Producers Angling for Oscars

Hardyboy

Well, you can't say Mickey and Babs--and the braintrust at MGM/Sony--aren't ambitious. They've already taken out "for your consideration" ads in effort to garner Oscar nominations for Quantum of Solace. Read on:

Source: Los Angeles Times

'Quantum of Solace' is in the Running for Several Oscars

After shattering U.S. box-office records this weekend ($70 million) and hauling in $322 million worldwide, "Quantum of Solace" has proven itself to be a winner. That's key in order to advance in the Oscars derby.

But what races does "Quantum of Solace" have a chance in? Over several decades the 21 previous films in the James Bond franchise have managed only seven nominations and two wins (sound for "Goldfinger" and visual effects for "Thunderball").

"Quantum of Solace" is actively running "For Your Consideration" ads for these races: best picture, director (Marc Forster), screenplay (Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade), actor (Daniel Craig), art direction, costumes, makeup, music score (David Arnold), cinematography (Robert Schaefer), film editing (Matt Chesse, Richard Pearson), sound mixing, sound editing and song ("Another Way to Die"). It only has a shot at noms for cinematography, film editing, song and — maybe, in a loooooongshot — the two sound races.

No James Bond tune has ever won best song and two of the most famous — those Shirley Bassey belters "Goldfinger" and "Diamonds are Forever" — weren't even nominated. Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" made the cut, but lost to Marvin Hamlisch's "The Way We Were." Afterward, Bond producers hired Hamlisch to write a title tune for "The Spy Who Loved Me," but "Nobody Does It Better" (sung by Carly Simon) lost to "You Light Up My Life" (Debbie Boone).

This year's Agent 007 entry is written by a hip rocker, Jack White, and performed by that Grammy grabber Alicia Keys. So it'll be given serious consideration. But it's got serious competition: four tunes from "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," Peter Gabriel's "Down to Earth" from "WALL-E" and Bruce Springsteen's "The Wrestler."

Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay? Dream on, Mickey and Babs, dream on. . .

blueman

What's kinda sad is, Nolan's TDK will likely get those nominations, and it's a big pile of stinky doo-doo.

Loeffelholz

Batman films don't get any more nominations than James Bond films...although I won't be surprised if Ledger gets a posthumous nod.

So...no Oscars for 007. As ever, Eon will have to take solace in the $$$$ :007)

frostbitten

I haven't heard the other 4 contenders in the Best Song category yet, but if the L.A Times thinks that AWTD has a shot at beating them, I'm in no hurry to blow a portion of my iTunes card on any of them

blueman

Well, the one thing QOS has going for it this time is Forster's rep: dude's already got Oscars associated with his name, might get a left-field nod for picture, director, lead actor, etc. cuz of that. Be interesting to see the dust settle on this one.

yodboy007

I doubt this film will receive any nominations in the big categories. This a competitive year and we have yet to see many of the Oscar-bait films that come out in December. I personally think that this film, while entertaining, did not have very good filmmaking on a technical level. The Bond films in the past that did have great technical filmmaking were ignored. I do not see that changing anytime soon.

One of the many things I feel have made the James Bond films special over the years is the fact that they do not win many Oscars. I admit the Oscars are important in the cinema world and I would be lying if I said I never watch it, but the AMPAS is a smug, out-of-touch group of elitist snobs who almost always give out awards for political reasons. Hardly ever are the truly best films of the year rewarded. Aside from Ledger, I do not even think the Oscars will recognize most of the achievements of TDK when we all know it is one of the best films of the decade so far.

darenhat

I would have expected CR to be more of an award contender than QoS...after all, CR garnered virtually unanimous critical praise. QoS is turning out to be a mixed bag among critics, which would make it unusual for everyone to come together and support it for major awards.

BTW - Didn't FYEO's theme win an Oscar? Or was it only nominated?

TonyDP

darenhat wrote:

BTW - Didn't FYEO's theme win an Oscar? Or was it only nominated?

FYEO was nominated, and there was even a fancy production of the theme song during the Oscar broadcast, but it lost.

As for QoS, boxoffice notwithstanding the movie is in freefall on RT (66% last time I checked) and seeing as some of these very same critics who are thrashing the movie now will be voting come Oscar time, I very much doubt the movie will make any kind of noise at all.

Besides, AMPAS always tends to turn its nose up at commerically successful genre films (the one recent exception being the overrated Return of the King) and usually only bestows upon those films technical awards like special effects, sound, costume design, art direction, etc.

Hardyboy

Tony, it's not the critics who vote for Oscars, but Academy members. Directors nominate and vote on directors, actors nominate and vote on actors, etc. The entire Academy, though, gets to nominate and vote on Best Picture. That said, QoS doesn't stand a chance in you-know-where of getting a major nomination. The Dark Knight MIGHT get nominated, simply as a nod to its huge box office and great reviews, but don't count on it to win.

frostbitten

Did the producers try to get nominations for best director and screenplay for CR? IMO, they would have had a much better shot back then than they do now...

HowardB

I've got a feeling that Craig may be indirectly rewarded for his Bond portrayal. Although there have been many negative reviews of QOS, there has been nothing but praise as far as I can gather for Craig's performance. Craig is respected in the industry and amongst critics as being a real "actor". While IMO, no one is ever going to be nominated for an Oscar for their performance as James Bond no matter how good it may be, Craig's next film, "Defiance" is being released in the US in December and advance notice on it has been very good. It's also directed by Edward Zwick ("Glory"; "Blood Diamond")who has been nominated before and who's films have won Oscars. It would not surprise me if DC gets a nomination for his role as a Jewish/Polish resistance fighter. I'm not trying to be cynical here but "Defiance" has all the stuff that seems to attract Oscar nominations: WWII/Holocaust theme, previously nominated/winning director, and critically acclaimed leading actor and supporting cast (and it just might be a damned good film too).

Hardyboy

frostbitten wrote:

Did the producers try to get nominations for best director and screenplay for CR? IMO, they would have had a much better shot back then than they do now...

Yes, they did--I remember seeing the ad in Variety. They were also trying to get considerations for Craig and eva Green as well.

jetsetwilly

Remember that a lot of actors, directors etc. have an Oscar campaign in their contract, particularly if it's a big film for a big studio with a big PR budget. Hey, if you don't ask, you don't get.

As for converting the ads into nominations, never mind awards, don't hold your breath. AMPAS has over the years shown itself to be extremely disinclined to nominate the Bond films for anything, even awards like "Best Sound Effects Editing" which normally go to big blockbusters. Casino Royale got ten BAFTA nominations, and not a single Oscar nomination; now either BAFTA were completely insane, or Oscar was deliberately not voting for them (as a comparison, that year, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 got four nominations). Bond is a blind spot for the Academy.