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January 11, 2004Oh, those wacky awards shows…
The next phase of the season started in earnest last night, as the Critics' Choice Awards turned up on mini-network television for the first time (from one letter - E! - to two - WB - the BFCA is only one more letter away from the big time) and offered one last shot at influencing the Oscar vote, aka, The Only Thing Anyone Really Cares About.
I don't really feel compelled to get into a list of the highs and lows of the evening…. though credits coming over the Best Picture acceptance speech ranks as one of the most horrible moments ever at a televised award show in my opinion. I won't start a Q&A at a screening before the credits roll, even if it means losing some audience members in the 10-13 minute wait… to roll Bob Bain and Joey Berlin's names (and all the rest of the credits) over the Best Picture speech is simply unacceptable and can never happen again if the BFCA and WB want the show to be taken seriously.
Anyway…
What struck my mid-show was that what I really enjoy about the award season is getting to meet the many talented people who both aspire to a get nominations and awards. Many of them, like any group of individuals, don't stick. But the ones that do really make it a pleasure.
I like Michael Moore more and more… even if I still have the powerful urge to wrestle his rhetoric - not so much his political rhetoric as his showbiz rhetoric - to the ground and beat it mercilessly. He is one of those people who has become so iconic, it is easy to miss the man. And the man… the down-home, regular guy who has finally struck it rich… the man whose feelings can be hurt but who will fight for what he believes with abandon… he is there.
Thomas Haden Church is just a great guy. He has been very nice to me, which always makes it easy to like someone. But it's more than that. When he actually choked up when receiving his Critics' Choice Award, he showed his true colors. He really does care. It really is important to him. He really is thankful. And he really could go back to the ranch and be that guy instead, writing and finding other creative outlets besides celebrity.
Michael Giacchino is one of the really good guys. He brought his parents to the awards last night because his wife was stuck in bed at home with their child still preparing for its arrival. He used to be a publicist, so this was his first award show when he was allowed to eat the food. But among the back slapping, he quickly called my attention to an ailing mutual friend's plight. Tuxedos second… people first.
Walter Salles just lights things up. He is a real mover and shaker in the Spanish and Portuguese-language film worlds and delivered a tremendous movie this year that just hasn't caught awards fire. But he always has that big smile, that open heart, and the passion for the work. He was sitting next to Kate Winslet at the show and I'd love to see that combo work together sometime soon.
Bill Condon was at the Kinsey table, but probably should have been sitting down with Taylor Hackford and the Ray team. His production of Dreamgirls was finally announced yesterday and all the skills he showed on Kinsey will be pushed even harder as he tackles his first musical. (It goes up against Hairspray in 2006, while this year's awards season musical fight will be between The Producers and Chris Columbus' Rent… which will likely be Revolution's last release through Columbia Pictures via the current deal.) Anyway, Bill is the kind of guy who just sees the game so clearly that he had the perspective to smile and even laugh a few times as Sideways continued to suck up award wins. He was also kind enough to suggest that I shut up and stop explaining the Phantom call in early November and just move along… advice I will now take.
Graham King is a big bear of a man, but there is a light in his eyes when he talks about his movies. In some ways, he is the Brad Grey of the indie world, in that he has the ability to raise a lot of money, has had a lot of success in roles other than as a producer and is now taking his first real steps as a hands-on producer. So he has all the thrills of someone discovering a new experience and all the confidence of someone who knows that they can overcome almost anything.
The documentarians who were at the awards show are all fine filmmakers, but also good, really hard working people. Bruce Sinofsky was there with Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Morgan Spurlock with Super Size Me and Jehane Noujaim with Control Room. The great thing about documentarians is that they are so used to fighting to make it all happen that they appreciate the whole experience. Both Sinofsky and Noujaim were unfortunately left of the Academy doc shortlist, for different reasons, and I am pleased that BFCA gave them at least the respect of nominations. Spurlock will find out on January 25 whether he made the real short list. But they were out at the show, chatting among themselves and with others, embracing the moment, getting strong for the next one. (Noujaim is already working on Alexandra Kerry's doc on her father's campaign, which promises the closest look at a campaign by a documentarian ever.)
Brad Silberling came out to the show gamely, supporting a Family Film nomination and a couple of his young actors from the film. Here's another guy who is relentless about his work. Making big Hollywood movies has its downside, which is studio interference. But Silberling fights his fights and does his work. When he gets angry, he gets angry about the work, not about the junk that sucks up so much time in this business.
There are many others who I have gotten the chance to meet and spend time with that I quite like. I don't mean to disregard or to disparage any of them in any way. A quick chat or a post-screening Q&A with Alexander Payne or Joel Schumacher or John Travolta or Paul Rusesabagina is a tough way to get to really feel like you've met someone. (On the other hand, Jared Leto… not in the awards season now… but a really good guy… like him a lot… Niels Muller and Ms. Xan Casavettes, too… some people make their souls more readily available.) Likewise, when you meet someone who has as much going on as Sophie Okonedo or Virginia Madsen, you get the sense that they are willing to share themselves, but time must be taken. And that's fair enough.
The point of all of this - and I am a little disappointed with myself that the column became a list of sorts… sorry - is that I really love taking a moment to get to know these people a bit. They are remarkably talented. They have fought to become what they are now. And for this short while, we get to be a part of a shared social circle. For the most part, we are not really friends, but friendly acquaintances. But like a great movie, there is a lot of joy in knowing special people, whether in the film business or in any other element… even a little.
Hopefully, I will get to meet and take some time with a few more folks before this year's season is over. I didn't even get to meet Vadim Perelman face-to-face until the LAFCA Awards last year and he is one of the people I treasure from last year's season. I haven't seen Born Into Brothels filmmakers Ross Kaufman and Zana Briski since the Bermuda Film Festival last year, but I look forward to their appearance on the scene before too long. And the more time I get to talk to Michael London, the more I see how this truth-telling, hard-working true believer gets terrific filmmakers to put their lives in his hands.
I guess the experience is a bit like working on a movie. It is an intense period over a relatively short time and then it ends. As someone goes from film to film they acquire a person here and a person there that really touches them… may even stay a part of their lives in some way. This experience we have is less intense and it is more fleeting and far more vulnerable to fear, mistrust, and what-have-you-done-for-me-lately, as the mixing of "talent" and the media is volatile indeed. And sometimes, one has to wonder, what do we share other than an admiration for a bit of work and thanks for that admiration? Maybe it's more like a cocktail waitress whose job is to convince the customer that they are liked to get a bigger tip.
I hope not.
There are many good fortunes in my work. But I think these people bring me the most pleasure. For a person who spends so much time analyzing everything, people who bring you past the cynicism… past the intellectual… remind you that there is a reason to love this business that has nothing to do with money or fame… it is a just a privilege and a pleasure.
So, next year we'll make sure there are better jokes and some more munchie food on the tables. And I'll get around to the stories about the women at my table kvelling over young Ms. Rossum's posterior. But tonight… just some thanks for some really good people. On to LAFCA!
January 3, 2005 - Reflections On A New Year
December 31, 2004 - The Ten Best
December 30, 2004 - The Ten Worst
December 29, 2004 - Movies You Should Have Seen, But Didn't
