Oscar Beat ‘06 - Marty says no to Pubs, LAFCA says YES to Borat

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 11, 2006

Rapidly approaching are the 2006 Oscars, and with that come plenty of horses that need to be beaten - so bring on more Oscar Beat! Fresh for your Monday morning afternoon, here is some slick Oscar news and a side dish of opinions.

On her blog last week, Karina Longworth (who pretty much runs that show at Netscape nowadays) blogged about how sources close to Director Martin Scorsese say that he has asked Warner Bros. not to promote him for The Departed during awards season. It looks like one of two things: either he is really not concerned with winning this year (a sort of defeatist thing) or he is trying to fake everyone out. In the end I would hope that whether or not they spend money promoting the film or not, Scorsese should be honored - his was one of the best directorial efforts of the year, hands down.

In related news, it turns out that Warner Bros. may be taking the non-promotion a bit too seriously. We heard news the other day the neither Warner Bros. or Buena Vista (Disney, Touchstone, etc.) will be sending out Awards screeners to the little guys. When I say “little guys”, I mean charming, intelligent film critic groups such as the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (of which I am a member). It is sad to say, because I enjoy free DVDs as much as the next guy, but it really limits the exposure that some of the smaller films under these labels will get. My theory is that those California types are angry that our college football team made it to the championship and theirs didn’t. Just a thought.

And speaking of small critic outlets, LAFCA (The Los Angeles Film Critics Association) announced their year end awards yesterday, and while Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima was less than a surprise for Best Picture, there were some interesting wins across the board. The most interesting of all was Sacha Baron Cohen (yes, Borat) splitting the Best Actor award with Forrest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland). Whitaker seems to be cleaning the proverbial house thus far, while Cohen is an unlikely forerunner for Oscar glory. Who knows how the Academy will take Borat, but it is nice to see some recognition of Cohen’s brilliance. Another surprise was in the Best Supporting Actress category - who is Luminita Gheorghiu (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu)? Oh those Hollywood critics, they are a bunch of wild and crazy guys (and gals). Of course, none of this will affect how I vote when COFCA gives its awards out in January. But I am intrigued by Luminita Gheorghiu.

Nothing like a light news weekend, eh? I am sure that with many associations handing our plaques, statuettes and glorified certificates this week, that I will have tons to talk about - so stay tuned!

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