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February 25, 2005The ennui has really set in now…
I have to say, there is nothing left to say about the Oscar race. And Sharon Waxman got it right in the NY Times… everyone is bored. (The theory as to why is not much theory at all… the two big movies are a downer and a good-but-not-really-great, there is a light film that has gotten beaten over the head and shoulders for being too well liked and there are two films that got in by way of the audience disappointment in so many other pictures. There is no underdog to root for, no story of the little engine that could, no huge star finally getting their due… nothing.
And so, we have Chris Rock.
The papers are arrogantly and brazenly printing every spin-laden "fact" that Miramax throws at them as part of the negotiations with Disney. Of course, the media doesn't want to admit that they were wrong about Eisner's ability to survive, so they keep taking the side of whoever is against them. Miramax knows this and is trying to use it to their advantage. Good for them. Disney would do the same thing, albeit less stridently.
My point is, it is a bad subject to be writing about right now. And it's a bad subject to be reading about without a ton of salt next to your newspaper or computer. For the record, it turns out that my source was inaccurate… Miramax does not have their new financing in place. Still, the divorce will happen and they are gathering the new staff.
I am amazed how short the memory of the media has become. I would love to look back at the last year or so of media coverage of Disney and Miramax and see how far off the mark we all were. It would be kind of ugly, I think.
Jake Brooks' Observer piece this week is the best thing I've read. This is the kind of reporting I think the New York Times should be doing. Obviously, the tone is a little too casual for The Paper of Record, but the perspective and the lack of desperation to get to a scoop when what you usually get that way is a scoop of bullshit is excellent. When everyone is a super then no one is a super. In journalism, we need supers. And the New York Times should be that for us.
Anyway… not much else going on out there. Reality is about to settle in at Paramount and no one quite knows how it is going to go, though it looks like Freston and Grey will cherry-pick talent from their own ranks before cleaning the deck of everyone who is either a problem or not carrying their weight - which is a horrible thing to say about a staff that is as understaffed as they are, but…Disney is looking like it's Iger search is settling in and that will become, I believe, the big story of 2007, when Iger gets replaced. Warner Bros. seems to be happier and happier moving away from being an American company and becoming the first true world studio. Look for Sony Pictures to be sold or in hot play before this time next year. Look for Lions Gate to continue to have a hard time finding a suitor because of the poor quality of their vast library. DreamWorks/Amblin… we'll see.. Fox is gearing up for Oscar 2006… Searchlight has no real horse in the race at this point with Eucalyptus dying, so focus will shift there… Speilberg will try to be the Eastwood of next year's Oscars. Who will try to be the Finding Neverland? Could be Shopgirl. Universal has had a great run as Oscar bridesmaids in recent years, but next year, they could have the Oscar winner and the biggest grosser of the year… oy! And MGM will keep the party going right until they scrape the name off the top of the building in Century City… you go guys! (Though the "no karaoke for agents" rule must be in effect… I'm pretty sure my genetic code was damaged by what I heard last night.)
Here comes the weekend. Everything that has a beginning must have an end.
READER OF THE DAY: MS NOT NBC writes: "The character of Edna Turnblad is not a drag queen. She's a woman who just happens to be played by a man. Travolta might be believable as a drag queen, but not as an actual woman.
That said, I'm sure I speak for most of the other half-million people who chucked out a C-note to see the show on Broadway that if it's not Harvey Fierstein, the movie is doomed, pure and simple. You'd have thought that keeping most of THE PRODUCERS' cast intact might have taught people a lesson, but evidently not. Frankheimer once said that 75% of a movie's success or failure can be determined by the casting, and right now these guys have the gun to their temple and their finger on the trigger. (Three words: PAINT YOUR WAGON.) I hope they see the light before it's too late."
E-ME: Will Oscar night be like The Matrix Revolutions?
The Case for Sideways
The Case for The Aviator
The Case for Million Dollar BabySundance Wrap-Up
Sundance Preview Part I
Sundance Preview Part 2
