The Girl With the Promotional Materials

With only 132 days remaining before David Fincher's version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011) arrives -- December 21st to be exact -- it's time to start the hard sell apparently. They've just released "character bios" which are handy ways to remember things like 'oh yeah, Joely Richardson and Geraldine James are in this, too!' but otherwise seem redundant since so many people already know these characters after three international best sellers and three international hit films.

You can click to embiggen. For amusements sake, I thought I'd also share the photo of Elodie Young who plays Lisbeth's lesbian pick-up (a character glimpsed for only like 2 seconds in the Swedish movie, right? But she gets one of the 18 profiles for the American version). And it had somehow escaped my notice that Embeth Davidtz was in this. After what she gave to Schindler's List and Junebug you'd think she'd get bigger roles, right? You can see plenty more of these character promos, 18 in all, at The Daily Blam.

But while we're on the subject... here's seven minutes of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo film score (via my fav tumblr NatashaVC), which is the second film score composed by Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and Atticus Ross. They won a well deserved but atypical Oscar for their debut, The Social Network. What'cha think? I like the tinkly music box bits.

I know. I know. I need to update my Oscar predictions. Soon, people, soon.

Reznor | Ross "Girl" Sample

Extremely Loud-Mouthed and Incredibly Close-Up Oscar Predix

...and everyone is doing it now that the year is half over. Wheeee.

Best Picture
Here are updated predictions in all categories from Best Picture down to Best Key Grip. The new Best Picture rule -- they can have anywhere between 5 to 10 nominees and we won't know until Oscar nominations are announced -- is causing me chart difficulties. I can't figure out, aesthetically, how to divvy up charts with so many different numerical outcomes. If you must know I would like to make this wild July speculation that there will be 6 nominees to include War Horse, The Descendants, We Bought a Zoo, J Edgar, The Artist and new entry Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close which now plans to arrive in 2011.

It's not that I have any particular hunch or faith in that upcoming Stephen Daldry 9/11 film. It's more like anti-wishful thinking: See, I'm allergic to movie representations of that day since I was here in New York City and I tend to find the world's and especially the media's obsession with it absolutely grotesque. (For reasons that have nothing to do with cinema or the Oscars, so let's move on...)

John Williams and Steven SpielbergBiggest Annoyance
The music categories are always high-maintenance in terms of predictions. Original Song has zillions of hard to figure eligibility issues. Plus, there are still so many films that have not announced their composers in the Original Score category. Yes, it's often a late-to-the-party job as movie productions go. But I always suspect that even after the composers are announced that it takes a good long while for that information to trickle onto key pages like official sites and the IMDb. If you know of a better source of who's scoring what, do let me know. (I don't want to have to call 12 production companies!) With J Edgar, however, which also hasn't announced, it feels safe to assume that Clint Eastwood will compose some simple piano motifs for it because that's how he do.

That said, this category might be easier to predict than usual because the King of the Category John Williams will surely take up 40% of it. Oscar's music branch has always trembled for his Treble, zinged for his Strings and mooned over his melodies so they'd never pass up the chance to honor him for The Adventure of Tin Tin and for War Horse now that he's scoring again after basically a six year break from features (excluding that Crystal Skull reprising). John Williams turns 80 next year and chances are strong that they won't want him to retire without a sixth Oscar.

Craziest What If?
The new prediction I'm most enamored of because it's a Winding road way off the well-paved Bait path and because it would be highly awesome if the crazy thing came to pass and I predicted it first is an editing nomination for the Cannes hit Drive (2011). I mean why the hell not, right? It's July. Think outside the Bait Box! The prediction holdovers that I was initially excited to imagine but am now worried about -- though I didn't change them -- were all the Captain America nominations (Costumes, Makeup, Visual Effects). When I went there months ago I was totally confident that it could happen but public fatigue with superheroics makes me wonder if all films from this genre will be snubbed even in seemingly likely places like visual effects. Did Green Lantern leave an emerald stain?

The movies are getting all jumbled in my head now.

Why is Gosling driving off with the good Captain. Where is he taking him? "SHOTGUN!"

And on a final note, looking over Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor the competitions and competitors seem far more interesting than usual. Supporting Actor, for example, seems to have a number of Career Honors vs. Career Honors vs. Career Honors possibilities and in the lead race, could it finally be Leonardo DiCaprio's year?  Or maybe the manly half of the acting lineups will get boring real fast and it really will come down to a Close vs. Streep 80s throwback Actress-Off. Maybe it's just the oppressive July heat warping our crystal ball.

Comments? You realize we cry a single tear for every post that doesn't enter double digit comments, right? Don't cause us any more agony. Once you're done contemplating Oscar, hit the gym, the links, and the (Italian) showers. Yeah, yeah, it's summer ...but this blog has air conditioning.

A Centennial Shout-Out (Shriek Out?) To Bernard Hermann

You know what was more shocking than Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) not having a film score? That Hitch' always had Bernard Hermann at the ready and still went without one.

The internet often does a spectacularly bad job of noting important history (it's all future-future-future which an occassional "now") so you wouldn't know that today marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most important film composers who ever lived!

What would the cinema even sound like without Hermann's shrieking violins from Psycho (1960) for instance? Different surely, and lesser though perhaps it would be a relief if people stopped ripping it off and moved on. Supposedly Hitchcock didn't even want them at first.

Some other notable films include Citizen Kane (debut), The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Cape Fear, North by Northwest and Taxi Driver (1976), his last, which he just barely completed before his death on Christmas Eve of 1975.

True to the odd odd form of Oscar's music branch, Hermann was never nominated for his frequent collaborations with Hitchcock, though those scores remain the best remembered work of his career. He received five nominations in total. In a strange twin coincidence his first two nominations (a double dip for 1941) were for his first two films (Citizen Kane and The Devil and Daniel Webster) and his last two nominations (a double dip for 1976 posthumously) were for his two last scores (Taxi Driver and Obsession). He won his only Oscar for The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) right at the start.

Listen to one of his film scores while you work today! Do you have a favorite?

Related Post: Hit Me With Your Best Shot "PSYCHO"

Unsung Heroes: The Music of Amélie

Michael C. from Serious Film returning for a new season of Unsung Heroes and right off the bat I’m going to cheat a little. I went back and forth as to whether it was stretching to label this achievement “unsung” since I know many people who adore it. That said, I’ve never read a tribute to it, and it’s my column, right?

A memorable theme, an original song, a perfectly applied pop song. They stamp a film’s identity on the public consciousness like nothing else can. The Graduate is arguably one of the closest approaches to flawlessness in film history but would the genius of Mike Nichols be so readily apparent were it not for the contributions of Simon and Garfunkel? Would the image of Holly Golightly remain so iconic were it not inextricably wedded to the strains of "Moon River"? 

I would go so far as to say that in some cases the achievement of the composer outweighs that of the director. I don’t think it’s stretching to suggest Rocky might be just another underdog tale, well liked in its day but half-remembered now, were it not for the aural adrenaline that is Bill Conti’s fanfare. Scan the list of the all-time highest grossers and see how few lack a tune you can hum off the top of your head.

All this is a roundabout way of saying that I believe a huge portion of the credit for Amelie’s status as one of the most beloved films of the past decade belongs to the swirling calliope music of composer Yann Tiersen.

Amélie is one of those films like Singin’ in the Rain that its devotees love out of all proportion. Like that musical, Amélie touches a place of pure, undiluted joy that few movies come within miles of. When Amelie is so overwhelmed with love of life that she has to sweep through the streets describing every detail to the blind man the score sweeps us up right along with her. A lot of movies depict happiness. Amélie radiates it.

It is said that director Jean-Pierre Jeunet was considering The Piano composer Michael Nyman until he heard a production assistant pop in one of Tiersen’s albums. Jeunet must have realized instantly what a perfect match it was. Tiersen’s music with its accordions and harpsichords is unavoidably French, but like Amélie’s depiction of Montmarte, it’s a few fanciful degrees removed from reality, more a depiction of the unreachably romantic idea of France than of France as it is. On top of which, Tiersen’s love of found musical instruments like typewriters and bicycle wheels beautifully reflects the hand-made, nostalgic texture of the story.

The finished soundtrack contains both original compositions and previously recorded material, thus preventing Tiersen from receiving a richly deserved Oscar nomination for his work, and once again depriving that category of one of its year’s defining achievements. Shame. As delightful as Amélie’s script is I believe that ten years later the film still has such a firm a grip on the hearts of so many film lovers because of Tiersen's music. 

[Editors Note: Yann Tiersen is currently on tour for his latest CD "Dust Lane". Tonight he's in Santa Cruz, tomorrow at Belly Up in San Diego and the US portion of his tour closes Friday in Los Angeles.]

The Interviews, Goddesses and Craftsmen Alike

A big "thank you" to readers who commented on the recent spate of interviews here at The Film Experience. We don't do too many of them but you've been quite complimentary about the ones you do get. If time allows and other variables improve this year we'll do more for 2011. But in case you missed any of the interviews covering the 2010 film year, here's the rundown:

AND THE OSCAR NOMINATION GOES TO...

Jenny Beavan, Costume Designer, (The King's Speech)
Roger Deakins, Cinematographer (True Grit)
Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter, Editors (The Social Network)
Eve Stewart, Production Designer (The King's Speech)
Jacki Weaver, Actress (Animal Kingdom)

...FROM THE OLD BLOG: Four of Nathaniel's 100 favorite actresses in one calendar year? Too rich! And a couple of talented men for good measure.

Kirsten Dunst, Actress (All Good Things)
Alexander Desplat, Composer (The Ghost Writer, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)
Javier Fuentes-Leon, Director (Contracorriente aka Undertow)
Juliette Lewis, Actress (Conviction)
Patricia Clarkson, Actress (Cairo Time)
Julianne Moore, Actress (The Kids Are All Right)

Beloveds: Juliette, Patty, God and Kiki

Who should we pursue relentlessly in 2011 until they're on the phone or grabbing a cup of joe?
Which Old Hollywood legend would you like to hear from?