How do you celebrate the biggest awards victory of your life? If you are Ben Affleck, and Argo just took home the Oscar for Best Picture, you finally make your famous wife happy… by shaving your bushy beard! As first reported by TMZ, Affleck has returned to the land of the clean shaven by actually giving himself a shave in the hallway of a Beverly Hills restaurant. Why did he finally ditch the look? Sources say Jennifer Garner wasn’t a fan. But were you? Which Ben Affleck do you like best? And the Winner is? Bearded! Click Here To Vote for Bearded! Clean Shaven! Click Here To Vote for Clean Vote now and decide: Which version of Ben Affleck do you like best? View Poll »
The early ratings for last night’s Oscars indicate that the telecast may have racked up its best numbers since 2007, according to Deadline . Which is good news for Seth MacFarlane , especially if you ignore that the biggest viewership increase came after The Walking Dead ended on AMC and that six of the nine Best Picture nominees had done more than $100 million at the box office. Otherwise, what do you really remember for last night’s telecast besides Jennifer Lawrence’s face plant, the Jaws play-off theme (which was funny exactly once) and the steamed look on Ben Affleck’s mug when he came out on stage after MacFarlane’s Gigli remark? And that brings me to my first Oscars recap observation: 1. Was everybody in the Dolby Theater on Ablixa? Beginning with the show’s weirdly cold opening, the telecast was devoid of the emotional highs and lows, pomp and circumstance that the Oscars used to have and haven’t had for a few years. During the Movieline liveblog, I wondered if Harvey Weinstein had gotten Trazodone added to the Academy Awards gift bag, but I now think the Side Effects antidepressant reference is more appropriate, which is exactly what the Oscars telecast was: exceedingly appropriate. Even MacFarlane’s most out-there insults seemed even-keeled. New York Magazine slammed MacFarlane for being sexist, but I thought his bigger sins were being mediocre and cold. It’s as if the digital revolution didn’t just rewrite the way the film industry makes and releases movies, it reduced the way Hollywood generates excitement into a kind of binary code. Everything’s either a 1 or a 0. That’s what last night felt like, and the only time I felt some of that old-timey Oscar excitement was when Affleck gave his speed-speech. The privilege of being able to make movies is obviously still exciting to Affleck and he’s good at spreading that excitement. 2. The Oscars should not aspire to be the Tonys. So, I understand why there was a preponderance of musical numbers last night: MacFarlane is a show-tunes freak, Les Miserables , Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway were all nominated, and Barbra Streisand was on board to perform a tribute to the late Marvin Hamlisch. But that doesn’t mean they were a good thing. The show was listless to begin with, and all those musical performances didn’t help. Plus, the Chicago (2002) and DreamGirls (2006) tributes left me wondering if I’d slipped and fallen into the Hot Tub Time Machine. I half-expected to see Jackman join MacFarlane for some sort of tribute to The Music Man , which Family Guy has parodied more than once. I’m reluctant to say this is part of a trend, by the way, but have you noticed that the same thing has been happening, in a more contemporary manner, with Saturday Night Live ? The practice of having musical guests hosting and performing — as Justin Bieber just did — is not helping the show’s comedy cred, and, for a number of seasons now, an unusual number of skits seem to be built around musical performances. (On a related subject, as a big Lonely Island fan, I have to note that the “YOLO” clip with Adam Levine and Kendrick Lamar was lame.) 3. The only real surprise of the night was Christoph Waltz’s win: Coming as it did near the beginning of the telecast, Waltz’s Best Supporting Actor Oscar — which had been predicted in some quarters but mostly as a longshot — left the impression that a night of surprises was ahead. And then everything unfolded as predicted. If you followed all of the pre-season Oscar punditry, I bet you were bored. 4. Was Ben Affleck’s comment about not holding grudges directed, in part, at Seth MacFarlane? One of the more interesting observations Affleck made during his Best Picture acceptance speech was, “You can’t hold grudges. It’s hard. But you can’t hold grudges.” The Argo director could have been referring to the Academy’s decision to snub him for a Best Director Oscar, but just as well could have been referring to MacFarlane’s remark that he’d gone from “starring in Gigli to becoming of the most respected filmmakers of this generation.” The line didn’t seem so sharp to me. Gigli is an awful movie. But Deadline reported that Affleck was pissed off by the remark, and the filmmaker did launch a half-hearted jab at MacFarlane when he came out on stage shortly after the Oscars host uttered the punchline. (Affleck said something about it still being possible for MacFarlane to “turn the show around,” but wouldn’t it have been cool if he just said, ‘Argo, fuck yourself”?) The grudges remark, which Affleck delivered during his Best Picture acceptance speech, was a nice zen-like catch-all that demonstrated that Big Ben wasn’t just an Oscar winner, he was an enlightened Oscar winner. 5. You know that the media is burning out on Oscar coverage when… Reporters are asking Jennifer Lawrence if she tripped on purpose . I’m surprised no one asked if Jessica Chastain was the culprit. [ Deadline ] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Kimmy Cakes brought her baby bump out to watch the Oscar’s at Elton John’s 21st annual viewing party. She was accompanied by her sister Kourtney. Nicki Minaj was also seen on the scene. Looking more and more like Lil Kim every day. WENN
“ Argo to win it all.” This has been the Oscar pundit thesis statement ever since Ben Affleck was left off the Best Director list and promptly blew over the Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe Awards in a whirlwind weekend of Oscar analysis. Every award Argo has gathered since that weekend last month has added to the confirmation bias. Affleck and his film established themselves as the storyline of the 2012 Academy Awards. But what about the several months leading up to the nominations? Remember when Les Miserables jumped ahead with a rapturous New York premiere? Remember when The Master exploded into the race with a series of secret screenings set up by Paul Thomas Anderson himself? Remember when Lincoln was predestined to win Best Picture, because War Horse lost last year? The storyline of 2012 isn’t Argo ; it’s confusion. And in keeping with that storyline, Movieline presents the “What The What?!” Oscars, a list of out-there-but-plausible winners in the hopes for a less predictable and more exciting show. All of my picks below go against the Argo storyline, as if it wasn’t coming at all. Just like in the film, Argo was a red herring all along. If all goes according to confusion, here’s what could happen: BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS “What The What?!” pick: Jacki Weaver , Silver Linings Playbook Based on previous ceremonies, this is potentially the first award of the night, and what better way to start off the night than ruining everyone’s ballots? An Anne Hathaway win has been too obvious, and when something is too obvious, voters tend to look for a way out. The same rule has been slowly killing Lincoln all season, which doesn’t play into Sally Field’s favor. The next choice would be Amy Adams in The Master , but here’s where we’ve got the Weinstein factor: somewhere in the season, Harvey looked at his prospects and picked the easy Silver Linings Playbook over the bold Master . Jacki Weaver’s nomination was baffling to begin with, and that same campaign leads to a win. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR “What The What?!” pick: Philip Seymour Hoffman , The Master This category has been swirling around the dependably exceptional Hoffman all season. Christoph Waltz is picking up some late backlash with people commenting that what he does in Django is identical to what he won for in Inglourious Basterds . Tommy Lee Jones didn’t win a lot of support with a grouchy turn at the Golden Globes, not enough Academy voters bought Robert De Niro’s Katie Couric cry-fest, and Alan Arkin’s performance is not all that different from his turn in Little Miss Sunshine . Hoffman’s steadiness wins the day. BEST ACTRESS “What The What?!” pick: Naomi Watts , The Impossible Just like Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain, Watts is on her second Academy Award nomination. Lawrence has a natural cockiness that charms the Internet crowd, but fmakes her a difficult Oscar campaigner. Chastain was similar to Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker , delivering a revelatory, powerhouse performance that’s overshadowed by the film itself (I’m curious if Bigelow will ever direct someone to an Oscar). The storyline behind Emmanuelle Riva is that she’ll turn 86 on Oscar Sunday, but old and accomplished does not guarantee anyone an Oscar. (Six years ago, they overlooked freaking Peter O’Toole, so there’s the love shown for the emeritus crowd.). Watts is someone current, who the voters seem to love, and wins based on a familiar role in a tear-jerker film. BEST ACTOR “What The What?!” pick: Joaquin Phoenix , The Master A hypothetic discussion between prognosticators: “But Daniel Day-Lewis had it in the bag!” “If Jamie Foxx can win for Ray and Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote , then DDL only makes sense!” “The Oscars love imitations.” “But it was just an imitation.” “No one really knows what Lincoln moved or sounded like.” “They didn’t want a history lesson.” “Phoenix also moved and spoke in a distinct style. Painfully.” “It looked like it hurt, moving all hunched over. He looked like he starved himself.” “The Oscars love pretty people breaking themselves down.” “This must be like Charlize Theron winning for Monster .” “But Phoenix trashed the Oscars.” “No more so than anyone else has in the past. And he hopped back on the trail at Harvey’s encouragement.” “Phoenix must’ve been destined for this. If Harvey has his back.” “I knew it was Phoenix all along!” “I said it first!” BEST DIRECTOR “What The What?!” pick: Michael Haneke , Amour Amour ’s glut of nominations showed there was serious affection for Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner, and it was clearly through the labor of Haneke himself. The Academy has a track record of not awarding prestige directors like Haneke or Malick or Hitchcock or Kubrick, but this is the year for weirdness. The most surprising choice would be Tarantino, but his Django stumping has sparked uncomfortable conversations, which leads to thought-provoking essays but not Oscars. (Plus, in this “What The What?” ceremony, he wins another Original Screenplay award). Spielberg, despite all the industry love, will be the poster child for Lincoln ’s struggles as the obvious choice. A Haneke win is the result of voters not knowing who to fall behind, so why not go with the smart Austrian? BEST PICTURE “What The What?!” pick: Zero Dark Thirty When the prognosticators decided Argo was in, everything else was out. ZDT riled up too much controversy and was done, because they had Argo, which was Diet ZDT . Well guess what: Out of left field comes ZDT for the win. It’s an amalgam of other nominees: it’s got the historical gravitas of Lincoln without the drag; it’s got the the true life thriller ending of Argo without the embellishment; it’s got the fire of Django Unchained without the mess; it stars a face of Young Hollywood who isn’t the too-cocky but too-familiar Jennifer Lawrence. It’s a massive critic success and has been victorious at the box office. A Zero Dark Thirty win would confuse everyone down to Kathryn Bigelow herself, but this has been a season of confusion, not surprises. Plenty of other things could happen to destroy Oscar ballots. Searching for Sugarman could lose Best Documentary; ParaNorman could win Best Animated Feature; Amour could lose Best Foreign Film if Haneke wins Best Director, like the latter is a consolation prize. Even if Argo wins the final prize on Sunday, it will still prove to be a bizarre year. Affleck was not nominated for Best Director, but somehow, an also-ran director became the discussion. The 2012 Oscar race has been strange, and here’s hoping Sunday is strange, too. John Hendel is a playwright from Los Angeles. Follow John Hendel on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Carl Pistorius, the brother of Oscar Pistorius, is ALSO charged with murder. Oscar’s older sibling faces 15 years in prison after allegedly killing a female biker in a fatal car crash; he’s been charged with culpable homicide. ENCA news, a South African TV channel, says the crash took place in 2010 and prosecutors say Pistorius’ reckless driving led to the death a motorcyclist. Carl’s lawyer recently told the station that Carl ” deeply regrets the accident ,” but was adamant his client was not drunk at the the time of the collision. “There is no doubt that [he] is innocent and the charge will be challenged in court,” the lawyer said, echoing the sentiments of Oscar Pistorius’ attorney. Carl’s trial was set to begin last Thursday – the same day Oscar was freed on bail after an explosive week of testimony – but it was postponed until next month. Oscar’s trial likely will not be for a couple of months. Even more incredibly, the lead detective in Oscar’s case, Hilton Botha , is also charged with murder. A South African Olympic sprinter who won global acclaim for his achievements as a double amputee, Oscar Pistorius is charged with murdering Reeva Steenkamp . He claims that he shot her by accident, believing she was an intruder; prosecutors allege he knew exactly what he was doing and that it was premeditated.
Oscar Pistorius swore in a South African courtroom Tuesday that he believed he was shooting an intruder last week – not girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. As the Olympian’s lawyer read a sworn deposition claiming her death was an accident , prosecutors scoffed, saying he was hell-bent on murdering her. He is charged with doing so in premeditated fashion. Pistorius says he believed an intruder was in his house on Valentine’s Day and he felt vulnerable because he was in bed without his prosthetic legs. That’s why he fired bullets through a bathroom door, killing Reeva Steenkamp , who prosecutors counter was hiding from him and cowering in there. Officials say Pistorius’ motive was simple: “I want to kill.” Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said the Olympian now only knew she was in there, he took the time to put his prosthetic legs on, walk 23 feet, and fire on her. Oscar Pistorius claims he had no idea he was shooting at Steenkamp until he realized she was not in his bed. He said, “It filled me with horror and fear.” He claims he didn’t have his prosthetic legs on when he fired, and only after that point did he put his legs on, walk over to the door and bash it open. The 26-year-old sprinter says he bashed the door open with his cricket bat , discovered Steenkamp mortally wounded and carried her downstairs. “She died in my arms,” he said. Prosecutors claim Pistorius and Steenkamp had just finished a shouting match when she fled and he fired four shots into the bathroom out of rage. What do you think? Are you buying Oscar’s defense?
A bloody cricket bat is now the center of the investigation into the death of Oscar Pistorius’ model girlfriend, according to a newspaper in South Africa. Police are unsure if Reeva Steenkamp used the bat in self-defense or if the Olympic sprinter used it, either by hitting her or breaking down a door. Steenkamp reportedly hid in the bathroom of his home and was shot four times through the door; a report says her skull may have been crushed as well. The City Press , a paper in their native South Africa, quotes a source as saying, “There was lots of blood on the bat. Forensic tests will show whose blood it was.” Pistorius was charged with murder . He is due back in court next week. On top of the cricket bat , another report indicates that the athlete called his good friend, Justin Divaris, in tears after he realized he had shot Reeva Steenkamp to death. “Reeva had been shot,” Oscar said on the phone, allegedly. “I said to him, ‘What are you talking about? I don’t understand you,’” Justin told the paper. “He then repeated himself — ‘There has been a terrible accident, I shot Reeva.’” Justin raced over to Oscar’s home, only to find it blocked off. “It was very traumatic,” he said. “By the time we got there it was already a crime scene and we weren’t allowed in the house. But we could see Reeva through the door lying there.” “[Oscar] was totally incoherent and just kept saying, ‘My baba, I’ve killed my baba. God take me away,’” Justin continued. “It is so sad. I introduced Reeva to Oscar.” “She was a really, really good friend of mine too and actually had been a friend longer … I don’t understand exactly what happened but the truth will come out.”
With less than two weeks before the Academy Awards , the Oscar conversation is veering from “What now?” to “What if?” Amid all the talk of frontrunners and inevitabilities, some pundits are pondering the inscrutable. What if Oscar voters suddenly ignore all that Argo mojo (which got a further boost last weekend with Best Picture and Best Director wins at the BAFTAs)? What if the Best Supporting Actress race isn’t fait accompli , but instead, as Roger Ebert observed, asserts, as in years past, its independence as the category “where the voters like to throw a curve ball?” What if a BAFTA win earned Emmanuelle Riva a little Oscar Amour ? Let’s check out the Gold Linings Playbook to see how the pundits are calling the races this week: Academy Award For Best Picture A producer, an actor and a director — that sounds like the beginning of a joke, but this anonymous trio shared their Oscar ballots with The Los Angeles Times ’ Glenn Whipp. The results are another indication that several of the major Oscar races are at this late date, too close to call. They also hint that Oscar voters might want to, in the words of the Director, “reward the wealth of great work.” For Best Picture, the producer chose Zero Dark Thirty , the Director Argo , and the Actor Silver Linings Playbook . The latter should please Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffrey Wells, who this week issued a provocative call to arms against Argo to Oscar voters: “At this stage of the game, a vote for Lincoln or Pi is effing wasted…. Why stick to your guns at this stage? To what end? So you can say to yourself “I refused to budge!…I stuck by my principles!”? That and $1.75 will get you a bus ticket (Editor’s note: I checked with Metro and $1.75 won’t get you on the Silver Line—insert your own Playbook pun here). If you want to make a difference you need to stand up, man up, give it up and cast your vote for the one movie that has a real chance of stealing the Best Picture Oscar away from Argo. …” Wells’ ideal choice would be Zero Dark Thirty , but he puts it in the same “can’t possibly win” boat as Lincoln or Pi, and so he suggested Silver Linings Playbook for the block. This did not sit well with a good portion of commenters to his post. which Wells acknowledged the next day (“My suggestion was mocked, spat upon. But at least it was honest and constructive….”). Which brings up the role of the Oscar pundit: Is it to objectively track the ebb and flow of the Oscar race, or to act as advocate? I asked Awards Daily’s Sasha Stone, one of the first of the Oscar bloggers 14 years ago. She graciously emailed back: “Job one for an Oscar blogger is to read the race as accurately as possible…Every time an Oscar blogger pretends to know what all of the Academy are thinking God kills a kitten. Usually that information is coming from a publicist — an old trick that rarely works anymore. But sometimes it comes from someone like Anne Thompson who really works the beat, goes to the parties and screenings and talks to members. I don’t think it’s a foolproof way of producing reliable results but I usually take Anne’s word over just about anyone else’s because I know she’s in the thick of it.To survive in today’s (competitive) climate, you have to be a little of both: someone who can read the race and someone who advocates when necessary.” Discuss. 1. Argo 2. Lincoln 3. Silver Linings Playbook 4. Life of Pi 5. Zero Dark Thirty 6. Beasts of the Southern Wild 7. Les Miserables 8. Amour 9. Django Unchained 2013 Academy Awards: The Best Director Nominees With Ben Affleck , Kathryn Bigelow and Tom Hooper not even nominated, this category seems the most elusive. “It’s an exciting twist that leaves the Oscar race almost unprecedentedly free of bellwethers, as the five men in the running have won scarcely any major precursor awards between them,” writes In Contention’s Guy Lodge. In the aftermath of the BAFTAs, Vanity Fair ’s Julie Miller offered some tips for adjusting your Oscar pool ballot. She, too, seems stymied by this category. “The safe bet is on [Steven] Spielberg ,” she suggested, “for rallying Daniel Day-Lewis and screenwriter Tony Kushner and commandeering a decades-long production to make Lincoln .” Once again, the anonymous Academy voters who shared their ballots with Whipp were all over the map when it came to the Best Director race. The Director chose Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild (“just floored me in the originality of his vision”), the Actor David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook , and the Producer Spielberg, but only because he couldn’t vote for the snubbed Kathryn Bigelow (It has come to this for Lincoln : On Abe’s birthday this week, the Associated Pr ess interviewed several filmgoers who reported falling asleep during the film). 1.Steven Spielberg ( Lincoln ) 2 David O. Russell ( Silver Linings Playbook ) 3. Ang Lee ( Life of Pi ) 4. Michael Haneke ( Amour ) 5. Benh Zeitlin ( Beasts of the Southern Wild ) 2013 Oscar Nominations For Best Actor Another award and another awesome acceptance speech. Daniel Day-Lewis was in self-deprecating mode at the BAFTA awards poking fun at his painstaking and meticulous method and character preparation. In accepting his Best Actor award, he remarked that he had “stayed in character as myself for the last 55 years” in anticipation of winning a BAFTA.” Cannot wait to hear what he will say at the Oscars. 1. Daniel Day-Lewis ( Lincoln ) 2. Hugh Jackman ( Les Miserables ) 3. Bradley Cooper ( Silver Linings Playbook ) 4. Denzel Washington ( Flight ) 5. Joaquin Phoenix ( The Master ) 2013 Academy Award Nominations For Best Actress Is a BAFTA upset win for 85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva really a game changer? Deadline Hollywood’s Pete Hammond and The Wrap’s Steve Pond think so. And there is some precedent. BAFTA-winner Marion Cotillard went on to win the Oscar without the benefit of a Golden Globe or SAG Award. The last two Best Actress Oscar-winners, Meryl Streep and Natalie Portman , were also BAFTA recipients. Oscar voters might also be swayed, not just by her devastating performance, but also by the fact that the actress whose screen breakthrough was in 1961’s Last Year at Marienbad would become the oldest Academy Award winner (she turns 86 Oscar night). When she attends the ceremony, it will be her first time in Los Angeles. Will Oscar voters be able to resist that backstory? Meanwhile, Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain did themselves no favors by agreeing to appear on Zach Galifianakis ’ Funny or Die diss-com series, Between Two Ferns . The “Oscar Buzz Edition” premiered online this week, and it was a hit and mostly miss bag. Anne Hathaway , playing drunk, Christoph Waltz , Sally Field and Amy Adams acquitted themselves nicely, though. Adams, especially, should be given at least an honorary Oscar for the gravitas she brought to the line, “Don’t you ever fart on my tits again.” Me; I prefer Jiminy Glick. 1. Jennifer Lawrence ( Silver Linings Playbook ) 2. Emmanuelle Riva ( Amour ) 3. Jessica Chastain ( Zero Dark Thirty ) 4. Naomi Watts ( The Impossible ) 5. Quvenzhane Wallis ( Beasts of the Southern Wild ) 2013 Oscars: Best Supporting Actor Nominees Here, too, something may be in the air: a groundswell for Christoph Waltz, who earned a BAFTA award last weekend and also won a Golden Globe. He hosts Saturday Night Live this weekend and the mostly male, presumably Quentin Tarantino -loving writing staff will most likely be more inspired than they were for Jennifer Lawrence. While SAG-winner Tommy Lee Jones remains the frontrunner without doing any campaigning (he’s Ebert’s pick in his Outguess Ebert contest), Vanity Fair ’s Julie Miller reminds that ”the only time that Jones has triumphed in the category at a major awards show this season was at the SAG Awards, where Waltz was not nominated.” Meanwhile, the Weinstein Company is going full Scorsese for Robert De Niro (whom the Producer and the Actor picked on their Oscar ballots). In addition to the ad reminding voters that DeNiro hasn’t won an Oscar since Raging Bull , Glenn Whipp reports receiving a targeted ad which replays DeNiro’s recent emotional appearance on Katie Couric’s talk show. Over the top? That’s what they said about Melissa Leo’s self-produced glamor ads on behalf of The Fighter. And she still won. 1. Tommy Lee Jones ( Lincoln ) 2. Christoph Waltz ( Django Unchained ) 3. Robert De Niro ( Silver Linings Playbook ) 4. Alan Arkin ( Argo ) 5. Philip Seymour Hoffman ( The Master ) 2013 Academy Award Nominees For Best Supporting Actress The aforementioned director and producer both picked Anne Hathaway (the Actor went with “underappreciated” Jacki Weaver ). She is the near-unanimous choice among 24 out of 25 of the Gold Derby pundits and the unanimous pick of the Gurus o’ Gold, who include Thompson, Hammond and Pond. New York magazine’s trendspotting Vulture column asked it best this week: “If Not Anne Hathaway, Then Who?” The question is moot (but this being an historically “gotcha” category, one hastens to add the qualifier, “or is it?)” 1. Anne Hathaway ( Les Miserables ) 2. Sally Field ( Lincoln ) 3. Helen Hunt ( The Sessions ) 4. Amy Adams ( The Master ) 5. Jacki Weaver ( Silver Linings Playbook ) Last Week on Oscar Index: Killing ‘Lincoln’ Is All The Rage As Academy Voting Begins Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Two weeks after carrying home the big prizes from the Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe Awards , Argo firmly established its Oscar front-runner status with another one-two punch in the form of the PGA’s Motion Picture Producer of the Year honor and the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast. And in a season of confusion and contradiction, that front-runner status gives Argo traction that none of its Best-Picture rivals have. The PGA win was not a surprise, especially after Argo ’s strong showing with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Content-wise, it’s the type of film that charms producers, being a taut political thriller 65% of the time and a stack of insider Hollywood jokes the other 35%. Apart from that, you have The Affleck, and the time has come to love and praise The Affleck . Rejuvenated and relevant again, Ben Affleck is this year’s Oscar story. When the nominations came out, who was the “snubbed” director? It wasn’t Kathryn Bigelow , Paul Thomas Anderson , or Wes Anderson , the three directors whose films appeared on the most end-of-year lists. It was The Affleck, and within 72 hours, The Affleck was redeemed with populist awards broadcast live on the CW and NBC, making Argo the People’s Film and Affleck the Oscar story of the year. For Best Picture prognostication, the PGA Award is a major get. Since it was started in 1989, the Producers Guild has awarded the eventual Best Picture Oscar winner nearly 70 percent of the time, and has been perfect over the past 5 years. Additionally, the PGA uses a preferential ballot just as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has done since 2009. What this means is that Argo and Affleck do not need to top all ballots, they just need to be agreed upon by most ballots. I don’t have scientific findings to present here, but think about the conversations you’ve had about the Best Picture nominees: Lincoln , Les Misérables, Django Unchained , and Silver Linings Playbook are much more polarizing than the crowd-pleasing Argo . For what it’s worth, Argo also has the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of all the nominees, 96, followed by Zero Dark Thirty , 93, and Amour , 92. The movie’s SAG win was more of a surprise. Argo is not an Actor’s Movie. This is not to say the award was not earned, simply that most of the attention was divided between the flashy Les Mis and the kitchen sink acting of Silver Linings Playbook . But there’s that word: “divided.” The Screen Actors Guild is a massive organization of nearly 160,000 members (though only current on dues are eligible to vote), so while theater types might have leaned toward Les Mis and classically-trained types might have opted for Silver Linings or Lincoln , the one film the Guild ended up agreeing on was Argo and its Affleck-led cast. It was, in a word, the most popular. (Keeping with the populist theme, note how the SAG Awards are the only guild awards that appear on billboards). SAG has a terrible track record with Best Picture. The two top awards aligned less than half of the time since SAG started their awards in 1995. But this is a season when stats mean less than they would normally. The film with the most Oscar nominations is no longer the film to beat. Harvey Weinstein , who put Affleck on the Oscar map with the 1997 movie Goodwill Hunting, is fighting an uphill battle. There’s a legitimate front-runner in town, and it does not have the director’s nomination assumed necessary. (And I’m not talking about Django Unchained .) This season, the Best Picture race is all about tone and attitude, and Argo and its affable director are all about tone and attitude. Affleck is an A-lister once again, charming every room he enters — his jokes won the room at the PGA breakfast Saturday morning — and his film’s recent run of awards-season honors have made its Best Picture prospects impossible to ignore. After months of having several films on the radar, there is finally one at the center of it. John Hendel is a playwright from Los Angeles. Follow John Hendel on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Come on, George Clooney. It’s not enough that you’re talented, handsome and in possession of a great sense of humor?!? You need to be overly generous as well? Can’t you give other bachelors out there a chance?!? According to United Press International, the actor paid for a stranger’s meal this week while dining in a Berlin restaurant because he feared his party had been too loud while the man was trying to eat nearby. “That’s not true at all,” the man said in response to Clooney’s concern. “They had behaved in a very cultivated manner. I was stunned.” Still, the Oscar winner went ahead and footed the stranger’s $134.66 tab. Clooney is in Germany filming scenes for the upcoming film The Monuments Men . By all accounts, he’s still dating Stacy Keibler . But if they split, we have a feeling he won’t have trouble finding a new woman or six dozen.
