Next Thursday, I believe.

Yeah, it's Thursday January 22.....which is also the 1st anniversary of Heath Ledger's death.

All I want is a nomination for Heath and The Dark Knight....I just want those two nods badly. LOL

Yeah, it's Thursday January 22.....which is also the 1st anniversary of Heath Ledger's death.

All I want is a nomination for Heath and The Dark Knight....I just want those two nods badly. LOL

Well its a forgone conclusion for Heath..... The Dark Knight on the other hand..... one of the so called front runners is going to be snubbed.... always happens.... they'd be fools to snub The Dark Knight. That blockbuster film getting major nominations is just the thing to give them their sought after ratings boost.

The Dark Knight was never a sure front runner though, nor has the Academy ever really given much thought about a ratings boost when selecting films. The BAFTA snub, along with the main critics groups not taking well to The Dark Knight meant its likelihood of a nomination was on very shaky ground. Those nominations from the Directors Guild, Writers Guild, and Producers Guild helped it a bit, but I'm not so sure that's enough at this point to guarantee The Dark Knight a nomination.

The voting body of that makes up the BAFTA's has a significant presence at the Academy of Motion Picture & Sciences, and since The Dark Knight wasn't nomianted there for Best Picture or Best Director, its chances at the Academy Awards seem as shaky as ever.

It could still sneak in there, but it's not a sure thing, and unless it scores the most nominations to have a psychological edge with the Academy, it doesn't have a chance at actually winning Best Picture.

Right now, Slumdog Millionaire is the obvious likely winner of Best Picture. It faired VERY WELL with the critics awards, it received nominations from all the main Guild's, it won the most Golden Globes, wound up with some impressive nominations at the SAG's, and it has the most BAFTA nominations.

Edited January 17, 200917 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

The BAFTA's best pictures usually have 1 or 2 differences from The Ocars' best pictures. So hopefully this year, TDK will be one of the differences.

Right now, Slumdog Millionaire is the obvious likely winner of Best Picture. It faired VERY WELL with the critics awards, it received nominations from all the main Guild's, it won the most Golden Globes, wound up with some impressive nominations at the SAG's, and it has the most BAFTA nominations.

I wasn't aware the SAG nominations were out yet. Can you link me to them?

I wasn't aware the SAG nominations were out yet. Can you link me to them?

Here's the thread Toups posted in this forum.

http://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=28903

Right now, Slumdog Millionaire is the obvious likely winner of Best Picture. It faired VERY WELL with the critics awards, it received nominations from all the main Guild's, it won the most Golden Globes, wound up with some impressive nominations at the SAG's, and it has the most BAFTA nominations.

Past few years' GG winner hasn't gotten the Oscar though. I don't know how the other ones compare.

Past few years' GG winner hasn't gotten the Oscar though. I don't know how the other ones compare.

The GG's are a popularity contest, but they help build momentum.

Chances are, if you haven't fared well with the critics awards and BAFTA's, you're not winning or getting nominated for Best Picture. Surprises do happen though. See the year Crash won Best Picture, when Broakback Mountain swept the critics awards and won the BAFTA for Best Picture.

Edited January 18, 200917 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

This article does a better job of summing up what the BAFTA snub means for The Dark Knight at the Oscar's. I'd love to see it sneak in there, but the film is deeply polarizing to people within the industry.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/season/200...ark-knight.html

BAFTAs: Is 'The Dark Knight' in trouble?

As many of you slept Wednesday night, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, a.k.a. BAFTA, announced its final nominees early this morning London time. Mostly it mirrors what pundits are predicting for the Oscar race, but it does confirm one lingering doubt I've had and it's not about "Doubt."

This is the last list, the last stop before the Oscar nominations are announced Jan. 22. The overall membership of BAFTA includes several hundred voters who are also members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Ever since BAFTA changed its voting dates to correspond with the rest of the awards season, it has been an interesting factor in trying to predict Oscar patterns.

"Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" lead in overall nominations with 11 each and are nominated for best picture along with "Milk", "Frost/Nixon" and "The Reader."

Almost every pundit out there now is predicting that the fifth slot in the Oscar race will go to "The Dark Knight," which received nine BAFTA noms but all except Heath Ledger's supporting actor nod were in technical categories. No screenplay, no directing, no picture. This runs against the grain of the DGA, PGA and WGA nominations, which all named "Dark Knight" and seemed to be pointing toward a certain best picture nomination.

Yet in BAFTA, it's the British-tinged "The Reader" that has gotten those nominations, five overall including Stephen Daldry for directing and David Hare for writing. This is the movie that has cropped up again and again in conversations I have had with Academy members, not "The Dark Knight."

My guess has been that "Dark Knight's" key support is with the technical branches of the Academy and that they could put it over the top as best picture. That scenario was also possible in BAFTA but didn't happen, and "The Reader" prevailed, much like "Atonement" last year, which had been ignored by all the guilds only to rebound, winning best picture at BAFTA and a surprise best picture nomination at the Oscars after the onetime front-runner was all but dumped by the pundits.

Can this happen again, with the beneficiary being the Harvey Weinstein love child, "The Reader"? It's an intriguing thought -- and one that's viable if you talk to enough Oscar voters. One major Oscar consultant who takes his own poll has also discovered little support for "Dark Knight" in the picture category and many "Reader" mentions. Are we both getting it wrong? Perhaps. Time will tell. Could Weinstein's insistence on putting "The Reader" in the race this year against much initial objection (particularly from producer Scott Rudin, who took his name off) actually pay off big time?

"The Reader" seems even stronger at BAFTA than "Milk," which did get a best picture mention but was snubbed for Gus Van Sant's direction and gained only three other nominations, including a minor makeup nod in addition to original screenplay and, of course, Sean Penn. "Milk" looks like the weakest link in the British race.

Incidentally the Brits correctly ruled Kate Winslet's performance in "The Reader" is a lead, so she is competing against her own performance in "Revolutionary Road" for best actress against Angelina Jolie, Kristin Scott Thomas and Meryl Streep. Oscar rules prohibit two nominatons in the same acting category so the newly minted double Golden Globe winner will just have to hope the Academy falls for her supporting "Reader" campaign the same way the Hollywood Foreign Press did.

Just for the record, while BAFTA went with hometown favorite "Atonement" for best picture last year, it correctly foreshadowed all four Oscar acting winners, Daniel Day-Lewis, Javier Bardem, Marion Cotillard and Tilda Swinton, the latter two getting a big boost as pundits had predicted Julie Christie and Amy Ryan to win instead. Oscar followed suit. Hmmmmmm.

I would also note the resurgence of another film largely forgotten by pundits, and that's Clint Eastwood's terrific "Changeling," which nabbed a very impressive eight BAFTA nominations, including those for Eastwood's direction, the original screenplay and Angelina Jolie for best actress, a category that snubbed supposed faves Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married," Melissa Leo in "Frozen River" and England's own Golden Globe winner and critics darling Sally Hawkins in "Happy Go Lucky," which got a total of zero nominations, quite surprising for a Mike Leigh film, doncha think?

"Happy Go Lucky" was released in Britain way back on April 18 so had been completely played out when awards season hit. Was it a victim of its own early release date there or were they just not that into you, Sally?

BAFTA also wasn't that into Woody Allen, whose widely praised and WGA-nominated script for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" was snubbed by less-talked-about possibilities, "In Bruges," "I've Loved You So Long" and the aforementioned "Changeling."

As for "Rachel Getting Married," although it played the London Film Festival in October, it isn't scheduled for release in the U.K. until next week but apparently Hathaway's performance is eligible this year as she was on BAFTA's initial longlist. One film that was disqualified is Eastwood's late inning Oscar vehicle, "Gran Torino," which hasn't opened in the UK. There's been lots of talk of a late surge for "Torino" at the Oscars by members watching it -- and LOVING it -- just as voting was taking place, making it, like "The Reader," a genuine possibility to knock a Dark Knight out the Big One too. Or not.

And getting back to OUR Academy Awards, the balloting closed officially Monday. How many voters waited until the very last minute to get their ballots in? According to a spy for a studio with one very big dog in the race, there were approximately 81 ballots hand-delivered to the Pricewaterhouse offices in Los Angeles before the 5 p.m. deadline. That's way down from last year, when around 500 were supposedly dropped off on the last day, which would mean Oscar voters had it much more together this year than last.

How does this spy know all this? They coyly planted paid studio watchdogs to hang out at PW and watch all the messengers come in with the specifically colored envelopes that indicated Academy ballots.

The CIA has NOTHING on Oscar consultants!

-- Pete Hammond

Edited January 18, 200917 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

The Oscar pundits at Gold Derby are predicting that The Dark Knight will grab the 5th slot in the Best Picture Race, along with "Frost/Nixon," "Milk," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," and "Slumdog Millionaire."

Here are their predictions and their odds on the top Oscar races, of course only Thursday will be telling if any of these films and actors get nominated and how many of them do. They're usually very good with their predictions though.

http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldde...52-ne.html#more

Gold Derby's odds on the top Oscars races

These odds are issued for entertainment purposes only and should not be used for gambling.

BEST PICTURE

"Slumdog Millionaire" -- 2/3

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" -- 5/2

"The Dark Knight" -- 4/1

"Frost/Nixon" -- 20/1

"Milk -- 20/1"

BEST DIRECTOR

Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire" -- 2/3

David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" -- 8/5

Christopher Nolan, "The Dark Knight" -- 2/1

Ron Howard, "Frost/Nixon" -- 25/1

Gus Van Sant, "Milk" -- 40/1

BEST ACTOR

Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler" -- 2/1

Sean Penn, "Milk" -- 5/2

Clint Eastwood, "Gran Torino" -- 3/1

Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon" -- 7/2

Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" -- 40/1

BEST ACTRESS

Kate Winslet, "Revolutionary Road" -- 2/1

Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married" -- 7/3

Sally Hawkins, "Happy-Go-Lucky" -- 5/2

Meryl Streep, "Doubt" -- 3/1

Angelina Jolie, "Changeling" -- 50/1

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight" -- 3/5

Josh Brolin, "Milk" -- 4/1

Dev Patel, "Slumdog Millionaire" -- 9/2

Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder" -- 5/1

Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt" -- 30/1

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" -- Even

Kate Winslet, "The Reader" -- 6/5

Viola Davis, "Doubt" -- 5/1

Marisa Tomei, "The Wrestler" -- 30/1

Taraji P. Henson, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" -- 50/1

Edited January 20, 200917 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...a9yeAgD95U0QQO0

Slumdog Millionaire WINS the Producers Guild Award for Best Picture.

The Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award Theatrical Motion Pictures

"Slumdog Millionaire"

Christian Colson

Edited January 25, 200917 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

Wow, congrats!

Danny Boyle, director of Slumdog Millionaire, WINS the Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Motion Picture.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/conten...8d058da69b652d0

Danny Boyle nabs top DGA Award

"Slumdog" helmer adds to awards-season haul

By Jay A. Fernandez

Feb 1, 2009, 12:37 AM ET

The Little Movie That Could can do no wrong. Danny Boyle has just been handed the DGA Award for outstanding directorial achievement in feature film for "Slumdog Millionaire."

Boyle walked away with the honor Saturday night during the DGA's annual awards ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel. David Fincher ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"), Gus Van Sant ("Milk"), Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight") and Ron Howard ("Frost/Nixon"), who won the award in 1995 and 2001, also were nominated.

It was Boyle's first DGA nomination.

It's been a miracle year for Boyle, the 52-year-old British director of "Shallow Grave," "Trainspotting," "A Life Less Ordinary," "The Beach," "28 Days Later…," "Millions" and "Sunshine." He's already been named the year's best director by several critics groups and took the top director's prize at the Golden Globes.

"Slumdog" almost didn't make it into theaters when Warner Independent folded, until audiences at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals responded fervently to its heartwarming story of a Mumbai street orphan with a shot at 20 million rupees. Fox Searchlight subsequently picked up and distributed the film, which has now grossed more than $75 million worldwide and earned 10 Oscar nominations.

The DGA Award for feature film has traditionally been an excellent predictor of the Oscar race. Only six times since 1948, when the guild began giving out awards, has the DGA Award gone to a director who didn't then win the Oscar. Those awards will be handed out Feb. 22.

Recent winners of the DGA Award are Joel and Ethan Coen in 2007, for "No Country for Old Men"; Martin Scorsese in 2006, for "The Departed"; Ang Lee in 2005, for "Brokeback Mountain"; and Clint Eastwood in 2004, for "Million Dollar Baby."

Edited February 1, 200917 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

Random info, I saw a chart with the last 30 best picture winners...19/30 were released in November or December.

Random info, I saw a chart with the last 30 best picture winners...19/30 were released in November or December.

I think the last film to win the prize that was released so early in the year was Gladiator in 2001.....