Podcast: Everything you wanted to know about precursor awards week ... but were afraid to ask*
Wednesday, December 18, 2019 at 11:59PM Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl welcome back NICK DAVIS!
In this hour long conversation Nick, Murtada, and your TFE mastermind Nathaniel discuss the first gigantic week of precursor season. What hath the Globes and SAG wrought and who are we sad about (Alfre Woodard!) and who are we rooting for (Antonio Banderas) and the like. We're divided on Judy and Dark Waters and Robert DeNiro's The Irishman and we dunk a little on Richard Jewell and The Two Popes (sorry!). We also have words for NEON not finding a way to honor Clemency while pushing Parasite. Finally we try to suss out the impossible "Best Actor" race which is giving everyone predictive pause.
You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you?
Reader Comments (19)
Fun podcast! I was puzzled by the discussion of the supporting actress predictions.
It was suggested that race is Dern vs. Lopez. I suspect Margot Robbie will be a viable contender if only for the power of the one, two punch of Bombshell and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
In the podcast, the important factors affecting Dern were ignored. On the positive side, she is the child of Hollywood royalty, two time nominee Bruce Dern and three time nominee Diane Ladd. Nepotism is valued in the Oscar race. Ask Liza, Gwyneth, Jane, Tatum, Anjelica, Mira, and Angelina, Dern also benefits from her election and service on the Board of Governors, She is well liked by the actors branch of the Academy.
Dern is hurt by the similarity of the character of the divorce lawyer in Marriage Story and the successful businesswoman in Big Little Lies. There is an unspoken awareness that Nora Fanshaw isn't that much of a stretch from Dern's Emmy winning work as Renata Klein.
Lopez has a struggle not unlike Sandra Bullock faced with The Blind Side. Both actresses landed first nominations after achieving most of their success in lightweight romantic comedies. Bullock was able to use that history for pretty hilarious self deprecation during the campaign season. How Lopez will move her narrative from personality to serious actress remains to be seen.
ftw my critics group got screeners for LW in the last week of November.
Hard to be greedy with these delicious decade-end essays from Nick but we never got his 2019 Fifties! Wondering how Pugh, Binoche, and the Her Smell cast fared and how his supporting actress faves have been this year overall.
Also, I so love the rapport between you three! It's a riot whether or not you agree with one another.
Hi Nat! A suggested homework for you: It would be nice to read statistics as regards ALL the precursor and critics award. At least in the 6 main categories. For instance: Parasite has 15 BP awards, The Irishman has 10, One Upon... has 7, and so on with the rest and the other categories. I hope you can do this.
As Nathaniel, I have a problem with Lopez in supporting, to me she is clearly a co-lead.
I've always thought of her character the same way I think about Armie Hammer's character a few years back.
'Call me' is about Elio, not Oliver, but there wouldn't be a Elio story without Oliver in it. Also they have more than one hour of shared screentime.
Hustlers is Destiny story, no doubt. But there wouldn't be a story without Ramona. The movie is about how Ramona changed Destiny life, and ends showing how deeply Destiny needs her mentor back in her life. Also Lopez have almost one hour of screentime.
Like with Elio and Oliver, I view Destiny and Ramona as a love story. Not a romantic one, but one about frendiship and motherhood.
All that said, I do think Oliver and Ramona are technically supporting characters in other peoples narratives. But they have so much importance (and screentime) that to me, they are co-leads.
3 post 2000 Asian films (OK Korean):
Spring Summer Fall Winter & Spring
Oldboy
Oasis
special mention: 3-Iron
re: Joker and the Golden Globes
I'd argue that they sometimes have their pet films that just happen - Nocturnal Animals, American Gangster, Revolutionary Road, Charlie Wilson's War. Also, I'm rooting against Joker so I'd rather not feel it necessary to watch it
re: Almodovar
I'm currently predicting him for director and screenplay, but he's a darkhorse for sure.
re: Asian film I would recommend?
Golly. That's a hard question. The one I go to is the 2002 remake of Springtime in a Small Town. There are moments that linger. Then I'd go with 2002 (or 2000) Devils on the Doorstep. And Ceylan's Distant. But that's hardly scratching the surface.
re: Supporting Actress with Lopez
If those who were next-in-line were in best picture contenders it would make sense. But I think she's in.
Well Hammer is a much clearer lead in Call Me by Your Name than Lopez is in Hustlers, and I'm not necessarily upset with her placement, but I think she's a lead...as with Hanks.
Flora -- thank you! I do love these guys.
Long time reader from Melbourne (Australia), first time poster! Thanks Nathaniel and crew for your industrious efforts all year round to keep us updated on awards season.
Not related to the podcast (which was fab), interesting to see Neon's approach to campaigning actors for Parasite. If you click through the FYC ads on this site, only Song Kang Ho is listed in Best Supporting Actor while none of the other cast are singled out. Perhaps the Supporting Actress race looks too tight with Dern/Lopez/Robbie/Pugh firming up their slots?
I'm not as annoyed with Hammer in support for Call Me By Your Name as I am with other love stories and I'm not sure why. But he's only second best in his film in each category, so maybe that's it.
I just came here to say that I'm no actor, but I think the SAG nominating committee really dropped the ball by not nominating Dolemite Is My Name for Cast. Of course, it's the Eddie Murphy show; but he enhances everyone around him, it all feels so collaborative, and the whole ensemble works in sync.
Totally agree with Nathaniel about how weirdly The Farewell’s been doing so far. Feels like it’s in some middle ground where it gets some stuff but not all the stuff it’s lined up for, which is so weird since it seems like it should be a shoo-in for most of the categories it’s trying to get into. I don’t love it, but I’ll be very sad if Zhao Shuzhen gets left off for ScarJo. And of course it’s a tragedy Clemency hasn’t gotten any love from the actors. Alfre potentially missing is so disappointing, and Aldis Hodge (and Danielle Brooks!) not even getting on long lists is just tragic.
Also, going to category fraud, how do we feel about Tom Hanks in A Beautfiul Day in the Neighborhood? I had a hard time considering him a supporting performance, even if I recognize he’s not “the lead” in the way Matthew Rhys is. Where would you guys put him?
I'm surprised people are surprised. Never saw The Farewell getting too far. Screenplay or Supporting Actress I could see.
Kevin -- thank you! love hearing from longtime readers who haven't commented before.
Nick -- i think i'm okay with Hanks in supporting actor but i want to see the movie again to be sure.
Arkaan: You're rooting against Joker, and you haven't seen it? Um, how exactly does that work?
@FT
Honestly, I'm just over the remakes/universe type movies.
Arkaan:
That's a totally understandable and relatable sentiment; in theory, I'm over them too. Initially, I had no expectations of Joker being either necessary or interesting, and had no early desire to see another interpretation of the character, especially after how definitive my countryman Heath had been in the role, a mere decade ago.
However - when a movie like this gets accepted into the main competition at Venice, that was enough to get me very curious about what could potentially be in store for us - and then when the damned thing actually *won*, my jaw hit the floor; I mean, this was a jury led by Lucretia Martel - about as auteurist and non-commercial and critically venerated a filmmaker as you could find - declaring that she's basically more-than-OK with the director of The Hangover receiving what is essentially one of the three most prestigious honours in world cinema.
My personal opinion - for whatever it may or may not be worth in the grand scheme of things - is that Joker is gripping, compelling, appalling, maybe even dangerous - but more than deserving of serious praise and serious debate.
You may be correct that certain cases of Globes enthusiasm don't end up translating outside of the HFPA bubble - but Joker is already an outlier among those titles you listed by way of comparison, for this reason if no other: it has already grossed more box office than those four movies combined.
I guess the ultimate point that I'm building to is probably an unavoidably basic one like "don't judge a book by its cover" - and I realise that will more-than-likely read as patronising in a way that I really don't wish to come across as. Perhaps a better way to put it would be: "Give it a go, because you really never know what might happen, and wouldn't you rather have an opinion on something you can honestly say that you've seen?" By all means, root against it as hard as you like, but is it too much to suggest that you get a first-hand experience of what exactly it is that you're rooting against?
Best wishes to you for the holiday season!
Asian movie- "Mother" also directed by Boon Joon Ho.
I listened to this podcast after the nominations came out and it was amazing how wrong everyone was. It shows you how hard it is to predict what is in the minds of the Academy members.