César Awards 2007: Michèle Morgan Homage

César 2007 Winners: Part I
In spite of its nine nods, Days of Glory was another sentimental favorite that failed to receive much love from French Academy members. The war drama won only one César — for best original screenplay (Rachid Bouchareb and Olivier Lorelle). Days of Glory, about North African soldiers who fought for France during World War II, is up for a best foreign-language film Oscar. In addition, the war drama won an ensemble best actor award at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Karl Zéro and Michel Royer’s Dans la peau de Jacques Chirac / Inside the Skin of Jacques Chirac, a mockumentary about the opportunistic French president and his four-decade political life, became the first documentary feature to win [...]

César 2007

2007 César Awards
French Academy of Arts and Sciences’ 2007 César du Cinéma nominations: January 26, 2007
2007 César du Cinéma winners: Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, on February 24, 2007. Valérie Lemercier was the hostess.
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Marina Hands, Jean-Louis Coulloc’h in Lady Chatterley
 

Best French Film / Meilleur film français
Indigènes / Days of Glory Rachid Bouchareb
Je vais bien, ne t’en fais pas / Don’t Worry, I’m Fine Philippe Lioret
* Lady Chatterley Pascale Ferran
Ne le dis à personne / Tell No One Guillaume Canet
Quand j’étais chanteur / The Singer Xavier Giannoli
Best Foreign Film / Meilleur film étranger
Babel Alejandro González Iñárritu
* Little Miss Sunshine Jonathan Dayton, Valérie Faris
Brokeback Mountain Ang Lee
The Queen Stephen Frears
Volver Pedro Almodóvar
Best First Film [...]

Writers Guild Awards 2007

2007 WGA Awards
2007 Writers Guild of America Award television and radio nominations: December 13, 2006; motion picture nominations: January 11, 2007
2007 WGA Award winners: Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and at the Hudson Theater in the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York on February 11, 2007
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Abigail Breslin, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear in Little Miss Sunshine (top); Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson in The Departed (bottom)
 

FEATURES
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Babel, Written by Guillermo Arriaga, Paramount Vantage
* Little Miss Sunshine, Written by Michael Arndt, Fox Searchlight Pictures
The Queen, Written by Peter Morgan, Miramax Films
Stranger Than Fiction, Written by Zach Helm, Sony Pictures Entertainment
United 93, Written by Paul Greengrass, Universal Pictures
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Borat: Cultural [...]

BAFTA 2007 Award Winners

Helen Mirren in The Queen (top); Forest Whitaker in The Last King of England (bottom)

Perhaps there’s something I’m missing here, but the Orange British Academy of Film and Television Arts has decided that Kevin Macdonald’s The Last King of Scotland is the outstanding British film of 2006, coming out ahead of United 93, Notes on a Scandal, Casino Royale, and Stephen Frears‘ The Queen. Yet, that very same Orange Academy has picked The Queen as the best film of the year, defeating Little Miss Sunshine, Babel, The Departed, and … The Last King of Scotland. Go figure.
There were few surprises at the 2007 Bafta ceremony held at London’s Royal Opera House this evening, unless one considers a Helen Mirren victory [...]

Irish Film Awards 2007

2007 Irish Film & Television Academy Awards
2007 Irish Film Award Nominations
2007 Irish Film Award Winners: Royal Dublin Society on February 9, 2007
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley
 

AWARDS IN FILM

Best Film
Breakfast on Pluto (Parallel Film Productions Ltd.)
The Front Line (Wide Eye Films)
Middletown (Chapter Four)
Small Engine Repair (Subotica Entertainment)
* The Wind That Shakes the Barley (Sixteen Films & Element Films)
Best International Film
Babel (Paramount Pictures)
Casino Royale (Sony Pictures)
The Departed (Entertainment Films)
* Little Miss Sunshine (20th Century Fox)
United 93 (Universal Pictures)
Best Director
John Boorman – The Tiger’s Tail (Merlin Films)
David Gleeson – The Front Line (Wide Eye Films)
* Neil Jordan – Breakfast on Pluto (Parallel Film Productions Ltd.)
Brian Kirk – Middletown (Chapter Four)
Best [...]

Sharon Stone, Isaiah Washington, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, and Gay Slurs

Sharon Stone does a brief zen meditation session on the set of Basic Instinct 2 while trying to uncover the elusive difference between fag and faggot.

See, it’s all about Got.
No, God has absolutely nothing to do with anything. I wrote Got. Just follow me.
Exhibit A:
When Alan Arkin’s heroin-addicted grandpa tells Steve Carell’s wimpy, sexless gay amoeba to go get himself a “fag rag,” the audience at the industry screening where I saw the weather-beaten Little Miss Sunshine pissed in their pants laughing. (You could actually smell the stench.)
Little Miss Sunshine has gone on to win the Producers Guild Award for best picture of 2006; it has won numerous critics’ awards for Michael Arndt’s screenplay, and it has received four [...]

SAG Awards 2007 Winners

Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland (top); Helen Mirren in The Queen (bottom)

The 2007 SAG Award winners were announced on Sunday, Jan. 28.
Pretty much everybody that was expected to win won, from Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker to Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons. (Mirren I won for The Queen; Mirren II for the TV production Queen Elizabeth I.)
Little Miss Sunshine was the equally unsurprising best ensemble winner. Following on the heels of its Producers Guild Award victory, the low-budget feel-good comedy of the year is now considered the front-runner for the 2007 Academy Awards.
The problem with that prediction, however, is that Little Miss Sunshine failed to get a best direction [...]

SAG Awards 2007

2007 SAG Awards
2007 SAG Award nominations: January 4, 2007
2007 SAG Award winners: Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center on January 28, 2007
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

 

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Leonardo DiCaprio / BLOOD DIAMOND — Archer, Warner Bros. Pictures
Ryan Gosling / Half Nelson — Dan Dunne, THINKFilm
Peter O’Toole / VENUS — Maurice, Miramax Films
Will Smith / THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS — Chris Gardner, Sony Pictures
* Forest Whitaker / THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND — Idi Amin, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Penélope Cruz / VOLVER — Raimunda, Sony Pictures Classics
Judi Dench / Notes on a Scandal — Barbara Covett, Fox Searchlight Pictures
* Helen Mirren [...]

Oscar 2007: Nominated Producers

Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, Paul Dano, Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear in Little Miss Sunshine

Not everyone will fit into the 2007 Academy Award’s van.
The Academy’s Producers Branch Executive Committee has announced the final roster of producers nominated in this year’s Best Picture category. They are:

Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jon Kilik and Steve Golin for Babel
Graham King for The Departed
Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, and Robert Lorenz for Letters from Iwo Jima
David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf and Marc Turtletaub for Little Miss Sunshine
Andy Harries, Christine Langan and Tracey Seaward for The Queen

The nominees for The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine were determined by the executive committee at a meeting held yesterday evening.
Even though up to three producers can [...]

2007 Producers Guild Award Winners

Little Miss Sunshine was the surprise feature-film winner at the 2007 Producers Guild Awards.
The (superficially) offbeat family comedy directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, and written by Michael Arndt has also been nominated for the Directors Guild Award and for the Screen Actors Guild Award for best ensemble, which includes Alan Arkin, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, and Abigail Breslin (above, in red).
Five individuals — Marc Turtletaub, David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, Albert Berger, and Ron Yerxa – were considered the official producers of the film. That will probably give the Academy some grief when Little Miss Sunshine receives its inevitable Oscar nomination for best picture next Tuesday. Academy rules allow only three producers to be credited [...]

Producers Guild Awards 2007

2007 Producers Guild Awards
2007 Producers Guild of America episodic television nominees: December 5, 2006. Feature-film and long-form television nominees: January 3, 2007
Producers Guild’s 2007 Golden Laurel winners: Los Angeles on January 20, 2007
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Abigail Breslin, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear in Little Miss Sunshine
 

The Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures
BABEL (Paramount Vantage)
Alejandro González Iñárritu
Steve Golin
Jon Kilik
THE DEPARTED (Warner Bros.)
Graham King
DREAMGIRLS (Dreamworks SKG/Paramount Pictures)
Laurence Mark
* LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (Fox Searchlight)
Marc Turtletaub
David T. Friendly
Peter Saraf
Albert Berger & Ron Yerxa
THE QUEEN (Miramax Films)
Andy Harries
Christine Langan
Tracey Seaward
 
The Producers Guild of America Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures
* CARS (Walt Disney [...]

Critics’ Choice Awards 2007

2007 Critics’ Choice Awards
2007 Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics’ Choice Awards nominations: December 12, 2006
2007 Critics’ Choice Awards winners: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on January 12, 2007
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon in The Departed
 

BEST FILM:
Babel
Blood Diamond
* The Departed
Dreamgirls
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Children
Little Miss Sunshine
Notes on a Scandal
The Queen
United 93
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Apocalypto
Days of Glory
* Letters from Iwo Jima
Pan’s Labyrinth
Volver
Water
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
* An Inconvenient Truth
Shut Up & Sing
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Who Killed the Electric Car?
Wordplay
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:
* Cars
Flushed Away
Happy Feet
Monster House
Over the Hedge
BEST DIRECTOR:
Bill Condon – Dreamgirls
Clint Eastwood – Letters from Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears – The Queen
Paul Greengrass – United 93
* Martin Scorsese – The Departed
BEST ACTOR:
Leonardo DiCaprio – Blood Diamond
Leonardo DiCaprio [...]

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE – Awards and Nominations

Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine

Unless otherwise stated, all Little Miss Sunshine awards/nominations are for the year 2006.

Academy Awards: 4 nominations (best film; best supporting actor, Alan Arkin; best supporting actress, Abigail Breslin; best original screenplay, Michael Arndt)
American Cinema Editors: 1 nomination (best edited feature film, comedy or musical, Pamela Martin)
British Academy Awards: 2 wins (best supporting actor, Alan Arkin; best original screenplay, Michael Arndt)

4 additional nominations (best film; best directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris; best supporting actress, Abigail Breslin; best supporting actress, Toni Collette)

Broadcast Film Critics Association: 4 wins (best acting ensemble; best writing, Michael Arndt; best young actor, Paul Dano; best young actress, Abigail Breslin)

3 additional [...]

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE d: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Direction: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Screenplay: Michael Arndt
Cast: Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, Paul Dano
 

More often than not, the term "independent film" merely indicates that an American production has received its financing from sources outside — or somewhere in the outskirts of — the Hollywood studio system. Only sporadically does the label "independent film" refer to edgy, challenging, and/or unconventional filmmaking.
Instead, "independent filmmakers" usually concoct storylines as conventional as those being churned out by the studios, probably in the hopes of selling their screenplays (or finished films) to a major distributor. Considering the amount of money involved, who can blame them? All they need is to wrap their films’ cliché-ridden core [...]