Interview: On 'Head Games' and Reshaping Oscar's Doc Branch with Steve James

Amir here. With an unusually large number of high profile contenders and a recent overhaul in the branch’s voting system, the documentary category is sure to be one of the exciting races at the Oscars this year. There are a few films firmly in the conversation already, but I recently caught up with a contender that has curiously slipped under the radar despite the talent involved.

Head Games, the newest from Steve James (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters) is based on a book by former WWE wrestler Chris Nowinski and takes on the issue of concussion in contact sports, a topic that is increasingly discussed among Football and Hockey enthusiasts in particular. James goes back to a more traditional structure in setting up his film with many talking head interviews and archival footage, but the end result is unexpectedly moving. Given the prevalence of these injuries in athletes, from kids who play Football or Soccer on a regular basis at school to the professionals of NFL and NHL, it’s a film that will be emotionally involving for a lot of people. I choked up a few times.

James’s history with the Oscars is well-known: despite universal critical acclaim, both aforementioned titles were snubbed by the Academy, not to mention his other powerful films. He was nominated in the editing category for Hoop Dreams, but it will be a big moment whenever he finally scores his first nomination for best documentary. On the occasion of the film’s qualifying release, I had the opportunity to chat with him about the film, his passion for sports, the Oscars, and the documentary branch’s new voting system.

 Steve James, the director of Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters and now Head GamesINTERVIEW, OSCARS & EBERT AFTER THE JUMP

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Podcast: The Impossible Life of Pi on the Hudson

Here's part two of my October conversation with Katey, Joe and Nick. In part I, Nathaniel, made the embarrassing confession that I had yet to see The Master due to pneumonia, subway mishaps and so on... The day that I knew Part 1 of the podcast would air (Sunday) I rushed to a matinee of The Master so as to course-correct before my shame went public. I only had a few hours free and when I arrived at the theater the ticket seller informed me that The Master was not showing thus prolonguing my public humiliation:

Me, Wracked With The Master-Related Guilt: But I looked it up just 45 minutes ago... 12:30 PM! I'm here. It's 12:30 PM. I have to see it.
Lady Who Knew Not My Blogging Shame:  Where did you look it up?
Me: Moviefone.
Lady: We're not affiliated with them. Next time try Fandango.
Me: Are you telling me that Moviefone just made this up?!
Lady: I'm telling you that it's not showing and we aren't affiliated with them.
Me: Fine... Argo.

ANYWAY... [/tangent]

Podcast Part Two.
Topics in this incredibly rambling 41 minute Oscar podcast include but are not limited to:

• Life of Pi
• Hyde Park on Hudson - why the festival showings?
• How to Survive a Plague, Documentaries & FYC Screeners
• Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained
• Naomi Watts in The Impossible
• Amour, Emmanuelle Riva and Best Actress
• The Matthew McConaughey Narrative
• The Normal Heart and August: Osage County in 2013

You can download the podcast on iTunes or listen right here. Enjoy (and please comment if you do).

The Impossible Life of Pi Oscar Ramblings

Cry Face, Dance Breaks, Doc Shorts

The Claire Danes Cry Face Project as wonderful as it sounds
iTunes Trailers Django Unchained got himself a new one just as the buzz was dipping to pin drop status
John August reacts to the lower-than-expected box office for Frankenweenie (which he wrote). I love how candid he is about temporary disappointments and what it all does or doesn't mean.
Nicks Flick Picks has been surveying the best of... 2012 in multiple categories (so far)
Movie City News on Seth MacFarlane's first Oscar sketch
Awards Daily Meryl Streep and other Hollywood power women are Drawing the Line about reproductive rights. Good for them! 

IMP Awards new character posters for Les Misérables
LA Times RIP to actor /sports star Alex Karras (TV's Webster). I'm disappointed that so few of the obits have featured Victor/Victoria in any memorable way! That's what I remember him best from.
Stale Popcorn on Bret Easton Ellis, Twitter and the Canyons trailer
/Film Shailene Woodley to become Mary Jane Watson in the new Spider-Man series. "Downgrade!" - crazed Kiki fan.
TV|Line Bryan Fuller's forthcoming Munsters remake series starring Portia deRossi may end with the pilot, which is airing as a standalone tv special this month
People did I forget to congratulate Audra McDonald and Will Swenson on their marriage? Two fine musical theater talents now legally fused into one power couple 
The Envelope on Lincoln's debut at NYFF. I love the opening 'graph referencing War Horse. Hee.

Steven Spielberg's long-gestating "Lincoln" finally arrived last night at the New York Film Festival, and as with any blessed event, the debut prompted a level of excitement not seen since ... well ... the last time Spielberg made a much-hyped, awards-season movie.

Must See
I can't stop watching this clip of Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Maggie Cheung courtesy of Criterion

Apparently In the Mood For Love (one of my favorite films evah!) was originally conceived as a much lighter piece. Watching one of the all time great movie couples dance together all flirtatious/cool is multi-orgasmic. Try it! If you've never seen the movie get right on that. A wondrous film experience awaits you.

Oscar Documentary News!
Finally, the eight finalists for Oscars best Documentary Short have been announced. They are...

Paraíso (10 minutes) is about Mexican immigrants who clean windows on skyscrapers

• The Education of Mohammad Hussein (Loki Films)
• Inocente (Shine Global, Inc)
• Kings Point (Kings Point Documentary, Inc)
• Mondays at Racine (Cynthia Wade Productions)
• Open Heart (Urban Landscapes Ic)
• Paraíso (The Strangebird Company)
• The Perfect Fit (SDI Productions Ltd)
• Redemption (Downton Docs) 

You can read about all of those shorts at our newly updated Oscar Documentary Prediction Page. Enjoy

For Your Consideration: "Central Park Five" and "The Gatekeepers"

Amir here looking at two films we should keep an eye on in Oscar's documentary race.

"The Central Park Five"

I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to judging the quality of documentaries, I have a particular bias. My favourite docs tend to be innovative films that aren’t necessarily “significant” in the grand scheme of things, like Grizzly Man or Senna, but I often find myself giving a pass to films that use a conventional structure to tell an important story, merely because thee subject matter does the work, towering above the film itself. Every once in a while, however, I’m confronted with a film that utilizes the old “talking heads intercut with archival footage” formula so powerfully that it becomes impossible to imagine it in any other way. Two such films came my way during TIFF that absolutely blew me away.

The first is Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon’s The Central Park Five, which tells the story of five black and Latino youths who were arrested in 1989 for the alleged rape and physical abuse of a white female jogger in Central Park. Despite a lack of evidence to support the charges and their youth (they were all between 14 and 17), they each ended up serving several years in prison or juvenile detention centres. In 2002, more than a decade after their first trial, the real criminal stepped out and confessed; DNA evidence supported his claim. But the irreversible damage had been done. [more after the jump...]

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"Vito" and Jeffrey

If you didn't get a chance to see the premiere of VITO last week, make sure to tune in to one of its final airings [July 31st: 12:45 p.m.; Aug. 4th: 3:00 p.m.; Aug 8th: 9:15 a.m.] or find it on alternate HBO channels or HBOGO. The documentary is about the life and activism of Vito Russo (1946-1990) who was the author of the seminal non-fiction book "The Celluloid Closet" the definitive kick off point to the now robust commonplace conversation about the depiction of LGBT people in filmed entertainment. 

VITO RUSSO (1946-1990), Author, Activist, Cinephile

I spoke with Jeffrey Schwarz, Vito's director, for Towleroad last weekend. I'd previously seen Schwarz's documentary about B movie showman William Castle (Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story) and we talked for an hour about a wide range of things beyond Vito including his work as the producer of "added value content" for DVDs. He's worked for a who's who of auteurs (Lynch, Scorsese, the Coens, and many many more) on bonus features and "making of" projects. It's not a subject one hears much about in terms of what goes on behind the curtain -- The Making of The Making of! -- perhaps that's diving too deep down the DVD/Bluray rabbit hole?

But I thought I'd share a few notes that didn't make it into my Towleroad interview for lack of space as well as being slightly off the Vito doc topic.

NATHANIEL R: You run this company Automat Pictures that does DVD extras. You've worked with these legends, almost mythically famous directors.

JEFFREY SCHWARZ: If you love movies, what I do for a living is a like a dream come true. I started doing this in 1998 when I got a job editing and shooting behind the scenes on Gus Van Sant's Psycho. That's how I got into this business. I didn't even have a DVD player yet! The format was first emerging and the studios were hiring independent producers to make added value content. I got lucky because I was in the right place at the right time. I'd actually pitched my William Castle movie to Sony because they own all the William Castle movies. I was a little bit naive thinking that this big studio would want to produce my documentary but they did end up hiring me to produce the DVD extras for The Tingler!

That's really what got me started -- first it was Psycho, then it was The Tingler! and that led to other jobs for other studios. 

Jeffrey Schwarz at screening of SPINE TINGLER! (image via Gay of the Dead)

more after the jump including oscar protests, evil lesbians, and staying angry

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