The Mystery Behind The 1970 Demo That’s The Sonic Highlight Of Blue Valentine
Posts Tagged ‘Blue Valentine’
The Mystery Behind The 1970 Demo That’s The Sonic Highlight Of Blue Valentine
Friday, June 17th, 2011Some Post-Oscar Tidbits
Monday, February 28th, 2011My favorite and not-favorite Oscar moments, which may be updated as I think of more of them …
Hailee “pretty in pink” Steinfeld, looking sweetly age-appropriate. But it cracks me up to have dolled-up television entertainment reporters being all, “Oh, it’s so NICE and REFRESHING to see (insert every young actress ever nominated for Supporting here) dressed so appropriately for her age. She just looks like a little girl playing princess, which is as it should be.” Well, yes, okay, it is. And Ms. Steinfeld will have another moment, if she wants it.
Jeff Bridges grabbing the mic on the red carpet and interviewing his entire family about their Oscar experience. The Dude abides. Always.
The whole set-up-with-zero-payout about the trifecta of art, cinematography and picture felt so completely random. WTF was that about? I mean, if I was placing a bunch of really obscure bets with a bookie, maybe, but who else cares?
Listening to the post-show blither-blather about fashion hits and misses. But okay, since I was listening anyhow … if I was going to have an opinion on the fashions, it would be that I hated Melissa Leo’s dress. She looked so lovely otherwise, but I would have loved to have seen her in something sleek in black or silver tonight. Loved Jennifer Lawrence’s simple, sexy red. Loved Hathaway’s Valentino. Loved the black lace on Russell Brand’s mom.
Hated the opening thing with the mom/grandma. Ugh. File under bad idea.
Definitely a mom theme going on, with resplendently pregnant Portman, radiant postpartum Penelope, and Celene Dion, who I guess just had twins. Glad that Hailee Steinfeld was not in maternity wear. She seems like a nice, level-headed kid. I hope she doesn’t Lohan.
Liked Hathaway and Franco overall. Actually, dang … I really like Hathaway a lot. Franco seemed stoned the whole time — what was with the squinting? Steve Martin with thinning hair makes me feel old. Mila Kunis looks great in lavender.
The mash-up of the Harry Potter song was awesome.
Melissa Leo having a vocabulary malfunction is exactly why we love her. More, please.
WTF was up with the Oscar guy commentator going off about King’s Speech being a great feel-good movie that people love and it makes them feel all happy-happy, and then specifically referencing Blue Valentine as “ugh, depressing, who wants to see that?” What a load of BS. I saw The King’s Speech last night finally, and I liked it, for what it is. It’s feel good, it has populist appeal, it’s the kid who’s popular for being a nice guy with a winning personality.
Blue Valentine is dark and daring and gritty, Ryan Gosling is soul-felt and terrific and Michelle Williams even better (she may just be the actress of her generation when all’s said and done), even the end credits sequence is relevant and artful.
… oh, and the Charlie Sheen joke was funny, I get it. But not. It’s sad to see someone nose-diving in the wake of addiction.
Art Of The Title Sequence On The Bold End Credits (swoon) Of Blue Valentine
Friday, February 11th, 2011Novelist-Screenwriter Couple Have Differing Blue Valentine Reactions
Sunday, February 6th, 2011Wilmington on Movies: The Way Back, The Company Men and Blue Valentine
Friday, January 21st, 2011The Way Back (Three and a Half Stars)
U.S./Poland: Peter Weir, 2011
Movie tales of agonizing attempts at human survival against long odds in dangerous conditions — from Robert Aldrich‘s The Flight of the Phoenix (plane-crash in the desert), Kalatozov’s The Red Tent (Arctic expedition gone wrong) and Kurosawa’s Dersu Uzala (lost in Siberia) to Danny Boyle’s recent 127 Hours (trapped in a crevasse) and Peter Weir’s current The Way Back — serve one very useful function. They help us keep our own difficulties in perspective. They remind us of how fragile life really can be, of how relatively small and manageable most of our own civilized daily problems are. Money messes? Romantic failures? Bad co-workers? Tough, but manageable.
But, what would we do, for example, if we were faced — as are the eight central characters of The Way Back — with trekking on foot through freezing, wolf-infested Siberian forests during the height of World War II, with the soldiers of the Soviet Gulag and their guns somewhere behind us? Or crossing the Gobi Desert under a scorching sun with little water, and boots falling apart?
SPOILER – SOMEWHAT – ALERT
What if we had to walk 4,000 miles through those forests, and that desert, then face climbing and crossing the Himalayan Mountains before reaching the safe haven of India — only to have World War II still raging all across the world all around us?
END OF ALERT
The Way Back is based on a famous book by Polish writer and ex-gulag prisoner Slawomir Rawicz, the bestseller The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom. Weir’s movie, co-scripted by Keith R. Clarke, with a multi-national cast headed by Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell and Saoirse Ronan, purports to tell us that story of that 1940 escape and the people who made it. And though Rawicz’s facts have been seriously challenged (it’s said by some investigators that he never escaped from the Gulag at all, but was released in 1942, and that thus the whole tale of the trek is fictitious), Weir’s movie still has lots of visual and emotional impact.
Stunningly shot in Bulgaria (standing in for Siberia), Morocco (standing in for Mongolia) and India, The Way Back is an old school adventure movie made without the aid of CGI enhancement or technical trickery. It has an often overwhelming visual impact. Filled with over-powering landscapes and spectacular desolation, Weir’s movie creates an often riveting vision of escape, of the wilderness and survival, with the seven men — a colorful, diverse group that includes an American (Ed Harris), a Stalinist thief/killer (Colin Farrell), and an artist who keeps drawing pictures — sometimes pitted against each other, or hurled into wolf-infested forests, and vast scorching stretches of the Gobi desert. Along the way, they’re joined by another fugitive/pilgrim, a fragile-looking young Polish girl on the run named Irena (Saoirse Ronan). As the grueling journey proceeds, some of them die, some survive — and all of them are constantly battered and tested.
There may be soldiers somewhere behind them too, ready to take them back to the gulag, villagers ready to betray them. But, as the commandant tells the newly arrived prisoners at the beginning — including the movie’s main character, Polish prisoner Janusz (Jim Sturgess) — it is the land itself that is their jailer, their nemesis, their tyrant, their gulag.
Few filmmakers alive can wring as much mystical splendor and dangerous-looking beauty out of a landscape or seascape (or here, a mountain-scape and desert-scape) as Weir — especially when he’s joined by his fellow Australian, cinematographer Russell Boyd (an Oscar winner for Weir‘s last film, the 2003 sea saga Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World). Together, Weir and Boyd lavish on Way Back the gifts for outdoor moviemaking Weir displayed in films like Gallipoli, The Mosquito Coast, and Master and Commander, showing once again that great talent he has for immersing us in the excitement and strangeness of the world around us.
The dramatic elements of The Way Back aren’t as strong — even if, compared to most would be action or adventure films these days, they’re strong enough. Sturgess’ Janusz, sent to Siberia because of a political frame-up in which his wife (Sally Edwards) participated, is a protagonist with a kind heart (the reason, one character tells him, that he’s wanted for the escape and journey), but few interesting quirks. (Janusz’s betrayal by his wife and the climactic aftermath, are two of this story’s least plausible elements.)
Of the other characters, the most forcefully or memorable drawn are Irena (Ronan), whose ethereal face lends weird contrast to the elemental backdrops; the American Mr. Smith (played broodingly by Ed Harris); and the thug Valka (played explosively by Colin Farrell), who kills a man for his sweater, and has Stalin and Lenin tattooed on his chest.
It’s been said, by Roger Ebert, that the movie might have done better dramatically to compromise and create some more involving romantic drama around Irena. True. But is that really a compromise? Not having read the book, I don’t know what happened in real life — there apparently was a woman refugee described by Rawicz along with the escapees, but not a teenager like the movie’s Irena (Ronan is 16) — or even if Irena really existed (or existed only in a made-up memoir). But I found it down-right weird that there was so little sexual tension between Irena and any of the men. That’s another area where the human interiors of The Way Back seem scanty next to the film’s transfixing exteriors.
A word about Weir. Even if his material here lacks some depth and power (and even if it has a pretty corny ending), it’s a daring, worthwhile project. Weir is a marvelous filmmaker, at his best with large or exotic canvasses like this — an expert portrayer of the spectacle and mysteries of the world, and the shadows of the human mind and heart. It’s good to see his work on screen again. I thought his last film, 2003‘s Master and Commander, which was adapted (and somewhat changed) from Patrick O’Brian‘s excellent sea stories, starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, was a rousing, first-class adventure movie, and I would have been happy if that movie had had as many sequels as Pirates of the Caribbean.
So I hope we won’t have to start waiting as long between Weir films as we eventually did for those of David Lean — a superior filmmaker, but one to whom Weir can be fairly compared. Ambition and the desire to make movies for adults shouldn’t be penalized, or made into marks against you. There are artistic and financial gulags as well as physical ones, and after all the fine films Weir has made — Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave, The Year of Living Dangerously, and The Truman Show as well as the ones I‘ve already mentioned — he‘s earned the right to make the kind of films he wants to.
Now, a word about Ed Harris. Two words. Great actor. Furthermore, as always, a reliably fine actor, one you can count on. All of the roles in The Way Back, though mostly well-played, are somewhat sketchy, which is odd for a story allegedly taken from life. But if Ronan supplies pathos and Farrell adds tension and conflict (the movie loses a lot when he departs), Harris is the one actor in The Way Back who really adds the element of human suffering and stoicism, the measure of how we react to danger and hardship, how we can survive. Almost effortlessly, Harris’ Mr. Smith takes over the movie, supplies its true emotional center — and he does this not by succumbing to the dangers and difficulties of the trek, or pushing his role obviously forward, or obviously registering anguish and pain, but by constantly fighting against them. (At one point, when it looks as if Mr. Smith will succumb, the movie seems ready to collapse around him.)
I’d be remiss in not mentioning the other actors as well — Dragos Bucur, Alexander Protocean, Gustaf Skarsgard, Sebastian Urgandowsky, and Igor Gnezdilov. They’re all good, even if, frankly, the dramatic elements of the movie — however close or far they may be to the book or to fact, or how moving they may be to us — don’t feel especially true. Against the overpowering, dangerous physical world of Way Back, the men and woman enact what is often a typical adventure movie fable of suffering, quest and redemption. They and the story tell us what we’ve heard before, in ways we expect, and that rarely surprise us. But that’s not bad. Weir and Boyd make sure that the landscapes around those escapees have their own fierce truth.
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The Company Men (Three Stars)
U. S.; John Wells, 2010
Three executives at a vast Boston-based conglomerate called GTX, caught in the opening crash of the G. O. P.‘s Great Recession, see their careers derailed or destroyed when their company’s callous, greedy, phlegmatic CEO, James Salinger (played viciously and perceptively by Craig T. Nelson), starts closing divisions, cutting jobs and downsizing with a vengeance. Those company men are 37-year-old yuppie Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck), 50-something longtime original employee Phil Woodward (about to get caught in the crucible of ageism), and tough but compassionate 60ish Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones), who started the company (as independent shipbuilders) with Salinger, but is about to find out he’s no safer from the current economic mess than anyone else — especially when he proves too tough, and too compassionate, for the tastes of his oldest friend, that same Salinger.
The Company Men is the first theatrical feature written, directed and produced by longtime TV writer-producer John Wells (a multiple Emmy winner for shows like E.R. and The West Wing), and it’s the kind of drama that, back in the ’50s would have been rolling off the typewriters of Rod Serling and Reginald Rose. (In fact, Serling told a similar story about corporate brutality in his breakthrough ’50s teleplay Patterns.) It’s good to see somebody sticking it to the corporate establishment for their entrenched selfishness, their blank-faced brutality toward their employees (and toward society as a whole), and their longstanding sins of ageism, obsession with the stock market, and social irresponsibility. (Wells writes and Nelson portrays these real-life vices of the corporate super-rich and their minions with economy and force.)
It’s also good to see somebody trying to reawaken the Serling-Rose-Chayefsky tradition of adult, issue-oriented popular drama — and doing it, for the most part, this well. Since its brief Academy qualifying opening, I’ve decided to bump up the rating, though I still agree with some of its detractors that Company Men is an unabashed message drama, with some flaws, and that there are people who are suffering much, much more from the bilked, ravaged economy, than the desperate execs we see here.
But I also still disagree strongly with those Company Men critics who think this movie is too preachy or too obvious. If all these lessons were so clear to the movie-going public, and not just to some of the friends and social acquaintances of us movie critics, then the country as a whole might not have voted for the political party in cahoots with the same damned greed-crazed creeps and idiots who got us in the mess in the first place.
Wells does a good job of needling the guys at the top, of sketching in the milieu, laying down the table stakes, and giving us a large gallery of mostly well-cast and well-played characters — including all above, plus Bobby’s wife Maggie (Rosemarie DeWitt) and her blue collar carpenter brother(Kevin Costner). Special kudos to Jones (as usual), to Nelson, to DeWitt, to Cooper (who plays Woodward like a walking raw wound) and to Costner.
Especially Costner. His part here, independent builder Jack Dolan, in fact, reminded me a bit of my own Swedish-American Wisconsin carpenter grandfather Axel Tulane — though Grampa was funnier, more jocular and more congenial than Jack. Here’s what was amazing about Axel and why Costner’s expert worker reminds me of him: When I was in school in Williams Bay, Axel planned and designed and got the materials for, and actually built with his own hands, several houses, the last when he was in his 70s. He planned that last house by himself, and, working mostly alone, did nearly everything, with no fellow carpenters, and only a little help that I knew of from my mother and me. I suppose my Grampa must have had some specialists, plumbers or electricians or such, but I had the impression he was doing that too. Axel knew how to build a house, you see. And he would have known what to do with a bastard like Salinger.
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Blue Valentine (Three Stars)
U.S.: Derek Cianfrance, 2010
An uncompromising drama about a busted romance, told in two alternating story-tracks: one where the couple (Ryan Gosling and somewhat higher-class Michelle Williams) first comes together, one where they finally split apart. The subject of some idiotic MPAA controversy about sex, this a real moviemaker’s showcase for newcomer Derek Cianfrance, and an actors’ showcase for Gosling and Williams, who burn up the screen. With their acting. As for the sex, isn’t that what most couples do?
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No Strings Attached (One and a Half Stars)
U.S.; Ivan Reitman, 2010
A movie critic friend of mine wrote me the other day that my review of Ben Stiller’s and Robert De Niro’s Little Fockers should have ended right after the first sentence. Thus: After rambling on and on about the Coen Brothers’ True Grit, I wonder if there’s any real need to say anything at all about Little Fockers except just this: This movie is not funny.
Well, I’ve got a second chance to follow his advice, thanks to director Ivan Reitman and his mystifyingly unentertaining (to me) so-called romantic comedy, No Strings Attached, starring the unchemical couple of Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher, doing a sort of cross between Last Tango In Paris (sex without mush) and When Harry Met Sally (friendship and sex) and Mutt and Jeff (the long and the short and the tall).
Here goes: After rambling on and on about The Way Back, there’s no need to say anything about No Strings Attached except this: It ain’t funny. It ain’t sexy. It looks like it was shot in a permanent smog attack. And what a criminal waste of Kevin Kline.
There, that’s already more than I should have said. (Maybe more next week, if I feel up to it.) But I’ll add this: I think I’d rather walk from Siberia to Tibet than watch this movie again.
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Dissolution (Three Stars)
Israel-U.S.: Nina Menkes, 2010
I love black and white cinematography, I love the styles and moods of noir, and off-Hollywood director-writer-editor Nina Menkes (Magdalena Viraga, The Bloody Child) uses them both pretty well here. Her latest movie, a kind of modern Israeli Crime and Punishment, heavy on angst and sin and lighter on philosophy, follows a brooding, dark John Lurie-ish looking sort of guy (Didi Fire), who kills a pawnbroker and starts falling apart. The scenes are sometimes a little too early Chantal Akermanish — one take, distanced, minimalist, sometimes almost actionless — but the movie has a mood. And a style: art-house noir. (Israeli and Arabic, with subtitles. (At Facets, Chicago.)
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The Scene Shared By Blue Valentine And The Notebook
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011Gosling’s Life Of Ryan
Saturday, January 8th, 2011Sessums Gifts Michelle Williams With Poetry Before Asking About On-Screen Sex
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011Friday Estimates — January 1
Saturday, January 1st, 2011True Grit|8.3|3083|74%|70.4
Little Fockers|7.7|3554|56%|84.6
TRON: Legacy|5.0|3365|26%|117.6
Yogi Bear|4.1|3515|92%|57.2
Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader|3.4|2948|58%|80.1
Tangled |3.4|2582|96%|161.4
Gulliver’s Travels |2.9|3089|NEW|21
The Fighter |2.7|2534|105%|39.2
The King’s Speech |2.5|700|712%|15.16
The Tourist |2.0|2756|127%|49.9
Black Swan|1.9|1553|81%|40.8
Also Debuting
Blue Valentine|42,400|4||42,400
Another Year|33,200|6||33,200
* in millions
Kenny Drinks In Two Prestige Releases Heavy On The Glug-Glug-Glug
Thursday, December 30th, 2010A Cuddly Profile Of Michelle Williams And Her Talents
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010“Clad in a patterned girlie black dress, blazer and gray Rachel Comey booties, the slender woman who greets you in her living room is all smiles.”
A Cuddly Profile Of Michelle Williams And Her Talents
Top Ten Feature Films 2010
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010I really struggled over my top ten list this year. There were maybe six films that were pretty hard locks early on, which only left four open slots for the rest of a field of strong contenders — not a lot of wiggle room in a year with a good many solid films rightfully in contention for top ten lists.
For the most part, I think the films that made the final cut onto my top ten list will not come as a surprise if you know me and the types of films I tend to like more than others.
Some of the films that did not make the final cut for me, though, may surprise you, and I’d like to say a few words about that. First, there were several other films to which I gave thoughtful consideration (and if this had been a Top 20 list, they likely would have been on it); some of them are smaller films, and not all have distribution, so I’d like to recognize their excellence.
They are, in no particular order: For the Good of Others, Secret Sunshine, Father of My Children, The Vicious Kind, The Illusionist, and Shutter Island. I Saw the Devil, which was one of my favorite films at TIFF, would have made my top ten, but since it’s supposed to be released here in March, I’ll hold off and include it next year.
And it might come as a surprise, given the number of artsy films on my list, to learn that the two films that came closest to making my Top Ten list but just missed are Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World.
And while I haven’t done a lot of Oscar prognosticating yet, I will say right now that The Illusionist is my pick for Best Animated Film over Toy Story 3, fond as I am of Woody, Buzz and the gang.
There are not any documentaries on my top ten, not because there were no good docs this year, but because I find it very hard to compare features to docs; there’s a reason fests and the various awards separate the categories. So I will have a Top 5 (maybe 10) Docs list in a day or so. Yes, yes, it’s a bit of a cop-out. Sorry. I’d rather put the spotlight on the docs separately, though.
The most notably absent of the major awards-contending feature films on my final list are The Fighter, The Kids Are All Right, and The Social Network. Of these, The Fighter came the closest to making the cut, but in the end I found that the acting, for me, was stronger than the writing, and that it was problematic for the supporting characters in the film (particularly Dickie and Alice) to be more flawed and interesting on the surface (which is what the script and director chose to show us) than the main character.
Mark Wahlberg’s younger brother Mickey was the more psychologically complex character in his quieter way, but he wasn’t as showy as Christian Bale’s malnourished crack addict or Melissa Leo’s flamboyant stage mother; that’s a writing and directorial decision that made it hard to know who we were supposed to be rooting for — Mickey? Or Dickie? Or both? Or all of them? That said, there was a subtlety to Mark Wahlberg’s performance that I found very moving, and Amy Adams, reaching outside her comfort zone, is excellent.
I enjoyed The Kids Are All Right, for the most part, but again, for me it was a film driven more by the excellent performances by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore than by the direction or script. I applaud Lisa Cholodenko for her handling of the subject matter and for the originality of the idea, but the execution I found problematic. I already devoted an entire column to this subject, though, so I’ll leave it at that.
And then we have The Social Network by far the most popular kid in the Top Ten lunchroom this year. There’s some good acting in there, and it’s an entertaining enough film, although I still take issue with the way Mark Zuckerberg is portrayed — not so much with Jesse Eisenberg’s performance, which is solid, but with the way the character is scripted by Aaron Sorkin. There are some cleverly edited scenes in there (but if you put them side-be-side with similar scenes from Wall Street 2, are they really head-and-shoulders above?).
I suppose Social Network reflects the “cultural zeitgeist,” and critics love them some cultural zeitgeist about as much as they love seeing reflections of themselves in a movie. It’s certainly true that the last 15 years or so have been a remarkable bit of our societal growth to be a part of. I get that. And as a regular Facebook user, I admit it was kind of cool watching this film and seeing the birth of a website that’s become a regular tool I use in my own work and life to stay connected with friends, family and colleagues scattered far and wide.
But Social Network did not, for me, represent David Fincher’s best effort as a director, particularly when I compare it to the sheer balls of Darren Aronofsky in making the crazy, beautiful Black Swan as a follow-up to The Wrestler, or the brilliance of Chris Nolan in conceiving and bringing to life a starkly daring and creative bit of genius like Inception. It doesn’t match the artistry with which Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy attacked what could have been a Lifetime Movie of the Week in 127 Hours, spinning a a compelling, gorgeously shot film out of a story about a guy stuck alone in a crevice in the wilderness with his arm pinned by a rock. It cannot stand against the meticulous process with which Mike Leigh worked with his cast in crafting Another Year, or the poignant honesty and deep sadness of Rabbit Hole, or the rich, full exploration of what it means to live and to die in Biutiful. These films captured raw, honest, flawed and deeply human characters acting and reacting to each other in ways that make us feel like we have been gifted with a rare and insightful mirrors that reflect back to us our own humanity.
There are some solid performances in Social Network, yes . But even looking at the acting, there’s not a performance in The Social Network that has the depth and soul of Javier Bardem’s dying father in Biutiful, the sheer guts of Natalie Portman’s tragic perfectionist in Black Swan, the anguished loneliness of Lesley Manville in Another Year, the clarity and honesty of Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit. Or for that matter, the chemistry of Chloe Moretz and Nic Cage in Kick-Ass.
You, of course, are free to disagree with what made my list and what did not, and no doubt many of you have your own thoughts to share on why you disagree with my choices and reasoning. That’s the best thing, to me, about top tens — they provide an opportunity to hone down the year and then engage in energetic debate about our choices. My top docs list is coming soon, and after the holidays I’ll break it down further with my picks for who should win at the Oscars, all political BS aside.
All that said, here are my Top Ten Feature Films of 2010:
1. Biutiful
2. Another Year
3. Black Swan
4. 127 Hours
5. True Grit
6. Winter’s Bone
7. Rabbit Hole
8. Inception
9. Blue Valentine
10. Dogtooth
Golden Globe Nominations Reactions
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010“A lot of tequila will run in our veins tonight.”
– Alejandro González Iñárritu, director of Biutiful
“To be selected with these extraordinary nominees is an honor and, boy, was I ready for some good news!”
– Michael Douglas, star of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
“There will be a lot of ballet jokes. Last night Letterman made fun of the film. I think he said, ‘If you don’t want to celebrate Christmas, you can go see two Jewish girls make out.’”
– Darren Aronofsky, director of Black Swan
“This nomination is an honor and I am thrilled to share it with my friend, my co-conspirator, and my favorite dance partner, Ryan Gosling. Thank you so much to The Hollywood Foreign Press, The Weinstein Company and of course to the inestimable Derek Cianfrance, whose vision led and sustained us all.”
-Michelle Williams, star of Blue Valentine
“I never lost the sight of the fact that this was about real person, and I was so appreciative that the material brought on the talent it did like Christian (Bale) and Amy (Adams),” he said. “It mirrors my family is many ways. Of course it takes a very special person to choose fighting and a lot of time fighting chooses them. After doing this film and going through the training I definitely have new respect for Mickey (Ward) and what his family went through.”
– Mark Wahlberg, star of The Fighter
“I think in Australia, because I’ve been around for 48 years, people think of me as a piece of old comfortable furniture. And now suddenly foreigners like me.”
– Jacki Weaver, star of Animal Kingdom
“Working on Winter’s Bone with such talented people was an incredible experience, and never did I dream that it would lead to this moment. I’m so proud of this movie and words can’t describe being in the company of these extraordinary actresses. ‘Thank you,’ is the best I can do right now.”
– Jennifer Lawrence, star of Winter’s Bone
“I can remember when I found out that I had been nominated for ‘The Full Monty’ I was clearing cat sick off the floor. I really must get a more glamorous life one of these days.”
— Simon Beaufoy , 127 Hours screenwriter
“What an exciting morning for our film, especially when you consider what a terrific year it was for movies. Thank you Hollywood Foreign Press Association for this honor and also for recognizing Mark, Melissa, Christian and David’s great work. I am deeply proud of the film and to be honored for it is icing on the cake.”
– Amy Adams, star of The Fighter
“I am absolutely thrilled with all the nominations for The King Speech and hugely grateful to the Hollywood Foreign Press. I am so delighted for our entire cast, composer, Alexandre and for David Seidler whose journey towards making this film started as a small boy listening to King George VI on the radio. I am so grateful to my extraordinary cast and crew for helping to bring this unlikely story of friendship to life. Thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press for supporting our film and making me very happy at 2:00 in the morning in Melbourne, Australia!”
-Tom Hooper, director of The King’s Speech
“I’m very happy to get a nomination for The King’s Speech on the eve of my daughter’s birthday, it means I get a prezzie as well. If it reminds any producer, director, writer in the profession that I’m alive and kicking and available for work, then job well done. Thank you Hollywood Foreign Press and everyone that made me look good in The King’s Speech.”
-Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
“It is so thrilling to be nominated with such great people. Its Disney’s 50th animated film, my 10th Disney musical and it feels like my first time all over again!”
– Alan Menken, nominated for Best Song for Tangled
“This film’s been a fighter from the start to finish, from the true story of Micky Ward’s struggle to find himself and become a champion, to Mark Wahlberg’s struggle to get this movie made, to the scrappy way we made the film in 33 days, to the actors who took on the roles with a ferocity that is not to be matched. I’m grateful to the Hollywood Foreign Press, and our producers, David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Ryan Kavanaugh, Relativity, and Paramount for believing in our story.”
– David O. Russell, director of The Fighter
“Tangled has been a labor of love since its beginning, and the passion and dedication of our crew shows in every frame,” commented director Byron Howard. Director Nathan Greno adds, “It’s a true highpoint in our careers to have Tangled acknowledged by the Hollywood Foreign Press. The nomination is a real thrill and an incredible way to honor Walt Disney Animation’s 50th feature film.”
– Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, directors of Tangled
“You don’t expect late in your career to actually meet somebody that you form a very strong friendship and bond with. Which certainly happened with me and Colin [Firth] and Tom [Hooper]. It’s a rather embarrassing triumvirate of man love.”
– Geoffrey Rush, star of The King’s Speech
“I’ve had the time of my life working alongside my colleagues on The Social Network and I’m grateful to the HFPA for recognizing their great, hard work. On a personal note it’s humbling to be nominated alongside six of the best screenwriters in town.”
– Aaron Sorkin, screenplay for The Social Network
“The category is insane. It’s, like, what the hell is going on here?”
— Emma Stone , star of Easy A
— Emma Stone , star of Easy A
“It is an incredible honor and joy to be embraced with such warmth and appreciation by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for the work and sacrifices we made on I AM LOVE. I am humbled that in Hollywood and America in general – as well as the international community – this film has enjoyed an acclaimed and embraced theatrical release. It is truly unexpected and further strengthens my belief in the power of the language of film. I celebrate this amazing result by thanking my partners in First Sun, all my producers and of course with my wonderful star Tilda Swinton. Thank you.”
-Luca Guadagnino, director of I Am Love
“I couldn’t be more thrilled for my colleagues that we were recognized so richly this morning. Huge thanks to the HFPA for a big vote of confidence in our film — we’re very grateful and very honored.”
– Scott Rudin, producer of The Social Network
“A huge thank you to the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. I am thrilled and extremely grateful that ‘The Social Network’ has been acknowledged. I am eternally grateful to David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin for creating a film of which we are all so proud.”
– Dana Brunetti, producer of The Social Network
– Dana Brunetti, producer of The Social Network
“It was an honor to be part of this wonderful movie and we’re so glad it was acknowledged by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.”
– Jesse Eisenberg, star of The Social Network
“I’m very touched to have been nominated by the HFPA this morning and am thrilled that The Social Network has been recognized, as well as David, Aaron, Jesse and Trent. The process of Making this movie was an incredibly creative and joyous experience and to see the film honored in this way is truly a thrill and is something for which I’m very grateful.”
– Andrew Garfield, star of The Social Network
“We are incredibly flattered by the recognition we’re receiving for our work scoring The Social Network. Working with David Fincher and his team ranks among the most rewarding creative experiences either of us have experienced, and we are thankful for the opportunity. Being part of a team and watching a project you truly believe in resonate with the outside world is its own reward, but this feels pretty great, too.”
– Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, nominated for The Social Network
“I went out and had my late-night supper as I’m doing a play here [Diary of a Madmen] in Sydney and then experienced the curious phenomena of not being able to connect to the Internet. I was in a complete technological funk — I couldn’t get onto the wifi at my hotel, I couldn’t find a TV channel that was broadcasting the announcements, so my 15-year-old son in Melbourne was holding his phone to the television there to get the information. [The nomination news] was a kind of dad-and-son thing, which is really quite nice. It’s 1:45 a.m. And I should be out clubbing but I have to get to sleep now as I have a matinee tomorrow … We just took [The King’s Speech] from square one and tried to make it as vivid and as lively and as intriguing as we possibly could and that seems to be radiating out to the office, which is great.”
– Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
“Just a few weeks ago I didn’t know if this movie was going to come out. It’s just a testament to just hold on. You never know what’s right around the corner. None of us gave up hope on it. We just believed that eventually it would find its way. I know I held onto that thought. And look what happened. It’s finding its way. There are amazing women out there, and I just wish that some of these women were in movies that were bigger. Somebody brought it to my attention the other day that all the big movies have great parts for men, but where are the women? The women are in the smaller, independent, more boutique movies. And that’s okay because at least we’re there. I hope people will make an effort and get to see them.”
– Halle Berry, star of Frankie and Alice
