When Harvey Weinstein phoned his brother and business partner, Bob, from this year’s Cannes film festival and announced that he had just spent “a lot of millions” acquiring a silent, black-and-white movie by a little-known French director, he's said to have got a two-word response: “you’re mad!”
Today, things looked different. Amid stellar reviews and rapidly-growing box office, that unpromising-sounding film, The Artist, was nominated for no less than six Golden Globe awards. The Frenchman, Michel Hazanavacius, found himself alongside Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, and George Clooney, in the shortlist for Best Director.
In the era of 3D, effects-laden blockbusters and $200m budgets, the self-consciously old-fashioned title, which cost $15m to make, becomes odds-on favourite to win Best Comedy or Musical at January 15th’s event in Los Angeles, which is regarded as an important curtain-raiser for the coming Oscar season.
Jean Dujardin, who plays a 1920s silent film actor threatened by the rise of “talkies,” will now be competing with the likes of Ryan Gosling and Owen Wilson for a Best Actor award. He described the news as “an incredible gift,” adding “I am literally speechless.” His co-star, Berenice Beno, will contest Best Supporting Actress.
It has been a tricky year for Hollywood, which is suffering falling revenues, spiralling costs, and critical apathy towards many major titles. To that end, it was perhaps inevitable that Globes voters would have to cast their minds back to the Summer for this year’s other big winner: the movie adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s civil rights-era novel The Help.
It tied for five nominations with The Descendants, a well-reviewed new family drama starring George Clooney, who is nominated for Best Actor in a Drama for his performance. Ironically, the film will compete with The Ides of March, a political thriller written and directed by Mr Clooney, for Best Drama.
Other strong showings came from Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, and Moneyball, the adaptation of Michael Lewis’s book about baseball, starring Brad Pitt. Along with Ides of March, they each scored four nominations.
Martin Scorsese also enjoyed a good morning. His new film Hugo was shortlisted in three categories, while his TV series Boardwalk Empire got three nominations, including one for the Scottish actress, Kelly MacDonald.
It was, by the standards of recent years, an underwhelming day for UK talent. While Downton Abbey was nominated for Best Miniseries - its stars Maggie Smith and Hugh Bonneville also got nods – and Kate Winslet is in the mix for the TV series Mildred Pierce, not a single British title features in major movie categories.
Patriotic viewers must instead hope that Tilda Swinton or Kenneth Branagh upset expectations by wining acting awards for We Need to Talk About Kevin and My Week With Marilyn respectively. They can also look forward to the fact that, despite controversy over his facetious tone last year, Ricky Gervais will return as host.
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