sherry lansing Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Why Baz Luhrman's 'Australia' Needs to Be Oscar-Worthy
Filed under: Drama », Awards », 20th Century Fox », Oscar Watch », Cinematical Indie », War », Nicole Kidman »
I guess we won't be seeing the first female President of the United States in 2009, but we could at least see the first female cinematographer nominated for an Academy Award (in the cinematography category, that is). In the 80 years of the Oscars there hasn't been one female nominee for Best Cinematography. Shocking, isn't it? But fortunately there's a chance for next year's ceremony: Mandy Walker, who shot Baz Luhrman's war epic Australia, could be a shoo-in for one of the five nomination slots if the film is Oscar-worthy in general.The Oscar blog In Contention points out the possibility in a recent post celebrating Walker's reception Tuesday evening of the Kodak Vision Award at the Women in Film's Crystal + Lucy Awards (other honorees included Salma Hayek, Sherry Lansing, Ginnifer Goodwin, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Diane English and the ensemble of The Women). Clearly we only need to look at the trailer to see that Walker's work on the film is gorgeous and might have a shot. In Contention also notes Walker's previous achievements, such as her Independent Spirit Award nomination for Shattered Glass.
Spielberg, Coppola and Lucas to Hand Scorsese His Oscar
Filed under: Awards », Paramount », Tom Cruise », George Lucas », Steven Spielberg », Oscar Watch »
According to L.A. Weekly blogger Nikki Finke, there will be three presenters of the Oscar for Best Achievement in Directing. Those presenters? None other than Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. Finke doesn't go on to make assumptions, but I'll go ahead and speculate that the planners of the telecast know something about who will win this award -- or they're making a hopeful gamble. Of course it will be great television to feature three of the most important "New Hollywood" directors hand a long overdue award to a fourth member of that era, Martin Scorsese. Personally, though, I think if Scorsese is a definite lock for the award, then Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Barry Levinson and Roman Polanski should be the ones presenting it.Finke has learned of a few other "surprises" we can look forward to on Sunday night, including an appearance by Tom Cruise to present his old boss at Paramount, Sherry Lansing, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Also, the supporting acting awards will not be announced at the beginning of the ceremony, as they usually are, and none of the scheduled performers from Dreamgirls (Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose) will sing the song they sing in the movie -- who will perform what is not revealed, however. As for montages, we can expect one directed by Michael Mann about the portrayal of America in movies and one directed by Nancy Meyers about the portrayal of writers.
It is being rumored that this year's Oscar telecast will be extremely long, so hopefully the Academy and the planners have some other surprises that are more exciting than these. Of course, many of us will be glued to the set the whole way through to find out which picture will be revealed as the best, but I think the media is overestimating the public curiosity this year and I doubt that many people will really care enough to be up that late.
Academy Picks Sherry Lansing for Hersholt Award
Filed under: Awards », Paramount », Oscar Watch »
When Sherry Lansing left the movie business last year, she probably didn't expect to win an Academy Award. Or maybe she quit Paramount just to be more humanitarian in order to win an award. No, that just wouldn't make any sense. Anyway, the one-time Oscar-nominated producer of Fatal Attraction will indeed be honored by the Academy; she will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award on February 25. Some people consider the Hersholt presentation a good time to head to the bathroom during the Oscars telecast (unfortunately for those people it isn't given out every year). Unlike the honorary award presentation, which should be just as enjoyable as ever this coming year, the Hersholt honor isn't always given to someone that most viewers recognize, are familiar with, or care about. I hate to say this, because the award goes to people who have done wonderful things for the world -- Lansing, for example, does a lot for cancer research among many other charitable things -- but ask your friends if they remember Roger Mayer or Howard W. Koch. Sure, sometimes the award goes to someone more famous like Paul Newman or Charlton Heston, but I guarantee that a majority of viewers of the Oscars won't have a clue who Lansing is (or was, since she's hardly a Hollywood player these days) when she graces their screen. Not that this should matter. I actually wish that there were enough humanitarians in Hollywood for the Academy to give the award out every year.
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