Satellites

So it's official (thanks, Anna!). Overall, 7 nods for La Vie En Rose:

-Foreign Language Film
-Best Director
-Best Actress
-Supporting Actress (Emmanuelle Seigner!)
-Best Editing
-Best Sound
-Best Costume Design


Here are the complete (film) nominations for the 2007 Golden Satellite Awards:

And the nominees are...

ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA
Julie Christie, "Away From Her" (Lionsgate)
Angelina Jolie, "A Mighty Heart" (Paramount Vantage)
Marion Cotillard, "La Vie En Rose" (Picturehouse Entertainment)
Tilda Swinton, "Stephanie Daley" (Regent Releasing)
Keira Knightley, "Atonement" (Focus Features)
Laura Linney, "The Savages" (Fox Searchlight)

ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA
Denzel Washington, "American Gangster" (Universal Pictures)
Josh Brolin, "No Country For Old Men" (Miramax Films)
Christian Bale, "Rescue Dawn" (MGM)
Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)
Frank Langella, "Starting Out in the Evening"(Roadside Attractions)
Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah" (Warner Independent Pictures)

ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Katherine Heigl, "Knocked Up" (Universal Pictures)
Amy Adams, "Enchanted" (Walt Disney Pictures)
Ellen Page, "Juno" (Fox Searchlight)
Emily Mortimer, "Lars and the Real Girl" (MGM)
Nicole Kidman, "Margot at the Wedding" (Paramount Vantage)
Cate Blanchett, "I’m Not There" (The Weinstein Company)

ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Richard Gere, "The Hoax" Miramax
Seth Rogen, "Knocked Up" (Universal Pictures)
Ben Kingsley You Kill Me Ifc Films
Ryan Gosling, "Lars and the Real Girl" (MGM)
Clive Owen, "Shoot ‘Em Up" (New Line Cinema)
Don Cheadle, "Talk to Me" (Focus Features)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement" (Focus Features)
Emmanuelle Seigner, "La Vie En Rose" (Picturehouse Entertainment)
Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone" (Miramax Films)
Taraji P. Henson "Talk to Me" (Focus Features)
Ruby Dee, "American Gangster" (Universal Pictures)

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jeff Daniels, "The Lookout" (Miramax Films)
Brian Cox, "Zodiac" (Paramount Pictures)
Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Ben Foster, "3:10 To Yuma" (Lionsgate)
Javier Bardem, "No Country For Old Men" (Miramax Films)
Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jessie James" (Warner Bros. Pictures)

MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA
"The Lookout" Miramax
"Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead" (ThinkFilm)
"Away From Her" (Lionsgate)
"Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)
"No Country For Old Men" (Miramax Films)
"3:10 To Yuma" (Lionsgate)

MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
"Hairspray" (New Line Cinema)
"Juno"(Fox Searchlight)
"Shoot ‘Em Up" (New Line Cinema)
"Lars and the Real Girl" (MGM)
"Knocked Up" (Universal Pictures)
"Margot at the Wedding" (Paramount Vantage)

MOTION PICTURE, FOREIGN LANGUAGE
"Ten Canoes" Australia (Palm Pictures)
"Offside Iran" (Sony Pictures Classics)
"La Vie En Rose" France (Picturehouse Entertainment)
"Lust, Caution" China (Focus Features)
"4 Months 3 Weeks & 2 Days" Romania Ifc Films
"The Orphanage" Spain (Picturehouse Entertainment)

MOTION PICTURE, ANIMATED OR MIXED MEDIA
"Persepolis" (Sony Pictures Classics)
"The Simpsons Movie" Twentieth Century Fox
"The Golden" Compass (New Line Cinema)
""Ratatouille"" (Buena Vista Pictures)
"300" Warner Brothers
"Beowulf" (Paramount Pictures)

MOTION PICTURE, DOCUMENTARY
"The King Of Kong" (Picturehouse Entertainment)
"The 11th Hour Warner" (Independent Pictures)
"Sicko" (Lionsgate)
"No End In Sight"(Magnolia Pictures)
"Darfur Now Warner" (Independent Pictures)
"Lake Of Fire" (ThinkFilm)

DIRECTOR:
Ang Lee, "Lust, Caution" (Focus Features)
Olivier Dahan, "La Vie En Rose" (Picture House Entertainment)
David Cronenberg, "Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, "No Country For Old Men" (Miramax Films)
Sidney Lumet, "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (ThinkFilm)
Sarah Polley, "Away From Her" (Lionsgate)

SCREENPLAY, ORIGINAL
Scott Frank, "The Lookout" (Miramax Films)
Diablo Cody, "Juno" (Fox Searchlight)
Kelly Masterson, "Before the Devil Knows You’Re Dead" (ThinkFilm)
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Nancy Oliver,"Lars and the Real Girl" (MGM)
Steven Knight, "Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)

SCREENPLAY, ADAPTED
James Vanderbilt, "Zodiac" (Paramount Pictures)
Christopher Hampton "Atonement" (Focus Features)
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, "No Country For Old Men" (Miramax Films)
David Benioff, "The Kite Runner" (Paramount Vantage)
Sarah Polley,"Away From Her" (Lionsgate)
Wang Hui Ling, James Schamus,"Lust, Caution" (Focus Features)

ORIGINAL SCORE
Dario Marianelli, "Atonement" (Focus Features)
James Newton Howard, "The Lookout" (Miramax Films)
Michael Giacchino, "Ratatouille" (Buena Vista Pictures)
Alberto Iglesias, "The Kite Runner" (Paramount Vantage)
Howard Shore, "Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)
Nick Cave, "The Assassination of Jesse James" (Warner Bros. Pictures)

ORIGINAL SONG
"Do You Feel Me"/Diane Warren, "American Gangster" (Universal Pictures)
"If You Want Me"/Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, "Once" (Fox Searchlight)
"Come So Far"/Marc Shaiman, "Hairspray" (New Line Cinema)
"Rise"/Eddie Vedder, "Into The Wild" (Paramount Vantage)
"Grace Is Gone"/Clint Eastwood & Carole Bayer Sager, "Grace Is Gone" (The Weinstein Company)
"Lyra"/Kate Bush, "The Golden Compass" (New Line Cinema)

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Harris Savides, "Zodiac" (Paramount Pictures)
Robert Elswit, "There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage)
Bruno Delbonnel, "Across The Universe" (Revolution Studios)
Janusz Kaminski, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax Films)
Roger Deakins, "The Assassination Of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Henry Braham, "The Golden Compass" (New Line Cinema)

VISUAL EFFECTS
Scott Farrar, "Transformers" (Paramount Pictures)
Michael Fink, "The Golden Compass" (New Line Cinema)
Chris Watts, Grant Freckelton, Derek Wentworth, Daniel Leduc, "300" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Peter Chiang, Charlie Noble, David Vickery, Mattias Lindahl, "The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal Pictures)
Thomas Schelesny, Matt Jacobs, Tom Gibbons, "Enchanted" (Walt Disney Pictures)
Jerome Chen, Sean Phillips, Kenn Mc Donald, Michael Lantieri, "Beowulf" (Paramount Pictures)

FILM EDITING
Pietro Scalia, "American Gangster" (Universal Pictures)
Jill Savitt, "The Lookout" (Miramax)
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, "No Country For Old Men" (Miramax)
Richard Marizy, "La Vie En Rose" (Picturehouse Entertainment)
Christopher Rouse, "The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal Pictures)
Ronald Sanders, "Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)

SOUND (EDITING & MIXING)
Mike Prestwood-Smith, Mark Taylor, Glenn Freemantle, "The Golden Compass" (New Line Cinema)
Nikolas Javelle, Jean-Paul Hurier, "La Vie En Rose" (Picturehouse Entertainment)
Christopher Boyes, Paul Massey, Lee Orloff, George Watters II, "Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’S End" (Buena Vista Pictures)
Scott Heckler, Eric Norris, Derek Vanderhorst, "300" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Karen Baker Landers, Kirk Francis, Per Hallberg, "The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal Pictures)
Tod Maitland, Skip Lievsay, Rick Kline, Jeremy Peirson, "I Am Legend" (Warner Bros. Pictures)

ART DIRECTION & PRODUCTION DESIGN
Guy Dyas, David Allday, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Universal Pictures)
Patricia Norris, Martin Gendron, Troy Sizemore, "The Assassination Of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Dennis Davenport, David Gropman, "Hairspray" (New Line Cinema)
Mark Tildesley, "Sunshine" (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Gary Freeman, Stephen Morahan, Denis Schnegg, David Allday, Matthew Gray, Charles Wood, "Amazing Grace" (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Mark Friedberg, Peter Rogness, "Across the Universe" (Revolution Studios)

COSTUME DESIGN
Alexandra Byrne, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Universal Pictures)
Yvonne Blake, "Goya’s Ghosts" (Samuel Goldwyn Pictures)
Marit Allen, "La Vie En Rose" (Picturehouse Entertainment)
Rita Ryack, "Hairspray" (New Line Cinema)
Jenny Beavan, "Amazing Grace" (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Jacqueline Durran, "Antonement" (Focus Features)
Source.

Lunch

Fantastic one on one interview with Marion. Enjoy:



Also, I heard that Marion (and Dahan!) might have been nominated for the Golden Satellite Awards, but I'm waiting to find confirmation.

Finally, Cate "The Great" Blanchett gave her thoughts on Marion's performance in "La Vie En Rose" to Variety:

"Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en rose" was absolutely astonishing, and the synthesis of the performance with the whole film is superb. As much as inhabiting Piaf, she was also creating a creature, and I thought that was astonishing and inspiring. One of the most remarkable things I've ever seen." Source.

How cool is that! Thanks, Anna.

Musical/Comedy

Tom O'Neil is reporting that Marion will be competing in the Musical/Comedy Lead Actress category at the upcoming Golden Globes. I'm pretty thrilled -- her chances to win vastly improve in this category. Although, Amy Adams is making me a bit nervous. To be continued...

Oscars!

So true!

Alert

Okay, so rumors are flying about that the powers that be will be running Cate "The Great" Blanchett as Best Actress (that is, as opposed to the long-held belief they'd run her as Supporting Actress) for her lauded performance as Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There" which would put her head to head against Marion. It's not official yet (I don't think so...), but needless to say, I'm a bit panicky right now. More on this later.

Pros/Cons

Here's the second installment of our "Guest Columnist" feature. This time, K, a regular at Goldderby and here at MCRO tells it like it is. Get ready for an exhaustive breakdown of the pros and cons in Marion's road to Oscar. Thanks so much for this valuable contribution to MCRO, K.

Marion Cotillard became the first major contender for the Best Actress Oscar back in the early spring, and now, several months later, she is still universally considered the frontrunner. However, naysayers and critics of Cotillard’s film (La Vie en Rose) are not quick to acknowledge her presence this upcoming awards season, constructing asinine obstacles to lessen the buzz. Here’s my take on the top reasons people are giving as to why Cotillard will not win or, in some cases, even earn a nomination:

#1: Her film wasn’t very well received by critics.

Whichever way you choose to interpret the reviews, this statement can be true or untrue. Either way, it is irrelevant.

At Rotten Tomatoes, the film earned a 75% “Fresh” rating (anything below 60% is “Rotten”) with 127 reviews tallied. This isn’t a bad rating, but it’s not amazing. It should be noted that it has received similar critical reactions as recent Best Picture winners Crash, Gladiator, and A Beautiful Mind (though more reviews were tallied for those three pictures). The point I’m trying to make, though, is that nobody is predicting La Vie en Rose to take the Best Picture Oscar, and, as far as I know, Cotillard isn’t even eligible in that particular category.

Critics have certainly listed the faults of the film – it draws on for too long, it tries too hard to be artistic, it is a little too melodramatic – but the praise surrounding Cotillard’s fierce turn as Edith Piaf is deafening. The Chicago Tribune, which gave the film a 2.5/4, says Cotillard is “dazzling;” L.A. Weekly, which also gave the film an unfavorable review, calls Cotillard’s performance “stunning,” adding: “…Cotillard raises France’s poor, beloved chanteuse clean out of mundane pathos and into the ruined grandeur she deserves.”

Even so, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that a film that has achieved mixed reviews can contain a revelatory performance. People tend to ignore the fact that Girl, Interrupted, which earned Angelina Jolie the Best Supporting Actress statue at the 2000 Academy Awards, wasn’t a critical (nor box office) success at all. Jessica Lange won the Best Actress award in 1995 for Blue Sky, which also earned split reviews. The same can be said about Denzel Washington’s win for Best Actor in 2002 for Training Day, which earned decent reviews but wasn’t subject to any overwhelming praise (apart from acting). And who can forget Johnny Depp’s 2004 Best Actor nod for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, a summer popcorn flick based on a Disney amusement park ride?

The fact of the matter is, when a performance is amazing, it’s amazing – the flaws of the film surrounding the performance, though they can be distracting, don’t detract from that.

#2: Her film only made $10 million at the U.S. box office.

This is true; La Vie en Rose barely cracked the $10 million mark at the box office. Conveniently overlooked, however, is the fact that the movie only played on about 180 theaters tops nationwide for its 19 week run in the States.

The Last King of Scotland, which won Forest Whitaker nearly every Best Actor award out there in 2007, only grossed $17.5 million here in the States and it played on twice as many screens as La Vie en Rose. And if the box office numbers had any real effect on the Oscars, then Philip Seymour-Hoffman probably wouldn’t have won Best Actor in 2006 for his performance in Capote, which only grossed $27 million despite hitting a high of 1200 theaters and running for about 30 weeks. By this logic Felicity Huffman, too, likely wouldn’t have even earned her Best Actress nomination that same year for Transamerica – which only just passed the $9 million mark despite starting out on nearly 700 screens in the U.S.

The fact of the matter is, a box office flop in the U.S. these days is a film that makes less than $100 million dollars for its entire theater run. Pictures like La Vie en Rose, The Last King of Scotland, Capote, and Transamerica don’t delude themselves by masquerading as big budget moneymakers like Transformers or the Spiderman series. They’re not out to make the big bucks, made more evident by the fact that they don’t merchandise. (Can you imagine, though, Edith Piaf sponsored eyebrow tweezers, or La Vie en Rose brand toothpaste?)

This is why the argument that La Vie en Rose’s United States box office “failure” will hinder Cotillard’s chances at a nod make no sense. The 2005 Oscars alone had several box office flops occupying their nominee list:

-Hotel Rwanda earned only $23 million at the U.S. box office, but garnered nominations for Best Actor (Don Cheadle), Best Supporting Actress (Sophie Okonedo), and Best Original Screenplay (Terry George and Kier Pearson)-
-Being Julia didn’t even reach the $8 million mark, yet Annette Bening earned a Best Actress nod
-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind made $34 million, and won Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondrey, and Pierre Bismuth the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and also earned Kate Winslet her fourth Best Actress nomination
-Maria Full of Grace grossed roughly $6.5 million, with Catalina Sandino Moreno earning a nod for Best Actress
-Vera Drake didn’t even hit the $4 million mark, but Imelda Staunton earned a Best Actress nomination that year at the Oscars
-Closer, which made $34 million, earned Supporting Actor and Actress nominations for Clive Owen and Natalie Portman respectively
-Kinsey just broke the $10 million mark, nabbing a Supporting Actress nod for Laura Linney at the Academy Awards

Really, if the amount a film grossed had any influence at the Academy Awards, then we should be expecting to see Jessica Alba walk away with the Best Actress Oscar for The Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer and Tobey Maguire winning Best Actor for Spiderman-3.

#3: Her film isn’t in English.
This is also true, though I’ll admit that I’m very relieved that an Edith Piaf biopic wasn’t spoken in English. She was, after all, a French icon who hailed from Paris. What other language would you imagine the dialogue being in?

The only language barrier present is the one people put up themselves. As far as I’m concerned, if Academy members are too lazy to read subtitles (lines, basically), then maybe they’re in the wrong industry.

The fact that a film is spoken in another language doesn’t make the performance any less effecting or powerful. I’m sure plenty of people here would take offense if people in, say, Germany discredited Robert De Niro’s Oscar-winning performance in Raging Bull because the dialogue was in English. And, along that same line of thinking, people from the States wouldn’t take kindly to Scorsese casting a German actor as Jake LaMotta for the sake of winning an Oscar if the Oscars were held by the German film industry.

If you think about it, several foreign language films and performances have been honored at the Oscars. To name them all from the past twenty years (1987-2007):

-Letters From Iwo Jima, 2007 Best Picture nominee-Adriana Barrazo, Best Supporting Actress nominee for Babel
-Rinko Kikuchi, Best Supporting Actress nominee for Babel
-Penelope Cruz, Best Actress nominee for Volver
-Catalina Sandino Moreno, Best Actress nominee for Maria Full of Grace
-Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, 2001 Best Picture nominee
-La Vita è Bella, 1999 Best Picture nominee
-Roberto Benigni, Best Actor winner for La Vita è Bella
-Fernanda Montenegro, Best Actress nominee for Central do Brasil
-Il Postino, 1996 Best Picture nominee
-Massimo Troisi, Best Actor nominee for Il Postino
-Catherine Deneuve, Best Actress nominee for Indochrine
-Gérard Depardieu, Best Actor nominee for Cyrano de Bergerac
-Isabelle Adjani, Best Actress nominee for Camille Claudel
-Max von Sydow, Best Actor nominee for Pelle erorbreren
-Marcello Mastroianni, Best Actor nominee for Oci ciornie

And if you want to get really nitpicky about not being able to understand a film character, think about these three performances:

-Rinko Kikuchi, Best Supporting Actress nominee for Babel, who plays a deaf-mute that interacts with her Japanese-speaking companions using sign language
-Samantha Morton, Best Supporting Actress nominee for Sweet and Lowdown, who plays a mute woman
-Holly Hunter, Best Actress winner for The Piano, who plays a mute (by choice) piano player

One thing I don’t understand is how people believe that French dialogue/English subtitles will hurt Cotillard’s chances at a Best Actress nod, and yet Babel’s “language barriers” were never an issue. Babel’s six languages – English, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, Berber, and [Japanese] Sign Language – I guess didn’t confuse them at all. And what do you know? The film went onto earn seven Academy Award nominations, including two acting awards and a Best Picture nod.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If a performance is amazing, it’s amazing, regardless of language, regardless of the number of box office receipts the film racks up, and regardless of the number of critics who disapprove of the film’s structure. Hell, if those things had any real impact on the Oscar nominations, Anouk Aimée would not have been a Best Actress nominee for her performance in the artsy French film Un Homme et une Femme.

Now let’s take all of the apparent Oscar-hindering aspects of La Vie en Rose off the table, and let us analyze the Oscar-bait qualities of the film/character. When predicting the Oscars, ask yourself the following questions:

First: Does the character battle substance abuse?
Yes, as a matter of fact she does! She battles both an alcohol addiction as well as an addiction to morphine. She even does a stint in rehab.

Second: Does the character contract an illness and/or get involved in a serious accident?
Both. Edith Piaf suffered severe injuries from a car wreck (only one out of three accidents is shown in the film), and then eventually dies of liver cancer after it had been infiltrating her body for years.

Third: Does the character have to deal with the death of a loved one?
Yes. She loses the love of her life, Marcel, in a plane crash. It is also revealed that she lost her young daughter, Marcelle, to meningitis.

Fourth: Is the character a hard ass/diva with a heart of gold?
In her own special way, yes. Edith Piaf was notorious for her diva-like demands, but was also known for being a very vulnerable and sensitive person – as expressed through her music.

Fifth: Did this character overcome a childhood tragedy?
Yes. Edith Piaf was raised in poverty after being abandoned by her parents, she spending much of her childhood in her grandmother’s – for lack of a better word – whore house. While there, she loses (and then miraculously regains) her eyesight. In her late teens, she sang on the streets for money so she could purchase meals.

Sixth: Was this character actually a real person at one time?
Yes. Edith Piaf will be known forever as one of the greatest singers who has ever lived.

Why do people always underestimate the power of the biopic for an actor? The Oscars love biopic performances because it tests the actor’s ability to literally become someone people are familiar with worldwide. Biopic actor nominees and winners of the past five years (2002-2007):

2007
-Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin, Best Actor winner for The Last King of Scotland
-Will Smith as Chris Gardner, Best Actor nominee for The Pursuit of Happyness
-Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, Best Actress winner for The Queen

2006
-Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote, Best Actor winner for Capote
-David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow, Best Actor nominee for Good Night, and Good Luck
-Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, Best Actor nominee for Walk The Line
-Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash, Best Actress winner for Walk The Line
-Judi Dench as Mrs Laura Henderson, Best Actress nominee for Mrs Henderson Presents
-Paul Giamatti as Joe Gould, Best Supporting Actor nominee for Cinderella Man
-Also note: Charlize Theron as Josey Aimes (character based on Lois Jenson), Best Actress nominee for North Country

2005

-Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles, Best Actor winner for Ray
-Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, Best Actor nominee for The Aviator
-Johnny Depp as J.M. Barrie, Best Actor nominee for Finding Neverland
-Don Cheadle as Paul Rusesabagina, Best Actor nominee for Hotel Rwanda
-Alan Alda as Senator Ralph Owen Brewster, Best Supporting Actor nominee for The Aviator
-Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn, Best Supporting Actress winner for The Aviator
-Sophie Okonedo as Tatiana Rusesabagina, Best Supporting Actress nominee for Hotel Rwanda
-Laura Linney as Clara McMillen, Best Supporting Actress nominee for Kinsey

2004

-Charlize Theron as Aileen Wournos, Best Actress winner for Monster

2003

-Adrien Brody as W_adys_aw Szpilman, Best Actor winner for The Pianist
-Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf, Best Actress winner for The Hours
-Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo, Best Actress nominee for Frida
-Christopher Walken as Frank Abagnale, Sr., Best Supporting Actor nominee for Catch Me If You Can

2002
-Will Smith as Muhammad Ali, Best Actor nominee for Ali
-Russell Crowe as John Forbes Nash, Best Actor nominee for A Beautiful Mind
-Judi Dench as Iris Murdoch, Best Actress nominee for Iris
-Jim Broadbent as John Bayley, Best Supporting Actor winner for Iris
-Jon Voight as Howard Cossell, Best Supporting Actor nominee for Ali
-Jennifer Connelly as Alicia Nash, Best Supporting Actress winner for A Beautiful Mind
-Kate Winslet as Iris Murdoch, Best Supporting Actress nominee for Iris

So, there you have it: a comprehensive breakdown of the major reasons people feel will hinder Marion Cotillard on her road to the Oscars. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how things play out this awards season.

Goldderby

Thanks to sartre for the heads up about a new interview with Ms. Cotillard by Goldderby's Tom O'Neil. A charming, as always, Cotillard answers several questions about her preparation for the role, and most tellingly, about the promotional whirlwind she's been in for almost a year now. See the video interview here.

NewYorker

Along with this week's edition of The New Yorker I received a "Movies that Rock" supplemental magazine. As I flipped through the pages something caught my eye -- a photo of a melancholic-looking Marion Cotillard and beside it the heading "The Tour de Force." After Esquire Magazine's missed opportunity (when they singled out the top six performances of the year, Ms. Cotillard was conspicuously absent), this was something to behold. In any case, I've scanned it (crappily) and it's only a black & white version, but hey, I'll do anything for you guys!

Guests

I'd like to announce a new feature here at "Marion Cotillard's Road to Oscar," or as the cool kids call it, MCRO (I just made that up, by the way). I'm very keen on visiting various sites and I've come across several individuals whose opinion I highly value and whose work I thoroughly admire. So, in order to get varied perspectives on Marion Cotillard's work, I've asked several folks to contribute a column to MCRO.

I'm kicking off the series with a guest column from webmistress extraordinaire, Maria. As many of you know, Maria runs "Magnifique Marion Cotillard," which is the best Marion-focused website out there.

Without further ado, here's our very first Guest Columnist:

Hi! My name is Maria and I’m in awe of Marion Cotillard's amazing acting talent which has been documented in a number of French films of recent years. In La Vie en Rose finally it has been made known to the whole world what a talented actress Marion Cotillard is. I run Magnifique Marion Cotillard and am very honoured to have the opportunity to speak here on this blog - which I'm regularly visiting and loving!

Miss Cotillard received one of the first opportunities to showcase her talent to a broader audience with the double role of the identical twins Marie and Lucie in Les Jolies Choses. The film was released on DVD with English subtitles on November 6 in the United States. Although I had seen the film a number of times on a French DVD and was deeply impressed with Marion Cotillard's performance I was very glad for the opportunity to understand all of the dialogue with the additional help of subtitles.

What is the film al about? I’ll try to summarize as best as I can. Lucie is the sister who's living in Paris and dreaming of becoming an actress. Reality is a lot harder than imagined, though and she makes a living appearing in rather dubious video clips. Then one day she gets the opportunity to make a record. She can't sing to save her life, though. On the other hand, her twin sister Marie has an amazing voice. So Marie gets called to Paris to give a live performance while Lucie stays home. However, seeing each other again brings back Lucie’s memories of their childhood and their father's preferential treatment of Marie, which triggers her suicide.

Having tasted what success and fame must feel like, Marie decides to take her sister's place. The "quiet, reserved model of austerity" is convinced becoming the "bimbo" her sister was isn't all that difficult and wants to use her to make loads of money. After all, it was Lucie who always stole what mattered from Marie. Clearly the 2 sisters share a love/hate relationship. While Marie (as Lucie) embarks on a journey to fame and success she gets more than she bargained for. Not only does she learn that all that glitters is not gold but she's also constantly facing the demons of her sister's and their shared past.

Let me say first what I think doesn't work in the film. First, the evil father - he never becomes more than a one-dimensional character that is supposedly one if not the root of the sisters’ psychological problems. Second, the sex & drug lifestyle - although I've come to accept and understand these aspects of the film I still feel it is over the top and not exactly a mirror of Marie's journey. Supposedly the dark side that comes with celebrity is there to showcase Marie's abyss of losing her twin sister and going from hating her to discovering who she was and then to becoming a person of her own.

Now, what does work? A lot! Most of all Marion Cotillard. I would even go as far as to say I wouldn't like the film without her. She brings - as always - such a depth to Lucie, Marie, and Marie as Lucie. While at times I had a hard time following what the script wanted me to believe, I always ended up doing so because of Marion Cotillard's performance. We get to see all sides of the sister's characters and also see the whole range of emotions, she is hopeful, hurt, strong, sexy, exploited, scared, shy, angst-ridden, desperate, mourning, etc.

Early on in the film, when we see Marie giving the concert in her sister's place, we already know Marion Cotillard has a great voice. But it is nothing compared to one of the final scenes in the film where Marie is giving a proper concert as successful singer sensation Lucie F. What an amazing voice and charisma! It only makes me want to see Marion Cotillard really doing the upcoming film musical “Nine.” Additionally, the whole supporting cast is great. Especially Stomy Bugsy as friend and advisor to both sisters and Patrick Bruel as the music producer.

This film is a must-see for any admirer of Marion Cotillard and her talent and I recommend you immediately go out and buy or at least rent it! You wont't regret it.

-Thanks for your contribution, Maria! And guys, make sure to check out "Magnifique Marion Cotillard."

Contest

As you probably know by the looks of my blog, I'm not that great with the "internets." I thought, hey, why not celebrate my short-comings by having a contest where folks create a better template for my blog, including a kick-ass banner? This is all in preparation for award season, which kicks off in a few weeks.

In any case, the winner will go home with a brand-spanking-new DVD of "La Vie En Rose."

The rules are simple:

1. Email me (cotillard.admin@gmail.com) with a template proposal (it needn't be the HTML, you can just send me a print-screen or any type of image showing what the blog would look like with your lovely codes). Please include the following subject line: "The Look Contest."

2. Make sure you email me by 12:00AM (EST) on 12/4/2007. I'll announce the winner sometime on 12/5/2007.

3. Keep it classy, eh?

That's all. Email me if you'd like more details.

Trades

OK, I have egg on my face -- Picturehouse has indeed put out at least one FYC ad on Daily Variety. Here it is:



Well done, Picturehouse, jolly well (golf clap).

FYC

Well, well, well! I just checked out one of the most creative things out there regarding Mlle. Cotillard and, yes, Oscar. I've yet to see an official "For Your Consideration" ad in the trades (though, to be fair, I've seen several online versions on at least one website -- that would be Goldderby), but this is a fantastic FYC ad created by a fan, check it out:



Yeah, eat your heart out, Picturehouse!

Kudos, Amy! Excellent work.

In other news, I have some great treats coming soon for you regular visitors. Stay tuned.

EW

Two charming (if short) interviews of Marion's courtesy of Entertainment Weekly (very wise to court them).

Clip 1

Clip 2

Star

So many articles are floating out there but I'm afraid I lack the energy necessary to link them all here. Case in point, the release of "La Vie En Rose," as expected (and as definitely planned by Picturehouse) has given Marion and the film another shot in the arm. It's fantastic to see the overwhelming response to both the film and the performance. Also interesting is the fact that people who might have not appreciated the film itself have changed their mind upon a second viewing.

In any case, here's an interesting interview of Marion. Click on the link and you'll also see some video of Ms. Cotillard at the Hollywood Film Festival. Here's an excerpt of the published interview:

Despite her shyness, the 32-year-old Cotillard became close to one of Piaf’s best friends, Ginou Richet, during the making of the movie, when Richet reached out to her.

“She only told me one thing when she saw the movie,” Cotillard said of Richet. “She knew not that I don’t like compliments, but they’re very hard for me to take…She called me and said, ‘Oh, I saw the movie.’ And I did something I never do—I asked her what she was thinking about what I did.”

Richet simply replied, “Ooh la la.”

“I was very happy to get that ‘Ooh la la,’ ” Cotillard said.


More...

DVD

I just got an "item just shipped" message from Amazon...and that item is "La Vie En Rose." So a gentle reminder to you all: run and buy your copy tomorrow (or order it online)...if you don't want to own it, you can also get it through Netflix.com or Blockbuster online as a rental. Happy viewing!

Making

Here's a nice treat (for those of you who can understand French and/or Spanish)-- an excerpt from the "Making of La Vie En Rose." Apparently most of the interview footage was taken early in the process, as Marion talks about getting used to the make-up during the first couple of days of filming. In any case, enjoy.

Nomination

Marion Cotillard just scored a nomination as Best Actress for the 2007 European Film Awards. Marion faces some tough competition, particularly in the form of Ms. Mirren.

This is what the Best Actress category looks like:

Marion Cotillard in LA MÔME (La Vie en Rose)
Marianne Faithful in IRINA PALM
Carice van Houten in ZWARTBOEK (Black Book)
Anamaria Marinca in 4 LUNI, 3 SAPTAMINI SI 2 ZILE (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days)
Helen Mirren in THE QUEEN
Ksenia Rappoport in LA SCONOSCIUTA (The Unknown)

LA MÔME also scored nods for European Film of the Year, and European Film Academy Prix d'Excellence for Make-up. The Ceremony will take place on November 1 in Berlin.

Read the press release and see the complete list of nominees here.

Congrats to Marion and everyone behind "La Vie En Rose"!

Debate?

Hey guys. Sorry for the lack of recent updates, but I just had to share this little exchange I've been involved in for the past couple of days. It all started (cue "memory" music) when I read this (click on the image to see it in full size):



The very first few lines struck me as kind of funny (to say the least). I mean, I can see people disagreeing about Marion's chances of winning, but not seeing her even being considered for a nomination? That was a bit odd and (no offense to the gentleman) clueless. I mean, I do this for fun, but this is that guy's job. In any case, I had to post something which resulted in the following:


Dude was obviously irked and making all kinds of unsubstantiated claims. I've since replied that "Volver" netted Penelope Cruz a nomination (for Lead Actress, no less) and I might have mentioned something about sticking to the facts (I can be a pain when provoked, my bad). The reply isn't showing up yet because I think he (or his team) have to approve the comments.

I kind of feel bad because he keeps making the strangest replies punctuated by personal attacks (are you Cotillard's exec assistant? axes to grind? the name "Cotillard" in my email?) which makes his arguments very easy to knock down.

I do wonder what his next personal insult will be! Stay tuned :)