I had an Oscar vision, and it scared me. In this vision, No Country for Old Men won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, in addition to other categories.
Don’t get me wrong. No Country is a tremendous work, and Joel (at right) and Ethan Coen (second from right) deserve every award they win. Yet while the Coens are the presumed front-runners to win Picture, Director, and Screenplay, there’s one other person who’s also nominated in all three of those categories — There Will Be Blood director, writer, and producer Paul Thomas Anderson (left). It would be an utter shame if Anderson went home empty-handed, but that may happen if everyone sides with the Coens.
You see, the Oscar voters have an interesting dilemma here. Many fans of No Country for Old Men seem to also be fans of There Will Be Blood, and I’d imagine that voters may want to reward both the Coens and Anderson. But how can they do that? Which categories do you give to whom?
I’m hoping for a compromise that looks something like this: Pictureand Director for the Coens, and Adapted Screenplay for Anderson. And ifthey want to, the Academy can toss in Film Editing for the Coens, too(through their editor pseudonym, Roderick Jaynes). So, the Coens 3,Anderson 1. I can live with that, even though I consider Blood to be the superior film.
Anderson deserves to win the Adapted Screenplay Oscar because,frankly, he did much more adapting than the Coens. He took the first150 pages of Upton Sinclair’s 560-page novel, Oil!, andfashioned something wholly unique and unexpected. Anderson traveleddown pathways that Sinclair never considered, and he made the storyentirely his own.
In contrast, the Coens were incredibly faithful to Cormac McCarthy’s novel, No Country for Old Men.Entire pages of dialogue made it into the film virtually unchanged. Thepicture does contain touches of the Coens’ trademark humor (e.g. theunsuspecting Mariachi band), but in terms of actual script writing, theCoens (wisely) decided to stick with McCarthy’s template.
Oscar could still honor the Coens for where they actually diddiverge from their source material — in their directing. Through theirdecisions in sound design (the squeaking chirp of a light bulb beingunscrewed), cinematography (the slow, rolling shadows of clouds over aherd of antelope), and set design (the cords hanging in the back of thegas station form a row of symbolic nooses), the Coens manufactured aneerie and unfamiliar universe. Now, THAT is directing.
This is not to say that Anderson didn’t direct up a storm either.It’s just that all signs are pointing to the Coens winning the BestDirecting award. So, Oscar voters, go ahead and give them that one. Butplease save screenplay for Anderson, a modern filmmaking prodigy ifthere ever was one.
What about you, PopWatchers? How would you like to see the Academyshare the love for these two movies? Or do you think, gulp, thatsomething else has a shot at winning?
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There’s always the ‘Violent Vote’ split between the two which could result in ‘Juno’ taking the win in the Best Picture race, as some pundits have been quick to point out.
Personally, I’m impressed by both contenders, having seen “No Country” twice and “Blood” three times. I agree with Mr. Young, I loved “Blood” a thousand times more, but I’m equally respectful to the Coens’ incredible work on “No Country”. The only thing that “No Country” needed to help it bridge the gap from ‘incredible’ to ‘mind-blowing’ was Daniel Day-Lewis.
Why not give Best Director and Screenplay to the Coens, and give Best Picture to “Blood”? Just a thought…
I think it’s interesting that you brought up the point that people that loved No Country also loved Blood. My fear isn’t so much that No Country will sweep the awards (which I I hope it doesn’t), but that the votes will be split and then Atonement or Juno would walk away with the win. I think it’s entirely possible that something like that could happen, and it has happened in the past.
I’d give everything to the Coens. I absolutely loathed “…Blood”
I’d certainly give Anderson the director award and personally would give the movie the picture nom. No Country can have screenplay. Anderson’s getting nothing sadly though:(
I can’t imagine anyone hating There Will Be Blood but I guess there is a (thankfully) small minority.
i couldnt agree more… he was sadly overlooked for both Boogie Nights & Magnolia.
PT Anderson is a pretty pretty so he should just get the Oscar for that. I mean…both No Country and Blood are boring as hell and don’t really deserve any awards. But Anderson’s prettiness definitely does.
i kinda agree with austin reed. TWBB was the superior picture in that it wasn’t identical to it’s already brilliant source material, which NCFOM is. i mean the coens are great, but it would have taken tremendous effort to NOT make a great movie out of McCarthy’s novel. That being said, TWBB: Best pic and best screenplay, NCFOM: Best directing and editing.
My picks:
No Country – Best Picture and Directing
Blood – Adapted Screenplay
I really liked both movies so I’d be happy with either of them getting Best Picture. Bottom line: so long as “Atonement” doesn’t get it, I’ll be OK.
I’m with Austin and Anna. I’m mostly worried that these two movies (which seem to have more fans in common than the other Best Pic nominees) will split the vote resulting in Juno or (ugh) Atonement winning.
I actually differ a bit from John. I would actually give the Coens the screenplay award and Anderson the directing trophy.
Personally, I think it’s incredibly ridiculous to suggest that ANYONE could’ve adapted NCFOM and sometimes the smartest thing you can do is stay out of the way of the source material and not try to do too much.
Meanwhile, Blood is SO much Anderson’s vision that I feel his (as you rightly pointed out) prodigious talented should be rewarded somehow (especially since he got squat for “Boogie Nights”). Also, I felt the writing in “Blood” really wasn’t strong at parts and was really propelled by the acting in most parts, and was kinda bad in the last act.
Oh yeah, I would give “No Country for Old Men” Best Picture because, even though I was completely baffled after seeing it the first time, it was the one movie this year I felt I HAD to see again…if only to figure out what the hell just happened. It also gets my vote because “Ratatouille” isn’t nominated.
The other day I accidentally said “There will be No Country” combining the 2 movies into one.
I too think TWBB is the better film, but the Oscars is make up for past mistakes time. So Coen’s will sweep as atonement (hah!) for Fargo not winning. Maybe since Fargo one best screenplay, they can give this to PTA.
Because TWBB and NCFOM are so grim, I think there is a strong chance that the admirers of those films will split their votes right down the middle and the only feel-good movie nominated, “Juno,” could win. Scary.
I say let’s split the vote and give Best Picture to “Atonement.” While I doubt that will happen (“No Country for Old Men” pretty much has it in the bag I think), it would please me. I’m probably in the minority here, but I honestly was not terribly impressed with “There Will Be Blood.”
I went into both movies with their great reviews fresh in my head and found movies that were very good, but difficult to “love.” I don’t know if my reaction was shared, but to me, Michael Clayton was the best movie I saw last year of those nominated.
Can someone explain to me why “Atonement” has garnered such a hate following? I don’t get it.
Anonymous,
I’ll give a shot to explaining the “hate” for “Atonement”. Personally, I didn’t hate it, I thought it was a good movie. Just not great, and certainly not one of the five best movies of the year (though I thought it DID have one of the best endings).
Personally, I think the reason there’s so much hate, on top of the movie not being that great (which is, of course a matter of personal taste) is that it kind of has the feeling of that one classy British flick that seems to get nominated for Best Picture whether it deserves too or not. In that regard, I can see how some people may resent it.
This isn’t so much the fault of “Atonement”. It’s what the Oscars have become. They’ve all but guaranteed a Best Picture slot for a class Britsh flick, a plucky little indie comedy and any number of other prototypes. Just my two cents.
I think that when you adapt something it’s just as important to know when to keep well enough alone. It’s gut instinct to want to change something, to put your twist on it. Sometimes not changing something is a braver move. Having said that I really think all 3 awards should go to the Coen’s. “…Blood” was good because of Daniel Day Lewis. Give him his trophy and be done with it.
I agree.. Pic and Director to No Country and Adapted SP to Blood. I love the Coens and PT ..that would be a great way to share the love. As for the Atonement question one person posted and why people hate it, well, I could go on forever why I hated it. But I won’t.
http://framespersec.blogspot.com/
I don’t think Juno winning would be scary. It is a really great movie. Ellen Page is fantastic in this flick. No Country and Blood are both great movies also. So is Atonement. I Haven’t seen Michael Clayton but hear it is also great. If the vote is split too much between There will be Blood and No Country, I think either Atonement or Juno will win. And that would be fine with me. Even better – why does there have to be only 1 Best Picture? All of these pictures are awesome. How about 5 Oscars? But since I know that won’t happen, if I had to pick just one as the best, I would pick No Country, so I agree with your distribution of the golden statues, EW.
I’m with Rose. No Country was my favorite film last year. TWBB was close, but the last scene was awful.
My big bad dream is that Blood and No Country take EVERYTHING and Juno and Atonement end up with nothing. That seems more plausable to me than one of them winning out of nowhere.
They are going yo split the vote. Anderson’s going to win director and ‘Country’ is going to win best picture. It’s been done before, not all best pictures win when the director’s do. Besides, Daniel Day Lewis is a lock for best actor, the man does no wrong.
I smell another Saving Private Ryan/Shakespeare in Love upset…
I hated TWBB. Bleak and unassertive, DDL was the only watchable thing in the film. And the soundtrack? Don’t even get me started on how this “revolutionary” score butchered the story and highlighted moments that didn’t need (thanks to Anderson’s heavy-handed writing) highlighting.
Having read all the Oscar-nominated screenplays (and you can too – they’re on the net, go search for ‘em, they’re there) I would like to state fr the record that in a perfect world, There Will Be Blood would not win Best Adapted Screenplay. Maybe Editing. Maybe Picture. But not Screenplay. And not Director. If not the Coens for Screenplay, then any of the other nominees (wonderful scripts all). And for director… come on, give it to the Coens.
But this isn’t a perfect world. And here’s how I believe it will go down…
Best Picture will go to Juno. That box office can’t be beat. It’s popular. People love it. I think it’s a marginal feel-good movie with an under-written script, but I’m a minority on that. And I think There Will Be Blood and No Country will split the auteur vote. And if not Juno, then maybe Michael Clayton, a very safe and American choice.
Best director will probably go to The Coens. And if not them, then maybe Julian Schnabel.
Uh… part 2.
Anyway. Like I was saying. Director will probably be the Coens and if not them then maybe Julian Schnabel.
There Will Be Blood will take Adapted Screenplay. It’s the most obvious place for No Country supporters to give up some ground.
Juno will take Original. Grumble, grumble.
And Editing, I’m guessing, will go to No Country. If not Country, than maybe Blood.
But I really can’t see the Coens taking home four Oscars. I’m pretty sure that’s seven trophies, by the way, since their pseudonymn in Editing is only one guy.
Anyway, I doubt very much that Diving Bell and There Will Be Blood will go home empty-handed. And I also doubt that Country or Blood will take home Picture since… well, it’s a wide-open race and despite the PGA win, No Country still doesn’t seem to be a consensus best-in-show.
Fear the Juno.
The winners will probably look like this:
Best Pic: NCFOM
Best Director: NCFOM
Original Screenplay: Juno
Adapted Screenplay: NCFOM
Actor: Daniel Day Lewis
Actress: Julie Christie
Sup. Actor: Javier Bardem
Sup. Actress: Cate Blanchett
Editing: NCFOM
Cinematography: TWBB
Art Direction: TWBB
Costumes: Sweeney Todd
Makeup: La Vie En Rose
Sound Mixing: Ratatouille
Sound Editing: TWBB
Visual Effects: Transformers
Animated Film: Ratatouille
Foreign Film: Beaufort
Documentary: No End In Sight
Although I have to admit I think the vote splitting between NCFOM and TWBB could result in one of the other three movies nominated winning, like Juno. That would suck b@ll$ though.
As much as I’d love to see PT Anderson win an Oscar (I loved Boogie Nights and Magnolia) I really disliked There Will Be Blood. I thought it was just boring (and this is coming from someone who thought The Assassination of Jesse James wasn’t boring). PT Anderson deserves award recognition, but not for this film…So I am pushing for a No Country sweep. I really loved Juno, but No Country definitely deserves the top prize.
In a year that reinvigorated my enthusiasm for movies (after seeing mediocre films like Crash and Million Dollar Baby win Best Picture and like Brokeback Mountain and Mystic River get strong reviews), it is my fear that Juno, an OK movie with some mildly amusing dialogue, win Best Picture. My choice goes overwhelmingly to There Will Be Blood, which in my opinion was one of the best films I have seen in years. But, if not that, then give it to No Country for Old Men or even Michael Clayton over Juno. The only award that I could deal with Juno winning is Best Actress for Ellen Page (although my favorite performances in the film were Jennifer Garner’s and Michael Cera’s). But, I think it just might be my last year of caring at all about the Oscars if Juno wins Best Picture.
And it’s Juno in for a “Crash” landing on stealing best picture! As much as I want No Country to win, the Academy is not going to award it the big prize a year after it gave it to “The Departed” (even if there weren’t the whole vote-splitting thing with TWBB). I swear, it’s like the media is trying to ignore the obvious so it can squeeze an additional week of stories out post-Oscar ceremony acting all surprised after Juno takes the cake.