Jeopardy! Strategy & Competitor Backlash

Why We’re Actually Mad At Ruthless ‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Arthur Chu

(By Caitlin Dewey, Washington Post, 27 February 2014)

Chu with Alex Trebek (Courtesy of Jeopardy Productions, Inc.)

The question isn’t why Arthur Chu brought his peculiar, buzzer-smacking brand of game play to “Jeopardy.” The question is why, in 50 long years of the show’s history, more people haven’t done the same.  Chu, if you haven’t heard of him, is the “Jeopardy” contestant nonchalantly bulldozing America’s collective nostalgic vision for how game shows should work, who cruised to his eighth straight victory on Thursday night. The insurance compliance technician from Ohio who is  is also a “stand-up  comedian, Shakespearean actor, improviser, tour guide, genius and, most importantly, voiceover artist,” according to his Web site- has used his renegade style to earn $238,200 in winnings to date. And it’s that style, not his success, that has inspired so much negative reaction.

Since time immemorial- read: at least September 1984, when the Alex Trebek-hosted daily syndicated version of the show launched- “Jeopardy” has almost always followed a simple pattern: Contestants pick a category; they progress through the category from top to bottom; they earn winnings when they, through their hard-earned and admirable knowledge, get the questions right.  Chu, who has turned 30 since the current episodes were taped, has flipped that protocol upside down … and shaken the change out of its pockets. For one thing, he sometimes plays to tie, not win, thereby guaranteeing he brings a lesser competitor to challenge him the next day. He skips around the board looking for Daily Doubles, gobbling them up before competitors find them, in the process monopolizing all the high-value questions.

Most unforgivably to many, Chu tries to squeeze in the most questions per round by pounding the bejesus out of his buzzer and interrupting Alex Trebek. This is Alex Trebek, North American icon (he’s Canadian by birth), we’re talking about here.  Chu’s strategy wasn’t part of some long-brewing master plan, but simply the result of some Googling. He did some searching once he found out he would appear on the show and was inspired by what discovered about Chuck Forrest, a 1985 contestant whose similar Daily Double hunting even earned a phrase to describe his method of play, the “Forrest Bounce.”  “There’s no logical reason to do what people normally do, which is to take one category at a time from the top down,” Chu told the Web site Mental Floss. “Your only point of control in the game is your ability, if you get the right answer to a question, to select the next question — and you give that power up if you make yourself predictable.”  In 1985, of course, angry viewers didn’t have the option to take to social media to complain about an un­or­tho­dox contestant who disrupted a beloved and orderly daily routine. Chu’s secret weapon may be the fact that he can look past the show’s iconography and decades of sentimental baggage and see it for what it is: a game. And the purpose of playing a game is to try to win, generally through some combination of skill and strategy, regardless of whatever arbitrary etiquette is attached to it.

In that way, what Chu is doing isn’t so different than the principles of “Moneyball.” In the book/film of that name, as in real-life, Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane took a much-romanticized process (picking players in major league baseball’s annual draft) and turned it into something stark and evidence-based (focusing on statistics and formulas instead of the traditional and more subjective scouting). In fact, when you zoom way out, Chu’s strategy seems to fit into a larger cultural pattern: Now that everything can be measured, quantified and reduced to statistical probabilities, there’s no space for romance or instinct anymore. A scientific formula predicts hit songs; Big Data determines who directs our favorite shows. And all of these approaches have been adopted because they work: As Chu earned another victory on Thursday night, he became the show’s third-highest earner ever. (He has said he will donate some of his winnings to fibromyalgia research; his wife suffers from the condition.)

Chu, like Beane and Netflix and Warner Music Group, isn’t breaking any actual rules here. He’s just being ruthlessly, idol-killingly pragmatic, in a space where we don’t want pragmatism — we want pure genius!  We want Ken Jennings!  Jennings, who set a “Jeopardy” record with 74 consecutive victories while winning $2.5 million in 2004, thinks Chu is “playing the game right.”  “In sports, players and fans love it when teams shake up the game with new techniques: the basketball jump shot in the 1950s, the split-finger fastball in the 1980s, four-down football today,” he wrote over at Slate. “Why should Jeopardy be any different?”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/02/27/why-were-actually-mad-at-jeopardy-villain-arthur-chu/?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads

 

Arthur Chu Is Playing Jeopardy! the Right Way

(By Ken Jennings, Slate.com, 10 February 2014)

Ken Jennings is a 74-time Jeopardy! winner and is the author of six books.

It didn’t take long for Arthur Chu to become Public Game Show Enemy No. 1. Within days of his Jan. 28 debut on Jeopardy!, the 30-year-old Cleveland-area insurance analyst was making America very, very angry. “Arthur Chu is the worst jeopardy contestant of all time,” one viewer tweeted. “I can’t wait until someone beats his joyless, smug ass,” seethed another. Even the JBoard, normally a collegial hangout for the top-rated quiz show’s most dedicated ex-contestants and fans, got ugly. “There is no need to disrespect the game,” one poster scolded Chu.  This all took me back to the heady days of summer 2004, when I began my own run as a Jeopardy! contestant and fans soon tired of my presence behind the leftmost podium. In ESPN the Magazine, Bill Simmons called me “a smarmy know-it-all with the personality of a hall monitor.” (My company is, to this day, called Hall Monitor LLC.)  On Jeopardy!, a rigidly formatted show in its 30^th year, the only real breath of fresh air is the endless parade of new contestants. Familiarity, on the other hand, quickly breeds contempt.

It’s true that Arthur Chu is a buzzer-waver, a button-masher, a Trebek-interrupter. But between rounds of gameplay and in the many subsequent interviews he’s done—Chu is clearly enjoying his 15 minutes—he comes across as perfectly pleasant, chatty, and self-aware. Given the low bar of Jeopardy!-contestant charisma, he is a normal, likable guy.  The sudden wave of Chu-mosity is largely just a symptom of our modern news cycle, where one spate of hostile tweets can spawn a million repetitive reaction pieces before the feedback loop dies.  There’s an obvious racial angle as well. Chu, a bespectacled man with rumpled shirts and a bowl cut, plays into every terrible Asian-nerd stereotype you’ve ever seen in an ’80s teen movie. Charmingly, he seems to enjoy the role of the scheming outsider. Ina recent Wall Street Journal interview, he pitted his own eccentric genius against me, “the angelic blond boy next door, the central casting ‘nice boy.’ ”

But in fact, plenty of nice white boys on Jeopardy! have been pilloried by viewers for using Arthur Chu’s signature technique: bopping around the game board seemingly at whim, rather than choosing the clues from top to bottom, as most contestants do. This is Chu’s great crime, the kind of anarchy that hard core Jeopardy! fans will not countenance. The technique was pioneered in 1985 by a five-time champ named Chuck Forrest, whose law school roommate suggested it. The “Forrest bounce,” as fans still call it, kept opponents off balance. He would know ahead of time where the next clue would pop up; they’d be a second slow. 
More recently, skipping around the board has evolved into an art form. Jeopardy! luminaries like David Madden (19-game winning streak, 2005) and Roger Craig (Tournament of Champions winner and single-day winnings record holder, 2010–11) have used “the bounce” as a strategic way to hack an underappreciated key to Jeopardy! success: the Daily Double.  In any game of Jeopardy!, three clues have been secretly earmarked as Daily Doubles.  The player who finds each one can bet any or all of her winnings on responding to it correctly. By and large, Jeopardy! players are a risk-averse bunch. Unless a player is in need of a big comeback, the Daily Double wager is usually a smallish one.

Strategically, this is crazy. Like a poker player trying to increase the size of the pot when he has a good hand, Jeopardy! contestants should maximize their upside when the odds are in their favor. Historically, the odds of getting a Daily Double correct are very good: Between 65 and 70 percent. Too many players instead let games come down to Final Jeopardy, where conversion is much less predictable. (Less than half of all Final Jeopardy responses are correct.) Finding the Daily Doubles becomes more important the stronger a player you are, since it lowers the influence of chance on the outcome.  Crunching some numbers, I see that my own Daily Double conversion during my Jeopardy! run was about 83 percent. In hindsight, my wagers were almost always too small. 

So when Arthur Chu bobs and weaves around the board, he’s chasing those game-changing Daily Doubles. (The Jeopardy! contestant coordinators recommend playing the game in top-to-bottom order, mostly to make life easier on Alex Trebek and the techs who run the game board, but it’s not a requirement.) Hunting is possible because Daily Doubles may be hidden, but they’re not distributed randomly. For example, they’re much more likely to be in the fourth row of clues (36 percent of the time, in recent years) than the second row (just 10 percent). Roger Craig even discovered that Daily Doubles are distributed non-randomly by column as well, and played accordingly. He put the 2011 Tournament of Champions away early with an incredibly ballsy pair of Daily Double bets that still makes my sphincters clench when I watch it today.

Arthur Chu has been lauded in headlines as the pioneer of Jeopardy! “game theory,” but Craig is the one who designed his own computer software from scratch to allow him to game Jeopardy! “moneyball”-style. Chu, by his own admission, just Googled “jeopardy strategy.” If he has seen more Daily Doubles than other men, it is because he stood on the shoulders of giants.  I was converted to Daily Double hunting during my 2011 match against the IBM supercomputer Watson. During a practice round, Watson took the clues in order, like a good citizen; I won the game in a runaway. But during the televised match, Watson’s minders switched it into “game mode,” which of course involved smart strategies like hunting for Daily Doubles. This time, Watson roared into a huge lead. I had a chance to come back near the end of the match when I found the first Daily Double in the round—but my next clue selection wasn’t quite the optimal one, and Watson found the second Daily Double instead. Lights out.

Arthur Chu is on the Jeopardy! bench for a couple of weeks while a college tournament airs, but he’ll back on Feb. 24, and the Daily Double hunt will begin anew. In sports, players and fans love it when teams shake up the game with new techniques: the basketball jump shot in the 1950s, the split-finger fastball in the 1980s,four-down football today. Why should Jeopardy! be any different? Strategic play makes for a more complex, exciting show. Don’t listen to the Internet kibitzers. Arthur Chu is playing the game right.

 

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/02/ken_jennings_on_jeopardy_champion_arthur_chu_and_daily_double_hunting.html

Every Single Question Arthur Chu Got Wrong On Tonight’s ‘Jeopardy!’

(By Caitlin Dewey, Washington Post, 12 March 2014)
 

The astonishingly polarizing Arthur Chu- who reinvented, and maybe ruined, the way “Jeopardy!” is played - ended his winning streak tonight after stumbling on a question about the British monarchy.  This might mark the royalty’s biggest contribution to public life since spawning Prince George. But it wasn’t just the monarchy that brought Chu down! In fact, the so-called “Jeopardy hacker” stumbled and stalled constantly on tonight’s show, with him even entering the big-question Final Jeopardy in last place.  Here, for reference/gloating, is every single question Chu got wrong or ceded to another player (the exact phrasing is approximate — Trebek talks fast!):
 

FINAL JEOPARDY: He was the last male monarch who had not previously been Prince of Wales. (Who is George VI.)

With 40,000 cases in 2011, Australia was hit by an epidemic of this respiratory ailment that can be fatal in babies. (What is whooping cough.)

You with your cute hat, you’re just troppo! (What is “too much.”)

Don’t bother me, I’m affacentato. (What is “busy.”)

The H pylori bacterium causes this type of ulcer, from the Greek word for “digestive.” (What is peptic.)

Coveted by every speechwriter-turned-columnist, this is an award named for the woman seen here. (What is “The Peggy.”)

Philosophers distinguish between two kinds of knowledge: “a priori,” from thinking, and this — from experience. (What is empirical or “a posteriori.”)

Taza, son of this chief, tried to honor his father’s peace agreement with the army, but couldn’t unite the Apache bands. (Who is Cochise.)

Antisthenes began this “ism” with the view that self-interest is the primary motive of human behavior. (What is cynicism.)

This Ottawa chief’s drive to capture Fort Detroit might’ve been successful if he hadn’t been betrayed. (Who is Pontiac.)

Pass the lasagna, I’m affamato. (What is hungry.)

This people’s old Oraibi pueblo in Arizona may be the oldest inhabited village in the U.S. (What is Hopi.)

This principality in southwest Europe is roughly 370 acres. (What is Monaco.)

You want to buy my truck for $100? What am I, pazzo? (What is crazy.)

We were lucky to catch the bus back to Rome, it was the ultimo. (What is last.)

This viral disease that causes inflammation of the liver has A, B, C, D and E types. (What is hepatitis.)

This Dane proposed that people go through three stages: aesthetic, ethical, religious. (Who is Kierkegaard.)

This word, originally meaning shaman or medicine man, now means a council or meeting. (What is powwow.)

Mr. Gilliam or Mr. Jones inspired this award for a British comedy troupe member. (What is “The Terry” or “The Monty.”)

The title of this 1979 No. 1 hit by the Eagles warned of one of these tonight. (What is heartache.)

In this 1984 Prince song, things were so sad these title birds were crying. (What are doves.)

Solid Mr. Walesa. (Who is Lech.)

Last name of Lorenzo who, on January 5, 1537, decided the Duke of Florence needed to breath a lot less. (Who is Medici.)

“Dust to Dust” is a 2013 song by this country-folk duo, whose name suggests the discord that broke them up. (Who are the Civil Wars.)

Find the queen, find the nice lady in this street gambling game with a trio of face-down options. Sorry, try again! (What is three-card Monte.)

Fred Smith, of this company, took $25.3 million — not bad for an overnight delivery boy. (What is FedEx.)

Bet Mr. Schultz’s employees in this company spell “Howard” correctly on cups. (What is Starbucks.)

The commissioner of Scotland Yard resigned in 1888, the day before the final murder attributed to this man. (Who is Jack the Ripper.)

“Hell,” in polite company. (What is heck.)

St. Francis Cathedral was built by the St. Francis who became the model for a character in this book. (What is “Death Comes for the Archbishop.”)

Annie Fitzgerald Stephens was the model for this Southern belle. (Who is Scarlett O’Hara.)

This character is Charles Dickens’ most autobiographical. His initials are the reverse of the author’s. (Who is David Copperfield.)

Mrs. Honeychurch in his “Room With a View” was based on his grandmother. (Who is E.M. Forster.)

This Kurt Weill musical drama was called “Die Dreigroschenoper” when it debuted in 1928. (What is “The Threepenny Opera.”)

Middle-class pretensions! Despair! You want them, you got them in this Chekhov play. (What is “Three Sisters.”)

Fifty percent of the core melted down in this U.S. facility. (What is Three Mile Island.)

“2 Broke Girls” helped this network earn several million dollars. (What is CBS.)

Not Marco, but certainly Polo: He wore it well, drawing $60 million. (Who is Lauren.)

And here are the ones Chu got right:

The same virus that causes chickenpox in kids might reemerge in adulthood as this. (What is shingles.)

It’s the capital of Maharashtra, a state on the Deccan Plateau. (What is Mumbai.)

The largest national lake in South America, this is an inlet of the Caribbean Sea. (What is Maracaibo.)

Fleetwood Mac’s Ms. Nicks gave the name to this award for most diaphanous dress. (Who is Stevie.)

Her descendants through her son Thomas Rolfe number in the tens of thousands. (Who is Pocahontas.)

The name of this philosophy that began in Russia in the 1850s is derived from the Latin noun for nothing. (What is nihilism.)

This island is separated from the coast of Africa by the Mozambique Channel. (What is Madagascar.)

The award for best sister in a comic strip gets its name from her. (What is Sally.)

Given for the cutest boy in an ad, it’s named for the 4-year-old in a Life cereal commercial. (What is Mikey.)

In this 1988 hit, Poison lamented that every rose has one of these. (What are thorns.)

A unit of dry volume equal to a quart. (What is a peck.)

Holy Shatner, Jeff Boyd got a great deal for this .com at $5o million. (What is Priceline.)

A tanker on the rocks. (What is wreck.)

After a 2013 chemical attack near Damascus, the French president called this man a war criminal. (Who is Assad.)

In her No. 1 hit “Someone Like You,” she thought you’d see my face and be reminded that for me, it isn’t over. (Who is Adele.)

F. Scott Fitzgerald probably drew on the bootlegger Max Gerlach for this title character. (Who is the Great Gatsby.)

On July 26, 1794, this Frenchmen called for an end to violence, though he’d killed so many already. (Who is Robespierre.)

The tenure of this first Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition saw 2,000 stake burnings. (Who is Torquemada.)

A body block on ice. (What is check.)

In 1938, this trio made the short film “Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb.” (Who are the Three Stooges.)

Chu hasn’t fared so badly, though. At the end of his 11-episode winning streak, he departs with $297,200 in winnings — the third-highest of all time, and qualifies for the show’s Tournament of Champions. He also knew he had it coming; the episode was recorded back in November.

Meanwhile, Diana Peloquin can look forward to some unexpected, and much-deserved, fame. The grad student (and synchronized swimmer!) correctly answered the last question, keeping her first-place spot and booting Chu in the process. By some accounts, she’s practically a national hero.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/03/12/every-single-question-arthur-chu-got-wrong-on-tonights-jeopardy/?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads

 

 

Academy Awards 2014

Academy Awards 2014

(Winners are in BOLD type, my picks are in purple,

my wished for winner is in blue- if that is not also my predicted winner.)

Best Picture

Captain Phillips

Gravity

12 Years a Slave

Philomena

American Hustle

Her

Nebraska

The Wolf of Wall Street

Dallas Buyers Club

Directing

Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

Steve McQueen, 12 Years A Slave

Alexander Payne, Nebraska

David O. Russell, American Hustle

Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

Actor

Christian Bale, American Hustle

Bruce Dern, Nebraska

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street

Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

Actress

Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Sandra Bullock, Gravity

Judi Dench, Philomena

Amy Adams, American Hustle

Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

Supporting Actor

Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

Bradley Cooper, American Hustle

Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave

Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Jonah Hill, Wolf of Wall Street

Supporting Actress

Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine

Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave

Julia Roberts, August: Osage County:

June Squibb, Nebraska

Animated Feature Film

The Croods

Despicable Me 2

Frozen

Ernest & Celestine

The Wind Rises

Cinematography

The Grandmaster, Philippe Le Sourd

Gravity, Emmanuel Lubezki

Inside Llewyn Davis, Bruno Delbonnel

Nebraska, Phedon Papamichael

Prisoners, Roger A. Deakins

Costume Design

American Hustle, Michael Wilkinson

The Grandmaster, William Chang Suk Ping

The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin

The Invisible Woman, Michael O’Connor

12 Years a Slave, Patricia Norris

Makeup And Hairstyling

Dallas Buyers Club

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa

The Lone Ranger

Documentary Short Subject

CaveDigger

Facing Fear

Karma Has No Walls

The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hill

Documentary Feature

The Act of Killing

Cutie and the Boxer

Dirty Wars

The Square

20 Feet From Stardom

Foreign Language Film

The Broken Circle Breakdown, Belgium

The Great Beauty, Italy

The Hunt, Denmark

The Missing Picture, Cambodia

Omar, Palestine

Music, Original Score

John Williams, The Book Thief

Steven Price, Gravity

William Butler and Owen Pallett, Her

Alexandre Desplat, Philomena

Thomas Newman, Saving Mr. Banks

Music, Original Song

“Alone Yet Not Alone” from “Alone Yet Not Alone”, Music by Bruce Broughton; Lyric by Dennis Spiegel

“Happy” from “Despicable Me 2”, Music and Lyric by Pharrell Williams

“Let it Go,” from “Frozen”, Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

“The Moon Song,” from “Her”, Music by Karen O; Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze

“Ordinary Love,” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”, Music by U2; Lyric by Paul (Bono) Hewson

Production Design

American Hustle

Gravity

The Great Gatsby

Her

12 Years a Slave

Short Film, Animated

Feral

Get a Horse!

Mr. Hublot

Possessions

Room on the Broom

Short Film, Live Action

Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)

Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything)

Helium

Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)

The Voorman Problem

Film Editing

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

12 Years a Slave

Sound Editing

All Is Lost

Captain Phillips

Gravity

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Lone Survivor

Sound Mixing

Captain Phillips

Gravity

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Inside Llewyn Davis

Lone Survivor

Visual Effects

Gravity

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Lone Ranger

Iron Man 3

Star Trek Into Darkness

Writing, Adapted Screenplay

Before Midnight, Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke,

Captain Phillips, Billy Ray

Philomena, Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope

12 Years a Slave, John Ridley

Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street.

Writing, Original Screenplay

American Hustle, Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell

Blue Jasmine, Woody Allen

Dallas Buyers Club, Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack

Her, Spike Jonze

Nebraska, Bob Nelson

 

Oscar Snubs: ‘Inside Llewyn Davis,’ Robert Redford And Oprah Deserved Better

(By Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 16 January 2014)

 

First, you kvell.  When the 2014 Academy Awards nominees were announced early Thursday, all ears were attuned to the expected names. Jared Leto, Lupita Nyong’o, Cate Blanchett, Matthew McConaughey and Bruce Dern given nods in their respective categories? Check.  “Gravity,” “American Hustle” and “12 Years a Slave” dominating nominations for acting, writing, directing and best picture? No big surprises there, and all as it should be.  Then, you cry. No nomination for Robert Redford for his astonishing one-man show in the gripping seafaring thriller “All Is Lost”? Outrage! No Tom Hanks, who delivered such a subtle tour de force in “Captain Phillips”? The nerve! No Oprah Winfrey or Forest Whitaker for their superb performances in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”? Robbed, I tell you, robbed!  No love for “Inside Llewyn Davis,” other than deserved nods for sound mixing and cinematography? (The film’s brilliantly satiric ditty “Please Mr. Kennedy” should have been a shoo-in for best original song but was deemed not original enough due to its sly nods to previous ’60s folk songs.) No “Stories We Tell” in the lineup for best documentary?

Oh, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. You exist to make us crazy.  Granted, in a year as strong as 2013, there are bound to be heartbreaks once the winnowing process begins. But Thursday’s shutouts were notable, especially the near-complete zotzing of “Saving Mr. Banks,” a paean to Hollywood studio big-footing (er, collaboration) that only earned one nomination, for original score. Emma Thompson, who many predicted would be recognized for her tart portrayal of “Mary Poppins” author P.L. Travers, went un-lauded, her spot presumably on permanent hold for Meryl Streep.  Still, having nominated nine films for best picture, surely the Academy could have come up with a 10th in such a strong year. What a perfect way to honor “Fruitvale Station,” Ryan Coogler’s stunning debut featuring a quietly electrifying lead performance by Michael B. Jordan-  or at least “Saving Mr. Banks,” “Blue Jasmine” or “Inside Llewyn Davis.”  The day’s biggest “Huh?” came when the nominees for best original song were announced. Exactly which left field did “Alone Yet Not Alone” come from, and how did it snag a coveted Oscar nomination?  After the kvelling and the crying, the questioning begins.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/oscar-snubs-inside-llewyn-davis-and-robert-redford-and-oprah-deserved-better/2014/01/16/d41f7750-7eb8-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html?wpisrc=nl_lunchln

 

 

Oscar Nominations: '12 Years A Slave' Remains The Film To Beat

(By Scott Feinberg, Hollywood Reporter, 16 January 2014)

 

At long last, our questions have been answered! Or have they?  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its nominations for the 86th Oscars on Thursday morning, and while some are undoubtedly feeling disappointed by the choices (i.e. the campaigns behind Inside Llewyn Davis and the brothers Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Saving Mr. Banks and Emma Thompson, Lee Daniels' The Butler and Oprah Winfrey, Rush, Robert Redford and Tom Hanks), many have major cause for celebration (i.e. American Hustle and Gravity, which led the field with 10 noms each, plus Nebraska and The Wolf of Wall Street, which outperformed most people's expectations). Now, as we head into the second phase of one of the most wide-open and competitive Oscar races in recent memory, the question, of course, is what does it all mean?

My take... Even though it scored one nom fewer than Hustle and Gravity, 12 Years a Slave remains the film to beat among the nine best picture nominees. It has what most of the others lack -- namely, gravitas, social significance and relevance to the present day, plus the support of most of the key constituencies in the Academy (actors, directors, writers, film editors, etc.). It basically got everything that it could have realistically hoped for, save for noms for best cinematography (Sean Bobbitt hasn't worked much in this country before) and best original score (Hanz Zimmer being snubbed is bizarre and perhaps attributable only to the fact that he had several other scores in contention, as well, including Rush and Man of Steel, which may have split his support). And, as a result of its strong showing, I suspect that most of the Academy members who have heretofore resisted seeing the film for fear of being too disturbed by its content -- a not inconsiderable number, from what my fellow Oscar bloggers and I have been able to gauge on the circuit -- will reconsider that position and adopt a more conscientious one.

Gravity, meanwhile, looks like the Life of Pi of this year: a 3D film with amazing visual effects that will have a shot at winning best picture (although only two other films in the last 58 years -- The Sound of Music and Titanic -- have won best pic without a screenplay nom, and no film released predominately in 3D has ever won before); will probably win best director (Alfonso Cuaron) because of the magnitude of its ambition and daring; and will clean up in the technical categories (it is only the fifth film -- after Titanic, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Hugo and Life of Pi -- to score noms in all seven technical Oscar categories best cinematography, film editing, best original score, best sound editing, best sound mixing and best visual effects).

Moving on to American Hustle, it must be noted that David O. Russell has been on an unbelievable hot streak these last four years, during which he has directed three films that received best picture nominations and brought him best director nominations. (Only 11 other directors -- and only one since 1960 -- have matched the latter feat.) Even more impressively, he has now directed his actors to noms in each of the four acting categories for the second year in a row -- this year it's Christian Bale for best actor, Amy Adams for best actress, Bradley Cooper for best supporting actor and Jennifer Lawrence for best supporting actress -- something that has only been done 15 times ever. Talk about an actors' director!

But does American Hustle have a clear path to victory in any of its races? The last dramedies to win the best picture Oscar were Annie Hall 35 years ago and Terms of Endearment 30 years ago, so that may be an uphill climb. And its actors are all thought to be trailing in their respective races -- Bale behind Dallas Buyers Club's Matthew McConaughey, The Wolf of Wall Street's Leonardo DiCaprio, 12 Years a Slave's Chiwetel Ejiofor and Nebraska's Bruce Dern; Adams behind Blue Jasmine's Cate Blanchett; Cooper behind Dallas Buyers Club's Jared Leto; and Lawrence behind 12 Years a Slave's Lupita Nyong'o (although that one is going to be very close). Consequently, I would think that its strongest shot is for best original screenplay -- which would bring Russell his first Oscar.

Captain Phillips enters phase two a little wounded, with a best picture nomination but without two noms that its backers expected it would have: best director (Paul Greengrass was this year's only DGA nominee who was snubbed by the Academy) and best actor (Tom Hanks had been nominated for Globe, Critics' Choice, SAG and BAFTA awards, a quartet that almost always predicts an Oscar nom). But it did do well elsewhere, with noms in the supporting actor (Barkhad Abdi), adapted screenplay, film editing, sound effects and sound mixing categories. Its lack of the directing nom, in particular, will dissuade many from considering it a film that can win the best picture Oscar, since only four films have ever won best picture without one: Wings (1927/28), Grand Hotel (1931/32), Driving Miss Daisy (1989) and Argo (2012).

Nebraska had a terrific morning, becoming just the eighth predominately or entirely black-and-white film since 1970 to score a best picture nomination -- and it did land a spot in the best director lineup (its helmer, Alexander Payne, probably bounced Greengrass). Additionally, it scored acting noms (best actor nominee Bruce Dern, 35 years since his last Academy's acknowledgment for Coming Home, becomes the third oldest man ever nominated in his category, and best supporting actress nominee June Squibb, who becomes the third oldest woman ever nominated in her category) and noms for its original screenplay and cinematography. Its Achilles heel: its lack of a film editing nom (Kevin Tent was passed over for Dallas Buyers Club's John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa), without which only nine films have ever won the best picture Oscar. That is also going to be an obstacle for fellow best picture nominees The Wolf of Wall Street, Philomena and Her.

Speaking of Dallas Buyers Club, a well-made film about a serious subject, perhaps people should take it a bit more seriously as a best picture threat than they have up to this point. In addition to its aforementioned best picture, best actor, best supporting actor and best film editing noms, it was also acknowledged with noms for best original screenplay (which Craig Borten worked on for 20 years, the last 11 of them with Melisa Wallack) and best makeup and hairstyling. That's pretty widespread and broad support.  As The Weinstein Co.'s best picture nominee, you can bet that Philomena, a small film about a big scandal, will get a major push. The moving drama -- the talent and subject of which have been getting standing-O's on the Q&A circuit, of late -- ended up with four total noms: best picture, best actress (Judi Dench's seventh, all of which have come since she turned 63, a record), best adapted screenplay (co-star Steve Coogan shares this nom with Jeff Pope and, as a producer of the film, was also nominated for best pic) and best original score (Alexandre Desplat's sixth nom in the category over the last eight years). One of the arguments that will be mounted on Dench's behalf -- particularly as the 79-year-old remains in England recovering from recent surgery -- is that, while she has won a best supporting actress Oscar (15 years ago for Shakespeare in Love), she has never won in the lead actress category and deserves to as much as anyone. There's definitely some merit to that argument -- although the same one can be made for Blanchett.

The best picture nom for Her, a quirky and eccentric film -- a.k.a. "a Spike Jonze film" -- is certainly not everyone's cup of tea, which led me to suspect that it would make the cut as a result of the Academy's unusual voting system for the category, which rewards passionate support (i.e. highly placed votes on even a relatively small number of ballots) over lower votes on more ballots (i.e. the sort of support that Saving Mr. Banks and The Butler probably received). But perhaps it did have broader support than I gave it credit for, since it also scored noms for best original screenplay, best production design, best original score and best original song -- if not best director.  As for the controversial The Wolf of Wall Street, I see it as a total wild-card that could do some major damage at the Oscars or could just as easily go home empty-handed. It's got the support of directors (Martin Scorsese), actors (DiCaprio was no sure thing for best actor and virtually no one other than me was predicting Jonah Hill for best supporting actor -- the 30-year-old is now a two-time Oscar nominee) and screenwriters (Terence Winter bagged his first Oscar nom). But film editors, who usually come through for the great Thelma Schoonmaker, did not this time (perhaps because she was forced to edit so much so quickly and couldn't do her usual flawless work). And feelings about the film, in general, are very divided. Its best shot may well be for DiCaprio, who is only 39 but has given so many strong performances that a considerable number of people already regard him as overdue for recognition, and who could give Dallas Buyers Club's McConaughey -- with whom he also shares a terrific scene in Wolf -- a run for his money.

But, to put this whole morning in context -- something that I know is not easy for many of us to do, including myself -- I would urge you to consider the following. History will record that the following great films were not nominated for a single Oscar: Blackfish, Casting By, Enough Said, Fruitvale Station, Lee Daniels' The Butler, Out of the Furnace, Rush, Short Term 12, The Spectacular Now, Stories We Tell and Tim's Vermeer. Meanwhile, when our grandchildren Google Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, Iron Man 3, The Lone Ranger and Star Trek Into Darkness, they will read that they were Oscar nominees.  So, in short, an exciting morning has produced as many questions as answers -- and we still have just over six weeks to go until Oscar night!

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Oscar Nominations By The Numbers: Fun Facts And Shocking Stats

(By Scott Feinberg , Hollywood Reporter, 16 January 2014)

THR's awards analyst dug through the Oscar record books to see how this year's nominees stack up against the nominees of yesteryear. The results are fascinating.  

For Oscar buffs -- read "Oscar geeks" -- like me, one of the great thrills of each year's Academy Awards nominations announcement is the opportunity to dig through the eight-plus decades of Oscar record books and investigate. There's no way to truly compare the classics of yesteryear with the finest films of today, but in a weird way this allows us to do something like that -- and, while that's not particularly useful, it sure is a blast to do! So, without further ado, here are the fun factoids and shocking stats that I've come up with about the new crop of Oscar nominees.

• Sony's American Hustle becomes only the 15th film to score at least one nomination in each of the four acting categories -- and the second David O. Russell film to do so in two years! The others: My Man Godfrey (1936), Mrs. Miniver (1942), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), Johnny Belinda (1948), Sunset Blvd. (1950), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), Network (1976), Coming Home (1978), Reds (1981) and Silver Linings Playbook (2012).
• American Hustle becomes only the second film since Reds (1981) to score nominations for best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay or best original screenplay and in each of the four acting categories. The other: Silver Linings Playbook (2012).
• Warner Bros.' Gravity becomes only the sixth film released predominantly in 3D to receive a best picture nomination. The others: Avatar (2009), Up (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), Hugo (2011) and Life of Pi (2012).
• Paramount's Nebraska becomes the eighth predominantly or entirely black-and-white film since 1970 to score a best picture nomination, following The Last Picture Show (1971), Lenny (1974), The Elephant Man (1980), Raging Bull (1980), Schindler's List (1993, won), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) and The Artist (2011, won).
• Gravity becomes only the fifth film to score Oscar nominations in all seven technical Oscar categories: best cinematography, film editing, best original score, production design, best sound editing, best sound mixing and best visual effects. The others: Titanic (1997), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2002), Hugo (2011) and Life of Pi (2012).
• Twenty-seven-year-old Megan Ellison (American Hustle and Her) becomes only the fourth producer -- and the first female producer -- to score more than one best picture Oscar nomination in a single year since 1951. The others: Francis Ford Coppola and Fred Roos (1974's The Conversation and The Godfather, Part II) and Scott Rudin (2010's The Social Network and True Grit).
• Three perennial nominees who never have won an Oscar will have a shot at breaking their losing streaks this year: 12 Years a Slave's 82-year-old costume designer Patricia Norris scored her sixth nom 35 years after her first; Saving Mr. Banks' composer Thomas Newman is 0-for-11 in years past, but maybe the 12th will be the charm; and Prisoners' cinematographer Roger Deakins is hoping that he will finally win on his 11th try.
• Meryl Streep (August: Osage County), with her best actress nomination, extends her record for most nominations by an actor or actress with her 18th. She has scored 15 best actress nominations (winning twice) and three supporting actress nominations (winning once).
• Judi Dench (Philomena), with her best actress nomination, has now scored seven acting nominations, all of which have come since she turned 63. No one else has scored anywhere near as many after the age of 60. (Also, six of her seven noms have come in films distributed by Harvey Weinstein.)
• Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle), with her best supporting actress nomination, becomes the youngest three-time acting nominee. She is just 23; Teresa Wright was 24 years old when she received her third nomination in 1942.
• Amy Adams (American Hustle), with her best actress nomination, has now scored five Oscar nominations in a span of just nine years. This is her first outside the best supporting actress category.
• Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), with his best supporting actor nomination, becomes the first Somali actor to ever receive an Oscar nomination.
• June Squibb (Nebraska), with her best supporting actress nomination, becomes that category's third oldest nominee ever, at the age of 84 years and 71 days.
• Woody Allen (Blue Jasmine), with his best original screenplay nomination, extends his record for most nominations by a screenwriter. (All 16 of his have come in the original screenplay category.)
• Nebraska becomes the 11th predominantly or entirely black-and-white film to score a best cinematography nom since the elimination of the black-and-white cinematography category in 1967. The others: In Cold Blood (1967), The Last Picture Show (1971), Lenny (1974), Raging Bull (1980), Zelig (1983), Schindler's List (1993, won), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), The White Ribbon (2009) and The Artist (2011).
• Alexandre Desplat (Philomena) has now scored six noms for best original score, all within the last eight years.
• John Williams (The Book Thief) scores his 44th nomination for best original score, passing the late Alfred Newman to become the category's sole record holder. (Newman still leads Williams for wins, though, nine to five.) Williams has 49 overall nominations, the second most for an individual in Oscar history, trailing only Walt Disney.
• It has been a long time since the Academy last nominated Nebraska's Bruce Dern (35 years), Her's Spike Jonze (14 years) and August: Osage County's Julia Roberts (13 years).
• Thursday brought the first Oscar nominations for eight of this year's 20 acting nominees: Barkhad Abdi, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Sally Hawkins, Jared Leto, Matthew McConaughey, Steve McQueen, Lupita Nyong'o and June Squibb.
• Seven of this year's 20 acting nominees are past winners: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Judi Dench, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and Julia Roberts.
• American Hustle's Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are the only three acting nominees this year who were also nominated last year -- last year Adams was nominated for best supporting actress, Lawrence was nominated for best actress and Cooper was nominated for best lead actor. This year they are all nominated in different categories.
• David O. Russell has now received three best director Oscar nominations within a span of just four years: The Fighter (2010), Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and American Hustle. Only 11 other directors ever -- and only one since 1960 -- have matched that hot streak: Lewis Milestone, Frank Capra, Michael Curtiz, John Ford, William Wyler, Sam Wood, Clarence Brown, John Huston, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Billy Wilder and Clint Eastwood.
• David O. Russell becomes only the seventh filmmaker to receive directing and writing nominations in consecutive years. The others: Billy Wilder, David Lean, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, John Huston, Richard Brooks and Woody Allen (who did it twice).
• Martin Scorsese has now directed more best picture Oscar nominees than any other living director, eight. The Wolf of Wall Street's nom breaks a tie among him, Woody Allen and Steven Spielberg.
• Prior to this year, the last time that every best actor nominee came from a best picture-nominated film was 1966.
• Hayao Miyazaki (The Wind Rises), with his best animated feature nomination for The Wind Rises, the third of his career, becomes the most nominated person in the category's history.
• With its best foreign-language film nomination for The Great Beauty, Italy reduces the margin by which France, which did not score a nom this year, leads it on the tally of most nominated films per country, from 36-27 to 36-28. (If The Great Beauty wins, then Italy will tie France for the most wins for any country, with 13.)
• Catherine Martin (The Great Gatsby), with her best costume design and best production design nominations, becomes the second person to receive nominations in those two categories for the same film in the same year on more than one occasion. She previously did so for Moulin Rouge! (2001). The other person who did so was Piero Gherardi, who did so in three different years (1961, 1963 and 1966).
• Thomas Newman (Saving Mr. Banks), with his best original score nomination for Saving Mr. Banks, has now accumulated 12 noms in the category -- without having ever won -- and extends the Newman family's record of most nominations for a single family to 88. (His relatives include Alfred Newman, Lionel Newman, Emil Newman, Thomas Newman, David Newman and Randy Newman.)
• With its best foreign-language film nomination for The Missing Picture, Cambodia becomes the second country to score a nom in that category for a documentary. The other: Waltz with Bashir (2008).
• Sandra Bullock has now starred in four films that were nominated for the best picture Oscar, all of which were released within the past nine years: Crash (2005), The Blind Side (2008), Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) and Gravity.
• Leonardo DiCaprio has now starred in seven films that were nominated for the best picture Oscar: Titanic (1997), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Inception (2010), Django Unchained (2012) and The Wolf of Wall Street.
• Tom Hanks has now starred in seven films that were nominated for the best picture Oscar: Forrest Gump (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Green Mile (1999), Toy Story 3 (2010), Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) and Captain Phillips.
• George Clooney has now starred in six films that were nominated for the best picture Oscar: The Thin Red Line (1998), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), Michael Clayton (2007), Up in the Air (2009), The Descendants (2011) and Gravity.
• Paramount's The Wolf of Wall Street becomes the movie with the most uses of the word "f---" to receive an Oscar nomination -- no other film, let alone Oscar-nominated film, has ever featured more than its 522.
• In the 86 years in which the best picture category has existed, only 11 films have won that prize without scoring at least one acting nomination: Wings (1927/1928), All Quiet on the Western Front (1929/1930), Grand Hotel (1931/1932), An American in Paris (1951), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), Gigi (1958), The Last Emperor (1987), Braveheart (1995), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and Slumdog Millionaire (2008). That is bad news for the best picture prospects of only one of the nine best picture nominees: Her.
• In the 86 years in which the best cinematography category has existed, only 31 films have won best picture without also being nominated for best cinematography -- one of which was Argo last year. That is bad news for only one of the nine best picture nominees: Her.
• In the 79 years in which the best film editing category has existed, only nine films have won best picture without being nominated for best film editing -- none since Ordinary People (1980) 33 years ago. That is bad news for the best picture prospects of Her, Nebraska, Philomena and The Wolf of Wall Street.
• Categories for story and/or screenplay have existed for all 86 years of Oscar history. In the past 58 years, only two films have won best picture without also being nominated for one of them -- The Sound of Music (1965) and Titanic (1997) 14 years ago. That is bad news for the best picture prospects of only one of the nine best picture nominees: Gravity.
• Of the 10 films nominated for the PGA Award -- which was a fairly accurate predictor of the best picture Oscar under the Academy's old voting system -- eight were also nominated for the best picture Oscar. The PGA nominated two films that the Academy did not (Blue Jasmine and Saving Mr. Banks), and the Academy nominated one film that the PGA did not (Philomena).
• Of the 10 films nominated for the Broadcast Film Critics Association's Critics' Choice Award for best picture -- another fairly accurate predictor of the best picture Oscar under the Academy's previous voting system -- eight were also nominated for the best picture Oscar. The BFCA nominated two films that the Academy did not (Inside Llewyn Davis and Saving Mr. Banks) and the Academy nominated one film that the BFCA did not (Philomena).
• The SAG Awards' ensemble nominations, which have an iffy track record of predicting best picture Oscar nominations, corresponded with only three this year. The two that differed? SAG nominated August: Osage County and Lee Daniels' The Butler, which the Academy did not.
• The SAG Awards' acting nominations -- which corresponded with 19 of 20, 17 of 20 and 14 of 20 of the Academy's nominees over the past three years, respectively -- corresponded with 14 of 20 this year. The only discrepancies: SAG nominated Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips), Forest Whitaker (Lee Daniels' The Butler), Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks), Daniel Bruhl (Rush), James Gandolfini (Enough Said) and Oprah Winfrey (Lee Daniels' The Butler), whom the Academy replaced with Christian Bale (American Hustle), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street), Amy Adams (American Hustle), Bradley Cooper (American Hustle), Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) and Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine).
• The Golden Globe Awards' acting nominees (10 lead actors and lead actresses and five supporting actors and supporting actresses) -- which corresponded with 15 of 20, 15 of 20 and 16 of 20 of the Academy's nominees over the past three years, respectively -- corresponded with 19 of 20 this time. The only Oscar nominee who was not also a Globe nominee: Hill.
• Hill becomes just the 18th of 260 actors or actresses since 2001 to score an Oscar nomination without having received either a SAG or Globe nom en route to the big show.
• Hanks, Thompson and Bruhl become just the 20th, 21st and 22nd of 260 actors or actresses since 2001 to score both SAG and Globe nominations but not an Oscar nom.
• Of the nine best picture nominees, zero were released during the spring or summer, eight were released during the fall (Gravity on Oct. 3, Captain Phillips on Oct. 10, 12 Years a Slave on Oct. 17, Dallas Buyers Club on Nov. 1, Nebraska on Nov. 15, Philomena on Nov. 22, American Hustle on Dec. 12 and Her on Dec. 18) and one was released during the winter (The Wolf of Wall Street on Dec. 25). 

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Oscar Voter Reveals Brutally Honest Ballot

(Anonymous, As told to Scott Feinberg, Hollywood Reporter, 26 February 2014)

This story is the first of five "brutally honest" Oscar ballots shared with THR by Academy members, one of which will post each day leading up to the Oscar ceremony on Sunday, March 2.

our editor recommends [3]Oscar Breakdown: Best PictureFEINBERG FORECAST: Scott's Final Picks for Who Will Win at Sunday's Oscars (Analysis)'12 Years a Slave': Solomon Northup's Descendants Gather for THR Photo Shoot, Reflect on His LegacySandra Bullock to Make $70 Million (At Least) for 'Gravity' (Exclusive)VOTER PROFILE: This Oscar voter is a longtime member of the Academy's 377-member directors branch.

BEST PICTURE

Captain Phillips struck me as a slightly hokey, overacted, not particularly gripping action movie. Gravity pales in comparison with Cosmos, Neil deGrasse Tyson's recent 13-part reboot of Carl Sagan's famous TV series about the universe. Philomena, which I've wanted to call Philomania ever since the Golden Globes, was an effective tearjerker -- I was moved by it -- but that doesn't make it a great film. Nebraska was skillfully done but limited by its limited ambitions and its’ overly measured pace. Her interested me because of my complete ignorance of everything in it -- it was like sitting through a class that I wasn't necessarily enjoying but that I knew was good for me. (And just because I fall asleep in a movie doesn't necessarily mean I don't admire and like it; I've actually occasionally fallen asleep in my own movies.) Dallas Buyers Club was very good, and I was engaged by it all the way through, but there were no real surprises in it. The Wolf of Wall Street has almost nothing to say, but I found it hysterically funny. Conversely, with 12 Years a Slave, you don't even crack a smile, but it was interesting, admirable and well done; I must say, though, that contrary to what some have asserted, it's not as if it required great courage to make that movie -- maybe if you made it in Mississippi in 1930. As for American Hustle, its ambition is not overwhelming, but it takes an interesting subject and very interesting characters and delivers 100 percent on what could be done with it in a very engaging, entertaining, interesting and truthful way. I would not put it in the legendary masterpiece category, but it doesn't fail on any level.
MY PICK: (1) American Hustle; (2) 12 Years a Slave; (3) The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST DIRECTOR

David O. Russell, hands down. Steve McQueen made an admirable movie, but I don't think it's remotely as ambitious or good as his previous film, Shame. Wolf is like Casino and GoodFellas -- fun, bubble-gum Scorsese. Payne -- whatever.  And Cuaron was part of a committee of technicians who made that movie, and I have seen things at the planetarium that were at least as impressive. 
MY PICK: David O. Russell (American Hustle)

 BEST ACTOR

Ejiofor was good. DiCaprio has been better; this is a popcorn performance. McConaughey was very good; he's really doing some great stuff now, and I would give it to him for True Detective. Dern is a great guy and a friend and is excellent in the movie, and if I were not as taken by Bale's performance as I am, I would have voted for him. But Bale had a much juicier role -- Dern's role is very contained, whereas Bale is all over the place -- so I had to go with him. It's the role of a lifetime. 
MY PICK: Christian Bale (American Hustle)

BEST ACTRESS

Blanchett has to win this. Bullock is the weak link -- she's just OK. For Streep, whom I love, this is a bottom-drawer performance. Dench is a terrific actress, and she's very good in this film. Adams I love. But you have to vote for who's truly the best, and to me, Blanchett -- whom I'm normally not that wild about, with the exception of Bandits -- is that. She was just a revelation; she was just spectacular. 
MY PICK: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Everyone was at least very good, but Cooper was the best. I think this is the best he's been in anything. If he wasn't in the category, I'd probably end up voting for Jonah Hill, only because I found him so funny. Jared Leto was good and will win, but he's getting tremendous points because of the person he's playing more than the way he played it, which is as close to pandering as you can get.
MY PICK: Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Lawrence and Hawkins are the two obvious best of the five. Hawkins had a difficult part -- it's not an attractive role, and she's intentionally overshadowed constantly by Blanchett, but she registers strongly in each scene she's in. Jennifer was even better -- she has that extra level of excitement in every scene she's in. She just dazzles; she's always doing something original and bold and surprising and believable. June Squibb was fine. Julia Roberts was horrendous. And Lupita was very good, but a lot of the commotion over her is attributable to people's tremendous empathy with and sympathy for the role she's playing. 
MY PICK: Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

12 Years a Slave wins easily. Wolf is enjoyable, and if you were giving awards for most fun, it probably would be the biggest winner this year, along with American Hustle, which is a much better movie overall. On the other hand, by that logic, Step Brothers would have won. Philomena is an earnest and emotionally effective tearjerker, but that doesn't mean its script is great. Captain Phillips is one step above hokum. And Before Midnight is a travesty of ineptitude and dreadful writing, like the other two in that horrible trilogy -- if I was sitting next to those people, I would run in the opposite direction. 
MY PICK: 12 Years a Slave

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

All five scripts are extremely good. Her is a worthy contender, and what it has over the others is that it's completely original, but, even though I was impressed by the movie, I found myself nodding out periodically, so that meant I couldn't put it on the same level as American Hustle and Blue Jasmine. I often choose personal friendship when I am torn between two almost equally good options, but in this case I'm friends with both David and Woody, so that doesn't help. … I'm going for American Hustle because Woody has already been overwhelmingly rewarded. I feel very badly about the absurd bullshit that's flying Woody's way, but that can't intrude one way or the other on voting. Both films have literally not a single dead spot in them.
MY PICK: American Hustle

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE 

I have seen none of them. I have no interest whatsoever. That ended when I was 6. My son dragged me to a few when he was 6; I would seat him and go outside and make phone calls. 
MY PICK: I abstain.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

I actually liked several of the movies, especially 20 Feet From Stardom, but I refuse to dignify the category by voting in it. Even with its new rules, the documentary category has about as much claim to legitimacy as the Bush-Gore presidential election. It's an incestuous little club. 
MY PICK: I abstain.

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

I immediately rule out Palestine for Omar because I saw it, and it's a bunch of f---ing anti-Semitic swine. The Hunt was the best, by far -- the performance, the writing, the boldness of the approach. The Great Beauty is unbelievably f---ing slow and dull; that's another movie where you can sit there and pass out five times and miss nothing. I stopped Broken Circle Breakdown halfway and Cambodia's after 20 minutes.
MY PICK: The Hunt

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

There was some pretty impressive stuff in Gravity. I didn't think any of the other movies were shot on the level of the really great films -- Prisoners was excellent but a cut below Roger Deakins' best work, such as Andrew Dominik's film and the Coen brothers' films -- but Gravity was. 
MY PICK: Gravity

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

American Hustle, unquestionably. Everything about the period is done not only accurately and believably but adds to the movie. I lived through that period, and it all rang true. 
MY PICK: American Hustle

BEST FILM EDITING

American Hustle is light years better than anything else. There is nothing but sharp cuts and rhythm in the movie -- there is not a wasted frame. Captain Phillips is, to me, the chickenshit way of editing; it's usually done because you're terrified of boring the audience, so you keep cutting, and it actually becomes unbelievably tedious and headache-inducing, and it's not the way the mind perceives reality, either. And 12 Years a Slave had about 15 to 20 minutes of sluggish, boring stuff that I would have ripped out.
MY PICK: American Hustle

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

To me, the only one is Dallas Buyers Club. It's the most prominent thing about the movie. It works unbelievably. I was aware of it, and ordinarily when you say you're aware of something it means it's not working very well, but I was aware of it as something that was done very skillfully and believably. I was shocked to hear it had a $250 budget for makeup.
MY PICK: Dallas Buyers Club

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

I found all five scores inferior. Desplat has done a number of exceptionally good scores, but Philomena is not one of them, so I'm not gonna vote for him this year.
MY PICK: I abstain.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

I didn't vote because I regard all four songs as utterly inferior and not worth voting for. To dignify any of them with a vote is to suggest that they're worthy of a nomination, and they're not; they're just bad songs. And, as for disqualifying the fifth nominee? The rules are so petty and stupid, these people should get a life -- it's embarrassing. They're like sub-basement, quasi-Talmudic scholars.
MY PICK: I abstain.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

I would immediately eliminate 12 Years a Slave and Gravity. The other three would all be worthy winners -- Gatsby, for instance, was not a good movie, but it still popped and came alive, especially in 3D -- but I liked American Hustle the most overall so I voted for it. It was well-done and accurate, in terms of the period, and each set is done in a way that adds to the believability and the character of the scene.
MY PICK: American Hustle

BEST SOUND EDITING

Most of the time, who knows what was recorded on the set, as opposed to what was added in post? I generally vote for the movie with the best overall sound in both sound categories.
MY PICK: Gravity

BEST SOUND MIXING

Even though I thought Inside Llewyn Davis was an atrociously bad movie, the sound mixing was good. But the best sound mixing was for Gravity, by far. It had a very clean track. 
MY PICK: Gravity

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Four of them are completely without interest of any kind whatsoever on any level, and Gravity's effects, in 3D, anyway, are terrific. So this isn't even a contest.
MY PICK: Gravity

BEST ANIMATED SHORT, BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT and BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

I don't watch the shorts. And, if I don't know anybody who made one of them -- a friend or an enemy -- I just don't vote, which was the case this year.
MY PICK: I abstain.

 

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Oscar Voter Reveals Brutally Honest Ballot # 2

(Anonymous, As told to Scott Feinberg, Hollywood Reporter, 27 February 2014)

This is the second of five "brutally honest" Oscar ballots shared with THR by Academy members, one of which will post each day leading up to the Oscar ceremony on Sunday, March 2. Needless to say, these voters' views are not necessarily endorsed by Scott Feinberg or THR.

our editor recommendsReal-Life 'Wolf of Wall Street': 'It Was Awful What I Did, But I Was on Massive Amounts of Drugs'The Battle for the Soul of the Academy Museum

VOTER PROFILE: This Oscar voter is a longtime member of the Academy's 418-member sound branch.

BEST PICTURE

12 Years a Slave impacted me the most as a moviegoer and as a father, so it was my number one. Dallas Buyers Club also really moved me -- just watching him change his heart. I thought Gravity was really phenomenal. I love Captain Phillips, just like I love all Tom Hanks movies; it was a travesty that its director wasn’t nominated. American Hustle I liked because everyone in its ensemble did a great job. Her was interesting, but it was a little too weird for me. Nebraska was like watching paint dry -- it just bored me to death. Wolf of Wall Street was just so gratuitous and offensive -- it’s supposed to be funny to watch people get screwed over by this schmuck? I had a friend who was wiped out by Bernie Madoff. And, finally, Willamena [Editor's note: Philomena], which was not my cup of tea.
MY PICK: (1) 12 Years a Slave; (2) Dallas Buyers Club; (3) Gravity; (4) Captain Phillips; (5) American Hustle; (6) Her; (7) Nebraska; (8) The Wolf of Wall Street; (9) Philomena

BEST DIRECTOR

[Alexander] Payne and [Martin] Scorsese were immediately out for me. [Steve] McQueen or [David O'] Russell would deserve to win if we were just talking about directing actors. But [Alfonso] Cuaron got my vote because the fact that his movie got made at all is amazing and groundbreaking. I know people who worked on it who said he is a control freak and was all over every aspect of it.
MY PICK: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)

BEST ACTOR

[Christian] Bale did a great job, but the ensemble resonated for me more than any one person. I just need more going on than [Bruce] Dern gave me. [Leonardo] DiCaprio was great but I got tired of the movie -- it was just way too long and repetitive. The guy in 12 Years a Slave -- I can never pronounce his name -- was just phenomenal. And yet I was really taken with [Matthew] McConaughey, even though I have not really been a fan in the past. He was just ridiculously good -- plus the weight loss and what he had to do was just unbelievable. This was the hardest choice for me.
MY PICK: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

BEST ACTRESS

My wife loved Willamina, but I didn’t care for it. [Sandra] Bullock was good, but it was hard for me to not see Sandra Bullock—or George Clooney. Meryl Streep is just always fantastic; I never feel that she’s just doing the same shit. Amy Adams did a phenomenal job, but I didn’t love the movie. [Cate] Blanchett was bold; I don’t think you could have found any person on the planet who could have played that role better.
MY PICK: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Jonah Hill was out from the gate for me -- I just can’t. Bradley Cooper was good. But Jared Leto gave a crazy performance, truly becoming this person. I thought he was flawless.
MY PICK: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

I’m not usually a big Julia Roberts fan, but I thought she did a fantastic job -- it was really gritty and ballsy and didn’t remind me of everything else she’s already done. Jennifer Lawrence does a great job, but I didn’t feel like she had enough screen time. But the 12 Years a Slave woman I just found to be so compelling; she ripped my heart out. For me, it’s all about the impact a movie or a character has on me.”
MY PICK: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

I went with Slave because it resonated so much with me. I was so taken by the story and it had the biggest impact on me.
MY PICK: 12 Years a Slave

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

I liked Hustle, but I voted for the script that I think produced the most beautiful movie, and that’s Dallas Buyers Club.
MY PICK: Dallas Buyers Club

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

I thought Frozen was amazing, and my personal favorite was Despicable Me 2, but I didn’t see all of the nominees, so I didn’t vote.
MY PICK: I abstained.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

I have only watched 20 Feet from Stardom because so many people were talking about that. I’m a big music fan and I thought it was incredible. But I don’t think I’m gonna vote because I haven’t watched all of the nominees. We only got these movies last weekend, and this week I’ve been slammed trying to finish a movie, so I didn’t have time to see more.
MY PICK: I abstained.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

I haven’t watched them.
MY PICK: I abstained.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Gravity begs the question: What’s cinematography and what’s visual effects? I talked to some cinematographer friends and they assured me that a lot of what looks great in the film is owed to its camera work.
MY PICK: Gravity

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

I don’t think it’s fair to those nominees to have someone voting who has no idea what they did and what their challenges were.
MY PICK: I abstained. 

BEST FILM EDITING

One of my dear friends is the editor of Captain Phillips, so how do you think I voted? I also happen to think he did a phenomenal job.
MY PICK: Captain Phillips

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

I voted for my favorite movie in the category: Dallas Buyers Club.
MY PICK: Dallas Buyers Club

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

I voted for Thomas Newman, who is a dear friend and has been nominated an ungodly amount of times but has never won. His score is the standout thing of that movie.
MY PICK: Saving Mr. Banks

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

U2’s was a decent song and they’ve had a lot of publicity. But, for me, it’s about how a song serves a movie, so I went with the Frozen song. It’s a beautiful song and it’s the heart of that film. I thought it was a home run.
MY PICK: "Let It Go" (Frozen)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

I know that I don’t know enough to vote for this category.
MY PICK: I abstained.

BEST SOUND EDITING

They were all really nicely done. Some are more distinct than the others. Gravity is a very cool mix because of the way they muted sounds to create the sense of being in space -- and it has the best campaign. Captain Phillips is not something we’ve never heard before -- boats, guns, underwater activity -- but it was really well done. But, in my opinion, Lone Survivor was just better. It takes a lot of work to bring a war movie to life.
MY PICK: Lone Survivor

BEST SOUND MIXING

Lone Survivor was done incredibly well. It was really nicely balanced, with a lot of movement and a lot of directional perspective, which really gives you a sense of space and makes you feel as if you were that soldier, right in the middle of it.
MY PICK: Lone Survivor

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Gravity was a cinematic spectacle unlike anything that’s ever been done before. The Hobbit? Been there, done that.
MY PICK: Gravity

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

MY PICK: I abstained.

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Brutally Honest Oscar Voter Ballot No. 3

(Anonymous, As told to Scott Feinberg, Hollywood Reporter, 28 February 2014)
 

A member of the Academy's executives branch talks THR's Scott Feinberg through his picks: "Gravity" is "spiritual," I'm voting for "the 'Captain Phillips' guy" and "Dallas Buyers" makeup succeeds in making stars "look like they're really dying!"
 

BEST PICTURE
Only your top two or three really matter. My number one is Gravity. I just think it's a special movie -- and it's about something, too. You know, people criticize the screenplay, but, having seen it again, I disagree. Like most good movies, it's about the power of the human spirit. I mean, she basically didn't make her comeback until she decided that it was time to die and turned off all the knobs, and then old George came bouncing back in -- only it wasn't really George, it was her, because something in the human spirit said, "You can't quit." So I thought it was pretty spiritual. The same sort of thing applies to 12 Years a Slave, which is my number two. American Hustle is number three. And then Philomena -- it was kind of my favorite movie, but that doesn't necessarily make it the best movie. That character just had such a generous spirit, taking the good out of everything, very much like the 109-year-old woman in the documentary short. And then, after that, they're all kind of on the same level. Her and Nebraska I liked. Dallas Buyers Club was just a good, solid movie. I like Wolf of Wall Street, and I've liked it more since everyone started attacking it, because I think the attacks were really unfair. DiCaprio and Hill were amazing, but the movie was a little superficial. And then Captain Phillips.

MY PICKS: (1) Gravity, (2) 12 Years a Slave, (3) American Hustle, (4) Philomena, (5) Her, (6) Nebraska, (7) Dallas Buyers Club, (8) The Wolf of Wall Street, (9) Captain Phillips

BEST DIRECTOR
[Martin] Scorsese went a little over the top on certain things, but that's kind of what he does; he doesn't really "get down." But, anyway, this wasn't a question for me. It's [Alfonso] Cuaron. [Gravity] was a massive movie, and a lot of people worked on it, but he was the boss. How do you shoot that movie? How do you direct actors without anything around them? How do you even pitch that movie? I thought it was a rare, singular achievement.

MY PICK: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
 

BEST ACTOR

It's almost impossible to choose -- there's nobody weak in this group. For me, it came down to [Matthew] McConaughey and "Chewy" [Chiwetel Ejiofor]. If you gave it to the actor who had the best year, there's no question it's McConaughey, who was so good in Mud, Wolf and now True Detective. But Chewy was so great in his movie.

MY PICK: Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
 

BEST ACTRESS
Meryl Streep's entrance was the best of any of them, but I thought the movie was kind of mediocre. Amy Adams was fantastic -- she's never been not fantastic; she was fantastic in Her! -- but she and Streep were pieces of ensembles, whereas the others really stood out. Sandra Bullock carries her whole movie on her back, and her performance is particularly impressive when you see how her movie was made, but she won just a couple of years ago. [Judi] Dench is the hardest one not to vote for. But, in the end, it's Cate [Blanchett] because you just have never seen anybody do what she does in that way -- changing moods on a dime and everything -- except Vivien Leigh [in A Streetcar Named Desire], I guess. Plus I "know" that girl [the sort of woman Blanchett portrays], and she nailed it. I don't know anybody else who could have done it.

MY PICK: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) 
 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

I'm gonna vote for the Captain Phillips guy. They're all amazing -- with Jared Leto, who's great, my only problem is that I just really didn't love the movie that much. But, with Captain Phillips, there's no movie without that guy. He was completely, 100% credible, and he stood toe-to-toe with Tom Hanks.

MY PICK: Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

I immediately eliminated Julia Roberts; it really wasn't my favorite movie. Sally Hawkins and June Squibb were fantastic. Jennifer Lawrence was great, and I loved the movie, but it never occurred to me that her part was all that determinative in the movie. I was completely amazed by Lupita Nyong'o's performance -- she really brought a kind of humanity to it, an intelligence to it and a sexuality to it; she was not afraid to have that character sexualized, and that's dangerous territory for a slave to play sexuality.

MY PICK: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
It's a very strong category. I was torn between 12 Years and Philomena. In the end, I think it was tougher to write the character of Philomena. They had to create a vehicle for her story -- this trip to the United States, which didn't really happen, but which works perfectly. And I don't disagree with some who have complained that with 12 Years, you lose any sense of where you are in that 12-year period; it was a very good movie, but you don't always know where you are on the journey -- and that section with Brad Pitt almost felt like it was from another movie.

MY PICK: Philomena 
 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

I saw Blue Jasmine twice and I thought it was very good and stronger than it has been given credit for in the script department, but I don't think it holds a candle to Her and American Hustle. I think American Hustle is more ambitious, in a certain way.

MY PICK: American Hustle 
 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

I don't see much of a contest here. Frozen is intelligent, empowering and inspiring.

MY PICK: Frozen

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

I think they're all worthy and they're all important. Dirty Wars is important, even if it was about the journalist [Jeremy Scahill] -- who I see on [HBO's Real Time with] Bill Maher -- as much as it was about the subject, which is not my favorite style. I liked The Square a lot. But, for me, it comes down to Act of Killing and Twenty Feet [from Stardom]. With Act of Killing, you can't help but wonder, "How the f--- did he make that movie?" To get that guy to open up emotionally? And I also thought the whole notion of the recreation was a very interesting idea. But I just wanted to vote for Twenty Feet. It's a very excellent movie.

MY PICK: Twenty Feet from Stardom 
 

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

The Missing Picture was very interesting and very good, but a little too weird. I was knocked out by The Great Beauty visually, and I thought the character was very interesting; I didn't quite get the culture, but I did like it. Broken Circle Breakdown was a fantastic, strange combination of genres -- ultimately too strange. Mads Mikkelsen in The Hunt may be the performance of the year -- it's like, "Holy shit!" -- and that's a really fantastic movie. And, as for Omar, that guy is a fantastic filmmaker; Paradise Now is one of my favorite movies, and Omar is riveting all the way through -- you don't see where it's going.

MY PICK: Omar
 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

They're all very well shot. I liked Llewyn Davis, but I don't know that the photography on that was determinative. Nebraska in black-and-white was fantastic. Prisoners is Roger Deakins, who has never shot a bad film in his career. But, for me, this is between Gravity and The Grandmaster, which are so different but both amazing. I heard that they shot The Grandmaster for three years -- the scene in the train station in the rain alone took 40 days -- and the director sometimes didn't even tell the cinematographer what he wanted shot, but just where to shoot it, so he was almost a co-director, in a way. And then there's Gravity, which is really a revolutionary film. There was such a stink about cinematography versus visual effects last year with Life of Pi that I decided to ask a couple of DPs about that this year, and they uniformly said that they did not have the same reservations this year about Gravity. So, in the end, I came down for Gravity.

MY PICK: Gravity
 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

The costumes in Gatsby are pretty amazing. Hustle's costumes really brilliant. But -- and I realize this may be throwing away a vote -- I really think the costumes in The Grandmaster were amazing.

MY PICK: The Grandmaster

BEST FILM EDITING

There's not really a lot of set pieces in Captain Phillips to use for building tension, so it really falls upon the editing to do that, and it does that well. It's old school: You take two boats and 10 guys and you turn it into an intense movie. But I'm still gonna go with Gravity because that movie is a miracle.

MY PICK: Gravity

 

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

Look at those two in Dallas Buyers Club. Between the androgyny of Leto and the gauntness and the disease of both of them , they really look like they're dying! I read about how they did it and it's mind-blowing. I saw that as an extraordinary part of the movie.

MY PICK: Dallas Buyers Club 
 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

They're all fine scores -- I listened to all of them -- but Gravity stands apart. That's a big chunk of the movie! That whole kind of mystery, eeriness and spaciousness was really determinative.

MY PICK: Gravity

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

I liked them all. "Happy" is a very cool song. "Let It Go" is a certain kind of song. It really befits the movie and, as these kinds of songs go, it was very good; it's not my favorite genre of song. I thought all the music in Her was great. I saw the Mandela movie and I was just okay with it -- I kinda liked the Morgan Freeman version better -- but then [that] song came on and I got all choked up. Then I went back and I played the three finalists, for me -- "Happy," "Let It Go," "Ordinary Love" -- and the one that I kept wanting to replay was "Ordinary Love."

MY PICK: "Ordinary Love" (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom) 
 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

You could give it to any of these movies, but I'm gonna vote for Her because it created a world.

MY PICK: Her
 

BEST SOUND EDITING

BEST SOUND MIXING

I always say, "Should I really vote on these?" I know the difference between the two categories, but I don't know the nominees' impacts on their movies sometimes -- I mean, what was mixed and what was edited? It's usually very difficult to know. To me, Lone Survivor is pretty damn good in the sound department. But, you know, I'm on the Gravity train. All that silence, all that breathing -- I assume that's in the mixing, and then the editing is all the machinery.

MY PICK (for both): Gravity  
 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

I'm on the Gravity train.

MY PICK: Gravity 
 

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

It was kind of an off-year. I wasn't bowled over. The Disney one I saw originally in 3D and then again in 2D. For people who didn't see it on a big screen before Frozen and are only seeing it on a screener, it's like watching Gravity in 2D. I'm a little unclear about what they did on that one -- what was old footage, what was new footage -- and I'm a little apprehensive about rooting for the giant. But I felt like I'd seen most of the others before -- the [Room with a] Broom one I liked best of those.

MY PICK: Get a Horse!
 

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

If there's one safe bet in this entire race, it's this one. The Lady in Number 6 is one of the most amazing movies I've ever seen in my career, partly because of the woman, but also you just get verklempt. You want to go out and live and save the world. So that was it for me, in a walk. CaveDigger was good but too long. Prison Terminal, to me, didn't really rank in there. Karama was very cool. And Facing Fear is an important movie and I'm glad it was nominated, but it's just no contest. I was excited to vote for The Lady in Number 6.

MY PICK: The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life 
 

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

You had really different styles -- comedies, action movies and dramas. But, for me, there was a clear winner: the French movie. It was far and away the best. It's beautifully revealed -- where it comes in in the story, how it tells the story, how you find out, how the subsidiary characters play into it and how it resolves itself. I thought it was really elegant on a subject that has been done many times before.

MY PICK: Just Before Losing Everything 
 

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Brutally Honest Oscar Voter Ballot No. 4

(Anonymous, As told to Scott Feinberg, Hollywood Reporter, 28 February 2014) 
 

A member of the Academy's PR branch tells THR: "Hustle" looks like it reused "all the sets from 'Boogie Nights,'" best actress should've been given out in July and the only thing that could've made Leto a safer bet is if Rayon was also Jewish.
Brutally Honest Oscar Voter Ballot No. 2Brutally Honest Oscar Voter Ballot No. 3[4]

VOTER PROFILE: This Oscar voter is a longtime member of the Academy's 377-member public relations branch.
 

BEST PICTURE
I voted for Gravity and then 12 Years a Slave. Honestly, I really went back and forth thinking about it. The truth is I only watched about half of 12 Years a Slave; I couldn't take it. It made me sick to my stomach and I just thought, "OK, I know slavery was terrible, and this is an important movie and I get all that," but I was bored with how long it was taking. Frankly, if they had had the awards the week after the nominations, I would have voted for it. But when it came time to fill it out I thought, "You know, Gravity was pretty much a perfect movie experience. It had really good performances from really good movie stars, it was thrilling and emotional and I cried -- and it was only 90 minutes!" Plus I really like Alfonso Cuaron. And I remembered the experience of seeing the movie. I almost wish Gravity [meaning Warner Bros.] had not sent out screeners. The screeners cannot have helped Gravity. Anyway, then there was Captain Phillips -- I thought it was a great movie. The one that I wanted to love the most but did not was American Hustle. I loved [David O. Russell's last movie] Silver Linings Playbook -- it was one of my favorite movies of last year -- but I didn't get this one, and one minute after I got up out of my seat at the theater it had left me.

MY PICKS: (1) Gravity, (2) 12 Years a Slave, (3) Captain Phillips, (4) The Wolf of Wall Street, (5) Philomena, (6) American Hustle, (7) Her, (8) Dallas Buyers Club, (9) Nebraska
 

BEST DIRECTOR
The first I can rule out is Alexander Payne; it's not The Descendants, for me. [Martin] Scorsese is the next to go; I didn't find it offensive, but what bothered me was how repetitive it was -- it could have been an hour shorter. Still, I think the fact that Marty is whatever he is -- around 70 -- and he made a movie like that is unbelievable. The next out is Russell. And [Steve] McQueen -- I don't know how to say this -- he never made me want to vote for him. I thought he came off as pretentious and affected and rude. I just thought, "Oh, man, I wish somebody loved me as much as you love you." It was always gonna be Cuaron. It's a directorial achievement. It's an amazing piece of directing. And it was a risk. And I like him -- he's got a really interesting body of work. He's somebody you want to do things for and with.

MY PICK: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
 

BEST ACTOR
Bruce Dern impressed me the least -- I just think Bruce Dern is doing Bruce Dern, a cranky old man playing a cranky old man. Chiwetel Ejiofor gave an amazing performance. Christian Bale? I love him and he's consistently great, but just because he's wearing a bad hairpiece and is fat doesn't blow me away. I chose [Leonardo] DiCaprio over [Matthew] McConaughey. I thought he was a-mazing, and I think he's given a ton of amazing performances in both good and bad movies -- even in terrible movies, Leonardo DiCaprio is interesting, at the very least. To hold my interest for three hours of basically the same thing -- drugs and drinking, more drugs and drinking, I get it -- was amazing. You couldn't take your eyes off of him. And I know this sounds terrible, but I really thought, when I was watching Dallas Buyers Club, that I was watching a movie from 20 years ago -- we already gave Tom Hanks the Oscar for this [for his performance in Philadelphia]. Men who lose a lot of weight and look bad -- it's like pretty women who play ugly -- you can't lose. And I like Matthew McConaughey, and I am watching with interest how he has shifted his career, but I thought it was a little bit of an HBO movie. He's better in True Detective.

MY PICK: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
 

BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams is great in everything she does, but this was over in July [when Blue Jasmine, which stars Cate Blanchett, was released]. As far as I'm concerned, they should have saved time on the other award shows and spared everyone else the anguish of going to millions of dinners and sitting there knowing they don't have the slightest chance of winning. I mean, the idea of getting into hair and makeup and Spanx for all of those dinners, when they're just gonna call her name off, and rightfully so, seems inhumane.

MY PICK: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Forget about everybody except Jonah Hill and Jared Leto. Leto gives a classic Oscar role: "I have AIDS and I'm a drag queen." Like, it doesn't get bigger than that, in terms of Oscar bait. He could have gotten nominated with just one of the above! I'm trying to think if there could have been one more thing? A Jew! A Jew, during World War II, who is sick and a transvestite -- that would have been a trifecta. Seriously, though, there was no way he wasn't gonna get nominated ever. As for Jonah Hill, he's absolutely hilarious. It's the definition of a supporting performance -- he's incredibly memorable, he's very good and he is a big thing that you take away from the movie. And it's very subtle -- the gay thing, for instance -- but you get it. I just thought he did a great job.

MY PICK: Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

I eliminated everybody but the one from 12 Years a Slave [Lupita Nyong'o] and Jennifer Lawrence. I didn't vote for Jennifer Lawrence, even though I thought she was very entertaining in the movie, because (a) she just won last year, and (b) we can't give everything to Jennifer Lawrence when she's 22 years old because Jennifer Lawrence will be institutionalized. She will have gotten too much, too soon, too early, and she'll lose her mind. I also didn't think she gave the better performance. I kinda thought the parts of the two women in American Hustle should have been reversed. As for Lupita, it's a great performance -- and she has handled herself impeccably. She has acted like a movie star: she looks great, she is grateful, there's no pictures of her drunk at some party. She's played her part well and she gives an amazing performance.

MY PICK: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)

 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

This is an interesting category. You can't rule out Before Midnight because Richard Linklater's a likable guy. Wolf of Wall Street is a good adaptation, but it is three hours long; you shouldn't be able to read the book in the same amount of time the movie takes. That leaves 12 Years, Captain Phillips and Philomena. I voted for Philomena only because the movie was so emotional for me and because I thought, "Wow, to take this story and figure out how to make a movie like this must have been quite a task." I probably would have voted for Captain Phillips next because I know a lot of people who were involved with that film.

MY PICK: Philomena 
 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

It'll go to Her because this is where you give an award to the quirky movie that everybody wants people to know that they appreciated. And I concur with that. I don't want anybody, though, to come to any conclusion, when Woody Allen does not win for Blue Jasmine -- my runner-up -- that it had anything to do with the horribleness of dragging him through everything he's had to deal with over the last few weeks. There was a minute there that I actually thought, "Harvey [Weinstein] really will stop at nothing," because if Blanchett was out, Judi Dench was the next one up. The whole thing is so suspect to me.

MY PICK: Her 
 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

I voted for Frozen and none of the others were even in the discussion. Honestly, if they did not have the animated category, Frozen would have easily gotten a best picture nomination. It just delivered.

MY PICK: Frozen 
 

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

I watched The Square, Twenty Feet from Stardom and The Act of Killing. I don't know how the average Academy member is supposed to gauge what makes a great documentary: is it "touches on issues that are relevant to our time," or "it did big business and has been seen by more people," or something else? I voted for Twenty Feet from Stardom because I found it the most entertaining, but I think The Square is the more important movie.

MY PICK: Twenty Feet from Stardom

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

I thought The Great Beauty was an amazing movie. I liked everything about it. I really thought it was one of the best movies of the year. It reminded me of the days of Cinema Paradiso and those kind of movies. I thought it was great.

MY PICK: The Great Beauty

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

I thought Llewyn Davis had amazing cinematography which stayed with me the longest of all the nominees. I don't know what's cinematography and what's not in Gravity. And Nebraska, to me, looked like somebody had watched Paper Moon a bunch of times and then went and shot the movie; I appreciated it, but I've seen black-and-white cinematography like this done before and better. It made me miss Gordon Willis; I watched it and I thought, "Wow, I wish Gordon Willis had been alive to shoot this." [Fortunately, Willis is still alive -- he's now 82 and living in Cape Cod.]

MY PICK: Inside Llewyn Davis

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

I voted for 12 Years a Slave because I thought the costumes do not intrude into the movie. They're realistic without being, "Look at me!"

MY PICK: 12 Years a Slave

BEST FILM EDITING

I voted for Captain Phillips because I thought it was incredibly well edited. I thought it was as gripping a movie experience as I've had. I really thought it delivered on that level. I literally felt anxious the whole time I was watching the movie, in a good way. And the jumpy camera did not make me sick to my stomach, which it sometimes does. 12 Years was my runner-up.

MY PICK: Captain Phillips 
 

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

I voted for Dallas Buyers Club, but -- I want to specify -- not for Matthew McConaughey's makeup. It's AIDS, I get it, it's bad, you lose weight and you look gaunt. But I thought the Jared Leto stuff was amazing. He doesn't look like a girl at all in life, but I did fall into the movie and believe him in that role. And, by the way, if he'd had bad hair and makeup, he would not be nominated -- it's so intrinsic to his performance. That's gonna make somebody's career.

MY PICK: Dallas Buyers Club
 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

I voted for Philomena. I thought it was a really nice score and not too over the top. I was bawling like a baby watching that movie, but the movie didn't push on that. They could have done a really over the top, wring-every-tear-out-of-you kind of score, but instead it was really subtle and really good.

MY PICK: Philomena
 

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
I voted for "Let It Go" -- I loved the song and I'm certain it's gonna win. The song is such a traditional Broadway-slash-Disney animated musical song, and you haven't heard one of those like this in a while. When you have videos of small children and Marines doing sing-alongs to your sing, it's over. I get the whole Bono-Africa thing, but it's not as fun.

MY PICK: "Let It Go" (Frozen)
 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

I thought the production design was the only worthwhile thing about the movie. Baz Luhrmann's wife is stylish -- it looked like a major job of production design. American Hustle just looked, to me, like they went and grabbed all the sets from Boogie Nights and put them in their movie. Or Argo -- "Oh, here's the lamp from Argo!" Eyes of Laura Mars -- that's what it looked like. And there's no production design in Gravity, I'm sorry -- she's in a capsule for most of it, and I'm sure it was realistic and authentic, but that is not "production design" to me. That's one set.

MY PICK: The Great Gatsby 
 

BEST SOUND EDITING

BEST SOUND MIXING

I don't vote. I have no expertise in the field, so I would be voting completely out of ignorance, and I don't like to vote out of ignorance. What do I know about what makes a movie sound well-mixed?

MY PICK (for both): I abstain.

 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

I voted for Gravity because the whole movie is a special effect, so I thought this was a pretty easy one. The only special effect of Lone Ranger was how they made $250 million disappear.

MY PICK: Gravity

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

I got that coffin of a box from the Academy [with DVDs of the shorts in it], and the discs started falling out and I just said, "Screw it. Life's too short." I thought [sending them to us] was a nice thing to do, though.

MY PICK: I abstain. 

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Brutally Honest Oscar Voter Ballot No. 5

(Anonymous, As told to Scott Feinberg, Hollywood Reporter, 01 March 2014)

 

A member of the Academy's writers branch tells THR: Amy Adams' "breasts hanging down in every single costume was... distracting," Bruce Dern "was just standing around with his mouth open," almost snubbed "Her" out of "jealousy."

[2]

VOTER PROFILE: This Oscar voter is a longtime member of the Academy's 378-member writers branch who has won an Oscar himself.

BEST PICTURE

I just listed four: Philomena, Dallas Buyers Club, 12 Years a Slave and Her. Philomena is at the top of my list because it's the kind of film that I approve of: it's a film that depends on its emotional content, it's a simple film, it's a surprising film, it depends on a good script and it just hangs in there all the way right up until an ending that concludes the action emotionally. Dallas Buyers Club, which I loved for the same reasons, would have had my vote had I not seen Philomena the night before voting ended. 12 Years a Slave I ranked third only because I felt as if I had seen that film before. And then there's Her, which I suppose I could have ranked higher because I did enjoy it and really felt it was a superb job of filmmaking. The others all had things that bothered me about them. I didn't think that American Hustle held together. I did think that Wall Street is the first time in about 15 years that Scorsese has shown some real energy and enjoyment in filmmaking; on the other hand, I thought it was repetitive and should have been 45 minutes shorter -- he was throwing in every little bit of shtick. And Gravity is kind of a stunt feature; there's no particular suspense about what's gonna happen.

MY PICKS: (1) Philomena, (2) Dallas Buyers Club, (3) 12 Years a Slave, (4) Her

 

BEST DIRECTOR

As a fan of Alexander Payne's, I was really disappointed in Nebraska. I couldn't vote for [Alfonso] Cuaron because I didn't like the way the big male movie star [a facetious reference to George Clooney] was used -- he seemed like a silly character to me -- and because it's very hard for me to separate, on a movie like that, directing from special effects. And then, in 12 Years As a Slave [sic], there were a lot of things to coordinate and he [Steve McQueen] did kind of a masterly job -- a masterly casting job, too!

MY PICK: Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)

BEST ACTOR

I've been a fan of Bruce Dern for years, but I thought Nebraska was just a big disappointment and that he was not nearly half as good as he was in Big Love; he was just standing around with his mouth open most of the time. Christian Bale was good, but the picture didn't make a lot of sense to me. Leo [DiCaprio] totally threw himself into Wolf and he seemed to be improvising at times -- very well -- but he was doing a role that he'd done before. I do love that actor from 12 Years a Slave, whose name I can't pronounce; I couldn't really fault him at all. So it came down to a choice between him and Matthew McConaughey, whose role really captivated me -- and who really impressed me in three different things this year.

MY PICK: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

 

BEST ACTRESS

I thought all along that I was gonna vote for Sandra Bullock. Of all the movie stars stranded in a non-rescue situation -- in other words, her, [Robert] Redford [in All Is Lost] and Tom Hanks [in Captain Phillips] -- she was the best, by far, and showed a fantastic range of emotion, and if she gets it I won't be disappointed. Amy Adams was good but not her best, and the device of having her breasts hanging down in every single costume was a little distracting, plus the movie just didn't do it for me. Cate Blanchett? God, she was fabulous -- except I thought the dice were stacked against the younger sister [Sally Hawkins], and sometimes I will not vote for an actor if the movie bothers me. Speaking of which, I didn't like the Meryl Streep movie [August: Osage County], and it was certainly not my favorite Meryl Streep performance. Philomena was the absolute last film I saw before voting, and I was totally amazed because it's a movie that seemed to be taking you in a tearjerking, soap opera direction at almost every turn, and yet it never does; it turns away from sentimentality because her [Judi Dench's] character isn't having any of it.

MY PICK: Judi Dench (Philomena)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

This was easy. They were all good, but Jared Leto just did something that I'd never seen anybody do before. He played a character who was a transvestite but is not apologetic or self-conscious at all; he's a take-charge guy and, at the same time, he's proud of his femininity. It's bizarre, but he certainly holds your attention.

MY PICK: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

I liked every single one of these. Sally Hawkins I just adore, but I thought the script sold her short and made her into more of a caricature than she had to be. The same thing with Jennifer Lawrence, whom I love and admire and voted for before; I didn't like the part she was playing and I thought it was much more limited than hers was last year. August: Osage County was just a filmed play and I didn't much like the play or Julia Roberts' character, but I thought she was excellent. I was tempted to vote for June Squibb, but she really just delivers a few good lines in that. But this woman in 12 Years a Slave made an impression that was immensely powerful -- I mean, just her face was something new in Hollywood and something astonishing to me in that movie. So I voted for her.

MY PICK: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)

 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

This was easy. I voted for Philomena, which did a dance of revealing all these moments without becoming a soap opera -- you know, like when you find out that [her son] is dead, she just takes that right in stride. It's a pretty amazing movie because the man learns a lesson from her.

MY PICK: Philomena

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

I voted for Her. I almost didn't vote for it out of jealousy that he [Spike Jonze] is younger than me and writing the kind of movie that I would have liked to have written. One can admit petty motives as long as one does not have to explain to the multitudes, right?

MY PICK: Her

 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

I liked them all about the same, so I decided not to vote.

MY PICK: I abstain.

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

I did not have time to see all of the nominees, so I did not vote.

MY PICK: I abstain.

 

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

They are all terrific movies except for the one that everybody says is gonna win, the Italian one [The Great Beauty], which I've seen so many times before -- it's like a poor man's La Dolce Vita. The Hunt is very important and touching, but I felt like I've seen it before. Omar was a bit frustrating for me. Broken Circle Brokedown I've already recommended to a friend -- it's an imperfect movie, but it's tremendously passionate and powerful, and imagine, a Belgian bluegrass worshipper! The woman was really good, too; it's one of the surprises of the movie when she starts singing, and the whole thing about the daughter was tremendously moving, too. I did not vote for it, however. In the end, I went for the Cambodian movie because I thought it was an incredibly original, powerful movie about a subject that is very hard to talk about and we shouldn't ever forget.

MY PICK: The Missing Picture

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The ones I would have voted for weren't nominated -- 12 Years a Slave, Her, Philomena and Dallas Buyers Club -- so I didn't vote.

MY PICK: I abstain.

 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

The costumes of 12 Years a Slave stick out the most in my memory.

MY PICK: 12 Years a Slave

 

BEST FILM EDITING

I chose Dallas Buyers Club over the others because I felt the film held together better in its pacing and because I liked it the best of the films that were nominated.

MY PICK: Dallas Buyers Club

 

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

There was some obviously creative makeup and hairstyling in Dallas Buyers Club, which was also the best film of the lot.

MY PICK: Dallas Buyers Club

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

I remembered the score of Gravity and did not remember the scores of the others, so that told me something.

MY PICK: Gravity

 

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

I didn't hear all of the songs.

MY PICK: I abstained.

 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

I voted for Her and I was regretful that I didn't get to vote for Her in more categories because I thought that was a very original film.

MY PICK: Her

 

BEST SOUND EDITING

BEST SOUND MIXING

The sounds of Gravity enhanced my enjoyment of it more than the other ones, which really weren't that memorable to me.

MY PICK (for both): Gravity

 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Gravity had fantastic visual effects, like the one where she flies and bounces around inside the cockpit -- I wondered how the hell they did that.

MY PICK: Gravity

 

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

I didn't see them in time to vote. I would have voted for the one with the dying kid and the janitor [Helium]. They were all pretty good, but I was a little disappointed in the endings of the others, and I was touched by the little boy.

MY PICK: I abstain.

 

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Brutally Honest Oscar Voter Ballot No. 6

(Anonymous, As told to Scott Feinberg, Hollywood Reporter, 01 March 2014)
 

A member of the Academy's executives branch tells THR: I was "won over" for McConaughey by "True Detective," Fassbender gives "the year's great overlooked performance" and this is the "worst selection" of foreign film nominees in years.

 

VOTER PROFILE: This Oscar voter is a longtime member of the Academy's 450-member executives branch.

 BEST PICTURE

I know the Midwest and Nebraska nailed it.

MY PICKS: (1) Nebraska, (2) American Hustle, (3) 12 Years a Slave

 

BEST DIRECTOR

I don't understand how the best picture could ever not be directed by the best director.

MY PICK: Alexander Payne (Nebraska)

 

BEST ACTOR

Matthew McConaughey -- wow, what an incredible year. In addition to Dallas Buyers Club, I was really won over by True Detective.

MY PICK: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

 

BEST ACTRESS

How could anyone be any better than Cate [Blanchett]?

MY PICK: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Jared [Leto] was amazing, but you know what was the year's great overlooked performance? [Michael] Fassbender.

MY PICK: Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

In a fair world Sally Hawkins would win this thing. She went toe to toe with Cate [Blanchett] and held her own.

MY PICK: Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)

 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Rick Linklater's trilogy is a singular achievement and its scripts have a lot to do with that.

MY PICK: Before Midnight

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Woody [Allen] deserves this. He's been so great for so long that we just take him for granted.

MY PICK: Blue Jasmine

 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

I agree with everyone else, Frozen was a very special film.

MY PICK: Frozen

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

There were a number of special documentaries this year -- including several that weren't nominated -- but the one that impressed me the most was The Square. That footage was so amazing.

MY PICK: The Square

 

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

This was the worst selection of nominees for this category in years. The Hunt was the best of a highly questionable group.

MY PICK: The Hunt

 

[Note: This voter was only available to discuss his selections in the aforementioned categories.]

 

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Brutally Honest Oscar Voter Ballot No. 7

(Anonymous, As told to Scott Feinberg, Hollywood Reporter, 01 March 2014)

A member of the Academy's executives branch tells THR she didn't see "12 Years a Slave" because she doesn't want "terrible stuff to keep in my head," backed June Squibb because of age and history and found "Twenty Feet" subjects "delightful."

This is the seventh of eight "brutally honest" Oscar ballots shared with THR by Academy members, one of which will post each day leading up to the Oscar ceremony on Sunday, March 2.

VOTER PROFILE: This Oscar voter is a longtime member of the Academy's 450-member executives branch.

BEST PICTURE

My favorites were Her, which is about the future, and Nebraska, which is about the past. Gravity I liked very much because I'd never seen anything like it and I just love George Clooney -- but when she [Sandra Bullock] climbed out of the water I thought, "This is where an alligator is gonna get her." Dallas Buyers Club is a good movie with something important to say. I had problems with American Hustle. The best thing in it was that scene with Robert De Niro; I didn't find any of the characters particularly likable. The Wolf of Wall Street? N.O. I did not like that movie. And I have not been able to bring myself to watch 12 Years a Slave. [I pressed the member to explain why.] Here is my problem: As you know, I am a senior. I have a lot of stuff in my head [I believe this is a reference to death]. What I don't want is more terrible stuff to keep in my head. I have never liked movies that have severe violence. Yes, I saw Schindler's List, but -- Look, I've lived long enough to know what it was like for a person to be a black person in America. I mean, it's not anything that I'm not aware of. I may still go and see it [the film], but I just don't want to. Is that terrible? At 5 o'clock tonight I'm gonna watch Going My Way on TCM. That's my kind of a movie -- even if Bing Crosby was actually a bad person. Is there one picture this year that makes you feel better?
MY PICKS: (1) Her, (2) Nebraska, (3) Gravity, (4) Dallas Buyers Club

BEST DIRECTOR

I just loved that movie [Nebraska].
MY PICK: Alexander Payne

BEST ACTOR

I didn't like Leonardo [DiCaprio]'s or [Christian] Bale's movie. I liked Matthew McConaughey and I think he's gonna win because he plays a guy who becomes a different guy from the guy he is when you begin to know him. But I was very impressed with Bruce Dern and I'm happy for him.
MY PICK: Bruce Dern (Nebraska)

BEST ACTRESS

I thought Sandra Bullock did a good job, but Cate Blanchett was on a level of her own.
MY PICK: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

The only one I really liked was Jared Leto.
MY PICK: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

I think June Squibb's performance was wonderful. It's such a complicated character to play -- a woman who seems a shrew and the worst wife in the world, but then you realize she was married to a man who's an alcoholic and not the best husband in the world, but she really loves him. Her life didn't turn out the way she wanted it to, so she got more bitter. And the fact that she is 80 [actually 84] and was, of course, Electra in Gypsy, only makes me want her to win more. I think Jennifer Lawrence will probably win, though; she's absolutely wonderful in the movie. August: Osage County was a bad play and a bad movie, so no Julia Roberts.
MY PICK: June Squibb (Nebraska)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

I don't think The Wolf of Wall Street is a good screenplay. Philomena I liked.
MY PICK: Philomena

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

I actually read all of the screenplays and Her is clearly the best. I liked Nebraska, but that had more to do with the actors than the script. I didn't really like the way they told the story in American Hustle.
MY PICK: Her

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

I did not see all of the nominees.
MY PICK: I abstain.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

20 Feet From Stardom has been well publicized and I liked it very much. Those women featured in the film are delightful. I wish it had focused more on Phil Spector, though, who was the worst person in the world and should have been in jail long before he got there. My friends tell me The Square is one of the best documentaries that they ever saw, but I haven't had a chance to see it.
MY PICK: 20 Feet From Stardom

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
I saw all five. I like Omar. I also like The Great Beauty a lot, but a lot of my friends who vote walked out on it because they felt it was boring. But I think The Hunt is brilliant; it is about how easily we, in society today, believe lies.
MY PICK: The Hunt

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

I don't vote for this category because what do I know about songs? The Mandela song could win because it offers a good liberal philosophy of the world. The Frozen song will probably win. I saw Pharrell [Williams] on the Grammys and I thought he was very clever. And I wouldn't mind seeing Her win something -- is Her gonna win anything?
MY PICK: I abstain.

[Note: This voter was only available to discuss her selections in the aforementioned categories.]

 

Brutally Honest Oscar Voter Ballot No. 8

(Anonymous, As told to Scott Feinberg, Hollywood Reporter, 02 March 2014)

A member of the Academy's directors branch tells THR that he thought "Gravity" was "an amazing accomplishment," Sandra Bullock literally "talked me into voting for her" and he voted for "Happy," by Pharrell, "because it's such a happy song."

This is the eighth of eight "brutally honest" Oscar ballots shared with THR by Academy members, one of which will post each day leading up to the Oscar ceremony on Sunday, March 2. (Also available for you to review: the first [2], the second [3], the third [4], the fourth [5], the fifth [6], the sixth [7] and the seventh [8].)   Beware of spoilers. And remember: these voters' views are not necessarily endorsed by Scott Feinberg or THR.

VOTER PROFILE: This Oscar voter is a member of the Academy's 377-member directors branch.

BEST PICTURE

American Hustle is my favorite movie of the year, but I voted for Gravity because it's an amazing accomplishment. The script is not a masterpiece -- neither was Titanic's -- but the beauty of its message becomes crystal clear upon a second viewing. It's about the overall experience of rebirth.
MY PICKS: (1) Gravity, (2) American Hustle, (3) Captain Phillips

BEST DIRECTOR

[Alfonso] Cuaron is the biggest lock so far, and for a reason.
MY PICK: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)

BEST ACTOR

When is the last time someone had a year like he [Matthew McConaughey] had?
MY PICK: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

BEST ACTRESS

I had been leaning toward Amy Adams, but at a Q&A Sandra Bullock more or less talked me into voting for her -- just hearing her talk about her process on the film and how she created an entire backstory for her character. She's a charmer.
MY PICK: Sandra Bullock (Gravity)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

I didn't know he [Jared Leto] had it in him.
MY PICK: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

I found her [Lupita Nyong'o] to be incredibly impressive.
MY PICK: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

I thought it [the script of Captain Phillips] was really well done.
MY PICK: Captain Phillips

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

I enjoyed everything about it.
MY PICK: American Hustle

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Frozen was clearly the best.
MY PICK: Frozen

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

It [The Square] is a pretty remarkable historical document.
MY PICK: The Square

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

I think The Hunt is a really impressive film all-around. I did not like The Broken Circle Breakdown -- movies with actual child endangerment are upsetting. And I did not see The Great Beauty.
MY PICK: The Hunt

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

I voted for "Happy" because it's just such a happy song. "Let It Go" is just such an obvious song, with nothing particularly great about it.
MY PICK: "Happy" (Despicable Me 2)

BEST SOUND EDITING

I was impressed by how gripping it [Captain Phillips] was and I think the sound deserves some of the credit for that.
MY PICK: Captain Phillips

BEST SOUND MIXING

Gravity doesn't deserve this one because none of those sounds were recorded on the set.
MY PICK: Captain Phillips

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

A complete no-brainer.
MY PICK: Gravity

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

I saw it [Get a Horse!] when I saw Frozen and I found it charming.
MY PICK: Get a Horse!

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

What an amazing story. People are eating it up.
MY PICK: The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

[Helium] was the most bearable of the five.
MY PICK: Helium

[Note: This voter was only available to discuss his selections in the aforementioned categories.]

 

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