An Afternoon on the Set of ‘The Bourne Legacy’
I am officially reviving my blog after about a one year hiatus, even if it is just for one day.
So, I work as a producer at a young creatives agency called OnMedia Creative Solutions, Inc. that’s been so generous and kind to me that I get to be flexible with my time. Today was one of those days where I didn’t have any work that was particularly pressing so I decided on impulse to head out and take a crack at visiting the biggest film production ever done in the Philippines, the fourth installment of the massively successful Bourne franchise. I mean, I’ve never been on a Hollywood film set, let alone one being shot in my hometown, so being the big movie guy that I am of course I’d head down even if it was just for a couple of hours (and of course take as many photos as possible).
Vanity Fair’s 17th Annual Hollywood Issue
Vanity Fair’s annual Hollywood Issue is pretty much a staple for any person with at least a passing interest in anything entertainment, and this year’s classic ensemble is another diverse and well-assembled group of young thespians who’ve made an impact in film one way or another.
Leading the pack are Green Lantern to-be Ryan Reynolds, with Love and Other Drugs stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, as well as Oscar co-host and 127 Hours star James Franco – all front cover-worthy I might add. On the inside, The Hurt Locker star Anthony Mackie gets a well-deserved appearance, flanked on both sides by Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence and the sizzlingly sexy Olivia Wilde.
Truth be told, I still prefer last year’s elegantly shot Annie Leibovitz set, of course for the simple reason that it was an all female photoshoot. Carey Mulligan, Mia Wasikowska, Amanda Seyfried, Emma Stone, Anna Kendrick, Rebecca Hall, and heck even Kristen Stewart all looked impeccable.
Shot of that after the cut…
One More ‘Speech’ at the SAG Awards
And there you have it. Your Oscar race is over, folks.
Only one film that’s nabbed the Producers Guild, Directors Guild and Screen Actors Guild has not won the Best Picture Academy Award (Apollo 13). It is certainly a very precarious situation for David Fincher’s The Social Network, which was once thought to be a major player come February 27 after winning accolade after accolade during the critics awards circuit, as it came up empty during today’s SAG Awards.
It was an unfortunately predictable night, with the frontrunners in all of the top four categories coming up with confirmatory wins in their march towards the Oscar podium. Firth, Portman and Bale look like virtual locks at this point, but I am still having second thoughts about Melissa Leo’s campaign as I am still sensing a Hailee Steinfeld intrusion (or most probably hoping for one) on the red carpet.
Inception chalked up its consolation prize with Best Stunt Ensemble and you can pretty much only hope for wins in Sound Editing, Mixing and Visual Effects for the box office juggernaut. And even those might be in peril.
The King’s Speech is looking more and more likely to come up with a lopsided sweep come Oscar night, while outstanding films such as Fincher’s will forever be sidelined alongside other great films which failed to capture the elusive Academy Award.
The best part of the night? The amazingly dressed and drop-dead gorgeous Mila Kunis.
Full list of winners after the cut…
Royal Pain
Earlier today, the Director’s Guild of America, most known for its very accurate barometer when it comes to predicting the eventual Best Picture and Best Director winner at the Oscars, chose to reward The King’s Speech and its director Tom Hooper in place of the heavily favored David Fincher film The Social Network.
The DGA recipient has matched an overwhelming 56/62 times with the Academy, clearly cementing the British prestige pic as the clear frontrunner to sweep the Oscars come February.
Having not yet personally seen Hooper’s film, it would be unfair of me to directly hammer his film with relentless chiding. What irks me however is that the DGA decided not to reward Fincher for his career achievement, not to mention overlook heavyweights from the likes of Darren Aronofsky, Christopher Nolan and even David O. Russell to bestow the Hooper, in just his sophomore effort, with their top award. That’s not to say that sophomores aren’t any better than the experienced fellows I listed above – heck I even liked The Damned United. It’s just that this will simply go down as one of those years where the Academy got it all wrong.
The Oscars with James and Anne
Although they’re no Ricky Gervais, I’m just as excited to see these two Academy Award nominees rock the show come February.
From AwardsDaily and JustJared:
‘The King’ is Frontrunner
We got a load of surprises at today’s announcement in Los Angeles, headlined by more hurt for Christopher Nolan fans and a pleasant surprise in the form of Winter’s Bone in the Best Supporting Actor list.
While The Social Network did manage a respectable 8 nods, what’s most important to note is that The King’s Speech is making a huge last minute pitch to take the Oscar for Best Picture come February 27 (February 28 in Manila) amassing 12 big nominations, including a few unexpected below-the-line nods including Best Sound Mixing. Coming in at a close second was Joel and Ethan Coen’s 10 nominations for True Grit, highlighted by Supporting Actress frontrunner Hailee Steinfeld.
Other the other hand, I did however score a perfect 5/5 in the Best Actress category as well as successfully predicting a showing for Dogtooth in Foreign Language Film. Of particular note was the disappointing no-show for Shutter Island who was completely ignored across the board for its stunning technical work, as well as snubs for TRON Legacy‘s Daft Punk score and its visual effects. In it’s place was the lone nomination for Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter.
As I said above, John Hawkes scored, against all odds, a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his chilling turn in Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone, which also managed to slide in the Best Picture Ten in place of Ben Affleck’s The Town. The back heist flick only managed to get its biggest nod for the very deserving Jeremy Renner.
Inception wasn’t that big of a disappointment, garnering 8 nominations for its stunning cinematic achievement, but failed to impress Academy voters with no recognition for Nolan for Directing – no doubt another blow for people who’ve been wanting retribution for his snub for The Dark Knight. Lee Smith and his jaw-dropping film editing for the film was also ignored.
Other welcome additions were the mentions for Javier Bardem for Best Actor and Exit Through the Gift Shop for Documentary (tossing out the highly acclaimed Waiting for Superman).
All in all I totaled 70/91 of the nominations I attempted to predict. Pretty average, nothing amazing, and I definitely could’ve done way worse.
Full list of nominees after the cut…
The Social Sweep: 2011 Oscar Nominations Predictions
Tomorrow, journalists will swarm the premises of the Kodak Theater early in the morning (Los Angeles time) to catch the short press conference announcing the nominations for the 83th Academy Awards. Oscar pundits will cry foul while the rest of the world casually picks up on the news in passing, and hopefully we will have some pleasant surprises here and there.
Precursor awards have overwhelmingly pointed towards domination by The Social Network, save for the stunning upset pulled by The King’s Speech at yesterday’s Producers Guild Awards. Other films who have some heat heading into the event include Inception, Black Swan, The Fighter and True Grit, but none of them seem to have enough sway to crack the top honors.
Here are my official predictions for the nominations as well as some comments on who I hope and believe should be given a shot at the Oscars. I will be opting out of the Short Form and Best Original Song categories.
*Predicted Winner
BEST MOTION PICTURE
- Black Swan
- The Fighter
- Inception
- The Kids Are All Right
- The King’s Speech
- The Social Network*
- The Town
- Toy Story 3
- Winter’s Bone
Alternate: 127 Hours
Who should be considered: Blue Valentine, Shutter Island, Carlos, Dogtooth, Enter The Void
My gut tells me the Ozark Mountain mystery Winter’s Bone will pull through to edge out Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours for the 10th spot. Big chance I’m totally wrong, but there has to be some real representation for indie film.
BEST DIRECTOR
- Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
- David O. Russell (The Fighter)
- Christopher Nolan (Inception)
- Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)
- David Fincher (The Social Network)*
Alternate: Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone)
Who should be considered: Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine), Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone), Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right), Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island)
Nothing new with my top five for Best Director. Here’s to hoping we get a Winter’s Bone-sized upset over something like The King’s Speech (in my dreams).
Carlo Chong
No Popcorn Allowed 
Michelle Williams graces the cover of GQ
A lot of netizens seem to be commenting heavily on the news that Michelle Williams has finally done away with her shy, demure and awkward demeanor, staying in character with her role in My Week With Marilyn and showing some skin in the February issue of one of the biggest lad-mags in the world.
But there’s certainly more meaningful content underneath if one finds the interest to go through the pages. Chris Heath (aptly named) of GQ Magazine paints a beautifully moving portrait of the unsure yet undoubtedly strong woman whom we all love with his cover story, and more importantly offers a glimpse at her life as an actress and as the mother of Heath Ledger’s daughter.
If I had my way, she’d take home the Oscar statuette in a jiffy. Maybe this will help.
The opening paragraphs from the feature after the cut:
(more…)
January 19, 2012 | Categories: Awards Commentary, Commentary, News | Tags: gq, heath ledger, marilyn monroe, michelle williams, my week with marilyn | Leave a comment