Academy Anonymous
An invaluable, unparalleled and only partly-delusional resource for any cinephiles and Oscar-addicts forever obsessing about whether their favorite films, performances and artists will survive another grueling Oscar season.
Join us on our noble (futile! compulsive!) mission to track the contenders, mourn the flop-aroonis, cut-down the winners, champion the over-looked and generally forecast the state of the race with “100% accuracy" (results may vary).
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Academy Anonymous
Oscar Season 2025-2026: Recapping TELLURIDE; Forecasting the Toronto International Film Festival; De-coding the TIFF People's Choice Award
Visit us at https://framesandflicker.com/
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On this episode of ACADEMY ANONYMOUS:
- A Frontrunner is Born with Chloé Zhao's HAMNET premiere at the Telluride Film Festival
- Jessie Buckley becomes the Best Actress favorite, can Paul Mescal join her in Best Actor?
- Can Jeremy Allen White win for SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE?
- A brief look at the importance of TIFF’S People’s Choice Award for Oscar glory and Best Picture dreams
- De-coding recent films listed for the People’s Choice Award and how they reveal which of this year’s film could walk away with the prize!
- A24 hoping ETERNITY with Elisabeth Olsen, Callum Turner and Miles Teller can turn into another WE LIVE IN TIME
- GOOD FORTUNE with Keanu Reeves! ROOFMAN with Channing Tatum! Crowd-pleasers hoping to become fall blockbusters, sure. But can they actually become Oscar players? The answer may surprise you.
- Sony Classics delivering films with wide audience appeal, prepare to pitch both THE CHORAL and NUREMBERG to Oscar voters in the fall. Is any their secret weapon this season? Or are they perhaps angling to acquire a red-hot THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE out of the Venice Film Festival?
- RENTAL FAMILY has People’s Choice Award written on every prognosticator’s lips! But how come we’re not buying it? Is Searchlight pitting all their Oscar hopes on a Hail Mary? Check out the red flags we’re seeing before it premieres.
- Don’t look now, but Rian Johnson’s trilogy-capper WAKE UP DEAD MAN may finally deliver Netflix the People’s Choice Award! Why this final installment could win the prize for the entire series!
- THE LOST BUS reads like a slam-dunk Oscar contender on paper. So why is Apple bulldozing its chances with their release plan? Is this BLITZ all over again? Can a People Choice Award save them from imminent Academy Awards oversight?
- Plan B and Amazon not giving Tessa Thompson and HEDDA the red carpet Oscar treatment they deserve. Is there any hope the film can draw enough attention from audiences to get both to reconsider their priorities with F1 and AFTER THE HUNT?
- SACRIFICE from Romain Gavras walks the route of TRIANGLE OF SADNESS - with a lot on its mind and headline-worthy ensemble. So, why did Venice, Telluride and Cannes give it the cold shoulder?
- Sidney Sweeney and an overdue Ben Foster try to ride the sports biopic to Oscar nominations with CHRISTY - but is there any room left on that bus after THE SMASHING MACHINE?
- Black Bear the “distributor” tries its hand at molding an Oscar contender, but does the Sidney Sweeney controversy already have them running behind?
- Ian McKellen and Angelina Jolie chart big-screen comebacks and possibly Oscar buzz by teaming up with esteemed directors Steven Soderbergh and Alice Winocour. Will their new films THE CHRISTOPHERS and COUTURE bring them back into contention?
- Is Saoirse Ronan quietly plotting to take Best Actress by storm with the dark comedy BAD APPLES. You can never sleep on the great ones!
- And of course which early Oscar contenders will win the coveted People’s Choice Awards - HAMENT, SENTIMENTAL VALUE, or even JAY KELLY?
Hey guys, welcome back to Academy. Anonymous, I'm Jules.
Speaker 2:And I'm your co-host, joseph.
Speaker 1:And today we're going to be doing a deep dive into what happened at Telluride recently, just finished wrapping up a few days ago, and Toronto actually just started today, and so we're going to be doing a little exploration of the titles and what we can expect in terms of Oscar prospects, oscar contenders. Before we begin, just really quick reminder that we have our new website up framesandflickercom. That's framesand flickercom.
Speaker 2:That's frames and flickercom. Yeah, f-r-a-m-e-s-a-n-d-f-l-i-c-k-e-rcom, we've been covering actually both telluride and venice um on there, if anyone wants to check it out, and we'll try to do the same for tiff now that it's kicked off um you can go there to look at those posts, those articles.
Speaker 1:We have our oscar predictions up there. Um, we've got you know, picture director in the acting categories. We're slowly working our way through the other categories as well. We'll be posting reviews in the future of the films that we're watching, um, and yeah, it's going to be fun. So make sure to join us there and also follow us on our our Twitter, um, which is at Academy Anon. Um, there's also a Twitter for our Frames and Flickr, which is at Frames and Flickr.
Speaker 2:Um're finally moving away from the international film festival scene Cannes in the summer, venice in the fall. We're coming into the domestic territory, tiff is right now, but Telluride just happened, which is the best not kept open secret of the industry of how big and how important Telluride sort of poses themselves right in this whole little Oscar race thing. So what, what are you? What are you thinking?
Speaker 1:so just uh, we'll do a quick recap of the titles that were part of the main program and the standout titles in terms of, again you know, awards prospects. There weren't that many, I think there were a handful. A lot of the films that were showing there had already shown in previous festivals and it was sort of American audiences' first opportunity to see some of these films. For example, sentimental Value did really well. We saw that at Cannes. It was just an accident. Jafar Panahi's film also was an opportunity for American audiences to check it out. We saw that at Cannes.
Speaker 1:Secret agent can secret agent, the secret agent, and so, uh, going through the list, I will say there's one enormous standout that uh, joseph and I saw coming, but I'm going to leave that one for last well.
Speaker 2:I do think it's also important to say that telluride functions, unlike venice, as a best of the festival so far. That's why they're showing the best from Cannes, for example they're not exclusively premieres but that these sort of concurrent festivals Toronto, Venice, Telluride and, to a certain extent, New York they're fighting for the exclusive premieres of what they consider to be the best films of the year. Now, sometimes there are films that are so great and so important to include that they'll go ahead and show those films regardless, but it has to be sort of the punch of the film to be able to leverage being shown in multiple places. So, for example, I think of Tar in 2022. I'm sure everyone wanted the premiere, but at the very end of the day, it premiered in Venice and Telluride loves the film so much that they're going to highlight the film despite not having that premiere.
Speaker 2:But they're certainly trying to host an exclusive premiere to what they feel is the best film of the year, and they've even said it on record. I remember in 2019, when they decided not to show Joker or Jojo Rabbit, that they sort of said we think we have the best film of the year in our lineup, so we're not really worried about the lack of inclusion for either Jojo Rabbit or Joker.
Speaker 1:Right, right, exactly, and as you're implying, you know there's certainly infighting between these organizations to get dibs.
Speaker 2:So would they get dibs on it?
Speaker 1:So let's see, they had the premiere of the American Revolution, the series which is the new Ken Burns project, who they always invite. Yeah, ken Burns is a mainstay there. We love Ken Burns. The Ask E Jean Carroll documentary, which uh, did well um and eugene was there.
Speaker 1:Yes, um, actually, you know, I actually had the, I believe, world premiere of the new edward berger film. That was a film that was hotly anticipated off the heels of all choir in the western front and last year's conclave. We didn't talk about it much but you and I were very skeptical about that film making an impact.
Speaker 2:Skeptical about the streak Like how long can we keep this streak alive, right, edward Berger? Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:So we just felt that it was about time that it was Edward Berger to have a film that was going to be a little bit more muted of a reception Right, it just felt like it was the right time for that it also feels like a very intimate sort of character piece, which isn't what he's known for and I will say telluride hopped onto the edward berger train late because it was actually tiff.
Speaker 2:Yes, that premiered his big breakthrough in cinema, which was all quite on the western front and that's something that telluride obviously did not believe was one of the best films of the year or the best film of the year or whatever. But so they did invite Conclave, and Conclave was not invited in competition to Venice and they kind of, I think, took exception to that and they said I'd rather premiere at Telluride because, they maybe take me a little bit more seriously.
Speaker 2:I think it was a tremendous choice. It was a huge success there and it launched a fantastic campaign, and so Edward Berger went again this time back with Netflix after taking a break.
Speaker 1:Supposedly Venice also, you know, took a look at the film. It was revealed in an interview with Alberta Barbara, who heads the Venice Film Festival, that they saw the film and that you know, obviously it wasn't included in competition again. Um, and he had cited that. Uh, you know Netflix already had three titles in competition, so they weren't going to show a fourth title, right?
Speaker 2:Um, but he's obviously not a fan of Berger because, I mean, he has yet to invite him in competition, which kind of sucks yeah.
Speaker 1:Um. Prior to the release you know, I think a few weeks before the festival mania began, they had released the trailer and, uh, you know, it's a very colorful film. You know a lot of very contrasty neon colors, which is not typically what we associate Edward Berger's films with. Um, but it certainly looks like a very, you know, vibrant palette, um, and maybe a little bit more of a sort of visceral kind of, uh, filmic experience. So it looked good.
Speaker 2:Colin Farrell is coming from the nomination for Banshees of Inisharan, which is probably where he met Berger, because that's the same year as Alquire.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they were in the same award cycle, and so we just felt that the pieces in this film felt like they were going in the direction of, you know, not as good as Conclave, not as good as All Quiet on the Western Front, and in order to sort of have this streak continue, it needed to have, it needed to be at that level.
Speaker 2:And to be fair, I will say the bar was really high.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, Because All Quiet and Conclave were just such runaway hits. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1:Uh, lo and behold, the film did have more of a muted reception. I think there were mixed critics. I wouldn't say it's, you know, deeply mixed. You know I think there might be more positive than negative, but it's, it's very, you know, in the middle, um uh with uh, the reception from critics, certainly not the adoration of his last two films the previous two and I think most people. The consensus is that it's not a big awards player other than possibly Colin Farrell figuring into possibly a Golden Globe nomination.
Speaker 2:Where they love him Exactly. But again, the competition is so intense this year.
Speaker 1:And that's the other thing that kept us from buying in fully into this film is that Colin Farrell is so intense this year and that's the other thing that kept us from buying in, fooling into this film is that Colin Farrell is having a great year with his Penguin series. He's having a great life With his Penguin series, which is going to have got several nominations at the Emmys. He's probably going to win the Emmy. So we just felt like it didn't seem like the right time for this movie.
Speaker 2:The urgency isn't there, yeah.
Speaker 1:I agree, right and so, and it seems like it didn't really pop.
Speaker 2:And Netflix is busy.
Speaker 1:Yes, I mean they have so many films. Yes, including the three from Venice Right.
Speaker 2:Some of which went here.
Speaker 1:Right, there was the Richard Linklater film, blue Moon, which actually premiered in Berlin to much acclaim, and it's sort of an under-the-radar awards player. But don't sleep on this film, people. You know it's Sony Picture Classics who is managing the distribution and the awards campaign and famously they know how to get their nominees. In the film follows songwriter Lawrence Hart as he reflects on himself on the opening night of Oklahoma, a new musical by his former colleague Richard Rogers. And so here Ethan Hawke, who's a very, very respected actor, is playing a real life figure and, as we mentioned several times, that is catnip for these acting categories. He was very acclaimed for this performance. Many people are saying that it's very much among his best. If you kind of look at the trailer and you look at the images, you know Ethan Hawke is playing a man who was you know, quite shorter in stature physically, and so there's a little bit of a transformation aspect to all of this.
Speaker 1:It also feels like the kind of movie that would play well to a certain base of the Academy. It also feels like the kind of movie that would play well to a certain base of the Academy. Again, there's a lot of respect for Ethan Hawke, who has, interestingly, never been nominated as a lead actor. His last opportunity was a huge snub for an incredible performance that was revered by many critics His performance in First Reformed. It was snubbed in the 2018 Academy Awards award cycle, so he's owed, in a way, for that snub, and it just feels like this year, actors really stacked and that's true, but stacked to such a degree that it might be a little fluid in terms of having surprises pop up in that category. So do not sleep at all on Ethan Hawke in.
Speaker 2:Blue Moon I hear great things about the script as well, and I think Richard Linklater again, who I think you can't sleep on either, he's pulling double duty here. He's got two films, and that just goes to show you the esteem that he commands from the industry and from a place like Telluride. And Ethan Hawke was even feted here at Telluride with the silver medallion, among other filmmakers who hope to be key players for this year. So I think that was a huge get, and his co-star, andrew Scott, won an award at Berlin.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he won the supporting award in Berlin and there's still a possibility that Ethan Hawke makes it to the final five for best actor and takes along with him uh uh andrew scott, who's also playing a real life figure, into the supporting category yeah, so the future is bright here for this movie, especially with sony classics behind it I trust in sony picture classics.
Speaker 2:We trust yeah, if if I'm still here, prove nothing else. It was that sony picture classics is not to be meddled with yes um. So then, I think this was a great showing for that film.
Speaker 1:I heard that. Well, obviously, again, it's coming from Berlin and, as you were saying, we can talk about them in tandem. The Novo Vogue film that is coming from Cannes. We got a chance to see that at Cannes. I had a little bit more of a mixed feeling about that movie, particularly Novo Vogue. I haven't seen blue moon. I can't wait to see it. Um, and I think there was. I've read an article, I think it was from the playlist that said, um, that uh, there weren't a lot of people that those, uh, the people from the playlist playlist were talking to that, that were talking a lot about the two richard link ladder films. Obviously it's a short weekend at telluride there's a lot of competing, there's a lot of titles competing for your attention, so not everything gets, you know the same kind of uh attention from the crowd.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, but it's uh.
Speaker 2:These are two award players and nouveau vague is still an award player for netflix yeah, nouveau Nouveau Vogue, about Godard's making of Breathless and Richard Linklater's you know, sort of homage to the French New Waivers that premiered at Cannes and was acquired by Netflix. But I mean, just the pedigree of that project still has so much promise, the history, the history.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I just feel like it's going to appeal to a lot of voters. So we'll see again what its life is like afterward, but it's hitting all the places that it needs to, including Telluride. I think it's going to screen in New York later. So I think the prospects are still very much potential for Netflix to sort of maybe prioritize that film, maybe more than some others.
Speaker 1:So we'll see what happens there there's Begonia that's coming from Venice. We talked about that in the last podcast. So we got the first domestic reaction to Begonia, which I think was actually very positive too, and I think that's a good sign because, as we were saying in our last episode, you know this sort of, you know, these modernist pieces by Yorgos, set in present day, don't always tend to have the sort of unanimous appeal to mass audiences, but it seems like this did well, really well, at.
Speaker 2:Telluride. That's really important yeah.
Speaker 1:There was also the Laura Portras documentary cover up, which premiered at Venice to very good reviews. Expect that to be a contender for best documentary feature, to be a contender for Best Documentary Feature. I heard some people really quite like the documentary the Cycle of Love. Ghost Elephants is another documentary by the master Werner Herzog, which premiered at Venice and he won a special award at Venice. And Werner Herzog is a mainstay at the Telluride Film Festival as well. La Grazia, which also premiered at Venice, for the new film by Paolo Sorrentino, which also premiered at Venice. The new film by Paolo Sorrentino, which got good mentions at Venice that made it stop at Telluride.
Speaker 1:Hamlet not to be confused with another thing that we're going to talk about later on, is a new film that's sort of a modern take on Hamlet. It stars Riz Ahmed. That got a mixed reception from what I read. We have Ethan Hawke talk about you know the man who's everywhere. He directed a new documentary called Highway 99, the double album which is about American country singer Merle Haggard.
Speaker 1:We had the history of sound, which I got a chance to see at Cannes and Mubi will be releasing that. We had If I had Legs I'd Kick you which is a big actress contender for Rose Byrne. We got a chance to see that at Sundance and that film has been doing great in terms of appearing at so many festivals and acquiring good word of mouth. Certainly everyone who gets a chance to see it is really astounded by Rose Byrne's terrific turn.
Speaker 1:I think you and I had more of a mixed feeling about the film, but there's no denying that Rose Byrne is incredible in this movie and will absolutely be a contender for Best Actress and I would say that, based on the film, in a more competitive best actress race, I think it would be a little bit more of a struggle for Rose Byrne and in the kind of film that she's in which I don't think stands to appeal to a wide, wide base of the Academy voters bit to sort of manage that nomination. But I think, with the kind of year it is, I think, and the acclaim that this film has and the strength of the performance and the career that Rose Byrne has had as someone who's one of our favorite actors, who's yet to get her flowers, an incredibly talented performer, all those elements are going in her favor and and and her nomination is looking like a really safe bet at this point in time.
Speaker 2:I think it's really important also that you know every festival it seems like is really happy to be spotlighting this project.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know it. It's essentially going to. Since its premiere in January, it's essentially going to hit almost all the major festivals.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It played at Cannes, right.
Speaker 1:No, it played at can right?
Speaker 2:no, no, it didn't play. Can no excuse me? Excuse me, I played at berlin yes, played at berlin where she won an award um. She won the best actress award played at telluride. Is gonna play in new york, so going to toronto going to toronto. So it just goes to show you how popular the film is between festival programmers. Yes, right, and how. This is, you know, possibly one of the best bets that A24 has to get an acting nomination.
Speaker 2:I mean they have some very compelling packages, but the passion is out there for this movie and that performance A hundred percent.
Speaker 1:We had Jafar Banahi's. It Was Just an Accident which you got a chance to see at Cannes.
Speaker 2:We had Jay Kelly coming from Venice and actually had a much better reception than Venice, yeah, um so so Jay Kelly crosses over and is able to sort of maybe, um, get its, you know, swagger back a little bit because that Venice premiere was, you know, just okay. And so what were, what were? What was the reaction to Jay Kelly in the States, just, okay.
Speaker 1:And so what were what were? What was the reaction to Jay Kelly in the States? From what I read, it was quite positive. I think people were moved by it. I mean, we had already heard a lot of that. At Venice, people who even had sort of a mixed reception overall still were, you know, couldn't deny that they were touched by it and couldn't deny the strengths of what they felt the acting, the performances and aspects of Noah Baumbach's script. And so you know, honestly, I think it did quite well and I think, if anything, the consensus was that, as we were saying in our last episode, don't cut out this movie.
Speaker 2:I mean, I agree, but I also think that the enthusiasm for it in Colorado was significantly higher than in Venice, even if there were some people at Venice who were won over by the end or who maybe, you know, after a few days of, you know, digesting it, had a generally positive response. I do think that the Colorado audience ate it up. A generally positive response. I do think that the Colorado audience ate it up. George Clooney wasn't there.
Speaker 2:He was still ill. Adam Sandler was there, noah Baumbach was also fettered with a silver medallion and I think that's important, as with the Colorado audience, the Telluride audience, and I think it could be emblematic as to how the film is perceived in the US and that maybe the focus of the campaign should be to US voters and not necessarily the more international voters.
Speaker 2:I will say we have to preface anything that comes out of Telluride with the idea that just being at the festival is incredibly infectious and contagious. And the enthusiasm from these you know the genuine movie lovers that are present and who are in this very private um, intimate setting. You've been there, intimate setting um, with these filmmakers and these artists and these programmers and just individuals who really love cinema that you know that is going to affect sometimes your reaction to a film, as we learned at Sundance this year. You know, just being there in person gives you a certain energy that undoubtedly becomes part of your experience, and so I remember last year when Saturday Night premiered.
Speaker 1:Jason.
Speaker 2:Reitman, who was at the festival this year. It had such a tremendous, tremendous reception and a lot of people were sort of pegging it already as a favorite in multiple categories, but it just didn't materialize when it actually reached a large scale audience Right and the film was never really able to sort of make up for that stumble.
Speaker 2:All that to say that I think the tide has turned on Jay Kelly in a very positive way. We have yet to see if that's actually going to catch on with audiences in a significant way and in an important way for what could be a long campaign.
Speaker 1:Yes, a hundred percent. I agree with everything you just said. Um, we have the new documentary by the duo of free solo called loss in the jungle, which I think had a pretty good reception as well. Man on the run documentary that's taught us about a Paul McCartney and wings Morgan Neville.
Speaker 2:They love yes he did a pieces by piece by piece there last year as well.
Speaker 1:Exactly, neville, they love. Yes, he did a pieces by piece by piece there last year as well. Exactly um the mastermind, which we got a chance to see at uh can. We were able to be at the premiere for the kelly reichardt film um, which isn't really a film that I think is courting, you know, oscar attention, but we love kelly reichardt over here. Um the new yorker at 100, a documentary about the new yorker. Uh, nouveau va. We talked about pillion, which is the, I believe the first feature by Harry Leiden, and I got a chance to see that at Cannes and I freaking loved it.
Speaker 2:That's one of the more surprising inclusions on this list. I was really happy to see that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think it did. From what I read, I think people were pretty buzzed about it, pretty excited, and it's not a surprise, you know. I think this filmmaker manages the impossible with making this film that's about a sub-dom relationship between two men. You know have a lot of crossover appeal for general audiences. It's so good. I had such a great time watching it. It was a freaking blast. I loved it. I can't wait to see it again, and so I think audiences are responding quite positively to that movie. So that's nice to see.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll also say that you had a little bit of a father-son moment, because Alexander was there right Along with his father, stellan, who was there for Sentimental Value, and I mean, I think we should talk a little bit about a moment, about something that's been creeping up that I think is interesting. You know, stan Skarsgård is going to be nominated for Supporting Actor.
Speaker 2:I'm deservedly so. He's still very much in the conversation to possibly win. But let's talk about the performances in Pillion. What do you think I mean? What are the prospects there? Because I will say that A24 has been sort of coy about dating the film or not. I know it's going to open up in the UK at the end of November, so everyone's going to get like an early Christmas present with the film.
Speaker 2:They have not said anything stateside, but not every A24 film showed up at Telluride. It's debatable whether they might have pitched the Smashing Machine or not, but they did get Pillion in there and if you look at their supporting actor slate, do they have much to campaign in supporting actor 824? I mean, you and I were sort of saying Kevin O'Leary looks amazing in Marty Supreme and then we're saying oh, kevin O'Leary. But whatever but do they really have a performance to push in supporting actor this year? That's a good point.
Speaker 1:You know, I don. They really have a performance to push in. Supporting actor this year. That's a good point. Um, you know, I don't think of that film pillion. From my experience I don't think of it as an acting showcase, you know. I think it's more a showcase for the filmmaker, the first time filmmaker. The script, um, every, you know, the two lead actors do a very good job. I think Alexander Skarsgård was very good in it, probably the best performance in the movie. Is he the lead? No, not really.
Speaker 2:The lead is the other actor.
Speaker 1:Harry Melling. He's the lead. But yeah, Alexander, yeah, I guess more supporting, but he was terrific, he was very good. Do I think it's going to materialize into, you know, an acting contender? No, not really.
Speaker 2:I mean, well, listen, you know, you and I know how long this game really is. This film could really break out with British voters, don't you think? I mean it's British filmmakers, british talent. There's a chance that this gets nominated for a few BAFTAs and at the British Independent Film Awards it may do really well. And so I wonder if there isn't some life for this movie that we're maybe overlooking, because you sort of you know, your initial reaction is there's no BDSM, there's no way that the Academy is going to go for that. But there's also that sort of storyline there of, you know, taking the, taking the nipple baby factor, taking it up one notch, nominating the father and the son in the same category in the same year.
Speaker 1:That would be pretty cool. Which would be?
Speaker 2:kind of exciting. I think it'd be fascinating to see, but I don't know. I don't know if I agree with you that maybe there's a hidden contender here somewhere for Alexander I would be really happy to see that a hidden contender here.
Speaker 1:Somewhere for alexander, I would be really happy to see that. But I think the film is just has managed to do again the impossible and made a very sort of niche topic and concept and made it so that, you know, it can have this broad appeal, like I think that if a24 markets the film well, I think it could do well at the box office. And again, it's just a just a very well done and very enjoyable film. Um, you know that I found few faults with I mean there are a couple, but I think that I found very few faults with and I really, really, really loved it.
Speaker 2:You got to keep an eye on this one, I'm telling you yeah, watch out. I mean, unfortunately we're in a year where the bafta is going to matter very little because it's coming out after nominations. But if he does get nominated at the bafta, you know, just be careful that there isn't going to be a little bit of a wave of of love for this movie, this you know, possibly unorthodox movie right um there was the new film by uh, french filmmaker rebecca slatowski.
Speaker 1:We love her here um her film Private Life stars.
Speaker 2:French speaking.
Speaker 1:Jodie Foster, which was at Cannes, in a special, a special premiere section. We didn't get a chance to see it, but it's been received okay. I wouldn't say it's reached the heights of some of Rebecca's last films, but it's been received decently. Then there was the Secret Agent. Recently, um then there was, uh, the secret agent which we talked about in our can episode right that's certainly a contender. Vagnum moral is a huge contender for best actor um. It's a big contender for best foreign international film uh, vagnum moral.
Speaker 2:Was there kleber the filmmaker?
Speaker 1:writer director. He was there as well um another neon title here. This is a film that's going to have a lot of champions.
Speaker 2:But then again I will say that among the Neon titles you did not see Surat here.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:But you did see the secret agent rubbing shoulders with Sentimental Value and Jafar Panahi's film.
Speaker 1:It just lets you know that this film is certainly a priority for Neon Right, priority right for neon right and uh you had uh speaking on that note, you know you had sentimental value have its premiere in the states how did it play?
Speaker 1:I mean, it's the first time I played really well they play extremely well, I think so for north america, first time looking at it, and it's it's, it's as big a hit as as it was in can yeah, um, I think again, someone in the plane, I think someone in the playlist, said that, you know, oprah winfrey said she cried, you know, and that she'd put that on a t-shirt. Um, and uh, you know, I think that that that that nicely summarizes where we're at with that movie. Okay, in terms of the award race, okay, um, then you had a really another big premiere, um of premieres that we were especially looking at to see how they would impact the awards race. Among them was the premiere of Scott Cooper's new film, springsteen Deliver Me From Nowhere World premiere, the world premiere.
Speaker 2:Which was no surprise. I will say that because Scott Cooper is a mainstay there. So I remember when they invited him to screen hostels with Christian Bale, it didn't have a buyer, and it didn't acquire a buyer until much later. But this festival is very kind to Scott Cooper and they're you know, they like inviting him, they like showcasing his new work, so it's not surprising to see him here. But how'd that go?
Speaker 1:Well, I think the reception was good. Maybe I wouldn't go so far as to say it was great. I don't think it's a film that's, you know, transcending, you know, the sort of, uh uh, musician biopic kind of genre that it exists with, you know, inside of um. But I will say there were quite a few mentions that it's also not, um, exactly what you would expect from a bruce springsteen biopic, because it focused very smartly, I think, on one specific aspect of his life, which is while he was writing his famous album, nebraska, and I think he was recovering from or struggling with internal demons. He was struggling with depression, and so I think a lot of reviewers pointed out that the film has a much more somber sort of undercurrent that you wouldn't expect from a biopic about Springsteen, right, and certainly an audience that might be expecting.
Speaker 1:The Springsteen story I want to see the greatest hits, right, you know, from moment A to moment Z. You know the springsteen story. I want to see the greatest hits, right, you know, um, you know, from from moment a to moment z. You know it's certainly going to focus on this specific chapter and this difficult chapter, and I think that's actually that was a smart thing to do.
Speaker 1:I think that biopics get most in trouble. These sort of musician biopics get most in trouble when they're trying to, you know, cover such a wide canvas and do much better in covering a small you know a smaller scope of the story. I think it's one reason why, if I'm Like a Complete Unknown, last year was a success. You know, you can feel the temptation to do an entire story, an entire film about the. You know the life and highs and lows of. You know someone as great as Bob Dylan, or you can focus on a small chapter and be very concise and still try to review everything you need to reveal about that, that, that artist, through that small chapter. And so I think, uh, it's taking a cue from that and, uh, I think that was a smart approach. But I think that, again, I'm not sure the film transcends what you would expect from it either.
Speaker 1:All right, but it was received decently. It was received well. I don't think that it's, for example, I don't think that it would supersede the reception for A Complete Unknown, which I think is like in the low 70s in Metacritic. I think this film is in the high 60s on Metacritic.
Speaker 2:It's also interesting to note that this film, you know, internally has been sort of separated from A Complete Unknown. Technically, disney, which owns everything, put A Complete Unknown under their searchlight label, but they're keeping Springsteen Deliver Me From Nowhere, which, by the way, it was at one point just deliver me from nowhere but then they sort of said I hate that we really need the springsteen in there, so it's springsteen colon uh deliver me from nowhere and so and that's on their 20th century movies label and I think that's an interesting internal decision that I think is going to become an element of the campaign and I think we can discuss that you as the film starts to come out.
Speaker 2:But what was the big takeaway in terms of Jeremy Allen White's performance, Because that's what everyone was looking at.
Speaker 1:Unanimously. He was incredibly praised for the performance. I think people felt that very, they felt very strongly that it wasn't a sort of mimicry, impersonation type of performance, that he really slips into the skin of Bruce Springsteen, especially during this sort of emotional turmoil, which is a much more complicated place to inhabit for an actor than sort of again, a canvas that's trying to hit the greatest hits. And I think people were incredibly receptive to his receptive to his performance. Uh, lots of praise left and right, um and uh, even some people who were more skittish about the film overall can't help but admit that. You know, jeremy Allen White disappears into this part. Um, I think it's pretty clear from the reception that Jeremy Allen White stands an incredible chance, an incredible opportunity to um to get nominated for best actor. He's likely, a very likely thing that's going to happen out of this movie.
Speaker 2:I should also mention again, cause we were talking about this enthusiasm that comes from being, you know, in person, on the ground. As this is happening, audience did. Audiences did not only see the film from the first time. Again, this is an environment that's very welcoming to Scott Cooper, but Bruce Springsteen was there. He was there and it helps to have the boss around right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, bruce Springsteen was there and I think having him on the campaign trail with a project that has his seal of approval is going to go a long way to securing that nomination for, uh, jeremy allen white for best actor. Um, right now, where I stand with the movie is I think it's going to be a film that gets nominated for best actor and little else which is never a good place to be.
Speaker 1:To be honest, right right, um, I think it'll be again. Best actor is the main play here and I think he stands. Uh, you know, it's very likely, I think. What about the supporting players? I think I heard, I heard that there were three main names that I kept hearing. The biggest name that I actually heard, which might be the more uh, uh, I guess uh, spotlighted performance, was that of the young woman who plays sort of a composite of his ex-girlfriends in the movie.
Speaker 2:Like Elle Fanning did last year.
Speaker 1:Right, odessa Young, um, she, uh, she got quite a few mentions as being, you know, giving a bit of a breakthrough in this movie. And then, you know, Oscar predictors have been predicting that Jeremy Strong would factor into the race. You and I were always skittish about that because, again, you know, it's not easy to get back-to-back nominations. Coleman Domingo did it last year, but again, it's not super common and it helps, for example, that Coleman Domingo did get back-to-back nominations for playing, you know, real people. I mean, you know, his first nomination, rustin, was a real life figure, yeah, and his following one, I'm not sure, was also a real life figure, yeah, and sing, sing. So that helped, but it's, it's not common to get back-to-back nominations after your first nomination. Um, it's also the same category.
Speaker 2:There's no category shift so there's some controversy because supposedly they didn't they edit out like a speech that he has in the trailer.
Speaker 1:They edited it out from the film, I think some people on social media were like oh, thank god, this movie doesn't include that line of fixing the hole yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So they're sort of already courting a little bit of you know um dislike baby there with that performance possibly well.
Speaker 1:I think the performance was received well, but I don't think, from what I read and what I heard, that it was enough to move past that limitation that we're talking about, you know, getting nominated back to back in the same category.
Speaker 2:I remember when Sam Rockwell did that 2017, 2018. Right, but he was coming from a win, sam.
Speaker 1:Rockwell did that 2017, 2018. Right, but he was coming from a win. Yes, he was coming from a win and from a film that got an honor for.
Speaker 2:Best Picture.
Speaker 1:Right, that's true, yeah, and got three acting nominations, including him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that matters Into another film that was a Best Picture nominee, that also got three acting nominations. Right, because Vice would also get three nominations. That's what I meant, that's what I meant Vice had three acting nominations and was not for Best Picture. I thought you were talking about it coming from three billboards, which is the same scenario.
Speaker 1:All those things helped for him to get those back-to-back nominations. Jeremy Strong doesn't have that here.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:And I actually read quite a few people who say that the film sometimes departs from Springsteen's perspective to look at Jeremy Strong's character, his perspective I think he plays the manager and that that wasn't necessarily one of the film's strengths, that the film sort of, you know, at times switches perspective without necessarily, I guess, coming up with a good reason to switch perspectives Doesn't benefit much from it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and so I think Jeremy Strang won't be nominated for Best Supporting Actor, despite I think he might still contend and get a few of those nominations that you know, the periphery nominations on the road yeah, but not get the final nomination.
Speaker 1:I think some people mentioned Stephen Graham as well, who's having an incredible year this year with his Emmy nominated series, adolescence as the father. Some people mentioned Stephen Graham as well, who's having an incredible year this year with his Emmy, with his Emmy nominated series, adolescence as the father, which I saw yes, a very good show. He's great in that Um. He's probably going to win the Emmy, um, and so there's also maybe a little bit lack of urgency there because he's going to have his moment in the spotlight with the Emmys with Ad adolescence, yeah, and I think he has a smaller part than both Odessa Young and Jeremy Strong and maybe his part being the father of Springsteen might be more involved with that section of the movie that is maybe not as strong as some of the stronger sections in the movie, right, so I don't think that Stephen Graham will factor into supporting either.
Speaker 1:Okay, I wonder if Odessa Young can get some traction with some awards bodies prior to the Academy Award, the Academy Awards. I'm not sure right now again how much of an impact you know she can have in supporting actress, but right now my feeling is that it's the Jeremy Allen White show all the way.
Speaker 2:Which is interesting in the sense that it's a complete departure from what Searchlight's strategy was for Bob Dylan, because they tried to get Bob Dylan into multiple categories and succeeded.
Speaker 2:I think it also helped that James Mangold was already someone who had shown up in Best Picture, and Scott Cooper, his film Crazy Heart, did not make it there at the end, even though there was possibly room for it.
Speaker 2:Easyheart did not make it there at the end, even though there was possibly room for it. And I also think it's interesting the idea that they're going to campaign Jeremy Allen White pretty passionately. But he's also kind of a very important actor to them, right, because, as we said, disney owns 20th Century Studios. This is going to be a big release for them. They wanted to make money, they needed to make money, but this is also the actor in their coveted series, the Bear, which is a Hulu show, which is also a Disney show, and so I think there's this again, this idea that they want to show up, you know, in mass, to support Jeremy Allen White to get that nomination, because they sort of they, they have a longstanding relationship with him and they would like to take him to that next level in his career, which I'm sure they would also benefit from, right, um, but.
Speaker 1:I'll also say that I think two, two things. Number one I question how financially successful the movie is going to be, because I don't think. Again, I think it's a moodier piece from what I'm hearing, and so an audience member expecting possibly, you know, uh, you know greatest hits sort of uh, musician, musical, biographical, you know material, is going to be disappointed because it's not that, um, and you know, a complete unknown wasn't that either? But I also don't think it was, you know, I think the impression that I'm getting from this film of being a much more melancholic, sobering piece. It wasn't that either, um. And so I wonder if the expectations are going to not be met and that it won't make the money that a complete unknown made, which I think might matter.
Speaker 1:So I still question how financially successful it's going to be, and I'll also say that I think it's a detriment that Searchlight is coming, that Fox is coming from a complete unknown last year, right, and I think we would have needed a film that was stronger than A Complete Unknown, that had better critical reception, that was higher quality than A Complete Unknown, in order for the film to break through that barrier, the barrier being we just did that, the Academy voters saying we just did that With A Complete Unknown last year. We can you know biopic of a music legend, arrest kind of thing, um, and the film didn't didn't surpass that. So I don't think that, uh, I think that it's gonna, as you were saying, or implying it's a detriment the comparison.
Speaker 2:The comparison will certainly exist to a complete unknown. I think my big question to you is is he the frontrunner to win, especially if he's there by himself? Potentially, and if he is the frontrunner to win, then obviously he's going to bring in other people or other categories. But I think that's the interesting question here, because when you look at what are the first three favorite films to land the Best Picture nomination, it's kind of interesting that all of them are not necessarily the strongest in this category, even Michael B Jordan, due to the fact that it's sort of a genre film, sinners In Sinners. Due to the fact that it's kind of a genre film, it's not necessarily an automatic choice for voters in the acting branch. And so, because that is the case, do you, for example, think thateremy allen white at this moment stands a better chance of winning the award over other um actors who have already been, who have already screened? I'm thinking about dwayne johnson, for example. Um, what do you think?
Speaker 1:I don't think that he's the front runner to win this category. I do think he'll be there by himself, um, I don't think he'll bring in other actors with him and, yeah, I don't see him winning for this performance. And on paper. Back to what you were saying, I do think that Michael B Jordan theoretically would stand a terrific chance of being nominated for elite actor. I think he's largely considered one of the strongest actors of his generation who's yet to receive a nomination, despite being in a Best Picture film already and having several acclaimed performances. However, you know, it's not the kind of performance that gets nominated for an Oscar for Lead Actor, and so I actually am expecting Michael B Jordan to not get nominated for Sinners and to get nominated instead as a producer for Sinners only Jordan to not get nominated for Sinners and to get nominated instead as a producer for Sinners.
Speaker 1:Only Right, um and uh, and I think that's a that's a way out for them, because he'll still be recognized for the film. Um, but I actually expect him to miss. I mean, that's just that goes along with what we're saying. You know, best actor is really stacked Right, so big people are going to miss, and someone who's on the chopping block is someone like Michael B Jordan who is playing this dual character. You know these dual characters in the South, one of which becomes a vampire at some point Right right.
Speaker 1:But there's no Oscar moment for him in that movie. Yeah, you know, and it's also very physical. You know it's not quote, unquote actorly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean he does have the twin aspect which some people are going to enjoy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, possibly, but I guess that's my point is that the secret sauce, in my opinion, to getting Springsteen Deliver Me From Nowhere into multiple nominations and possibly a Best Picture nomination is making Jeremy Allen the de facto front runner, because he would have to face Dwayne Johnson, who is Dwayne Johnson and has his own baggage because Michael B Jordan is in a best picture front runner, but it's a horror genre film and you'd look at Jesse Plemons, for example. That screen but that's probably going to be too confrontational to give an Oscar to George Clooney's film is not perfect and it's going to have to work to secure that nomination. Trained Dreams is a very quiet film, a very quiet internalized performance, and that can go against it. And so my point here being that of what has screened, I do wonder if Jeremy Allen White becomes the favorite to win if he would not elevate the movie into that best picture.
Speaker 1:That's a really good point. I think that's a really good point and certainly something to look out for. I think that's true. If that were to happen and he all of a sudden becomes the favorite to win, I think that the opportunities for the film change dramatically. Yeah, and then there was also the film Tuner, which is going to TIFF right now, which is actually a really interesting concept of a piano tuner who, you know, can break safes, break into safes, right.
Speaker 1:Very high concept yeah but I heard it did well and I heard it was, you know, kind of a crowd pleaser in a way. So there's that, uh, so, so, so there's that. And then there's Urchin, which is Harris Dickinson's debut, which I got a chance to see at Cannes and I loved. I'm glad other people are being able to discover that film. It's going to have a release later this year.
Speaker 2:That's another favorite, I think for BAFTAs and for BIFAs, in terms of Features, an incredible lead performance. Yeah, um, but in terms of, you know, spotlighting British talent.
Speaker 1:Um, that's talent that's definitely going to factor in Right and now we can talk about. The biggest film at the festival the Telluride Film Festival, without a doubt was Chloe Zhao's Hamnet, which soared and officially became a bonafide Best Picture nominee. It became a Best Picture favorite. It became a top three contender for the award for Best Picture. Chloe Zhao's, returning from her last feature film, which was Eternals, which didn't do well financially and did a little bit mixed critics, I quite like Eternals. I think it's probably the most soulful you know superhero film that I've seen from that universe. Other people did not.
Speaker 2:No, they did not.
Speaker 1:Chloe Zhao again won the Oscar for directing Nomadland. Nomadland won Best Picture and she's back, and you know, stronger than ever.
Speaker 2:She won it for Searchlight too, which I think there's an interesting connection there in the sense that she's working with Focus Features this time and so this was Focus Features' big premiere right at Telluride.
Speaker 2:Telluride called dibs on this again, so they're probably really happy to have the world premiere of what they consider to be the best film of the year. Why I mentioned Searchlight is because I think that goes full circle in the sense that a big standout from Venice was Focus Features' collaboration with Bugonia, which also screened, but obviously Begonia obviously not as big a favorite as Hamnet and. Focus Features has to choose right which film is going to be king.
Speaker 1:And so what do you think the king is? Without a doubt, hamnet. And if you look at our episode when we were talking about the venice lineup, we talked very briefly about telluride and how we really predicted that hamnet was going to be a big thing, um, at telluride and make a really big impact, um, we had it in our top five in the in our oscar predictions section on our website, which you guys can check out, and Hamnet had everything going for it. In my opinion, I think Chloe Zhao is one of our greatest filmmakers. I think she's yet to make a film that I've seen. That is a poor film. She's just such an artist.
Speaker 1:I adore her work. She's adapting this very celebrated novel, a historical fiction about Shakespeare and his family, particularly his wife, through the perspective. A lot of the story, I think, is through the perspective of his wife, who's called Agnes in the book and the movie, but she's representing Anne Hathaway, which was Shakespeare's wife, and going through how they met and their love evolved and eventually the loss of their young son, which led to the inspiration for Hamlet. And so there's some historical figure involved in the story Shakespeare. It's using a historical account as its inspiration.
Speaker 1:Again, very celebrated piece of literature and I trusted that Chloe Zhao was going to be able to take this story and infuse her poetry onto it, and I also thought, from little things that we were hearing, that the film was going to be very emotional and have a very emotional impact on audiences. Um, just the premise I just described. You know it's easy to see. You know how that can be, um, and that's what happened. I think you know there were a lot of reports that people were crying, very audible sniffling, throughout the second half of the movie. I heard that when the film finished, everyone just was silent, you know, beholding everything that they had just seen and feeling everything that they had just felt. I heard it was a packed screening. Ryan Coogler was there. He's friends with Chloe.
Speaker 2:Zhao, that's what I was going to say. Was that Ryan Coogler was there checking out the competition under the guise of friendship, I'm sure no Kidding, but anyway, no, he was there. He sounded like he really enjoyed the film and it sounded like everyone in the audience enjoyed the film.
Speaker 2:I think my skepticism with the project funnily enough, not unlike Catherine Bigelow's project just came from the idea that it did not necessarily initiate or originate from chloe zow this was a film that, at one point, was in the hands of sam mendes and and in the hands of steven spielberg, um, who I believe, um, they had to leave the product for other reasons, but then chloe zow came on and I and I think that, as they stayed on as producers, and so if the film is dying for Best Picture and it certainly sounds like it will be it would be nominations for Stan Mendes and Steven Spielberg, and they very much let Chloe Zhao make her version of the film and were a support system to her and a support system to her vision.
Speaker 2:But I guess that was where my sort of doubt, my hesitation, my doubt resided, was just that idea of doubt, my hesitation, my doubt, um reside. It was just that idea of like are we really going to be able to get the most Chloe Zhao film that we can? I, I don't. I agree with you. She's a fantastic filmmaker and it seems like that was the case that we got um, uh, a film that's completely emblematic of her sensibilities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I sensibilities. Yeah, and I understand the hesitation. Again, I just saw so many green flags. I felt very confident about her pulling this off and it's a front runner. It's a huge awards contender across the board. I heard that on a technical level, the film is also very accomplished. And let's talk about something very important, which is acting.
Speaker 1:The film is also very accomplished, um, and let's talk about, you know, something very important which is acting you know, the film is going to be recognized for best actress for jesse buckley, and I'm telling you, right now, jesse buckley is the front runner for best actress to win, to win the award.
Speaker 1:Um, she's a veteran, she has a past nomination. She will win for this movie. It's going to speak to a lot of voters. I think the fact that she carries so much of the film and she has to carry a lot of the emotional beats of the film, a lot of that emotional, a lot of that emotion being, you know, quite anguishing, I think it's a film that's going to speak to a lot of voters. It's going to touch a lot of voters. I think she has respect amongst her peers.
Speaker 2:She is your best actress winner. I think that that's a fascinating stance on the project and I think a lot of people share it and I agree. I think she would probably be the person to be right now. The performance is just so complete and so affecting emotionally. I think what's interesting here is that she's not unlike the other Focus Features partner again Jesse Plemons right when you're right. She is a veteran and she's been part of fantastic films. A lot of people highlighted her in Women Talking. Some people thought she would get nominated for that as well. She did not. She was already a nominee for the Lost Daughter. What's kind of interesting about her is that she hasn't picked up the little things on the road to a nomination.
Speaker 2:right, because when she got nominated for the lost daughter, she kind of went in, uh, on the coattails of olivia colman and it was a surprise. So she has yet to get a sag nomination. On the film side, she doesn't have a golden globe nomination, as far as I'm. As far as I remember, I don't think so. Um, even for her breakthrough wildfire, certainly the baftF does have already highlighted her and spotlighted her, I believe For Wild Rose. For Wild Rose, excuse me, but so I think that's interesting. So not unlike Jesse Plemons, who got in that same year for the Power of the Dog, without those big important mentions. And her screening partner is sort of in the same position, right, because he is also a previous nominee.
Speaker 1:But he hasn't gotten those other mentions yet when he got in for After Sun, right, yeah, I think that Paul Mescal is an interesting case. I think that he's in the right vehicle to get his next nomination from the Academy. I think the Academy, his peers, respect him, respect the filmography that he's building.
Speaker 2:And he did the dirty work last year with Gladiator 2.
Speaker 1:Right, and he was a surprise nominee for Aftersun, which I think is a masterpiece and he's liked, and so here he's playing Shakespeare guys and so in a way, I feel like it's hard to imagine him not factoring into the Oscar ceremony. However, I do wonder. There's a big question as to whether he's going lead or supporting, and I think it's the kind of performance that kind of walks the line very delicately. It could be interpreted as lead, it could be interpreted as supporting. Which one is he's going to go to? I would say the smart, I would say that the smart thing to do is to go supporting, because it would be a category shift for him. He's already been inducted into the lead actor category with Aftersun. He's never been known for supporting. I think supporting is easier to get into than a lead actor. I think the actor is very stacked, even though even competing in elite actor, I think he'll have an advantage, and so it's hard for me to see how he misses a nomination here.
Speaker 2:I have to research it, but I know that the last big name to play Shakespeare, it did not really pan out for them when. Joseph Fiennes didn't get in for Shakespeare in Love. There's some DNA here between this movie and Shakespeare in Love that when we see it, I hope we can explore a little bit Sort of like, the more the heartbreaking version.
Speaker 1:I think, someone said the heartbreaking version of Shakespeare in Love. I think someone said Shakespeare in Grief.
Speaker 2:Exactly. But there's some DNA here. There's some crossover here. I think it's interesting that the individual playing Shakespeare did not get in. I have to research whether any actor who played Shakespeare has gotten in for an Oscar. That'd be interesting for me to look up. But I do think it's interesting the fact that Paul Maskell should at least have to his advantage that he has yet to have that those single individual nominations in a bunch of categories or a bunch of award shows, like the Screen Actors Guild which he should be able to pick that up this time, right, um, and so that's an interesting point that you bring up, whether he's going to be able to stick around or not, and which category?
Speaker 2:And I think they, the quicker they decide, the better.
Speaker 1:Right, um, but again, because of the vehicle he's in, I think he'll stick the landing wherever he ends up. Again, it's just really hard for me to see him missing here.
Speaker 2:um, I think the other thing that I would talk about just sort of in in the background this idea that the film has done so well that it's so far been put in this position where it's a favorite in a lot of categories, including best picture. Um, possibly a winner for best actress. Chloe zhao should be a favorite for Director, but I think there's also been some rumblings about her directing the pilot for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her being involved with that project, which I think is great. I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but in a year that is as stacked in Best Director as it is, that could prove to be a complication and we'll keep our eye out for that. But that may be the difference maker between do I put her over Jafar Panahi or not. So keep an eye out for that. Interesting, but Ryan Coogler loved it right.
Speaker 2:Yes, he did, and it seems to be a favorite, I mean. Another big question for me is it sounds like it's an amazing film, but it was also a film that was not invited to Venice and not invited to the New York Film Festival.
Speaker 1:I think, honestly, maybe the New York Film Festival raises my, you know, curiosity a little bit more than Venice, because I know that Chloe Zhao has a history with the Telluride Film Festival, I know she's an often attendee of the Telluride Film Festival and I also know it's the place where she met Jesse Buckley and Paul Mescal when they were both there in 2022.
Speaker 1:Jesse Buckley for Woman Talking and Paul Mescal for Aftersun, and I think that's the place where she got an opportunity to meet both of those artists who would ultimately collaborate with her on this project. And so I think, in a way, she was very adamant that she wanted to bow the film at the place where it kind of began, the place where it all sort of began. She had been circulating this project for a while but didn't feel like she had the means to do this kind of period piece about Shakespeare that had belonged to Spielberg and Mendes. She was considering it but she wasn't sure she could do it. And then, when she met those actors, it kind of was the key that unlocked for her the understanding that she could do this. And then, when she met those actors, it kind of was the key that unlocked for her the understanding that she could do this.
Speaker 2:That makes sense.
Speaker 1:And so I feel like she really wanted the premiere to be there To belong to Tally Red To belong to Tally Red, and so that's why I don't really put too much stock on the Venice thing. The New York one is a little bit more interesting. Maybe the New York one is a little bit more interesting maybe, but that's why I think she opted for Tally Ride.
Speaker 2:Okay, I think that's a very interesting. I didn't know that. But when you say that, it makes a lot of sense why it's Tally Ride Right.
Speaker 1:And so let's you know we're going to recap. You know this film is going to get an eye for Best Picture. It's a top three favorite for Best Picture. Right now I'd say it's Sinners, hamnet and Sentimental Value are the favorites and I don't think that's going to change despite whatever comes out in the future. I think whatever comes out is still going to possibly factor into Best Picture, but not the favorite to win. I think it's going to stay within those three.
Speaker 1:That's my opinion right now, and I think it's going to certainly compete for best director. I think it's going to, as we said in our last episode, unfortunately, I feel like it's going to come down to. It's so stacked in best director with people who've never been recognized, like Jafar Panahi and like Joachim Trier you know we don't have a lot of names that you know, we've been there, we've been there, we've been there, we've been there, we've been there. You don't have that, so they might have to choose between the two powerhouse female filmmakers Catherine Bigelow, chloe Zhao. To Chloe Zhao's detriment, she has just won the Oscar four years ago for Nomadland, whereas, or five years ago from Nomadland, whereas Catherine Bigelow hasn't been back for a longer time.
Speaker 2:That could factor in but for the vampire slur. I think I think that's something to keep under wraps, that's something you reveal after you're nominated, not before you're nominated.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't think she cares about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're right, I don't think she cares about that.
Speaker 1:So she's going to do what she wants to do and I applaud her for that, but so it's a guarantee. I think jesse buckley is a guaranteed nomination and a very, very, very likely best actress winner. I think paul mc paul muskell is a very, very likely nominee. Um, I think a screenplay is in the bag, um, and I think it's going to contend for cinematography, which I heard is really beautiful, lucas lucas was close was probably close with um the zone of interest he's been nominated already yes, um big fans of his um max richter max richter, who I absolutely adore, is composing the music and I expect him to get his first nomination um it's a fact?
Speaker 1:yeah, I think it's going to contend in costume design and production design, so everything you would expect yeah so it's. It's going to be a film that does incredibly well.
Speaker 2:Now it also, I think, has stolen the thunder from Begonia in terms of it looks like focus is going to have to focus here, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And exactly so. I do think we'll keep an eye out for that. I think the one disadvantage, like I said, to the performances is just, you know, it would be Jesse Buckley's first nomination at the Screen Actors Guild award. Do you want to give it to her on her first nomination, when another actor might be there on their second or third, we don't know yet. Um, and the same thing for Paul Maskell. If he gets nominated um at the Screen Actors Guild award or anything like that, um, but certainly, for example, those two actors at BAFTA that that might be something that they can both collect together at the.
Speaker 2:BAFTA, so very interesting, huge development. If you put those three films and we take as solid the idea that the Palme d'Or winner should be there, that's potentially four films already possibly in the top five. So that was a big showing and it's starting to get a little bit crowded.
Speaker 1:And we're happy we saw it coming, because I certainly saw it coming. So I'm proud of that. And yeah, you know, get ready, get ready for Hamnet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay. So that really, I think, brings us to the second part of our show, and that is let's do some TIFF. Talk some Toronto talk yes, all right. Talk some Toronto talk yes, all right. And so jumping to Toronto and TIFF this year, let's first touch base on what everyone's going to be looking for in terms of Oscar prospects, and that is the three films eventually listed for the People's Choice Award from TIFF and the big winner, and I think that's the bridge with Hamnet, in that I think that both you and I are thinking that Hamnet should place here.
Speaker 1:I feel pretty confident that it will place in the top three. Maybe not win, but I'm certainly predicting that it's going to place.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think it's important to know also that Chloe Zhao's Nomadland placed and won, so it won this award in 2020, right, I think that this continues the sort of North American path for the film. They're not really going to get an overseas audience in a while, I think, so it's important for it to be here. I think you and I are completely expecting it to be here. So it's important for it to be here. I think you and I are completely expecting it to be here. And so, looking at the most recent films that have placed and have won, I think last year we had Life of Chuck, which at that point, did not have a buyer Emilia Perez from Netflix and Onora from Neon and, of course, of the three, you get two Best Picture movies. It ended up being that Neon bought Life of Chuck, but they bought it for this year. It's still to be determined whether or not Life of Chuck is going to actually be a factor. This year.
Speaker 2:I did feel kind of iffy about the purchase last year and I told you about it because it kind of felt to me like Neon was buying out their competition and sort of prohibiting Life of Chuck from gaining any sort of momentum that could upend Onora winning. So we'll see what happens if Life of Chuck becomes a player or not, because traditionally the winner of this award is a major player. So over the past five years the winners were Jojo Rabbit, nomadland, belfast, fablemans, american Fiction and Life of Chuck. And so Life of Chuck, if it doesn't get nominated, would be the first sort of break in the streak. That said, it has already broken the streak in the sense that it's the first winner to not be distributed that same year in which it won right 2024. And it kind of broke the streak too in the sense that all the previous winners that I mentioned over the past five years already had a distributor coming in.
Speaker 2:Jojo Rabbit had Searchlight, no man Land had Searchlight, belfast had Focus, babelman's had Universal, american Fiction was with Orion. Life of Chuck was the only one to not at that point have a distributor. So you could argue that at the end the history books are going to show that Life of Chuck was a major exception in a big way to a lot of the patterns that come from the winners here. I think it's also interesting to note that, for the most part, a lot of these are premieres, like American Fiction was a premiere from Toronto and Fablemans was a premiere from Toronto and Life of Chuck was a premiere from Toronto, and so right now we're on a little bit of a streak that's going to possibly benefit whichever films are premiering at the festival.
Speaker 2:And you kind of wonder if the audience is aware of the importance of this award now and they want to, on purpose, try to highlight a film that got an exclusive premiere at Toronto, In which case that does not benefit Hamnet right, right, a hundred percent.
Speaker 2:So that'll be interesting to see. I do think you know when Focus won this award last for Belfast, they had that same trajectory of Telluride to Toronto after not going to Venice, I believe. So that's something to look out for. Same thing with Chloe Zhao's Nomadland when it did win, that film had already gone to Venice, right, and that was the year of the pandemic, so that's going to be interesting to look at.
Speaker 2:I think the other interesting pattern is that Netflix has been a factor here for a while. Their really big miss, if we exclude that sort of pandemic year, was when they did not get in in 2023. And a lot of people were saying that's odd for a Netflix film not to pick up any of the three spots and instead you had Orion with American Fiction, and Focus Features had the Holdovers and G-Kids had the Boy and the Heron. So Netflix has been on a little bit of a streak and they were able to recover last year because Amelia Perez did end up placing despite it possibly being a little bit of a polarizing film and did place, and so let's see if Netflix can continue that trend.
Speaker 1:So everyone's going to be looking at whoever you know has the angle to place here and win here and also whoever places in the top three barring, for example, a canadian premiere or you know, a canadian film, for example, they should. All you know, trend has been that all three that place, factor into the best, pick exactly into into best picture.
Speaker 2:So if you look over the last five years, 2019, georgia Rabbit the winner is a Best Picture movie. Marriage Story and Parasite both listed, are Best Picture movies. In 2020, nomadland, the winner is a Best Picture movie. One Night in Miami did not make it into Best Picture, but had there been an extended list, there's every reason to believe it would have been there. And the Canadian production Beans that did not factor in. Usually the Canadian productions don't factor in, and I think this year, with everything that's going on between the relationship between Canada and the US being so fraught, there's a good chance that a Canadian production ends up being listed here. I would not be surprised about that at all. In 2021, belfast, the winner was the Best Picture nominee. Power of the Dog, also listed, was the Best Picture nominee. 2022, fableman's, the winner is the best picture nominee. Women talking is the best picture nominee. Despite every reason to think that it would be left off the list because it was doing so poorly, at the end it still scored a nomination for best picture. Um and glass onion was the third film listed. It was not a best picture nominee, but it was a screenplay nominee. So if you you do get listed here, the odds are that you are going to be nominated for something, and if you're an American production, the odds are very high that you're going to be nominated for best picture. So the films that were not nominated for best picture, that were certainly in the thick of the Oscar race, were Glass Onion, the Boy and the Heron. And again, we'll have to wait to see what happens with um. Life of chuck. Life of chuck. Um. I left off one night in miami because I really do believe it would have made one of the 10 spots um. So we'll see which films um get on here and let's.
Speaker 2:I think the most important thing is to highlight um the premieres, because obviously I think they're the ones who are trying to angle for the win. If you look at the streak that we're on, and if no premier wins it, I think it may also say something about where the race is right now in terms of um, who the favorites are. But before I, before we go through the list of titles, um, I think it's also important to say that you know, these three festivals Telluride, toronto, venice are really competing and of the three, toronto is the one that I think struggles the most. They have a lot of popular releases, a lot of films that studios need to do well, they're still looking for distributors. There aren't a lot of movies that are going to or that historically cross over into Oscar attention after their premieres here. So, like last year, for example, a lot of the big premieres that were at the festival probably the biggest success story came from the Wild Robot, right, which was a big success when it screened there and it got those three nominations.
Speaker 2:But if you look at the other films that were highlighted as premieres, a lot of them didn't really make any sort of dent and despite possibly having some potential I mean Hard Troops premiered there. Camarilla and Jean-Baptiste was in the thick of it. Heretic got nominations for. Hugh Grant, right, a lot of mentions for Hugh Grant, but no nominations at the Oscar at the end. We Live in Time did really well. Un end we live in time did really well. Unstoppable did really well. Um, the return from bleaker was also there. The fire inside from amazon was there, but none of them really are able to get that nomination. So the only film that was really highlighted at the ostrich was the wild robot. Yeah, and that's kind of what I'm I'm sort of seeing happen with the world premieres at tiff. That's why you know, as a festival I think they sort of struggle A lot of what's going to end up being nominated. That's included in TIFF already has a footprint at.
Speaker 2:Venice or Telluride or Cannes, for example. And so if you look at 2023, the only really big premiere that sort of made it at the end was American Fiction, which ended up winning the People's Choice Award, but some of those other movies that tried to establish themselves in the race never really got a foothold in it, despite a warm reception. The Burial did really well. You look at, something like History Daughters did really well. Actually, that was a weird year because History Daughters did really well. Lee did well. At one point people really thought that Sing Sing would make it at last year's Oscars after premiering in 2023. But, as you saw, there was not a lot of success for that film in terms of getting that final Best Picture nomination. It did get some nominations and that's kind of an interesting parallel to what's going on with Life of Chuck, which came out at the box office and didn't do much. Um, maybe there's still some hope that life of chuck and can maybe get a screenplay nomination.
Speaker 1:um, but it's very, it's very difficult.
Speaker 2:It's very difficult. Sing, sing, had all that acclaim and still miss these major nominations and people still believed it had that 10th spot.
Speaker 2:You know, possibly locked up, but then just the recency of something like I'm still here is gonna reset it it, and so, if you look at something like 2022, that was actually a really strong year for them 2022 and 2019. In 2022, the films that they premiered that ended up getting some love at the Oscars included A Choir on the Western Front, which was a huge coup because none of the other festivals had shown it, but it was already. It would become a major, a major horse in the race. The Fablemans premiered and audiences loved it and it won the award. But then you also had single nominations for Causeway. Brian, terry Henry and Glass Onion was able to come out and was listed in the top three. So that was a fantastic year for them. They got four films to get Oscar attention, but there's a bunch of films that didn't. You know. The Women King didn't get any Oscar attention at the end, the Good Nurse didn't, the Menu, and this was despite them getting some of the important mentions and precursors on the road to nominations.
Speaker 2:2019 was another fantastic year. They had four films get Oscar attention, and that included Jojo Rabbit, which was their big premiere and won the prize and was nominated for Best Picture. But they also had the premiere for Knives Out, which got a screenplay nod. Harriet had a couple of nods, including acting, and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood got a nod for acting as well. But again, there's a bunch of films that had potential, just did not go all the way. You had Hustlers, you had Just Mercy Ptolemaic is my name and so it's very tough for these Toronto films to break through. It's more typical to see something like 2021, where the only film that gets attention is the Eyes of Tammy Faye that ends up winning an Oscar right for Jessica Chastain, and then the other films just don't do as well or can't, don't have the momentum to go the distance. So it'll be interesting to see what kind of year we have this year if we're going to have a year of four films, including maybe a couple of films that are huge, major best picture contenders, or if we're going to have a year that's a little bit more typical, in the sense that we'll have maybe one, two films that get a couple of nominations. Um, I think hopefully you know to make things interesting we'll get a nice bag full of films that have the potential to go the distance in multiple categories, to our benefit.
Speaker 2:Whenever knives out seems to be in, there seems to be a boost in how successful the festival is. You know, in 2022, glass Onion you had two Best Picture nominees in Glass Onion that's interesting, I'm sorry, excuse me in the Fablements and All Quiet. And in 2019, you had Jojo Rabbit, which went the distance and it carried again four other films from the festival. Four films in total from the festival were seen at the Oscars. So, looking at this year's lineup, if you look at Gala, there's some pretty notable films and studios who are trying to position their movies to possibly, you know, getting a good foothold in the race. We'll see what happens In the Gala section. Among the more notable premieres, we have Eternity A24. From A24, right section, among the more notable premieres, we have um, eternity a24 from a24 right. Um, and you know it's going to be sort of a rom-com sort of fantasy kind of thing.
Speaker 1:I feel like the trailer has a lot of, you know, blending of different tones. It's kind of comedy, it's kind of romance, you know it's kind of drama. Um, I, I was surprised that A24 is releasing that. It doesn't feel like an A24 release in my opinion. I know that's the producing team of King Richard behind it Miles Teller, caleb Turner, elizabeth Olsen. I don't have super high hopes for this movie.
Speaker 2:Right. I mean I think it looks like again more of a mainstream play than something like the Smashing Machine, for example, but I think they're trying to emulate some of the success that they had, didn't they release? We Live in Time last year.
Speaker 1:I think they're trying to emulate some of that success and maybe have a sleeper hit in October or November, when that film finally comes out another film is from Lionsgate, good Fortune, which features a stellar cast Keanu Reeves, seth Rogen, aziz Ansari, sandra oh, kiki Palmer so it's a huge cast. It looks like it's also sort of a mainstream play, but I know that one of the producers on it, anthony Katagas, is a frequent producer of James Gray's films and actually won an Oscar for 12 Years a Slave.
Speaker 2:Right, and the music's being done by Carter Burwell. That's actually a Lionsgate release and you kind of have to wonder if Lionsgate maybe has some faith in this movie, not just in making money but possibly being an awards contender, I mean you do have some mainstream films that can break out in a big way and become some kind of contender. I know that I loved keanu reeves in the trailer and everyone wants to see keanu reeves recognized at some point and he's going to have a huge year next year with reuben austin's film and so my.
Speaker 1:My feeling is, though, that from the trailer again, it's just a trailer, but that it doesn't it feel like mostly a mainstream play. It does awards play it does.
Speaker 2:It's aziz anzari's um directorial debut. It does feel more of a mainstream play, but I also think that anything could feel like a mainstream play. But if it gets listed all of a sudden, you know the conversation changes around it and do you think?
Speaker 2:it's going to be financially successful. I do think it'll be successful. I mean, I hope it'll be successful, I think it will be. Comedy has been struggling so far, but I think aziz has a very unique voice and I think seth's brand of comedy might be making a comeback, especially after the studio.
Speaker 2:That's true, that's um and you know, I, I just think that it's, I I hope it does well, I think it has a diverse cast and has an interesting idea and I don't know, watch out for this one to be a people pleaser, a crowd pleaser at Toronto. The other one that I think is possibly a crowd pleaser here in the gala section is Roofman Right, and you've seen that, you've seen the trailer for it. It's sort of an unconventional choice because we know that Derek San France is. It's sort of an unconventional choice because we know that Derek is directing it right which is kind of odd for him.
Speaker 1:It doesn't feel like the kind of film that he would direct after things like Blue Valentine and the Place Beyond the Pines. He has been nominated as a co-writer of Sound of Metal quite recently, in 2020, but it feels a little bit like a departure, something a little bit like a departure, you know something. A little bit I don't want to say lighter. It's still still based on a real story, and a very, you know, interesting one at that, but not the sort of darker, you know right, drama that he tends to be attracted to right I.
Speaker 2:It's certainly his most mainstream effort. Right and well. Paramount is releasing this one and I feel like I'm a little bit skeptical about how far any movie from Paramount can go, considering how, you know, they've just had the merger. But there's a lot of internal discussion within the industry about what the feelings are about Paramount's sort of behavior or, you know, sort of agenda, as you know, sort of agenda as they've tried to get that merger done, so I'm not sure Paramount is going to have an easy time cracking any awards race this year.
Speaker 2:But that said, they don't have very much. And it seems like Roofman. Not only do they need it to be successful, want it to be successful, see potential for it to be successful, but if they're going to have any type of awards play, maybe this is the one thing that they have. It's based on a true story and I think that that helps a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right. A great cast, a great cast that includes Channing Tatum Right, who hasn't been nominated yet.
Speaker 1:And again.
Speaker 2:He's been working for such a long time. It seems again a little bit mind-blowing to think that Dwayne Johnson is going to be nominated for the Smashing.
Speaker 2:Machine when Channing Tatum could not be nominated for Foxcatcher, for example. You know he's worked a little bit more steadily in Oscar fare. He even had a cameo in the Hateful Eight at some point, remember. So it's a little bit odd to think that channing is going to be beat into the nomination by uh, duane johnson possibly, but he is playing a real life person, right? This story really happened. It's a crazy wild story. Um, kirsten dunst is in it, who just got a nomination supporting actress I. I think that this would return her to supporting actress. She's I don't think she's the lead in this Great cast. Who's Aduba? Peter Dinklage. So I don't know what to make of this one, but it's certainly another movie that I think could be potentially be a crowd pleaser.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree and that might garner enough votes to end up among the three for the People's Choice Award. Also, the producer has been nominated for A Star is Born, but I also think that there's already been some you know some online leaks that this is going to be a very well-received movie. I think that there's a couple people in Variety who have probably screened it already and they're featuring Channing, I think, in the trade magazine coming out soon or that just came out, and they sound like they're fans of the film, and so just watch out for this movie to potentially have enough commercial success and satisfaction amongst viewers and critics to potentially cross over in a way that could see someone like Channing Tatum or the script, for example, the script snagging a nomination in one of those categories.
Speaker 2:But I would definitely keep my eye on it. I think that the last two really big titles to talk about here are the Sony classics titles, Cause we sort of talk about how I'm best picture we have, you know, a lot of studios repeating nominations or possibly repeating nominations with Focus Features having two films, Warner Brothers having two films, Neon having a bunch of films, and if you start looking well, who isn't on that list? Well, certainly Paramount's not on that list. They don't really have a big player. But Sony Classics isn't on that list and you and I had talked about in Venice how Sony Classics could potentially be a buyer for.
Speaker 1:Ann Lee, right. Possibly, I mean possibly. But you know, considering these two titles that they've got going on and they have Blue Moon that they're pushing for awards. Consideration for Ethan Hawke, I'm still really unsure if a studio like sony picture classics is gonna, you know, buy and have to carry the burden of making such a big campaign for a movie like this, the testament of ann lee, right. So so I'm unsure about that. But yeah, we had considered it I think that they're going to.
Speaker 2:They could be they could make an aggressive move once they find out what's going on with these two titles. And so in the gala section they're going to have, could be they could make an aggressive move once they find out what's going on with these two titles. And so in the gala section they're going to have nuremberg, which is based on a true story, right, um, and so russell crowe is in that, michael shannon, um, the uh oscar winner, rami malek's in that, um, uh, and I think it's actually really timely, right, the topic is really timely. They've been showing the trailer a lot.
Speaker 2:I wasn't crazy about the trailer, but the trailer is not that great, I think. I agree it's coming from James Vanderbilt, who was last in Toronto with the film Truth, Truth, 2015. Remember 2015 with Cate Blanchett? He was also the screenwriter of Zodiac, Exactly yes, so he's a very talented writer. But that movie Truth did really well in 2015 when it premiered here and it couldn't find any traction. But I think something that really hurt it was the fact that Carol was out in 2015.
Speaker 2:2015. Right, so I wonder if this maybe is something that Sony Picture Classics has been sitting on. They they acquired this like maybe two or three months ago, and they I think they announced they had acquired it before the trailer came out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so they obviously screened it. They liked it enough to buy it. Maybe they saw some of the gaps and holes that were sensing in their slate and they jumped on the opportunity here. No matter what, I think that they they see something in the film, and I actually think that it's sony classics who worked with vanderbilt and kate blanchett on truth, on truth exactly and so maybe they already have a good relationship with the filmmaker, um, and I think the film would benefit it really benefits from its topic, right, you know, um, the nuremberg trials, and you're going to have Russell Crowe and you're going to put all these people on the stand and try to, you know, have them take accountability for their actions, and it could be very timely and it could speak to the moment right now.
Speaker 1:It also has a good crew. You know. Darius Welsky is the director of photography. Tom Eagles is the editor of photography. Tom Eagles is the editor. He was nominated for Dojo Rabbit. Eve Stewart is doing the production design.
Speaker 1:You know it has good pedigree, but for some reason number one, I think a film like this from Sony Classics, with this sort of pedigree, isn't being invited to places like Telluride. Then I start to think that the film is just not that good. And you can't say that Sony PIX didn't have a presence in a film in a place like Telluride because it did with Blue Moon.
Speaker 2:Right, that's my thing, though I also think that even if Blue Moon is their critically acclaimed film, it's not a film that's going to sneak into Best Picture and film. It's not a film that's going to sneak into best picture, and maybe this year, after having so many films last year including the room next door and getting in finally from still here I wonder if this year their angle is going to be more campaigning comfort food, you know um, comfort food for an older adult audience, and maybe this fits that bill. Um, I think that's certainly not going to be as critically acclaimed as a lot of the films that went to telly ride, and it's going to be a problematic film, but that doesn't mean it can't leverage that likability, possibly, or, um, some admiration, or some admiration for its noble intentions, into a nomination, not unlike green book you know um so maybe they're going to play the more accessible card and try to show a film that's going to maybe register a little bit more deeply with a wider audience, Right?
Speaker 2:So I would look out for Nuremberg. I don't know if it'll have enough pedigree or interest from the crowd at Toronto to win one of the three awards. Yeah. I don't think so but barring the film, you know getting extremely divisive reaction if people are somewhat, you know, say it's an engaging thriller and it's a point of drama, I could really see this movie possibly having legs.
Speaker 1:I expect it to get a more divisive reception. We'll see what happens.
Speaker 2:I mean it's possible. But I really think that Sony Classics maybe when they screened it, before buying it, they thought of what the potential could be. And then their other film is the Coral, which also has a trailer already, and Ralph Fiennes is in that one. And that's coming from Alan Bennett, who is the British playwright and who was even nominated for writing the Madness of King George, and here he's reuniting with his director on that, nicholas Hittner, and they also worked together on the History Boys and the Lady in the Van, but those didn't have a lot of success. It's interesting that this is an original script, though from Alan Bennett right Interesting, which is very uncommon for him. And the trailer looks very again, I think, very mainstream, friendly, right, it doesn't look, it looks like a movie that's going to appeal to that older crowd, older, mature crowd.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:Right, and it has some good collaborators on it. George yeah for sure Right, and it has some good collaborators on it. George Fenton is a composer on that and he's been nominated before for doing the score on Cry, freedom and Gandhi. Peter Francis is the production designer on that and he got nominated for the Father. Jenny Beaven's doing the costume design, so I definitely think that this movie could potentially cross over.
Speaker 2:I like the fact that both of these, that both of these movies already going in with a buyer because if you look at last year, there were a lot of films that potentially were trying to pay the same card in films like you know, the penguin lesson and it didn't have a buyer yet and maybe that tipped you off.
Speaker 1:I think I like the fact that they already have a buyer.
Speaker 2:They have trailers out there. It sounds like sony classics, you know, wants to make money off of them and that they're gonna have some wider audience appeal. Um, should both of these films stumble and be extremely divisive and it's apparent that it's gonna be it could be a lot of work to get an audience for them. Then I think they go back to the table and say, okay, well, do we buy?
Speaker 1:and lee or do we?
Speaker 2:buy anything else that's available.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's a smart way of looking at it. I think they first have to test the waters to see how potent their current contenders are. Yeah, I agree, but again I wonder if they're not really going to try to push Blue Moon for serious awards consideration.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you look at their slate, I don't think they have a Best Picture movie in their cards yet. I think Blue Moon is going to. It's a very good film to push for Best Actor, some tech awards, and I think that Eleanor the Great is also going to be a strong movie for them to campaign in Best Actress.
Speaker 1:I saw that at Cannes and was not a big fan of it.
Speaker 2:Yes, nonetheless, though, I think it's going to be appealing enough. So I do think that they have some movies. They just don't have anything that's going to do well, for example, at the critics groups. If they do want that, then that's Ann Lee, but so I do think that, depending on how either of these two movies are received, they could end up being the buyers for ann lee.
Speaker 1:there's already rumors that there is a buyer for ann lee there are rumors we just don't know who it is um, so we'll find out yeah, but I would not be you and I suspect that it'll go to someone at least. I think we suspect similarly that we that it'll go to someone smaller, like ifc films yes, um, but again, I think that it's bit is going to be really important.
Speaker 2:You know who that distributor is right, um. If we look at other films on here, um, some of the more low profile films or some of the you know films that are going to have a tougher time factoring in into the oscar race but look interesting nonetheless, you have um, are now this plush on new film Two Pianos is going. Colin Hanks has a documentary on John Candy. Brian Cox is doing his directorial debut on. I believe it's called.
Speaker 1:Glenn.
Speaker 2:Rothen, glenn Rothen and I think Alan Cumming is in that, and so I love Alan Cumming, so that should be fun. Bobby Farrelly has a film called Driver's Ed and I believe Alessandro Nivola's son.
Speaker 1:Alex.
Speaker 2:Winter, no, no, alex Winter is there with a film called Adulthood.
Speaker 1:Adulthood yeah.
Speaker 2:Alex Winter. We all know from Bill and Ted, david McKenzie has a movie called Fuse and that has Aaron Taylor Johnson in it, for example, and sort of a thriller. He just worked with Bleaker Street on Relay riz Ahmed, I believe that just came out, so I would not be surprised if if they're gonna work with him on this as well, swiped um.
Speaker 1:What about alessandro nivolo's feature?
Speaker 2:I? I believe that bob bobby farrelly's film, driver's's Ed, is going to feature um Alessandro Nivola's son right, exactly From White Lotus. Sam, yeah, sam Nivola, yeah Right, uh. Rachel Lee Goldenberg has a new film um called Swiped um, which I actually think is going straight to Hulu. That's what that's it for the big premieres of that section.
Speaker 1:Then you have other films that have already premiered elsewhere. Hamnet, no Other Choice, went to Venice. I don't know the great can Private Life, can Homebound went to Cannes. I missed it, unfortunately, but it did really well at Cannes and Peak Everything was, I think, part of the director's fortnight.
Speaker 2:I think of Cannes and Peak Everything was, I think part of the director's fortnight.
Speaker 1:I think of Cannes as well, so they have their premieres elsewhere.
Speaker 2:So this is where Hamlet's going to show up at the gala. I think no Other Choice could potentially show up in the top three as well.
Speaker 1:That seems like another crowd pleaser.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, because it is a very thematically profound piece but that still manages to be a thriller and it can entertain a mass audience. I think. Watch out for that one here. It's interesting that the third Sony Classics film I know, the Great, is on here as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so all the Sony Classics films look like they're going to be showing in Gallows. Yeah, so watch out for that On the special presentation side, which is a lot bulkier than Gallows.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You have a bunch of movies that are premiering.
Speaker 1:And I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that Life of Chuck was a special presentation last year and Jojo Rabbit, I know, was a special presentation its year in 2019. So I almost feel like special presentation is a place you definitely want to look at when you're thinking about a TIFF People's Choice winner. They tend to pop up more in this section special presentations than they do in, for example, gallus.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree, I think, but possibly also by virtue of there being so many titles here and the odds favoring that. Yeah, I think special presentations is where you're probably going to see the big winner or a couple of the movies that are going to get listed on where they're going to come from, and so if you look at the premieres, you know everyone has been talking about for weeks.
Speaker 2:For a long time For a while now About Rental Family and supposedly it had screened privately in Berlin and the reception was really good. This movie is coming from Searchlight Pictures, which is interesting because Searchlight Pictures, who kind of owns Venice, did not have a horse in Venice. The filmmaker they usually work with went elsewhere with Focus Features, yorgos, and Searchlight did not have, I think, a huge film at Telluride. The best you got was the film from 20th Century Studios, the Springsteen biopic. Another filmmaker that they've worked with in the past, or that you know Disney has worked with in the past, chloe Zhao, who they worked on with the Eternals and they worked on when Searchlight had Nomadland also went elsewhere and went to Focus Features.
Speaker 2:So I think that's a narrative that I'm certainly looking at. Is what is Fox Searchlight? Now that they are not Fox Searchlight and are just Searchlight, what kind of projects are they developing and what's really on the slate for them in terms of what kind of movies they want to make? And so here we have Rental Family and everyone's been pegging it as a very big horse in Best Picture and, I suppose, the front runner to win the People's Choice Award right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, certainly I think there's a sentimentality to the piece from the trailers that we've seen and the synopsis of the movie that I think people are sort of buying into that and thinking that that seems like the kind of crowd pleaser that would win the TIFF People's Choice Award. I can't deny it and I do think that it looks like it's going to be that kind of film. I mean, I can't say that I'm I can't say that I was too taken with the trailer myself and I'm not sure that I see this film factoring as a big contender to win the Oscar for best picture, but it's certainly I don't think you can count it out as being a strong possibility, the kind of film that will speak to you know enough attendees of the festival and get it to that first place win. I think that's very possible.
Speaker 2:We had sort of talked about how that, you know, first place win for People's Choice Award tends to favor possibly a more sentimental film and a world premiere. Yeah, and a world premiere. And so maybe some people are pegging the rental family, you know, fitting that bill pretty well. It looks like a more sentimental film to me. It does not look like a Yorgos Lanthimos film, which was, you know, again to the idea what kind of films of search I want to make. So that's coming from the director of Beef, which you saw and you enjoyed.
Speaker 1:I did. I liked Beef quite a bit, but I will say I think she directed a few episodes, not all of them, and I think that the strength of beef of when I saw it was more in the writing right than it was in the directing.
Speaker 2:so that's, that's hikari um and the screenwriters, I think aren't very well known. Um, other collaborators that we tried to check out to see if there was any name that really, you know, stood out to us. Uh, alan bumgarden is doing the editing and he was nominated for American hustle and for Chicago seven, but obviously those are more intricate narratives of more moving pieces. Possibly.
Speaker 2:I think it was interesting that Oren Moverman is an executive producer on it and I I do trust him and and maybe listeners will remember him from his work in movies like the Messenger or Love and Mercy with Paul Diana, which was excellent. But my issue is that, based on that trailer, I kind of got like this very this impression of it being a schmaltzy movie and Brendan Fraser is sort of playing an actor right, which maybe that's another reason why people are really being compelled to put it into best picture, but then he's going to go and act as family members for all these other families and I thought the immediate thing I thought about was well, you know, yorgos Lanthimos made that film like 10 years ago or more than 10 years ago, and it's called Alps and Searchlight did not release that back in like 2011 or whatever.
Speaker 2:Nor would they release it now, because imagine the Yorgos Lanthimos version of that and that's. It's actually a really interesting movie with amazing performances, but it's not going to win the People's.
Speaker 1:Choice Award.
Speaker 2:And then the other thing is I think some people have been alluding to it as you know, there's a certain loss in translation aspect to it right, um, and bill murray got on here for that. Um. And then I also thought, like you got to be careful because this film could quickly turn into surviving christmas, which was the ben affleck film um and james gandolfini, where he hires the family. He hires the family to be his own family, um so no, I don't think it'll get.
Speaker 1:I don't think it'll reach those depths everyone has bought into this movie.
Speaker 2:I have yet to buy into it looking at those winners exactly looking at those winners from the people's choice award, I don't see enough dna there to suggest that this film is is gonna run away with it.
Speaker 2:Um, I just think that the filmmakers who end up winning and placing are more established filmmakers, and and hikari is is only starting out. Um and uh, I don't know, I don't, I don't think she has the reputation yet. I think, for example, I've told you that when jojo rabbit won, I wasn't surprised, not just because it's a premiere, because of the type of the film it is, but I also think that audience members, they know Taika and they, they really uh, love his voice and they love his sensibilities and they respond to that. Um, and I kind of told you the same thing about Mike Flanagan when Mike Flanagan won for the life of Chuck, that viewers are familiar with who Mike Flanagan is and they respond to his voice. And I think we're still learning um who Hikari is as a, as a filmmaker, and that that's going to be a detriment to the piece. Um, but again, there's not many places for a searchlight to go to, but I do think, like again, if, if rental family did not show at Telluride that's for a reason.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, right, I think it's a little bit of a red flag, right. But you know, neither did a film like Jojo.
Speaker 2:Rabbit yeah.
Speaker 1:And all they needed was that Tiff People's Choice win and I made it into Best Picture and won an Oscar as well.
Speaker 2:So maybe they're really committed to the. We're going to play just the Jojo Rabbit card, but taika waititi had um, had already worked for marvel and had made several films. Um and was a familiar sort of personality in the industry and it's about world war ii, right yeah, you know, had it not been about world war ii, we don't know if the reception would have been different or if the enthusiasm would have been different right, no, I agree, I I feel really iffy about this movie.
Speaker 1:I I don't know. I go back and forth. I think that I can see it winning the tiff people's choice award and if it does, I think it's a shoe in for of course best picture and possibly screenplay.
Speaker 1:Um, I'm not sure that I see it contending in categories outside of those two. I'm not sure I'd see a contending and acting categories. I don't think it's that kind of movie. I don't see a contending in below the line categories. I don't think it's that kind of movie either. I know people in Gold Derby are pretty high on Brendan Fraser getting nominated again. I think it's way too soon after the whale.
Speaker 2:I think it's way too soon. I don't.
Speaker 1:I think that you. It's a cast of more international actors that are not super well known. I think that's going to play a factor. I'm not sure how many members of that cast are going to get a moment in the spotlight, how big that moment in the spotlight is going to be enough to really figure into these acting races. I'm really unsure. Again, hikari doesn't have such an extensive filmography to the point where I guess I'd feel comfortable predicting that it's going to be a huge success. Right now the vibes that I'm getting from the piece are more like a mixed reception from critics, possibly in the yellows in Metacritic, high yellows. Possibly in the 60s on Metacritic, possibly in the 60s on Metacritic, but still having that factor of sentimentality, being able to hit audiences with that sort of sentimentality and that being an asset that it can carry into a possible TIFF People's Choice Award winner and then Oscar consideration.
Speaker 2:I also think that it's not really Searchlight's game, right, when you look at these films that are able to be nominated and win Best picture because they're, you know international productions or have a huge international presence, you know the international community, they're going to respond more to the films that went to can than what wins the toronto people's choice award, um, and so this isn't really their bag. I think if you look, for example, when we had that amazing milestone and everything everywhere all at once, you know was nominated for so many awards and Michelle Yao won actress, you know that's an A24 film, right. And you look at Minari, for example, that's another film, really, where you had a huge Asian presence in the cast right and in the filmmakers, that's also that's not a searchlight film. The cast right and in the filmmakers, that's also that's not a Searchlight film.
Speaker 2:You look at other sort of international titles, like Parasite, for example, that's a neon film, and so I think that this isn't really what I would trust Searchlight to do. I don't know them for doing this and I'm not sure that I trust them with this project. So if you took this exact same project and you told me that it was under the, that it was going to be shepherded by a 24, I would feel differently, right, right. If you had given me the same project and you told me that it's actually going to play on the um on certain regards section, I can, I would feel differently.
Speaker 1:Right, right.
Speaker 2:Or if it was going to have a big premiere. Um, like that it that the that they're deciding to unveil it at toronto makes makes me feel like I don't really trust their strategy with the film and that their film just wants to be a people pleaser and if they get that and they get the win, fantastic, they're going to get in.
Speaker 1:But if they fall short of that, I think it's going to be a very tough film to get recognition well, we were even talking about that earlier in this episode is that, even if it placed in the top three, it still puts it in good and a good standing to, I think, make a little bit of an impact.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Um, and right now, looking at serving, surveying, uh, the options that we have, it looks like the kind of film that the Toronto audience would respond to.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's, I think that's what people are well, that's what Oscar predictors are are betting. Is that that it's the front runner for that award, the People's Choice Award, that people will respond to it? I have my doubts, but we'll see what happens. Yeah, me too. I think another film to talk about here that maybe has the potential to, you know, crack the top three again, maybe even finally win, is wake up dead man. I mean, the knives out series has always been successful with the crowd at Toronto, and they know that this is supposedly the last chapter that's going to cap off the trilogy, and so watch out for this to maybe have a little bit of, you know, Lord of the Rings return of the king factor with the people's choice award, you know we're finally going to give it to them and it's going to be emblematic of the love we have for the entire series, right, um?
Speaker 1:but there's also the you know possibility of having diminishing returns. Obviously the first uh knives out, which you know I'm a big fan of um, got the screenplay nomination, but second one, even though I got that nomination for screenplay at the Academy Awards, it was not as enthusiastically received as the first one, even though they were both still positively received. So there's still the possibility that you know, this new iteration, you know, continues that trend of diminishing returns, um, and still or possibly is the first Knives Out film to not factor into the awards race.
Speaker 2:It's a possibility. But I really love the idea that Rian Johnson has sort of stayed loyal to Toronto and hasn't taken his series to Telluride or to Venice or to Cannes or to any other festival.
Speaker 1:I know he's frustrated that he wants the film to have a longer theatrical window. Netflix isn't giving him longer than two weeks and I think that's part of the impetus that he has for trying to move on to the next project or move elsewhere.
Speaker 2:I mean speaking of which. I think that's. The other element here is that, even if Wake Up, deadman does really well in places, netflix is already stacked with choices, right Based off just of Telluride and Venice, and so short of it winning, short of it winning the People's Choice Award, which would shock Netflix into saying, okay, well, I guess this is our number one movie. It's going to have a tough time stealing their priority from those other films.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 2:Exactly, but so Daniel Craig is back in here. Josh O'Connor's had a hell of a year. Glenn Close is in this for the first time and you never underestimate Glenn Close ever. Josh Bolin has had a great year so far. Mila Kunis is in this, jeremy Renner, kerry Washington, andrew Scott, who's going to be in Blue Moon as well, kaylee Spaney's in this. Um from priscilla, darren mccormack. Uh, thomas hayden church is in this. So again, it's another huge cast. Um, you kind of have to wonder, like I said, if there's going to be a lot of goodwill for this movie. Um has yet to get an iron for a sang ensemble award. Um, interestingly enough.
Speaker 2:Interestingly enough, um has yet to get any of its actors nominated. In fact, glass onion did fantastically here. It was even in the top three um, and it only got the screenplay nomination, and that's. That was a terrible year for netflix yeah right, um, but their pony. That year all crime. The western front still did not make it into the top three listed films. And, and that makes sense I mean, maybe it does make sense, because no one was anticipating it as much.
Speaker 1:No, no, it makes sense that I wouldn't make the top three of tiff because it's you know, it's it's darker material, it's pretty heavy and not not, not, not a lot of people probably race to see it, as much as I race to see glass onion or fableman, which makes a lot of sense to me.
Speaker 2:But I will say that you know it does say something right that glass onion still walked out with a top three mention, and at a certain point everyone believed that that was the key to how it was going to be nominated for a couple of actings or one acting, a screenplay and a Best Picture nomination, but that didn't really come to fruition. I think everyone went to Aquila Western Front because it was such a juggernaut in the tech categories, and so it just goes to show you that even if you place it doesn't necessarily seal the deal right it just goes to show you that even if you place, it doesn't necessarily seal the deal right, especially if your company sees, or your distributor sees, more potential in another title.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I'll also say something that's interesting about this film is that people are pegging the possibility that someone like glenn close could break into the best supporting actress race because she's been close and she hasn't won an Oscar yet. I still not sure that that's going to happen, just based off of, again, the diminishing returns of the franchise so far, and that, you know, it's kind of hard sometimes to single out somebody, because people have different favorites within the film. You know, even in the first Knives Out, someone might think that Anna de Armas is the best, someone might think that Chris Evans is the best.
Speaker 1:The second one same thing. There was a little bit of traction for Janelle Monae, but some other people thought Kate Hudson was the best. And I think there's just too much internal competition for one actor to stand out, so I don't think that's going to happen here with Glenn Close. However, as you said, glenn Close is a highly overdue actor, possibly the most overdue actor living.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so never count her out. We'll see if this can materialize into an acting nomination, but right now my prediction is that it won't, and it's just a screenplay contender.
Speaker 2:You know, what's funny is that I forgot that Glenn Close and Mila Kunis worked together in another film.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right For A Good Day. So they're sort of reuniting here.
Speaker 2:That in another film. Oh, that's for a good day, so they're sort of reuniting here. That's true. We got to keep our eye out to see who, if any actor, stands out amongst this incredible ensemble. Right, and if the movie's gonna take off enough to maybe crash.
Speaker 1:You know casting there's finally going to be a casting nomination, so maybe it's the ideal time for maybe that'd be a nice way of yeah, you know, waving goodbye, that's what I'm saying so.
Speaker 2:Maybe there's a factor to this movie of you know what. It was good, but the series is great if you look at it as a whole, and so I want to nominate it for Best Picture over maybe something like Jay Kelly in the ninth or tenth spot as a reward for everything that they've done. And then there's always a chance that it's just the best film at the festival and the best film of the three, and all of a sudden we're talking about you know why don't we nominate Rian Johnson? We'll see what happens, we'll see what kind of film it is, but I trust the filmmaker. I trust that he's got something entertaining up his sleeve. Let's not forget that Daniel Craig last year was snubbed and some people have talked about you know how this may be an opportune time to include him in Supporting Actor.
Speaker 1:Daniel Craig.
Speaker 2:Supporting, isn't he? I've heard.
Speaker 1:Supporting. I would consider him lead, lead. He's always been lead.
Speaker 2:He's always been lead, I think.
Speaker 1:so Well, I think that they should shift into Supporting because I think he's going to have an easier time getting in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Okay, so the next one to talk about, I think, is the Lost Bus, and actually this is the film that I think could appeal the most to the Toronto viewers and could potentially win the big award. So the Lost Bus is coming from Apple and it's directed by Paul Greengrass, so it's based on a true story and based on a wildfire in California, and, of course, wildfires are a global topic right now and we're still fresh off of everything that happened in Los Angeles. Yeah, exactly, but Canada is also dealing with wildfires.
Speaker 1:And so.
Speaker 2:I think this is an extremely timely topic, an extremely timely movie that could just really resonate with the audiences there. Matthew McConaughey's in it, america Ferreira's in it. Jason Blum and Jamie Lee Curtis are producers, right. Jason Blum, who was nominated for producing Whiplash. Jamie Lee Curtis, who's been nominated as an actor, but she is listed as a producer on this. Yes, she's a winner in acting and some people talk about you know how Jamie Lee Curtis is really like a pillar of the industry now and has enough influence to sort of get people to watch the movie and consider the movie, and she came really close last year for the Last Showgirl, and so she's only a producer on this, but I couldn't think of a better ambassador or surrogate for your film than Jamie Lee Curtis, and I just think the topic is really timely.
Speaker 2:Paul Greengrass hasn't been in the conversation for a while, despite having good material. News of the World got on it for a couple of things. 22 July did well as well, but it didn't get any traction. Captain Phillips did amazingly well, but he missed out on the nomination, and so all he has is a nomination for United 83. The biggest Achilles heel for me with this movie is that it's being released by Apple TV, right, and they're going to distribute it theatrically for a little bit I think end of September, september 19, but they want to go and put it on streaming early October Pretty fast, too fast in my opinion, especially when you gave F1. I mean, there's still IMAX theaters out there playing F1. And so I think it was the wrong strategy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I feel like that also goes a long way to showing you what they think of the Oscar potential for the movie.
Speaker 2:Or what their priorities are. Maybe their priorities aren't an Oscar. Right, they have an Oscar.
Speaker 1:I think the priorities are get an Oscar for F1. And I think that the Lost Bus takes a backseat to that and that's why it's going to get a little bit of a splashy TIFF premiere, but then, as soon as we can, we're dropping it on.
Speaker 2:Apple. I really refuse to believe that anyone saw F1 and thought that I I'm gonna have an easier campaign, an easier time campaigning f1 than the lost bus. I have not seen the lost bus right and I'm not knocking f1, but I'm saying you never want to campaign if you never want to be the movie campaigning for the ninth or tenth spot because that's the surest way to not get any spot right, you want to be a movie competing for the top five, and so when Top Gun Maverick gets nominated, it's a top five movie.
Speaker 2:And so the question is do you really believe that F1 is a top five movie? There's only one spot left.
Speaker 1:What I'm saying is that Apple believes it is. Apple believes it is, or Apple wants it to be, and so everything else takes a backseat to that.
Speaker 2:I'm saying that Apple is not out of their mind and does not believe it is, but has said that I already have an Oscar for CODA, so I don't really need a second Oscar. So I'll go ahead and I'll sit it out. Remember, didn't they really screw up the campaign for Blitz last year also? That's true so they're just not very good at what they do in terms of campaigning for an Oscar.
Speaker 1:Possibly, possibly. I know that, uh, William Goldenberg is is editing it. Um, he's previously been there for zero, dark 30 and other Catherine Bigelow films.
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh, and I've several films actually, yeah, um.
Speaker 1:James Edenard is doing the score. Mark bridges is doing the costuming so it has a.
Speaker 2:It has good pedigree yeah, um, it has big screen pedigree yeah exactly I think that, honestly, I'm from.
Speaker 1:When I saw the trailer, I think the thing that stood out to me the most was yes, it's timely. Did I get the feeling that it was a big oscarender? No, not really, personally, I didn't, but I did think that. You know as a film that, for example, I thought the sound work looked strong, I thought the visual effects looked very strong, so I think it can still be like a film, like his last film with Tom Hanks, that factors into some News of the world yeah, factors into some tech categories.
Speaker 2:I I think you're right. I think the only thing that that keeps me from saying that this is a surefire best picture movie is the fact that they're releasing it in such a haphazard way, in a way with very little care, very little um, you know, um priority.
Speaker 1:I think it's telling, it's indicative.
Speaker 2:Exactly, but priority, yeah, I think it's telling it's indicative exactly, but I I feel like maybe they don't think it's going to make enough money because you know it's it's a difficult, so it's timely, but it's a difficult subject for anyone to want to go.
Speaker 2:Yeah to pay money to see, yeah, um, but I do think that, uh, viewers and audiences are going to be very receptive to it in a positive way, um, so I think that's a mistake, but I also think that this movie is short, one really warm and and um appreciative reception at TIFF and one spot among that people's choice award to getting a larger window of release possible for them to do. We'll see what happens. Like I said, I think Blitz really speaks to how how much difficulty they're having generating momentum for any movie for an Oscar.
Speaker 2:I mean the best thing they have is F1. I think they're going to have a lot of trouble.
Speaker 1:Right and on that note, I think it's interesting the next movie that we should talk about because it is also a release from a streamer about, because it is also a release from a streamer Amazon, MGM, and speaking of F1, there's like a crossover here. Well, Amazon and MGM are releasing Hedda, which is the next film from Nia DaCosta that stars Tessa Thompson and is a sort of more contemporary, sort of radical reinterpretation of the famous A Henry Gibson work right, hedda Gobbler, hedda Gobbler.
Speaker 2:But what's interesting and why I bring up f1, is because f1 is coming from plan b right, which is uh, brad pitt's um production arm with dd gardner, jeremy kleiner work on that. They were on the nickel boys last year and the nickel boys still managed to get an I for best picture.
Speaker 1:You should definitely never underestimate plan b never. We saw that just plain as day last year with Nickel Boys.
Speaker 2:This is one of their Plan B is on HEDA this year.
Speaker 1:Plan B is on HEDA, which initially really caught our attention as being a film to take more seriously than some people were taking it. I don't love that it is only having its premiere at TIFF, that it's not landing somewhere else like Telluride, so I was a little bit worried about that. But the thing that we were both extremely worried about is that this looks to be the kind of release that Amazon is going to rush pretty quickly into their streamer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's not going to have the more sort of platform spotlighted release that a movie like Nickel Boys had.
Speaker 2:Over the last five years, a lot of companies have sort of devolved in their ability to sort of release a movie. And so the same way that Fox Searchlight somehow thought it was a smart decision to rebrand themselves as Searchlight and then stamp the Searchlight thing unattractively on every single poster that they make, is the same decision where Amazon now releases a trailer for a film they're involved with.
Speaker 2:But some trailers, like After the Hunt, are going to get the MGM line on it, and then some trailers like Hedda are going to get the Prime Smile on it, and I can tell you right now that voters don't give an F about one of them. If you ask a voter which one they prefer between the prime smile and the MGM line, they're going to give you a very, very clear, blunt answer.
Speaker 2:And in a way it's like Amazon's way of sort of separating what is a priority for them and what isn't Exactly Sort of segregating what's important and what's not Right, and I think that kind of sucks, because I think there's a lot of potential for this product, but again, like the Apple lost bus thing, are you going to treat it well? Are you going to treat it with care? Is it going to be a priority? And speaking of F1, you know this movie is coming from Plan B also, but I don't think that plan B has a plan A for the Oscars this year, unless it's F1, in which case they've never.
Speaker 1:They've never gotten in for that. They have a film that's getting really good reviews and is actually produced um in part by Barry Jenkins's uh company. Yeah, Pastel. That is doing very good with reviews, but it doesn't seem like it's an Oscar play. It seems like a smaller film that I'm not sure got a lot of festival attention either. So they have that, but other than that they don't have a lot this year.
Speaker 2:They don't have a lot. I mean, unless they're going to throw all their chips behind F1, and I, just again, I don't have a lot. I mean, unless they're going to throw all their chips behind f1, and I just again, I don't see that being fruitful because I think they have enough clout and enough reputation to get the nickel boys in nickel boys in um, I think, because of what the movie's about, right?
Speaker 1:I think, and I agree with you and I don't think, that f1 is happening either, but I think that the plan is to push F1 and to make F1 the primary focus and that's why the surrounding films this year in plan B are borderline non-existent, because F1 is the priority.
Speaker 2:But I think that that's a plan that's going to blow up in your face Possibly B for blow up, because I really think that you're missing the opportunity here. I think that Hedda looks really good. I think Tessa Thompson is due.
Speaker 1:I think Tessa Thompson, like we said, the best actors category could stand with A, some diversity and B their space yeah, their space.
Speaker 2:And listen. We talk about William Shakespeare.
Speaker 2:Hedda Gobbler is like up there in the best roles, yeah, for for actors, right and so. And it's been nominated before, I believe, and it's just such a respected role and, um, they're doing some innovative things. Um, you have, for example, um, nina haas, I think, is going to have a really good role in this, because Nia DaCosta has sort of created a gender switch and she'll be playing Loveborg and she's going to have a tremendous storyline, a very important storyline with Hedda. So watch out for that. And again, nina Haas is due also. I mean, nina Haas possibly should have gotten in with Tarr and Tepsa Thompson should have been deeper in the conversation with passing, which she couldn't get her co-star in. And sometimes you and I talk about cycles coming back. One cycle that is coming back is, you know, the worst person in the world is having this sort of revenge tour and now they're trying to get sentimental value in for a lot of categories.
Speaker 2:I wonder if you can't see the same thing with happening. I'm sorry, excuse me, um, passing right and have tessa thompson possibly get into the actress race that rightfully she and renata would have been a part of in 2021, right, right, um. So watch out for that. And I also think there's this other little theme or narrative going on here where you have chloe zow coming out of what was a not the best experience from them, from eternals coming in there and and and contending.
Speaker 2:But then you have nita costa, who did not have a great experience on the marvels, right right, and they're all in the same sort of uh marvel family with ryan coogler who's hopefully finally going to break in, and he had possibly the best experience of Marvel with the success of Black Panther that he gave them, and so I think there's a little bit of a common thread. So watch out for this movie.
Speaker 1:I think that I mean, it has also a good collaborator. So Sean Bobbitt is doing the cinematography and Hilda Gondadottir is doing the score. You know she has an Oscar for Joker. So again, imogen Poots is in it. Katherine Hunter is in it. We love Katherine Hunter. Dee Dee Gardner and Jeremy Klein are producing it from Plan B. So it certainly has pedigree. But Amazon has decided, it seems, that it's, in their eyes, not high quality enough. It's a streaming movie in their eyes, you know which sucks.
Speaker 2:But we'll see what happens. We'll see if maybe they can re-strategize, because it doesn't seem like After the Hunt has, you know, the brightest future ahead of it.
Speaker 2:So we'll see what happens. Let's jump now to actually let's continue on this 2022 trend, because the next film is called Sacrifice and if you read a little bit about it, it's sort of, in my opinion, really writing the coattails of reuben oslund's film triangle of sadness right, which was nominated for best picture, and it's sort of he wants to make a statement on, you know, um, these individuals of privilege and what the responsibilities are to, you know, the, the greater population, or to the world, um, and there's just a lot. It's a huge ensemble that includes it has a great cast.
Speaker 1:Great cast anya taylor, joy chris evans, salma hayek, john malkovich, charlie xcx, jeremy o harris huge cast. It's also directed by romaine gavras uh, whose last film, a Athena, went to Netflix but premiered in Venice. It's interesting that this film opted to not premiere in Venice or wasn't chosen by Venice to be in competition.
Speaker 2:I would think that he would be in position to either go to Cannes or to go to Venice or Telluride. The fact that this movie is premiering in Toronto, that's the red flag for me.
Speaker 2:That's the red flag because it has enough international scope to be premiering elsewhere. Right, that said, there were some questionable decisions in Venice this year, so we'll see what happens, but I do think that that's a red flag. Tremendously talented cast. I think it's interesting that Will Arbery is the writer on this and he has a lot of success from Succession. Can this movie break out? I don't know. What do you think about the fact that it doesn't have a distributor yet?
Speaker 2:Not surprising, no, no, not surprising, no I mean, I know Film4 is behind it, which they have a tremendous reputation.
Speaker 1:I don't think it'll take too long for them to get a distributor which they have a tremendous reputation. I don't think it'll take too long for them to get a distributor.
Speaker 2:I mean, are we dealing with Eden 2.0 here? Is this another Eden? I mean, what do you think? I mean who's buying right now? Who's?
Speaker 1:going to buy this. I mean the vibes that I'm getting from this film is that, whoever buys it, it's not going to be a release for 2025. It's going to be a release for 2026.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, netflix is too full, they have no chance of buying this.
Speaker 1:Neon is not going to buy it unless it's in a foreign language or someone or a studio that is reputable does buy it, but again it just moves to 2026.
Speaker 2:Maybe Mubi can buy this, maybe Mubi could buy this, maybe, maybe Mubi could buy this. But I I my gut is a little bit afraid that this is going to be possibly the more critically derided version of this movie.
Speaker 1:It could be, but I think Charlie XCX being in it is going to make some uh, you know studio heads automatically interested.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you what Charli XCX is in this and she's in another film in another section, right, and she's also going to be in a film at Sundance, yeah, right. So I mean, charli XCX is really making a dent here for movies. Yeah, which is great. She's a great film. We like Charli XCX here. Yes movie. I don't know. Do you think it could be a dark horse for a People's Choice Award?
Speaker 1:I don't think so.
Speaker 2:No, no, I mean the jury's out, but right now I see more red flags than green flags on this. The next film would be the Christophers right and that's coming from Steven Soderbergh.
Speaker 2:We love Steven Soderbergh, steven Soderbergh already has one of the best films of the year that not very many audiences cared for. But so I hear great things about the Christopher's. Again, it does not have a buyer. But I hear the performance from Ian McKellen is very good, very, very good, and supposedly he has a little bit of a great dynamic with Michaela Cole in this film I don't know what you think and he's working Soderbergh's working with the writer Ed Solomon, who he's worked with in the past, and Full Circle Mosaic and no Sudden Move.
Speaker 2:So I don't know, but I do think that watch out for Ian McKellen here.
Speaker 1:Watch out for Ian McKellen. He hasn't been back since Lord of the Rings. Oh wow, it's been quite a while since we've seen Ian McKellen on the award circuit. I mean that'd be great to see him again. I have no doubt that Soderbergh pulls this movie off.
Speaker 2:He pulls every movie off, yeah exactly.
Speaker 1:It's a good cast. I just wonder if it's just not the ideal time to have another best actor contender in the best actor category that's already pretty stacked. Sony Classics I think that they have their hands full as well. Searchlight as we said, there's a vacancy in Searchlight if Rental Family doesn't end up handing out.
Speaker 2:I mean they still have Bradley Cooper, so maybe they're going to wait until October to see what it is they're going to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's possible.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I think that this is the kind of performance that, had it gone in with Sony Classics or Searchlight, maybe would have made more noise Again. There's just going to be so many great films in Toronto that are just going to have a difficult time going the distance, because at this point everyone has a film that they're backing and the campaign is already. The first quarter of the campaign is already. The first quarter of the campaign is already done, so just watch out for this one. I think you're right. I think maybe this is next year. I think we have to talk about a very big film that technically fits the bill in a dearth of a category and provides some real person clout to it, and that's Christie from David Michaud. Um, David Michaud, we love his film Animal Kingdom.
Speaker 1:He's an incredible filmmaker.
Speaker 2:Incredible filmmaker, hasn't had the biggest success as of late. He's directing this um, based on a true story. Um, uh, I believe it's based on a, a boxer right and um. So the stars on this is Sidney Sweeney, who has been having some trouble Very tumultuous year, very tumultuous year thus far. Ben Foster's in this, who's amazing in everything.
Speaker 2:Yes, and yet to be nominated Yet to be nominated but you know Sidney Sweeney's team is putting her in these projects that you would think are going to make bigger noise. They have yet to do that. I mean, she was in Americana, which was released this summer, but went to festivals a while ago but they finally released. It Didn't make a lot of money. She was in Eden, which again was kind of disappointing and that premiered at Toronto last year. So this isn't even her first Toronto. They're interesting projects.
Speaker 2:They are all interesting projects, projects they just haven't been able to transcend into successes but I do think that her peers would respect the idea that they're not popcorn projects. She could have, technically, I suppose, done the Scarlett Johansson role in Jurassic Park and she opted not to right, and maybe that's something that they're really going to appreciate.
Speaker 1:I do feel that, unfortunately, this is coming off the heels of, you know, bad publicity that Sweeney has encountered this year. I certainly have my personal opinions about that we do but it can't help, you know, to sort of be associated with some of this, you know, negative publicity, while trying to promote, um, this, uh, this new project, which I think on paper seemed to have a lot of potential but now, you know, feels like it carries a little bit of that negative publicity that she's been carrying around lately. Um, I don't know what to make of it. I, I, I, I hope that the film does well.
Speaker 1:I really, really love david michaud, um, and I trust him as a filmmaker, but I don't love that it's premiering in toronto, that it's not going somewhere like telluride if it was a really big best actress contender. We talk a lot about how the best actress category is missing. You know, um, more real life figures to be part of that category. Recently it was just announced that Black Bear, which was involved in the production of the film, is going to be releasing the film as well distributing it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's one of the most fascinating things about it. I think that they're definitely trying to go for the I Tonya angle here, of sort of being the most talked about performance at the festival, and there's still a chance of that. But I think it's interesting that Black Bear announced a little while ago that we're going to start getting into the distribution game, largely in part because we're not finding the right people to distribute our films anyway, and so they were responsible for the imitation game. Right, they worked with the Weinstein Company on that, of course, but so they've decided to distribute this film, and I think they've even planted the idea that it's going to be their first film that they distribute in the US, and so they have, I think, a couple of their own films that they are planning to go ahead and distribute. I think Tuner might be one of them.
Speaker 1:I think so, but it seems like this is the one that's going to be dated and set for this year, the film with matthew mcconaughey and mazaya king.
Speaker 2:That's right they've also gone ahead and said we're going to take care of amzia, amzia king I think that went to south by southwest but the one that I believe that is dated for some point this year is christy.
Speaker 2:Um, I think it's fascinating because not only do you have Black Bear getting in and you're going to have them start building this reputation of can we get an Iron Frost or not they certainly make projects that are meant to appeal to that audience, and Christy's among them but also the idea of did they even want to take the chance, with everything that's surrounding Sydney Sweeney right now, of putting this up for sale to another distributor?
Speaker 1:or did they?
Speaker 2:rather say I'd rather take care of this in house. So maybe you know what I mean. So it had this decision come out, you know, five months ago, the reaction, I think, or the reading of it, would be different. But because it's coming out now, I assume that some people are going to debate whether, okay, so is this a decision that we're making because, um, we want to, you know, get into the distribution game anyway, because we're not finding good partners and this is the perfect movie to start, or is it? This is the perfect movie to start?
Speaker 2:We just don't happen to be in the ideal circumstances where maybe five months ago, you would have had the five other companies chomping at the bit to release what could potentially be Sidney Sweeney's big push into best actress. Paramount might have immediately knocked at that door in February or March, you know, had the title been available from Black Bear, and maybe they would have been great partners for the film. But you know, because of the turn that we've had with everything's happened, all the discourse and discussion, maybe it's something that most companies want to stay away from right now.
Speaker 1:But I'll also say that you know we've yet to see the final say on how much this negative publicity has affected uh, Sidney Sweeney's projects, for example. You know those projects, eden, Americana they're not necessarily meant to be huge box office successes. Um Americana is an independent film, um Eden is, you know, for mature audiences, which are films that are struggling anyway.
Speaker 2:Independently financed adult film? Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:I think that the real test is going to come in December, when she has a high profile project with Amanda Seyfried From Lionsgate Interestingly enough, from Lionsgate, which is an adaptation of a very popular book made. And Paul Feig, I think, is directing that Paul Feig is directing that so popular book made and Paul Feig, I think, is directing that. Paul Feig is directing that. So I think Lionsgate certainly has high hopes that that's going to be a big success, a big popcorn success.
Speaker 2:I think it's interesting that imagine if Christie does become a factor for Best Actress and then Amanda Seyfried also is a contender for Anne Lee. That's going to be the headline right there.
Speaker 1:So I think that we'll see more of a reading as to whether any of this negative publicity has really affected Sidney Sweeney's sort of rapid rise to popularity, or if it's just a very momentary pass.
Speaker 2:She has already come out and said I'm not taking any questions on that. We'll see what happens. I think one thing that maybe doesn't help also is the fact that Dwayne Johnson is doing sort of a sports film that incorporates fighting, and so that may already have stolen that topic. That doesn't help. I think Ben Foster is just a tremendously underrated actor.
Speaker 2:And he has to get nominated at some point and, as far as I know, there may be some part of the film that tackles what could be a volatile relationship of theirs. We'll see what happens. I don't know how big his part is, but it's certainly something. It's certainly a title that everyone's going to be looking at, and we already know that Best Actress is the opposite of Stack this year, right right, and that, you know, being in a yellow movie doesn't or being in a movie that wasn't critically lauded doesn't immediately cancel you out of consideration, and being a real person is always going to put you in the front of the conversation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, matters.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's something we'll definitely be looking at. At least we don't have to wonder anymore about who's going to buy it. Are they going to be any good at campaigning for the awards that they're, that they're used to and that they want to get Right?
Speaker 1:An interesting film that's going to be premiering here that some people had pegged possibly for a canned premiere is Alice Winokur's next film a French filmmaker you may know her from other films like Proxima, disorder, revoir, paris and it's actually going to be starring Angelina Jolie and Louise Gorel. I think Angelina Jolie plays a filmmaker here. I think it's set in the fashion world, interesting project for Angelina Jolie to be a part of. Obviously, last year she missed the nomination for Maria, which at some point oh, let's say a year ago from today, you know she was looking like a lock Not to me For Maria.
Speaker 2:You can go back and look at the episodes.
Speaker 1:Right, you called it before anybody else. I have to admit, you called it before anybody else that Angelina Jolie was going to miss the actress nomination for Maria.
Speaker 2:She was at TIFF last year. I don't think Maria was there, I believe it was at TIFF. But more importantly, she had her mostial directorial effort without blood in the festival too, so she likes the festival so I'm not surprised that couture waited to be shown here.
Speaker 2:I always thought that it made the most sense to see couture at con. Yeah, I can, and we talked about it in our episode, but, um, I'm glad that we're gonna get to see it somewhere and she's playing a filmmaker, so that could be an interesting change of face, right that's. That's really cool. Yeah, um, I actually don't remember, but I think I might've read somewhere that they actually shot some stuff during Paris fashion week.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that might be interesting. Well, I'm sure we're going to get more coverage on that. That again does not have a buyer.
Speaker 2:Right, so the question is also who is going to buy that film? That's another one. Another film is the captive. The new film by Alejandro Amanobar yeah, about Miguel Cervantes, the man who wrote Don Quixote Very big, lavish period piece, also doesn't have a distributor yet, even though I think that this might fit really well with Netflix. Watch out for this to be maybe Spain's choice, or possibly one of their choices for a foreign film.
Speaker 2:At the same time. I actually think that they're running really close to having to make that decision, and Seurat is definitely the favorite.
Speaker 1:Right. Another film is the new Claire Denis film, the Fence, which is actually also going to be going to the New York Film Festival. It sounds amazing. It sounds amazing. Claire Denis is a master. Can't wait to see that. It has a good cast too. Matt dylan, as like debanco debancole um mia mckenna, bruce from how to have sex, she was great. She was great in that he's a debanco, is one of my favorite actors.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can't wait for this um I think that matt dylan has worked with claire denis before um I'm not sure where, but even if not, he's really been sort of upping his, his roles in these more international um. So that's great to see, but this looks like a really fascinating film. If anyone's going to go to the New York Film Festival, check this out.
Speaker 2:The film sounds amazing and Claire Denis never makes a bad film and it looks like. You know who else is in. This Is Tom Blythe, right, and I think that he had the lead role in Plainclothes.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And he was fantastic in that, and so watch out for this movie. I think critics are going to respond well to this movie. I hope it does well. I'm not sure it's an Oscar play, but keep an eye out for this one. And the next one I want to spotlight is actually a Saoirse Ronan film, which is kind of weird to be seeing. A Saoirse Ronan film that sort of is premiering exclusively at Toronto. Right, she's had such tremendous success at other festivals, but this one goes in from Republic Pictures, who works with Paramount. I think it's a little bit undetermined yet whether it's going to have someone else handle its distribution in the US. Saoirse Ronan is headlining this. It's called Bad Apples, yeah Right, and it's the first film from a filmmaker based on a book, right?
Speaker 1:And he happens to be a filmmaker that I believe won the Student Academy Award.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, that makes sense, he was either a part of that competition, or he won. Right, jonathan Etzler, I believe is his name. Who's either a part of that competition or he won? Right, jonathan Atzler, I believe is his name, I think I still don't know what to make of it.
Speaker 1:I know she's playing a teacher who has to handle a 10-year-old bully, yeah Right. And then something happens with the kid. I think he goes missing and, you know, things start to unravel.
Speaker 2:I'm getting big dark comedy. Yeah, tones, I'm getting big dark comedy, tones. I'm getting some satire there, actually, which is kind of interesting, because it's not necessarily the thing that I would automatically peg Saoirse.
Speaker 1:Ronan in. That's pretty cool, but she can do anything. She can do no wrong, absolutely no wrong. She can do literally anything.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking what's the last film Saoirse Ronan was in? That was not a good film. I know that she's in films that are overlooked.
Speaker 1:Oh, I wasn't a big fan of Foe and I had high expectations for it, oh Foe with Paul Meskel. Yeah, Paul Meskel, yeah.
Speaker 2:Also not a bad film, though Not a bad film, maybe less than what it should have been.
Speaker 1:I thought it was pretty poor but good. Certainly an interesting project to be a part of.
Speaker 2:She just makes, she just knows a good script when she gets one, and I think of something like On Chisel Beach, which is also fantastic. So even in these films that aren't like A-level films, they're always worthwhile films and she always gives a good performance. So I have to think. I have to think about the last was Faux, a directorial debut.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:It was not. No, I think it was a filmmaker from Lion. Oh, wow, okay. So I kind of have to wonder how many directorial debuts Saoirse Ronan has been in before. She definitely doesn't do that that often. She worked with Herwig so she might see something in the material here.
Speaker 1:Right, she might see something. I think she obviously sees something in the material. I don't get a good vibe from it. I think it's a film that's going to be have a mixed reception, but still love to see that Saoirse Ronan is taking a chance on a new filmmaker because of responding to the material. I love to see that, especially from someone of her talent and her stature. And you're right, we don't see her often in these non-prestige, full of pedigree pics, and so it's nice to see that she's part of this sort of smaller, really indie, you know film.
Speaker 2:It's that she elevates almost all the material that she's in. So, and again, there's just this widening topic here. In my opinion, that actress is not a full category at all. So if this is even a remotely memorable performance, do not be surprised if it gets some quick traction and makes a sprint out of it, possibly a successful sprint out of it.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure. I'm not sure I see it that way, but we'll see.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I mean, she should have been there last year. So, um, yeah, you know, I just I honestly think that never count out. Sirsha ronan and I have my eye out on this movie for sure. Um, so, keep an eye out for bad apples. Um, let's see. And then after that, I think those are really the biggest movies to talk about in terms of premieres. In the special presentations, of course, there's a bunch of really great titles in the other sections. We've talked about Gala already. Some other interesting titles on here include the new Agnieszka Holland film, friends about Kafka and watch for a submission. There you have Easy Waltz and Vince Vaughn's in that. Nick Pizzolatto from True Detective fame is there, james McAvoy- has a directorial debut California Scheming.
Speaker 1:Sarah Pauly co-wrote a film that's starring Bill Nye, called and Sons.
Speaker 2:That's from the director of Elkland, which did really well. Matt Apatow is making her directorial debut with Poetic License and I believe Leslie Mann is in that, which is going to be great to see. Filmmaker from Train to Busan has a film called the Ugly. Isabelle Cossette's there with Three Goodbyes. Bunch of really interesting titles here, so keep an eye out for that. And then what about films that have already premiered elsewhere? What are we going to see here?
Speaker 1:Actually we've got quite a few of them that they're going to continue to Try to build some momentum. Exactly, we have Olivia Saez, really mixed reception for the Wizard of the Kremlin that's going. The Voice of Hin-Rajah, which had an enormous reception at Venice and might even win a really big award, people's Choice Award. I think that, given the political climate, given what the film is talking about, given the reactions that I've seen out of Venice, do not count out that movie for a People's Choice Award placement and possible win. The Voice of Henry Job.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you if Henry Job wins either the Golden Lion or the People's Choice Award that is major.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that it would be a huge Oscar player. I think we're talking Best Picture nomination Wow Tuner, which went to Telluride with Dustin Hoffman, train Dreams, which went to Sundance with Joel Edgerton. Wonder if Joel Edgerton can sneak into the Best Actor race, even though, again, it's stacked sentimental value. Silent Friend, which actually just finished premiering at Venice to Stellar Reviews, oh, that's my girl. Which is great. We love that filmmaker Scarlett, the filmmaker behind Mirai Mirai Mirai. They have a film. Scarlett went to Venice and actually got a good reception as well.
Speaker 1:Not surprising. Surratt was a huge standout at Cannes, which we unfortunately missed when we were there. Dwayne Johnson the Smashing Machine is going, the Sound of Falling went to Cannes. I loved it. The Secret Agent went to Cannes. Rose of Nevada just finished having its premiere at Venice and it's the new film from the director of Annie's Men. I'm the director of Ennisman.
Speaker 1:Going to New York later it's going to New York Nouveau Vague Richard Linklater, jafar Panahi. It was just an accident, rose Burns, if I had Legs I'd Kick you. Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. They love Guillermo there yeah after having a surprise stop at Telluride and a premiere at Venice, is going there.
Speaker 2:So talk about maybe getting a second wind. Watch out for Toronto, because they love Guillermo, yeah, we have Gus Van Sant's new film, dead Man's Wire.
Speaker 1:We're really looking forward to that. That premiered at Venice and I think it got decent reviews. Let's see Edward Berger's Ballad of a Small Player, kaya Malaga, starring the great actress Carmen Moura, a Spanish actress, had its premiere at Venice. I think it got, you know, uh, respectable reviews. It's gonna have a? Uh another showing at Toronto. A Pale View of Hills went to Cannes. You saw it at Cannes. Um, a Poet went to Cannes. We missed that. Doc 51, I believe, went to Berlin, um, and that's going there. Did it? Did it win? No, it didn't win Berlin. And then Kokuho.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is going to be, I think, the official submission for Japan for international film. That's going in centerpiece. Maybe you're going to get a new film from the director of Corpus Christi that was on for international film, called good boy. Steve Coogan has an interesting part on a film called Saipan Um. Haifa Al-Mansour is making a new film called Unidentified and I think she's working with Sony Classics again. Don't quote me on that exactly. David Johnson's going to have a huge September because everyone's talking about his performance in the Long Walk.
Speaker 1:But he's in this film called.
Speaker 2:Waste man with Tom Blythe, who's also had one hell of a year, and um, that looks like an interesting project. I think it's a first film as well, so a lot of really great interesting stuff to watch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have the Last Viking, which just had a premiere, I believe in. Venice and I think it got pretty decent reviews as well. Mads Mikkelsen is in. That President's Cake is going to go.
Speaker 2:You saw that at Cannes.
Speaker 1:That was huge. I can left-handed girl is going. Yes, I saw that I can. Lucky lou, which you saw I can, is going. The love that remains, which was a can premiere as well, is going blue moon is going, arco is going um so yeah, just the mysterious gaze of the flamingo was something that was part of the uncertain regard section. I love that film.
Speaker 2:I can and that was just selected, I believe, for international film as well, and so there's just a bunch of interesting great films to to be looking at.
Speaker 2:I think we highlighted some of the bigger ones. We've talked about again that idea that not too many films really premiere here and then go on to oscar recognition, but that hopefully, with the knives out um streak, that it's going to be a bulkier year. Maybe we're going to see three or four films walk out with a nomination at least somewhere. That's what happened whenever Knives Out is in the conversation and they're in there again, including Knives Out possibly, and maybe even Knives Out in the biggest way that they've known. We don't know. It could possibly break out in a very big consequential way. And then we've also talked about possibly you know some of these films that have already screened, continuing that momentum, and so I guess I think the best place for us to end, as we continue our coverage online and again you can go to our website, framesofliquorcom to keep up to date with that We'll try to break down the big news of the day from Toronto, but I think the last thing to talk about is who you're thinking for the top three for the People's Choice Award.
Speaker 1:Well, you know it's still a little bit early. You know the festival is just starting, so we're not getting a full picture yet of anything else that might stand out apart from the films that have already been seen. But I guess I would just go with my gut that you know I'm not thrilled about it. But I think Rental Family will do well, will be in the top three. I feel really confident that Hamnet will be in the top three and you know what I'm going to go and say, that the Voice of Hin Rajab makes it to the top three. And of the three that wins, probably the one that is less dramatic, since I feel like the winner tends to have some humor attached to it the Tiff People's Choice winner. I think it's going to be Rental Family.
Speaker 2:Very interesting. I'm going to go heavy on the films that have already been screened and I'm going to say that the big winner is going to be the voice of Henry Job, and I think it. It makes a lot of sense to me. I think it's going to have a powerful, powerful debut there in North America, North American debut. So I think that's the favorite for the people's choice award. I think Hamnet is going to do really well and I wouldn't be surprised if that one. That's the favorite for the People's Choice Award. I think Hamnet is going to do really well and I wouldn't be surprised if that won. So, Chloe Zhao, watch out for Hamnet. And I think my last spot is actually going to go to the Lost Bus. I think the Lost Bus is something that audiences are really going to respond to, so watch out for those three. I think that's who I'm pegging at least.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll see what happens. We have a little while for Toronto to sort of unspool.
Speaker 2:I think if it's one of the longer festivals? Yeah, I think it finishes the 14th.
Speaker 1:So we'll see if any other films because the three films that I mentioned have all had their oh minus Rental Family. Yeah, we'll see if there's any other film content for that, for that big prize.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, I think that's everything for this episode. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That was our, our deep dive into the Toronto international film festival and, uh, thank you for joining us. I'm Jules and I'm Joseph, and it's been a pleasure. The music on this episode, entitled cool Cats, was graciously provided by Kevin MacLeod and Incompetechcom, licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0. Forward slash, forward slash creativecommonsorg. Forward slash licenses. Forward slash buy. Forward slash 3.0.
Speaker 2:Disclaimer the Academy Anonymous podcast is in no way affiliated or endorsed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.