Oscar Spotlight: The Rise And Rise Of Rooney Mara

February 22, 2012 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Awards, Features 1 Comment

In our new Oscar Spotlight series we take a look at four rising stars who have this year become Oscar nominees for the first time. In a year filled with incredible performances, only one of our chosen actors was a shoo-in. The other three were all (welcome) surprise nominees. Taken from each of the four acting categories, we present …

The rise and rise of Rooney Mara

On January 24th 2012, actress Jennifer Lawrence and Academy President Tom Sherak announced the 2012 Academy Award nominations. Sherak began to call out the Best Actress nominees, “Glenn Close .. Viola Davis … Rooney Mara … ” and for those who had followed Mara from the beginning, it was finally deserved and well-earned recognition.

Born in April 1985, Mara began her career on television in 2005, and by 2009 had landed her first film role, opposite Emma Roberts in “The Winning Season”. The young actress went on to film Michael Cera’s “Youth In Revolt” and the remake of horror film “The Nightmare on Elm Street” before winning the most important role of her career – as Erica Albright, Mark Zuckerburg’s girlfriend in David Fincher’s “The Social Network”.

Daniel Radcliffe and Holliday Grainger to announce BAFTA nominations on Tuesday, January 17th

January 13, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards Leave a comment

Jennifer Lawrence is covering the Oscars stateside and now the British Film and Television Academy have set two of the UK’s hottest rising stars to do the honor of announcing the nominees for the Orange British Academy Film Awards, Britain’s equivalent of the Oscars. Daniel Radcliffe, “Harry Potter” and Broadway star, and Holliday Grainger, Estella in Mike Newell’s upcoming adaptation of “Great Expectations”, will announce the nominees live at 7:40am GMT on Tuesday, January 17th (that’s about 11:40pm PST the night of Monday, January 16th for Hollywood dwellers).

Daniel Radcliffe and Holliday Grainger To Announce The 2012 Orange British Academy Film Awards Nominations

On Tuesday 17 January, actors Daniel Radcliffe and Holliday Grainger will join BAFTA’s Chairman Tim Corrie to announce the nominations for the Orange British Academy Film Awards in 2012.

BAFTA Chief Executive Amanda Berry, Chair of the Film Committee Nik Powell and Pippa Harris Deputy Chair of the Film Committee will also be in attendance. The announcement will be live stream on www.bafta.org from 7:40am, Tuesday 17 January.

The Orange British Academy Film Awards will take place on Sunday 12 February 2012 and will be held for the sixth year running at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Hosted by Stephen Fry, and sponsored by Orange for the fifteenth year, the Awards will be broadcast exclusively on BBC One and BBC One HD that evening, preceded by a red carpet show on BBC Three.

Jennifer Lawrence to announce Oscar nominations

January 9, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards 3 Comments

Recent Oscar nominee and “The Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence will be doing the honor of announcing this year’s Academy Award nominations on Tuesday, January 24, along with Academy President Tom Sherak, it was just announced via press release:

Jennifer Lawrence to Join
Academy President Tom Sherak
for Oscar® Nominations

Beverly Hills, CA – Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards® will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and Academy member and Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence.

Sherak and Lawrence will unveil the nominations in 10 of the 24 categories at a 5:30 a.m. PT news conference at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, where hundreds of media representatives from around the world will be gathered. Nominations information for all categories will be distributed simultaneously to news media in attendance and via the Internet on the official Academy Awards website, www.oscar.com.

Last year, for the 83rd Academy Awards, Lawrence received a nomination for her lead performance in “Winter’s Bone.” She will be seen next in “The Hunger Games” and recently completed work on “The Silver Linings Playbook.” Lawrence’s other film credits include “The Burning Plain,” “Like Crazy,” “The Beaver” and “X-Men: First Class.”

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Santa Barbara Film Festival to present Rooney Mara, Shailene Woodley and more with Virtuosos Award

January 5, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards 1 Comment

As awards season rolls on towards Oscar, the Santa Barbara Film Festival jumps into the fray to honor some standout performances of the year. The six recipients have all garnered critical praise and are all deserving of awards attention, but let’s face it, they all seem to be longshots for that elusive Oscar, so it’s nice to see them get rewarded for their brilliant work elsewhere. Via press release: “The actors who were selected to be recognized for their exceptional performances are: Demián Bichir for his earnest portrayal as Carlos, a virtuous father struggling to provide for his son in A Better Life; Rooney Mara for her dark and provocative performance as Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Melissa McCarthy for her role as the hilariously outspoken Megan in Bridesmaids; Patton Oswalt for masterfully navigating between the realms of comedy and drama as Matt Freehauf in Young Adult; Andy Serkis for stepping into the mind and body of an ape through his master of performance-capture technology in his role as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes; and Shailene Woodley for bringing an emotional complexity to a character rarely seen at her age as Alexandra in The Descendants.”

Part breakout, part performance, the Virtuoso Award went to Lesley Manville, John Hawkes, Jacki Weaver and Hailee Steinfeld last year, three out of four of whom actually did go on to score Oscar nominations. This year’s recipients will be fetted on Friday, February 3rd. Other stars being honored by the Festival include Viola Davis, who gets the Performer of the Year award while Christopher Plummer will receive the Modern Master award.

“The Help” leads SAG Awards nominations; Jonah Hill in, Shailene Woodley out

December 14, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards 3 Comments

The 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards have announced the nominees for the 2011 year in film. Summer blockbuster drama “The Help” leads the way with four well deserved nominations, including breakout stars Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer for Best Supporting Actress. “The Artist” also continues to dominate, with Jean Dujardin (Best Actor) and Berenice Bejo (Best Supporting Actress) both landing nods, as well as the entire ensemble. Snubbed in the Supporting Actress category is Shailene Woodley, who gave a brave and powerful performance in Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants.” The film did garner two nominations, and Woodley is still represented in its Best Ensemble nomination.

Looking less and less like a longshot every day and with every new announcement, Melissa McCarthy landed another Best Supporting Actress nod, but the big surprise may be “Bridesmaids” itself, which also landed on Best Ensemble, to the snub of plenty of other, perhaps more serious, Oscar hopefuls. Another surprise but welcome inclusion is Jonah Hill, a formerly broadly comedic actor himself, landing a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his dramatic turn in “Moneyball” opposite Brad Pitt (Best Actor nominee). Also showing up unexpectedly is Armie Hammer for his role in Clint Eastwood’s critically panned “J. Edgar.” It perhaps shows some strong support within the industry for the film, as Leonardo DiCaprio landed a Best Actor nomination as well, to the frustration of Michael Fassbender/”Shame” fans everywhere (including here).

The full list of nominations, including TV categories, are below.

Seth Rogen to host the Film Independent Spirit Awards

December 13, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards 1 Comment

Announced via press release today, “50/50″ star Seth Rogen will provide hosting duties at 2012′s Film Independent Spirit Awards. The film itself is nominated for three awards, Best Feature, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Anjelica Huston.

The 27th annual awards ceremony will be held as a daytime luncheon in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica on Saturday, February 25, and the premiere broadcast will air later that evening at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on IFC.

SETH ROGEN TO SERVE AS HOST FOR
2012 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS

LOS ANGELES (December 13, 2011) – Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced that Seth Rogen will serve as host for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards. The 27th annual awards ceremony will be held as a daytime luncheon in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica on Saturday, February 25, and the premiere broadcast will air later that evening at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on IFC.

Diana Zahn-Storey, a longtime executive producer of the Film Independent Spirit Awards will be returning this year. After executive producing the show for fifteen years and the Los Angeles Film Festival for eight, Diana left Film Independent in 2009 to co-found Nuts-n-Bolts Productions. Over the past two years, Nuts-n-Bolts has produced several events including the Children Mending Hearts Peace Please Gala, Los Angeles Point Honors Gala and the treats! Magazine Launch party. In past years, Diana has worked on the PacSun Summer Solstice Beach Ballyhoo, the 2010 Glee premiere and the 2010 Entertainment Weekly Emmy Party, in conjunction with Larry Abel Designs. Diana has more than twenty-five years experience in film, television and event production.

Read more

Asa Butterfield, Elle Fanning, Thomas Horn, Ezra Miller and more nominated for Critics Choice Awards

December 13, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Awards 5 Comments

From one Critics Society’s nominations to another, and today the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s Critics Choice Awards. Once again The Artist and Hugo lead the pack with eleven nominations each – and a surprise but hugely welcome nomination for Melissa McCarty in the Best Supporting Actress category for her performance in Bridesmaids.

There has been a slow buzz around McCarthy’s performance and we have previously commented on her Oscar chances. This new nomination follows on from awards from the Boston Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics.

Elizabeth Olsen gains another Best Actress nomination for the outstanding Martha Marcy May Marlene, and TV star Patton Oswalt garners a further nomination for his supporting role alongside Charlize Theron in Young Adult.

Most notably, the Broadcast Film Critics have a category focusing specifically on the best young actor or actress of the year. This year they’ve chosen some of our favorite performances of the year – and a surprise choice of Saoirse Ronan in the little talked about Hanna. Also nominated are Asa Butterfield (Hugo), Elle Fanning (Super 8), Thomas Horn (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close), Ezra Miller (We Need to Talk About Kevin) and Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)

Click below for the full list of nominees. The awards ceremony will be televised on VH1 on January 12th 2012.

San Diego Film Critics Society nominate Shailene Woodley, Brit Marling and more

December 13, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Awards Leave a comment

Another day and another set of announcements from film critics – this time around, the San Diego Film Critics Society and their nominees for this year’s “excellence in film”.

We have the usual suspects leading the pack with The Artist and Hugo both picking up a slew of nominations – eight for The Artist including Best Film, Director for Michel Hazanavicius and Actor for Jean Dujardin, and seven for Hugo with Best Film, Director for Martin Scorsese and Adapted Screenplay – but also several surprises, including Brit Marling for Best Actress in one of our favorite films of the year, Another Earth.

One look at the Best Actress category shows us that we could be looking at a rising star winner there. Alongside Marling is another Sundance breakout, Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene), as well as Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn) and Viola Davis (The Help).

We’re also pleased to see Shailene Woodley nominated for her supporting role in The Descendants, furthering her Oscar chances after garnering several other nominations from the Gotham Awards and Indie Spirits, a well as a win from NBR.

Jessica Chastain (The Help), Melanie Laurent (Beginners), Carey Mulligan (Shame) and Bérénice Bejo (The Artist) round out the Supporting Actress category, guaranteeing the winner will definitely be a rising star.

Click below for a full list of nominees, and check back tomorrow for a full list of the winners.

“The Help” star Octavia Spencer to receive Breakthrough Performance Award at Palm Springs Film Festival

December 7, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards Leave a comment

In further cementing of Octavia Spencer’s status as an Oscar front-runner for her scene-stealing breakout role in “The Help”, it’s been announced today that the actress will receive the Breakthrough Performance Award a the annual Palm Springs Film Festival in January. The event is an annual pit-stop for hopefuls on the long road to Oscar, and this year Spencer will be amongst fellow gold seekers George Clooney, Glenn Close, Michelle Williams and “The Artist” director Michel Hazanavicius, who are all being honored with various acting and filmmaking accolades.

“Octavia Spencer is a consummate actress who seamlessly blends her dramatic and comedic talents, creating performances of uncommon depth,” film festival board chairman Harold Matzner said via press release. “As the irascible Minny in ‘The Help,’ she captures the essence of a woman who deals with life head on, relishing confrontation and serving as a source of courage and humor for those whom she loves.”

Spencer is in good company amongst past winners including Carey Mulligan, Marion Cotillard, Jennifer Hudson, Felicity Huffman and Freida Pinto, most of whom went on to score Oscar nominations and wins. More relevant news to come from the event include the selection of the Rising Star award, which went to Jennifer Lawrence and Anna Kendrick in the past two years, respectively. Could Spencer’s “Help” co-star Jessica Chastain get her moment with that award?

“The Artist”, “Take Shelter” dominate Independent Spirit Awards nominations; “Like Crazy” snubbed

November 29, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards 2 Comments

What award season giveth, award season is just as quick to take away. Felicity Jones scored a big win last night for her performance in “Like Crazy”, but overnight, a little steam has been let out of that film’s tires. The Independent Spirit Awards announced their nominations bright and early – and “Like Crazy” has been left out in the cold completely. The big winners this morning out of the West Coast (the New York Film Critics are still voting over on the East Coast – more on that in a bit) is Oscar heavy hitter “The Artist” and Jeff Nichols’ “Take Shelter”, which tie for the lead in total nominations with five. “The Descendants”, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”, “Drive” and “Beginners” (also a big winner last night at Gotham) follow close on their heels with four each.

One of our personal favorites of the year, Jonathan Levine’s “50/50″, also made a great showing with three nominations, for Best Feature, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Anjelica Huston, while Corey Stoll, who was so memorable as Ernest Hemingway in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris”, scored a surprising and welcome nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

The winners will be announced on Saturday, February 25, 2012 and we hope to be there to bring you up to the minute exclusive coverage, but hopefully it won’t be so windy this year. The full list of nominations are below.

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