THE AWARDS EDITION 2011-2012

10 The Awards Edition 2011-2012 Issue 07Continued from p6making the ultimate Oscar ® winner a real question markuntil that envelope is opened. Could the two frontrunnerssplit the vote and let the very deserving MichelleWilliams sneak in for her impeccable Marilyn? My guessis Davis’ SAG ® win and emotional acceptance speecheswill tip the scales in her favor making her only the secondAfrican American winner ever here.The winner: Viola Davis, The HelpThe competition: Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs; RooneyMara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; MerylStreep, The Iron Lady, and Michelle Williams, MyWeek With Marilyn.BEST SUPPORTINGACTORRule out Hill for being too young, Nolte for being in alittle-seen movie and Branagh whose brilliant LaurenceOlivier for being unlucky enough to face two wayoverdue 82-year-old acting legends going for their firstOscar ® . Max von Sydow hadn’t figured in any previousmatchups against Christopher Plummer this year butthe actors’ branch of the Academy reveres him, althoughopinions about his film are mixed. Still it is a best picturenominee and that gives him a slight advantage overPlummer who is single-handedly carrying the flag forthe small indie, Beginners. But with a string of greatspeeches at the Globes, CCMAs, SAG ® and others,Plummer’s got the Oscar ® mojo. Anyone else winning is amajor upset. Again, it pays to work with a cute dog.The winner: Christopher Plummer, BeginnersThe competition: Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn;Jonah Hill, Moneyball; Nick Nolte, Warrior, and Max vonSydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.BEST SUPPORTINGACTRESSIt has been a long, long time since Hattie McDanielbecame the first African-American Oscar ® winner, takingthe supporting actress award for playing a southernmaid, Mammy, in Gone With the Wind in 1939. OctaviaSpencer’s turn as southern maid Minny in The Helpshould be able to pull off the same feat, especially sinceshe’s been on a roll winning a number of key supportingroles whenever and wherever her nominated co-starJessica Chastain hasn’t heard her name called.Chastain may be the supporting actress of the year innumber of roles and Bérénice Bejo may have done itwithout saying a word but they will probably have to settlefor just the nomination this time around.The winner: Octavia Spencer, The HelpThe competition: Bérénice Bejo, The Artist; Jessica Chastain,The Help; Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids, andJanet McTeer, Albert Nobbs.a separationBEST DIRECTOROnly six times since its inception in 1949 has the winnerof the DGA award for best director failed to go on andcollect the Oscar ® . The last time was nearly a decade ago.It is one of Oscar’s ® most reliable indicators and the factthat it went to Michel Hazanavicius, director of frontrunner The Artist, only goes to show he may be invincible.However, voters wanting to spread the wealth may decideone career Oscar ® is simply not enough for MartinScorsese, whose Hugo is much-loved and let him sneakin. But for the safe bet….The winner: Michel Hazanavicius, The ArtistThe competition: Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris; TerrenceMalick, The Tree of Life; Alexander Payne, TheDescendants, and Martin Scorsese, Hugo.BEST ADAPTEDSCREENPLAYThe three best picture nominees in the category arethe only ones with a realistic chance of winning here.Of those, Hugo is thought more to be a director’striumph than writer’s. The final contest probablycomes down to a knock down-drag out betweenThe Descendants and Moneyball. The latter boasts twoheavyweight writers in Steve Zaillian and AaronSorkin, both past winners in this category, but theygo up against another past winner, Alexander Payne,who with his co-writers Nat Faxon & Jim Rashhave pulled off a strong humanist comedy drama.Moneyball was almost an impossible job of adaptationbut it was turned into a masterful script. Toss a coin.The winner: The Descendants, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon &Jim Rash.The competition: Hugo, John Logan; The Ides of March,Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon; Moneyball,Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian, and Tinker Tailor SoldierSpy, Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan.BEST ORIGINALSCREENPLAYAlthough The Artist is likely to win best picture, even itswriter (and director) Michel Hazanavicius told me hethinks voters will probably not even realize the silent,dialogue-challenged masterpiece was written (of courseit was). He thinks Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris has thisone in the bag. In fact Woody’s most successful film ever,a best picture nominee, is the solid front runner to takethe consolation prize and win for its magical script. This isone of the surest bets in any category.The winner: Midnight in Paris, Woody AllenThe competition: The Artist, Hazanavicius; Bridesmaids, AnnieMumolo and Kristen Wiig; Margin Call, J.C.Chandor, and A Separation, Asghar Farhadi.BEST FOREIGNLANGUAGE FILMThe category has some of its strongest entries in years butfor a number of reasons, including its strong run at earlierawards ceremonies, Iran’s A Separation, which tries to puta universally relatable human face on that country and itspeople, should easily pull out a victory.The winner: A Separation (Iran)The competition: Bullhead (Belgium), Footnote (Israel),In Darkness (Poland) and Monsieur Lazhar (Canada).BEST ANIMATEDFEATUREWith Pixar completely out of it for the first time in a yearwhen it competed (Cars 2 ran into a speed bump) anddisdain for Motion Capture sinking Steven Spielberg’sPGA and Globe ® winner The Adventures of Tintin, the fieldopened up and a couple of obscure entries from a tinydistributor, A Cat In Paris and Chico and Rita, madethe cut along with a trio of films distributed by Paramountincluding two DreamWorks Animation entries, Puss inBoots and Kung Fu Panda 2. Yet Gore Verbinski’sRango looks to be the one to beat. Puss could prevail butit’s probably not got enough juice to get by the front runner.The winner: RangoThe competition: A Cat in Paris, Chico & Rita, Kung Fu Panda 2,Puss in Boots.BEST DOCUMENTARYFEATUREThe rules are changing next year in order to open thiscontroversial category up to more deserving entries. Thisyear the branch managed to fill it with a number of lesserknownentries and in the process probably has turned itinto a race between HBO’s much-talked about ParadiseLost 3: Purgatory and The Weinstein Company’sremarkable high school football doc, Undefeated. WimWenders dance film, Pina is a documentary told almostsolely in terms of actual performance and might havebeen better off in the Foreign Language contest where itwas also short-listed. It seems a bit out of place here butis so different from the rest it just might have a shot. StillI have a hunch voters will mark their ballots based on thefilm with the biggest heart and best told story.The winner: UndefeatedThe competition: Hell and Back Again, If a Tree Falls:A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Paradise Lost3: Purgatory and Pina.BEST ART DIRECTIONThe two films about the early days of Hollywood shouldrule the day here. With its true Hollywood flavor and thefact it was a homemade product, The Artist is certainlya contender, but Dante Ferretti and Francesca LoSchiavo’s stunning production design and set decorationfor Hugo is in a class with the past winners when movieswere made on much larger scales.The winner: Hugo, Dante Ferretti (production design),Francesca Lo Schiavo (set decoration)The competition: The Artist, Laurence Bennett (design),Robert Gould (set); Harry Potter and the DeathlyHallows: Part 2, Stuart Craig (design), StephenieMcMillan (set); Midnight in Paris, Anne Seibel (design),Hélène Dubreuil (set); War Horse, Rick Carter(design), Lee Sandales (set).BESTCINEMATOGRAPHYThis one is wide open. The critics' favorite is The Treeof Life but it is a polarizing film in the Academy andthat could cost it votes among some branches. JanuszKaminski’s wide screen vistas and work with horses inWar Horse inexplicably failed to receive an ASC nod butthankfully was recognized here, representing the kind ofwork that Oscar ® voters usually reward. And once againthere is a showdown between The Artist and Hugo, bothhaving reasons to win. The former’s perfectly pitchedblack and white photography caught in the 1:33 ratioContinued on p12