Awards Watch Archive for February, 2018

Oscar Spots More Stars As Presenters

By Ray Pride - Tuesday, February 27th, 2018

MORE STARS TO PRESENT AT 90TH OSCARS® EMILY BLUNT, SANDRA BULLOCK, DAVE CHAPPELLE, EUGENIO DERBEZ, ANSEL ELGORT, JANE FONDA, JODIE FOSTER, EIZA GONZÁLEZ, ASHLEY JUDD, NICOLE KIDMAN, MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, HELEN MIRREN, RITA MORENO, LUPITA NYONG’O AND CHRISTOPHER WALKEN LOS ANGELES, CA – Producers Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd announced additional presenters for the 90th Oscars telecast. …

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20 Weeks To Oscar: A Week To Go

By David Poland - Monday, February 26th, 2018

Every one of the five films that is considered to have a real chance of winning Best Picture has a position of strength and a soft underbelly.

Do you want to go through them all again?

I don’t either.

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Performers for 90th Oscars Announced

By Ray Pride - Friday, February 23rd, 2018

 90TH OSCARS® PERFORMERS ANNOUNCED GAEL GARCÍA BERNAL, MARY J. BLIGE, COMMON, ANDRA DAY, NATALIA LAFOURCADE, MIGUEL, KEALA SETTLE AND SUFJAN STEVENS LOS ANGELES, CA – Gael García Bernal, Mary J. Blige, Andra Day, Natalia LaFourcade, Miguel, Keala Settle, Sufjan Stevens and Oscar® winner Common will perform this year’s nominated songs at the 90th Oscars®ceremony, show producers Michael De…

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Gurus o’ Gold: Top 3

By The Gurus of Gold - Friday, February 23rd, 2018

As The Gurus count down to Oscar night, they pick their Top 3 in every category (except picture, where it’s still Top 5). The group is unanimous in a surprising nine categories, including all four acting awards, while Editing and Doc Feature are toss-ups. The Gurus see the maximum number of Oscars going to one film being… three.

Next week… Top 2.

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Oscar Names Ten More Diverse Presenters, Including Kelly Marie Tran, Zendaya, Wes Studi, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Armie Hammer

By Ray Pride - Wednesday, February 21st, 2018

10 MORE PRESENTERS ANNOUNCED FOR 90TH OSCARS® GAL GADOT, MARK HAMILL, ARMIE HAMMER, OSCAR ISAAC, LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA, GINA RODRIGUEZ, EVA MARIE SAINT, WES STUDI, KELLY MARIE TRAN AND ZENDAYA LOS ANGELES, CA – Producers Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd today announced 10 more presenters for the 90th Oscars® telecast. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the…

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Blade Runner 2049 Wins American Society of Cinematographers Award

By Ray Pride - Sunday, February 18th, 2018

Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC claimed the coveted Theatrical Award for best cinematography in a motion picture for his work on “Blade Runner 2049” at the 32nd Annual American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Awards for Outstanding Achievement. Mart Taniel, ESC was given the Spotlight Award for “November.” In the TV categories, winners included Adriano Goldman, ASC, ABC…

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Oscar 90 Names First Batch Of Diverse Presenters

By Ray Pride - Friday, February 16th, 2018

AHERSHALA ALI, CHADWICK BOSEMAN, VIOLA DAVIS, LAURA DERN, JENNIFER GARNER, GRETA GERWIG, TIFFANY HADDISH,TOM HOLLAND, KUMAIL NANJIANI, MARGOT ROBBIE, EMMA STONE AND DANIELA VEGA LOS ANGELES, CA – Producers Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd today announced the first slate of presenters for the 90th Oscars® telecast.  Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the Oscars will air live Sunday, March…

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Gurus o Gold: Counting Down To Oscar Night

By The Gurus of Gold - Friday, February 16th, 2018

The Gurus are working through this final stage of the Oscar season. This week, The Top 4s. Next week, The Top 3s. Then, The Top 2s. And on show week, Only The Winners. (They’re all winners… it is an honor just to be nominated.)

And as you asked… The Gurus currently thinking no movie wins more than four Oscars. And the second biggest number of Oscars to… Dunkirk.

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33rd Santa Barbara Film Festival Award Winners

By Ray Pride - Saturday, February 10th, 2018

Audience Choice Award: Mark Hayes’ SKID ROW MARATHON Best Documentary Short Film Award: Kyle Morrison’s MOTT HAVEN Bruce Corwin Award – Best Live Action Short Film: Richard Van’s AUDITION Bruce Corwin Award – Best Animated Short Film: Randall Christopher’s THE DRIVER IS RED Best Documentary Award: Grant Korgan and Geoff Callan’s THE PUSH Jeffrey C….

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20 Weeks To Oscar: The Big Quiet

By David Poland - Monday, February 5th, 2018

Can you hear it?

Listen carefully.

Silence.

We are still a month from The Oscars.

We are still weeks from voting.

And in what has felt like a pretty open season is not accelerating into a passionate discussion of the top movies of 2017. The discussion is about the Solo trailer and Black Panther.

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“Academy Gold” Mentor Program Enters Second Year With 22 Entertainment Industry Partners

By Ray Pride - Thursday, February 1st, 2018

ACADEMY GOLD ENTERS SECOND YEAR WITH 22 ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY PARTNERS LOS ANGELES, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is proud to announce the launch of the 2018 Academy Gold internship enhancement and mentorship program for students and young professionals from underrepresented communities.  Currently, there are 22 entertainment industry partners, including Annapurna Pictures, Creative Artists…

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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