December 15, 2003

I can’t believe it’s just nine days until Christmas…

Living in Awards World has a tendency to distract one from the real world. The opening of Something’s Gotta Give or the release schedule for House of Sand & Fog become the points on the horizon, overreaching the first day of Chanukah or the exact day you were going to get your car fixed.

A wreath and a jar of holiday honey arrived today, the knocks on the door meaning gifts instead of screeners. Lunches are made up of schoolroom chat and holiday plans. Next year is close, but so far away.

All three Rings arrive tomorrow in a national Butt-Numb-A-Thon, before the wave of Orcs and Hobbits and Elves (Oh My!) invades the national conscious for a two month stay through the end of February. Somehow, as with Matrix Revolutions, I don’t feel compelled to write about the film in detail. I don’t really think I can add anything to the conversation. It is wondrous and amazing and silly and fabulous and this generations’ great movie tale.

After that, there are only a dozen major titles due out this year. We come to the end. Japanese Story says goodbye to 2003. My Baby’s Daddy launches 2004. Heaven help us all.

On Thursday, I’ll do a real Oscar column, as there will be some real perspective available after BFCA, HFPA and others join the New Yorkers, the Bostonians and the San Franciscans. But the most striking thing you can see already is the unanimous support of Bill Murray and the near unanimous support for Sofia Coppola’s work in Lost In Translation.

Capturing The Friedmans won all three groups, just as it has dominated the MCN 100.

The two groups that voted for animation both chose Triplets of Belleville over Finding Nemo, setting up a battle much like last year’s Spirited Away vs. Lilo & Stitch, except that Syvain Chomet is a new director and Finding Nemo is a better film that Lilo. But it’s interesting.

Peter Sarsgaard scored twice (Boston/SF), but keep in mind that Dennis Quaid did the same with these early go groups last year, but became an Indie Spirit guy.

Hope Davis became this year’s Patricia Clarkson, getting two Best Actress nods, though Patricia Clarkson is not quite done with her name. She turned up in both Boston and San Francisco as Supporting Actress.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was Return of the King’s triumph as Best Picture care of The New York Film Critics Circle. Peter Jackson almost took director there and took the prize in San Francisco, where the NY slots were flipped and Lost In Translation took Best Picture.

Missing in all of this was Cold Mountain. There was not a single award for the film. And Mystic River got only one – Best Picture – but it was in Boston, the hometown of the film’s story. There is little doubt that the film will turn up today and tomorrow in the BFCA and HFPA nominations, but the amount of love is limited. And The Last Samurai can’t be too happy either. Or 21 Grams… or Big Fish… or Seabiscuit. All these film may, I repeat, turn up today and tomorrow and life goes on. Or they don’t and the machinery slows down quite a bit.

ONE MORE THING: I was taken with this column item in Liz Smith the other day:

“WE PRINTED HERE Dec. 4 that the talented Sofia Coppola of "Lost in Translation" and director Spike Jonze were ending their marriage. It is nice to see The Washington Post telling it as a scoop Thursday and that others have chimed in after the fact as well. As soon as The New York Times prints it, maybe it will be official.”

Liz occasionally claims to be stolen from and Roger Friedman makes a habit of it, but in this case, I felt a little stunned. Many of us in the press knew that Sofia and Spike had split up months ago, back in September. But we had the good grace and gentility not to make it a part of our Lost In Translation stories. In fact, it was a big joke when the New York Times Magazine did an exhaustive piece on Sofia and seemed to miss the occurrence this well-known situation.

One of the things I take some pride in is that I know how to keep my mouth shut about much of what I know. This is certainly true of guys like Harry Knowles and almost anyone who has been on this, or any, beat for a while. When we drop these stories and how many secrets we keep is a big part of how we define ourselves as journalists.

But arguing about who got the scoop on a nice, talented, press-shy couple’s divorce? YICK!

I feel a New Year’s Resolution coming.

READER OF THE DAY: From HECHY: “Dear Friends, You may have heard of Trio. Its a new network, run by Lauren Zalaznick (formerly VH1) and Michael Jackson (formerly Channel 4 UK). Its been available in LA via digital cable, thru Direct TV.

Trio finances a great deal of original programming, most of it, documentary. They financed my doc on The N Word.

WHO DO YOU KNOW THAT FINANCES REAL DOCUMENTARIES (not psuedo-news magazine pieces on the porn industry like HBO)?

Anyway, they are getting cut from Direct TV. This means less viewers which means less money for docs.

Please take a minute and click on the link below to write them about what a bad idea that is. Please also forward this message to as many folks as possible. http://www.triotv.com/savetrio/"

From OLD ST NICK: "Now that we finally got Saddam Hussein, we're gonna have to figure out a way to get information out of him. Because of the Geneva convention, we technically can't torture him, but here are a few suggestions

Top 10 ways to get Saddam Hussein to talk

10 Let him have unprotected sex with Paris Hilton
9 Put him in the passenger seat of Glen Campbell's car
8 Have him justify Paramount's 2003 slate
7 Have him justify MGM's 2003 slate
6 Invite him to Neverland Ranch disguised as a 10 yr old boy
5 Tie him to a chair, tape his eye lids open, and make him watch CBS
4 Let him sit in on an acting seminar taught by Ben Affleck and Madonna
3 Let him marry Bobby Brown
2 Make him read a "review" at Aint It Cool News
1 Get him a job at Miramax "

E ME: Are you ready for the holidays