PRESENTS
FEBRUARY 17, 2016 THE NOMINEES PART 2
FURYOUS GEORGE Could George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road be Oscar night’s big spoiler?
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BRIE LARSON CATE BLANCHETT LADY GAGA & DIANE WARREN SAOIRSE RONAN CHARLOTTE RAMPLING
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FO R YO U R C O N S I D E R ATI O N
ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE | BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE “JAWDROPPING.
A TESTAMENT TO HOW FILMMAKERS RISK EVERYTHING.” – DAVID LEWIS, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
WINNER
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DOCUMENTARY
“ASTONISHING.
FILLED WITH THE KIND OF UNEXPECTED EVENTS ONLY REALITY PROVIDES.” – KENNETH TURAN, LOS ANGELES TIMES
Directors Guild of America
WINNER
COURAGE UNDER FIRE AWARD International Documentary Association
WINNER
DIRECTING AWARD: U.S. DOCUMENTARY Sundance Film Festival
WINNER
U.S. DOCUMENTARY SPECIAL JURY AWARD: CINEMATOGRAPHY Sundance Film Festival
NOMINEE
BEST DOCUMENTARY BAFTA Awards
A FILM BY MATTHEW HEINEMAN
FROM EXECUTIVE PRODUCER KATHRYN BIGELOW
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PUBLISHER
Stacey Farish ACTING EDITOR
Joe Utichi
CONTENTS
F E B R U A R Y 1 7, 2 0 1 6
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Craig Edwards
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Matt Grobar
DEADLINE COEDITORS
Nellie Andreeva Mike Fleming Jr.
DEADLINE AWARDS COLUMNIST
Pete Hammond
DEADLINE CONTRIBUTORS
Anita Busch Anthony D’Alessandro Lisa de Moraes Jeremy Gerard Patrick Hipes Ali Jaafar David Lieberman Ross Lincoln Dominic Patten Erik Pedersen Denise Petski David Robb Nancy Tartaglione
AWARDSLINE CONTRIBUTORS
Antonia Blyth Chris Chapman Dan Doperalski Gabriel Goldberg Eric Schwabel
CHAIRMAN & CEO
Jay Penske
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
George Grobar
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
Craig Perreault
GENERAL COUNSEL & S.V.P., HUMAN RESOURCES
Todd Greene
V.P., CREATIVE
Nelson Anderson V.P., FINANCE
Ken DelAlcazar V.P., TV ENTERTAINMENT SALES
Laura Lubrano
DIRECTOR, FILM & TV
Carra Fenton
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES, FILM & TV
Brianna Hamburger Tiffany Windju
AD SALES COORDINATOR
Malik Simmons
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FIRST TAKE The Revenant’s BTL team survives the harsh conditions of the Beverly Hilton
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TABLE READ J. Ralph gets serious; Foreign Language directors talk diversity
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ON THE COVER George Miller has triumphed in the race and could win the war
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DIALOGUE: OSCAR NOMINEES Lady Gaga Saoirse Ronan Brie Larson Charlotte Rampling Cate Blanchett & more
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OSCAR HANDICAPS Pete Hammond has all the info you’ll need for your office pool
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FLASH MOB Oscar nominees gather
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FINAL FRAME A statistical look at this year’s Best Actress contenders
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR
Natalie Longman
ADVERTISING INQUIRIES
Stacey Farish 310-484-2553 sfarish@pmc.com
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ON THE COVER: GEORGE MILLER PHOTOGRAPHED BY GABRIEL GOLDBERG THIS PAGE: CATE BLANCHETT PHOTOGRAPHED BY GABRIEL GOLDBERG
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Duncan Jarman
Makeup & Hairstyling
Martin Hernandez Sound Editing
Jason Smith Visual Effects
Lon Bender
Sound Editing
Emmanuel Lubezki
Cinematography
Jacqueline West
Costume Design
Chris Duesterdiek Sound Mixing
Matt Shumway
Visual Effects
Robert A. Pandini Makeup & Hairstyling
The Revenant reunion F EB RUA RY 8, 2 0 1 6 / LOS A N G E L ES The below-the-line survivors of Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s epic shoot for The Revenant gather exclusively for AwardsLine, within the much more comfortable surroundings of the Beverly Hilton. With 12 nods, The Revenant’s haul leads the pack this year, and Oscar has recognized the huge contributions made by its many talented artists, technicians and dreamers. —J.U.
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Stephen Mirrione
Randy Thom
Jon Taylor
Sound Mixing
Film Editing
Sound Mixing
Frank A. Montano
Sound Mixing
Hamish Purdy
Production Design
Sian Grigg
Makeup & Hairstyling
Rich McBride
Visual Effects
Jack Fisk Production Design
Cameron Waldbauer Visual Effects
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CHARTED TERRITORY
Gold Derby’s Oscar Odds
OVER THE PAST EIGHT YEARS, composer
in which documentaries can convey ‘radical
J. Ralph has cut a fascinating path for himself,
truth.’ “I really get motivated by people taking
writing and producing music for seven Oscar-
risks,” Ralph says. “And whether it’s with their
nominated documentaries while exploring a
words or with their films, I find that I’m drawn
unique intersection between art and social
to these incredible moments of authenticity.”
activism. Now the recipient of two Oscar nods
Ralph drew inspiration from a sound he came
Before My Time in the 2012 film Chasing Ice—
across at the Cornell Bioacoustics Laboratory
Ralph shares his second nomination for the
during the film’s production: the mating call of
song Manta Ray, in climate change doc Racing
the male Kaua‘i ‘ō‘ō bird—the last of a spe-
Extinction, with musician Antony Hegarty (now
cies that died out in 1987—singing for a mate
known as Anohni), who is only the second
that would never come. “That’s what I always
openly transgender artist in history to be nomi-
envisioned the film punctuating with and
nated for an Academy Award.
building toward; this meditative, transcenden-
ent to documentary film after seeing the way
tal moment of hyper-intimacy, as if you were enraptured by the last voice on the planet.”
ODDS
Spotlight
12
49% 11/10
2â
The Big Short
6
25% 3/1
3á
The Revenant
5
21%
4â
Mad Max: Fury Road
0
1% 66/1
5â
The Martian
0
1% 80/1
6á
Room
0
1% 80/1
7â
Bridge of Spies
0
1% 100/1
8á
Brooklyn
0
1% 100/1
For the instrumentation on Manta Ray,
himself for Best Original Song—the first for
Ralph was inspired to bring his musical tal-
1â
BEST DIRECTOR
7/2
ODDS
J. RALPH’S SONG FOR RACING EXTINCTION FURTHERS HIS INTEREST IN FINDING THE “RADICAL TRUTH,” HE TELLS MATT GROBAR.
%
BEST PICTURE
%
musician
EXPERTS PREDICT TO WIN
serious
EXPERTS PREDICT TO WIN
At press time, here is how Gold Derby’s experts ranked the Oscar chances in the Best Picture and Director races. Get updated rankings and make your own predictions at GoldDerby.com
1á
Alejandro González Iñárritu (The Revenant)
16
66% 8/15
2â
George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)
7
30% 12/5
3â
Adam McKay (The Big Short)
0
2% 50/1
4á
Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)
0
2% 50/1
5á
Lenny Abrahamson (Room)
0
1% 100/1
Period Perfect
SANDY POWELL’S COSTUMES FOR CAROL ARE TRANSITIONAL ’50 s CHIC, WRITES JOE UTICHI. COSTUME DESIGNER SANDY POWELL’S work is prolific to the point of earning her two Oscar nominations this couldn’t be more different, and reflects Powell’s immense range as one of the world’s leading costume designers. For Carol, based on Patricia Highsmith's novel The Price of Salt, Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett wear styles that demonstrate the difference in their characters' social standing and age, as well as the "transitional period" of the early 50s. “The general palette for the film came first,” she notes. “And then the difference between them is about resources. Carol has money, and she’s older. She can afford the up-to-date fashions. Therese has less money, but her clothes aren’t completely ’40s because she’s young and still contemporary.” Her two nominations this year bring her total to 12, with 3 wins. It never gets old. “It’s voted for by my peers and costume designers are really, really generous. People think we’re having catfights and bitching, but we’re really not.”
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J. RAL P H: E RI C SC HWA B EL
year; for the rich fantasy of Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella and the ’50s realism of Todd Haynes' Carol. The work
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FOCUS Hungary’s Son of Saul from director László Nemes.
3 questions
Foreign Exchange
THIS YEAR’S FOREIGN LANGUAGE NOMINEES SHARE THEIR TAKE ON WORLD CINEMA. BY NANCY TARTAGLIONE
The five nominees for the Foreign Language Oscar this year include three first-time directors as well as two features from countries that have never before reached this stage. Somewhat unusually, when the Academy whittled down its choices to this last grouping, there were none of the major shocks that there have been in the past. Nevertheless, there was, as usual, a strong field of deserving candidates to choose from. The nominees have spent the season talking up their own films, but we wanted to know how they’d each react to three more leftfield questions. What did they wish had been nominated in previous years? What are they rooting for outside their own category this year? And how are their respective countries reacting to the ongoing Oscar diversity debate? Let’s find out.
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Is there a Foreign Language film from the past that wasn’t nominated but that you wish had been?
What has been the reaction in your home country to the current diversity controversy surrounding the Oscars?
Outside of the Foreign Language category, are there any particular films you’re rooting for this year?
GUERRA: I would have loved for Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s Cuban masterpiece Memories of Underdevelopment to have been nominated back in 1968. ERGUVEN: I would have said Germany Year Zero, by Roberto Rossellini, should have been nominated. It was shot in 1948 and the Foreign Language category started a few years later [in 1956], but a few films were getting honorary awards, so I think it should have got one. That film is so central for me in terms of cinema and I would have loved it to be spotlighted. NEMES: I’m thinking of Come and See by Elem Klimov. It was submitted from Russia in 1985, but never nominated. I really love it; I think it’s the best war film ever made. It’s a reference for Son of Saul. ABU NOWAR: Jacques Audiard’s film, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, was never nominated. That is one of my favorite films of this century. LINDHOLM: La Promesse, made by the Belgian Dardenne brothers in 1996, deserved all the praise it got. And I could easily have seen it as a contender in the Foreign Language category.
GUERRA: We feel the lack of diversity is not just a problem for the Oscars, but a problem for films in general, and especially for those that have access to wider distribution. ERGUVEN: In France the debate on diversity has been quite prevalent this year, but more in terms of gender at the Cannes Film Festival. We’ve been looking closely at the diversity discussion around the Oscars and there have been a lot of comparisons to France’s own César Awards fuelling the debate. In Turkey, the political context is so problematic and there’s a war and a refugee crisis. There are big problems with democracy now. Honestly, it’s not a question that is a priority in the debate in Turkey. NEMES: Frankly, I don’t know. I really haven’t heard anything, but maybe I was a little isolated this past month since I spent so much time in the United States. ABU NOWAR: We’ve seen a lot of serious and joking tweets and social media posts by people questioning how the Oscars can be racist if they have nominated a Jordanian, Arabic-language film with Bedouin actors. Their argument is that, given the current trend towards global prejudice against both Arabic and Islamic culture, if the Oscars were racist, our film would not have been nominated. But mostly, I think people are more concerned with the humanitarian crisis we’re facing, with more than a million Syrian refugees needing basic care like food, clothing, housing and medical treatment in the midst of a bitter winter. LINDHOLM: It is hard to say, since I have spent more time in the United States than in Denmark over the last few months. But I think that we see the controversy over the Oscars as part of a necessary development for the Academy and the country in general.
GUERRA: I’m rooting for Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence to win for Best Documentary. It was shocking that he did not win for The Act of Killing, and this film is just as good; possibly even better. ERGUVEN: Unfortunately, this year has not been a very cinephile year for me, because I had a film and a baby, so I’ve seen very little, and even fewer that have been nominated. So I’ve got the next few weeks to catch up as much as I can, and there are a lot of films that I’m very, very eager to see. NEMES: That’s a tricky question, because when you’re in the campaign and festivals, you don’t have much time to watch movies. Every time I meet with other directors, we laugh about it, saying, “I haven’t seen your movie yet.” This is the kind of thing that comes up because [the campaign] is really so demanding that you don’t have time to watch movies. I really want to see Carol. I’ve heard so many good things about it and I hope to catch up soon. ABU NOWAR: I hope Asif Kapadia’s Amy wins Best Documentary. It was an incredibly powerful and tragic film, and definitely my favorite this year out of every category. LINDHOLM: I recently saw Room, directed by Lenny Abrahamson, and it made me cry like I have not cried in years. I am the father of three small boys, and I have to say that the escape sequence is some of the most terrifying, thrilling, simple and beautiful filmmaking I have seen in a long time.
CIRO GUERRA
DENIZ GAMZE ERGUVEN Mustang (France)
Son of Saul (Hungary)
LASZLO NEMES
NAJI ABU NOWAR
TOBIAS LINDHOLM
Guerra has represented Colombia on the Oscar long-list three times. His first nomination comes for this Amazon-set drama that takes place in two timelines and features spiritual elements.
This Franco-Turkish coming of age tale of five sisters brings France its first nomination since 2009 and makes Ergüven one of only four women from the country ever to be nominated.
Nemes is a first-time feature director whose intense and haunting Holocaust drama, starring Géza Röhrig as a concentration camp inmate, first hit at Cannes, winning the Grand Jury Prize.
Theeb is only Jordan’s second presentation, and its first nominee. The coming-of-age tale is set during WWI, as a young Bedouin boy embarks on a dangerous journey with a British officer.
Lindholm wrote the Oscar-nominated 2012 Thomas Vinterberg film The Hunt, but this is his first time to the party as a director, with a drama about hard decisions on and off the battlefield.
Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia)
Theeb (Jordan)
A War (Denmark)
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“POWERFUL... a vivid tale of heroism and villainy.” A.O. Scott,
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FOR YOUR OSCAR CONSIDERATION ®
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
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After 20 years of stalled development, and plenty of spirited naysaying from armchair doubters as director George Miller wrangled a complex production past the finish line, Mad Max: Fury Road was released in May to become a commercial triumph, a critical darling and the surprise recipient of ten Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Joe Utichi meets the 70-year-old maverick, whose film has super-charged to unexpected frontrunner status above- and below-the-line, to find out how he managed to execute one of the greatest Oscar coups in years. PHOTOGRAPHS BY GABRIEL GOLDBERG
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It’s a triumph that a movie like Mad Max: Fury
innocent way of it. You know, something falls away,
Road has survived to take 10 Oscar nomina-
something new emerges, and it’s always like that.
tions, including Best Picture and Best Director.
But I like to say there was something about this
Only The Revenant has more. This movie came
movie that you couldn’t kill with a stick. Now, that
out in May, premiering in Cannes, and became
wasn’t necessarily due to me. My producing part-
the best-reviewed film of the year. Did you see
ner, Doug Mitchell—with whom I founded Kennedy
any of this coming?
Miller Productions—while he was working on Happy
It’s a very nice thing, but it’s unexpected because
Feet and the other films, he would always be look-
it’s certainly atypical of the films getting awarded.
ing to see if we could get Mad Max back up again.
The most amazing thing is that there was such a
Something about the strength of the story; it just
critical response. I mean, the best-reviewed film of
kept coming. There was never a feeling of, “Oh, I
the year? Wow. Then it started getting on 10 Best
wish I could make this film. Now I’m disappointed.”
lists and things like that. I think that sort of trig-
It was always a feeling that it felt strong enough
gered or alerted people to the Guild Awards and
to make there eventually. There was so much rich
so on, which I never expected. You can tell we all
detail to prepare. It kept on insinuating itself.
worked so hard, and it’s such a long time ago. The fact that people are still talking about it is so nice.
People have tried to rationalize what it is—this feeling that you get when you sit through the
When I met Nicholas Hoult on the set of
movie. There’s a lot of talk about the drive to
X-Men: First Class in 2011, he had just returned
do things practically, and how that is so rare
from Australia. He made three X-Men movies
now, but I think that undermines the tremen-
before Fury Road finally premiered.
dous visual effects work that has gone into the
Yeah, we were going to shoot then. We were all
film. Actually, I wonder if it’s about how much
prepared to shoot and we got rained out of Austra-
the film drags you into its world; you feel a part
lia. It hadn’t rained as heavily in the area we were
of it, and it’s a wholly realized place.
going to shoot—Broken Hill—for 15 years, and what
Oh, it’s so good you say that, because I learned
was the flat, red earth is now a flower garden. So
to make movies basically by sitting in the cinema,
Warner Bros. said, “Hey, let’s give it a year and see
predating DVDs and cable and all those things. I love
what happens.” But it didn’t dry out enough, so we
nothing more than those moments where you’re
had to move. Thankfully the cast was still available
dragged up into the world on screen. They’re the
at the time we were able to do it.
most memorable films for me; the ones you keep going back to. So the fact that we’ve achieved that
And that moment in the project’s history is relatively recent, isn’t it? How long have you
to some degree is a really good feeling. And you put a lot of effort into trying to make
been nursing this? Was it always Fury Road?
that happen. You’re putting all your craft and all
It’s always been Fury Road. We had the basic script
that you’ve learned along the way, but you never
back in 2001. We were going to shoot with Mel Gib-
know if you’re going to pull it off until you have
son, and had it geared up with everything in line,
all the pieces together. You can get the essential
and then 9/11 happened, the value of the Austra-
story, but in this film, which in many ways is a
lian dollar dropped significantly—by around 25%—
visceral film, until all the sound and the music and,
and it just got to the point where we couldn’t cut
indeed, all the visual effects were complete, you
the budget anymore. I went on to Happy Feet, and
weren’t really sure. Really, we had to see this one
that film took the better part of four years, and we
with audiences to know that they were responding
slowly started gearing up again.
in the ways I hoped they would.
Justice League nearly happened too, right?
Presumably, those edits were set early
Somewhere in there I was going to do Justice
because the movie moves. There can’t be much
League too, and that fell away mainly because we
room for switching scenes around when that
had to get it off at a certain time to beat the writ-
would disrupt the entire geography of the film.
ers’ strike, and then it also required a new rebate.
You couldn’t, at all. It plays out over three days and
A new government came in and it was the first
two nights and you couldn’t swap scenes around
film they looked at; it was just too much for them
because there’s attrition to the vehicles and the
to move quickly. After all that, Fury Road came up
characters and so on as the story progresses. And
again, we recast as it is now and then the rains sent
for the most part it played out in editorial. We lost
us to the West Coast of Africa—Namibia—where it
some footage, but we never lost any major scenes,
just doesn’t rain.
and there was a massive amount of footage to deal
FLAMING STAR At a Warner Bros. Studios dubbing stage in Burbank, George Miller surveys his creation.
with because we had so much coverage; that’s the Has the itch to get this movie made always been there?
one thing you need with action. At the same time, you couldn’t just set up
The interesting thing is that you always have a
cameras mindlessly. We had a cinematographer,
number of projects that you’re working on in your
Johnny Seale, who’s not at all daunted by having
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multiple cameras, and he’ll always find interest-
In that sense it’s very allegorical. You go forward in
hard-bitten warrior in the service of that domi-
ing angles. He’s also a great operator, and after
time, but into the past. It feels very simple, but it
nance hierarchy. Until she rebels. All of that we
he set all the cameras he’d go off and find a spot
was very complex to make.
could recognize as an almost constant narrative
to shoot, and he called himself “the paparazzi”—
in any history you read, and indeed you can see
shooting opportunistically. I was amazed by how
Tell me about that world.
it as it relates to today. That all had to be there,
often we’d defer to that angle in the edit.
Well, you can read this dominance hierarchy where
otherwise it would just be empty-calorie action.
The more I think about the movie, I think what
all the resources are controlled by very few at the
The same thing with the technology; it had
we really tried to do was make it as comprehensive
expense of the many. It was very clear that every-
to be older technology because the new tech
as possible, meaning that with all its layers it’s a
one was commoditized and they all wear the brand
stops working as soon as the computer breaks.
piece of visual rock-and-roll; a visual rock opera. At
of the Immortan on the back of their necks. Max
Cars today have so many microprocessors, and
every level we tried to get into the subtext so that
is a blood bag, there are human milkers because
crumple technology that keeps us safe but won’t
you’re picking things up about the world. You’re
mother’s milk is the most nourishing food left for
survive the apocalypse. Everything had to be found
picking up notions that are constant in all of sto-
humans, the wives are breeders and the half-life
items that could be repurposed. We had to know
rytelling, and how this world relates to humankind.
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a hierarchy of the privileged. Immortan Joe had the most ornate things, and his vehicle is more spectacular and so on. The Wretched down below, they’re just subsisting basically. Just hanging on. And in a strange way I saw it as an anthropological documentary; not in the shooting, but in trying to create that world. We had to make sure that everything worked at the same logic in the same way. It’s like, if you went to a more exotic culture and you observed their behaviors, you’d understand the meaning of those behaviors even though the behaviors themselves might not make sense to you. THIS MEANS WAR Charlize Theron readies for battle as Miller looks on. So you’re able to explain without explaining? Exactly. It’s really nice to be immersed in a world without anything being demanded of you. It got to
defy the laws of physics. You can’t suddenly find
across all time and space. Joseph Campbell shone
the point where I could virtually give you a back-
yourself in the middle of a wasteland after an
more light on that than just about anyone else, and
story not just for the principal characters, but even
apocalypse surrounded by elaborate cities. Even
not just the hero myth but other stories also.
for some of the extras as well. And for every one of
the Citadel itself had to go back to the 19 Century
the peripheral characters too, I know where they
with treadmills and so on, because that’s the only
idea we always had the wives and there definitely
came from; like the guitarist and how that came
way they could get those great winches to func-
needed to be a female road warrior. In the second
about.
tion. For me, you always have to be rooted as much
Mad Max, there was a warrior woman and there
as possible to human behavior because the story
were all those boys. Just ask the question: seri-
is pretty wild and crazy on the top of it.
ously, how would someone survive? In a masculine
What was his story? I wondered, okay, how does a man who is blind and
th
You don’t know what kind of film you’ll end up
But going back to what you said; in the initial
environment it’d be easier for males to organize and
mute—and basically he could only play a guitar—
with until long after you’ve made it, and it’s always
be incredibly mobile. How do women survive and
survive the apocalypse? It’s actually something I’d
audiences and critics who tell you what they got
how do children survive? All those questions you
like to use if I make another film, so I’d better keep
from it and what it means. So I’m still processing
ask yourself to make the world more solid, and that
that one to myself.
what that is, I really am.
defines the kind of person Furiosa is. And also you end up with the Vuvalini—the remnants of a tribe of
I think that’s the most detail you’ve ever given
One aspect of the film that certainly seems
about sequels.
like a bold and clear statement is the agency
sorts of things. That was always there, and had the
But that’s all I can say about it now, because
you give the women of the story. Furiosa is
movie been made a decade or so ago I don’t know
what’s happened is every time I’ve said anything
really the lead, and while the wives look at
how it might have been received differently. But
it gets so confused and crazy. If I give even a hint
first glance to be naïve and helpless, they
there have always been female heroic figures.
of the story, people start speculating this way and
demonstrate their power as the film goes
that, and it’s too much. People take a little bit of
on. That’s a level of progressiveness rarely
sure I couldn’t think of any other actress who could
information and embellish, and then if I deny it,
seen from a Hollywood studio. And it feels so
play that role in quite the same way, and she brings
that becomes its own story.
topical.
a stature to it and presence, but also this tremen-
I’m not sure about that, but the thing is, all of the
dous spirit. She really seemed to get it, and under-
very seductive playground, so of course I’d love to
women in the film were there from the very begin-
stood the character and what we were trying to do.
return to it. Once it’s in your head, it’s very easy to
ning. The initial idea was the extended chase, being
She was the one who said, “I’m going to shave my
go there. But I think I’d like to do something small
fought over what it means to be human.
head, because this character just wouldn’t bother
It’s just a world that’s so rich and it’s a very,
and quick next. My wife, Margaret [Sixel], who cut
Believe it or not, it was actually seven wives in
many mothers—and the Green Place and all those
It was never the agenda. But with Charlize, I’m
with hair.” We ended up out there with Furiosa and
the film, said, “George, just set the bar a little lower
the beginning, but we couldn’t fit them all into the
Max and the wives and the War Boys, in the real
next time.” And that’s what I’d like to do. The fact is
cabin of the car. There’s this indigenous Australian
desert in the real vehicles, and it somehow felt like
we’re definitely talking about sequels and thinking
culture—which is the longest continuous culture
making a documentary at that point.
about them, but if I could do something next that’s
we have; it’s at least 40,000 years old—and they
not so time-consuming and elaborate, that’s what
have creation stories that are fascinating because
How did you alight on Tom Hardy to play Max?
I want to do; just to clear out the exhaust.
they basically map out the landscape of the real
It was never meant to be like an Unforgiven, with
world; the equivalent of GPS. In so many Aboriginal
an aging road warrior, which it would have been if
What you’re describing in your world building
stories there’s a tale about seven young women
we’d had Mel when we eventually shot it. That’s a
is actually a set of rules—of limitations—to
who escape across the landscape being chased by
whole other story. Plus Mel had all that stuff in his
keep that human connection. So many films
some sort of male demon. That’s very, very com-
life and we had to move on. But when Tom walked
just fantasize, and that approach ends up
mon in a lot of different tribes. And it wasn’t that I
through the door he just reminded me so much of
feeling like too much white noise. Why do you
needed to follow that, but it occurred to me that
Mel. He was probably barely six weeks old when
think that is?
this idea I’d had was a very, very old story indeed.
we shot the first Mad Max, and he reminded me
Look, in the case of this world, it can’t be overde-
It’s actually one of the things you struggle with
of that fact at our first meeting, and I saw he had
signed because it’s not some extreme fantasy.
because there are aspects of storytelling in which
the same sort of charisma. It comes from this kind
It has to be limited by the real world. It doesn’t
you get the same motives over and over again,
of wildness that Tom has, but he is, at the same
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CRAFTING MADNESS
There are multiple newly-minted Oscar nominees amongst Fury Road’s below-the-line team. Matt Grobar meets them.
time, very endearing and warm. There’s something clearly dangerous in both of them, and something volcanic. Plus they’re both incredibly skilled actors, technically and emotionally. Tom reminded me
COLIN GIBSON – PRODUCTION DESIGN Looking back, what occurred most vividly to Colin Gibson was George Miller’s unorthodox approach to the film. He started with “wall-towall storyboards”—hand-drawn by Miller in lieu of a script—and focused on working out all of the elements that went into Fury Road’s grand world-building. Imagining the philosophy, the anthropology and the history of the characters we meet—and those we don’t—was, for Gibson, “some of the best fun you can have without your wife.” He was equally compelled by the discoveries he made as he scoured junkyards to put together the film’s many war vehicles. He describes the survivors’ mentality thus: “You drag back what strikes a chord in your heart. You repurpose it to war. You fetishize it, because it’s more important than you are. And you head out into the wasteland.”
immediately of Mel. The pairing of him with Charlize might have been tricky on set, but in the film it works incredibly well. They’re equal, but not the same, aren’t they? That was the big trick. The characters are different. She takes on the more classic sort of role in the Mad Max stories. You’re always looking for the “uniquely familiar.” It’s got to be familiar enough, but also have its own stamp, and so I guess that was one of the interesting things about putting her in that role. Max, in this story, starts off as a caged wild animal, and over the course of these three
LESLEY VANDERWALT – MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING Fury Road marks Lesley Vanderwalt’s first Oscar nomination—in contrast to many of her colleagues on the film—and her excitement is palpable. As was the case with her collaborators, Vanderwalt’s job was made all the more From left:by Michael Keaton, Brian d’Arcy of James, difficult the extreme variability the climate in Namibia, where the film John Slattery, and Liev Schreiber was shot. “ItMark was Ruffalo a continual process of looking after the makeup,” she says. “This is all in clay and prosthetics, so they’d get rubbed off and you had to fix it in time for the next shot. It was a real battle—a war with the elements.” JENNY BEAVAN – COSTUME DESIGN At the other end of the spectrum, Jenny Beavan has received ten career Oscar nominations all her own. She relished the opportunity to shoot in Namibia, which she recalls as one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and the chance to work closely with local craftspeople. But she’s been surprised by the way her designs have taken off online—particularly that of the flamethrower-wielding guitarist Coma-Doof Warrior. “My tragedy is that underneath that costume is the most fantastic Australian cabaret artist called iOTA, and you don’t even see his face. There he is, wearing this ridiculous red onesie and this extraordinary mask.”
days and two nights he emerges as a more fullyrealized human being. He doesn’t even really speak at all for the first 20 minutes. He just sort of growls. We started this by talking about how the film has been so warmly received, so I have to ask: was there a moment towards the end of post where you realized you’d pulled it off? I was thinking about that the other day, because we were just laboring away in the last few months of the film. I think that credit goes to a wonderful man named Massey Rafani. He’s the man at Warner Bros. who cut the original trailers. He took it on and saw a really early cut of the movie, and he was the first one who said, “You know, you’ve got something here.” The movie was still in a very crude state and there was a long road ahead, but
MARK MANGINI – SOUND EDITING Mark Mangini says that his greatest challenge was finding a focus for a film so visually and sonically dense. But he calls George Miller a true advocate for the oft-misunderstood community of sound artists frequently dismissed as mere technicians. He recalls a quote from Miller following the film’s final post-production playback session: “Mad Max: Fury Road is a movie we see with our ears.” Says Mangini: “My recollections of this film were of fun and adventure and discovery, and that’s pretty rare.” JOHN SEALE – CINEMATOGRAPHY John Seale, who came out of retirement to lens Fury Road, sees Miller not just as a truly generous collaborator, but also an innovator along the lines of Ang Lee and James Cameron. “He stretches boundaries not only in the conception of the movie, but in the making and post-production too,” Seale says. It was the first time the veteran DP—who last worked with Miller on Lorenzo’s Oil in 1992—had shot digitally, and he considers Fury Road a kind of greatest hits album of his career. “There’s a lot of emotion, a lot of action. There’s a piece of all of the films I’ve ever helped make in that film, and that’s why it’s quite an exciting movie; not just to make, but also to watch.”
he’s used to looking at early cuts and he said, “This is really interesting. I expected something that was going to be too similar to what you’d done before, and this is familiar, yet it’s still its own thing.” That was the moment I thought, “Wow.” I’d gotten to know him on the Happy Feet movie, so I knew already that he was one of those people you listen to. He picked something up about the film very early on and that really influenced those trailers and the way the film was marketed. Until he said it, though, I didn’t even consider that the movie had that special something. You’re just there working away in a very granular fashion, so you don’t see the big picture. From there it’s been wonderful to see how people have reacted and to read what people have written about it, because there have been a lot of
MARGARET SIXEL – EDITING A native South African, Margaret Sixel found it “so good to see Hollywood money being spent in Southern Africa.” As Miller’s wife of many years, as well as his regular editor, Sixel knows the director’s strengths and weaknesses better than anyone else, and continues to find a fruitful and satisfying creative partnership with her husband. But they occasionally take their work home with them. “We don’t have any rules really,” she admits. “Sometimes home is the best place to talk things over, since no one can interrupt us. Our sons don’t mind. They enjoy listening, chipping in and giving advice.”
smart interpretations. The thing that always takes me aback is when people show me their tattoos and they’ve got Immortan Joe or Furiosa or Max on their arms. The Immortan brand has been surprisingly very popular for people to get. Would you get one yourself? Me? I don’t have any tattoos. The permanence of it frightens me. [laughs] ★ D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E
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D THE DIALOGUE
OSCAR NOMINEES 2016
Interviews by Antonia Blyth, Anthony D’Alessandro, Pete Hammond, Anna Lisa Raya & Joe Utichi
D I A N E WA R R E N & L A DY G AG A ▶ Original Song ▷ The Hunting Ground
How much do you hope your Oscar nomination will shine a light on the issues raised by your song, ’Til It Happens To You? LG: Everyone says, “Oh, an Oscar nomination.” It’s so not about that for me at all. Of course, it’s cool, but the Oscars nominated this issue by nominating this song. Now the issue has all these writers talking about it, hopefully in a way I believe it deserves to be talked about. We can reach more people. It’s like when an organization like the Academy, which believes in talent, says: we care about you. That means that the message is not just sent to Diane and me, but to people that hear the song and who went through something like this. What would you tell your younger self, given what you went through? (Editor’s note: Lady Gaga was a victim of rape at 19) LG: I would say to my younger self: “You can handle this.” Working on this song with Diane has helped me relive all of this—in a bad way at first. It’s healing, but it’s like a wound that has to crack and be messed up before it heals fully. I need to be present and be a role model. It’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself—to be a role model when the issue makes you feel so worthless. When you still feel it’s your fault. Or, “What could I have done differently?” Or, “Why me?” I never would have done this without Diane. I would never be able to face it by myself and sing somebody else’s song. It had to be something that I believed in to my core. –A.D.A.
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S AO I R S E RO NA N
▶ Actress ▷ Brooklyn
You were born in New York, but grew up in Ireland. Did you have a personal connection to this story? My grandparents were around in the 1950s and so we grew up hearing stories about the dance halls and how they’d make their own clothes—their own dresses—and then stitch themselves into them because they didn’t have enough money for buttons. The women then were so glamorous and so beautiful and so well kept. With the men as well, they were always immaculately dressed. It was a completely different time, but it was something I’ve grown up listening to stories about really, and I’ve had photographs around my house. Have you felt the pangs of homesickness that your character Eilis suffers? The heartbreaking thing I found about going back home after moving away is that home wasn’t the same anymore. I realized it was never going to be the same again. And that was OK, and it was exciting, but it was also sad and scary, and it was that grief I went through. Maybe I’m over it now, but I was definitely in a period doing Brooklyn where I was grieving for Ireland. I knew I couldn’t go back to where I was, and I needed to leave for myself and the person I wanted to become, but at the same time that nostalgia you feel when you go home—and that sense of loss—is very real. –J.U.
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KAT E W I N S L ET
▶ Supporting Actress ▷ Steve Jobs
After Titanic you made a point not to be cast as the “It Girl” or ingénue in Hollywood films. Do you ever think differently about that decision? After Titanic, I just trusted my instinct. I always made sure that I marked my line in the sand. I could go to the corner store with no make-up on. I was not comfortable with the sudden moviestar status that was being thrown at me. It wasn’t me. I remember thinking then, “Wow, I can choose the roles I want to be in.” Up until then I had been running around to auditions with a backpack, and you were lucky to get the gig you could get. Did you ever rack your brain wondering why the Academy passed over you five times before they finally gave you an Oscar for The Reader? Being nominated the first time was completely surreal. It was so otherworldly, I never imagined that I would win it then and I was never disappointed that I didn’t. You have to be a good loser. I don’t think it would have been good for me, winning at a younger age. I would then feel the pressure of having done something and maintaining that level of a winning streak. Rather, I could keep working and trying hard. Also, walking into the room on each of those five occasions, you know if you’ll win or lose. You really do. Knowing that I wasn’t going to win made it quite sensible and practical and got me through those moments. —A.D.A.
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ALEX GARLAND
▶ Original Screenplay ▷ Ex Machina
You won the First-Time Feature award at the DGAs. Steven Spielberg presented. What did he say to you? That was nuts. He was very generous, is what he was. He’d seen the film, he was very nice about it, and I feel like he knows what he is to people like us. It’s not an affectation of, “I’m not that guy.” He’s totally that guy, but there’s something straightforwardly generous about him. Mainly what he is is a pretty amazing filmmaker, who casts one of the longest shadows of the entire art form. You were very forthcoming in your acceptance speech about the great contributions of your crew to the final product. Why was it so important to recognize them in that way? It’s really simple: I used to work as a novelist, and novelists do it on their own. The reason I was attracted to film was because it’s collaboration. All the people in that credit list are the filmmakers— they’re making decisions that are directly related to the tone and the vibe and the aesthetic. It’s funny; years ago, in all honesty, I saw film as a director’s medium, with a whole bunch of people facilitating this person’s vision. I’m not going to say that never happens, because I’m sure it does, but the thing that I found just wasn’t that. It was collaboration, and it’s a pleasure. If someone says to me, “I really, in my heart, don’t think we should do it that way,” then I’ll listen to them. —J.U.
P H O T O G R A P H B Y E R I C S C H WA B E L
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BRIE LARSON
▶ Actress ▷ Room
In Room, Ma is clearly a complex and diverse role. What appealed to you about it? I read the book in a day, and could not put it down. I just cried at so many points, particularly at the escape sequence. I felt so much anxiety. Although I was reading a hard copy, and it was obvious that there was still another half of the book left in my right hand, I couldn’t imagine that it was going to keep going— that they were going to get out—and I realized that I cared so much about them. I was so invested in them as these two characters. That was the beginning of it. Do you feel that Room has a European sensibility in the way it puts artistry before traditional-format storytelling? Yeah, it’s funny. I remember the first time I was watching playback on some of the footage we had shot. I was going over some scene stuff with Lenny, and I remember turning to him so excited and going, “Oh my gosh, it looks just like a European film. My dreams are coming true.” And Lenny was laughing and going, “Oh jeez, and here I thought I was making my first American film.” I do think it has a sort of rawness to it that we don’t see in most American cinema, and that’s what I love about it. —A.B.
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CHARLOTTE R A M PL I NG
▶ Actress ▷ 45 Years
45 Years examines a marriage in crisis, when an ex-lover’s body turns up years later. But the catalyst could have been anything, couldn’t it? What came up could be anything. It’s that fragile, really. Events can just suddenly happen, which they do in our lives, and we all don’t think about them until they happen. Only then do we start to feel how they can completely confuse us. All that unfinished business that maybe you pushed back into the corners of your heart, when you go along in life and say, “I can’t really deal with this.” Not even consciously, quite often. We just push things away and keep going, because we have to keep going. So much of this performance is in what you don’t say; what we read on your face. Is that a challenging place to get to? You need to feel that you can do that and also seek out work where you can experiment, because it’s not necessarily obvious that it will work. There’s a relationship between the face of an actor and what you are feeling, which might not necessarily translate through the screen, even though you’re really feeling the thoughts and emotions of your character. I’ve been rather fascinated by that side of the acting world—it seemed to suit me better than the more declamatory kind of roles. —J.U.
P H O T O G RA P H BY DA N D OPE RA L SK I
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C AT E B L A NC H ET T
▶ Actress ▷ Carol
How much time do you usually have to make a film like Carol? There were times when we barely had time to do one take. Todd is like no other director I’ve ever worked with. He’s a master making a student film, in the sense that he has that sort of danger and hunger that a student filmmaker has, but with the incredible finesse, expertise, facility and insight of an auteur. And the intersection of those two atmospheres is really unique. Actors are the only artists who can’t be nominated twice for an Oscar in the same category. You’re a member of the actors’ branch of the Academy and you have two great performances this year, in Carol and Truth. I’m not a lobbyist, so I don’t get tied up in those machinations. Perhaps that stuff matters more to producers than it does to me. To simply be in that dialogue is more than enough, and, I mean, it seems a bit hubristic to be having this conversation. The first port of call is that the films find an audience. So that’s the bit that I feel a responsibility towards. The rest is outside. —P.H.
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A S I F K A PA D I A & JA M E S G AY - R E E S
▶ Documentary ▷ Amy
Your documentary work in Senna and Amy has drawn massive attention around the world. What makes these films stand out? AK: It’s a conscious decision to make cinematic, theatrical films—not to make it for the doc crowd or to aim it at hardcore fans, but actually to break out. Amy was for people who weren’t fans, to convert them. What’s quite interesting also is that it’s different in the UK than it is here. British people knew about Amy Winehouse before Back to Black, and no one here knew about her. They only knew the Amy that was in a pretty bad way. But really, a lot of people didn’t know anything about her at all. We didn’t even know she was Jewish. Where do you begin with a story that is so well documented in the tabloids, but so little understood in its deeper nuance? AK: The opportunity came along and we were told, “You can make the story, warts and all.” We all know the ending. We can’t dodge what happened— you’re going to have to deal with that. So you’re going to have to talk to everyone and unravel what happened. It became this investigation. And with this project, more than anything I’ve been involved with, there was no script. There was no outline, there was no treatment. We had her songs, and then it was just one by one by one, trying to follow clues and get people to talk to us. —J.U.
P H O T O G R A P H B Y E R I C S C H WA B E L
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RO G E R DEAKINS
▶ Cinematography ▷ Sicario
Sicario is incredibly tense for the majority of its runtime. What did you discuss with Denis Villeneuve in terms of how you would create that effect? The idea of building the tension was one of the main things: how to give the film a sort of energy and really bring you into the world of these characters as quickly as possible. Denis is a very visual director. He’s trying to create something more than what is on the page and, as you say, it’s very tense and it’s very deliberately building that tension. Sometimes we were building that by an image of the dust in the sunlight—you know, the dust particles. There’s so much tension in that. Your goal as a cinematographer, historically, is to never allow the image to overtake the film, or to exist only for style’s sake. Was that difficult here? I was worried about that. When we were prepping in Albuquerque we realized that we were getting this monsoon season late in the summer that we didn’t expect. So you’re getting these amazing cloud formations and skies and we didn’t really visualize it like that. We decided to embrace it; we didn’t have much choice. But then, we wanted the landscape to be a character. That was part of it. I didn’t want anything to be a pretty sunset for the sake of a pretty sunset. —A.L.R.
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M A RYA N N BRANDON & M A RY J O M A R K EY
▶ Editing ▷ Star Wars: The Force Awakens
You’ve cut all of director J.J. Abrams’ films. What makes you work so well as a duo? MB: We have a mutual respect for each other. It’s not a competitive thing. We’re responsible for the sections we’re doing, and it’s always equal parts. We both have the best intentions at heart and want the movie to be better and to flow. So I think we have one goal in mind, and it’s great to have a partner. When Harrison Ford had his accident on set, how did that affect your work? MJM: Well even J.J. has said in interviews that except for the fact that Harrison got hurt and he felt terrible about that, it was the best thing that ever happened to the project. He normally doesn’t look at what’s being cut while shooting; he focuses on shooting, which I think is as it should be. But because we had to take this hiatus, it was the perfect time for him to take a look and respond to some of the comments that Maryann and I had made during the production up to that point. —A.B.
For full interviews with this year’s nominees, and an extended gallery of all our nominee portraiture, head to DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE
P H O T O G R A P H B Y E R I C S C H WA B E L
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OSCAR H AN DICAPS / BY P ETE H A M M O N D
BEST DIRECTOR This category usually goes hand-in-hand with Best Picture, but in two out of the last of four years voters have split and gone rogue with their directorial choice. Since the DGA has only been wrong in 7 out of 68 years in predicting the Oscar winner for direction it is probably a safe bet to go with their choice of The Revenant’s Alejandro G. Iñárritu over the rest of a very competitive field. THE WINNER: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, The Revenant
BEST PICTURE IN WHAT IS EASILY the tightest Best Picture race in years, the normal soothsayers we look to for guidance —the critics and guild awards—have been split all over the place. The guilds showed love to The Revenant (DGA), Spotlight (SAG) and The Big Short (PGA) with their top awards, and at press time the WGA and BAFTA were still to be heard; more clarity was not expected. But you can’t discount a movie like Mad Max: Fury Road, with its 10 nominations and a lot of below-theline guild love. This might be a four-way race; one that could even stand to be spoiled by another film coming in from leftfield if all of the frontrunners truly split. Wouldn’t it be fascinating to see something like Room, with only four nominations—though all of them key— sneak in like a little British film called Chariots of Fire did in 1981, unseating all the favorites and pulling off one of the greatest Best Picture upsets in Oscar history? It could happen. In fact, anything could happen in this highly unpredictable year. Here’s how the runners stand as we go to press, but I fully reserve the right to change these predictions online right up until Oscar night, so proceed with caution if you’re planning to enter your office pool. 28
BEST ACTOR Usually one of the most competitive Oscar categories, this year’s selection is a great group of nominees including Michael Fassbender’s bravura turn as Steve Jobs, Matt Damon alone on Mars in The Martian, Bryan Cranston brilliantly channeling Dalton Trumbo in Trumbo, and last year’s winner Eddie Redmayne again challenging the limits of physicality in The Danish Girl. But unfortunately for all them, this is Leo’s year and you can just feel it, despite his role in The Revenant comprising probably no more than 20 lines. THE WINNER: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant BEST ACTRESS It is veterans like two-time winner, Cate Blanchett— again transformative in Carol—and first-time nominee at age 69, Charlotte Rampling—as a wife discovering long hidden secrets in her marriage in 45 Years—who must compete with the much younger crowd, including Joy star and Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, former nominee Saoirse Ronan in Brooklyn and the likely winner, Brie Larson, already a SAG, Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award champ for her harrowing turn in Room. THE WINNER: Brie Larson, Room BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR There are some terrific nominees in this category this year, perhaps the most competitive of all the acting contests. In fact you could have created another two or three worthy lists comprised of just the actors who got bypassed. But no matter the competition, the back story for Sylvester Stallone—only once before Oscar nominated as an actor for the same role of Rocky Balboa 39 years ago, who returns with a knockout in Creed—steals the limelight and takes the Oscar in a unanimous decision. THE WINNER: Sylvester Stallone, Creed BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS This has been an odd category this year, as arguably leading actresses like The Danish Girl’s Alicia Vikander and Carol’s Rooney Mara have been nominated against true supporting roles from the likes of Kate Winslet in Steve Jobs, Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hateful Eight and Rachel McAdams in Spotlight. The decision by Focus Features to campaign Vikander in this lower category has already paid off with Critics Choice and SAG wins, and should continue here, especially considering the favorable advantage of starring in another Oscarnominated film: Ex Machina. THE WINNER: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
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THE R WINNE
The Big Short DIRECTOR Adam McKay PRODUCERS Brad Pitt Dede Gardner Jeremy Kleiner STUDIO Paramount Pictures OSCAR NOMINATIONS Supporting Actor Directing Adapted Screenplay Editing
Paramount’s late-season entry has proven it has the stuff of a frontrunner by taking the often-predictive PGA Best Picture award and nabbing Oscar and BAFTA nominations in all the right categories. Despite setbacks at the Globes, SAG and DGA, it could still nab Oscar’s top prize thanks to a timely story dealing with the financial crisis of 2008. Adding comedy made it stand out, but it is still a sobering indictment of Wall Street practices.
Bridge of Spies
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE Well, if you need me to give you the handicap on this category you might as well give it up. Though Anomalisa, Boy And The World, When Marnie Was There and especially the delightful and inventive Shaun The Sheep Movie make up a formidable list of contenders, there can be no doubt this belongs in the end to Pixar’s Inside Out from Up director Pete Docter. It even has an Original Screenplay nomination to boot. Take it to the bank for this PGA, Golden Globe, Critics Choice and ten-time Annie winner. THE WINNER: Inside Out BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM Cannes Grand Prize winner Son Of Saul, the harrowing Hungarian World War II Nazi concentration camp film, is far and away the frontrunner here. But France’s Turkish teen drama Mustang really seems to be giving it a run for its money. It is between these two, but if there is a true upset at this year’s Oscars this seems to be the category ripe for it, and another possibility in that regard is Jordan’s first-ever nominee Theeb, or Denmark's powerful and well-crafted A War. Still… THE WINNER: Mustang (France) BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE I certainly think Amy, the remarkable documentary about tragic singer Amy Winehouse, is the frontrunner even though it has been forced to withstand recent losses at IDA and DGA, where the incredibly worthy Cartel Land won in a head-to-head match up. Not to be discounted are the chances for either Netflix movie in the competition—What Happened, Miss Simone? and Winter On Fire: Ukraine’s Fight For Freedom—since that network is already proving they have deep pockets for the kind of expensive campaign not usually found in this category. THE WINNER: Amy BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Four of the five nominees here are also up for Best Picture, which probably means we can already eliminate the fifth entry, Carol, since that kind of nomination goes a long way toward determining likely winners. Similarly, Brooklyn and The Martian might falter since those films failed to get directing nods, which may have helped here. So it comes down to Room and The Big Short, with the latter taking the prize because of the importance of the material and its pertinence to what is still happening. THE WINNER: The Big Short
DIRECTOR Steven Spielberg PRODUCERS Steven Spielberg Marc Platt Kristie Macosko Krieger STUDIO Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures OSCAR NOMINATIONS Supporting Actor Original Screenplay Original Score Sound Mixing Production Design
With this superb Cold War drama set in the ’50s and early ’60s, Steven Spielberg has become an Oscar record holder as the producer with the most Best Picture nominations; nine and counting. Brilliantly shot and acted, the Academy gave it six nominations, but surprisingly not one for Spielberg’s direction, which definitely hurts its chances in this category. That seemed an unfair blow, as this remains one of the iconic director’s most powerful films. Movies rarely win without their director on the nominees list.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Ask almost anyone and they’ll tell you that, for originality, nothing trumps the creative, warmhearted and clever Inside Out. It should be your winner, but no animated feature nominated for its script has ever won here. And indeed, this looks to be the safe spot for Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, with their riveting look at journalism and the crisis in the Catholic Church in Spotlight. Bridge Of Spies is even more deserving, but it doesn’t appear to have the awards mojo going in a big way despite the Coen brothers’ names being attached to the script along with Matt Charman. Now if the Academy wants to honor diversity they may just check off Straight Outta Compton, but that was written, believe it or not, by an all-white writing team. THE WINNER: Spotlight
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Brooklyn
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Could history be made, and this award go to Emmanuel Lubezki for the third year in a row? He won previously for last year’s Birdman and the year before for Gravity. He is a frontrunner again for his remarkable work on The Revenant, which uses natural light to great effect. It’s a strong year for DPs, though, as George Miller lured John Seale out of retirement to do incredible work on Mad Max: Fury Road and 13-time nominee Roger Deakins is trying again, this time with the exquisite Sicario. THE WINNER: The Revenant
DIRECTOR John Crowley PRODUCERS Finola Dwyer Amanda Posey STUDIO Fox Searchlight Pictures OSCAR NOMINATIONS Actress Adapted Screenplay
A near-perfect film, this Sundance favorite was the earliest of all the 2015 contenders to screen, and it held up all the way through awards season. It’s easy to see why some Oscar voters are passionate about this period romance, which tells the story of a young Irish immigrant to the New York of the early 1950s, who ultimately must choose between two men and two countries. But with only three nominations and nothing for director John Crowley, it remains a long shot to actually pull off a victory.
Mad Max: Fury Road DIRECTOR George Miller
BEST FILM EDITING This is, of course, a key category as a film editing nomination is crucial to a film’s Best Picture chances. Birdman broke the curse last year, but it didn’t really count as its omission from the category had more to do with its highly publicized trick of saying the whole movie was unedited and staged in one shot. Before that you had to go back 35 years to 1980 and Ordinary People, which also didn’t have a nomination but still won Best Picture. Oddly one of the strongest entries this year is Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which may possibly leave the four Best Picture nominees in the category in the dust. THE WINNER: The Big Short BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING With an oddball nomination for Sweden’s The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared, this race clearly comes down to the other pair of rival nominees, The Revenant and the rock star of the bunch, Mad Max: Fury Road, with the latter’s stand out wild hair and makeup so obviously the class of this category. THE WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road
PRODUCERS Doug Mitchell George Miller STUDIO Warner Bros. OSCAR NOMINATIONS Directing Cinematography Editing Costume Design Makeup and Hairstyling Sound Mixing Sound Editing Visual Effects Production Design
BEST COSTUME DESIGN This year, it seems the designs are a bit more subtle in their own way with multiple Oscar winner and goddess Sandy Powell competing against herself for the period lines of Carol and the fairytale world of Cinderella. I would say she could cancel herself out, except her name doesn’t appear on the ballot, only the name of the film does. And could this category go for the unconventional in The Revenant’s furs or Mad Max’s wild work? Then there is The Danish Girl, which just might be perfectly understated for the Academy’s tastes. THE WINNER: The Danish Girl
When it opened in May, no one was predicting this crowd-pleasing action epic might actually wind up a major Best Picture contender. George Miller’s third sequel to his cult favorite Mad Max comes 30 years later with a new star in Tom Hardy, and it proves the fourth time’s the charm. Still it might be difficult to break out of the craft categories and into the big win, because no film since Grand Hotel in 1931-32 has managed to win Best Picture without both a screenplay and acting nomination to tout.
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The Martian
BEST ORIGNAL MUSIC SCORE Another fascinating category strewn with legends. John Williams receives his 50th overall nomination for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which might sound a bit too familiar for casual Oscar voters not aware of all the new material in it. Then there is 87-year-old Ennio Morricone, perhaps the most prolific film composer of all time with more than 400 scores to his credit. Though he has six nominations, he has never won with the Academy, but he did receive an Honorary Oscar in 2007. And then there’s Thomas Newman, an 11-time nominee and part of the famous Newman family of composers. He has also never won and only got this gig when John Williams wasn’t available for pal Spielberg. With exquisite scores in Sicario and Carol rounding out the pack, the Academy music branch did themselves proud. THE WINNER: The Hateful Eight
DIRECTOR Ridley Scott PRODUCERS Simon Kinberg Ridley Scott Michael Schaefer Mark Huffam STUDIO 20th Century Fox OSCAR NOMINATIONS Actor Adapted Screenplay Sound Mixing Sound Editing Visual Effects Production Design
The big shock on Oscar nomination day was that the director of this film, 78-year-old Ridley Scott, was not among the directing nominees. Many had expected him to win and possibly drag this well-liked space epic into the Best Picture winners’ circle with him. With seven nominations, The Martian is no slouch, but without a corresponding directorial nod for Scott, or even a DGA win as Ben Affleck managed when he was in the same situation with Argo three years ago, the chances of this winning here are about the same as landing a man on Mars this year.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN Some very big epics—The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road and The Martian—compete with the stunning period settings of Bridge Of Spies and The Danish Girl. What? No Room at this inn? Too bad because that little film, shot in a 11x11-foot space, could have been the ideal winner. Instead others will be duking it out. This is hard to call as it could go any which way, but I have a hunch on this one and it has to do with the angry red planet. THE WINNER: The Martian
The Revenant DIRECTOR Alejandro G. Iñárritu PRODUCERS Arnon Milchan Steve Golin Alejandro G. Iñárritu Mary Parent Keith Redmon
BEST SOUND EDITING There is probably no other category more baffling to the non-sound branch members of the Academy than this and Sound Mixing, where they often tend to choose the most popular films to win, if not the most intricate sound work. This year the movies are very big, with Mad Max: Fury Road taking the edge over The Martian, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Revenant. Although that bear fight in the latter could be the spoiler. THE WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road
STUDIO 20th Century Fox OSCAR NOMINATIONS Actor Supporting Actor Directing Cinematography Editing Costume Design Makeup and Hairstyling Sound Mixing Sound Editing Visual Effects Production Design
BEST ORIGINAL SONG Every year the odds seem to get longer for Diane Warren, but ironically the prolific songwriter, who has been nominated seven times previously for Oscars, may have hit the motherlode this time, teamed with Lady Gaga for the stirring anti-rape anthem ’Til It Happens To You from The Hunting Ground. Golden Globe winner Sam Smith will try to be the spoiler this time for his James Bond Spectre tune Writing’s On The Wall. THE WINNER: ’Til It Happens to You from The Hunting Ground
This brutal, beautiful period adventure epic certainly has its fans, but its chances really increased with a strong win at the Golden Globes and a historic second consecutive DGA victory for director Alejandro González Iñárritu. It is clearly in the running, even while lacking a PGA win and missing screenplay nods from Oscar and WGA, which lengthens its odds. Many thought the idea of an Iñárritu movie pulling this off two years in a row was far-fetched, but not anymore.
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BEST SOUND MIXING This is a popular category for musicals and war movies among others, and it contains pretty much the same list of nominees as Sound Editing minus Sicario, which is replaced here by Bridge Of Spies. The likeliest winner could again be Mad Max: Fury Road, but I have a suspicion this will be a Star Wars win. THE WINNER: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Room DIRECTOR Lenny Abrahamson PRODUCERS Ed Guiney STUDIO A24
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS Though all the nominees are strong, especially with The Revenant’s CGI bear attack, the work in Star Wars: The Force Awakens was beyond reproach and will likely sail to a win here, although I feel like protesting the complete absence of the year’s most awe-inspiring effects work in The Walk. THE WINNER: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
OSCAR NOMINATIONS Actress Directing Screenplay
This really might be the little movie that could. A frontrunner to win Best Actress for Brie Larson, it is not inconceivable that this emotional powerhouse overcomes tremendous odds and benefits from a split among the bigger contenders. Certainly its surprise director nod for Lenny Abrahamson showed its strength, and so too did its screenplay nod for Emma Donoghue, adapting her own novel. It could also benefit from being a movie that voters are still discovering for the first time, as some might have been reluctant to watch the demanding drama before it got all this glory.
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT If the Academy got rid of these categories, what would be there to serve as a tie breaker in your office pool? Definitely falling into the “never heard of any of them” space, this is a broad, but depressing group of movies. Of this bunch there is much to be admired, including Body Team 12, dealing with the Ebola Outbreak, and A Girl In The River: The Price Of Forgiveness, which tells the story of women targeted for religiously motivated “honor” killings in Pakistan. THE WINNER: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT SUBJECT Day One, which comes from AFI Alum Henry Hughes, may be the favorite. It deals with the story of a divorced Afghan-American woman who is sent to Afghanistan to work as an interpreter and runs into a very unique situation. Everything Will Be Okay, dealing with a divorced father and his daughter, might be a worthy competitor here too, but the terrific Shok could shock them all. THE WINNER: Shok
Spotlight DIRECTOR Tom McCarthy
BEST ANIMATED SHORT A decent bunch of animated shorts populate this category with, as usual, an entry from Pixar—Sanjay’s Super Team, which is a delight but not quite on par with some of their previous entries. I would say it is between the charming Bear Story and the fantastical World Of Tomorrow, which takes young Emily on a tour of her notso-distant future. THE WINNER: Bear Story
PRODUCERS Blye Pagon Faust Steve Golin Nicole Rocklin Michael Sugar STUDIO Open Road Films OSCAR NOMINATIONS Supporting Actor Supporting Actress Directing Original Screenplay Editing
Since its Venice debut, many have pegged this movie as the one to beat. It has a strong social message and has gained lots of gravitas after being shown at the Vatican in an effort to curb sexual abuse among priests. If voters warm again to the idea of a movie making a real difference, this could be the one they gravitate towards. Critics Choice and a key SAG award certainly didn’t hurt, but PGA and DGA indifference might have. If voters split their ballot between director and picture, this could benefit.
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★ | flash mob
88th ACADEMY AWARDS NOMINEES LUNCHEON, BEVERLY HILTON, LA FEB. 8 Clockwise from left: Spotlight’s Tom McCarthy & co-writer Josh Singer; Spectre songsmith Sam Smith; The Martian’s Matt Damon; Carol’s Rooney Mara; the Bridge of Spies production team of Kristie Macosko Krieger, Marc Platt & Steven Spielberg; Creed star Sylvester Stallone; The Danish Girl’s Eddie Redmayne; star of Joy, Jennifer Lawrence.
RE X /S H U T T E RSTO CK
68th DGA AWARDS HYATT REGENCY, LA FEB. 6 Clockwise from left: Mad Max: Fury Road’s George Miller; The Revenant’s Leonardo DiCaprio & Alejandro González Iñárritu; The Big Short’s Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Adam McKay & Steve Carell; The Martian’s Ridley Scott & Matt Damon.
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★ | final frame
HEAD COUNT
22 YRS
51
With a variety of work on offer, how do this year’s Best Actress nominees’ career stats compare? By Matt Grobar It’s a varied field for this year’s Best Actress race, with nominees covering the gamut of age and experience. After winning big at the Golden Globes and SAG, first-time nominee Brie Larson seems ever more likely to take this category for her work in Room (all but one of Gold Derby’s experts agree at press time), in which she plays a damaged woman taking care of her young son whilst trapped in a tiny shed in the clutches of a monster. Playing the titular Carol in Todd Haynes’s glossy 16mm film, Cate Blanchett is back with her sixth nomination. 21-year-old Saoirse Ronan received her second nomination for her terrific performance as immigrant Eilis in Brooklyn, and on the opposite end of her career, celebrated British actress Charlotte Rampling is being celebrated for her work in Andrew Haigh’s icy marital drama, 45 Years. Meanwhile, Jennifer Lawrence continues to break records with her nomination for Joy, becoming the youngest ever actor of either gender to amass four acting noms. Here’s a closer look at the stats behind the names.
6
2
$3,404,842,662 17 YRS $66,761,621 27
CATE BLANCHETT
1
0 8 YRS
$431,507,759
22
4
$15,981,769
BRIE LARSON
1
$2,201,434,796 51 YRS $100,065,218 89
JENNIFER LAWRENCE
1
0 9 YRS
$252,485,986
20 C areer Span
2
#of Films
$2,836,921
CHARLOTTE RAMPLING
0
Oscar Noms Oscar Wins
$254,814,496
Total Boxoffice
$12,740,724
Boxoffice Avg
Winners of each category are starred
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SAOIRSE RONAN
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A C A D E M Y
B E S T
A W A R D
F O R E I G N
N O M I N E E
L A N G U A G E
OFFICIAL ENTRY – FR ANCE
★★★★!
“
A GREAT MOVIE. ENORMOUSLY PLEASURABLE TO WATCH. Confirms that sensitive, humanist, deeply immersive filmmaking remains alive and well in a world bursting with vital stories and indelible characters.”
“A BEAUTIFUL FILM.“ “EXCELLENT.” “EXHILARATING.“
NOW NOMINATED FOR
9
CÉSAR AWARDS INCLUDING BEST FILM AND BEST DIRECTOR
“THE BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR, ROCKED ME TO MY CORE.“
F I L M
“DENIZ GAMZE ERGÜVEN brings a powerful point of view and her own unique and refreshing voice to this enlightening female-driven tale. ‘MUSTANG’ IS NOT ONLY A GREAT FILM ABOUT WOMEN, IT IS A GREAT FILM, PERIOD.”
“FANTASTIC. JUST THE FILM WE NEED RIGHT NOW.“
“SINGULARLY EXCELLENT AND ORIGINAL.“
“ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR.”
“STUNNING.“
W I N N E R
W I N N E R
Label Europa Cinemas Prize
Audience Award - Best Foreign Film
CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
2015
2015
W I N N E R
W I N N E R
New Auteurs Audience Award
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LUX PRIZE FOR CINEMA
AFI FEST
2015
2015
W I N N E R
W I N N E R Best Feature Film Award
Freedom of Expression Award
SARAJEVO FILM FESTIVAL
NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW
2015
2015
W I N N E R
W I N N E R
Best First Feature
Fibresci Prize
PHILADELPHIA FILM FESTIVAL
EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS
2015
2015
COHEN MEDIA GROUP PRESENTS
EVERY WOMAN HAS A STORY
A FILM BY DENIZ GAMZE ERGÜVEN LOS ANGELES SCREENING
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17TH AT 2:00PM, 5:00PM, AND 7:30PM The Pacific Design Center: Silverscreen Theater 8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA 90069 • RSVP to: mustangrsvp@gmail.com
2/5/16 3:36 PM
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