27 days until Oscar

Here are 27 ways you can celebrate today...

Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill01 Ponder Winston Churchill's awards pull after John Lithgow's SAG win last night for the crown and Gary Oldman's upcoming portrayal in Darkest Hours... will we be talking about that next year at this time? The beloved Prime Minister's very big deal state funeral was held on this day in 1965
02 Go see Fences which won two SAG awards last night
03 Then read some more August Wilson and decide which upcoming adaptation you're most excited to see
04 Send out those invites to your Oscar party - time's a wastin'. Or
05 ...RSVP to that Oscar party if you're not hosting one.
06 Go see Hidden Figures which took the "outstanding cast" prize
07 Wish two time Oscar winner Gene Hackman a happy 87th birthday and beg him to come out of retirement
08 Watch Vanessa Redgrave's Oscar winning turn in Julia (1977) on her 80th birthday today because it's streaming on Netflix 

19 more ways to celebrate today after the jump...

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Asian Actors and the Academy: Triumphs and Snubs

Robert here. On Tuesday British actor Dev Patel became only the third actor of Indian descent to be nominated for an Academy Award. His nomination came amongst a renewed embrace of diversity (which is something to celebrate, but not rest on) after two years of completely white sets of nominees.

The Oscars – and, of course, the film industry at large – have long courted controversy for their issues with diversity, and Asian actors across the board have long been overlooked and undervalued. Often they are cast in flat, stereotyped roles, or as we've been made much more aware of lately, the roles of leading characters of Asian descent are given to white actors. Before Dev there have been several actors of Asian descent whose strong work has garnered them award attention, and even more who were snubbed despite memorable performances.

A brief retrospective is after the jump:

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Look who got to meet President Obama!

A heartwarming photo to start your day!

That's little Sunny Pawar, who is so wonderful in the Best Picture hopeful Lion (2016), meeting the President himself. Pawar is serving as the ambassador for the #LionHeart campaign. The campaign has already raised $100,000 for charities that provide support and resources for the millions of children living on the streets of India. You can read more about the campaign at Lion's official site.

You can see more Photos of Sunny's visit to the White House at People.com

A Cocktail with Nicole, Always Our Leading Lady.

UNICEF held a screening of Lion this past week in Manhattan with stars Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel and Sunny Pawar (who share the protagonist role of Saroo). I finally had the pleasure of getting some face time with Nicole at the party afterwards. The Monkey Bar's main room has restaurant tables and chairs circling the a big slightly lower open area where the stars enter and are then typically bombarded by press, photographers, and industry wellwishers.

The crowd gave adorable little Sunny plenty of space, looking so tiny and a bit overwhelmed while taking press photos, before he headed to a private table. Dev Patel worked the room shaking hands at tables. Nicole, at least from my vantage point, stayed in the center; you came to her. As it should be.

The statuesque star towered over me (she's only 1" taller, but, add heels)...

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Podcast: "Lion" and "La La Land"

Katey, Nick, Joe and Nathaniel talk two Best Picture contenders along with conversational detours that pop up as these detours do. The podcast will return in the New Year. 

Index (43 minutes)
00:01 LION (and movie titles) 
12:15 LA LA LAND (divisive direction!) 
27:10 BEST PIC & LIST-MAKING (tis the season)
31:13 CHRISTMAS MEDLEY (Rent, Kermit, Judy G)

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments and please have very happy and safe holidays until we're chatting at you again in January (probably around Golden Globes weekend January 8th-ish). 

Lion & La La Land