Catching Up: Oscar Buzz & Blunders, Festival Debuts & Misses
Sunday, September 9, 2012 at 3:00PM Deep breaths. Deep breaths.
Fall Film Season is upon us. And with it the 0 to 60 Oscar buzz. Even if you're blessed enough to have the means to jetset from Telluride to Venice to Toronto to New York, chances are you can't keep up with it all. I know I haven't been able to while juggling other demands. Before I fly up to Toronto on Wednesday for the last heady days of TIFF, I should do my best to catch up on the buzz and update those dusty Oscar charts. They're not yet a month old but.... 0 to 60, you know. The movies are upon us!
BUT FIRST LET ME VENT...
So, they announced the winners of the honorary Oscars this week and as per usual, they've demonstrated their complete lack of respect for Actresses. There are so many fine actresses who never won Oscars who are still alive and yet year after year they ignore all of them to honor various men. I don't mean to take anything away from this year's talented recipients who all deserve a congratulatory round of applause (mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, stuntman Hal Needham, documentarian D. A. Pennebaker, arts advocate George Stevens, Jr.) it's just that the pattern is obvious and concerning.
Worse yet, when AMPAS does honor a woman, it's someone without a rich acting background (Hi, Oprah Winfrey). By the time this year's Oscars have wrapped, for a twenty year stretch from 1993 through 2012, thirty-eight people will have been given honorary Oscars or Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Awards and there are only three women among them (Deborah Kerr, Lauren Bacall, Oprah Winfrey). Oscar has a very real problem with women so if living screen giants like Maureen O'Hara, Doris Day, Catherine Deneuve, Mia Farrow, Eleanor Parker, Angela Lansbury, Gena Rowlands and other classic actresses ever want an Honorary prize, they might want to look into sex change operations or at least a tuxedo rental. Exasperating!
Now on to movies people have talking about...
ANNA KARENINA
I'm still wondering how The Soloist ever happened given director Joe Wright's preference for lead actresses and risk-taking. I'm fairly confident that if his creativity didn't lean so far into flamboyant theatricality and if it weren't so feminine in narrative and concern, that he'd be a major critical darling. Reviews of Anna Karenina are such (pros, mixed, cons) that I'm confident that we don't know the Oscar outcome as of yet. This one will take some time to settle though it's surely already cast its sharp gleaming eyes on the Moulin Rouge! eye candy trophies (Art Direction & Costume Design)
ARGO
Telluride told the first tale here, which is this: We have a major Oscar contender on our hands. As I've said many times, Ben Affleck has been slowly amassing a deserved reputation as a quality director that will lead him to Best Director nominations in 1...2...3.... If he keeps this up he'll become as wildly overpraised as all A List actors who acquit themselves as directors (Redford, Gibson, Costner, Eastwood, etcetera)! Critics and audience members think they're above star worship when it comes to such things but the fever pitch of praise, Oscar favor, and "AUTEUR! AUTEUR!" mania whenever an actor succeeds behind the camera says otherwise. There's something about actors, the famous ones anyway, that makes people breathless. But I'm getting ahead of it. At this point, none of this has happened. Whether or not Argo will hit big with audiences once it's breathing air at lower altitudes (Movies which are about movie-making don't tend to become big hits) is another story that's not yet told. But if festival enthusiasm continues unabated into multiplexes, you're talking trophies and not just nominations. Audience Award for TIFF ???
THE COMPANY YOU KEEP
Speaking of Actors turned Directors... Robert Redford can generally create Oscar buzz just by announcing a film, not just for his reputation but for his taste in projects. He's definitely a traditional artist that fits easily into Oscar's wheelhouse. But his last three features have underperformed and received a total of 0 nominations among them (Lions for Lambs, The Conspirator, The Legend of Bagger Vance). He hasn't been a major player since Quiz Show (1994) but maybe it's just been a matter of execution?
CLOUD ATLAS
Julian made a case that we've all been underestimating this one a month ago and he might be right. The project sounded too ridiculous -- how do you adapt that book without a 9 hour movie? -- and the trailer, which we previously discussed, makes it look like an impossibly incoherent sentimental extravaganza, with no visual throughline and only the faces of Tom Hanks and Halle Berry to thread through its visual shifting. (Maybe I'm just allergic to Tom Hanks' pedantic staccato narration, emphasizing each. and. every. word. like. it's. holy. scrit.) But it's TIFF premiere fanned the flames of fanboyish fanaticism on Twitter. If the mainstream critics go just as gaga, Oscar traction seems likely... if not, maybe a few technical nods? Critical reaction is all over the place. Maybe I'm just allergic to Tom Hanks' pedantic staccato narration, emphasizing each. and. every. word. like. it's. scripture. But for what it's worth, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was impressed.
HYDE PARK ON HUDSON
When the festival reactions started a lot of people began crossing this one off the list on the grounds of "nothing special" and "stuffy" and the like. It's important to remember in these cases that certain films are natural fits for cinephile crowds (i.e. festivals) and other films are natural fits for Oscar voters. Some films overlap, some don't. There are plenty of "square" movies that do well with Oscar each and every year to count this one out just yet. Speaking very generally: Oscar likes British royalty porn, Oscar likes period pieces, Oscar likes bios, Oscar likes light easy-to-digest treatment of stories with "important" elements like world history, real people, etcetera. Why wouldn't they like this ? Unless of course the execution is way off or it just never catches fire in any way.
THE IMPOSSIBLE
I've barely mentioned this family survival / tsunami drama (apologies) but early word is strong, especially for the acting. Word has it that Ewan McGregor will aim for Supporting Actor and that the mother and son in the story (Naomi Watts & Tom Holland) will be looking for lead citations. Does this mean Ewan dies early? Noooooo. Regardless of Oscar traction, which may or may not come -- it's worth noting that no one involved is really an automatic draw with AMPAS voters -- I'm just pleased that Ewan McGregor's career is going so strong again. Someone give his manager a cookie. Hell, I'll bake them myself because we need this fine actor in our cinema. There's no one else quite like him.
THE MASTER
Did The Venice wins mark Paul Thomas Anderson's latest creation as Oscar bound or is this simply the inevitable: a master director now so embedded in the critical consciousness that each new film is an Event and treated with reverence? Auteur reverence isn't completely foreign to Oscar voters, but it just happens with different directors or in different degrees than it does with critics. Until I see the thing I'm cautiously assuming a few nods, no wins. It's hard to win Oscars strictly on genius.
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Just when I had let this sink a bit in my Oscar prediction charts audiences go wild for it at TIFF. Bonafide crowd pleaser (Please to note: Oscar is a crowd).
So apparently The Fighter was no fluke and David O. Russell is less of an acquired taste than he used to be and now a mainstream filmmaker who knows how to work an ensemble for maximum effect. FWIW since it's only one voice, I also heard from a friend who works in the industry who'd seen it and he was disappointed in how commercial it was, and that Our Jacki Weaver has virtually nothing to do.
OSCAR CHARTS in progress...
completed updates: picture, director, actress, supporting actress, screeenplays, animated film and foreign film
What do you make of all the festival buzz flying about? Do you take it seriously or are you waiting until opening weekend when consensus finally forms?
Reader Comments (36)
Those Honorary Oscar winners (not to dimish their contributions to cinema) are so uninspired. For the first time I'm glad they won't be on the telecast.
I wish they'd move them back to the show and be a little creative with them. I agree 100% with your point about actresses and women. Anyone please! On top of that how about Michael Haneke? He's having a big year and he's never gonna win one competitively anyway. How about Producer/Writer Stan Lee? Is that too populist and tangential a choice? F*ck it, they're giving 'em to Oprah. It would be good TV.
The Academy is intent on trying to be relevant and ruining their reputation with stupid rules changes while doing so. Might as well have some fun with it.
Allow me to vent in agreement with you on another issue:
I feel, to some extent, incidental movie fans and a few critics don't know what to do with Joe Wright and I'm a big fan of the man so that becomes something of a bugbear for me. I've heard only recently someone disparagingly refer to him as an imitator of Ivory which pissed me off both because it was said with in that belittling way to suggest that Ivory wasn't a good director to begin with (but the way Merchant Ivory has become synonymous with turgid costume dramas has been discussed ad nauseum, I suppose) AND because as much as I adore much of James Ivory work doing period dramas doesn't make Wright the same kind of director - but there's this knee-jerk disdain for period where it seems one can't possibly be an auteur and turn out continuous period work.
Which makes your "if it weren't so feminine in narrative and concern" comment something to ponder on. Perhaps it's not (just) the period focus but the FEMININE period focus which makes him so easily written off by the powers that be.
(Incidentally, though still being the odd one out in Wright's oeuvre THE SOLOIST is a good film. The cold response to it was something of a head-scratcher to me - especially since it features probably my favourite Downy performances of the post 2000 era and easily my favourite Fox performance.)
I find it so bizarre that Angela hasn't maanged an Honorary nod, and even more bizarre that no director/writer has scooped her up for a Grand Dame film role. She's obviously not headed into retirement soon.
I do think festival talk definitely plays a strong role -- in this regard, it appears The Master has solidified its position in the Oscar race. And I agree that festival crowds and Oscar voters don't often overlap -- which is why, like you, I'm not willing to write Hyde Park on Hudson completely off. But there's also the third rail in the Oscar race: the audience. Which film will break out and become an audience favorite? That's possibly where Silver Linings Playbook and The Impossible come into play.
The only thing I'm wishing for with all my heart is that Beasts of the Southern Wild is completely ignored by Oscar; that overrated piece of pretentious silliness deserves Razzies, not Oscars.
About Joe Wright, the man who can make a movie about a killer child exciting, fun, and visually and aurally stimulating to the point that the plot becomes secondary... That man can do no wrong in my eyes. Can't wait to see more of his work.
Isn't Angela Lansbury set to be in Wes Anderson's next film? Maybe that will net her Oscar glory at last.
Why would it take home nothing with Harvey backing it?
Now that Silver Linings is getting good reviews then I would say that Lawrence is most certainly a lock for some kind of nomination at the Academy, lead or supporting.
4rtful -- it's not like every weinstein movie wins Oscars!
I am not a woman, but I don't like the idea of costume dramas being something specifically feminine. Wright is not "feminine". He works within a genre that usually has movies starred by women, but that's not feminine. You can't find a feminine sensibility in his movies, like you can find in, let's say, Lynne Ramsay's Morvern Callar or Jane Campion's The Piano.
People usually say women's movies don't get enough recognition, but they are not truly women's movies. Women's movies are usually directed by women, and there is not a lot of female directors.
Anyway, most of the movies are not men's movies or women's movies only because they are starred by men or women. Most of the movies don't have a specific gender sensibility. I don't see anything specially feminine about Atonement or Pride and Prejudice, for example: their themes go way beyond gender-bound issues.
cal -- i 100% agree with you but I'm using the definition of "feminine" in the way it tends to be used, in the all encompassing binary thinking way of the world feminine vs masculine. my brain is tired or I could have explained this better.
but i'd like to hear what you define as a visible feminine sensibility in morvern callar or the piano (that you couldn't get in Wright's work) beyond the fact that people with vaginas directed the movies. i'm curious.
I'd say that your predictions are currently grossly underestimating ParaNorman (it's gotten some very strong notices and the (unfortunately small grossing) late August release could well be bolstered by the disc sales, especially if it's around Halloween), but are otherwise good. (If I were to hazard a guess, on top of Animated feature, in decreasing order of likelihood, it'd get, Art Direction (a Stop Motion pick is going to get this before a CGI one), Original Screenplay, Visual Effects (because we know this is mostly done with posed puppets, we also know that the final fifteen minutes are the equivalent of a CGI glob), Costume Design (If the category is going to be entirely about costume creation as opposed to, sometimes, perfectly chosen already stitched wardrobes, this would be a good way to say "hey, we honour modern work, we just don't honour work that doesn't involve costume creation"), Picture, Supporting Actor (John Goodman) (Mo-cap work is getting a nom before V/O work, even if the recording booth has been around longer and should have less stigma attached.)
Animated Feature:
As of now:
1. ParaNorman
2. Brave
3. Madagascar 3 ($611 million and 75% RT score, even if it is a third instalment.)
4. The Pirates! (Though the gross is low, at $120 million, the RT score is at 87% and it was just released on DVD.)
5. Arrietty (It's Ghibli. They toss fly balls in five wide fields.)
6. Hotel Transylvania (We don't know yet, but I doubt Genndy would agree to sign his name if it was total bilge.)
7. The Lorax (the reviews are mixed, yes, and it got a good gross, but unlike Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron or Jimmy Neutron, the problem is three fold: 1. This category is currently the highest profile and making a flub would stain the Academy worse than a bad Best Picture nomination. 2. There's some real vitriol toward the film, which will likely scare away those all important #1s. 3. The category is not in it's "experimental" stages in terms of quality.)
8. Wreck-It-Ralph (yes, it's Disney, but, unfortunately, you'll likely need to be younger than forty to get most of what's actually going to be going on in the film. That'll make #1s hard to come by among Academy members, even in the animation branch.)
9. Frankenweenie (I can't see Frankenweenie AND ParaNorman getting #1 votes. Also, I bet against Burton these days after the amount of duds he's produced.)
10. Rise of the Guardians. (Last time one of William Joyce's books was adapted, the result was Meet the Robinsons. Until the reviews come in, I'm betting this is #10.)
For example, a feminine point of view in terms of sexuality, in case of The Piano. You see both Hunter and Keitel naked but it seems to objectify HIM, not her. Ada is an absolutely sexually doinant in a way without being a fetish, a femme fatale or trophy, something like that. Not only she is sexually active but the movie seems to adopt her point of view.
I found the same in Morvern Callar is a less obvious way, but I could point the female bond between Morvern and her friend, for example, a friendship ful, of intimacy, touch, and a lot of things that you could never find in a man-man relationship without and label of homoeroticism. Of course I mean that in the movies: we, men, can be very close to other men without a sexual interest, but when you see that in the movies it always sounds funny.
One feminine thing I can find in Morvern Callar is that thing, the way women are so comfortable with one another without the fetishizing look of a gay man (In Almodóvar's pictures, for example, we can feel he is enjoying to see women talking and films them in a way they're sometimes overemphasizing the fact they are women! - I am not knocking Almodovar, I love him) or a straight man (Tarantino and that Death Proof movie...). They are just women, in a natural way.
I think the only male director that could make female-centered movies that sounded they were directed by a woman is Ingmar Bergman, but only sometimes. To this day I am not convinced a man wrote and directed Persona. As a man, I am used to see that most movies are masculine or neutral, but this one is absolutely alien in a way that only female directed movies about female issues are (because, of course, since most movies are masculine or neutral, I can easily see the difference).
Sherry Lansing also won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2006, so the number of winning women should increase to 4. It's still embarrassingly small, though.
Streep in 9th place on your Best Actress predictions???? Cannot even think of 8 performances this year topping her? Who are these top 5?
I can't wait to see Anna Karenina. It looks so Baz inspired! Baz would've probably done it if he would get off his ass sometime.
*still bitter about Gatsby being moved to 2013*
Why are you so down on "Amour". Do you think the Academy are in a "NO FOREIGN LANGUAGE MOVIES" phase? While I wouldn't go as hog wild over its prospects as Dave Poland or Kris Tapley (best picture!), but no ranking on the best director or original screenplay pages seems a bit... off.
Why do I feel like this year will see a picture/director split. Unless they go for ARGO in a big way, I can see Affleck or Anderson (or even Lee?) taking director with Les Mis (or Argo or Master or Lincoln or who knows) taking picture. Surely no way would they give Hooper two awards from two films, but I also can't see them truly embracing The Master or any of the others enough. Argo certainly seems like a good bet, but... but... ya know. It also doesn't.
It's really hard to see where the critics prizes will go, too, since as you mentioned there are more mainstream BIG titles in contention this year and fewer of the smaller titles that they sometimes prefer to embrace. I guess they'll mostly split between The Master and Beasts with a few errant wins to Amour, Argo and the like.
GAH WHO KNOWS?!?
Glenn -- the picture director thing was merely an oversight. I meant to add the film on both charts. I haven't updated the screenplay chart yet.
How are the Honorary winners uninspired? This is the first time ever they've acknowledged stunt work and documentary filmmaking in this field, no? I think this will do a lot more for the legacy of these recipients than that of any classic actress who is bound to be remembered anyway. It just seems weird to me that D.A. Pennebaker wins and instead of going "Wow, they decided to not go by name recognition and honor one of the pioneers of a more obscure but incredibly important branch of filmmaking, good on them" it's all "why couldn't it be an actress??"
I’m sure this year’s Honorary Oscar recipients are all deserving, but so are many other people, who have never been awarded and probably never will.
It’s not about who got the honor, but who didn’t get it. 9 female recipients in 85 years of Academy’s existence is simply shameful. It’s a common knowledge that an actress can say goodbye to her Hollywood career once she turns 40, after which the industry will throw her out as a used material, so I guess it’s only logical that the Academy doesn’t think that the greats like Doris Day, Angela Lansbury, Debbie Reynolds, Gena Rolwlands, etc. are worthy of an Honorary Oscar and would rather honor 4 white men year after year.
But women work in other fields as well, there are a lot of legendary female costume designers, make up artists, production designers, directors, editors who are more than deserving of such honor. By not awarding women with an Honorary Oscar year after year after year the Board of Governors sends a clear message: women’s contributions to the filmmaking world are not significant enough, whether your are an actress or an editor- you’re simply not worthy. It’s an outrageous situation and I’m surprise how it’s not an issue for the Academy or press.
It’s very telling that D.A. Pennebaker’s wife, collaborator and co-director Chris Hegedus, who has been working with him on every project since 1977 was not honored alongside his husband. To me it’s like honoring Joel Coen, but not Ethan.
Shame on them, really.
Add Sophia Loren to the list of honorary Oscar winners. In addition to her best actress award for TWO WOMEN, she was the recipient of an honorary one at the 1991 show. I think it's a sad reflection that there are so few women in this category, but would almost prefer that the Academy focus the spotlight on women other than actresses. The contributions of women in film extends to so many other areas. More actresses might perpetuate the myth that women are only there to be looked at. My first choice would have been Suso Cecchi D'Amico, The Italian screenwriter who helped create such masterpieces as THE BICYCLE THIEVES, THE LEOPARD, BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET, SALVATORE GIULIANO, BELLISSIMA, and ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS. Unfortunately she died in 2010 with only a nomination to her name (for Fellini's Casanova).
Rax -- i'm not objecting at all to the chosen recipients. I'm just saying THEY HAVE A PROBLEM. They almost never honor women so it's just an embarassingly sexist committee who chooses these things.
Will, it is just not true that they honor "four white men year after year". Oprah Winfrey, Lauren Bacall, James Earl Jones and Sherry Lansing have all been honored in the last few years. How can you just completely ignore that?
I'm on team Joe Wright too and I can't wait to see Anna Karenina.
I love how Hanna is winning more and more fans and it will end up as one of those movies for which, in time, the critics will say "yeah, we should've given that one higher scores".
Nathaniel - don't get me wrong. There have been too few female winners (I'm still disappointed they missed the boat on not honoring Dede Allen before she died), but I find it rather irritating that they decide to give attention to stunt work and docs for a change, and the first thing on everyone's mind is how they're disrespecting actresses? I think that is rather disrespectful to these less glamorous areas of filmmaking myself.
this is priceless :)
Maggie Smith on working with MacLaine
"She was a great shot in the arm for everybody," Smith said. "But when she talks about some of her stranger theories, you just listen. She told us in Santa Fe, there were UFOs up in the mountains and the bears were coming down to visit the local Starbucks as a result. I asked if they were all drinking green skinny lattes, but she never answered me.”
I agree about Gena Rowlands and Angela Lansbury. Don't make us beg!
Rex, Sherry Lansing and Oprah Winfrey were presented with Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award - it's not a lifetime achievement award. It's given for humanitarian effort and you can be 30 and get that prize.
Only 9 women were presented with an Honorary Oscar out of over 100 recipients - fact. They are: Greta Garbo (1955), Lillian Gish (1971), Mary Pickford (1976), editor Margaret Booth (1978), Barbara Stanwyck (1982), Myrna Loy (1991), Sophia Loren (1991), Deborah Kerr (1994), and Lauren Bacall (2009). This less than 10% of total amount of honorees. Since they've changed the format and moved the ceremony to a separate event in 2009 out of 11 Honorary Oscars given only one went to a woman (for the first time in 15 years) - fact.
Again, it's not about who was awarded, but who wasn't. Alright, Jeffrey Katzenberg got the Jean Hersholt, but I would argue that Doris Day and Mia Farrow deserve it more. They wanted to honor a character actor - fantastic, but why not to give it to the legendary Angela Lansbury, who with due all respect had a much longer and more significant film career than James Earl Jones. Don't think Debbie Reynolds deserve an Honorary Oscar for her film career? Fine, but her astonishing work by preserving Hollywood legacy with her memorabilia museum puts her at the very top of the list of most deserving candidates, in my book. D.A. Pennebaker is a great choice, but why not to award his wife along with him?
9 female recipients is a ridicules low number and I don't get how anyone can defend the Academy on this.
david, i was counting 20 years 1993-2012 so that's why i didn't include Sophia
I don't want to be a spoiled sport but Keira seems way too young to play Anna. I thought Garbo was brilliant in this part, and that grandiose movie really had a lot going for it. Not a huge fan of theatrical mise en scene in movies, but I'll keep an open mind. Although some of the bloggers are ripping this one to bits.
Yeah... Based on recent buzz and reviews....Linney,, Smith, and Knightley are all vulnerable sitting in those 5 slots...
Volvagia, I think you're grossly underestimating Rise of the Guardians and Wreck-It Ralph. The former is Dreamworks' big horse and looks stunning visually (which does count in this field) and the latter is by Disney, which will have a huge voting block too.
Also, Arrietty is not eligible in the category because it came out in Japan over a year ago.
Given that HARVEY W. is financing it's Northern release, I would recommend keeping an eye out for Deborah Mailman as Best Supporting Actress for THE SAPPHIRES. It's a crowd-pleasing film (it has certainly taken off in Australia) and, if you're looking for that unknown to put in your prediction charts (the Octavia Spencer of this year's charts) then I'd seriously consider her.
Except there's no way she's a supporting character. I don't think anybody would fall for that.
Oscars fall for that all the time. Given that (a.) she's an unknown and (b.) it's essentially an ensemble piece, I say she would almost definitely be pushed as Supporting.
For the predix, Nathaniel - I disagree with the Best Actress prediction. Like Jamie said, Smith and Knightley are vulnerable -Even when I understand Smith place-, but really Linney? After these kind of reviews? Sorry but I'm sure, even when Linney is respected enough, she won't be nominated this year and with that type of role, especially when Cotillard is having a new acclaim in TIFF, Oprah's support for Wallis and Streep's filler nom. Also Knightley would be, at best a filler nom with the recent response for AK and remember Knightley is still polarizing actress.
Wellington Sludge, maybe Mailman could be a surprise nominee. With Amy Adams being overshadowed by Phoenix-Hoffman acting and her short time, Redgrave's film's first reactions are lukewarm at best and Collins without a clear response, maybe Harvey wants another contender in the supporting actress category and Mailman is possible.
Except there's no way she's a supporting character. I don't think anybody would fall for that
Oh, Glenn, as if there's not category fraud almost every year. Please, for every Winslet we have Foxx, Gyllenhaal, Blanchett, Affleck, Steinfeld... They can sacrified Chris O'Dowd for only GG consideration and leave Mailman as a supporting actress
My September Predix:
ACTOR:
01. Joaquin Phoenix
02. Hugh Jackman
03. John Hawkes
04. Denzel Washington
05. Mads Mikkelsen - Wild Pick, but he's acclaimed with two excellent art house films in USA and UK and he's becoming an international star
-------------
ACTRESS:
01. Jennifer Lawrence
02. Quvenzhané Wallis
03. Marion Cotillard
04. Naomi Watts
05. Maggie Smith - Maybe Judi Dench could take her place
---------------------
SUPPORTING ACTOR:
01. Leonardo DiCaprio
02. Philip Seymour Hoffman
03. Alan Arkin
04. Ewan McGregor
05. Robert De Niro
--------------------
SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
01. Anne Hathaway
02. Jessica Chastain
03. Samantha Barks
04. Helen Hunt
05. Deborah Mailman
Marion Cotillard is gonna be nominated, she totally deserves it! No foreign actress in the top five is very unlikely. Since the academy totally ignored her in "Nine" and "Inception", they own her at least a nomination. She is praised by directors such as Woody Allen, Christopher Nolan, Michael Mann or even James Gray who said last week at Telluride during her special honoree session “Marion is the best actor I've ever worked with”. And what we can say about Gray is that he worked with amazing actors! I can even tell you right now she is also gonna be nominated next year for James gray period-piece "Nightingale".