Stop the presses: the Hollywood Foreign Press might be unethical. And stop me if you've heard this before: critics like "The Social Network."
On the eve of the Golden Globe nominations, Roger Friedman gets all worked up about seven members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association receiving credited roles in Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere." In the movie, movie star Johnny Marco (played by Stephen Dorff) goes to a press conference at the Four Seasons hotel (left), where a group of international journalists seen only from the back ask him stupid questions like "Who is Johnny Marco?" But seven of them are named in the end credits, which Friedman says "reeks of impropriety" and is "unethical and laughable." If "Somewhere" gets any Globe nominations Tuesday morning, this might actually become an issue. If not … well, at least Dorff got the odd experience, last Thursday, of doing a HFPA press conference for "Somewhere" in the same room of the same hotel where his character did an HFPA press conference. UPDATE: It didn't. (411.com)
Tim Appelo has an exclusive headlined "How 'Kids Are All Right' Beat Aaron Sorkin at NYFCC Awards," in which "a source close to the NYFCC action" says it did because … well, because some of the voters really, really liked it. That, and something vague called "The Second Ballot Gambit," where in the second round of voting you can hurt a rival by leaving it out of your top three choices. The source says that gambit was used by "at least one voter" to prevent Christian Bale from winning the Best Supporting Actor award – though if it only took one voter, I have to wonder how strong Bale's support was to begin with. Anyway Appelo says that the support for "The Social Network" was broader and shallower than the support for "Kids." (The Race)
Jeff Wells wants to know why the LA Film Critics chose Kim Hye-ja and Niels Arestrup as acting winners, and whether "The King's Speech" still has a chance now that "The Social Network" is winning all the critics awards. So he asked six "handicappers," including me, for explanations. The consensus: LAFCA is always perverse when it comes to acting awards, and none of us expected "The King's Speech" to rake in critics awards. Wells had also asked all of us a question about whether Annette Bening's chances in the Best Actress race were dead, but Bening's victory with the New York Film Critics Circle sort of rendered that one moot. (Hollywood Elsewhere)
Another critics group: San Francisco Film Critics. Another victory for "The Social Network." Michelle Williams and John Hawkes enter the awards picture. And more love for the Korean film "Mother." Awards Daily has the roundup:
Best Picture:
“The Social Network”
Best Director: (TIE)
Darren Aronofsky, “Black Swan” and David Fincher, “The Social Network”
Best Original Screenplay:
David Seidler, “The King’s Speech”
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Aaron Sorkin, “The Social Network”
Best Actor:
Colin Firth, “The King’s Speech”
Best Actress:
Michelle Williams, “Blue Valentine”
Best Supporting Actor:
John Hawkes, “Winter’s Bone”
Best Supporting Actress:
Jacki Weaver, “Animal Kingdom”
Best Animated Feature:
“Toy Story 3”
Best Foreign Language Film:
“Mother” (South Korea)
Best Documentary:
“The Tillman Story”
Best Cinematography: Matthew Libatique, “Black Swan”
Marlon Riggs Award for courage & vision in the Bay Area film community:
Elliot Lavine
