Academy Hosts Luncheon for Oscar Nominees

Quvenzahané Wallis in "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Monday, February 4, 17 of the 20 nominees in the acting categories will be among more than 160 Oscar nominees who will gather at noon at the Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, Ca, when the Academy honors this year's Oscar contenders during its annual Nominees Luncheon. Wallis, pictured above, a nine-year-old is the youngest person ever to be nominated for best performance by a lead actress.

From the Lead Actress and Actor categories, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, Quvenzahané Wallis, Naomi Watts, Bradley Cooper, Daniel Day-Lewis, Hugh Jackman, Joaquin Phoenix and Denzel Washington are expected to attend.

Four of the five nominees in the Directing category – Ang Lee, David O. Russell, Steven Spielberg and Benh Zeitlin – also are expected to attend. Three of the Academy's four 2012 Governors Awards recipients, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Hal Needham and George Stevens, Jr., will join this year's nominees.

Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, Christoph Waltz, Amy Adams, Sally Field, Anne Hathaway, Helen Hunt and Jacki Weaver will represent the Supporting Actor and Actress categories.

Oscars® for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood and Highland Center®, and will be hosted by Seth MacFarlane live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

Mimi Recommends: Water for Elephants

In the 1930s, a young Veterinary Medicine student, Jacob Jankowski, (Robert Pattinson, Twlight), abandons his studies when his parents are killed. It is the time of the Great Depression when traveling circuses were popular and abundant. Therefore, penniless and distraught, Jacob hits the road and takes a job caring for animals with a third-rate traveling circus.

Jacob falls in love with Marlena Rosenbluth, the beautiful young equestrian star of the Benzini Brothers’ Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Oscar* winner, Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line) brings Marlena to life. She is the wife of August (Christoph Waltz), the head trainer at the circus.

Christoph Waltz is the Oscar-winning Australian actor who played the monstrous Nazi in Inglourious Basterds. He accepted the role of August when actor Sean Penn dropped out.

Because it is the time of the Great Depression,  everyone at Benzini Brothers feels lucky to have a job. Marlena, a waif of the Depression, considers she is doubly lucky because she is also married. That is, until she begins to fall in love with Jacob.

It does not take long before Jacob also falls in love with her. The love triangle further complicates both their lives. Meanwhile, Jacob, who is of Polish descent, has another love, Rosie, an elephant from Poland. Because Rosie understands Polish and he can speak it, they form a special bond.

If video embed doesn't work, use this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuKY9kuLWvU

Water for Elephants is based on the historical novel of the same title by Canadian Author Sara Gruen, now a dual U.S. citizen. Her first novel, Riding Lessons (2004) was a hit and so was the sequel, Flying Changes (2005). Water for Elephants (2006) topped the NY Times Best-Seller list and sold four million copies. Her latest, The Ape House, was published in 2010.

The screenplay adaptation was written by Academy Award nominee Richard LaGravenese (The Fisher King, 1981). Among his other screenplay adaptations, is that of the Robert James Waller novel for the beloved novel, and oscar-winning 1995 movie, The Bridges of Madison County.  

Water for Elephants, the movie, will premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles Thursday, April 14th. It is scheduled to open in the U.S. Friday, April 22nd.

The director was the popular Austrian music video director Francis Lawrence, who has directed videos for artists such as Britney Spears, Will Smith, Sarah McLachlan, and Aerosmith. He made his feature film directorial debut with I am Legend, starring Will Smith (2007).
 
A stellar list of credits include Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (Brokeback Mountain, Babel, 21 Grams); Original Music by composer James Newton Howard (also known as James Howard Newton, Sixth Sense, The Fugitive); Production Designer Jack Fisk, or Fiske (There Will Be Blood, Mulholland Drive); Editor Allen Edward Bell (The Green Mile, (500) Days of Summer, A Few Good Men).

There is a plethora of other movie professionals in the cast and crew. Among the myriad professionals there is venerated actor Hal Holbrook who portrays Old Jacob and helps narrate the story. Tai, a female Asian elephant plays Rosie, the Benzini Brother's “Great White Hope” for a successful season. Warning, she may steal your heart.

Special Effects are by Crazy Horse Effects. Other production companies are Fox 2000 Pictures, 3 Arts Entertainment and Flashpoint Entertainment. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation is the main distributor.

Everything about this movie portends a successful run, plus awards at the end of the year. I recommend it, hoping it will not turn out to be only a short-lived 'Tourist'. That I doubt.

        *Oscar is registered by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

16th Annual SAG Award Winners for 2009

                      

SERIES: Hollywood Guild Awards and Oscars®

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) gave their acting awards last night. All knew that the big movie winner in drama at the Golden Globes® was AVATAR, but that movie was not nominated by SAG. Wonder why?

Easy. The Screen Actors Guild supports live actors in the flesh. Actors doing "performance capture," and then being computerized for the big screen, is not in SAG's mission statement. As has been mentioned before, keep in mind that SAG is the biggest voting block in Ampas®. So, as SAG votes, often that's the way the Academy members vote for the Academy Awards®.

The delightful Quentin Tarantino movie, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS won the best performance by a cast in a motion picture, which for an acting guild is also saying, "Best Motion Picture." The other casts nominated were AN EDUCATION, NINE, PRECIOUS and THE HURT LOCKER.

Sandra Bullock moved up a notch in the awards firmament by winning best actress for her performance in THE BLIND SIDE. She won a best supporting actress Globe for the same role.

Actress Betty White, whose career has mainly been in television, received the Life Achievement Award.

Click the title of this post to go to the Official SAG Website and view some great pictures from last night's event as well as all the nominees in their glitz and glam. Here's the full list, including the television awards, and not one in this list surprised me:

Cast: Inglourious Basterds.

Actor in a leading role: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart. - He won a Globe.

Actress in a leading role: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side. - She won a Globe.

Supporting actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds - He won a Globe.

Supporting actress: Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire - She won a Globe.

Stunt ensemble: Star Trek.

Television:

Drama series cast: Mad Men.

Comedy series cast: Glee.

Actor in a drama series: Michael C. Hall, Dexter.

Actress in a drama series: Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife.

Actor in a comedy series: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock.

Actress in a comedy series: Tina Fey, 30 Rock.

Actor in a movie or miniseries: Kevin Bacon, Taking Chance.

Actress in a movie or miniseries: Drew Barrymore, Grey Gardens.

Stunt ensemble: 24.