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Tonight on the Review Show, we are looking ahead to the Academy Awards.

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Some of the biggest names in film are up for prizes.

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# He gave me strength to journey on. Plus new faces. The youngest-ever

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nominee for the Best Actress award. And the oldest actress ever

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shortlisted, older even than Oscar himself.

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In the running for Best Picture, a film made for just $2 million, sits

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on a shortlist against another that has taken almost $200 million at

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the box-office. I'm the President of the United States, clothed in

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immense power. Or will it go to Ben Affleck's Argo,

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which has scooped the lion's share of this season's awards. You want

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to come to Hollywood and act like a big shot without actually doing

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anything? Yeah. You'll fit right in. There is frefrg the dazzling

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effects of Ang Lee's The Life of Pi, to the off the wall romcom, Silver

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Linings Playbook. On the night, will the Hollywood establishment

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honour its over, or the statuettes deliver some surprise -- honour its

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own, or the statuettes deliver some surprises.

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Joining me are my guests. Hannah McGill, and Mr Manzoor.

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We are focusing on the major categories of what are indeed the

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glitziest awards on the film circuit. We start with Best Actor.

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If The Golden Calf and BAFTAs are anything to go by, there would be

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one presidential winner. He could make history, three Oscars, a

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stovepipe hat trick. Daniel Day-Lewis has earned

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widespread acclaim for his portrayal of America's 16th

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President, Lincoln. In Steven Spielberg's political drama about

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the leader whose bill changed the course of history in the United

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States. I am the President of the United States, clothed in immense

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power. Escaping a life of slavery is Jean Valjean, the lead character

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in Tom Hooper's swashbuckling adaptation of Les Miserables. Based

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on the tale of poverty tricken life in 17th century France by Victor

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Hugo. Hugh Jackman was lauded for his vocal performance, recorded

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live on set. # Be no more than an alibi

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# Must I lie. Back to the 21st century, and the

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pilot played by Denzel Washington in Flight, it praised as a hero,

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when he saves a jet from crashing. Was it down to areonautical skill,

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or the buzz from narcotics. As the plot unfolds, the pilot, William

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Whip Whitaker, proves to be the victim of serious drug and alcohol

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abuse. It was an ordinary day Margaret, you know me, I was in

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shape to fly. You have a problem saying that. In The Master, Joaquin

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Phoenix plays a displaced war veteran in America, who falls in

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with a small cult called The Cause, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman's

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character. Last but not least, Bradley Cooper's portrayal of a man

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with bi-polar disorder, trying to heal a broken manager in Silver

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Linings Playbook. He learns to appreciate the attentions of the

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unstable young widow Tiffany, played by Jennifer Lawrence.

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did you order raisin bran. Why did you order tea? Because you ordered

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raisin bran. I ordered raisin bran because I didn't want there to be

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any mistaking it for a date. Lestly the performance of the year,

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let's --letly, the performance of the -- Leslie, the performance of

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the year, or is he unstoppable? is unstoppable. He is afacing,

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incredible technique. Such great confidence. Such a physical

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performance, the sort of things the academy loves. A historical figure.

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Not just any, but the most beloved President in all history. Do you

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think it was a chance for Americans to imagine what Lincoln was really

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like? I think you are right. It made me feel a bit like the tiger

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in The Life of Pi, this is the closest we are going to get to a

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real-life Abraham Lincoln. What I liked about it is it could have

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been easy to do him as a heroic God-like figure, and the fact that

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he does him as a hunched up with jokes that nobody laughs at. A

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broken guy with the weight of history on him. He does that really

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well. The fact that it focused on one particular small period?

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did it in immense detail and was very informative. And it didn't

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stint on that. It was a like -- like a courtroom drama. The

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performance has a lot of vulnerability, it is not a stuffed

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dummy. There have been a few impersonation films that have been

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Madame Tussauds, and it was not one of them. Talking about emotional

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performances, the film might not have made it, what do you think of

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Denzel Washington's performance in Flight? I think he's always a very

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complex actor, even in a film that isn't as complex as his performance.

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Flight has two thirds of a great film in, and lets itself down

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towards the end. He is very strong. You want to be with him and follow

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him. He gets the complexity of the character. He is very much the best

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thing about the film. Like with Lincoln, they make the film better

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than the film actually is. I think what he does really well, with the

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opening he's an incredibly charismatic presence, and then the

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charisma breaks down. You see him as a really wounded person. It lets

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you not like him. Has the facility to do both. He's usually so keen to

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be the leading man and the charisma centre, so it is good for him.

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default the rest of the film broke down around him, he was the thing

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that shone out of it. It let down his performance, he was allowing

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him to be seen as a complicated and the film at the end hits you with a

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hammer and says this is what you think. It is nice that he got

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recognised and the film didn't. were talking about the physicality

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of Daniel Day-Lewis, but when it comes to The Master, Joaquin

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Phoenix surely would get an award for a physical performance? Again,

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I think he does a brilliant job. I found the film problematic. I

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didn't find it very compelling. Even though he is giving it the

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full bells and whistles in terms of performance. Because I think it is

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more of a mood thing. I don't feel like the story is so compelling, it

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fizzled out for me. It was like a dual between him and Philip Seymour

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Hoffman. I felt like the film was very interesting, he was being very

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over the top for me, doing a lot for that film. It is not an Oscar

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film. I'm not surprised it didn't show up in the categories. You can

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see him acting so much in his performance. The academy likes to

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see people acting and preferably singing much. They font like

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Joaquin Phoenix, he doesn't much like them? That is what I like

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about him. As with Monique when nominated for Precious, she did

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nothing to campaign. Didn't he say he didn't want an Oscar. Didn't he

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just play a meltdown character he played a few years ago. It is

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interesting how the things work. Equally you could say the Best

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Actor category should have been Philip Seymour Hoffman and the Best

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Supporting Actor Joaquin Phoenix? It is hard to say. It is a

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beautiful duet throughout the film. The best moments are when they are

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behave the mind games and the battles between them. This is

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something that so often comes up with best and best supporting. You

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could say that a lot with the others, the actresses, there is a

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fine line. Sometimes supporting means supporting an actress or

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actor. That is always very arguable and weird. They fit people in.

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of the things about Silver Linings Playbook is one of the few films

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that it feels like an ensemble. The other films there is a big fat

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figure, whether it is Daniel Day- Lewis et cetera. That was the

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surprise in Silver Linings Playbook, here was the guy in the Hangover,

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and he turned in a nuanced performance? I liked about it that

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it was a relief it was not breaking into song, and it was in the modern

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day. For Bradley Cooper, the whole idea that he actually created this

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character whofs both really damaged, funny -- who was really both

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damaged, funny and smart, and by the way bi-polar? Robert denir row

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is in this as well. -- De Niro is in this as well. And there is talk

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about it putting a human face on mental illness, but I don't think

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it is that. I think they make a magnetic couple, Jennifer Lawrence

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and him. It is a comedy, it has dark undertones. It is a romcom?

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That is one of the classical things we criticise about the Oscars, they

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give it to people who die. De Niro is fantastic. He's incredibly funny.

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The star screen is the one where they are all arguing. There are a

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huge number of people voting with conventional tastes, it rewards

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weepy performances and extra things like singing and dancing and

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pretending it has a disability. Bringing us neatly to the final

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category, the all-singing, not necessarily dancing, Jackman. When

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you see it out of context, you see the clip, it is like, really?

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embarrassed about enjoying the film. When you watch it outside. How dare

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you! In the moment he carries that film for 237 very long minutes.

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He's absolutely giving it all. To be able to have a film that is

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ostensibly a musical, but act that you care about the character, and

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he brings some of the acting skills too was pretty impressive. I missed

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it on every button. It didn't work me at all, -- for me at all. It was

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painful. The only more painful movie was The Hobbit. That is

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saying a lo. He's already, he's fine. He's host of the Oscars.

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does work for that. He certainly works. You can hear him working a

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bit too much. Any ambitions for Best Actor category? It is

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interesting for Amour we have Emmanuelle Riva nominated for Best

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Actress, and Amour turning up in Best Picture, despite foreign

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language. We don't have the actor performance in Amour, that is

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arguably the more complicated and difficult role. He's unfortunate in

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that he's in a strong year. Maybe he doesn't want it. Anybody else?

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John Sessions! Very good actor? don't know, but he's just great any

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way. Give him a Lifetime Achievement Award. I meant to say

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John Hots for The Sessions, he's playing with someone who has a

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disease, yet likeable? I think it was too much of, the academy

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recognised it was asking for an Oscar too much. Whoever gets

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nominate Liberal Democrat lose to Daniel Day-Lewis. This is a cake

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walk for him. Let's move on, the selection for Best Actress is as

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mixed as it is likely to be in terms of movies and nominees. Those

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spanning a staggering nine decades between them, none of this year's

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contenders has ever had the experience of lifting the famed

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statuette. Emmanuelle Riva is not just the

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oldest woman ever to be nominated in this category, but on Sunday she

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will celebrate her 86th birthday. Nominated for her role in James

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Hanson's Amour. She's already scooped the BAFTA. But foreign

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language films rarely do well at the Oscars. 76 years Riva's junior,

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is nine-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis, the youngest female ever to be

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nominated for Best Actress. It goes quiet behind my eyes. I see

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everything that made me, flying around and invisible pieces. Wallis

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was only six years old when she played Hushpuppy in Behn Zeitlin's

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Beasts of Southern Wild. But though this young rookie is undoubtedly

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charming, the likelihood of heroining seems slim. -- her

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winning seems slim. Nominated for her role of Tiffany

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in Silver Linings Playbook, 22- year-old Jennifer Lawrence would at

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any other time be considered an outsider with her youth W a

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previous Oscar nomination under her belt, and having taken most major

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awards this season. She will step into the Dolby Theatre as the

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favourite. I wanted to clarify anything, I want us to be friends.

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Did you hear what I said? Jessica Chastain was nominated just a year

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ago in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in The Help,

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so can she take it on to the podium for her portrayal of the unassuming

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heroine Mya in Zero Dark Thirty directed by Bigelow.

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Last of all, on the red carpet, Naomi Watts, nominated for her role

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as a mother swept up in the 2004 tsunami, in Juan Antonio Bayona's

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The Impossible. I'm scared. scared too.

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Watts, often regarded as the actor's actor, does turn in an

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emotionally powerful performance, but this is the The Impossible's

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only nomination. With such a broad spectrum of contenders, whoever

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wins there will surely be lots to talk about. That's even before

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discussion of what and whom they will all be wearing.

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Let's go back to Silver Linings Playbook, first of all, we have had

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Bradley Cooper. It is also goingor Best Supporting Actor and actress,

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as well as Jennifer Lawrence, that is the first film since Reds to

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have four in the category. Do you think this is her stand-out

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performance? What was interesting, I hadn't seen the Hunger Games,

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this was my first experience of her. I was dazzled. What I thought was

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interesting, she has this real magnetism, you can totally get why

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Bradley Cooper wants to be with her. She also has the vulnerability. The

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third thing, which I absolutely love, was the very sharp

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intelligence. In her interactions with the Robert De Niro character

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where she beats him with the sport, she knows everything about sport.

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That is almost like some ZAF vant where she can do it? She's picking

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it all the way along the way. That combination is a deadly combination.

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For a 22-year-old? Whether it is clever management or she has good

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taste or luck, she did Winter's Bone, very intense and dark indie

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film, highly respected. She did a massive blockbuster Fran chie, in

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which she played a tough girl. Now she does this, she's still charming

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in a sullen way. It is not an ingraigsating smiley girl. She has

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a bombshell figure, and she's beautiful. She makes that

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calibration between comedy and pathos. She has likability and girl

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next door quality I think actually she might be winning in a way for

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Winter's Bone, such an extraordinary film. It was a

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wonderful performance. She has a career that has a lot of push. The

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academy responds to that, where sometimes someone comes along and

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it is their moment. You feel that with her. There has been weird

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shuffling with people like Amy Adams and Helen Hunt who could have

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been in the Best Actress category they were pushed to the side. That

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is partly the decision on the part of the distributors who say what

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they would campaign for. That is an interesting idea in itself.

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Bankable star. I thought Amy Adams in The Master would get that.

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thought SallyField would get one. didn't! Moving on. Let's now move

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on and talk a bit about the $2 million, and the six-year-old,

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Quevenzhane, actress or performance? If anyone should win

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an award for this it should be Behn Zeitlin. Working with child actors

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is challenging. It is all about knowing how to coax the best out of

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them. Having made home movies with my children, it is getting them

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through the set-up and getting them comfortable. You didn't have to do

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that in a swamp? Norfolk it close. She's an extraordinary charismatic

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kid. Half of it is the great fro she has in the movie. She has

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presence and charisma. She will be in the next Steve McQueen film.

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That will be a lot of work? She was dismissive when the film first

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showed at Sundance. She didn't want to be there. She's tiny, nine now

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and six then. I was struck by her strength. She seems like a warrior.

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There is a scene where she's doing the arm wrestling with the dad. I

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found the film slightly annoying. She is wonderful. I don't think I

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necessarily want a seven-year-old doing the voiceover in that film.

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It is a bit too much. It is highly derivative of Terence Malik from

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the beginning. A lot of it to do with the amazing framing, she looks

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so beautiful. The innocent face. I'm not sure the delivery of the

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lines is especially convincing. You can't get away from the fact, being

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nominated for an Oscar at six, what does it mean, have you turned in

:18:24.:18:29.

extremely thought out clever performance. What will you do at

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85.Or End up like Lindsay Lohan and TatumO'Neil. Would another six-

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year-old with the same stuff behind them not be the same. I'm not so

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much sure the film is about her, as it won't be good for her life.

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Talking about Zero Dark Thirty and Kathryn Bigelow didn't get a

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nomination, but Jessica Chastain has. Is she strong enough to be the

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lynch pin of the film? It is very interim performance, very quiet, a

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person who is clenched, whole life is career, the whole thing about

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process. Not one of the strongest performances I have seen in A

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Bigger Splash big film. She as fine, I have seen -- A bigger film. She

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was fine. I have seen her in better. She was fantastic in Take shelt

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Shelter. The Help. She was the best thing in it. This is a good point

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for her to get recognition. Isn't it partly also that trope of a whom

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trying to desperately get a killer, who has problems, and has some

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damaged psyche in some way. That has been done so well on TV. It is

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The Killing and also Homeland, with those programmes they have 10-20

:19:42.:19:45.

hours to develop the characters. Suddenly even two-and-a-half hours,

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that character feels a bit thin and flat to me. And a bit annoying. You

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don't have to like someone, the character for it to be great

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performance. With her I felt she was incredibly tense and buttoned

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up or sleeking. I didn't feel inbetween there was enough --

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shrieking. I didn't get enough of the inside woman. Did you get a

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sense as to what her obsession was? Not particularly. I found it

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offensive that the whole point of killing Osama Bin Laden was to

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appease her. I couldn't find out why that was there in the film?

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of the reasons it was not showing up as much as it was thought to in

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the nominations, is because it is incredibly equivocal about what it

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is saying. It plays both sides, that is how it managed to annoy

:20:29.:20:32.

both sides of the argument. It is the journalism that shaped it.

:20:33.:20:36.

She's modelled on someone specific, perhaps there is some flattery

:20:36.:20:40.

going on. I think it is "journalism", they appropriated the

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idea it was journalistic, not using some of the facts. One of the whole

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things in the beginning they say it is based on firsthand accounts and

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transcripts, but at the end the whole thing is without torture they

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wouldn't have got Osama Bin Laden. Another extraordinary actress, the

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elderly actress, Emmanuelle Riva. Tell me, do you think this should

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win. Do you think she's just wonderful. Sor will she get it

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because she has come -- or will she get it because she's an actress

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whom James Hanson loved? I dreaded watching the film. Two hours of two

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people dying wouldn't be much money fun. I found it amazingly moving

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and lovely. That was my best performance, I think. The reason

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was, she gives that character dignity and a sense of purpose. So

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even though this is a woman who is suffering from strokes and going to

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die. You get the sense she's in charge of what she wants to. Do you

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see that breaking down. It could be so easy to play that character for

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pity, but you don't, you play it for strength. I thought that was

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really moving. I have really big reservations about Amour, can I see

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the craft, and it is exceptionally well made. Knows what he's putting

:21:57.:22:03.

the cram in every shot. The use of sound -- the camera in every shot.

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The use of sound. There is something I hate about Hanson, the

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great tragedy of the story, it is touching with the love they have,

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but the way they lock out their daughter is horrible. She's

:22:12.:22:16.

definitely the odd person out in the familiar lo. It is all about

:22:16.:22:24.

them. The humiliation that she might have to go to an old folks'

:22:24.:22:34.

home. He loves to torture the Boris Johnson woi people. -- I think the

:22:34.:22:40.

tenderness is her, the man and the daughter are played incredibly cold.

:22:40.:22:43.

Hanson doesn't like people. You can't say that people aren't acting

:22:43.:22:48.

well in Hanson films. There is such a bitter core in all his films. A

:22:48.:22:51.

lot of people has said Amour is showing his gentle side. I thought

:22:51.:22:58.

it was a very angry bit of film. Really? She has warmth, her face

:22:58.:23:04.

has this wonderful smile. I have been rewatching Hiroshima MomAmour,

:23:04.:23:09.

the other film she's famous for. She's not a huge legend of French

:23:09.:23:16.

film. She made one famous film in 1959, even then she was 30. She has

:23:16.:23:20.

this intelligent and beautiful warm smile, very intelligent presence.

:23:20.:23:23.

It is a brilliant piece of casting. You are saying it is cold, if you

:23:23.:23:26.

are having something like that happening, is it not natural to say

:23:26.:23:29.

only us two can understand what we are really going through? I don't

:23:29.:23:32.

think so. I think it depends on what person you are. Hanson painted

:23:32.:23:37.

people the way he sees people, and maybe the way he is. Which hits

:23:37.:23:41.

instinct in a crisis is to -- which his instinct in a crisis is to shut

:23:41.:23:45.

people out. It is a portrait of that. There is some surprise at

:23:45.:23:51.

three very notable absences in the Best Director category, Kathryn

:23:51.:23:57.

Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty, Quentin Tarantino for Django --

:23:57.:24:04.

Django Unchained, and fecundability feck in Argo. If Argo wins Best

:24:04.:24:08.

Picketure, it will be the only one in a handful of times in Oscar

:24:08.:24:11.

history that Best Director and Best Picture have diverged. The five

:24:11.:24:20.

nominees are all male, but it is not without surprises.

:24:20.:24:23.

The two heavyweights in this category are Steven Spielberg and

:24:23.:24:29.

Ang Lee, with Lincoln and The Life of Pi. Historical dramas have

:24:29.:24:33.

certainly spelt Oscar success for Spielberg in the past, and Lee

:24:33.:24:37.

lease adaptation of the Booker Prize-winning novel, The Life of Pi,

:24:37.:24:42.

represents a bold new move towards technological prowess. Silver

:24:42.:24:45.

Linings Playbook director, David O Russell, had a brush with Oscar

:24:45.:24:49.

success two years ago, with the nomination for Best Director of The

:24:49.:24:53.

Fighter. This year his genre- busting romcom has come back in the

:24:54.:25:03.
:25:04.:25:05.

running. You want to have dinner at the diner? Pick me up at 7.30.

:25:05.:25:10.

year-old Behn Zeitlin is nominated for his debut feature, Beasts of

:25:10.:25:14.

Southern Wild. With a mere $2 million bucket, Zeitlin cobbled

:25:14.:25:18.

together sets, and used non- professional actors. In a million

:25:18.:25:25.

years, when kids go to school, they are gonna know, that Hushpuppy

:25:25.:25:30.

lived with her daddy in the bath tub. Unusually for a foreign film,

:25:30.:25:36.

Amour, a heart rending journey of love and old age, has several major

:25:36.:25:41.

nominations, including Best Film, Best Foreign language film, Best

:25:41.:25:45.

Actress. And a nod for Best Director for acclaimed European

:25:45.:25:55.
:25:55.:25:59.

film maker, James Hanson. Let's move on to Philip Hensher,

:25:59.:26:05.

why has holiday noticed him now? has a lot of palm dors, a claim on

:26:05.:26:08.

the European circuit festival. Now because he's highly respected there

:26:08.:26:14.

is a lot of money behind him, he works with known actors. He's a

:26:14.:26:19.

European arthouse name to say you know and like him. It is a box-

:26:19.:26:27.

ticking exercise to say you know Haneke. He's hard to love for me.

:26:27.:26:32.

Do you think kol wood would take to this -- Hollywood would take to

:26:33.:26:37.

this film about two old people in a room and a screaming daughter?

:26:37.:26:41.

think a lot of people are saying Americans won't go for it, it is

:26:41.:26:44.

too depression. Everyone has a point of entry, everyone will die,

:26:44.:26:48.

everyone has parents who will die. It is much more relateable than it

:26:48.:26:56.

seems. It is interesting Haneke got nominated. He's kind of like a

:26:56.:27:02.

prize European. What happened with the nominations, these supposed

:27:02.:27:05.

snubs to Ben Affleck and Quentin Tarantino and Kathryn Bigelow, when

:27:05.:27:08.

the directors were sitting there to make the nominations, they were

:27:08.:27:11.

thinking, you know what Evelyn will nominate Ben Affleck and Kathryn

:27:11.:27:16.

Bigelow, I'm going to show I'm really highbrow and do Haneke,

:27:16.:27:21.

that's how he has snook in. Not that it is not deserved. It is

:27:21.:27:28.

because everyone's trying to be more highbrow than thou. Let's talk

:27:28.:27:32.

about Ang Lee, The Life of Pi? film, technically it is fantastic.

:27:32.:27:37.

If you are going to give an award for making up tigers give it to Ang

:27:37.:27:42.

Lee. I think the 3. D work is spectacular, the flying fish are

:27:42.:27:47.

spectacular. But I think that, in a way, what is bizarre is this film

:27:47.:27:55.

is trying to give spirituality, yet the finest moments are technical,

:27:55.:27:58.

digital things, rather than spiritual. That is a failure in

:27:58.:28:02.

some ways. There was a "how do they do that?", things with the jelly

:28:02.:28:06.

fish and so forth. You are taken by that rather than the idea that

:28:06.:28:08.

there is relationship building? didn't feel there was nothing

:28:08.:28:12.

spiritual about it. I thought what was genius is the technical stuff

:28:12.:28:18.

was so well done it disappeared. I wasn't looking at the pixels.

:28:18.:28:24.

Really. I'm not subject to spiritual mum Mo jumbo, I was put

:28:24.:28:28.

off by the book trying to make me shi think spiritual things so much.

:28:28.:28:32.

The performance was so good, and technical so good, it opened up the

:28:32.:28:38.

space where I thought about the ideas. Did it speak to Ang Lee's

:28:38.:28:43.

director and vision as a director. Always doing something so different.

:28:43.:28:51.

Going from Broke Back Mountain, Crouching Tigers? At the heart of

:28:51.:28:57.

it he's always interested in families, he's always interested in

:28:57.:29:00.

intimate relationships. There are delicate subtle performances

:29:00.:29:08.

whatever type of film. Whether a superhero movie or martial arts

:29:08.:29:11.

films. It works for The Life of Pi. Did you find the narration and

:29:11.:29:14.

meeting them together? There is a lot that shouldn't work, I was

:29:14.:29:19.

surprised liked it as much as I did. I thought it was an example where

:29:19.:29:22.

film doesn't necessarily do metaphor and symbolism as well as

:29:23.:29:25.

books. Do there is certain books where you can play the double team

:29:25.:29:28.

of what is going on. When you see it in the film you think this isn't

:29:29.:29:32.

working. In the last act of the book it was much more effective

:29:32.:29:38.

when I read the novel, it felt thrown away. It was loud or

:29:38.:29:43.

extremely close or the or way round. In the film it was nauseating but

:29:43.:29:51.

the book more understandable. about David O Russell?'S A good

:29:51.:29:59.

journeyman director. He's clearly Harvey Weinstein's pet. Apparently

:29:59.:30:03.

he does have a masty reputation, that isn't a matter here. He has

:30:03.:30:10.

made a wired collection of movies. I like his early stuff, Three Kings,

:30:10.:30:18.

the I Heart Huckabees was insane. This one is a nostalgia move for

:30:18.:30:22.

the screw ball comedies of the 40s, that is where the film is strongest.

:30:22.:30:25.

Do you think it was he that brought the performances from Jennifer

:30:25.:30:29.

Lawrence, or it is his own thing? think so. He has found a rhythm.

:30:29.:30:34.

Certainly to get actors of that imaginationry to work together, to

:30:34.:30:43.

get the timing -- Majesty to work together to get the timing. It is a

:30:43.:30:47.

personal felt film from the director, you don't always get that

:30:47.:30:51.

in the Best Director category. David O Russell having an up and

:30:51.:30:57.

down reputation, making himself unpopular with Huckabees and then

:30:57.:31:00.

redeeming himself with The Fighter which got a lot of snom nations.

:31:00.:31:04.

This is a film about bettering yourself, and redeeming yourself

:31:04.:31:09.

from being horrible. Is it an apology? Maybe a little bit.

:31:09.:31:18.

end we have Spielberg, and on the other end young Behn Zeitlin from

:31:18.:31:22.

his film, Beasts of Southern Wild. He, essentially took less than $2

:31:22.:31:26.

million, act r actors that weren't professionals. Didn't look at the

:31:26.:31:33.

Dailies or rushes, and put together this film? To make it worse he's 29.

:31:33.:31:36.

Two days before nominations closed he put it in, and he's very young.

:31:36.:31:42.

Are you jealous? If only the film hadn't done so well. $17 million it

:31:42.:31:46.

has taken. It looks spectacular. What you can do for $2 million.

:31:46.:31:50.

This is an example you were asking about what the director does. This

:31:50.:31:55.

was definitely a director's film. It is credited to a collective. He

:31:55.:32:00.

didn't want to take sole credit for it. It was very much with his

:32:00.:32:02.

writing partner. I don't think it is necessarily the performances

:32:02.:32:06.

bringing it out, it is the use of the camera and music. It is not so

:32:07.:32:11.

much a story. It is about creating a world and evoking an atmosphere.

:32:11.:32:15.

It violates all the kinds of things you are not supposed to do in film,

:32:15.:32:21.

work with children, water, animals, shot in 16mms instead of digital.

:32:21.:32:25.

lot of people involved in this were doing their first film. Such an

:32:25.:32:29.

ambitious project for young people doing their first thing. Yes they

:32:29.:32:32.

have had Sundance backing and support. You have this thing where

:32:32.:32:36.

he's waiting there to see if he has won it, and Spielberg is waiting to

:32:36.:32:40.

see if he has won it. That is exorderry you were talking about

:32:40.:32:44.

the absence of others, and you have the absence of Tarantino, Tom

:32:44.:32:49.

Hooper, et cetera. Do you think Spielberg with Lincoln, people feel

:32:49.:32:53.

very passionately about Spielberg, don't they? I'm surprised, for me

:32:53.:32:56.

this is not one of his best films. It feels like he has the hand of

:32:56.:33:01.

history on him. He feels too reverential and dutiful, it feels

:33:01.:33:04.

like the sort of film, if you are a history student you will want in

:33:04.:33:07.

your collection. But you are not going to want to watch it. I wanted

:33:07.:33:12.

to watch it. I enjoyed it a lot. will talk about best film in a bit.

:33:12.:33:22.
:33:22.:33:25.

In terms of what he was doing and you could say that the trio of

:33:25.:33:29.

David Stratherne, and Daniel Day- Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones, that

:33:29.:33:33.

trio together was extraordinary, you couldn't fail. I think

:33:33.:33:37.

Tarantino did a better job with Django in terms of making a

:33:37.:33:41.

cinematic experience than Spielberg Z I found the film dull to be

:33:41.:33:51.

honest. Lincoln is an easy film to like, Django you can be wowed by

:33:51.:33:54.

but it is devisive. It is a procedural film, but I found it

:33:54.:33:58.

dull. You like the West Wing, you will love this? I don't know if it

:33:58.:34:02.

is necessarily a director's film. Spielberg being Spielberg now, you

:34:02.:34:05.

assemble all the best people in the business around you, how much can

:34:05.:34:08.

really go wrong, there is an element of that. Tarantino is

:34:08.:34:11.

Tarantino and could only be Tarantino, but I think Tarantino

:34:11.:34:14.

had to be punished for Django Unchained a little bit. That is why

:34:15.:34:19.

it may not have got as many nominations. I like that he plays

:34:20.:34:26.

fast and loose with facts, I like that. I fuend it puerile, I find it

:34:26.:34:32.

ir-- I find it puerile. I find it irritating. He's too naughty.

:34:32.:34:37.

talk about being naughty but inglorious Bestards was brilliant

:34:37.:34:42.

and it got revolted. Maybe this is close tort bone for Americans.

:34:42.:34:47.

Let's move on, last year's Ward were bathed in nostalgia, we have

:34:47.:34:55.

the tribute to the -- last year's Academy Awards were bathed in no

:34:55.:34:59.

sir algia with The Artish winning five nominations. There is a wide

:34:59.:35:06.

variety in the running. There is no doubt that the hot

:35:06.:35:11.

favourite to win is Argo. Ben Affleck's slick retro thriller with

:35:12.:35:16.

the CIA's involvement in the Iranian hostage crisis, which has

:35:16.:35:21.

scooped numerous awards, including Golden Globes for Best Director and

:35:21.:35:26.

Best Picture and the BAFTA for Best Film. There are only options, it is

:35:26.:35:32.

about finding the best one. don't have a better idea than this?

:35:32.:35:37.

This is the best bad idea we have. The competition is Lincoln from

:35:37.:35:40.

Steven Spielberg, the highest grossing film on the list. One two

:35:40.:35:42.

of films about America's relationship with slavery, which

:35:42.:35:46.

couldn't be more different. The other being Quentin Tarantino's

:35:47.:35:54.

typically bloody Django Unchained. I like the way you die, boy.

:35:54.:35:59.

Following her Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow's Zero

:35:59.:36:02.

Dark Thirty focuses on another contemporary subject, the killing

:36:02.:36:08.

of Osama Bin Laden. Is this topic a little too political for the

:36:08.:36:14.

academy's tastes. Not surprising Ang Leely's lavish The Life of Pi

:36:14.:36:24.
:36:24.:36:29.

is -- Ang Lee's laughic The Life of Life of Pi sup for 11 nominations.

:36:29.:36:33.

Tom Hooper and Les Miserables up for eight awards, and proving some

:36:33.:36:36.

A-Listers can really sing and live on set.

:36:36.:36:39.

# Yes it is true # There is a child

:36:39.:36:44.

# The child is my daughter I'm married. At first glance a

:36:45.:36:52.

romantic comedy about bi-polar disorder and spread betting doesn't

:36:52.:36:58.

lock like much of a film. But it proved a sophisticated reinvention

:36:58.:37:05.

of the romcom. Then the outside bets, Behn Zeitlin's response to

:37:05.:37:07.

Hurricane Katrina, Beasts of Southern Wild, is up for four

:37:07.:37:12.

awards, including Best Picture. Not bad at all for a small budget

:37:12.:37:16.

feature. The only foreign language film on the list, the tale of love

:37:16.:37:24.

and old age, Amour. So will the academy finally honour Hanek after

:37:24.:37:30.

a long and auspicious career. Can Zeitlin follow Sam Mendes and

:37:30.:37:37.

others to win the award for his first feature, and Affleck to win

:37:37.:37:41.

the fight against American heros. We have talked about a number of

:37:41.:37:46.

these films. Let's deal with Argo. It is a film that speaks to modern

:37:47.:37:52.

American fears, a bit like 1993 did. I wonder if that will give it a

:37:52.:37:56.

following wind? It will give it a push, and speaks to Hollywood's own

:37:56.:38:00.

sense of self-satisfaction, that the sense the hostages are freed.

:38:00.:38:06.

The Iranians are making a different film, of course? Exactly. It will

:38:06.:38:11.

flatter the academy. It has already swept all the precursor awards. It

:38:11.:38:17.

is a weird blip that he didn't get nominated for Best Director. I

:38:17.:38:22.

think it is certainly a lock. the way you were saying the Oscars

:38:22.:38:27.

liking to be sophisticated and choosing things, because Argo has

:38:27.:38:30.

done well elsewhere, do you think they will feel they have to back

:38:30.:38:33.

it? A lot of the things happen after the fact and the voting. The

:38:33.:38:37.

reason it is so weird that Ben Affleck didn't get the director

:38:37.:38:42.

nomination, is the Oscars over award actors who are also directors

:38:42.:38:48.

t loves these people, the Robert Redfords, the Jodie Foster, and

:38:48.:38:52.

Clint Eastwood, they want those famous people do something else.

:38:52.:38:56.

They want to be in with famous people so they will invite them

:38:56.:39:00.

round for dinner. Ben Affleck is in that mould, he's not that showy

:39:00.:39:06.

director, and the best thing about Argo is not necessarily the

:39:06.:39:09.

direction. It is funny, politically serious and Hollywood mainstream

:39:09.:39:12.

with the tension and drama. I would disagree with the directing, I

:39:12.:39:16.

thought the last half hour of Argo was very Spenceful. Everything

:39:16.:39:21.

happening at the last minute. was fantastic, I was at the edge of

:39:21.:39:26.

the my seat. Didn't you think it was phoney because it was left

:39:26.:39:29.

until then. I didn't think it was phoney, I thought it was good film

:39:29.:39:33.

making. The interesting thing about that versus zerze, you know what

:39:33.:39:37.

happens to Osama Bin Laden, there was no suspense zurg -- Zero Dark

:39:37.:39:41.

Thirty, you know what happens to Osama Bin Laden, so there was no

:39:41.:39:47.

Spence. It felt genuinely exciting. Let's say what are the chances of a

:39:47.:39:51.

foreign language film, Amour, winning Best Picture? Very, very

:39:51.:39:55.

small. It is lovely to have it in there, just having it on the list

:39:55.:39:58.

is really interesting, it opens doors for future foreign language

:39:58.:40:02.

films, it shows people these films don't have to be overlooked, just

:40:02.:40:06.

because there are subtitles at the bottom of the screen. Do you think

:40:06.:40:09.

with the Artist getting everything last year, they will move away from

:40:09.:40:14.

that? The Artist did a different kind of films, maybe it is that it

:40:14.:40:19.

wasn't so bad to have a few French people. Maybe they changed the

:40:19.:40:22.

regulations to open up to have as many as ten, to have these weird

:40:22.:40:25.

things crop up, something like this and Beasts of Southern Wild, or

:40:25.:40:28.

something in a foreign language, I think that is really exciting and a

:40:28.:40:33.

really smart move on the part of the academy. Was it in a broader

:40:33.:40:35.

way, because we are coming to the end of the programme, let's talk

:40:35.:40:39.

about the Oscar, was it because the Oscars, it is all about the glitz

:40:39.:40:43.

and the dresses. But actually what they wanted to do for people in the

:40:43.:40:47.

industry is return a bit of credibility to it? I think that is

:40:47.:40:50.

very problematic for them. They are trying to do both things, by

:40:51.:40:53.

opening up the nominations they wanted to give a chance to

:40:53.:40:57.

outsiders and small pictures, the more Major Generalal ones. They

:40:57.:41:01.

also wanted, we are hoping, in order to get bigger audiences for

:41:01.:41:05.

the broadcast. Which is the meat and potatoes and pays everyone's

:41:05.:41:09.

bills and puts all the coature on their backs. They want things like

:41:09.:41:16.

the Batman movie to get nominated and The Hobbit, they are not

:41:16.:41:20.

getting nominated. It is pictures like Amour. Zero Dark Thirty,

:41:20.:41:24.

Lincoln, Django are all America revisiting moments of its fractured

:41:24.:41:28.

past and trying to find a way of getting cinematic closure and happy

:41:28.:41:32.

ending which may not have happened at the time. It sound like this is

:41:32.:41:35.

Hollywood trying to retreat back into the American past or reinvent

:41:35.:41:39.

the truth in some ways. Before we finish we have a quick, your

:41:39.:41:45.

wishlist and where you think that there is going to be a problem for

:41:45.:41:48.

your desires? In which ever category do you chose, what would

:41:48.:41:53.

you like to win and which will win? For me in foreign language I would

:41:53.:42:03.
:42:03.:42:03.

love to Seymour mour not win, and Pablo Lauren's film No, another

:42:03.:42:07.

election and politics move yo, one of the most overlooked films of the

:42:07.:42:14.

year and a stonker. In actor in a supporting role, I thought Alan

:42:14.:42:18.

Arkin was very good. I don't think he will win, because Tommy Lee

:42:18.:42:23.

Jones and Walter is good. But Arkin was really funny. I think the

:42:23.:42:29.

animated film category is great this year. I think Wreck It Ralph,

:42:29.:42:36.

but I would like Frankenweenie for me. Thank you for your choices, you

:42:36.:42:41.

can roll out your very own red carpet and pop the corks in the

:42:41.:42:47.

middle of fund night and see who has won hot in the academy on Sky

:42:47.:42:53.

Movies HD coverage. Thanks to my guests.

:42:53.:42:58.

Matter that is back at 1.00 next week, the suggests up for

:42:58.:43:03.

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