Woody Allen & Martin Scorsese DGA Award Nods +Canine Getting BAFTA Nod?

The Artist‘s Michel Hazanavicius is the only first-timer among the five nominated directors for the 2012 Directors Guild of America Awards. Hazanavicius’ competition consists of Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris, David Fincher for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Alexander Payne for The Descendants and Martin Scorsese for Hugo.

This marks Woody Allen’s fifth DGA Award nomination, following Annie Hall (1977), Manhattan (1979), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). He won for Annie Hall. Curiously, Allen failed to receive a matching Academy Award nomination for Manhattan, one of his most prestigious efforts.

David Fincher has been nominated twice before, for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and The Social Network (2010). Fincher was the favorite to win for the latter film, but surprisingly lost to Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech. Hooper also went on to win last year’s Academy Award. Somewhat ironically, Fincher’s inclusion among the top five DGA nominees this year was a moderate surprise. Most were probably expecting Steven Spielberg for War Horse, Tate Taylor for The Help, or perhaps even Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life.

Alexander Payne has one previous DGA Award nomination, for Sideways, while Martin Scorsese has seven previous DGA nods in the motion picture category: Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), and The Departed (2006). Scorsese finally won for one of his lesser effort, The Departed. Twice he failed to receive matching Best Director Oscar nods: for Taxi Driver and The Age of Innocence.

In addition to Spielberg, Taylor, and Malick, among those left out of the DGA Award roster were Stephen Daldry (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close), Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive), Bennett Miller (Moneyball), Tomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Clint Eastwood (J. Edgar), Jason Reitman (Young Adult), and David Yates (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2).

Considering that this is the DGA, whose members tend to opt for more commercial, mainstream fare, I don’t believe anyone in his/her right mind was expecting a nomination for, say, Lars von Trier (Melancholia), Asghar Farhadi (A Separation), Roman Polanski (Carnage), Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin), or Steve McQueen (Shame). Or for relatively little-seen “smaller” efforts directed by Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter), Simon Curtis (My Week with Marilyn), Kenneth Lonergan (Margaret), and Mike Mills (Beginners).

Michel Hazanavicius/The Artist photo: The Weinstein Company.

‘The Artist’ Dog Star Uggie: Bafta Nominee?

Recently, we’ve been fed the b.s. story about Rin Tin Tin being the actual first Best Actor Academy Award winner. Now comes another canine story, this one starring Uggie, the four-legged scene-stealer in Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist. We’re told that Uggie could have been a contender for the British Academy of Film and Television Awards – the BAFTAs – in the Best Supporting Actor category. Could is the word, as The Artist‘s UK-based publicity firm Premiere PR has recently sent the following information to the British Academy members:

“We have received a number of inquiries regarding the eligibility of Uggie, the Jack Russell, in the role of ‘DOG’ for Actor in a Supporting Role in The Artist. Regretfully, we must advise that as he is not a human being and as his unique motivation as an actor was sausages, Uggie is not qualified to compete for the BAFTA in this category. We thank you on his behalf for your support and will pass your compliments along to him.”

I should add that Uggie hasn’t been included in the BAFTA longlist for Best Supporting Actor. Perhaps because he isn’t a Hollywood star, as BAFTA voters clearly love Hollywood celebrities much more than they love dogs.

Now, according to one blogger who went to a Los Angeles screening of The Artist, Uggie was in attendance, “shivering and scared.” [Update: I’d initially remarked that “treating a dog that way is something that definitely doesn’t merit any awards.” Now, Uggie is 10 years old and according to Premiere PR’s Liz Miller, he trembles even in his sleep. Miller adds that “his owner/trainer, Omar, clearly loves Uggie and would never allow him to suffer in any way.” Please check out her comment below.]

Premiere PR quote via Variety

Jean Dujardin/Uggie/The Artist photo: The Weinstein Company.

‘Simon and the Oaks’ Tops Swedish Oscar Nominations: Guldbagge Awards

Best film
Apflickorna / She Monkeys Prod.: Helene Lindholm
Play Prod.: Erik Hemmendorff
Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks Prod.: Christer Nilson, Per Holst

Best Foreign Language Film
Kynodontas / Dogtooth Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Jodaeiye Nader az Simin / A Separation Director: Asghar Farhadi
Winter’s Bone Director: Debra Granik

Best Director
Lisa Aschan for Apflickorna / She Monkeys
Lisa Ohlin for Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks
Ruben Östlund for Play

Best actress in a leading role
Ann Petrén for her role as Jonna in Happy End
Magdalena Poplawska for her role as Marta in Between 2 Fires
Helen Sjöholm for her role as Karin Larsson in Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks

Best actor in a leading role
Mikael Persbrandt for his role as Johan in Stockholm Östra / Stockholm East
Sven-Bertil Taube for his role as George in En enkel till Antibes / A One-way to Antibes
Kevin Vaz for his role as Kevin in Play

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Helena Bergström for her role as Anneli in Någon annanstans i Sverige / Somewhere Else
Liv Mjönes for her role as Frida in Kyss mig / With Every Hearbeat
Cecilia Nilsson for her role as Inga in Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Peter Andersson for his role as Mårten in Happy End
Jan Josef Liefers for his role as Ruben Lentov in Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks
Johan Widerberg for his role as Asger in Happy End

Best Screenplay
Josefine Adolfsson and Lisa Aschan for their script for Apflickorna / She Monkeys
Pernilla Oljelund for her script for Stockholm Östra / Stockholm East
Ruben Östlund for his script for Play

Best Cinematography
Marius Dybwad Brandrud for his cinematography in Play
Per Källberg for his cinematography in Stockholm Östra /Stockholm East
Dan Lausten for his cinematography in Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks

Best editing
Jacob Schulsinger for editing Play
Michal Leszczylowski and Kasper Leick for editing Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks
Göran Hugo Olsson and Hanna Lejonqvist for editing The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975

Best costume
Moa Li Lemhagen Schalin for the costumes in Kronjuvelerna / The Crown Jewels
Pia Aleborg for the costumes in Play
Katja Watkins for the costumes in Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks

Best sound
Andreas Franck for the sound in Apflickorna / She Monkeys
Per Hallberg and Daniel Saxlid for the sound in Försvunnen / Gone
Jason Luke for the sound in Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks

Best make up
Anna-Lena Melin for the make up in Gränsen / Beyond the Border
Sara Klänge for the make up in Kronjuvelerna / The Crown Jewels
Linda Boije af Gennäs for the make up in Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks

Best music
Fredrik Emilson for the music in Kronjuvelerna / The Crown Jewels
Annette Focks for the music in Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks
Ahmir Questlove Thompson and Om’Mas Keith for the music in The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975

Best set design
Roger Rosenberg for the set design in Kronjuvelerna / The Crown Jewels
Anders Engelbrecht, Lena Selander and Folke Strömbäck for the set design in Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks
Cian Bornebusch for the set design in The Stig-Helmer Story

Best visual effects
Johan Harnesk for the visual effects in Gränsen / Beyond the Border
Håkan Blomdahl and Tor-Björn Olsson for the visual effects in Kronjuvelerna / The Crown Jewels
Marcus B. Brodersen and Lars-Eric Hansen for the visual effects in Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks

Best Short film
Las Palmas Director: Johannes Nyholm
No Sex Just Understand Director: Mariken Halle
Utan snö / Without Snow Director: Magnus von Horn

Best Documentary Film
At Night I Fly Director: Michel Wenzer
Stora Scenen / Big Scene Director: Tova Mozard
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 Director: Göran Hugo Olsson

Simon and the Oaks photo: Asta Film

Eddie Redmayne, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Kristen Wiig: BAFTA Longlist Contenders

Leading Actor
Antonio Banderas (Robert Ledgard) – The Skin I Live In
Brad Pitt (Billy Beane) – Moneyball*
Brendan Gleeson (Gerry Boyle) – The Guard
Daniel Craig (Mikael Blomkvist) – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Eddie Redmayne (Colin Clark) – My Week with Marilyn
Gary Oldman (George Smiley) – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy*
George Clooney (Matt King) – The Descendants*
Jean Dujardin (George Valentin) – The Artist*
Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar Hoover) – J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender (Brandon) – Shame*
Owen Wilson (Gil) – Midnight in Paris
Peter Mullan (Joseph) – Tyrannosaur
Ralph Fiennes (Caius Martius Coriolanus) – Coriolanus
Ryan Gosling (Driver) – Drive
Ryan Gosling (Stephen Meyers) – The Ides of March

Leading Actress
Bérénice Bejo (Peppy Miller) – The Artist*
Carey Mulligan (Sissy) – Shame
Charlize Theron (Mavis Gary) – Young Adult
Emma Stone (Skeeter Phelan) – The Help
Helen Mirren (Rachel Singer) – The Debt
Jodie Foster (Penelope Longstreet) – Carnage
Kate Winslet (Nancy Cowan) – Carnage
Kristen Wiig (Annie) – Bridesmaids
Meryl Streep (Margaret Thatcher) – The Iron Lady*
Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre) – Jane Eyre
Michelle Williams (Marilyn Monroe) – My Week with Marilyn*
Olivia Colman (Hannah) – Tyrannosaur
Rooney Mara (Lisbeth Salander) – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Tilda Swinton (Eva) – We Need to Talk About Kevin*
Viola Davis (Aibileen Clark) – The Help*

Supporting Actor
Alan Rickman (Prof. Severus Snape) – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Albert Brooks (Bernie Rose) – Drive
Ben Kingsley (George Méliès) – Hugo
Benedict Cumberbatch (Peter Guillam) – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Christopher Plummer (Hal) – Beginners*
Colin Firth (Bill Haydon) – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Eddie Marsan (James) – Tyrannosaur*
Ezra Miller (Kevin – Teenager) – We Need to Talk About Kevin
George Clooney (Mike Morris) – The Ides of March
Jim Broadbent (Denis Thatcher) – The Iron Lady
John Hurt (Control) – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Jonah Hill (Peter Brand) – Moneyball*
Kenneth Branagh (Sir Laurence Olivier) – My Week with Marilyn*
Paul Giamatti (Tom Duffy) – The Ides of March
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Paul Zara) – The Ides of March*

Supporting Actress
Alexandra Roach (Young Margaret Thatcher) – The Iron Lady
Bryce Dallas Howard (Hilly Holbrook) – The Help*
Carey Mulligan (Irene) – Drive
Emily Watson (Rosie Narracott) – War Horse
Evan Rachel Wood (Molly Steams) – The Ides of March
Jessica Chastain (Celia Foote) – The Help*
Judi Dench (Dame Sybil Thorndike) – My Week with Marilyn*
Kathy Bates (Gertrude Stein) – Midnight in Paris
Kathy Burke (Connie Sachs) – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Marion Cotillard (Adriana) – Midnight in Paris
Melissa McCarthy (Megan) – Bridesmaids*
Octavia Spencer (Minny Jackson) – The Help*
Olivia Colman (Carol Thatcher) – The Iron Lady
Shailene Woodley (Alexandra King) – The Descendants
Zoe Wanamaker (Paula Strasberg) – My Week with Marilyn*

Director
The Artist*
The Descendants
Drive*
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Help
Hugo*
The Ides of March
The Iron Lady
J. Edgar
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
My Week with Marilyn
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy*
War Horse
We Need to Talk About Kevin*

Original Screenplay
50/50
Anonymous
Arthur Christmas
The Artist*
Beginners
Bridesmaids*
The Guard*
The Iron Lady
J. Edgar
Midnight in Paris*
Senna
Shame
Super 8
Tyrannosaur
Young Adult*

Adapted Screenplay
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
Coriolanus
The Descendants*
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
The Help*
Hugo
The Ides of March*
Jane Eyre
Moneyball*
My Week with Marilyn
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy*
War Horse
We Need to Talk About Kevin

Documentary
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Life in a Day
Pina
Project Nim
Senna

Animated Film
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn*
Arthur Christmas*
Gnomeo and Juliet
Puss in Boots
Rango*

Editing
The Artist*
The Descendants
Drive*
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hugo*
The Ides of March
The Iron Lady
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
My Week with Marilyn
Senna*
Tinker Tailor Solider Spy*
War Horse
We Need to Talk About Kevin

My Week with Marilyn image: Laurence Cendrowicz / The Weinstein Company

‘The Interrupters’ & Frederick Wiseman Censored Classic ‘Titicut Follies’: Cinema Eye Honors

Steve James’ The Interrupters topped the 2012 Cinema Eye Honors announced earlier this evening. The Interrupters received honors as Best Nonfiction Film and for Best Director, a first in the organization’s five-year history.

Despite generally positive reviews and several US-based critics’ awards, The Interrupters is not in the running for the 2012 Oscars. Curiously, seventeen years ago the absence of James’ Hoop Dreams from the list of Academy Award nominees sparked a furor against the Academy’s Documentary Branch.

“Tonight, I don’t care about the Oscars!” James exclaimed while accepting his award from Michael Moore, the Academy’s current Documentary Branch governor. Moore recently came up with new (and somewhat controversial) rules that are intended to open up the selection of semi-finalists and nominees for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar.

Among this year’s other Cinema Eye Honor winners were Cindy Meehl’s Buck, which took home the Audience Choice Prize; Wim Wenders’ Pina, winner of the Outstanding Achievement in Production Award (Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel) and Germany’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film; and Asif Kapadia’s Senna, winner for Outstanding Achievement in Editing (Gregers Sall and Chris King) and another widely praised documentary that failed to be included among the Academy’s semi-finalists.

One Cinema Eye Honors curiosity is the Heterodox Award, given to “a narrative film that imaginatively incorporates nonfiction strategies, content and/or modes of production.” This year’s winner was Mike Mills’ Beginners, starring Ewan McGregor and (potential Best Supporting Actor contender) Christopher Plummer as son and gay father, and which was based on Mills’ relationship with his own father.

The Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking went to Tim Hetherington’s combat documentary Diary, which has also been bypassed by the Academy. The 41-year-old Hetherington died in April 2011 while covering the Libyan civil war.

Frederick Wiseman’s 1967 Titicut Follies, a harrowing peek into a Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Correctional Institution for the mentally ill was named the winner of the Legacy Award. Purportedly due to “privacy concerns” – and the government of Massachusetts’ successful censorship initiative – Titicut Follies was banned in the United States until 1992. (In 1948, Olivia de Havilland earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Anatole Litvak’s similarly themed – but much sentimentalized – narrative melodrama The Snake Pit.)

Steve James’ quote via Steve Pond’s article in TheWrap

Titicut Follies photo: Zipporah Films

Scripter Awards: ‘A Dangerous Method’ & ‘The Descendants’ Among Nominees

The 2012 finalists for the USC Scripter Awards, honoring both screenwriters and the original authors of adapted screenplays, are the following:

• Christopher Hampton for A Dangerous Method, adapted from John Kerr’s nonfiction book A Most Dangerous Method: The Story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein and Hampton’s own 2002 stage play The Talking Cure;
• Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash for The Descendants, adapted from Kaui Hart Hemmings’ novel (itself an expansion of her short story “The Minor Wars”);
• Moira Buffini for Jane Eyre, adapted from Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel;
• Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, and Stan Chervin for Moneyball, from Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game;
• Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan for their adaptation of John le Carré’s thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Notably absent from the Scripter Award shortlist are Steven Spielberg’s War Horse (adapted by Lee Hall and, more surprisingly, Richard Curtis from Michael Morpurgo’s novel) and Martin Scorsese’s Hugo (adapted by John Logan from Brian Selznick book).

Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin are past Scripter winners, while Alexander Payne, Christopher Hampton, and John le Carré are all former Scripter finalists. Zaillian won in 1991, 1994, and 1999 for, respectively, Penny Marshall’s Awakenings, Steven Spielberg’s Best Picture Oscar winner Schindler’s List, and the Zaillian-directed A Civil Action. Additionally, in 2008 Zaillian was the first recipient of the Scripter Literary Achievement Award.

Sorkin won the Scripter award in 2011 for David Fincher’s The Social Network. Payne has been a Scripter finalist for his work on About Schmidt (2002) and Sideways (2004). Hampton was nominated for Carrington (1995) and Atonement (2007). Le Carré was in the running for The Constant Gardener (2005).

Directed by David Cronenberg, A Dangerous Method stars Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen, and Keira Knightley. Directed by Alexander Payne, The Descendants stars George Clooney and Shailene Woodley. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, Jane Eyre stars Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska. Directed by Bennett Miller, Moneyball features Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Robin Wright. Directed by Tomas Alfredson, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy stars Gary Oldman.

Co-chaired by Golden Globe-winning screenwriter Naomi Foner (Running on Empty, Bee Season) and USC screenwriting professor and vice president of the Writers Guild of America, West, Howard Rodman, the 32-member Scripter selection committee – which includes the likes of Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan, and screenwriters Eric Roth, Geoffrey Fletcher, Tom Schulman, Gale Anne Hurd, and Wesley Strick – picked the five finalists out of a record 109 eligible films.

The winning writers and screenwriters will be announced on Saturday, Feb. 18, in the historic Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library on the USC campus. Academy Award winners Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford will return as honorary dinner chairs.

Also at the Scripter ceremony, former winner Paul Haggis ( for the Clint Eastwood-directed Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby) will be handed the 2012 USC Scripter Literary Achievement Award. In addition to Million Dollar Baby, Haggis has written or co-written The Last Kiss (2003), the Iraq War drama In the Valley of Elah (2007), the critical and commercial dud The Next Three Days (2010), and the two James Bond films starring Daniel Craig, Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008). Haggis has also penned the story for the highly popular videogame Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Viggo Mortensen A Dangerous Method movie image: Liam Daniel | Sony Pictures Classics