I know, I know… it’s early in the year and the Oscars just ended and Oh my God what are you doing? Yet, the wheels keep turning and I like to be ahead of the game rather than playing catch up at the end of the year so I’m trying to make sure the database is locked and loaded for Oscar 2016 and I just got done adding a few contenders, contenders such as…
Luca Guadagnino‘s A Bigger Splash, which Fox Searchlight just acquired for distribution starring Matthias Schoenaerts, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson and Aurore Clément. The pic centers on a high profile couple, a famous rock star and a filmmaker (Schoenaerts and Swinton), vacationing and recovering on the idyllic sun-drenched and remote Italian island of Pantelleria are disrupted by the unexpected visit of an old friend and his daughter (Fiennes and Johnson) – creating a whirlwind of jealousy, passion and ultimate danger for everyone involved.
By that plot description I had a hard time figuring out what it was all about, but Searchlight Presidents Stephen Gilula and Nancy Utley say it’s “a rich and enigmatic thriller”. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, Guadagnino directed 2010’s I Am Love, which also starred Swinton.
Next is The Last Face, directed by Sean Penn and starring Charlize Theron as a director of an international aid agency in Africa who meets a relief aid doctor (Javier Bardem) amidst a political/social revolution. Together they face tough choices surrounding humanitarianism and life through civil unrest. Blue is the Warmest Color breakout star Adèle Exarchopoulos is also in the cast along with Jean Reno and Jared Harris.
Of course, with Penn, this could get very heavy-handed, but it’s also one I can’t outright ignore out of the box. It doesn’t however, have a distributor yet.
Then there’s the latest from Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Mississipi Grind, starring Ryan Reynolds, Sienna Miller, Ben Mendelsohn, Analeigh Tipton, Alfre Woodard and Robin Weigert. This one premiered at Sundance and was snatched up by A24.
No release date has yet been set, but the film centers on the story of Gerry (Mendelsohn), down on his luck he teams up with younger charismatic poker player, Curtis (Reynolds), in an attempt to change his luck. The two set off on a road trip through the South with visions of winning back what’s been lost. No release date just yet.
Finally, today I added Trumbo directed by Jay Roach, which, let’s face it, isn’t a particularly great sign, buuuuuut, just check out this cast. The film stars Bryan Cranston as Hollywood screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, whose career comes to an end when he’s blacklisted in the 1940s for being a Communist. Joining Cranston is Diane Lane as Trumbo’s wife Cleo, Elle Fanning as one of their daughters Nikola, Louis C.K. as screenwriter Arlen Hird, Helen Mirren in what possibly could be an Oscar-worthy turn as gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, Alan Tudyk as screenwriter Ian McLellan Hunter and John Goodman as producer Frank King.
The film will be a drama despite Roach’s comedic history and other names in the cast include Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Virgil Brooks, Michael Stuhlbarg as Edward G. Robinson, Dean O’Gorman as Kirk Douglas and Roger Bart as Buddy Ross. I don’t know, maybe Roach will hit the same notes he did with HBO’s “Game Change“, which looks like an outlier in his directorial career and make this one a hit.
I’m going to be looking to putting together a more definitive list of 2016 Oscar contenders in March, but for now, feel free to spitball some possibilities in the comments. Anything is on the table, but I’m primarily looking for titles not in the database so if you need to hit the search at the top of the page, do so if you would be so kind.
