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2017 Oscar Predictions: Best Makeup and Hairstyling
21 December 2016 11:52 AM, PST
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In this category, only three nominations will be announced on January 24. This is often about elaborate and hair and prosthetics and battle carnage…hence such period films as “The Dressmaker,” “Hail Caesar!” and “Florence Foster Jenkins” as well as comic-book entries “Deadpool” and “Suicide Squad.”
The shortlist of seven left out “La La Land,” “Jackie,” “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “Silence,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Doctor Strange,” “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and “Loving.”
But the branch included, in a sign of its popularity, shortlisted Swedish foreign-language “A Man Called Ove” (Music Box). It’s the same team, Love Larson and Eva Von Bahr, who did the makeup for last year’s surprise Swedish nomination, “The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.”
The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
Frontrunners
“Deadpool”
“Florence Foster Jenkins”
“Hail, Caesar!”
Contenders
“The Dressmaker”
“A »
- Anne Thompson
Kief Davidson Interview: ‘The Ivory Game’ Co-Director on Elephants, Leonardo DiCaprio and China
21 December 2016 5:44 AM, PST
The horrific plight of wild elephants is front and center in “The Ivory Game.” Currently streaming on Netflix, Richard Ladkani and Kief Davidson’s Oscar shortlisted documentary — which has been prominently backed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jane Goodall, among others — offers a ground-level view of the black market trade. Davidson recently sat down at the International Documentary Association film series (video below) to talk about the film’s journey and how he styled it as a thriller.
Read More: ‘The Ivory Game’ Trailer: Leonardo DiCaprio-Produced Doc Is a Shocking Look at Elephant Poaching
No, however much he might have liked to, he did not get to pet any elephants: “That happens in Disney movies; it’s not like that in real life,” he said. “We never really got close enough to know them, to really feel like an elephant should be a character, unfortunately.”
Davidson and cinematographer Ladkani, who »
- Anne Thompson
2017 Oscar Predictions: Best Original Song
20 December 2016 1:29 PM, PST
Academy music branch voters tend to favor original songs performed by major pop stars. Which is why so many movies, from animated films to documentaries, try to lure big names to add Oscar wattage.
2016 is no exception. Top talent from Tori Amos (“Flicker” from Netflix teen sexual assault documentary “Audrie & Daisy”) and the late great Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (“I’m Still Here” from Barbara Kopple documentary “Miss Sharon Jones!”) to Justin Timberlake (“Can’t Stop the Feeling” from “Trolls”) have joined the original-song action.
As usual, all-out musicals such as Damien Chazelle and Justin Hurwitz’s “La La Land” and Disney’s animated “Moana,” with songs from “Hamilton” creator-star Lin-Manuel Miranda, are leading the pack. If the two “La La Land” favorites split the vote, Miranda’s song of yearning “How Far I’ll Go” could take the win.
We’ll find out the final five song »
- Anne Thompson
2017 Oscar Predictions: Best Actress
20 December 2016 12:43 PM, PST
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It’s one of the most competitive Best Actress races in years.
“Birdman” nominee Emma Stone came out of Venice (winning Best Actress), Telluride and Toronto with raves for her role as a singer-dancer-actress in Damien Chazelle’s Tiff audience-winner “La La Land.” Amy Adams also broke out at Telluride (which gave her a tribute packed with clips of her Oscar-nominated performances in “American Hustle,” “The Master,” “The Fighter,” “Doubt,” and “Junebug”) in sci-fi thriller “Arrival,” ably carrying her starring role as an empathetic linguist able to communicate with alien visitors. She also stars in a more glamorous vein in Tom Ford’s divisive “Nocturnal Animals,” which doesn’t hurt.
Breaking out at Venice and Toronto, where Fox Searchlight snapped it up for a December 9th release, was Pablo Larrain’s “Jackie,” starring Natalie Portman as the grieving widow of John F. Kennedy in the aftermath of his killing. »
- Anne Thompson
2017 Oscar Predictions: Best Director
20 December 2016 12:29 PM, PST
This year’s Best Director battle boasts frontrunners who emerged from the year’s film festivals.
Breaking out at Sundance was Kenneth Lonergan’s intense four-hankie family drama “Manchester by the Sea,” which is not only a frontrunner for original screenplay and actor (winning the New York Film Critics Circle for both), but director. Lonergan’s portrait of a New England family dealing with death and loss masterfully reveals information in the present and via flashbacks over a disciplined two hours and 15 minutes. Lonergan’s ensemble cast led by Casey Affleck is superb.
Jeff Nichols is in the mix for his measured and refined direction of interracial marriage drama “Loving,” which critics agreed was the one surefire awards contender to emerge from Cannes this year. He brings a grounded urgency to a storyline that could have been rendered as emotion-baiting melodrama. Nichols started the year strong with the well-reviewed sci-fi drama “Midnight Special, »
- Anne Thompson
2017 Oscar Predictions: Best Supporting Actor
20 December 2016 12:05 PM, PST
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Emerging at Sundance was Wes Anderson discovery Lucas Hedges (“Moonrise Kingdom”) for his performance in Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester By the Sea.” As Patrick, Hedges switches on a dime from a son mourning his father (Kyle Chandler) and tussling with his uncle (Casey Affleck) about his future to flirting with high school girls. A star is born.
Jeff Bridges won critics’ raves at Cannes for surprise indie sleeper “Hell or High Water,” and Hugh Grant returned to the screen in form-fitting style as the devoted younger husband/manager of Meryl Streep’s “Florence Foster Jenkins.”
Breaking out at Telluride and Toronto was Barry Jenkins’ ensemble in “Moonlight” (A24), especially “House of Cards” star Mahershala Ali in the role of the Cuban-born drug-dealer who nurtures the young boy “Little.” So far Ali is the frontrunner, winning the Gotham, New York and Los Angeles film critics and Critics Choice awards. »
- Anne Thompson
2017 Oscar Predictions: Best Original Score
19 December 2016 10:27 PM, PST
The most in-demand composers often take on the most assignments. In 2016 top dog Michael Giacchino delivered original scores for three Disney movies: animated “Zootopia,” Lucasfilm’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and Marvel’s “Doctor Strange,” as well as Paramount’s “Star Trek Beyond,” competing against go-to composer Alexandre Desplat, who scored live-action “American Pastoral,” “Florence Foster Jenkins,” and “Light Between Oceans” as well as Illumination’s animated “Secret Life of Pets.”
Nicholas Britell composed both “Free State of Jones” and Oscar frontrunner “Moonlight.” And Rupert Gregson-Williams (“Hacksaw Ridge”) is competing in the category against his brother Harry (“Live By Night”).
Two stunning modern scores leaning to the minimal were disqualified: Kim Allen Kluge and Kathryn Kluge’s “Silence” (see why here) and Jóhann Jóhannsson’s “Arrival.” (He had landed a nomination for Denis Villeneuve’s “Sicario” the year before.) After all, this always idiosyncratic branch did not deem »
- Anne Thompson
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