THE ARTIST Gets Top Honors from Screen Actor, Director, and Producer Guilds

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS (SAG) 2012

Jean DuJardin and Bérénce Bejo, The Artist

The 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) were presented January 29, 2012, from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center. The 2012 SAG Awards ceremony honored the outstanding performances by actors in 2011. The awards gala was simulcast live on TNT and TBS.

 One of the highlights of the evening was Mary Tyler Moore receiving the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor an actor receives from SAG. Moore, 75, got her big break when she starred as Laurie Petrie in the 1960s CBS sitcom opposite Dick Van Dyke in the show carrying his name. However, she hit her stride as Mary Richards in her own TV show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show with the likes of Betty White and Edward Asner. It premiered on CBS in 1970, and ran seven years.

In addition, the Screen Actors Guild Foundation announced last week that Alec Baldwin is SAG's first Ambassador, a new position designed to draw attention to the national non-profit organization, and its ongoing work as a vital, humanitarian support system within the acting community. For more about Ambassador Baldwin and his duties, click here.

Motion Picture Nominees and Winners (*):

Male Actor, Lead
 *JEAN DuJARDIN, The Artist
Demián Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Male Actor, Supporting
 *CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, Beginners
Kenenth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Armie Hammer, J Edgar
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior

Female Actor, Lead
 *VIOLA DAVIS, The Help
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Female Actor, Supporting
 *OCTAVIA SPENCER, The Help
Bérénce Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs

Cast in a Motion Picture
*THE ARTIST
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Help
Midnight in Paris

For all nominees and winners, including television, click title of this post for SAG Official Website, and/or click here for Eonline.

DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS (DGA) 2012

The 64th Annual Directors Guild Of America Awards were presented in Hollywood, California, Saturday, January 28th, 2012, in a televised gala hosted by actor Kelsey Grammer. 
 

The 64th Annual Directors Guild Of America nominees with award winners (*), for those awards that have some relevance to movies - - -

Feature Motion Picture:

*MICHAEL HAZANAVICIUS, The Artist
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
David Fincher, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Movies for Television and Mini-Series:
*JEFF BLECKNER, Hallmark Hall of Fame, "Beyond The Blackboard"
Jon Cassar, The Kennedys
Stephen Gyllenhaal, Girl Fight
Demi Moore, Jennifer Aniston, Penelope Spheeris, Alicia Keys, Patty Jenkins, Lifetime's "Five"
Michael Stevens, Thurgood

Documentary:
*JOE BERLINGER and BRUCE SINOFSKY, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Steve James, The Interrupters
James Marsh, Project Nim
Richard Press, Bill Cunningham New York
Martin Scorsese, George Harrison: Living in the Material World

Musical Variety:

*GLENN WEISS, 65th Annual Tony Awards
Louis J. Horvitz, The Kennedy Center Honors
Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live With Host Justin Timberlake
Don Mischner, 83rd Annual Academy Awards
Chuck O'Neil, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Episode #16070

For all nominees and winners, includng television, click here, or Director's Guild Official Website.

 

PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS (PGA) 2012

Here's one I missed posting. The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced this year’s winning motion picture and television productions at the 23rd Annual Producers Guild Awards' ceremony held at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, Saturday, January 21, 2012.

The 2012 Producers Guild nominated films, with winners (*), are listed below in alphabetical order by category, along with producers. The producers’ names listed for each nominated production are listed in alphabetical order and are not necessarily the proper order of credits.

The theatrical motion picture nominees and winners, with producer(s), are:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures - -
 
    *THE ARTIST -  Thomas Langmann;

    Bridesmaids - Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend;
    The Descendants - Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor;
    The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Ceán Chaffin, Scott Rudin; 

    The Help - Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, Brunson Green;
    Hugo - Graham King, Martin Scorsese;
    The Ides of March - George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Brian Oliver;
    Midnight in Paris - Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum;
    Moneyball - Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt;
    War Horse - Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg.

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures - -
 
   *THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN - Peter Jackson, Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg;
    Cars 2 - Denise Ream;
    Kung Fu Panda 2 - Melissa Cobb;
    Puss In Boots - Joe M. Aguilar, Latifa Ouaou
    Rango - John B. Carls, Gore Verbinski.
 

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures - -
 
   * BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST - Debra Koffler, Frank Mele, Edward Parks, Michael Rapaport;
    Bill Cunningham New York - Philip Gefter;
    Project Nim - Simon Chinn;
    Senna - James Gay-Rees;
    The Union - Cameron Crowe, Michelle Panek.

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television, which  encompasses both movies of the week and mini-series - -

 The Cast of Downton Abbey 

  * "DOWNTON ABBEY" (Masterpiece) (PBS) - Julian Fellowes, Nigel Marchant, Gareth Neame;
    "Cinema Verite” (HBO) - Zanne Devine, Karyn McCarthy;
    "The Kennedys” (ReelzChannel) - Jon Cassar, Jonathan Koch, Stephen Kronish, Steve Michaels, Michael Prupas, Jamie Paul Rock, Joel Surnow;
    "Mildred Pierce” (HBO) - Todd Haynes, Pamela Koffler, Ilene S. Landress, Christine Vachon;
    "Too Big To Fail” (HBO) - Carol Fenelon, Jeffrey Levine, Paula Weinstein.

To see the winners in the television categories that are not in long form see the PGA Official Website. See the previous post on this blog for all Oscar nominations.

 

 
Christopher Plummer - from Sound of Music to The Beginners!

Cast of The Help 

Octavia Spencer, Minny (2nd from left) and Viola Davis, Aibileen  (far right).

Jessica Chastain, Celia (far left) Emma Stone, Skeeter (btw 
 Spencer and Davis).

SEE THE RED CARPET FASHION SHOW, CLICK HERE.

Nine Movies Nominated for Oscar, Only Five Directors? With Criticism.

Actress Jennifer Lawrence

Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards were announced yesterday (Tuesday, January 24) by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and 2010 Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence.

Martin Scorsese's Hugo in 3-D received the most nominations, 11, and Scorsese received a director nod. The Artist, a black and white silent movie about movies, scored 10. However, Hugo received no best actor or actress nominations, and that could hamper it's chances for best picture because the Screen Actors Guild is the largest voting block in the Academy.


The Artist's Jean Dujardin was nominated for best actor, and Bérénice Bejo for best supporting actress. Director Michel Hazanavicius joined Scorsese with an achievement in directing nomination.

J. Edger did not receive a best motion picture nod, nor did Leonardo DiCaprio who portrayed the former FBI Director. Now, that qualifies as a snub.

On the other hand, actress Meryl Streep, who portrays former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, received her 17th Oscar nomination, keeping her lead as the actress who has received the most Oscar nominations to date, but The Iron Lady received only one other nomination, achievement in makeup.

The closest rival for Streep is probably Glenn Close lead actress in Albert Nobbs, who is also nominated for best actress.
 
The award for best achievement in makeup also may come down to a dual between the makeup artists for The Iron Lady: Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland, and the makeup artists for Albert Nobbs: Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle.

In the weeks between now and the Oscar telecast, I shall have more to say about each category nominations. But, for now, here are all the nominees:

  Best motion picture of the year with director, if nominated: ** 

    The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
    The Descendants, Alexander Payne
     Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
     The Help
     Hugo, Martin Scorsese
     Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
     Moneyball 
     The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
     War Horse

     ** It seems unfair to me that nine motion pictures were nominated for best motion picture and only five directors were nominated for achievement in directing. I think they should have been even, because it has been my experience after tabulating this for many years, that if the director is not nominated the motion picture does not win the category. We shall see how it goes this year. I could be wrong, but I think that here is the list from which the winner will come: The Artist, The Descendants, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, The Tree of Life. It pains me that the other movies nominated in the category may not win because the directors could not be nominated.

Performance by an actor in a leading role:
    Demián Bichir,  A Better Life
        George Clooney,  The Descendants
    Jean Dujardin, The Artist
    Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
    Brad Pitt, Moneyball
 
Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
    Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
    Jonah Hill, Moneyball
    Nick Nolte, Warrior
    Christopher Plummer, Beginners
    Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
 
Performance by an actress in a leading role:
    Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
    Viola Davis, The Help
    Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
    Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
    Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn
 
Performance by an actress in a supporting role:
    Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
    Jessica Chastain, The Help
    Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
    Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
    Octavia Spencer, The Help
 
Achievement in directing:
    The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
    The Descendants, Alexander Payne
    Hugo, Martin Scorsese
    Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
    The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
 
Achievement in cinematography:
    The Artist,  Guillaume Schiffman
    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Jeff Cronenweth
    Hugo,  Robert Richardson
    The Tree of Life, Emmanuel Lubezki
    War Horse, Janusz Kaminski
 
Achievement in film editing:
    The Artist,  Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius;
    The Descendants, Kevin Tent;
    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall;
    Hugo, Thelma Schoonmaker;
    Moneyball, Christopher Tellefsen.
 
Achievement in visual effects:
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
    Hugo
    Real Steel
    Rise of the Planet of the Apes
    Transformers: Dark of the Moon 
 
Adapted screenplay with credited writers:
    The Descendants, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash;
    Hugo, John Logan;
    The Ides of March,  George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon;
    Moneyball, Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin;
    Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan.
 
Original screenplay with credited writer(s):
    The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius;
    Bridesmaids, Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig;
    Margin Call,  J.C. Chandor;
    Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen;
    A Separation, Asghar Farhadi.
Best animated feature film of the year:
      A Cat in Paris (Une vie de chat), Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli, France;
     Chico and Rita, Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal and Tono Errando, Spain;
     Kung Fu Panda 2, Jennifer Yuh;
     Puss in Boots, Chris Miller;
    Rango, Gore Verbinski.
 
Best foreign language film of the year with (original title), country, director, W=writer, (also, known for):
 
    Bullhead (Rundskop), Belgium, Michael R. Roskam, W;
    Footnote (Hearat Shulayim), Israel, Joseph Cedar, W, (Beaufort, 07);

    In Darkness, Poland, Agnieszka Holland (Europa Europa, 90, and Three Colors: Blue, 93);

    Monsieur Lazhar, Canada, Philippe Falardeau, W;
    A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin ), Iran, Asghar Farhadi, W, (About Elly, 09). 

 
Best documentary feature with director(s):
    Hell and Back Again, Danfung Dennis;
    If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Marshall Curry, Sam Cullman;

    Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky;
    Pina (Sundance Selects), Wim Wenders, a "Sundance Select";
    Undefeated, Daniel Lindsay, T.J. Martin.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) with composer:
    The Adventures of Tintin, John Williams
    The Artist, Ludovic Bource
    Hugo, Howard Shore
    Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesias
    War Horse, John Williams

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song): ****
    “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets, Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie;
    “Real in Rio” from Rio, Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett.

     **** There were 39 original songs submitted to the Academy this year for Oscar consideration, and they only nominated two?

See the submissions and listen to some here. I shall soon have a link on the right sidebar for these Oscar-worthy submissions.

Achievement in art direction:
    The Artist, Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould;
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan;
    Hugo, Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo;
    Midnight in Paris, Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil;
    War Horse. Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Achievement in costume design:
    Anonymous, Lisy Christl
    The Artist, Mark Bridges
    Hugo, Sandy Powell
    Jane Eyre, Michael O'Connor
    W.E., Arianne Phillips

Achievement in makeup:
    Albert Nobbs, Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle;
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin;
    The Iron Lady, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland.

Achievement in sound editing:
    Drive, Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Ren Klyce
    Hugo, Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
    Transformers: Dark of the Moon,  Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
    War Horse, Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Achievement in sound mixing:
    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson;
    Hugo, Tom Fleischman and John Midgley;
    Moneyball, Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick;
    Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin;
    War Horse, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson.

Best live action short film with director(s) and country, if known:
    Pentecost, Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane, Ireland;
    Raju, Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren, Germany;    The Shore, Terry George and Oorlagh George;
    Time Freak, Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey, USA;
    Tuba Atlantic,  Hallvar Witzø, Norway.

Best animated short film:
    Dimanche/Sunday (National Film Board of Canada);
    The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (Moonbot Studios);
    La Luna (Walt Disney / Pixar Animation);
    A Morning Stroll (Studio AKA);
    Wild Life (National Film Board of Canada).

Best documentary short subject with director(s):
    The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement, Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin;
    God Is the Bigger Elvis, Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson;
    Incident in New Baghdad, James Spione;
    Saving Face, Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy; ***
    The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen.

    *** Junge is Dutch. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is Pakisrani. She and I are members of the Facebook Group, "Pakistani Feminist Group."

Jennifer Lawrence, who was nominated last year for an Academy Award for her lead performance in Winter’s Bone, announced with Sherak the nominees in 10 of the 24 Award categories at a 5:38 a.m. PT, live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives. Lists of nominations in all categories were then distributed to the media in attendance and online via the official Academy Awards website, www.oscar.com.

Academy members from each of the guild branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories – actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, etc. However, in the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominations are selected by vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.

Nominations ballots were mailed to the 5,783 voting members in late December and were returned directly to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the international accounting firm, for tabulation.

Official screenings of all motion pictures with one or more nominations will begin for members this weekend at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Members may vote in all the nominated categories, although in five of them – Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject and Foreign Language Film – members may vote only if they have seen all of the nominated films in those categories.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 4 p.m. PT, and 7 p.m. ET. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

Oscar Nominations Announced Tomorrow Morning

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live tomorrow (Tuesday), January 24th, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Beverly Hills. They should be broadcast live on the early shows airing on the major networks, but especially on ABC, which will air the Academy Awards presentation to be broadcast Sunday, February 26th.

For more details about this event, scroll down to my Wednesday, January 11th post, "Lawrence and Sherak to Announce Oscar Nominations." Also, I welcome comments on this blog!

Short List for Best Foreign Language Film

The short list for the Best Motion Picture in the Foreign Language Category was released this morning by the Academy, the final short list in this category. These are the nine films from which the final five nominated films will be chosen in the next round of voting for the 84th Academy Awards. I note that the Golden Globe winning Iranian motion picture, A Separation, made the cut. There were 63 motion pictures in the original qualifying list. For that original list, see link on right sidebar of this blog.

Here is the short list from which the nominated films will come, listed in alphabetical order by country with director:

Belgium -- Bullhead, Michael R. Roskam;
Canada -- Monsieur Lazhar, Philippe Falardeau;
Denmark -- Superclásico, Ole Christian Madsen;
Germany -- Pina, Wim Wenders;
Iran -- A Separation, Asghar Farhadi;
Israel -- Footnote, Joseph Cedar;
Morocco -- Omar Killed Me, Roschdy Zem;
Poland -- In Darkness, Agnieszka Holland;
Taiwan -- Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale, Wei Te-sheng.

Foreign Language Film nominations for 2011 are again being determined in two phases:

A. Phase I. A committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 63 eligible films between mid-October and January 13. The group’s top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.

B. Phase 2. The shortlist will be winnowed down to the five nominees by specially invited committees in New York and Los Angeles. They will spend Friday, January 20, through Sunday, January 22, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, with actress Jennifer Lawrence assisting Academy President Tom Sherak.

Academy Awards for outstanding motion picture achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Highland Center, and broadcast world-wide to 225 countries, on ABC in the U.S.

Visit the fantastic new Oscars Website by clicking the title of this post. Watch for the new 84th Academy Awards trailer at your local theater.

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All information in this post is copy written, and is posted on this copy written bog with permission from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.