Was Best Supporting Actress winner Anne Hathaway the biggest fashion loser of the 2013 Oscars? Her Prada gown left many viewers with that sentiment. Bland. Confusing. Ill-fitting. Inappropriate. Anne Hathaway’s Oscars dress inspired all of those descriptions Sunday night from the moment the Les Miserables stunner stepped onto the red carpet: The front flap was held up by criss-cross straps around the neck and a wider band that tied at her back, sectioning the open back into several parts. As a result, the top was shaped by two darts on the bust line that end just where the nipples are supposed to be, making for a seriously awkward look. When someone as gorgeous as Hathaway wears a dress that makes you want to avert your eyes from the chest, you know it’s not a fashion win. When she walked up to E!’s Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet, she sort of looked like she was coming at the venerable host with headlights blazing. Oscars fashion . The good. The bad. Les Miserables .
A strong field of contenders has made this category harder to predict than ever. By Kevin P. Sullivan Anne Hathaway in “Les Miserables” Photo: Universal Pictures
‘Lincoln,’ ‘Les Miserables’ lead the field with 12 and nine nominations, respectively. By Josh Wigler Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln” trailer Photo: 20th Century FOX
Even as the U.S. Senate continues to inquire about what it says are misrepresentations of the use of torture in the successful hunt for Al Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden in 2011, filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal defended their Oscar hopeful Zero Dark Thirty at the New York Film Critics Circle Monday night. “I thankfully want to say that I’m standing in a room of people who understand that depiction is not endorsement, and if it was, no artist could ever portray inhumane practices,” Bigelow is quoted as saying in Huff Post, while accepting the organization’s Best Director award. “No author could ever write about them, and no filmmaker could ever delve into the knotty subjects of our time.” Senator John McCain of Arizona and Diane Feinstein of California have criticized the pic as showing water-boarding and extreme isolation among other tactics as being instrumental in the U.S. government’s decade-long search for Bin Laden. “We believe the film is grossly inaccurate and misleading in its suggestion that torture resulted in information that led to the location of [Osama] bin Laden,” Feinstein, McCain and Michigan Senator Carl Levin wrote to Zero Dark Thirty ‘s studio, Sony in December. Writer/producer Mark Boal said he was proud of the film Monday night and is unmoved by criticism which has also come from Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney. I stand here tonight being extremely proud of the film we made,” he said Monday, while accepting the prize for Best Picture with Bigelow and producer Megan Ellison. “In case anyone is asking, we stand by the film. I think at the end of the day, we made a film that allows us to look back at the past in a way that gives us a more clear-sighted appraisal of the future.” He added jokingly, “Apparently, the French government will be investigating Les Mis .” Jessica Chastain, who plays the CIA operative who tracks down Bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, which lead to the Navy Seals raid on the compound that resoled in the Al Qaeda head’s death, told David Letterman in a recent appearance that she believes in the film’s accuracy, though acknowledged they had to shorten a decade-long hunt into a feature-length movie “Mark Boal is the investigative journalist so he’s the one who got all the information and I just went and did my job and did my research,” said Jessica Chastain to Letterman who joked that she’s not going to be arrested. “I’m afraid to get called in front of a Senate committee…” laughed Chastain. “In my opinion, this is a very accurate film… I think it’s important to note the film is not a documentary. So of course, there has been some things…We took 10 years and put it in two-and-a-half hours…” [ Sources: Huffington Post , THR ]
Quentin Tarantino and David O. Russell were edged out of the pack in today’s Directors Guild Award nominations announcement, giving way to a rather conservative quintet of Oscar hopefuls. So let the DGA backlash begin: Between Ben Affleck ( Argo ), Kathryn Bigelow ( Zero Dark Thirty ), Steven Spielberg ( Lincoln ), Tom Hooper ( Les Miserables ), Ang Lee ( Life of Pi ), which nominee should have gotten the shaft to make the DGA race even remotely interesting? Ben Affleck & Argo : A solid pick and, before ZDT came in and stole its thunder, the crowd-pleasing (and Hollywood ego-boosting) Middle Eastern true story political potboiler of choice. Kathryn Bigelow & Zero Dark Thirty : I mean, obviously . Steven Spielberg & Lincoln : It’s three-time DGA winner Spielberg’s eleventh DGA nod. Let’s face it, this was a gimme. Ang Lee & Life of Pi : Let’s think for a minute on how Quentin Tarantino was not nominated for the much better, much ballsier Django Unchained (even including David O. Russell’s solid rom-com Silver Linings Playbook would have suggested the DGA had more of a pulse), but — sigh — it makes complete, safe sense that Lee’s breathtaking 3-D CG work earned snaps from this guild. Tom Hooper & Les Miserables : The bigger WTF: Tom Hooper’s Tom Hooperness bamboozled the DGA. I blame Claude-Michel Schönberg’s music and Anne Hathaway’s tears for why the DGA nominated one of the worst directing jobs of the 2012 awards season. What say you, Movieliners? PREVIOUSLY IN AWARDS: Writers Guild Awards Unveils 2013 Nominees Oscars To Fete James Bond – Finally Producers Guild Of America Unveils 2013 Nominees Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Texas Chainsaw 3D sliced and diced its box office competition over the weekend, bringing in $23 on Friday and Saturday and taking Hollywood’s top spot. Django Unchained fell 33 percent from its opening weekend, dipping to just under $21 million and falling to second place. It’s on pace to out-earn Inglorious Basterds , Quentin Tarantino’s previous highest grossest film. Here is a look at the very diverse top five from the year’s first weekend of box office receipts: Texas Chainsaw 3D : $23 million Django Unchained : $20.8 million The Hobbit : $17.5 million Les Miserables : $16.1 million Parental Guidance : $10.1 million
Russell Crowe may have ruined Les Miserables for some, but at least the actor isn’t shying away from the criticism. In light of Adam Lambart lambasting the cast vocals last week – Tweeting how the “score suffered massively with great actors PRETENDING to be singers” – the Oscar winner has now responded. And you may be surprised by Crowe’s retort. After a follower sent him Lambert’s critique, Crowe took to Twitter and… mostly agreed with the former American Idol finalist. “I don’t disagree with Adam, sure it could have been sweetened,” Crowe wrote. “[ Les Miserables director Tom] Hooper wanted it raw and real, that’s how it is.” Fair enough, those also irritating enough according to many. What did you think of Les Miserables ? Grade it now: A B C D F View Poll »
Django Unchained,’ ‘Les Miserables’ also enjoy strong business during the year’s final box office weekend. By Josh Wigler Martin Freeman in “The Hobbit” Photo: Warner Bros. Entertainment
