Jimmy Kimmel Asks "Is Uggie A Fake?"

A couple weeks ago, Jimmy Kimmel had Uggie, the dog star from THE ARTIST, on his show to make Oscar picks.  Or did he.  A keen-eyed viewer has pointed out that the dog that appeared on Kimmel's show has different markings than the dog that was in THE ARTIST.  Talking about this shocking discovery on his show last night, Kimmel couldn't believe that someone would pass off a fake to him, for which his show reportedly paid a sizable fee.  As he put it, "it's like someone sending us a Meryl Streep look-a-like instead of the real Meryl Streep."  LoL.

Even more surprising was that the dog on Kimmel's show was the same dog that worked the red carpet at the Globe and the Oscars.  So this begs the question where is the real Uggie?  Kimmel promises a "full investigation."  No comment yet from the Weinsteins.

Can THE ARTIST Win Over America?

On Sunday night, THE ARTIST won five Academy Awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture. But that was a veritable cakewalk with the task the film faces today as it "goes wide" to 2,000 screens across America.  Will millions of people actually go see what is essentially a silent, black and white movie made by the French?  There are some doubts to say the least.

Harvey Weinstein who has championed this little-film-that-could since it wowed audiences at Cannes last May clearly believes in the film.  His company spent millions in a well-orchestrated Oscar campaign that ended in a remarkable success as the first silent movie to win Best Picture in over 80 years.  But getting general audiences to agree with the Academy will be tougher.

The challenge is to actually get people into the theatre to see this artsy little movie. If Weinstein can do that, I believe those who come see it will be thoroughly entertained, as I was, and fall in love with Jean Dujardin.  At least the women in the audience.  :)  We'll find out Monday when the weekend figures are released...

Uggie Picks Best Picture...THE ARTIST!

On Jimmy Kimmel this week, they've been doing a recurring segment where Uggie, the adorable scene-stealing dog from THE ARTIST, picks Oscar winners.  His trainer lets him loose on stage among posters of the nominees with hot dogs stuck to the top and the one he goes to first is his pick.  He selected George Clooney for Best Actor and Meryl Streep for Best Actress, both favorites in their categories.

Well, last night, it was time for Uggie to pick Best Picture and, surprise, he chose THE ARTIST.  Clearly this is one smart dog as, odds are, the Academy will agree with him when the actual winner is revealed on the Oscar telecast Sunday night.  (Last summer, I beat Uggie's prediction by writing about THE ARTIST as the first potential silent Best Picture winner in 80-odd years.)  We still think Uggie deserves a nomination of his own. However there is no Oscar category for Best Supporting Pet....yet.

Did THE ARTIST Rape Kim Novak?

There is a bit of an Oscar brouhaha that started yesterday when Kim Novak took out a full page ad in VARIETY that begins with the statement "I want to report a rape" and then continues to say that "my body -- or at least my body of work -- has been violated by the movie The Artist" .  She is referring to a section of the film which uses some iconic movie music from the Hitchcock classic VERTIGO.  I have to say when I saw THE ARTIST I was a bit startled to hear Bernard Hermann's music in the midst of the films's original score, as it is so utterly identified with Hitchcock.  Some people have gone so far as to call Hermann's work on that film the best Hollywood score of all time.

However, by using it for a few minutes in THE ARTIST (a film that is chock-full of visual homages to other classic films and directors) has the director really committed a rape? I think not.  You know, this is actually the second time that a Hollywood star has wildly misused this word in the last few months. Back in the fall, Johnny Depp talked about how photo shoots make him feel like he'd been "raped", a statement so ridiculous that he actually had to a apologize for it a few days later.

There are already some calls for Kim Novak to retract her statement or at least apologize. I'm sure Harvey Weinstein has been trying to call her today to give her a piece of his mind.  But the bottom line is THE ARTIST is a homage and the Hermann score is used in that manner.  In a sense, it's one artist paying his respects to another...something that filmmakers do all the time.  

In Oscar Race, Two Actors With No Lines

As the Oscar race gets into gear in December, studios are positioning their films and talent for the  little gold statuettes.  In the Best Actor race, there are two performances that are being pushed for consideration in which the actors don't speak.  They are Andy Serkis, who played the lead Cesar in RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and Jean Dujardin who plays a silent movie star in THE ARTIST. Currently, the odds are in favor of Dujardin getting a nod as critical reaction to his charming movie has been through the roof.  Also, Dujardin won Best Actor at Canne's earlier this year when the film debut.  Even though he speaks barely a line of dialogue, his performance is what keeps the film together.

In the case of APES, Fox is pushing hard for Serkis' work in digital performance capture to be nominated for an award.  (There is story about their efforts in the Hollywood Reporter this week.)  Though their line is that dialogue doesn't matter, one thing that does matter is faces.  And Serkis's face is not in the movie at all.  And even though they are trying to get him a Best Supporting Actor nod, it seems like a long shot. Actors vote for the actor awards and I can't imagine there is a lot of enthusiasm in that camp for turning over the awards to digital creations when so much of Hollywood's films are already highly digitized.  Also, they tried this strategy with AVATAR a few years back and failed.  But then again, it was a few years ago and one can't deny that Cesar was one of the more memorable scene stealers of the year.  

Could A Silent Movie Win An Oscar In 2012

There is big Oscar buzz for a silent movie that is making the festival rounds.  It's called THE ARTIST and is actually set in Hollywood during the silent era, telling the story of two actors who are awfully similar to Greta Garbo and John Garfield.  With the advent of sound, Garfield's career tanked due to his high voice and Garbo's career soared.

The film premiered at Cannes in May, was snatched up by the Weinstein's and recently play to strong audience response at Telluride.  There's a big write-up on the Hollywood Reporter about the film today and whether it just might be the first silent movie to get an Oscar nomination since 1929.  However, to be technical, there are apparently three instances in the film where sound is used to dramatic affect.  The article talked about these but also gave a Spoiler Alert so I didn't read it all the way til the end.

But the film certainly looks promising in its stunningly beautiful trailer, which you can watch below.  The big question is will audiences go to see a silent film?  The Weinstein's have their work cut out for them but they've surprised us before.