Most of the films released in late autumn tend to be serious subject stuff due to the serious business of earning Academy Awards nominations. As we all know,Hollywood loves to honor actors and actresses who play real life figures and this year,the fellas have it made in the shade with a triple dose of biopic star power about to hit theaters.
Daniel Day-Lewis is no stranger to historical films and biographies,so with his upcoming movie Lincoln,he gets to combine both of those strong suits. The screenplay,adapted by Tony Kushner, is based upon Doris Kearns Goodwin's A Team of Rivals,using only the final four months of Lincoln's life as the focal point.
Day-Lewis is backed up by a solid cast with Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln,Tommy Lee Jones as a strident Abolitionist leader and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the eldest Lincoln son. Also,it doesn't hurt to have Steven Spielberg as your director either. With a powerful buzz about Lincoln going around this year,this film could easily take over more than the Best Actor slot come Oscar time:
However,Hollywood also adores movies about movie makers and that gives Anthony Hopkins quite the sharp edge here with Hitchcock,which centers itself around the difficulties of making the now horror classic Psycho.
Helen Mirren co-stars as Hitch's long suffering wife Alma,with Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Biel playing Janet Leigh and Vera Miles. With HBO about to premiere their own movie about Hitchcock(that has Toby Jones as the lead),some compare and contrast will be made but for Hopkins not to get a Best Actor out of this role would be more shocking than seeing Psycho for the first time:
The man who may have the toughest row to hoe in this category is Bill Murray,continuing his streak of dramatic performances with Hyde Park on Hudson portraying President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The story takes place in 1939,with FDR receiving a visit at his estate in Hyde Park,NY by then king of England George VI,in hopes of strengthening the ties between the US and Britain as WWII is hovering over the political horizon. Assisting Roosevelt in this endeavor,along with First Lady Eleanor(Olivia Williams)is Margaret Suckley,a distant cousin and intimate companion played by Laura Linney.
Murray has been part of the growing trend of comic actors turning to serious roles with a higher degree of success ,both critically and with mass audiences, than most. It's entirely possible that this may be his season to shine at the Oscars with this blend of historical drama and comedy of manners:
We'll see how things go at Oscar time but I won't be surprised to see at least of these gents anxiously awaiting to hear if he has captured the gold. Doing a biopic may sound like a surefire way to get an Oscar nom but it's all in the role you take and the importance of the person you play:
No comments:
Post a Comment