Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway and the Complete List of Oscar Winners

February 24, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards Leave a comment

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Jennifer Lawrence, the youngest two-time Best Actress nominee ever, just took home her fist Oscar for “Silver Linings Playbook.” The big winner of the night was “Argo”, which won Best Picture without its director, Ben Affleck, even being nominated for Best Director. The winner in that category went to Ang Lee for “Life of Pi”, who has now won Best Director twice without his filing winning Best Picture.

In the other acting categories, Anne Hathaway, the biggest lock of the night, won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Les Miserables”, while Daniel Day Lewis was announced as Best Actor for “Lincoln” by Meryl Streep, who didn’t even bother opening the envelope containing the winner’s name! In the widest open category of the night, Christoph Waltz took home the Best Supporting Actor trophy for “Django Unchained.” He won two years ago in the same category for another Quentin Tarantino film, “Inglourious Basterds.”

Below are the full list of winners from tonight’s Academy Awards, in the order they were handed out during the show.

Best Actress Oscar rivals Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain both take home Golden Globes [Full Winners List]

January 13, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards Leave a comment

Best Motion Picture – Drama
WINNER: “Argo”

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
WINNER: “Les Miserables”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
WINNER: Daniel Day-Lewis – “Lincoln”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
WINNER: Jessica Chastain – “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
WINNER: Hugh Jackman – “Les Miserables”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
WINNER: Jennifer Lawrence – “Silver Linings Playbook”

Oscar nominees Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway get boost with Critics’ Choice Award wins

January 10, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards Leave a comment

Looks like the Best Actress Oscar race is as tight as can be. While Jennifer Lawrence, thought to be a frontrunner for her role in “Silver Linings Playbook”, took home two Best Actress awards tonight from the Critics’ Choice Awards, they were for genre-specific categories – one in Action for her role as Katniss in “The Hunger Games” and one for “Silver Linings”‘ Tiffany in Comedy. Meanwhile, the really sought-after prize of Best Actress went instead to “Zero Dark Thirty” star Jessica Chastain, thought to be Lawrence’s biggest competition. It’s still a toss-up between the two in regard to what will happen on Oscar night, but tonight: Advantage Chastain.

Someone who doesn’t seem to have such a tight race on her hands is Anne Hathaway, who easily won the Best Supporting Actress award for her heartbreaking role as Fantine in “Les Miserables.” It’s no wonder the actress gave a heartfelt and slightly overwrought speech tonight – she’s obviously practicing for the big night next month. While it’s hers to lose, she’ll have to fend off Helen Hunt, Amy Adams, Jacki Weaver and particularly Sally Field before claiming the statue.

“Beasts of the Southern Wild” star Quvenzhane Wallis, another Best Actress Oscar nominee, won Best Young Actor from the BFCA tonight, beating out Logan Lerman for “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”, Tom Holland for “The Impossible”, Suraj Sharma for “Life of Pi”, Kara Hayward for “Moonrise Kingdom” and Elle Fanning for “Ginger and Rosa.”

“Argo” took home the biggest prize of the night – Best Picture, and Ben Affleck won Best Director, a bit of a boost after the disappointment of being snubbed of a nomination earlier this morning by the Academy. The full list of Critics’ Choice Award winners tonight can be found below.

Jennifer Lawrence, Quvenzhané Wallis make Oscar history as nominations are announced

January 10, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards Leave a comment

It’s a history-making year for the Best Actress category as the nominations for “Beasts of the Southern Wild” star Quvenzhane Wallis and “Silver Linings Playbook” star Jennifer Lawrence made history. Nine year old Wallis becomes the youngest person ever to be nominated for Best Actress, while Lawrence, at 22, becomes the youngest person to be nominated twice for Best Actress (she received her first nomination in 2010 for “Winter’s Bone”). Also making history in the category is Emmanuelle Riva for “Amour”, who becomes the oldest Best Actress nominee ever at age 85. Naomi Watts for “The Impossible” and Jessica Chastain – thought to be Lawrence’s biggest competition for the win – for “Zero Dark Thirty” rounded out the top five.

“Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Silver Linings Playbook” not only made history but were also two of the biggest winners of the morning, each earning more nominations than expected. In addition to Wallis, “Beasts” also garnered a Best Director nod for Behn Zeitlin and a Best Picture nomination. “Silver Linings” got its expected Best Picture, Best Director (David O. Russell), Best Supporting Actor (Robert DeNiro) and Best Actor (Bradly Cooper) nominations, but it surprised in Best Supporting Actress, where Jacki Weaver was nominated. That category is still led by Anne Hathaway’s powerhouse performance in “Les Miserables” (which missed out on Best Director for Tom Hooper but garnerd Hugh Jackman a Best Actor nod), while Amy Adams was nominated for “The Master”, Sally Field for “Lincoln” and Helen Hunt for “The Sessions.”

The category with the biggest shocks of the morning definitely came from Best Director, which snubbed not only Hooper for “Les Mis”, but also thought-to-be-sure-bets Kathryn Bigelow for “Zero Dark Thirty” and Ben Affleck for “Argo.” The two films had been thought to be the frontrunners for not only Best Director but also Best Picture, and will seemingly face a much steeper uphill climb on the latter. Steven Spielberg got an expected and deserved nomination for “Lincoln” (which led all nominations with 12), while Zeitlin for “Beasts”, Russell for “Silver Linings”, Ang Lee for “Life of Pi” (which came in second with 11 noms, including Best Picture) and Michael Haneke for “Amour” (which also picked up a Best Picture nom) rounded out the five.

The full list of nominations, announced this morning by Oscar host Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone, can be found below (thanks to AwardsDaily).

The casts of “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Lincoln” lead SAG nominations

December 12, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards 1 Comment

The actors have spoken, and they love “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Lincoln” (who can blame them?). The two Oscar frontrunners led the pack this morning, landing four nominations each as the Screen Actors Guild announced their nominees for 2012. Both films were nominated for Best Actor – Bradley Cooper squeezed in somewhat surprisingly for “Silver Linings”, while Daniel Day-Lewis’ Lincoln portrayal ranks among the finest of the year and was a sure bet. Jennifer Lawrence continues to dominate the Best Actress category, though her closest rival Jessica Chastain for critical darling “Zero Dark Thirty” was nominated as well. Working against Chastain’s film is the fact that it was left out of the lineup for Best Ensemble, the acting branch’s version of Best Picture.

The indie darling of the year, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”, was not eligible for SAG nominations for its impressive duo, Quvenzhane Wallis and Dwight Henry, due to their non-union status while filming, and whether this is a blow to their Oscar chances will remain to be seen. Musical “Les Miserables” landed an expected nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Fantine Anne Hathaway (and a rather unexpected one for Valjean Hugh Jackman in Best Actor), though none of the other young supporting players managed to break in.

The full list of film nominations can be found below, and the winners will be announced on January 27th, 2013.

Scoot McNairy joins “The Rover” with Robert Pattinson and “Frank” opposite Michael Fassbender

November 15, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Scoot McNairy’s career continues on an upward swing, as Deadline reports the “Argo” actor has landed two intriguing upcoming projects, David Michod’s futuristic Australian thriller “The Rover”, already starring Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson, and rock n roll comedy “Frank”, which has Michael Fassbender and rising star Domhall Gleeson attached.

“The Rover” sees Pearce as a a man who pursues a group of thieves through the Australian outback after they steal something valuable from his car. Pattinson would play one of the thieves. Michod also wrote the script based on an idea he conceived with “Animal Kingdom” star Joel Edgerton. “Frank” has Fassbender as the leader of an eccentric rock band, and Gleeson will find himself in over his head when he joins the group. Lenny Abrahamson will direct from a script by Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan. No word on who McNairy will play in either film just yet.

McNairy began gaining notice after a breakout turn in Gareth Edwards’ low budget surprise hit thriller “Monsters”, and he recent earned acclaim playing one of the hostages in Ben Affleck’s Oscar hopeful “Argo.” He’ll next be seen opposite Brad Pitt in Andrew Dominik’s “Killing Them Softly” and has wrapped up shooting on Steve McQueen’s “Twelve Years a Slave”, also opposite Fassbender. Not slowing down for a bit, McNairy is currently shooting in-flight actioner “Non-Stop” with Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore.

Scoot McNairy and “Downton Abbey” star Michelle Dockery join Liam Neeson flight thriller “Non-Stop”

October 10, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Liam Neeson and Nate Parker are welcoming aboard some fellow passengers. Variety reports Julianne Moore, Scoot McNairy and “Downton Abbey” actress Michelle Dockery have all joined the cast of Jaume Collet-Serra’s in-flight thriller “Non-Stop.”

Neeson plays an air marshall who is confronted – via text message! – by an America terrorist who claims to be aboard his flight. The villain threatens to kill a passenger every 20 minutes unless Neeson kills himself. Parker will play a passenger on the flight who helps Neeson solve the mystery while there’s no word just yet on who the new cast additions will play. Filming is set to begin in New York City on November 1st. John Richardson and Chris Roach wrote the script.

McNairy has been on an upward swing since breaking out in Godzilla reboot director Gareth Edwards’ low budget thriller “Monsters.” He can be seen in Ben Affleck’s political thriller “Argo”, out this weekend, and soon in Andrew Dominik’s “Killing Them Softly” opposite Brad Pitt. He also recently wrapped up filming on Steve McQueen’s “Twelve Years a Slave.”

Dockery was last seen on the big screen in Joe Wright’s “Hanna” and will next also appear in Wright’s “Anna Karenina”, but is most known for her role as Lady Mary Crawley on PBS’ mega-hit “Downton Abbey.” Curiously, several of Dockery’s audition tapes for high profile films were leaked online in recent weeks – Rob Marshall’s “The Thin Man” and “Into the Woods” among them – indicating there’s interest from her side in a more visible big screen career.

Toronto International Film Festival line-up includes opening night film “Looper”, plus “Silver Linings Playbook”, “Byzantium” and more

July 24, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in General News 1 Comment

Toronto kicks off Awards Season 2012 in a big way today with the announcement of over 60 Galas and Special Presentations that will play at the annual International Film Festival, running this year between September 6-16.

Rian Johnson’s highly anticipated sci-fi action flick “Looper”, starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and Emily Blunt, will kick things off as the Opening Night film. Films making their World Premieres at the festival include Neil Jordan’s gang of vampires in “Byzantium” as played by Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan, Sally Potter’s 1960s family drama “Ginger and Rosa” (formerly “Bomb”) starring Elle Fanning and newcomer Alice Englert, and Mike Newell’s “Great Expectations” with Jeremy Irvine as Pip and Holliday Grainger as Estella.

Bradley Cooper will have two films at the festival, David O. Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook” opposite Jennifer Lawrence, and Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond the Pines” with Ryan Gosling and Dane DeHaan. Logan Lerman is another actor represented twice at the festival, as he’ll appear in both “Writers” with Lily Collins, and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” alongside Emma Watson and Ezra Miller. The ever-busy Anna Kendrick will also be pulling double duty in Robert Redford’s “The Company You Keep”, starring Shia LaBeouf and Brit Marling, as well as David Ayer’s cop drama “End of Watch” with Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena.

See below for the complete list of Galas and Special Presentations (thanks to Movie Knight), which also include such highly anticipated premieres as Joe Wright’s experimental retelling of “Anna Karenina” starring Keira Knightley in the titular role and Aaron Johnson as Count Vronsky, and Terrence Malick’s long-gestating “To the Wonder” starring Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurlylenko and more.

And just think, there are more films to be announced in the coming weeks! Phew.

Paul Dano, Scoot McNairy and Ruth Negga join “Twelve Years a Slave”

May 22, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Rising stars Paul Dano, Scoot McNairy and Ruth Negga have joined Steve McQueen’s “Shame” follow-up, “Twelve Years a Slave”, according to Variety and Deadline. The three actors join Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender and “Pariah” breakout star Odepero Aduye in the cast.

The film is based on the memoirs of Soloman Northup, to be played by Ejiofor, a free-born son of a former slave who is lured to Washington DC where he was illegally sold into slavery (with McNairy in the role of a circus worker who masterminds his abduction) and shipped to work on a plantation in New Orleans. When Northup is finally able to get a letter to his wife and family, they seek legal counsel to help free him. Dano and Fassbender will play plantation owners and Pitt will be the family’s lawyer. Negga will play a runaway slave, while Oduye is rumored to play Northup’s wife. Filming will begin at the end of June.

Indie scene staple Dano recently showed up on shortlists for big tentpole projects including “Akira” and “Die Hard 5″, but will next be seen sticking closer to his comfort zone in quirky rom com “Ruby Sparks”, from the directors of “Little Miss Sunshine.” He broke out in low budget horror “Monsters”, and now McNairy reteams with Pitt on “Twelve Years” after starring opposite one another at the current Cannes title “Killing Them Softly.” Irish actress Negga can currently be seen opposite Samuel L. Jackson in “The Samaritan.”

“Friday Night Lights” star Kyle Chandler joins Leonardo Dicaprio in Martin Scorsese’s “Wolf of Wall Street”

May 9, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

After finally receiving an Emmy win for his beloved, long-running role on critically acclaimed series “Friday Night Lights”, Kyle Chandler is now setting out to conquer the big screen in a major way. Deadline reports Coach Taylor has added another big get to his growing pile of prestige projects and has joined the cast of Martin Scorsese’s latest, “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Frequent Scorsese collaborator

Leonardo Dicaprio is set to play the lead role of Jordan Belfort in the film adapted by Terence Winter from Belfort’s own memoir: “By day he made thousands of dollars a minute. By night he spent it as fast as he could, on drugs, sex, and international globe-trotting. From the binge that sank a 170-foot motor yacht, crashed a Gulfstream jet, and ran up a $700,000 hotel tab, to the wife and kids who waited for him at home, and the fast-talking, hard-partying young stockbrokers who called him king and did his bidding, here, in his own inimitable words, is the story of the ill-fated genius”; Jonah Hill of all people recently signed on to play his best friend and business partner, while Chandler will play the FBI agent who built the case against Belfort that led to his downfall and eventual imprisonment.

Chandler recently wrapped political thriller “Broken City” opposite Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe and was last seen on the big screen in JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg’s family alien actioner “Super 8.” He is currently filming Kathryn Bigelow’s Bin Laden thriller “Zero Dark Thirty” alongside Joel Edgerton and Jessica Chastain, and has another military thriller, Ben Affleck’s “Argo”, completed and awaiting release.

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