Early leaders of the next Oscar race
Sony may have bumped "All the King's Men" to 2006, but the distributor promised that the film will be in the next Oscar derby. What about others? Even though the 2005 race has just begun, our forum posters are already engaged in fevered speculation. (To check out that discussion in our message boards, click here.)
Let's look over an alphabetized short list of some major 2006 releases:
"Babel": The director-writer team behind "Amores Perros" and "21 Grams," Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu and Guillermo Arriaga, apply their gritty, time-jumbled narrative style to tell three stories set in Morocco, Tunisia, Mexico and Japan. Stars Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael Garcia Bernal. No release date.
"The Black Dahlia": Director Brian de Palma ("Body Double," "The Untouchables") probes the mysterious 1947 murder of a young aspiring actress, who had been found in pieces, dumped in an empty lot. Stars Josh Hartnett, Hilary Swank and Scarlett Johansson. No release date.
"Borgia": Somebody in Hollywood is going to hell for this casting idea: Colin Farrell a powerful pope's illegitimate son, who was rumored to have had an incestuous relationship with his sister Lucrezia (Scarlett Johansson). Directed by Neil Jordan ("Breakfast on Pluto," "The Crying Game"). No release date.
"Che": Steven Soderbergh directs Benicio Del Toro as the Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. How nice that both chaps have won Oscars already considering "The Motorcycle Diaries" didn't pay off last year for Gael Garcia Bernal. No release date.
"The Da Vinci Code": Tom Hanks stars in Ron Howard's adaptation of the controversial best-seller about a plot to uncover a secret that's been protected by a clandestine society for centuries — that Jesus had been married to Mary Magdalene and had a daughter with her. Its May release date isn't Oscar-friendly, though.
Photo: Filming hasn't even started yet, but Oscar buzz has already begun for "Dreamgirls" a year before its release.
(DreamWorks)
"The Departed": After five defeats in Oscar's best director race, Martin Scorsese teams up with his "The Aviator" star Leonardo DiCaprio again plus Matt Damon in an update of the 2002 hit Hong Kong film "Internal Affairs." Here the plot is moved to Boston where parallel stories follow a policeman who infiltrates the Irish mafia and an Irish thug who goes undercover to spy within the ranks of the cops. December release.
"Dreamgirls": After winning an Oscar for writing "Gods and Monsters" (which he also directed) and earning a nom for the screenplay of "Chicago," Bill Condon wrote and helmed "Kinsey." Now he's aiming for more academy gold by directing and penning a big-screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical based upon the career rise of The Supremes, starring Beyoncé Knowles, Jamie Foxx, Danny Glover, Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy. DreamWorks already has started its Oscar campaign with this website — CLICK HERE. December release.
"Flags of Our Fathers": Director Clint Eastwood teams up again with his "Million Dollar Baby" screenwriter Paul Haggis to tell the life stories of the six men who raised the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. Soldiers portrayed by Ryan Phillippe, Barry Pepper, Jamie Bell and Paul Walker. To be released next October or November.
"Fur": Nicole Kidman portrays Diane Arbus, the celebrated American photographer who committed suicide in 1971. No release date.
"The Good German": George Clooney, Cate Blanchett and Beau Bridges star in director Steven Soderbergh's story of an American journalist who becomes engulfed in a murder mystery while trying to find his ex-mistress in post-war Berlin. No release date.
"The Good Shepherd": Robert De Niro directs — yes, directs — and stars in this thriller about a founder of the CIA (played by Matt Damon) who takes huge risks to square off against his KGB counterpart. Written by Eric Roth, who won an Oscar for "Forrest Gump." Stars Angelina Jolie, Joe Pesci and Billy Crudup. Late-December release aims for Oscarmania.
"Goya's Ghost": Two-time Oscar champ Milos Forman ("Amadeus," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") examines the life of Spanish painter Francisco Goya, who was a frequent target of the Spanish Inquisition. Stars Stellan Skarsgard, Natalie Portman and Javier Bardem. No release date.
"Lady from Shanghai": Nicole Kidman takes on Rita Hayworth's role in a remake of Orson Welles' classic thriller about a mysterious woman who has a dangerous affair with a spy. Helmed by acclaimed Chinese director Wong Kar Wai ("2046"). No release date.
"Notes on a Scandal": Impressed by a new art teacher (Cate Blanchett), a colleague (Judi Dench) tries to help her cover up a growing scandal when the teacher has an affair with a student. Directed by Richard Eyre ("Iris," "Stage Beauty"). No release date.
"A Prairie Home Companion": Behind the scenes of Garrison Keillor's radio show about the wacky folks of Lake Wobegon. Stars Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Robin Williams, Lily Tomlin and — no joke, Lindsay Lohan — under the direction of Robert Altman. June release.
"The Prestige": Director Christopher Nolan ("Memento," "Batman Begins") reveals the story of two rival magicians in turn-of-the-century London (Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale) who resort to murder to discover each other's trade secrets. No release date.
"Running with Scissors": Everybody in Hollywood insists that this will finally be Annette Bening's Oscar-winning performance. She portrays a bipolar mom who comes out as a lesbian and ships her son off to live with her shrink. But is a late-September release too early? Also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Evan Rachel Wood and Vanessa Redgrave.
Everyone is forgetting that SPEILBERG's Untitled Lincoln Project starring Liam Neeson will be starting principal photography in January and could gear up for a late 06' release date...Neeson would be a lock for the Oscar.
Posted by: Justin | December 28, 2005 at 05:32 PM
hello tom. any news on michael moore's SICKO? do you know? really want to hear something about it. most of the people i've asked, film buffs too, have never heard of it.
Posted by: teri | December 22, 2005 at 06:14 PM
ron howard directing the da vinci code?? isnt that somewhat like asking Mereilles to direct an animated disney flick? and what is happening with michael moore's SICKO? last i heard, he put the money together for it. anyone know?
Posted by: teri | December 22, 2005 at 01:46 PM
For 2007, if you ask me, the clear frontrunner is Mike Newell's Love in The Times of Cholera, an Latin-American "Gone with the wind" based upon one of the best books by Nobel Prize Winner Gabriel García Márquez.
No word on casting yet, but it would be insane not to cast Gael García Bernal, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Javier Bardem as the three starring characters... they're exactly the right age, looks and award prestige to make this one a sure-shot nominee and likely winner.
Posted by: Jesus Alonso | December 22, 2005 at 12:55 PM
You're forgetting Ask the Dust, Marie-Antoinette, Volver, Scenes of a Sexual Nature, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, A Good Year, The Last King of Scotland, The Lady in the Water, Stranger than Fiction, Dirty Tricks, Friends with Money, Zodiac, The Painted Veil, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Delirious, Breaking and Entering, I'm Not There: Suppositions on a Film Concerning Dylan, Rescue Dawn, The Road Back, Copying Beethoven, Good, Freedomland and All the King's Men.
Posted by: Slayton Myers | December 21, 2005 at 02:01 PM
So that's at least three more Golden Globe nominations and at least two more Oscar snubs for Scarlett Johansson....poor thing.
Posted by: EDouglas | December 20, 2005 at 08:42 PM