Awards Archive for September, 2006
The Truth About Toronto & Oscar
The stark reality of Toronto
68 Comments »Eastwood's Double Feature
Seeing that Variety went buck wild over the idea – which is still just an idea, according to their one reported story – of Eastwood releasing both Iwo Jima films this year, I wonder what starting gun went off in whose ear.
They have a news story from Pamela McClintock…
There is no rule book to follow for the marketing and publicity execs at Warner Bros. and Paramount who are charged with opening his two Iwo Jima films. Even the rollout campaign is still being worked out.
Execs believe it’s critical that the two movies be released within a short time of each other in the U.S. and Japan. However, they don’t want the films to crowd each other out.
“Each movie needs its own space. It can’t be seen as a stunt,” one marketing vet says.
There are also a lot of generals in the mix. DreamWorks and Warner Bros. were the original partners on the films, but once DreamWorks was sold to Paramount, Par became involved.
Par bows “Flags of Our Fathers” (the battle from the American viewpoint) next month in the U.S., while Warners begins opening “Letters From Iwo Jima” (told from the Japanese side and shot entirely in Japanese) in December. Warners is releasing “Flags” overseas, and “Letters” everywhere.
and
The Japanese-language pic bows Dec. 9 in Japan. Warners hasn’t set a U.S. release date, but buzz is that the studio could mount a qualifying awards run in December before going wide domestically early in the year.
Then there is the Peter Bart piece…
Clint has two movies coming out before year’s end. That is, two separate movies with the same story. Actually, not the same story; not even the same language. Just the same setting.
and
“Flags of Our Fathers,” a movie about the battle for Iwo Jima 60-plus years ago, will open Oct. 20. “Letters From Iwo Jima,” Clint’s Japanese-language movie on the same subject, but from the Japanese point of view, will open two months later.
Thus, the possibility exists that Clint will be the first filmmaker in history to have two films in awards contention in the same year, in two different languages.
Finally, there is a William Goldman appreciation of Clint…
Not ever a career like it.
Not in all movie history.
Anyway…
This all suggests to me that something funky is afoot.
I had heard that the first screenings for any Paramount execs of Flags were to be in the week to come. Perhaps they happened last week. But keep in mind, we’re 7 weeks out from a release. Extremely unusual.
But even more unusual is having two movies like this released by two different studios with two different agendas. Paramount/DreamWorks has – if anyone can have this – too many Oscar contenders. Warner Bros hopes they have one in Blood Diamond and think The Departed could surprise. WHo knows what they think about what they have seen of The Good German? But the first two are considered by some to be more thrillers than Oscar bait and the Soderbergh is in black and white and might also be “just” a thriller… which means that after a disastrous summer, the urge to find a possible Oscar solution could be mighty mighty. And Eastwood’s allegiance is to WB first, Paramount/DreamWorks… somewhere.
The bottom line on Eastwood is that he tells the studios what’s happening. So how this is coming down is hard to read.
There is a range of scenarios.
1) Eastwood could have decided that DreamWorks/Paramount has too many movies and his is going to be de-prioritized by the studio while WB will give it full attention.
2) Eastwood could have simply decided that two people chasing Oscar for him is better than one.
3) Eastwood could have finally been convinced that the show of releasing both films in the same year is a winner for him and the films.
4) Warner Bros could have campaigned with Eastwood for all or any of the above