:00:19. > :00:25.Tonight on the Review Show, we are looking ahead to the Academy Awards.
:00:25. > :00:31.Some of the biggest names in film are up for prizes.
:00:31. > :00:35.# He gave me strength to journey on. Plus new faces. The youngest-ever
:00:36. > :00:39.nominee for the Best Actress award. And the oldest actress ever
:00:40. > :00:47.shortlisted, older even than Oscar himself.
:00:47. > :00:52.In the running for Best Picture, a film made for just $2 million, sits
:00:52. > :00:55.on a shortlist against another that has taken almost $200 million at
:00:55. > :00:59.the box-office. I'm the President of the United States, clothed in
:00:59. > :01:03.immense power. Or will it go to Ben Affleck's Argo,
:01:03. > :01:07.which has scooped the lion's share of this season's awards. You want
:01:07. > :01:13.to come to Hollywood and act like a big shot without actually doing
:01:13. > :01:18.anything? Yeah. You'll fit right in. There is frefrg the dazzling
:01:18. > :01:22.effects of Ang Lee's The Life of Pi, to the off the wall romcom, Silver
:01:22. > :01:27.Linings Playbook. On the night, will the Hollywood establishment
:01:28. > :01:31.honour its over, or the statuettes deliver some surprise -- honour its
:01:31. > :01:41.own, or the statuettes deliver some surprises.
:01:41. > :01:42.
:01:42. > :01:46.Joining me are my guests. Hannah McGill, and Mr Manzoor.
:01:46. > :01:50.We are focusing on the major categories of what are indeed the
:01:50. > :01:55.glitziest awards on the film circuit. We start with Best Actor.
:01:55. > :02:01.If The Golden Calf and BAFTAs are anything to go by, there would be
:02:01. > :02:05.one presidential winner. He could make history, three Oscars, a
:02:05. > :02:08.stovepipe hat trick. Daniel Day-Lewis has earned
:02:08. > :02:12.widespread acclaim for his portrayal of America's 16th
:02:12. > :02:16.President, Lincoln. In Steven Spielberg's political drama about
:02:16. > :02:20.the leader whose bill changed the course of history in the United
:02:20. > :02:28.States. I am the President of the United States, clothed in immense
:02:28. > :02:33.power. Escaping a life of slavery is Jean Valjean, the lead character
:02:33. > :02:39.in Tom Hooper's swashbuckling adaptation of Les Miserables. Based
:02:39. > :02:42.on the tale of poverty tricken life in 17th century France by Victor
:02:42. > :02:46.Hugo. Hugh Jackman was lauded for his vocal performance, recorded
:02:46. > :02:51.live on set. # Be no more than an alibi
:02:51. > :02:56.# Must I lie. Back to the 21st century, and the
:02:56. > :03:01.pilot played by Denzel Washington in Flight, it praised as a hero,
:03:01. > :03:06.when he saves a jet from crashing. Was it down to areonautical skill,
:03:06. > :03:09.or the buzz from narcotics. As the plot unfolds, the pilot, William
:03:09. > :03:14.Whip Whitaker, proves to be the victim of serious drug and alcohol
:03:14. > :03:24.abuse. It was an ordinary day Margaret, you know me, I was in
:03:24. > :03:25.
:03:25. > :03:31.shape to fly. You have a problem saying that. In The Master, Joaquin
:03:31. > :03:37.Phoenix plays a displaced war veteran in America, who falls in
:03:37. > :03:41.with a small cult called The Cause, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman's
:03:42. > :03:45.character. Last but not least, Bradley Cooper's portrayal of a man
:03:46. > :03:50.with bi-polar disorder, trying to heal a broken manager in Silver
:03:50. > :03:54.Linings Playbook. He learns to appreciate the attentions of the
:03:54. > :03:59.unstable young widow Tiffany, played by Jennifer Lawrence.
:03:59. > :04:04.did you order raisin bran. Why did you order tea? Because you ordered
:04:04. > :04:12.raisin bran. I ordered raisin bran because I didn't want there to be
:04:12. > :04:18.any mistaking it for a date. Lestly the performance of the year,
:04:18. > :04:23.let's --letly, the performance of the -- Leslie, the performance of
:04:23. > :04:27.the year, or is he unstoppable? is unstoppable. He is afacing,
:04:27. > :04:31.incredible technique. Such great confidence. Such a physical
:04:32. > :04:35.performance, the sort of things the academy loves. A historical figure.
:04:35. > :04:38.Not just any, but the most beloved President in all history. Do you
:04:38. > :04:42.think it was a chance for Americans to imagine what Lincoln was really
:04:42. > :04:47.like? I think you are right. It made me feel a bit like the tiger
:04:47. > :04:50.in The Life of Pi, this is the closest we are going to get to a
:04:50. > :04:55.real-life Abraham Lincoln. What I liked about it is it could have
:04:55. > :05:00.been easy to do him as a heroic God-like figure, and the fact that
:05:00. > :05:03.he does him as a hunched up with jokes that nobody laughs at. A
:05:03. > :05:07.broken guy with the weight of history on him. He does that really
:05:07. > :05:12.well. The fact that it focused on one particular small period?
:05:12. > :05:18.did it in immense detail and was very informative. And it didn't
:05:18. > :05:21.stint on that. It was a like -- like a courtroom drama. The
:05:21. > :05:26.performance has a lot of vulnerability, it is not a stuffed
:05:26. > :05:30.dummy. There have been a few impersonation films that have been
:05:30. > :05:33.Madame Tussauds, and it was not one of them. Talking about emotional
:05:33. > :05:38.performances, the film might not have made it, what do you think of
:05:38. > :05:42.Denzel Washington's performance in Flight? I think he's always a very
:05:42. > :05:46.complex actor, even in a film that isn't as complex as his performance.
:05:46. > :05:50.Flight has two thirds of a great film in, and lets itself down
:05:50. > :05:53.towards the end. He is very strong. You want to be with him and follow
:05:53. > :05:56.him. He gets the complexity of the character. He is very much the best
:05:56. > :06:00.thing about the film. Like with Lincoln, they make the film better
:06:00. > :06:04.than the film actually is. I think what he does really well, with the
:06:04. > :06:07.opening he's an incredibly charismatic presence, and then the
:06:07. > :06:13.charisma breaks down. You see him as a really wounded person. It lets
:06:13. > :06:18.you not like him. Has the facility to do both. He's usually so keen to
:06:18. > :06:22.be the leading man and the charisma centre, so it is good for him.
:06:22. > :06:26.default the rest of the film broke down around him, he was the thing
:06:26. > :06:32.that shone out of it. It let down his performance, he was allowing
:06:32. > :06:35.him to be seen as a complicated and the film at the end hits you with a
:06:35. > :06:38.hammer and says this is what you think. It is nice that he got
:06:38. > :06:42.recognised and the film didn't. were talking about the physicality
:06:42. > :06:46.of Daniel Day-Lewis, but when it comes to The Master, Joaquin
:06:46. > :06:50.Phoenix surely would get an award for a physical performance? Again,
:06:50. > :06:54.I think he does a brilliant job. I found the film problematic. I
:06:54. > :06:57.didn't find it very compelling. Even though he is giving it the
:06:57. > :07:01.full bells and whistles in terms of performance. Because I think it is
:07:01. > :07:05.more of a mood thing. I don't feel like the story is so compelling, it
:07:05. > :07:09.fizzled out for me. It was like a dual between him and Philip Seymour
:07:09. > :07:14.Hoffman. I felt like the film was very interesting, he was being very
:07:14. > :07:17.over the top for me, doing a lot for that film. It is not an Oscar
:07:17. > :07:22.film. I'm not surprised it didn't show up in the categories. You can
:07:22. > :07:26.see him acting so much in his performance. The academy likes to
:07:26. > :07:29.see people acting and preferably singing much. They font like
:07:29. > :07:37.Joaquin Phoenix, he doesn't much like them? That is what I like
:07:37. > :07:44.about him. As with Monique when nominated for Precious, she did
:07:44. > :07:46.nothing to campaign. Didn't he say he didn't want an Oscar. Didn't he
:07:46. > :07:51.just play a meltdown character he played a few years ago. It is
:07:51. > :07:56.interesting how the things work. Equally you could say the Best
:07:56. > :07:59.Actor category should have been Philip Seymour Hoffman and the Best
:07:59. > :08:02.Supporting Actor Joaquin Phoenix? It is hard to say. It is a
:08:02. > :08:05.beautiful duet throughout the film. The best moments are when they are
:08:05. > :08:09.behave the mind games and the battles between them. This is
:08:09. > :08:13.something that so often comes up with best and best supporting. You
:08:13. > :08:16.could say that a lot with the others, the actresses, there is a
:08:16. > :08:20.fine line. Sometimes supporting means supporting an actress or
:08:20. > :08:22.actor. That is always very arguable and weird. They fit people in.
:08:22. > :08:27.of the things about Silver Linings Playbook is one of the few films
:08:27. > :08:29.that it feels like an ensemble. The other films there is a big fat
:08:29. > :08:34.figure, whether it is Daniel Day- Lewis et cetera. That was the
:08:34. > :08:39.surprise in Silver Linings Playbook, here was the guy in the Hangover,
:08:39. > :08:45.and he turned in a nuanced performance? I liked about it that
:08:45. > :08:50.it was a relief it was not breaking into song, and it was in the modern
:08:50. > :08:54.day. For Bradley Cooper, the whole idea that he actually created this
:08:54. > :09:00.character whofs both really damaged, funny -- who was really both
:09:00. > :09:07.damaged, funny and smart, and by the way bi-polar? Robert denir row
:09:08. > :09:11.is in this as well. -- De Niro is in this as well. And there is talk
:09:11. > :09:15.about it putting a human face on mental illness, but I don't think
:09:16. > :09:20.it is that. I think they make a magnetic couple, Jennifer Lawrence
:09:20. > :09:24.and him. It is a comedy, it has dark undertones. It is a romcom?
:09:24. > :09:34.That is one of the classical things we criticise about the Oscars, they
:09:34. > :09:39.give it to people who die. De Niro is fantastic. He's incredibly funny.
:09:40. > :09:46.The star screen is the one where they are all arguing. There are a
:09:46. > :09:49.huge number of people voting with conventional tastes, it rewards
:09:49. > :09:54.weepy performances and extra things like singing and dancing and
:09:54. > :09:58.pretending it has a disability. Bringing us neatly to the final
:09:59. > :10:03.category, the all-singing, not necessarily dancing, Jackman. When
:10:03. > :10:08.you see it out of context, you see the clip, it is like, really?
:10:08. > :10:13.embarrassed about enjoying the film. When you watch it outside. How dare
:10:13. > :10:16.you! In the moment he carries that film for 237 very long minutes.
:10:16. > :10:19.He's absolutely giving it all. To be able to have a film that is
:10:19. > :10:23.ostensibly a musical, but act that you care about the character, and
:10:23. > :10:29.he brings some of the acting skills too was pretty impressive. I missed
:10:29. > :10:33.it on every button. It didn't work me at all, -- for me at all. It was
:10:33. > :10:40.painful. The only more painful movie was The Hobbit. That is
:10:40. > :10:45.saying a lo. He's already, he's fine. He's host of the Oscars.
:10:45. > :10:50.does work for that. He certainly works. You can hear him working a
:10:50. > :10:53.bit too much. Any ambitions for Best Actor category? It is
:10:53. > :10:58.interesting for Amour we have Emmanuelle Riva nominated for Best
:10:58. > :11:04.Actress, and Amour turning up in Best Picture, despite foreign
:11:04. > :11:06.language. We don't have the actor performance in Amour, that is
:11:07. > :11:15.arguably the more complicated and difficult role. He's unfortunate in
:11:15. > :11:19.that he's in a strong year. Maybe he doesn't want it. Anybody else?
:11:19. > :11:23.John Sessions! Very good actor? don't know, but he's just great any
:11:23. > :11:29.way. Give him a Lifetime Achievement Award. I meant to say
:11:29. > :11:33.John Hots for The Sessions, he's playing with someone who has a
:11:33. > :11:38.disease, yet likeable? I think it was too much of, the academy
:11:38. > :11:41.recognised it was asking for an Oscar too much. Whoever gets
:11:41. > :11:45.nominate Liberal Democrat lose to Daniel Day-Lewis. This is a cake
:11:46. > :11:49.walk for him. Let's move on, the selection for Best Actress is as
:11:49. > :11:53.mixed as it is likely to be in terms of movies and nominees. Those
:11:53. > :11:57.spanning a staggering nine decades between them, none of this year's
:11:57. > :12:07.contenders has ever had the experience of lifting the famed
:12:07. > :12:09.
:12:09. > :12:13.statuette. Emmanuelle Riva is not just the
:12:13. > :12:20.oldest woman ever to be nominated in this category, but on Sunday she
:12:20. > :12:24.will celebrate her 86th birthday. Nominated for her role in James
:12:24. > :12:30.Hanson's Amour. She's already scooped the BAFTA. But foreign
:12:30. > :12:34.language films rarely do well at the Oscars. 76 years Riva's junior,
:12:34. > :12:38.is nine-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis, the youngest female ever to be
:12:38. > :12:43.nominated for Best Actress. It goes quiet behind my eyes. I see
:12:43. > :12:48.everything that made me, flying around and invisible pieces. Wallis
:12:48. > :12:52.was only six years old when she played Hushpuppy in Behn Zeitlin's
:12:52. > :12:59.Beasts of Southern Wild. But though this young rookie is undoubtedly
:12:59. > :13:03.charming, the likelihood of heroining seems slim. -- her
:13:03. > :13:07.winning seems slim. Nominated for her role of Tiffany
:13:07. > :13:11.in Silver Linings Playbook, 22- year-old Jennifer Lawrence would at
:13:11. > :13:17.any other time be considered an outsider with her youth W a
:13:17. > :13:21.previous Oscar nomination under her belt, and having taken most major
:13:21. > :13:24.awards this season. She will step into the Dolby Theatre as the
:13:24. > :13:29.favourite. I wanted to clarify anything, I want us to be friends.
:13:29. > :13:32.Did you hear what I said? Jessica Chastain was nominated just a year
:13:32. > :13:41.ago in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in The Help,
:13:41. > :13:49.so can she take it on to the podium for her portrayal of the unassuming
:13:49. > :13:53.heroine Mya in Zero Dark Thirty directed by Bigelow.
:13:53. > :14:00.Last of all, on the red carpet, Naomi Watts, nominated for her role
:14:01. > :14:04.as a mother swept up in the 2004 tsunami, in Juan Antonio Bayona's
:14:04. > :14:09.The Impossible. I'm scared. scared too.
:14:09. > :14:14.Watts, often regarded as the actor's actor, does turn in an
:14:14. > :14:17.emotionally powerful performance, but this is the The Impossible's
:14:17. > :14:22.only nomination. With such a broad spectrum of contenders, whoever
:14:22. > :14:27.wins there will surely be lots to talk about. That's even before
:14:27. > :14:30.discussion of what and whom they will all be wearing.
:14:30. > :14:35.Let's go back to Silver Linings Playbook, first of all, we have had
:14:35. > :14:41.Bradley Cooper. It is also goingor Best Supporting Actor and actress,
:14:41. > :14:46.as well as Jennifer Lawrence, that is the first film since Reds to
:14:46. > :14:50.have four in the category. Do you think this is her stand-out
:14:50. > :14:54.performance? What was interesting, I hadn't seen the Hunger Games,
:14:54. > :14:58.this was my first experience of her. I was dazzled. What I thought was
:14:58. > :15:02.interesting, she has this real magnetism, you can totally get why
:15:02. > :15:05.Bradley Cooper wants to be with her. She also has the vulnerability. The
:15:05. > :15:11.third thing, which I absolutely love, was the very sharp
:15:11. > :15:15.intelligence. In her interactions with the Robert De Niro character
:15:15. > :15:19.where she beats him with the sport, she knows everything about sport.
:15:19. > :15:24.That is almost like some ZAF vant where she can do it? She's picking
:15:24. > :15:27.it all the way along the way. That combination is a deadly combination.
:15:27. > :15:32.For a 22-year-old? Whether it is clever management or she has good
:15:32. > :15:36.taste or luck, she did Winter's Bone, very intense and dark indie
:15:36. > :15:41.film, highly respected. She did a massive blockbuster Fran chie, in
:15:41. > :15:46.which she played a tough girl. Now she does this, she's still charming
:15:46. > :15:51.in a sullen way. It is not an ingraigsating smiley girl. She has
:15:51. > :15:55.a bombshell figure, and she's beautiful. She makes that
:15:55. > :16:02.calibration between comedy and pathos. She has likability and girl
:16:02. > :16:07.next door quality I think actually she might be winning in a way for
:16:07. > :16:12.Winter's Bone, such an extraordinary film. It was a
:16:12. > :16:16.wonderful performance. She has a career that has a lot of push. The
:16:16. > :16:20.academy responds to that, where sometimes someone comes along and
:16:20. > :16:23.it is their moment. You feel that with her. There has been weird
:16:23. > :16:26.shuffling with people like Amy Adams and Helen Hunt who could have
:16:26. > :16:30.been in the Best Actress category they were pushed to the side. That
:16:30. > :16:37.is partly the decision on the part of the distributors who say what
:16:37. > :16:44.they would campaign for. That is an interesting idea in itself.
:16:44. > :16:49.Bankable star. I thought Amy Adams in The Master would get that.
:16:49. > :16:58.thought SallyField would get one. didn't! Moving on. Let's now move
:16:58. > :17:02.on and talk a bit about the $2 million, and the six-year-old,
:17:02. > :17:07.Quevenzhane, actress or performance? If anyone should win
:17:07. > :17:12.an award for this it should be Behn Zeitlin. Working with child actors
:17:12. > :17:15.is challenging. It is all about knowing how to coax the best out of
:17:15. > :17:19.them. Having made home movies with my children, it is getting them
:17:20. > :17:25.through the set-up and getting them comfortable. You didn't have to do
:17:25. > :17:30.that in a swamp? Norfolk it close. She's an extraordinary charismatic
:17:30. > :17:33.kid. Half of it is the great fro she has in the movie. She has
:17:33. > :17:38.presence and charisma. She will be in the next Steve McQueen film.
:17:38. > :17:43.That will be a lot of work? She was dismissive when the film first
:17:43. > :17:48.showed at Sundance. She didn't want to be there. She's tiny, nine now
:17:48. > :17:51.and six then. I was struck by her strength. She seems like a warrior.
:17:51. > :17:55.There is a scene where she's doing the arm wrestling with the dad. I
:17:55. > :17:59.found the film slightly annoying. She is wonderful. I don't think I
:17:59. > :18:05.necessarily want a seven-year-old doing the voiceover in that film.
:18:05. > :18:09.It is a bit too much. It is highly derivative of Terence Malik from
:18:09. > :18:14.the beginning. A lot of it to do with the amazing framing, she looks
:18:14. > :18:19.so beautiful. The innocent face. I'm not sure the delivery of the
:18:19. > :18:24.lines is especially convincing. You can't get away from the fact, being
:18:24. > :18:29.nominated for an Oscar at six, what does it mean, have you turned in
:18:30. > :18:37.extremely thought out clever performance. What will you do at
:18:37. > :18:41.85.Or End up like Lindsay Lohan and TatumO'Neil. Would another six-
:18:41. > :18:46.year-old with the same stuff behind them not be the same. I'm not so
:18:46. > :18:49.much sure the film is about her, as it won't be good for her life.
:18:49. > :18:52.Talking about Zero Dark Thirty and Kathryn Bigelow didn't get a
:18:52. > :18:57.nomination, but Jessica Chastain has. Is she strong enough to be the
:18:57. > :19:00.lynch pin of the film? It is very interim performance, very quiet, a
:19:00. > :19:04.person who is clenched, whole life is career, the whole thing about
:19:04. > :19:13.process. Not one of the strongest performances I have seen in A
:19:13. > :19:19.Bigger Splash big film. She as fine, I have seen -- A bigger film. She
:19:19. > :19:23.was fine. I have seen her in better. She was fantastic in Take shelt
:19:23. > :19:30.Shelter. The Help. She was the best thing in it. This is a good point
:19:30. > :19:34.for her to get recognition. Isn't it partly also that trope of a whom
:19:34. > :19:38.trying to desperately get a killer, who has problems, and has some
:19:38. > :19:42.damaged psyche in some way. That has been done so well on TV. It is
:19:42. > :19:45.The Killing and also Homeland, with those programmes they have 10-20
:19:45. > :19:50.hours to develop the characters. Suddenly even two-and-a-half hours,
:19:50. > :19:53.that character feels a bit thin and flat to me. And a bit annoying. You
:19:53. > :19:56.don't have to like someone, the character for it to be great
:19:56. > :20:02.performance. With her I felt she was incredibly tense and buttoned
:20:02. > :20:06.up or sleeking. I didn't feel inbetween there was enough --
:20:06. > :20:10.shrieking. I didn't get enough of the inside woman. Did you get a
:20:10. > :20:13.sense as to what her obsession was? Not particularly. I found it
:20:13. > :20:17.offensive that the whole point of killing Osama Bin Laden was to
:20:17. > :20:22.appease her. I couldn't find out why that was there in the film?
:20:22. > :20:26.of the reasons it was not showing up as much as it was thought to in
:20:26. > :20:29.the nominations, is because it is incredibly equivocal about what it
:20:29. > :20:32.is saying. It plays both sides, that is how it managed to annoy
:20:33. > :20:36.both sides of the argument. It is the journalism that shaped it.
:20:36. > :20:40.She's modelled on someone specific, perhaps there is some flattery
:20:40. > :20:46.going on. I think it is "journalism", they appropriated the
:20:46. > :20:53.idea it was journalistic, not using some of the facts. One of the whole
:20:53. > :20:57.things in the beginning they say it is based on firsthand accounts and
:20:57. > :21:03.transcripts, but at the end the whole thing is without torture they
:21:04. > :21:07.wouldn't have got Osama Bin Laden. Another extraordinary actress, the
:21:07. > :21:11.elderly actress, Emmanuelle Riva. Tell me, do you think this should
:21:11. > :21:18.win. Do you think she's just wonderful. Sor will she get it
:21:18. > :21:22.because she has come -- or will she get it because she's an actress
:21:22. > :21:26.whom James Hanson loved? I dreaded watching the film. Two hours of two
:21:26. > :21:29.people dying wouldn't be much money fun. I found it amazingly moving
:21:29. > :21:34.and lovely. That was my best performance, I think. The reason
:21:34. > :21:38.was, she gives that character dignity and a sense of purpose. So
:21:38. > :21:41.even though this is a woman who is suffering from strokes and going to
:21:42. > :21:45.die. You get the sense she's in charge of what she wants to. Do you
:21:45. > :21:49.see that breaking down. It could be so easy to play that character for
:21:49. > :21:53.pity, but you don't, you play it for strength. I thought that was
:21:53. > :21:57.really moving. I have really big reservations about Amour, can I see
:21:57. > :22:03.the craft, and it is exceptionally well made. Knows what he's putting
:22:03. > :22:06.the cram in every shot. The use of sound -- the camera in every shot.
:22:06. > :22:09.The use of sound. There is something I hate about Hanson, the
:22:09. > :22:12.great tragedy of the story, it is touching with the love they have,
:22:12. > :22:16.but the way they lock out their daughter is horrible. She's
:22:16. > :22:24.definitely the odd person out in the familiar lo. It is all about
:22:24. > :22:34.them. The humiliation that she might have to go to an old folks'
:22:34. > :22:40.home. He loves to torture the Boris Johnson woi people. -- I think the
:22:40. > :22:43.tenderness is her, the man and the daughter are played incredibly cold.
:22:43. > :22:48.Hanson doesn't like people. You can't say that people aren't acting
:22:48. > :22:51.well in Hanson films. There is such a bitter core in all his films. A
:22:51. > :22:58.lot of people has said Amour is showing his gentle side. I thought
:22:58. > :23:04.it was a very angry bit of film. Really? She has warmth, her face
:23:04. > :23:09.has this wonderful smile. I have been rewatching Hiroshima MomAmour,
:23:09. > :23:16.the other film she's famous for. She's not a huge legend of French
:23:16. > :23:20.film. She made one famous film in 1959, even then she was 30. She has
:23:20. > :23:23.this intelligent and beautiful warm smile, very intelligent presence.
:23:23. > :23:26.It is a brilliant piece of casting. You are saying it is cold, if you
:23:26. > :23:29.are having something like that happening, is it not natural to say
:23:29. > :23:32.only us two can understand what we are really going through? I don't
:23:32. > :23:37.think so. I think it depends on what person you are. Hanson painted
:23:37. > :23:41.people the way he sees people, and maybe the way he is. Which hits
:23:41. > :23:45.instinct in a crisis is to -- which his instinct in a crisis is to shut
:23:45. > :23:51.people out. It is a portrait of that. There is some surprise at
:23:51. > :23:57.three very notable absences in the Best Director category, Kathryn
:23:57. > :24:04.Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty, Quentin Tarantino for Django --
:24:04. > :24:08.Django Unchained, and fecundability feck in Argo. If Argo wins Best
:24:08. > :24:11.Picketure, it will be the only one in a handful of times in Oscar
:24:11. > :24:20.history that Best Director and Best Picture have diverged. The five
:24:20. > :24:23.nominees are all male, but it is not without surprises.
:24:23. > :24:29.The two heavyweights in this category are Steven Spielberg and
:24:29. > :24:33.Ang Lee, with Lincoln and The Life of Pi. Historical dramas have
:24:33. > :24:37.certainly spelt Oscar success for Spielberg in the past, and Lee
:24:37. > :24:42.lease adaptation of the Booker Prize-winning novel, The Life of Pi,
:24:42. > :24:45.represents a bold new move towards technological prowess. Silver
:24:45. > :24:49.Linings Playbook director, David O Russell, had a brush with Oscar
:24:49. > :24:53.success two years ago, with the nomination for Best Director of The
:24:54. > :25:03.Fighter. This year his genre- busting romcom has come back in the
:25:04. > :25:05.
:25:05. > :25:10.running. You want to have dinner at the diner? Pick me up at 7.30.
:25:10. > :25:14.year-old Behn Zeitlin is nominated for his debut feature, Beasts of
:25:14. > :25:18.Southern Wild. With a mere $2 million bucket, Zeitlin cobbled
:25:18. > :25:25.together sets, and used non- professional actors. In a million
:25:25. > :25:30.years, when kids go to school, they are gonna know, that Hushpuppy
:25:30. > :25:36.lived with her daddy in the bath tub. Unusually for a foreign film,
:25:36. > :25:41.Amour, a heart rending journey of love and old age, has several major
:25:41. > :25:45.nominations, including Best Film, Best Foreign language film, Best
:25:45. > :25:55.Actress. And a nod for Best Director for acclaimed European
:25:55. > :25:59.
:25:59. > :26:05.film maker, James Hanson. Let's move on to Philip Hensher,
:26:05. > :26:08.why has holiday noticed him now? has a lot of palm dors, a claim on
:26:08. > :26:14.the European circuit festival. Now because he's highly respected there
:26:14. > :26:19.is a lot of money behind him, he works with known actors. He's a
:26:19. > :26:27.European arthouse name to say you know and like him. It is a box-
:26:27. > :26:32.ticking exercise to say you know Haneke. He's hard to love for me.
:26:33. > :26:37.Do you think kol wood would take to this -- Hollywood would take to
:26:37. > :26:41.this film about two old people in a room and a screaming daughter?
:26:41. > :26:44.think a lot of people are saying Americans won't go for it, it is
:26:44. > :26:48.too depression. Everyone has a point of entry, everyone will die,
:26:48. > :26:56.everyone has parents who will die. It is much more relateable than it
:26:56. > :27:02.seems. It is interesting Haneke got nominated. He's kind of like a
:27:02. > :27:05.prize European. What happened with the nominations, these supposed
:27:05. > :27:08.snubs to Ben Affleck and Quentin Tarantino and Kathryn Bigelow, when
:27:08. > :27:11.the directors were sitting there to make the nominations, they were
:27:11. > :27:16.thinking, you know what Evelyn will nominate Ben Affleck and Kathryn
:27:16. > :27:21.Bigelow, I'm going to show I'm really highbrow and do Haneke,
:27:21. > :27:28.that's how he has snook in. Not that it is not deserved. It is
:27:28. > :27:32.because everyone's trying to be more highbrow than thou. Let's talk
:27:32. > :27:37.about Ang Lee, The Life of Pi? film, technically it is fantastic.
:27:37. > :27:42.If you are going to give an award for making up tigers give it to Ang
:27:42. > :27:47.Lee. I think the 3. D work is spectacular, the flying fish are
:27:47. > :27:55.spectacular. But I think that, in a way, what is bizarre is this film
:27:55. > :27:58.is trying to give spirituality, yet the finest moments are technical,
:27:58. > :28:02.digital things, rather than spiritual. That is a failure in
:28:02. > :28:06.some ways. There was a "how do they do that?", things with the jelly
:28:06. > :28:08.fish and so forth. You are taken by that rather than the idea that
:28:08. > :28:12.there is relationship building? didn't feel there was nothing
:28:12. > :28:18.spiritual about it. I thought what was genius is the technical stuff
:28:18. > :28:24.was so well done it disappeared. I wasn't looking at the pixels.
:28:24. > :28:28.Really. I'm not subject to spiritual mum Mo jumbo, I was put
:28:28. > :28:32.off by the book trying to make me shi think spiritual things so much.
:28:32. > :28:38.The performance was so good, and technical so good, it opened up the
:28:38. > :28:43.space where I thought about the ideas. Did it speak to Ang Lee's
:28:43. > :28:51.director and vision as a director. Always doing something so different.
:28:51. > :28:57.Going from Broke Back Mountain, Crouching Tigers? At the heart of
:28:57. > :29:00.it he's always interested in families, he's always interested in
:29:00. > :29:08.intimate relationships. There are delicate subtle performances
:29:08. > :29:11.whatever type of film. Whether a superhero movie or martial arts
:29:11. > :29:14.films. It works for The Life of Pi. Did you find the narration and
:29:14. > :29:19.meeting them together? There is a lot that shouldn't work, I was
:29:19. > :29:22.surprised liked it as much as I did. I thought it was an example where
:29:23. > :29:25.film doesn't necessarily do metaphor and symbolism as well as
:29:25. > :29:28.books. Do there is certain books where you can play the double team
:29:29. > :29:32.of what is going on. When you see it in the film you think this isn't
:29:32. > :29:38.working. In the last act of the book it was much more effective
:29:38. > :29:43.when I read the novel, it felt thrown away. It was loud or
:29:43. > :29:51.extremely close or the or way round. In the film it was nauseating but
:29:51. > :29:59.the book more understandable. about David O Russell?'S A good
:29:59. > :30:03.journeyman director. He's clearly Harvey Weinstein's pet. Apparently
:30:03. > :30:10.he does have a masty reputation, that isn't a matter here. He has
:30:10. > :30:18.made a wired collection of movies. I like his early stuff, Three Kings,
:30:18. > :30:22.the I Heart Huckabees was insane. This one is a nostalgia move for
:30:22. > :30:25.the screw ball comedies of the 40s, that is where the film is strongest.
:30:25. > :30:29.Do you think it was he that brought the performances from Jennifer
:30:29. > :30:34.Lawrence, or it is his own thing? think so. He has found a rhythm.
:30:34. > :30:43.Certainly to get actors of that imaginationry to work together, to
:30:43. > :30:47.get the timing -- Majesty to work together to get the timing. It is a
:30:47. > :30:51.personal felt film from the director, you don't always get that
:30:51. > :30:57.in the Best Director category. David O Russell having an up and
:30:57. > :31:00.down reputation, making himself unpopular with Huckabees and then
:31:00. > :31:04.redeeming himself with The Fighter which got a lot of snom nations.
:31:04. > :31:09.This is a film about bettering yourself, and redeeming yourself
:31:09. > :31:18.from being horrible. Is it an apology? Maybe a little bit.
:31:18. > :31:22.end we have Spielberg, and on the other end young Behn Zeitlin from
:31:22. > :31:26.his film, Beasts of Southern Wild. He, essentially took less than $2
:31:26. > :31:33.million, act r actors that weren't professionals. Didn't look at the
:31:33. > :31:36.Dailies or rushes, and put together this film? To make it worse he's 29.
:31:36. > :31:42.Two days before nominations closed he put it in, and he's very young.
:31:42. > :31:46.Are you jealous? If only the film hadn't done so well. $17 million it
:31:46. > :31:50.has taken. It looks spectacular. What you can do for $2 million.
:31:50. > :31:55.This is an example you were asking about what the director does. This
:31:55. > :32:00.was definitely a director's film. It is credited to a collective. He
:32:00. > :32:02.didn't want to take sole credit for it. It was very much with his
:32:02. > :32:06.writing partner. I don't think it is necessarily the performances
:32:07. > :32:11.bringing it out, it is the use of the camera and music. It is not so
:32:11. > :32:15.much a story. It is about creating a world and evoking an atmosphere.
:32:15. > :32:21.It violates all the kinds of things you are not supposed to do in film,
:32:21. > :32:25.work with children, water, animals, shot in 16mms instead of digital.
:32:25. > :32:29.lot of people involved in this were doing their first film. Such an
:32:29. > :32:32.ambitious project for young people doing their first thing. Yes they
:32:32. > :32:36.have had Sundance backing and support. You have this thing where
:32:36. > :32:40.he's waiting there to see if he has won it, and Spielberg is waiting to
:32:40. > :32:44.see if he has won it. That is exorderry you were talking about
:32:44. > :32:49.the absence of others, and you have the absence of Tarantino, Tom
:32:49. > :32:53.Hooper, et cetera. Do you think Spielberg with Lincoln, people feel
:32:53. > :32:56.very passionately about Spielberg, don't they? I'm surprised, for me
:32:56. > :33:01.this is not one of his best films. It feels like he has the hand of
:33:01. > :33:04.history on him. He feels too reverential and dutiful, it feels
:33:04. > :33:07.like the sort of film, if you are a history student you will want in
:33:07. > :33:12.your collection. But you are not going to want to watch it. I wanted
:33:12. > :33:22.to watch it. I enjoyed it a lot. will talk about best film in a bit.
:33:22. > :33:25.
:33:25. > :33:29.In terms of what he was doing and you could say that the trio of
:33:29. > :33:33.David Stratherne, and Daniel Day- Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones, that
:33:33. > :33:37.trio together was extraordinary, you couldn't fail. I think
:33:37. > :33:41.Tarantino did a better job with Django in terms of making a
:33:41. > :33:51.cinematic experience than Spielberg Z I found the film dull to be
:33:51. > :33:54.honest. Lincoln is an easy film to like, Django you can be wowed by
:33:54. > :33:58.but it is devisive. It is a procedural film, but I found it
:33:58. > :34:02.dull. You like the West Wing, you will love this? I don't know if it
:34:02. > :34:05.is necessarily a director's film. Spielberg being Spielberg now, you
:34:05. > :34:08.assemble all the best people in the business around you, how much can
:34:08. > :34:11.really go wrong, there is an element of that. Tarantino is
:34:11. > :34:14.Tarantino and could only be Tarantino, but I think Tarantino
:34:15. > :34:19.had to be punished for Django Unchained a little bit. That is why
:34:20. > :34:26.it may not have got as many nominations. I like that he plays
:34:26. > :34:32.fast and loose with facts, I like that. I fuend it puerile, I find it
:34:32. > :34:37.ir-- I find it puerile. I find it irritating. He's too naughty.
:34:37. > :34:42.talk about being naughty but inglorious Bestards was brilliant
:34:42. > :34:47.and it got revolted. Maybe this is close tort bone for Americans.
:34:47. > :34:55.Let's move on, last year's Ward were bathed in nostalgia, we have
:34:55. > :34:59.the tribute to the -- last year's Academy Awards were bathed in no
:34:59. > :35:06.sir algia with The Artish winning five nominations. There is a wide
:35:06. > :35:11.variety in the running. There is no doubt that the hot
:35:12. > :35:16.favourite to win is Argo. Ben Affleck's slick retro thriller with
:35:16. > :35:21.the CIA's involvement in the Iranian hostage crisis, which has
:35:21. > :35:26.scooped numerous awards, including Golden Globes for Best Director and
:35:26. > :35:32.Best Picture and the BAFTA for Best Film. There are only options, it is
:35:32. > :35:37.about finding the best one. don't have a better idea than this?
:35:37. > :35:40.This is the best bad idea we have. The competition is Lincoln from
:35:40. > :35:42.Steven Spielberg, the highest grossing film on the list. One two
:35:42. > :35:46.of films about America's relationship with slavery, which
:35:47. > :35:54.couldn't be more different. The other being Quentin Tarantino's
:35:54. > :35:59.typically bloody Django Unchained. I like the way you die, boy.
:35:59. > :36:02.Following her Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow's Zero
:36:02. > :36:08.Dark Thirty focuses on another contemporary subject, the killing
:36:08. > :36:14.of Osama Bin Laden. Is this topic a little too political for the
:36:14. > :36:24.academy's tastes. Not surprising Ang Leely's lavish The Life of Pi
:36:24. > :36:29.
:36:29. > :36:33.is -- Ang Lee's laughic The Life of Life of Pi sup for 11 nominations.
:36:33. > :36:36.Tom Hooper and Les Miserables up for eight awards, and proving some
:36:36. > :36:39.A-Listers can really sing and live on set.
:36:39. > :36:44.# Yes it is true # There is a child
:36:45. > :36:52.# The child is my daughter I'm married. At first glance a
:36:52. > :36:58.romantic comedy about bi-polar disorder and spread betting doesn't
:36:58. > :37:05.lock like much of a film. But it proved a sophisticated reinvention
:37:05. > :37:07.of the romcom. Then the outside bets, Behn Zeitlin's response to
:37:07. > :37:12.Hurricane Katrina, Beasts of Southern Wild, is up for four
:37:12. > :37:16.awards, including Best Picture. Not bad at all for a small budget
:37:16. > :37:24.feature. The only foreign language film on the list, the tale of love
:37:24. > :37:30.and old age, Amour. So will the academy finally honour Hanek after
:37:30. > :37:37.a long and auspicious career. Can Zeitlin follow Sam Mendes and
:37:37. > :37:41.others to win the award for his first feature, and Affleck to win
:37:41. > :37:46.the fight against American heros. We have talked about a number of
:37:47. > :37:52.these films. Let's deal with Argo. It is a film that speaks to modern
:37:52. > :37:56.American fears, a bit like 1993 did. I wonder if that will give it a
:37:56. > :38:00.following wind? It will give it a push, and speaks to Hollywood's own
:38:00. > :38:06.sense of self-satisfaction, that the sense the hostages are freed.
:38:06. > :38:11.The Iranians are making a different film, of course? Exactly. It will
:38:11. > :38:17.flatter the academy. It has already swept all the precursor awards. It
:38:17. > :38:22.is a weird blip that he didn't get nominated for Best Director. I
:38:22. > :38:27.think it is certainly a lock. the way you were saying the Oscars
:38:27. > :38:30.liking to be sophisticated and choosing things, because Argo has
:38:30. > :38:33.done well elsewhere, do you think they will feel they have to back
:38:33. > :38:37.it? A lot of the things happen after the fact and the voting. The
:38:37. > :38:42.reason it is so weird that Ben Affleck didn't get the director
:38:42. > :38:48.nomination, is the Oscars over award actors who are also directors
:38:48. > :38:52.t loves these people, the Robert Redfords, the Jodie Foster, and
:38:52. > :38:56.Clint Eastwood, they want those famous people do something else.
:38:56. > :39:00.They want to be in with famous people so they will invite them
:39:00. > :39:06.round for dinner. Ben Affleck is in that mould, he's not that showy
:39:06. > :39:09.director, and the best thing about Argo is not necessarily the
:39:09. > :39:12.direction. It is funny, politically serious and Hollywood mainstream
:39:12. > :39:16.with the tension and drama. I would disagree with the directing, I
:39:16. > :39:21.thought the last half hour of Argo was very Spenceful. Everything
:39:21. > :39:26.happening at the last minute. was fantastic, I was at the edge of
:39:26. > :39:29.the my seat. Didn't you think it was phoney because it was left
:39:29. > :39:33.until then. I didn't think it was phoney, I thought it was good film
:39:33. > :39:37.making. The interesting thing about that versus zerze, you know what
:39:37. > :39:41.happens to Osama Bin Laden, there was no suspense zurg -- Zero Dark
:39:41. > :39:47.Thirty, you know what happens to Osama Bin Laden, so there was no
:39:47. > :39:51.Spence. It felt genuinely exciting. Let's say what are the chances of a
:39:51. > :39:55.foreign language film, Amour, winning Best Picture? Very, very
:39:55. > :39:58.small. It is lovely to have it in there, just having it on the list
:39:58. > :40:02.is really interesting, it opens doors for future foreign language
:40:02. > :40:06.films, it shows people these films don't have to be overlooked, just
:40:06. > :40:09.because there are subtitles at the bottom of the screen. Do you think
:40:09. > :40:14.with the Artist getting everything last year, they will move away from
:40:14. > :40:19.that? The Artist did a different kind of films, maybe it is that it
:40:19. > :40:22.wasn't so bad to have a few French people. Maybe they changed the
:40:22. > :40:25.regulations to open up to have as many as ten, to have these weird
:40:25. > :40:28.things crop up, something like this and Beasts of Southern Wild, or
:40:28. > :40:33.something in a foreign language, I think that is really exciting and a
:40:33. > :40:35.really smart move on the part of the academy. Was it in a broader
:40:35. > :40:39.way, because we are coming to the end of the programme, let's talk
:40:39. > :40:43.about the Oscar, was it because the Oscars, it is all about the glitz
:40:43. > :40:47.and the dresses. But actually what they wanted to do for people in the
:40:47. > :40:50.industry is return a bit of credibility to it? I think that is
:40:51. > :40:53.very problematic for them. They are trying to do both things, by
:40:53. > :40:57.opening up the nominations they wanted to give a chance to
:40:57. > :41:01.outsiders and small pictures, the more Major Generalal ones. They
:41:01. > :41:05.also wanted, we are hoping, in order to get bigger audiences for
:41:05. > :41:09.the broadcast. Which is the meat and potatoes and pays everyone's
:41:09. > :41:16.bills and puts all the coature on their backs. They want things like
:41:16. > :41:20.the Batman movie to get nominated and The Hobbit, they are not
:41:20. > :41:24.getting nominated. It is pictures like Amour. Zero Dark Thirty,
:41:24. > :41:28.Lincoln, Django are all America revisiting moments of its fractured
:41:28. > :41:32.past and trying to find a way of getting cinematic closure and happy
:41:32. > :41:35.ending which may not have happened at the time. It sound like this is
:41:35. > :41:39.Hollywood trying to retreat back into the American past or reinvent
:41:39. > :41:45.the truth in some ways. Before we finish we have a quick, your
:41:45. > :41:48.wishlist and where you think that there is going to be a problem for
:41:48. > :41:53.your desires? In which ever category do you chose, what would
:41:53. > :42:03.you like to win and which will win? For me in foreign language I would
:42:03. > :42:03.
:42:03. > :42:07.love to Seymour mour not win, and Pablo Lauren's film No, another
:42:07. > :42:14.election and politics move yo, one of the most overlooked films of the
:42:14. > :42:18.year and a stonker. In actor in a supporting role, I thought Alan
:42:18. > :42:23.Arkin was very good. I don't think he will win, because Tommy Lee
:42:23. > :42:29.Jones and Walter is good. But Arkin was really funny. I think the
:42:29. > :42:36.animated film category is great this year. I think Wreck It Ralph,
:42:36. > :42:41.but I would like Frankenweenie for me. Thank you for your choices, you
:42:41. > :42:47.can roll out your very own red carpet and pop the corks in the
:42:47. > :42:53.middle of fund night and see who has won hot in the academy on Sky
:42:53. > :42:58.Movies HD coverage. Thanks to my guests.
:42:58. > :43:03.Matter that is back at 1.00 next week, the suggests up for