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November 02, 2007
20 Weeks To Oscar - Wicked Wicked Season Picket
Perhaps the most interesting next question for award season will be whether journalists and others, like SAG Nominating Committee, not mention Sean Penn and Eddie Vedder, are willing to cross picket lines – should a WGA strike launch this weekend – in front of Paramount Studios and others who are doing these events on their studio lots.
Really, consideration of how studios and other awards players, like the trades and MCN, want to be perceived if/when a strike happens is quite a complex issue. It’s easy to roll your eyes and argue about how unimportant the awards season is but, like all forms of publicity, it is an integral part of the film industry and doesn’t just disappear when something like a strike – or war in Iraq or fires in Saugus – happens. Do we all need to stop, bow to the strike (or threat thereof), and stop doing business, lest we be accused of profiteering at a time when union members are suffering?
In a season that features the kinds of films that get people who hate the Oscar game excited, suddenly the process of trying to promote films that have mostly achieved a pretty equal level of support as they have been screened is getting much more challenging. How do you walk the line if you are a writer and new director like Tony Gilroy… or a newcomer like Cody Diablo… or an artist like Julian Schnabel… or a politically-minded movie star turned director like Sean Penn, whose film is in a fight for its awards life, which can be turned, but only with a lot of effort?
Posted by poland at November 2, 2007 01:41 AM
Comments
As much as I just busted your balls on the other thread, this is a very strong piece, and it's the first time I've heard anyone articulate this.
It's gonna get weird. That's all I know for sure.
Posted by: Drew ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 2, 2007 02:34 AM
When are we going to get the actual chart update?
Posted by: Jonj at November 2, 2007 04:29 PM
sorry... it will be up by morning...
Posted by: David Poland at November 2, 2007 05:25 PM
Maybe this question has been raised elsewhere, but if not: What, if any, effect will the shutdown of Leno and Letterman (and, for that matter, Stewart) by the strike have on people trying to promote their new movies?
Posted by: Joe Leydon at November 2, 2007 06:42 PM
A lot less than highly paid publicists wish it would.
Posted by: David Poland at November 2, 2007 06:48 PM
I know you can't judge a movie by the trailer, but in "Charlie Wilson's War," Julia Roberts doesn't seem particularly convincing. The accent comes across as awkward, at least to me.
Posted by: Jonj at November 2, 2007 09:54 PM
The studios will compensate by buying more ad time. In any event, David is right in saying such appearances aren't necessarily important. RATATOUILLE grossed over $200 million without any talk show turns, even by frequent guests like Patten Oswalt or Janeane Garafolo.
Posted by: Cadavra at November 2, 2007 10:55 PM
Julia Roberts looks like she was shoehorned in to get another star in. Her part should have been played, as far as I can tell, by a Brenda Fricker/Miranda Richardson/Kathy Bates.
Posted by: jeffmcm at November 3, 2007 01:10 AM
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