How Working for the Pentagon Prepared Me for Hollywood (Guest Blog)
In five years as adviser to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, “Midnighters” writer-producer Alston Ramsay says he learned to over-plan — and be willing to toss those plans aside
We were somewhere in the wilds of Rhode Island on a deserted stretch of road in the dead of a bitter New England winter night, and we were about to hit a man with a car — on purpose. Yet even as the driver maneuvered the vehicle into place, all I could think about was a dinner I had had years earlier in Baku, Azerbaijan, with then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. That, and the raging kitchen fire that had abruptly ended the dinner.
It’s a long way from Baku to Rhode Island, where I was shooting “Midnighters,” a Hitchcockian thriller I wrote and produced with my brother Julius directing (which IFC Midnight releases on March 2 in theaters and via VOD).
But that moment encapsulated one of the many applicable lessons to Hollywood I learned during five years as a speechwriter for and adviser to Secretary Gates at the Pentagon and General David Petraeus in Afghanistan: the reality of situations where there are no do-overs; the need for firm plans and the willingness to discard said plans; and the relationships with those with whom you want to, and have to, work. Here are some of those lessons:
In most jobs, make-or-break moments are few and far between. In politics and film, however, events that don’t count for anything are about as rare as a tree on the moon.
I’ve figured out PowerPoint in Italian (which I don’t speak) moments before a four-star general gave a presentation to the ministers of defense of 40 countries, and I’ve re-written a major policy address after North Korea detonated a nuclear device while we were airborne en route to the largest annual defense gathering in Asia for a keynote speech.
In the exact same category: re-writing a scene in “Midnighters” in under an hour that had to be re-shot that night in an impossibly narrow time slot.
Regardless of the stakes, there’s a Zen calmness that comes in knowing that it will get done — because it has to get done.
The expression is apocryphally attributed to Eisenhower, and it speaks to the necessity of planning for any contingency, even though in all likelihood those plans will, to use another military expression, survive only until contact with the enemy.
You prep for scenes, you prep for shoots, and then — just as in actual battle — more often than not it’s all thrown out the window. I can’t begin to count the number of schedule changes we made with “Midnighters” to account for New England winter weather that took us from a foot of snow on the ground at the beginning of the shoot to 70-degree weather four weeks later.
Our assistant directors were well-prepared to pivot every time the forecast changed because they had backup plans and backups for the backups. It’s the planning process allows for strategic improvisation.
Hollywood and the Beltway are both networking businesses — ones in which your fortunes can change in an instant. Secretary Gates used to quip that in D.C., people often say they’ll double-cross that bridge when they come to it. The Hollywood version is that you meet the same people on the way down that you met on the way up.
In other words: Be polite, professional, and courteous, to anyone and everyone, because you never know when you’ll be the one in need of a favor.
4. Stay Calm and Listen to the Experts
Secretary Gates, his wife and a handful of staffers (myself among them) were dining at the Azerbaijani equivalent of a high-end BBQ joint. Which is the primary reason we didn’t notice that the restaurant was slowly filling with smoke — even though we did notice the semi-frantic movement of our security detail as they scurried back-and-forth to and from the kitchen.
We knew it was their job to keep us safe, and we knew they were consummate pros. So we calmly ate our dinner right up until the moment the head of the detail politely told us, in no uncertain terms, that we needed to leave — and right then. Secretary Gates may have out-ranked him by about as much as you can, but that is one order he followed without question.
That dinner ran through my mind as our stunt coordinator discussed the car hit with the stunt driver and the stuntman. This was the critical moment of the shoot, and it had to be right — but more importantly, it had to be safe. The stunt coordinator was the expert, and it was his show now.
We ultimately did three takes of the hit — the last one at the stunt man’s behest. And it was that shot, right as dawn was creeping over the horizon, that made the final cut in one of the most memorable scenes in “Midnighters.”
Oscars 2018: Our Predictions in All 24 Categories (Photos)
We know who’ll win the acting awards, but several other categories — notably including Best Picture — are completely up in the air as Oscar night approaches. Here are our best guesses (and for a more complete explanation, read my fuller analysis):
BEST PICTURE Nominees: "Call Me by Your Name" "Darkest Hour" "Dunkirk" "Get Out" "Lady Bird" "Phantom Thread" "The Post" "The Shape of Water" "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
"The Shape of Water" has the most nominations, 13. It won the Producers Guild and Directors Guild awards. It's a valentine to the art of cinema.
Predicted winner: "The Shape of Water"
Fox Searchlight
BEST DIRECTOR Nominees: Paul Thomas Anderson, "Phantom Thread Guillermo del Toro, "The Shape of Water" Greta Gerwig, "Lady Bird" Christopher Nolan, "Dunkirk" Jordan Peele, "Get Out"
If Best Picture is so split between "Shape of Water," "Dunkirk," "Lady Bird" and "Get Out," shouldn't this race be a nail-biter between del Toro, Nolan, Gerwig and Peele? Nope. Just as it has in every recent year, the heat has coalesced around a single director, in this case del Toro. This seems to be one of the nine categories that are pretty much a lock.
Predicted winner: Guillermo del Toro
Photographed by Irvin Rivera
BEST ACTOR Nominees: Timothée Chalamet, "Call Me by Your Name" Daniel Day-Lewis, "Phantom Thread" Daniel Kaluuya, "Get Out" Gary Oldman, "Darkest Hour" Denzel Washington, "Roman J. Israel, Esq."
This is another of those locks. (In fact, all four acting categories are.) While Chalamet and Kaluuya are two of the year's big discovery, this award was Oldman's as soon as Focus began screening his all-but-unrecognizable performance as Winston Churchill. This is an Oscar standing ovation just waiting to happen.
Predicted Winner: Gary Oldman
"Darkest Hour" / Jack English/ Focus Features
BEST ACTRESS Nominees: Sally Hawkins, "The Shape of Water" Frances McDormand, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" Margot Robbie, "I, Tonya" Saoirse Ronan, "Lady Bird" Meryl Streep, "The Post"
It initially seemed to be one of the year's most competitive categories, with McDormand, Ronan and Hawkins landing massive acclaim, Robbie sneaking into the field with a bold performance and Meryl being Meryl. But then McDormand, an absolute force of nature in "Three Billboards," startin g winning all the awards. And she's not going to stop now.
Predicted winner: Frances McDormand
Fox Searchlight
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Nominees: Willem Dafoe, "The Florida Project" Woody Harrelson, "Three Billb oards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" Richard Jenkins, "The Shape of Water" Christopher Plummer, "All the Money in the World" Sam Rockwell, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Sam Rockwell, playing a dimwitted and thuggish racist who is one of the only people in "Three Billboards" to slightly change, won SAG and the Golden Globes and the Critics' Choice Award and BAFTA, which has made him a prohibitive favorite.
Predicted winner: Sam Rockwell
Fox Searchlight
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Nominees: Mary J. Blige, "Mudbound" Allison Janney, "I, Tonya" Lesley Manvill e, "Phantom Thread" Laurie Metcalf, "Lady Bird" Octavia Spencer, "The Shape of Water"
Voters for all the precursor awards embraced the fun Allison Janney had playing Tonya Harding's monstrous mother, and Oscar voters seem all but certain to do the same.
Predicted winner: Allison Janney
Neon
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Nominees: "Call Me by Your Name" "The Disaster Artist" "Logan" "Molly's Game" "Mudbound"
While voters occasionally decide that the best screenplay is the one with the most words, which would be good news for Aaron Sorkin and "Molly's Game," nothing seems positioned to challenge James Ivory's adaptation of the Andre Aciman novel.
Predicted Winner: "Call Me by Your Name"
Sony Pictures Classics
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Nominees: "The Big Sick" "Get Out" "Lady Bird" "The Shape of Water" "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
This is likely a very close race between "Three Billboards" and "Get Out" -- and while Jordan Peele wrote the year's most zeitgeisty movie and could easily win, "Three Billboards" is a showier piece of writing.
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" / Fox Searchlight
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Nominees: "Blade Runner 2049" "Darkest Hour" "Dunkirk" "Mudbound" "The Shape of Water"
"Blade Runner" DP Roger Deakins, a pretty unanimous choice as the greatest living cinematographer, has been nominated 13 previous times but has never won, and his astounding work on the Denis Villeneuve epic ought to finally do the trick.
Predicted winner: "Blade Runner 2049"
"Blade Runner 2049" / Warner Bros.
BEST FILM EDITING Nominees: "Baby Driver" "Dunkirk" "I, Tonya" "The Shape of Water" "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
"Baby Driver" is such a virtuoso piece of fast-paced editing that it could well prove an exception to the usual rule that you need to be a Best Picture nominee to win in this category. But "Dunkirk," which simultaneously cuts between three different war stories taking place at different locations and different times, is an advertisement for its editing.
Predicted winner: "Dunkirk"
Warner Bros
BEST COSTUME DESIGN Nominees: "Beauty and the Beast" "Darkest Hour" "Phantom Thread" "The Shape of Water" "Victoria & Abdul"
It was a shock when the Costume Designers Guild gave its period-costumes award not to "Phantom Thread," the movie about a clothes designer, but to "The Shape of Water," most of whose characters sport lab coats or cleaning-lady smocks. But look for Oscar voters to recognize the movie in which the man makes the clothes and the clothes make the man ... and the women.
Predicted winner: "Phantom Thread"
"Phantom Thread" / Focus Features
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN Nominees: "Beauty and the Beast" "Blade Runner 2049" "Darkest Hour" "Dunkirk" "The Shape of Water"
This should be a showdown between the amazing futurescapes of "Blade Runner" and the richly detailed environments of "The Shape of Water" -- and the fact that voters like the latter movie better than the former one could tip the scales.
Predicted winner: "The Shape of Water"
Fox Searchlight
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING Nominees: "Darkest Hour" "Victoria & Abdul" "Wonder"
Here's another lock, because only one of these films features makeup that is instrumental in an Oscar-winning performance. Before Gary Oldman could act like Winston Churchill, he had to look like Winston Churchill, and that was the considerable accomplishment of the "Darkest Hour" makeup team.
Predicted winner: "Darkest Hour"
Focus Features
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE Nominees: "Dunkirk" "Phantom Thread" "The Shape of Water" "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Voters love a piece of music that instantly captures the mood of a film they admire, and Alexandre Desplat provides that in his music for "The Shape of Water."
Predicted winner: "The Shape of Water"
Fox Searchlight
BEST ORIGINAL SONG Nominees: "Mighty River" from "Mudbound" "Mystery of Love" from "Call Me by Your Name" "Remember Me" from "Coco" "Stand Up for Something" from "Marshall" "This Is Me" from "The Greatest Showman"
"Remember Me" is from a bigger movie but "This Is Me" is becoming a phenomenon at just the right time, which will probably give "City of Stars" writers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul their second consecutive song Oscar.
Predicted winner: "The Greatest Showman"
20th Century Fox
BEST SOUND EDITING Nominees: "Baby Driver" "Blade Runner 2049" "Dunkirk" "The Shape of Water" "Star Wars: The Last Jedi"
Two previous Christopher Nolan movies, "The Dark Knight" and "Inception," have won in this category, and his "Dunkirk" should have the scale and drama to give him a third.
Predicted winner: "Dunkirk"
"Dunkirk" / Warner Bros.
BEST SOUND MIXING Nominees: "Baby Driver" "Blade Runner 2049" "Dunkirk" "The Shape of Water" "Star Wars: The Last Jedi"
Over the last 12 years, the same film has won in both Oscar sound categories eight times -- so when in doubt, it's best to predict a sound-category sweep. This year also lacks the kind of big musical nominee that often wins in the category, which will help "Dunkirk" in its quest to win another.
Predicted winner: "Dunkirk"
"Dunkirk" / Warner Bros.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS Nominees: "Blade Runner 2049" "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" "Kong: Skull Island" "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" "War for the Planet of the Apes"
The team for the "Apes" franchise has yet to win an Oscar for their visual effects work on the series, but we're guessing that voters will finally come to their senses and realize what an accomplishment the simian saga has been.
Predicted winner: "War for the Planet of the Apes"
"War for the Planet of the Apes" / 20th Century Fox
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE Nominees: "The Boss Baby" "The Breadwinner" "Coco" "Ferdinand" "Loving Vincent"
Has "Coco" lost anything it's been nominated for this year? If so, I wasn't paying attention.
Predicted winner: "Coco"
"Coco" / Disney/Pixar
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUA GE FILM Nominees: "A Fantastic Woman," Chile "The Insult," Lebanon "Loveless," Russia "On Body and Soul," Hungary "The Square," Sweden
In a very close race, we think the Euro-centric nature of the Academy's international membership may give the slightest of edges to "The Insult."
Predicted winner: "The Insult"
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Nominees: "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail" "Faces Places" "Icarus" "Last Men in Aleppo" "Strong Island"
With none of the four issue-oriented films really standing out, it's possible that the serious vote will split four ways and allow the beloved French icon Agnès Varda to become the oldest Oscar winner ever for her and co-director JR's wry and delightful travelogue "Faces Places."
Predicted winner: "Faces Places"
"Faces Places"
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT Nominees: "Edith+Eddie" "Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405" "Heroin(e)" "Knife Skills" "Traffic Stop"
The two strongest contenders are "Heroin(e)," a wrenching but also inspiring look at the opioid crisis in West Virginia though the eyes of three women (a fire chief, a judge and a crusading volunteer) on the front lines, and "Edith+Eddie," a character study of the country's oldest biracial newlyweds that leaves viewers utterly infuriated at government indifference toward the elderly. Typically, the film that wins in this category is the film that leaves viewers with some hope, which could give "Heroin(e)" a tiny edge.
Predicted winner: "Heroin(e)"
Netflix
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM Nominees: "Dear Basketball" "Garden Party" "Lou" "Negative Space" "Revolting Rhymes"
At the Oscar nominees luncheon, there was no bigger star in the room than Kobe Bryant, and nobody who posed for more selfies. And animator/director Glen Keane is a Disney vet almost as beloved in animation as Kobe is in basketball.
Predicted winner: "Dear Basketball"
"Dear Basketball"
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM Nominees: "DeKalb Elementary" "The Eleven O'Clock" "My Nephew Emmett" "The Silent Child" "Watu Wote/All of Us"
Three of the nominees -- "DeKalb Elementary," "My Nephew Emmett" and "Watu Wote" -- are exceptional, fact-based student films that could not be timelier: "DeKalb" deals with a shooter at an elementary school, "Emmett" with a horrifying episode that helped trigger the civil rights movement, "Watu Wote" with Christian/Muslim tensions.
Predicted winner: "DeKalb Elementary"
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The acting categories are all sewn up, but Best Picture could yield an upset
We know who’ll win the acting awards, but several other categories — notably including Best Picture — are completely up in the air as Oscar night approaches. Here are our best guesses (and for a more complete explanation, read my fuller analysis):
Alston Ramsay is the writer-producer of the indie thriller "Midnighters." He previously worked as a speechwriter in Washington, D.C. He served as a senior adviser to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, General David Petraeus and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. In those roles, he traveled to at least three dozen countries and finished it off with a year in Kabul, Afghanistan. Following that, he earned an MBA from UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and worked in management consulting and as a marketing executive at a start-up.