Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: The Artist made off with Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and and fistful of other hardware at tonight BAFTA Awards ceremony in London, its final stop before the silent film’s Oscar express pulls into the Kodak Theater terminus on Feb. 26. Meryl Streep also won a key awards-race victory as the institute’s Best Actress, while Octavia Spencer and Christopher Plummer continued their own hot streaks in the supporting categories. Read on for all of 2012’s winners, and drop back by Movieline on Wednesday to find out how the latest developments affect our Oscar Index . BEST FILM THE ARTIST OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER TYRANNOSAUR — Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer) DIRECTOR Michel Hazanavicius, THE ARTIST LEADING ACTOR Jean Dujardin, THE ARTIST LEADING ACTRESS Meryl Streep, THE IRON LADY SUPPORTING ACTOR Christopher Plummer, BEGINNERS SUPPORTING ACTRESS Octavia Spencer, THE HELP FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE THE SKIN I LIVE IN DOCUMENTARY SENNA ANIMATED FILM RANGO ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Michel Hazanavicius, THE ARTIST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan, TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY ORIGINAL MUSIC Ludovic Bource, THE ARTIST CINEMATOGRAPHY Guillaume Schiffman, THE ARTIST EDITING Gregers Sall and Chris King, SENNA PRODUCTION DESIGN Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo, HUGO COSTUME DESIGN Mark Bridges, THE ARTIST MAKE UP & HAIR Marese Langan, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland, THE IRON LADY SOUND Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley, HUGO SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler and David Vickery, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 SHORT ANIMATION A MORNING STROLL SHORT FILM PITCH BLACK HEIST THE ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public) ADAM DEACON ### [Top photo of (L-R) Artist star Jean Dujardin, producer Thomas Langmann and director Michel Hazanavicius via AFP/Getty Images]
It was only a matter of time, really; we’ve got FDR fighting werewolves and Abe Lincoln staking vampires , why not resurrect Osama bin Laden from the dead so Western heroes can kill him off again? This time around it’s a bunch of soldiers — excuse me, hunky, apparently manscaped soldiers — hunting the zombified bin Laden as he leads an army of flesh-eating terrorists towards a zombie apocalypse in Osombie . Yep, someone went there. Too soon? Nah, who are we kidding — I’m betting the world is ready to eat this stuff up. Also betting on that are director John Lyde and the makers of Osombie , who have put together a teaser reel of footage full of zombie decapitations and love scenes (of course!) to garner finishing funds for their indie production, which shot Utah for Afghanistan last fall. The synopsis of Osombie , as if you needed to know anything more: The story follows Dusty, a yoga instructor from Colorado, who is on a desperate rescue mission to save her crazy brother Derek, a conspiracy theorist who is convinced Osama Bin Laden is still alive, despite having been buried at sea. In Afghanistan, Dusty falls in with a team of NATO Special Forces on a secret assignment. Turns out Derek is not so crazy after all, and that Osama has returned from his watery grave and is making an army of zombie terrorists. When the group crashes headlong into the growing zombie apocalypse, Dusty and the troops must find and destroy the root of the zombie insurgency before it infests the rest of the world. More info on Osombie and its Kickstarter campaign here . All in all, the Osama hook should give Osombie a bit more exposure than your average B-movie independent genre flick, but still expect it to fare best on DVD. Even so, it raises an interesting question: With other dramatic retellings of bin Laden’s death in the works, are we ready to see the al-Quada leader come back to life in the movies — at least, with comedy paving the way first? [via MSNBC ]
“There was one particular time I knew I wasn’t going to win, and when they’d train the camera on me as one of the losers, I wanted to be able to rip open my tuxedo shirt and just have stenciled on my chest, ‘Oh, shit.’ But my wife wouldn’t let me do it.” While he’s at it, here’s more vivid imagery from Hoffman recalling his days rooming with fellow Oscar winner Robert Duvall: “One time he came home when a girl and I were taking a shower, and the next thing you know he had taken off all his clothes, got in with us, put his hand out, and said, ‘Hey, I’m Dusty’s roommate, Bob Duvall. Can I have the soap?'” [ Maxim via Moviefone ]
Yes, I just wrote the words ” Transformers Oscar campaign.” Sigh. It’s time we come to terms with the fact that each installment in Michael Bay ‘s robot action series has technically been nominated for one or more Academy Awards — deservedly so, really, given the technical achievements these CG metal-on-metal bashfests have under their belt, even if everything else in these films are aggressively, brain-numbingly mediocre. But Paramount aims to take home one of them statuettes this year, by god, and so they’ve created an awards campaign to break through to Oscar voters in the most effective way possible: Through their TV sets. Bay’s billion-dollar summer hit Transformers: Dark of the Moon is nominated in three technical categories: Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. No matter how much you may loathe this series, one thing is irrefutable: Transformers 3 boasts some of the best vfx of the year. That churning building-chomping giant bot thing cutting down a skyscraper in glorious, shiny detail? Mesmerizing, really. Bay slowing down his previously indistinguishable CG robot action for the third film actually helped highlight the amazing visual work he and his team pieced together out of bits and data, and though the first Transformers lost the Visual Effects Oscar to The Golden Compass (the second lost Best Sound Mixing to The Hurt Locker ), 2012 seems like the year for a Transformers win for vfx. ( Dark of the Moon is up against Hugo , Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 , Rise of the Planet of the Apes , and Real Steel in the category.) Which brings us to the two sound categories. Does anyone out there who’s not a sound engineer actually understand the difference between Sound Editing and Sound Mixing? Fine, I’m sure there are a handful of expert McKnowitalls out there. (Essentially, editing is the selection/assemblage of sounds and mixing is the blending of all sounds/dialogue/audio for the final film.) But you know who doesn’t understand the difference between the two? Normal people, and a whole lot of Oscar voters. That’s probably why Paramount’s Transformers Oscar spot doesn’t even bother distinguishing between the two sound categories. “Just vote for us across the board!” the campaign practically screams, and why not? The goal of these spots is basically to put Transformers in the minds of the voters — the ones who can be swayed by a TV commercial telling them that these are the best effects of the year. Take a look at the ad below and chime in below: Do you think this campaign will finally earn the franchise their Oscar? [via Deadline ]
News surfaced on Wednesday that Kodak, the once-proud photography giant whose heavy-duty film shackles have tripped it into bankruptcy, has gone to court to get out of its 20-year naming agreement with the owners of the Kodak Theater. Of course, the Academy Awards can’t just be held at any anonymous old auditorium in the heart of Hollywood. This calls for creative solutions, and fast. Naturally, that’s where Movieline readers come in. While personally I have a fondness for Mark Lisanti’s suggested switch to “In-N-Out Arena,” theater owners CIM Group are going to need as many options to draw from as they can once the Kodak name is retired. Maybe “Meryl’s Curse Shack and Seafood Alley”? “The Crash Taste-Memorial Pavilion”? Ohhhh — how about ” The Uggieseum “? OK, fine. Do your worst! [ THR , Grantland ; photo via Shutterstock ]
“You think if Brad Pitt wins the Oscar this year, people will say he’s had it coming since Seven Years in Tibet ? Guys, let’s all say that!” [ This Had Oscar Buzz ]
So we’ve already established that The Artist is going to pretty much dominate next month’s Academy Awards — a certainty that we’ve seen reflected in the behavior of certain awards-season foes who’ve taken aim at the silent film’s ubiquitous wonder dog Uggie. Christopher Plummer led the offensive last week on behalf of his Beginners co-star (and Uggie’s fellow Jack Russell terrier) Cosmo, joined over the weekend by an unlikely ally hoping to raise another dog’s profile as we sleepwalk toward Oscar. Martin Scorsese — yes, the Martin Scorsese, master filmmaker and current Best Director nominee for Hugo — put his name on a cheeky L.A. Times op-ed asking viewers, voters and especially the organizers of the inaugural Golden Collar Awards to consider his film’s fierce Doberman, Blackie. It’s all kind of priceless: OK, let’s lay all our cards on the table. Jack Russell terriers are small and cute. Dobermans are enormous and — handsome. More tellingly, Uggie plays a nice little mascot who does tricks and saves his master’s life in one of the films, while Blackie gives an uncompromising performance as a ferocious guard dog who terrorizes children. I’m sure you can see what I’m driving at. I’m proud of Blackie, who laid it on the line and dared to risk the sympathy of her audience. Let’s just say that on the set, she had a fitting nickname: Citizen Canine. The bath scene alone is a masterpiece of underplaying, with Blackie’s wonderfully aquiline face accentuated by the 3-D. Ohhhh, boy. You really need to read the whole thing, for both a refreshing glimpse at Scorsese’s sense of humor and a bracing example of how dogs — dogs! — have politicized this year’s awards race. Dog News Daily has agreed to add Blackie to its Golden Collar nominees if she receives 500 write-in endorsements today on Facebook. I mean, come on . Blackie is fantastic and all, but Uggie’s 10,000 fans on Facebook say all anyone needs to know about the year’s most formidable four-legged awards contender. Oh, right: Did I mention that Movieline’s Consider Uggie campaign has eclipsed 10,000 supporters worldwide since its launch two months ago? It’s true! With a little less than 30 days remaining before the Academy Awards, we’re on pace for around 15,000 Uggieheads by the big night. I’d hoped for something a little closer to 20,000, so if you haven’t yet joined up, please consider heading over to Consider Uggie HQ and giving our boy a little boost. Tell your friends on Twitter to #ConsiderUggie as well, and continue keeping track of everything he’s up to via Facebook and/or Uggie’s own Twitter page ( @Uggie_TheArtist ). Or as always, keep on eye on Movieline for all your Consider Uggie news and to learn about the next great director to fire across Uggie’s bow. Go ahead, Terrence Malick, I dare you.
One for the Money feels like the forgotten pilot for a TV show that wasn’t picked up for series. Watch as Stephanie Plum ( Katherine Heigl ), Trenton divorcee-turned-bounty hunter, hunts down bail skippers in her high heels while trying to choose between troubled cop Joe Morelli (Jason O’Mara) and badass fellow bond agent Ranger (Daniel Sunjata) — Tuesdays on USA! Plum is the creation of author Janet Evanovich and the basis of a bestselling 18 novel franchise, and if you squint at this big screen adaptation (directed by Julie Anne Robinson, of The Last Song and episodes of Weeds , Grey’s Anatomy, 2 Broke Girls and others) you can make out some of the character’s potential appeal — she’s an everywoman who discovers an unexpected talent for a tough gig, an outspoken Jersey girl who refuses to let the fact that she’s out of her comfort zone stop her from getting the job done, etc, etc. But as played by Heigl, Stephanie is mind-blowingly charmless, the latest variation of the on-screen persona the actress has mysteriously embraced — the prissy, once-wronged gal prone to bouts of inconveniently timed clumsiness and acrimonious banter with her eventual love interest. I don’t dislike Heigl on principle, but it’s all too easy to call out everything that’s gone wrong with the romantic comedy in recent years by way of her filmography. Her characters apparently need to be subjected to a journey of humiliating comeuppance in order to win over/come around to their unlikely loves — the rom-com as punishment fantasy. Here her hostile Romeo, Morelli (no one refers to him by his first name), is the roguish town heartbreaker who’s on the lam after having been charged with murdering Ziggy Kuleska, a local tough involved in some major criminal activity. For Stephanie, Morelli’s more serious offense is not calling her back after relieving her of her virginity in the back of a bakery when they were in high school, for which she still bears a grudge. ( One for the Money ‘s tendencies to see things like murder only as vexing complications in its protagonist’s personal life speaks both to its tonal confusion and to how minor the case around which it’s theoretically structured actually is to the film as a whole.) Stephanie will net $50,000 if she can bring the man in, though the first time she finds him she realizes she doesn’t actually have a way to do that unless he agrees to come with — and he insists he’s innocent. Heigl and O’Mara snipe at each other with the sizzling chemistry of two people who can’t wait to whip out their BlackBerries and check their email as soon as a take is over. The pair’s rictus pantomime of sexual tension is countered by Stephanie’s relationship with the hyper-competent and permanently Kevlar-clad Ranger, whom she describes as “Michelangelo’s David dipped in caramel,” and who serves as an alternate aloof romantic possibility as well as a tutor in the ways of bounty hunting. He’s more superhero and plot device than person, but he’s at least not burdened with the New Jersey accent Heigl and O’Mara gamely, unsuccessfully attempt. Stephanie is supposed to be earthy and sassy, not qualities Heigl is able to summon, but she’s also problematically written as somewhere between active if imperfect heroine and Bella Swan-style object in need of rescuing. She’s terrible at what she does, even for a beginner — a running gag about her having to rummage through her purse for her gun at urgent moments is enough to make you want to bang your forehead on the theater seat in front of you. She gets one person killed and another badly beaten, and she frequently places herself in danger, requiring the intervention of Morelli or Ranger. The tension between the allure of being saved and protected versus the desire to do things oneself is by far the most intriguing part of One for the Money , because the film (which was written by Stacy Sherman, Karen Ray and Liz Brixius) has no idea how to balance the two and ends up instead making Stephanie seem like an indulged annoyance. One for the Money ‘s TV pilot air is furthered by the flat look of the film, and by characters who are introduced largely to have no other purpose, there to be given storylines in some (saints forbid) later installment. Annie Parisse is Mary Lou, the best friend Stephanie always calls for advice; Debbie Reynolds plays Stephanie’s loopy grandmother who shoots the roast the rest of the family is eating while fooling around with her granddaughters newly acquired pistol, because accidental domestic gun violence is always good for a laugh. Patrick Fischler is Vinnie, Stephanie’s sleazy cousin/boss, and Sherri Shepherd plays Lula, a brassy hooker who offers our aspiring bond agent information. John Leguizamo, Fisher Stevens and Leonardo Nam show up too. Hopefully the masses won’t, because there are 17 more of these books just waiting to be dragged, kicking and screaming and rummaging in their purses for their weapons, onto the big screen. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter . 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What, ya didn’t know rapper/personality Ed Lover was a closet cinephile-slash-Oscar pundit? To borrow from the man himself: “C’mon, son!” In a searing video rant over at NextMovie, he reacts to this year’s batch of Oscar nominees and glaring snubs (what, no Drive , Harry Potter , or “Dame Julie Dench?”) and pretty much takes the words out of my mouth. “They had the Academy Award nominations the other day at like 7 o’clock in the damn morning… C’mon, son!” Among the salient points from Lover: – The three nominees of color this year (Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis, and Demián Bechir) played minorities in servitude of some sort or another. – “Janet McWho?” – What about Ryan Gosling in Drive ? – “So, Academy: You’ve got 9 mothaf***in’ nominees, and you can’t find room for Harry Potter ?!” Props to NextMovie for this bit of Oscar race brilliance. Ed Lover drops his “C’mon Son” knowledge here . Meanwhile, check out S.T. VanAirsdale’s ongoing Oscar musings in Movieline’s Oscar Index . [ NextMovie ]
Directors of ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’ and ‘A Separation’ also revel in their Academy Awards recognition. By Kara Warner Viola Davis in “The Help” Photo: DreamWorks As Academy Awards nomination day rolls on, so do the excited and deliriously happy reactions from the nominees . You can almost see and feel two-time nominee Viola Davis smiling via her statement. “It’s an honor to be nominated a second time. It is a personal accomplishment and triumph for women and women of color,” Davis said of her Best Actress nomination for “The Help.” “I’m so glad the film has been recognized. It was a labor of love from the moment it was conceived, and it is rewarding to see the impact it is having.” Davis was previously nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in 2008’s “Doubt.” What were the biggest shocks and snubs from this year’s Oscar nominations? Triple-nominee Alexander Payne, who’s up for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay for his work on “The Descendants,” took the time to shine the spotlight on his collaborators on the film, particularly his editor and fellow nominee, Kevin Tent. “There’s no denying that Oscar nominations for one’s film are exciting, if only for the joy they give to everyone who worked so hard on the film,” Payne said in a statement. “I’m particularly happy for the recognition of my longtime editor Kevin Tent. He really deserves it.” “I’m deeply honored that the Academy recognized ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’ as well as Max von Sydow,” director Stephen Daldry said of the film’s Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor nominations. “The entire team behind our film felt the enormous responsibility in taking on this project, and it is deeply humbling to have the Academy recognize it in this way.” Steven Spielberg also chimed in about nominations for a film he directed (“War Horse”) and one he produced (“The Help”). “I am thrilled with our multiple nominations for ‘The Help’ and ‘War Horse.’ It is the first time that I have experienced two Best Picture nominations in the same year,” Spielberg said in a statement. “One is a high honor. Two is humbling but very exciting. It is a tribute to all those who joined with Stacey Snider and our DreamWorks Studios team to develop and make these two films with stories that we passionately felt we had to make.” Multi-talented writer/director/producer Asghar Farhadi was also very happy to have scored his second Best Foreign Language Film nomination, along with a Best Original Screenplay nod, for the critically acclaimed film “A Separation.” “This is cheerful news for me and for the family of cinema in Iran, specially the nomination for the Best Original Screenplay,” Farhadi said in a statement. “It seems that although people speak different languages around the world … there is one common universal language which everyone understands: The Language of Cinema.” Fun fact about the film’s Best Original Screenplay nomination: It is the first screenplay written in Farsi to receive a writing nod. See the complete list of Oscar Nominations . Related Videos Oscars 2012: And The Nominees Are… Related Photos 2012 Oscar Nominees
