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Blurbmeister

Dan Glickman, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, comes across as a guy who genuinely likes hanging out at the movies. (By contrast, his predecessor Jack Valenti seemed more the kind of guy who liked hanging out with movie moguls.) At his annual address today to the assembled force of distributors and exhibitors at Showest, Glickman admitted to seeing “Borat” three times, and offered up an unsolicited blurb: “Arguably the most disturbing nude scene ever to hit the silver screen.” He somewhat self-effacingly related a recent weekend trip to the movies where he was turned away from sell-out showings of “The Last King of Scotland” and “Amazing Grace.” And then he delivered a rave for the Academy Award-winning “The Lives of Others” from director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. “This is an extraordinary film on the East German secret police, the Stassi,” Glickman said. “Hugely relevant today in light of recent disclosures of alleged FBI violations of the Patriot Act.” The man knows how to give good quote. (posted by Gregg Kilday)

Oscar Nominations Analysis

You have to hand it to hard-working AP scribe Dave Germain: he had the first Oscar noms story up this morning. Like Gregg, Nicole and me, he's been covering Sundance and now has to do a day of Oscar reporting. I've already spoken to happy nominee Mark Wahlberg this morning---"now my parents can call me a professional actor," he said. "I'm so fortunate."

Here's the complete list of nominations

Even with eight nominations, Dreamgirls' showing is a disappointment for Paramount/Dreamworks, even if Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy and a host of technical nods went their way. Not scoring best picture, director or writer is a huge blow and a surprise, although enthusiasm for the film was lagging with its boxoffice. Finally, even though Bill Condon mounted a smart and great-looking movie with many strong performances, somehow Dreamgirls failed to rouse big emotions. I suspect the original material is the underlying issue here. It's hard to imagine a better movie being made from that musical.

The happy camper this morning--along with the folks behind Babel, The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine and Borat, which nabbed a surprise adapted screenplay nomination, is Clint Eastwood, whose Letters from Iwo Jima pushed Dreamgirls out of the best picture race. Interestingly, while Eastwood was nominated for directing Letters, the film did not get any acting nods, so it has to be considered a weak best picture contender. Letters had a total of four nominations, while its competitors Babel had seven, Little Miss Sunshine had four (though not directing, United 93's Paul Greengrass sqeaked in there), The Departed had five, and The Queen had six.

In the end, the move to put Letters out at year's end paid off handsomely, as Eastwood's star power and critics' raves turned what might have been a difficult-to-watch foreign language war film into a must-see. Eastwood knows what he's doing, and the Warners Oscar strategy that was criticized for pushing Blood Diamond over The Departed paid off for both. The actors branch gave DiCaprio his due for his meaty Blood Diamond performance rather than The Departed. (He must have gotten many votes for both films, and wound up not losing altogether.) Djimon Hounsou was also rewarded for his powerfully moving Blood Diamond role.

While it might seem that Sony Pictures Classics would be crying over Volver being shut out of the foreign language final five, truth is, the Best Actress nomination for Penelope Cruz will generate more boxoffice as the film goes into wider release on 700 screens, the most for any Pedro Almodovar film, says SPC's Michael Barker. Their Lives of Others is a strong candidate for the win—although Pan's Labyrinth, which scored six nominations today, will also get some traction there and may have been more widely seen. The trick with the foreign films is that only the Oscar voters who have seen all five films get to vote. So some of the films---like After the Wedding--that haven't been widely seen gain a bizarre advantage.

Finally it's a wide open race. But my money for best picture is on Little Miss Sunshine. WHY? It's the little best picture that could. And it's beloved.

Globes Party Wrap

Sundance beckons. Here's the last of the Globes party trawl: Marc Malkin is here, my own foggy recollects are below:

After Babel won the Big Prize, THR editor Cynthia Littleton and I headed to the Weinstein Co. party first, passing recently departed Paramount president Gail Berman in the hotel lobby; Jamie Foxx was doing TV interviews on the chilly red carpet ramp between the hotel and Trader Vic's. (My favorite Globes memory from some years back is of Jodie Foster and date Russell Crowe slow-dancing on the Trader Vic's dance floor. They acted quite smitten that one night.) It was bitter cold, so most people were not hanging in the courtyard with heatlamps but inside the tent, where DJ Michelle Pesce was spinning discs, or at the banquettes inside the dark restaurant. Mike Medavoy and Bob and Harvey Weinstein arrived, eventually followed by the Bobby contingent, led by Emilio Estevez and Sharon Stone, and the Grind House gang led by Robert Rodriguez and Rosario Dawson, my sources later told me, but we had to move on.

We took the elevator up to the 8th floor to the Fox party, where Cynthia buttonholed Master of the Universe Rupert Murdoch and I spoke to his wife Wendy, who was tall and slim and wearing an unbelievably ornate emerald and diamond necklace and earring set. She was enthusiastic about reading blogs. Nice of her to say. Closer to the bar, Kimmel Co.'s Bill Horberg talked about shooting Marc Forster's film adaptation of The Kite Runner in a remote area of China, close to Afghanistan. It was rough. "I won't be going back there again," he said simply.

Thank You for Smoking writer-director Jason Reitman is already onto his next project for Fox Searchlight, Juno, written this time by Diablo Cody. (Unplanned pregnancies seem to be a trend: writer-director Judd Apatow's Knocked Up is due June 1 from Universal, starring Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl in "a comedy about a one-night stand that delivered.") Studio co-chairman Tom Rothman insists that his studio will continue to spend big money on the right big pictures (like Jim Cameron's upcoming Avatar), small money on the right small pictures (like Devil Wears Prada or Borat), looking hard at costs on each individual movie—no rigid formulas, no trend-watching, just careful examination of each special case. It's working so far, as the LAT's Patrick Goldstein has elaborated here.

Back in the lobby, we ran into SPC's Michael Barker and Tom Bernard with Lives of Others director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who towers over any crowd, on the way out of the Warner-In-Style party, which we decided to skip because the lines were too long. So Cynthia and I hawled our tired butts through the cold night over to the old Robinson's May for the Paramount/DreamWorks party, where spirits were soaring, natch. Bill Condon, Steven Spielberg, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jon Kilik, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Steve Golin, Laurence Mark and Paramount's Brad Grey, Rob Moore, John Lesher, Janet Hill, Nancy Kirkpatrick, Gerry Rich et al celebrated as the Supremes played on.

The high point of the Paramount party for me: my longest conversation yet with Cannes festival topper Thierry Fremaux--way out of context-- who admitted that the festival struggles to see all the films they should to make the best possible selection.

2929 honcho Todd Wagner told us that unlike Bubble, the new Steven Soderbergh slated to shoot at the end of the year for 2008 release will have stars in it this time. Smart move. It makes it easier to actually market. Until a day and date movie actually pulls people in, all the talk is still hot air.

One cool gaggle at Paramount included statuesque new media mogul Arianna Huffington—"it's all about linking," she chanted, like a mantra—producer Lawrence Bender and Netflix content officer Ted Sarandos. (We commiserated about going to Sundance this week; it's below zero up there.) Stacey Snider and her new DreamWorks producer Nina Jacobson joined the group leaving for the hot party of the night, the one the press doesn't go to: CAA.

UPDATE: This Carrie Rickey commentary about the ballsy Globes is delicious.

Sacha Baron Cohen Celebrates Borat Globe Nominaton

[posted by Tatiana Siegel] How irresistible is Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen? Everyone from studio heads to A-list directors were falling over themselves to congratulate Baron Cohen on his Golden Globe nomination at Richard Zanuck's fete held at L.A.'s Jar Restaurant. Zanuck is producing director Tim Burton's upcoming R-rated sanguine musical Sweeney Todd, which stars Johnny Depp as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Burton squeeze Helena Bonham Carter as pie-maker Mrs. Lovett, and Baron Cohen, who will be rapping his role as rival barber Senor Adolfo Pirelli, says Zanuck.

While Warners' production head Jeff Robinov was busy fawning over Cohen (an impressive feat given their height difference), Team Borat was busy targeting Academy voters in attendance, particularly the geriatric ones who might not understand the charms of the Kazakhstani journalist. Nevertheless, with Jon Favreau, Shawn Levy, Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman in attendance, Baron Cohen is probably now booked through 2008.

Fox isn't doing Baron Cohen's next, Bruno, though, because the studio balked at the movie's hefty $42.5-million pricetag because, they say (not for quote of course) Baron Cohen's swishy gay alter-ego will prove less accessible and funny than Borat. Universal is doing the honors.

UPDATE: Here's Baron Cohen's on-air chat with Fresh Air's Terry Gross on NPR.

Time's Top Ten

Time critics Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel pick their top ten. Clint Eastwood's Letter from Iwo Jima is number one.

Globes Analysis

Here's my THR riskybiz analysis of this morning's Globes announcement:

Clint Eastwood and Leonardo DiCaprio might as well enjoy the dual nominations they each received from the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. while they can. Because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' rule book -- as well as practical realities -- are going to prevent a repeat performance when the Oscar nominations are announced Jan. 23.

For one thing, the Oscar rule book forbids an actor getting two nominations in the same category. Thus, it is far more likely that DiCaprio will earn recognition from the Academy's acting branch for his turn as a Boston undercover cop in Martin Scorsese's fall hit "The Departed" -- which has gained serious momentum from critics groups -- than from his leading role in Edward Zwick's politically charged African drama "Blood Diamond," which opened poorly to tepid reviews.

But as director Steven Soderbergh demonstrated in 2001 -- when he earned dual nominations for "Traffic" and "Erin Brockovich" -- it is technically possible for a director to hit a double. The discriminating Academy directors could tag Eastwood for "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima." Critics have enthusiastically praised both films: "Iwo Jima" also has gotten a boost from such groups as the National Board of Review, the American Film Institute and the Los Angeles Film Critics.

"Flags," on the other hand, appears to have met with a mixed response from the Academy. Admiration for the 76-year-old director, especially from Academy seniors, is huge. But Eastwood has won Oscar kudos in recent years for "Mystic River" and "Million Dollar Baby," so the Academy might decide that it's finally time to bestow the honors on fellow veteran Scorsese, who so far has gone home empty-handed whenever he has been nominated.

Legal Issues Lie Ahead for Borat and Bruno

The THR has been tracking the Borat legal issues raised by today's LAT.

Here's part of Carl DiOrio's THR story:

The essence of the legal argument comes down to whether consent forms signed by those interviewed will stand up against suggestions that subjects were improperly duped into cooperating with the production. The plaintiffs' attorney also has pointed to his clients' apparent inebriation as a possible issue in the case.

Several interview subjects have groused over Baron Cohen's methodology, in which prospective film participants are verbally approached with a vague description of the project and then asked to sign consent forms. Yet only the college students had sued -- until Monday, when attorneys representing a pair of villagers in Glod, Romania, filed a $30 million lawsuit over their roles in "Borat."

Filed in U.S. District Court in New York, the suit seeks to stop distribution of the film until scenes showing plaintiffs Nicolae Todorache and Spiridom Ciorebea are removed.

"I think they are contending that this was presented to them as a documentary, but this was a movie that was being shot, and it was never presented as a documentary," Fox spokesman Gregg Brilliant said of the latest filing. "The village was used as a set, and the villagers were hired as extras and actors to portray a fictional village in Kazakhstan. The entire movie is a satire, which exposes racism and intolerance."

Plaintiffs in the Santa Monica suit are only identified as John Does 1 and 2. But in Fox's latest filing, studio attorneys identify plaintiffs as Chi Psi fraternity members Justin Seay and Christopher Rotunda and suggest the latter misidentified himself to producers.

The studio's filing also addresses the suit's contention that the students were assured the film wouldn't be distributed in the U.S.

"It is also fatuous to argue as plaintiffs do that they wouldn't have vented their spleens but for their supposed belief that the movie 'would never air in the United States' but only to more than 500 million residents of Europe and Kazakhstan," the defendants state.

In addition to Fox, defendants in the suit include One America Prods., Everyman Pictures and Gold/Miller Prods.

Meanwhile, much has been made of whether British-born Baron Cohen -- who came to prominence in this country on HBO's similar mockumentary series "Da Ali G Show" -- will be able to pull off his phony-interview high jinks again in a planned picture for Universal, "Bruno," based on another one of his fictional characters. But film and legal community observers also have been wondering whether Universal will be watching for legal lessons learned in the process of Fox's defending itself from "Borat"-related litigation.

Oscar Watching 101

Oscar Watch's Sasha Stone is right--she and The Envelope's Tom O'Neill—as well as the NYT's seasonal Oscar blogger, The Carpetbagger--are obsessed with Oscar stuff all the time, while the rest of us are covering the all-round industry beat. But we all come back around to the Oscars. It's the Big Show, after all. USA Today consults the Magic 8 Ball on Oscar predictions this year. Which means asking a bunch of people (including me) what we think. I agree with some things and not others. Since I wrote the Premiere Oscar Predicts piece back in October, I now think that Happy Feet could beat Cars in the animated category.
I believe that the December release of Clint Eastwood's Japanese-language Letters from Iwo Jima will probably give Flags of Our Fathers a boost. The Academy admires Eastwood; Flags played well for this select (older) group. And remember, the Oscar voters love him as a movie star, too. But The Departed, The Queen and Dreamgirls are the front-runners, followed by Flags, Babel and Little Miss Sunshine. And I think the actors could come through with some nods for Little Children. Even Phyllis Somerville—but she'd better do some publicity!

Borat's Cohen Speaks

[Posted by Gregg Goldstein] Rolling Stone touts its new Sacha Baron Cohen cover story as "the first-ever talk with the real Borat," but Cohen spoke with NPR about his Borat and Ali G characters back in 2004, which you can listen to here. UPDATE: Steve Pond interviewed SBC and Mickey Rooney about comedy in USA Weekend.

Borat Pranksters Deceived Their Prey

Making a movie like Borat—which depends on shocking and surprising real people into giving unguarded reactions—is necessarily messy. I've heard that after the Borat filming there was much legal cleanup to do, with fees exchanged. UPDATE: Here's Harvey Levin's take on TMZ. And more from Netscape Movies.

Now I can see why. Andrew Tobias posts what one unwitting participant in Borat went through. In short, an executive at the venerable Adolphus Hotel in Dallas was deceived by the Borat filmmakers into signing a release on the basis that he was participating in a travelogue which swiftly turned out not to be the case. "Vanilla Face" still regrets the way he was treated:

I’m in “Borat” [he wrote], much to my embarrassment. Borat tried to check into The Adolphus, and I had security throw him out. He was making racial slurs, spouting profanity, and generally making a spectacle of himself. They “cast” me in the role of the sophisticated hotelier. The location scouts lied to me; they told me they were filming a piece on The Adolphus’s art collection, history, and so on.

[Tobias responds] I had a million questions. “What did you say? Did they get you to sign a release? How? Did they give you lines to say? Did they all burst out laughing after they filmed it and let you in on the joke? Have you seen it? Are you famous now?”

1. I don't believe I said anything; I was dumbstruck. It obviously shows in my face that I was appalled by what he said to me.

2. They lie about what they are going to film and have one sign a release on that basis. They refused – after the fact – to give me a copy of the release that I signed. (I have an e-mail from them describing the nature of the filming, and it is a pack of lies, to be blunt.) I've signed countless releases over the years and never suspected that this one was any different, given the e-mail I was sent. I can forward it to you, if you want to see it. (They choose location scouts who appear completely trustworthy. It took me a long time to get over this trust issue, believe me.)

3. It was unscripted. They are looking for a completely natural reaction (at least, in my case it was!).

4. They never let me in on the gag; the director maintained that he was just as surprised by what happened as I was.

5. I’ve never seen it, and I would be too embarrassed to watch it. Friends have told me that I fare far better than the rest of the victims in the film.

6. Oh, I'm famous all right. People stare at me on the DART light rail and wonder where they've seen me. (I've been in movie trailers all summer long.) Friends all over the country - and abroad! – have e-mailed and called me. Of course, the reaction is: OH MY GOSH, I KNOW THAT GUY! THAT'S DAVID DAVIS FROM THE ADOLPHUS! WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HE DOING IN THIS FILM? Friends in Hollywood have said, "When did you start acting?" I was recently introduced to Michael Sheen (he plays Tony Blair in THE QUEEN) as a fellow thespian. His face lit up as though I were truly a legitimate actor. I could've have crawled under the carpet and died.

My face has been as red as a tomato almost constantly since the trailers started - and now it's worse with the movie hitting 2,500 screens. Somebody shoot me!

Dave, the reluctant movie star

Weekend Boxoffice Updates

Judging from Fandango ticket order stats, Borat is looking good this weekend:

This weekend American moviegoers may once again welcome Sacha Baron Cohen’s BORAT, as the English comedian’s sleeper hit currently accounts for 49% of Fandango ticket sales. Next weekend American moviegoers may embrace another international icon with the new James Bond adventure, CASINO ROYALE (opening Friday, Nov. 17). In an ongoing Fandango survey, 83% of moviegoers interested in CASINO say they plan to see the movie on opening weekend. Other results from Fandango’s CASINO ROYALE survey include: * 67% of moviegoers claim the portrayal of a “grittier, edgier James Bond” makes them more interested in seeing CASINO; * 43% claim the casting of Daniel Craig as 007 makes them more interested in seeing the movie; * 63% of moviegoers interested in seeing CASINO ROYALE are male; * Halle Berry (DIE ANOTHER DAY) is ranking as the “Favorite Bond Girl” (DR. NO’s white-bikini’d Ursula Andress is in 2nd place). Fandango Weekly Ticket Sales (as of 11/10/06 11:00 am PST)

Fandango Five:
Borat 49%
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause 12%
Flushed Away 11%
Stranger than Fiction 6%
Babel 2%

Borat Oscar Fantasies

I'm a big Borat fan, but please! Wishing this movie into the Oscar race is sheer folly: both 40 Year Old Virgin writer-director Judd Apatow and Austin Powers director Jay Roach (who produced the movie, so he's invested in it) say Borat should win an Oscar. Well, it won't happen. While some Academy members may appreciate its virtues, the mock doc is not considered an Oscar-worthy genre, it's perceived as close to reality TV. As briiliant as it is, Borat ain't exactly Great Cinema.

Borat Kills at B.O.

There's something so satisfying in knowing that there's one thing you can count on: if a comedy is funny, they will come. When I read THR's Nicole Sperling's assertion—based on industry conventional wisdom—that Santa Clause 3 would lead the weekend boxoffice, I said, Say it ain't so! Let Borat win! Even if it's only on 830 screens. Why was I rooting for this gross comedy? Because it's brilliant, as the Brits would say. It's NOT dumb. It's a very clever dissection of our hideous hidden vices here in America. Yet the boob Borat is somehow this winning optimist whom you like! (He's very Inspector Clouseau in a way.) And Americans flocked to see it. My poor cousin in Ithaca, NY (a college town) was shut out because the movie was sold out. ("That never happens," she wrote me.) Cutting down the number of screens was brilliant: Fox created more frenzy, more demand for when they widen the movie. It will build from here.

Here's Sperling's THR report:

Sacha Baron Cohen may just be the reigning king of comedy judging by this weekend's returns at the North American boxoffice. 20th Century Fox's "Borat," starring Baron Cohen as Kazakh reporter Borat Sagdiyev on a road trip across America, reaped an unbelievable $26.4 million. Opening in only 837 theaters, the R-rated rogue comedy generated a per-theater average of an estimated $31,511.

The film far outpaced its competition, including the two family films that battled for the second-place spot. Buena Vista Pictures' "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause" eked out the No. 2 position, earning an estimated $20 million, far below the $29 million earned by the second "Clause" film on its opening weekend in 2002.

The Tim Allen starrer was up against stiff competition with Paramount Pictures' release of DreamWorks Animation's "Flushed Away." The first CG-animated film from Aardman Animations, revolving around rodents flushed into the London sewers, generated an estimated $19.1 million to finish third overall.