One of my favorite Oscar traditions is the New York Times short films celebrating Oscar contenders, locked contenders and longshots alike. And by short films I mean very very short. Like one minute. You might remember that previous year's editions have given Casting Directors a ton of brilliant ideas which, for the most part, they've been slow to pick up on like Viola Davis as a frightening villain. Remember that?
This year's shorts, eleven in total, are all directed by two-time Oscar winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski who is most famous for shooting Steven Spielberg's filmography (and less famous for once being married to Holly Hunter but that's cool, too.) The shorts are sublime in concept -- they mismatch contender actors with one or two lines from screenwriting contenders (update: not from the writer's actual contending films, which I initially thought since the Bradley Cooper bit sounds like a near lift from the All is Lost's opening monologue) -- though not always in execution since this multiplied tradition can't help but be a bit uneven each year.
Cate Blanchett with a line from the writer of "Computer Chess"
For fun, and as a shout back to the Hit Me With Your Best Shot series that's currently on hiatus, I've selected my favorite single image from each of the shorts [10 more after the jump]. But by all means go and watch the shorts. It'll only take you 15 minutes and there will be many delicious thanksgiving feasts for your eyeballs beyond the ones posted here.
Bradley Cooper with a line from the writer of "All is Lost"
Bradley Cooper dancing. Love it.
Robert Redford with a line from the writers of "This is the End"
Oprah Winfrey with a line from the writer of "Stories We Tell"
Greta Gerwig with a line from the writers of "Before Midnight"
Gerwig's might be my favorite of the shorts
Forest Whitaker with a line from Greta Gerwig who co-wrote "Frances Ha"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus with a line from the writer of "Enough Said"
Michael B Jordan with a line from the writer of "Her"
I'm not sure that one works. Jordan doing horseback western is, for whatever reason, almost as uncomfortable as Jesse Eisenberg doing suave espionage.
Oscar Isaac with a line from the writer of "In a World"
Chiwetel Ejiofor with a line from the writer of "Mud"
Adele Exarchopoulus with a line from the writer of "The Butler"
Adèle's line is perfectly chosen for her (and delivered in French)
They call me sexy, smart, sociopathic. But not necessarily in that order."