MCN Columnists
David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Best Picture Chart

BEST PICTURE
Picture
Studio
Director
Awards –
Poss Stars
Comment
May 4
Away From Her
Lions
Polley
Christie
Not much business and not much of a campaigner, but a loved vet
June 8
La Vie En Rose
PictH

Dahan

Cotillard
This year’s Cruz?
June 22
A Mighty Heart
ParVan
Winterbottom
Jolie
Too early to hold
June 29
Evening
Focus
Koltai
Streep
Close
Redgrave
July 13
Rescue Dawn
MGM
Herzog
Bale
Zahn
A test for MGM
July 20
Hairspray
NL
Shankman
Blonsky
Travolta
Not likely to be more than commercial
July 24
Ressurecting The Champ
Yari
Lurie
Jackson
Aug 14
Feast Of Love
MGM
Benton
Freeman
Would be a major comeback for Benton
Aug 21
In The Valley Of Elah
WIP
Haggis
Jones
Theron

Sarandon
Mr. Crash returns
Sept 14
The Brave One
WB
Jordan
Foster
Howard
Looks more commercial
Sept 14
Eastern Promises
Focus
Cronenberg
Watts
Never as kind to Cronenberg as they should be
Sept 28
Lust, Caution
Focus
Lee
Leung
Wei
Language a barrier
Sept 28
La Misma Luna
FoxS
Riggen
Fererra
Lovely but small.
Oct 5
Michael Clayton
WB
Gilroy
Clooney
Oct 12
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
U
Kapur
Blanchett
Rush
Owen
Morton
A sequel… hmmm
Oct 12
We Own The Night
Sony
Gray
Phoenix
More Russian mob
Oct 12
Grace Is Gone
TWC
Strouse
Cusack
Too small
Oct 19
Margot At The Wedding
ParVan
Baumbach
Kidman
Oct 26
Things We Lost In The Fire
DW
Bier
Berry
Del Toro
Bier gets great performances
Nov 2
American Gangster
U
R. Scott
Denzel
Crowe
Departed again?
Nov 2
The Kite Runner
ParVan
Forster
Tough road… beloved book
Nov 9
No Country For Old Men
Mir/
ParVan
Coens
Bardem
Jones
The Coens are the ones they get years later… but may be their year
Nov 9
Reservation Road
Focus
George

Phoenix
Ruffalo
Connell

A big test for T-George
Nov 9
Lions For Lambs
UA
Redford
Cruise
Streep
Redford
Many would be thrilled to see it fail… more would be happy if it’s great
Nov 16
Beowulf
Par
Zemeckis
Could be a true category changer… never bet against Zemeckis
Nov 16
Love In the Time Of Cholera
NL
Newell
Bardem
Sexy, but will it be great?
Nov 21
There Will Be Blood
ParVan
Anderson
Day-Lewis
Tough material
Nov 30
Cassandra’s Dream
TWC
Allen
McGregor
Wilkinson
Back again again?
Dec 7
His Dark Materials
NL
Weitz
Probably more Narnia than Rings
Dec 7
Atonement
Focus
Wright
Knightley
Redgrave
Great, tough material
Dec 21
The Other Boleyn Girl
Sony
Chadwick
Portman
Johansson
Bana
Seems like every actor who people like but who don’t get the nods
Dec 21
Sweeney Todd
DW
Burton
Depp
Bonham-
Carter
An opera…
Dec 21
Charlie Wilson’s War
U
Nichols
Hanks
Roberts
Hoffman
The closest thing to a front runner… but soooo premature
Dec 26
The Savages
FoxS
Jenkins
Hoffman
Linney
Loved at Sundance, but very edgy
Undated
x
The Darjeeling Limited
FoxS
W Anderson
Wilson
Brody
Dark horse
x
Guerilla
Focus
Soderbergh
Del Toro
Could be 2008
x
Margaret
FoxS
Lonergan
Paquin
Long delayed
x
Youth Without Youth
SPC
Coppola
Roth
Rooting for Coppola, Sr
x
Synecdoche, New York
SK
Kaufman
Hoffman
Charlie = Genius
Nov?
In Bloom
2929
Perelman
Thurman
Wood
A woman’s perspective on violent tragedy
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon