Saturday, December 01, 2007

DECEMBER STORM

With just days to go before the first major critics groups start filling out their year-end ballots, studios and publicists are making their last, best efforts to expose their talent and films to voters. The beneficiaries of this will be not only those trying to get a place in the awards race, but also people like you who follow it. To get a sense of some of the content that will be appearing on the site in the near future, here's my tentative schedule (always subject to additions and subtractions) for the week or so ahead:

  • SUN Interviewing Javier Bardem, who is now the frontrunning Best Supporting Actor contender for his performance in No Country for Old Men.
  • MON Interviewing Jennifer Garner, who is now a Best Supporting Actress contender for her performance in Juno.
  • MON Belatedly catching up with a press screening of The Bucket List (12/25, Warner Brothers, trailer), the Rob Reiner film starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as terminal cancer patients having one last go at fun.
  • TUE Interviewing Leslie Mann, who is now a sleeper Best Supporting Actress contender for her performance in Knocked Up.
  • TUE Interviewing Glen Hansard, who is now a sleeper Best Actor contender, particularly at the Golden Globes, for his performance in Once.
  • WED Interviewing James McAvoy, who is a Best Actor contender for his performance in Atonement.
  • WED The penalty for not living in NY or LA is that this will be my first opportunity to see Sweeney Todd (12/25, DreamWorks, trailer), the Tim Burton film starring Johnny Depp.
  • THU Attending a press screening of Persepolis (12/25, Sony Pictures Classics, trailer), the animated film that is France's submission for Best Foreign Film consideration.
  • FRI Interviewing Viggo Mortensen, who is now a Best Actor contender for his performance in Eastern Promises.
  • MON Attending the New York premiere of There Will Be Blood (12/26, Paramount Vantage, trailer), the Paul Thomas Anderson film starring Daniel Day-Lewis.
Posted by Editor at 11:53:31 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

LA VIE EN OSCAR

I have been largely MIA for the past few days because I have been preparing for two of the most special "ATWI... Interview Series" pieces yet: today, I will be speaking with Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men), the current favorite to win Best Supporting Actor, and Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose), the current favorite to win Best Actress. These should post shortly, and they will be followed soon after by a number of other top contenders. It's nice to know that people are catching on to the fact that this is the place to go for an in-depth interview. If you want to know "What are you wearing?" or "Was it fun working with Brad Pitt?" go somewhere else. If you hope to know more than that—what goes into making an Oscar performance (and performer)—then continue to stick around. And thanks for reading.

Posted by Editor at 14:36:00 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

COMING AFTER THE HOLIDAY

Here are some of the exciting things that will be posting on the site after Thanksgiving...

  • Fans of the "ATWI... Interview Series," this site's Inside the Actors Studio-type of in-depth interviews with major awards contenders, have some excellent new installments to look forward to: Best Actress contender Keri Russell (Waitress), Best Actress contender Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose), Best Supporting Actor contender Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men), Best Actor contender James McAvoy (Atonement), Best Supporting Actress contender Leslie Mann (Knocked Up), Best Actress contender Laura Linney (The Savages), Best Supporting Actor contender Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild), Best Supporting Actor contender Philip Bosco (The Savages), Best Original Screenplay contender Tamara Jenkins (The Savages), and Best Supporting Actress contender Jennifer Garner (Juno).
  • I will also have an exclusive interview with Bill Pohlad, the independent financier of films like Brokeback Mountain and this year's Into the Wild, who was featured in a fascinating profile in last week's New York Times Magazine.
  • Also, if I can get the technology straight, I plan to begin posting podcasts of conversations with major reviewers and pundits about the awards race. The Boston Herald's James Verniere, one of the best film critics in the business and someone whose views I greatly respect, has been kind enough to agree to be the first.
Posted by Editor at 13:28:59 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

BUSY WEEK AHEAD

The next week or so is shaping up to be pretty jam-packed (but also pretty neat). Here's a preview of what's on the agenda at the moment—additions and subtractions are inevitables—all of which you'll be reading about here very soon afterwards:

  • TUE Attending a press screening of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (12/19, Miramax, trailer), the French film that has been compared to Life Is Beautiful, and which is now a contender for a Best Picture nomination (as well a Director, Actor, and Supporting Actor honors).
  • TUE Interviewing Ellen Page, the star of Juno, who I have been projecting to win the Academy Award for Best Actress ever since I saw the film and had the pleasure of visiting with her over a few days in September at the Toronto Film Festival.
  • THU Interviewing Mathieu Amalric, the Frenchman who was Eric Bana's contact in Munich, and is now a Best Actor contender for his performance in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
  • THU Interviewing Max von Sydow, the legendary star of many of Ingmar Bergman's greatest films, as well as The Exorcist (1973) and many others, who is now a Best Supporting Actor contender for his performance in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
  • FRI Attending a cocktail reception in New York honoring Ang Lee, who is now a Best Director contender for Lust, Caution, and his longtime collaborator James Schamus; actors with whom they have worked in the past (Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain) will be in attendance.
  • SAT Watching a screener of Starting Out in the Evening (11/23, Roadside Attractions), for which Frank Langella is now a Best Actor contender.
  • SUN Attending a press screening of Grace Is Gone (12/7, The Weinstein Company, trailer), an Iraq-related film for which John Cusack is now a Best Actor contender.
  • TUE Attending a press screening of Enchanted (11/21, Disney, trailer), a part-animated, part-live action Disney film for which Amy Adams is now a Best Actress contender.
  • WED Attending a press screening of Love in the Time of Cholera (11/16, New Line, trailer), an adaptation of an acclaimed novel about a decades-long love affair for which Giovanna Mezzogiorno is now a Best Actress contender.
  • THU Interviewing Keri Russell, the lovely star of the upcoming August Rush and this May's Waitress, for which she is now a Best Actress contender.
  • THU Attending a press screening of Beowulf (11/16, Warner Brothers, trailer), a highly-anticipated adaptation of the classic story featuring advanced animation techniques, which is now a Best Picture contender.
  • FRI Interviewing Laura Linney, the twice-nominated star of the The Savages, for which she is now a Best Actress contender.
Posted by Editor at 02:48:38 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |