Michael and Sony Pictures Classics - Winedale-l

22 Sep 2015


      Here it is.  Sorry not the first time.
Doc
Link to your HR Video:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/video/tiff-sony-pictures-classics-president...
DEADLINE - Sony Pictures Classics Comes Out Swinging With Three World  
Premieres – Toronto Film Festival
by Pete Hammond
Sony Pictures Classics literally has taken the 40th Toronto  
International Film Festival by storm in the past 24 hours.  Not even a  
steady downpour could dampen the spirits of SPC as they threw their  
annual Saturday night dinner at Creme Brasserie here to celebrate no  
less than three major world premiere Oscar contenders unveiled in less  
than a day.  Co-Presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard have been  
busy to say the least.  On top of that their Cannes Grand Prize  
winner, Son Of Saul , continues its festival march to the Dolby as one  
of the favorites to land a Best Foreign Pete Hammond badgeLanguage  
Movie Oscar.  But it was the triple header I saw yesterday that  
grabbed my attention at this Canadian feast of cinema that is almost  
impossible to navigate with so many movies competing for attention. In  
consecutive order I saw first-ever public screenings of director Marc  
Abraham’s Hank Williams biopic I Saw The Light, then a transcendent  
performance by the great Dame Maggie Smith in director Nicholas  
Hytner’s The Lady In The Van, and capped off by the terrific  
directorial debut of James Vanderbilt with Truth.
The latter  tells the story of the CBS 60 Minutes 2004  scandal about  
the investigation of  President George W. Bush’s  National Guard  
record that almost took CBS News down with it, ended Dan Rather’s  
career with the network, and forced the firing of star news producer  
Mary Mapes who sadly hasn’t worked in television news since.  Writer/ 
Director Vanderbilt has crafted a true eye-opener and a hell of a  
journalistic thriller that will be a must-see for serious moviegoers  
when it opens October 16.  I am told that getting it finished in time  
for Saturday’s 5 pm premiere was nearly as nail-biting as what’s on  
screen, but Vanderbilt has really pulled it off. Although neither  
star, Cate Blanchett, who brilliantly plays Mapes, and Robert Redford  
who is terrific as Rather, made the trip to TIFF,  there is no  
question that their performances have thrust them into the awards  
conversation with Blanchett turning in another remarkable lead  
performance this year, and Redford, who despite directing and Honorary  
Oscars has only been nominated once for acting (1973’s The Sting,  
which was the same year Bush joined up with the Guard possibly in  
order to avoid Vietnam). He  should definitely be a contender for Best  
Supporting Actor.  He’s that good. Even Dan Rather himself, who was in  
attendance for the screening and party, told me he was impressed. “It  
wasn’t an impersonation, but a real attempt to get at the essence,” he  
told me about the performance. Rather gave a ringing endorsement of  
the film itself. You can’t do better than that, and now over a decade  
later this film (based on Mapes’ book) 75aims to get at the “truth”  
whatever that might be.
Redford still looks like Redford but you really feel like you are  
watching Rather. Not an easy trick for someone so famous playing  
another person equally famous. The entire cast is excellent and two of  
them were at TIFF, Topher Grace and Elisabeth Moss, who play members  
of the 60 Minutes investigative unit.   Grace compares the movie to  
70’s classics like All The Presidents Men and The Parallax View  and  
said working with Redford was a highlight in his career so far. He  
also mentioned that it really has something to say about the declining  
state of TV news pointing to inane questions he was asked  just while  
doing the TIFF red carpet for the film. He’s excited about working now  
on Brad Pitt’s Netflix project War Machine, which he describes as in  
the spirit of Dr. Strangelove. Emmy nominee Moss spent much of the  
evening deep in conversation with her tablemate – Rather – who seemed  
to be enjoying this foray into the world of film festivals.
As for Blanchett who already has the highly praised Cannes entry Carol  
(The Weinstein Company, November 20) firmly planting her in the  
running for Best Actress, this riveting turn as Mapes could thicken  
the plot. There is no way either role could be shoehorned into  
supporting nods which is often the case  when an actor has two  
competing leading roles in the same year, so what happens? “I thought  
she was great in both so that’s up for all of you to decide, ” Barker  
diplomatically answered when I asked about the campaign tactics that  
might be employed here.  My personal opinion is that the Mapes role is  
just so overwhelmingly powerful that it would be hard to deny her a  
nod. This is going to be a real Solomon’s choice for the actors  
branch. Of course there is also the factor that Blanchett won two  
years ago for another Sony Classics film Blue Jasmine, so voters may  
not want to go back to this well so quickly, but hey when a star is on  
this kind of roll just go with it.
And speaking of the Best Actress race, whatever happens in the case of  
Blanchett, I do not see how the legendary 80 year old Dame Maggie  
Smith can be denied yet another nomination for her hilarious,  
heartbreaking, cranky, wry and winning performance as a homeless woman  
who parked her van in a tony British neighborhood and ended up living  
in the driveway of playwright Alan Bennetts for 15 years. She’s  
magnificent in a full-blooded leading role in Hytner’s very fine  
adaptation of Bennett’s 1999 stage play in which Smith starred. Like  
Blanchett, Smith already has a leading and a supporting Oscar on her  
mantle but hasn’t won since 1976’s California Suite (her first came in  
1969 for Best Actress in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie), so they both  
may be going head to head for a third. This film was not developed by  
SPC, but rather Sony’s Tri Star label shortly after new Sony chief Tom  
Rothman took over that division. He was at last night’s SPC party and  
told me he decided to turn it over to Barker and Bernard. “They are  
the experts at releasing this kind of movie,” he said. “We made it  
because I really believe in the international aspect of the business.  
That’s where everything is headed now and I think it’s important to  
make movies for the international market.” He added this film will be  
very big in the UK and those territories when it opens in November.   
It hits the U.S.  in December in time to qualify for the Oscars. If  
Dame Maggie isn’t one of the five there should be a 60 Minutes-style  
investigation.  Although only Hytner made the trip to Canada I am told  
Smith is understandably very proud of this film.  The Best Actress  
race is really heating up this year.
Of course the Best Actor contest is always competitive and it looks  
like that again. British star, Tom Hiddleston could well be a  
contender there  for his powerful interpretation of country singing  
legend Hank Williams who died at age 29  and had a troubled, dark life  
in the limelight that is depicted in a no holds-barred way in SPC’s  
other TIFF World Premiere I Saw elizabeth-olsen-tom-hiddleston- 
isawthelight5The Light. Hiddleston, who does all his own singing,  
really inhabits this man who had an everlasting impact on country  
music. Elizabeth Olsen plays his first wife and delivers her finest  
work to date. Although it will inevitably be compared to the Johnny  
Cash biopic, Walk The Line, this one dares to go into much darker  
places, enriched by that unforgettable music.   George Hamilton made a  
corny Hollywood style biopic Your Cheatin’ Heart  in 1964, but this  
one should stand the test of time.
Quite a day in Toronto for Sony Pictures Classics, as always a real  
player in awards season.