Watts, Penn are "Fair Game"

Oscar Prospects: Best Picture, Best Actress (Watts), Best Supporting Actor (Penn), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound Mixing

Director Doug Liman's "Fair Game" has been conspicuously absent from any kind of conversation since being the only American release represented in this year's Cannes Film Festival. Maybe that's because star Sean Penn and Liman got into such heated collisions on set that Penn refuses to promote the film publicly; maybe it's because it's a wildly political retelling of an infamous part of the Bush administration.

In telling the story of Valerie Plame's outing as a covert CIA operative after her husband, ambassador Joe Wilson, openly questioned the manipulation of intelligence directly leading to the Iraq War, "Fair Game" is unabashedly straightforward in its narrative and its political slant -- it's one of the things most admirable about the film and one of the reasons it's probably going to draw fire if it goes big on the awards circuit.

Can a doc get nominated?

Gregg Kilday at The Hollywood Reporter wonders whether or not the expanded slate of Best Picture nominees will help one of this year's many acclaimed documentaries do something that hasn't been done in 82 years.  It's pretty darn doubtful, but look closely for "Waiting for Superman" to push for it.

Read an excerpt below and find the full story here.

This year, though, several docs — among them Inside Job, Charles Ferguson’s autopsy of the 2008 financial crisis, and Waiting for Superman, Davis Guggenheim’s failing report card on the nation’s school system — are positioning themselves to make a run at the big prize. Their camps are preparing to send out screeners, arguing that their respective films are worthy best picture contenders.
Good luck. Any doc hoping to score a best picture nom still faces a daunting, uphill battle.
Six years ago, Michael Moore decided to challenge the odds. Having already won a feature doc Oscar for his anti-gun diatribe Bowling for Columbine, he was riding high on the firestorm surrounding Fahrenheit 9/11, his blistering attack on George W. Bush’s post-9/11 march toward the invasion of Iraq.
The movie had won the Palme d’Or, the Festival de Cannes’ highest prize — the first doc to take home that honor in 48 years. It was on its way to grossing $119.2 million domestically, making it the top-grossing documentary of all time.
So Moore decided not to submit in the documentary category — he was eager to air the film on TV in hope of influencing the 2006 election, and the proposed broadcast ran up against doc-category rules. But while Moore claimed, “For me, the real Oscar would be Bush’s defeat on Nov. 2,” he also reminded Academy voters that they still could nominate his movie for best picture.

Why "Deathly Hallows" won't be nominated

On the heels of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1's" massive opening weekend ($125 million domestic, $330 million global), there's maybe a small group of Potter faithful who believe the highly successful franchise can take advantage of the expanded Best Picture playing field and earn a nomination.

I'd say, keep hoping.  "Hallows'" box office take is impressive, and will continue to be impressive throughout Thanksgiving, when it really only has Disney's "Tangled" to compete with for No. 1, but it can't break the franchise's curse of being woefully ignored by the Academy.

That's Entertainment!: Ronni Chasen's murder shocks Hollywood

From today's issue of The Daily Gamecock. Article by Jimmy Gilmore, Property The Daily Gamecock

The Oscar race is many things. It is about the statue, about the prestige, about rooting for the underdog, about championing the personal favorite. Almost above all else though, it is about strategy.
While few outside the film industry and its close followers would ever notice, the campaign to win an Academy Award takes many different forms, employs many different tactics and overall tries to convince a voting body of over 5,000 that your candidate is the right candidate, for whatever reason.
Few were able to understand that landscape and the subtle ways it could be pulled ever so slightly in a candidate's favor like Ronni Chasen, one of the most revered publicists in the tricky world of the Oscars. Last week, Chasen, 64, was fatally shot while driving through Beverly Hills.

Best Picture Power Rankings: The Beginning

1. The Social Network

It’s the best reviewed movie of the year, it’s held strong over the box office (including a No. 1 spot in its opening weekend), it’s very plugged into the zeitgeist in a highly critical way, and director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin are highly respected.

2. Inception

There’s no denying Christopher Nolan this time. After “The Dark Knight” was snubbed in 2008 for Best Director and Best Picture nominations, his sci-fi opus should remove all doubt that he’s a filmmaker worth taking seriously when it comes to the big awards. The biggest question will be how seriously the Academy takes “Inception” over the broader spectrum of technical categories.

3. True Grit

Yet to be released, the Coens have been Academy favorites since their triple-crown win in 2007 with “No Country for Old Men” (their “A Serious Man” netted the brothers two more nods last year, including Best Picture). Their serious work usually gets the most mainstream attention, and when they go gritty and arty, people take notice. Expect this to be a major player.

4. The King’s Speech

The gem of the festival circuit, and potentially the major arrival of director Tom Hooper (“John Adams”), it’s a British period piece based on a true story starring Colin Firth, a revered actor. It needs a major win to make sure it has the longevity to cement its overwhelmingly positive buzz.

5. Toy Story 3

Disney’s already mounting their campaign under one simple statement: “Why not us?” Invoking monumental wins for “non-Academy” fare like “The Silence of the Lambs” and “The Lord of the Rings,” they’re setting their sights on using “Toy Story 3” as the film to reward all animated films the crown they’ve always been denied. Only two animated films (“Beauty in the Beast” in 1991 and “Up” last year) have even been nominated for the prize.