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AWARDS WATCH 2005
OF OSCARS, GLOBES AND OTHER SHINY THINGS
Top: Alexander; Above left: The Motorcycle Diaries, above right: Bad Education.
Below left: Finding Neverland; Below right: The Polar Express; Bottom: Million Dollar Baby.
Best Picture
It’s still only just November as I write this, so (unlike the US presidential election) the ‘Best Picture’ field remains pretty much open. Ten or so of the strongest contenders have yet to be released, and another, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s A Very Long Engagement (Un long dimanche de fiançailles), is only just out in France - where, however, it is doing very nicely, thank you.
So far, it is inevitably the heavyweight dramas which are attracting the attention. There’s Alexander, positioning itself as the ‘thinking person’s epic’ (while not, of course, short-changing anyone on the ‘epic’ side of the deal). And then there’s the long-awaited prestige Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator. Could 2005 finally be the year for Martin Scorsese? He’s been seven times nominated (five times as Best Director, once for Best Screenplay - for The Age of Innocence - and once, with Taxi Driver, for Best Picture without getting a Best Director nod) but has, incredible as it may seem, never actually won.
Or will the Academy follow Cannes and give documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 another surprise win? My guess would be not, the tenor of the times being what they are. But then, as Team America - featured on page 18 of this issue - cheekily points out, Hollywood is still the most liberal state in the union.
The other possible first in 2005 might be for a foreign-language film to head the bunch, with three Spanish-language titles vying with Jeunet’s film to be the first non-English-speaking Best Picture. To date, there have been only four foreign-language films - Z (1969), Fanny and Alexander (1983), Life Is Beautiful (1998) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) - which have won in the ‘main’ Oscars, with Robert Benigni’s Best Actor the highest award yet achieved.
This year, Pedro Almodóvar is, as always, a strong contender, though some of the scenes in Bad Education (La mala educación) may prove a little strong for Academy voters. But Almodóvar has competition in the Best Picture category from Alejandro Amenábar, who has already edged him out of the Spanish Best Foreign-Language Film contender slot with The Sea Inside (Mar adentro), a film which, if it had been made in Hollywood, would almost certainly be up there in the top five. And then there’s The Motorcycle Diaries, which has Focus Features tuning up its Awards campaign (the other two films have Sony Pictures Classics and New Line respectively, with Warner Bros - whose French arm co-produced the film - going to bat for A Very Long Engagement).
Also in with a good chance is Mike Leigh’s Venice winner, Vera Drake, with New Line again providing the campaign muscle. Leigh has had three previous Oscar nominations: two for Secrets and Lies (nominated for both Best Film and Best Screenplay) and Best Screenplay for Topsy-Turvy, plus BAFTA nominations for the same two films.
Outsiders could include Marc Forster’s Finding Neverland; Michael Mann’s Collateral; Jonathan Glazer’s controversial Birth; and Bill Condon - who won a screenwriting Oscar for Gods and Monsters and got another writing nomination for Chicago - with his latest, Kinsey (see page 42). And, last but not least, there is another ‘Venice’ film: British director Michael Radford’s The Merchant of Venice, with Al Pacino as Shylock.
Clint Eastwood is, of course, an awards-race perennial. The release of his latest, Million Dollar Baby, has been brought forward to qualify in what some have been saying was previously a race with no obvious front-runners. And then there is Taylor Hackford’s Ray Charles biopic, Ray, which has all the credentials to be a strong contender.
In the final sprint for the Golden Globes, the runners are likely to be very much the same. But, given that those awards split the main category in two - drama; and comedy and musical - there are a few more titles to take into account. Christmas treat The Polar Express (featured on page 2 of this issue), wry comedy Sideways (page 51) and comedy/fantasy The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou - starring last year’s Oscar runner-up and BAFTA and Golden-Globe winner Bill Murray - are all in with a chance.
Then there is a trio of comedies - the Jim Carrey seasonal blockbuster Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events; sequel Meet the Fockers; and James L Brooks’ Spanglish - plus animated duo Shrek 2 and The Incredibles.
On the musical front, finally, one title could well dwarf all the others: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera (see preceding pages), which looks almost certain to find a place in every big race this coming awards season.
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