For those who like playing Oscar pools, DGA nominations tend to be a good harbinger for the actual Oscar nominations. So it’s worth noting what made the cut: Michel Hazanavicius‘s The Artist, Woody Allen‘s Midnight in Paris, Martin Scorsese‘s Hugo, Alexander Payne‘s The Descendants, and David Fincher‘s The Girl With Dragon Tattoo all got nominated today.
The Artist is gaining steam to be the picture to beat this year at the Oscars, and just today its director Michel Hazanavicius was nominated for the DGA’s best director award. The film has not had many detractors, but there was a shot across the bow today when Kim Novak – star of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo – complained about the use of music from Vertigo in the film. Not only that, she called it rape.
In an attempt to show how edgy and hip the Academy Awards can really be, the Academy decided to hire the clever folks at Funny or Die to make a trailer for the 84th Academy Awards ceremony. And, despite being jam-packed with cameos by celebrities no one will really care about (host Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Josh Duhamel, Megan Fox, William Fichtner, and Vinnie Jones) and loaded with horridly unfunny jokes (young people text a lot! HA!), the trailer–gosh, get this!–lands flat on its face.
Because his bestest buddy Brett Ratner decided to back out of producing the Oscars next year (for lobbing a an offense comment towards homosexuals, and then bragging about sex with Lindsay Lohan, and for making a ton of offensively bland films), now Eddie Murphy has also followed suit, joining his Tower Heist director in bowing out of next year’s ceremonies.
Remember earlier in the week when we reported that Brett Ratner slipped his foot into his mouth and stated that only “fag” directors rehearse their films before shooting? Well, on top of that, he’s been spending his Tower Heist promotional tour talking less about the film (which might be for the best) and is spending more of his time graphically describing sex with Lindsay Lohan and Olivia Munn, as well as his sperm count and sexual prowess. All of which has led the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to say, “hey, maybe this isn’t the guy to produce the Oscars next year.”
Brett Ratner is producing the next Oscar telecast. Brett Ratner just directed Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy in Tower Heist, and has been the rumored choice for a Beverly Hills Cop 4 movie. So perhaps it’s no surprise that Ratner asked Murphy to host the Academy Awards. The surprise is that Murphy has said yes (according to Deadline Hollywood).
Since immigrations law isn’t a touchy issue at all, I’m really sure this is going to go over really, really well with people. You see, today marks the day that England’s Tier 1 visa law goes into effect, which, in addition to letting the cream of the science and engineering crop sneak in early as well, essentially allows celebrity award winners to “fast-track” the immigration process to become British citizens.
Anne Hathaway appeared yesterday on The Today Show and discussed the brutally bad reviews that she and James Franco received as hosts of the worst Oscars ever in the whole world ever times infinity plus one: “They said we were the worst show ever,” the actress told host Matt Lauer. “I think that qualifies as tough.”
The 83rd Annual Academy Awards have come and gone and the night belonged to the king! The period piece The King’s Speech won Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Motion Picture over fan favorite The Social Network. Other big winners of the night included Natalie Portman for Black Swan, and Melissa Leo and Christian Bale for The Fighter. Check out the rest of the night’s winners below…
