IN AN AWARDS
SEASON INTERVIEW WITH DEADLINE’S
MIKE FLEMING ON THE INSPIRATION FOR
ONE OF HIS FUTURE DIRECTORIAL
PROJECTS, SILENCE.
“Never surrender to
mediocrity.”
– BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS NOMINEE
JANET MCTEER (ALBERT NOBBS) ON THE
ROAD BEST TAKEN IN LIFE
“I was a struggling filmmaker for 15 years, sort of
barely hanging on and was also too stubborn to
write for anyone else and was always trying to
make my own films. This was really my last shot
at independent filmmaking. I have two kids and
the reality of the world was really starting to come
down on me. To have this film that I basically wrote
to be shot for under $1 million originally, that was
my goal … and then to have it come out within days
of this very mature, meaningful protest that was
going on [Occupy Wall Street] … that helped us.”
– BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY NOMINEE
J.C. CHANDOR (MARGIN CALL)
ANTHONY D'ALESSANDRO
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