Oscars Infographic
Congratulations to Argo, winning a well deserved Best Picture Oscar… and shame on the Academy for not nominating Ben Affleck in the Best Director category.
Jessica Lange Wins Emmy for American Horror Story
Congratulations to Jessica Lange on her Emmy win for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for American Horror Story. Well deserved, can’t wait for season 2.
Dick Smith – Honorary Academy Award
The most important Oscar awarded at this years ceremony was an Honorary Award for Dick Smith.
The haunting leer of a demonically possessed girl in “The Exorcist” (1973) is one of the more terrifying examples of the work of makeup artist Dick Smith. Widely considered the 20th century’s maestro of movie makeup and affectionately called the Godfather of Makeup, Smith has influenced and inspired generations of artists. He has gladly shared his secrets with up-and-comers in the field as well as elevated the standards of the craft, both of which helped to establish makeup as a respected discipline of the cinematic arts.
Filmmakers have consistently turned to Smith for persuasive renderings of time’s effects on the human body. For artfully aging F. Murray Abraham from his forties to his eighties in “Amadeus” (1984), Smith shared the Academy Award® for Makeup with Paul LeBlanc. He earned his second Oscar® nomination for making a spry 65-year-old Jack Lemmon a persuasive octogenarian in “Dad” (1989), and created an iconic masterpiece with the jowly look of Marlon Brando in “The Godfather” (1972).
Though his fantastical creations for such films “Altered States” (1980), “Scanners” (1981) and “Starman” (1984) pack a punch, Smith steadfastly believes in making movie magic look natural. His artistry is often unnoticed – and that’s just the way he wants it. “A good makeup doesn’t look like makeup,” he has said.
After spending his early childhood in suburban Larchmont, New York, Smith was pre-med at Yale University, majoring in zoology. In his sophomore year, his life took a dramatic turn when he happened to pick up a textbook detailing makeup tricks used in Hollywood. Smith began doing makeup for the theater group at Yale and roamed the campus at night in comical monster makeup of his own design, giving the unwary a playful scare.
Smith got his professional start as the first staff makeup artist for the fledgling NBC television network, pioneering techniques using foam latex and plastic for what were initially live broadcasts. His tenure as makeup director spanned from 1945 to 1959 and he expanded from a staff of one to 25.
After 14 years, Smith moved on to movies. In short order he was sculpting the face of Anthony Quinn’s battered boxer in “Requiem for a Heavyweight” (1962), making a dozen stunt doubles resemble the stars of “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” (1963) and helping Peter Sellers become strikingly handsome for “The World of Henry Orient” (1964). Remarkably, for almost 40 years he would create all of his effects in his basement studio in Larchmont, flying to the set with the makeups whenever shooting began.
In 1965, Smith penned the seminal Do-It-Yourself Monster Make-up Handbook, which protégé Rick Baker credits as inspiration for his own illustrious career. By 1967, Smith had returned to television, working on such projects as Dan Curtis’s classic vampire series “Dark Shadows.”
Smith’s method of gluing on multiple foam latex appliances in overlapping pieces permits actors their full range of facial expressions. His technique was demonstrated to marvelous effect in “Little Big Man” (1970), which transformed Dustin Hoffman from a man in his early 30s to age 121. At that time, single-mold masks were still widely used and Smith became a Galileo of sorts, shunned within the insular community of professional makeup artists. Today, he is recognized as one of those rare artists who opened new avenues of expression for others.
American Horror Story – Jessica Lange
Belated congratulations to Jessica Lange for her Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards. Check out the poster for season 2 of American Horror Story… you’ll need old school 3D glasses.
Martin Scorsese Interview
With Oscar Night is less than four weeks away, “Hugo” director Martin Scorsese talks to 60 Minutes about the picture that’s unlike any he’s done before. He talks to Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes” here.
Golden Globe Nominees & Ballot Form
Check out the Golden Globes Nominees and download your own ballot form.
Ricky Gervais on The Golden Globes
Ricky Gervais met the press yesterday morning at TCA a mere two days before his third hosting gig at Sunday’s Golden Globes. And while he assured that even he has standards (“I won’t do real personal tragedy,” he said), the suspense and fear around town over which Hollywood stars he might target this time grows by the hour. As a panel session for his new HBO mock documentary Life’s Too Short, the upcoming Globes gig took center stage. “I did it the first time to have a show in front of a global audience, which is a lot of fun for a comedian.” Gervais said. “I did it the second time because I thought I’d improve on the first, and I think I did that. And I wasn’t going to do it a third time, but then I kept hearing the press saying I wouldn’t be invited back, so I did it to annoy them.”
Gervais was asked if he was nervous this time given the attention over his bad-boy ways. “Nervous? No. What’s the worst that can happen? I end my career once a week if you read the press. I do things that could end my career now. That’s my extreme sport. If you get fun with it, which I do and I demand, and you get your own way and are happy with what you’ve done, then nothing can happen to you. You’re bulletproof. Everything I say, I can justify it, I can stand by it, as I do every joke I did last year, then I don’t care. I don’t care if you’re offended.” He continued: “Who am I targeting? Targets isn’t a word I would use — subjects. I’m going to do a monologue about what happened during the year, and then introduce six or seven people as I did last year. I’ve got nothing against any of those people in the room. I’ve worked with many of them. I like many of them. I admire them. They’re just gags. I’m not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings or give them a bad night or undermine the moral fabric of America. I’m a comedian.
“I’d rather you laugh than gasp, but I cherish the gasps along with the laughs. I don’t know anyone who was really outraged last year. I mean, what did I say last year that was so outrageous?” (beat) “Oh yes. That.”
ASC Awards Shortlist
The American Society of Cinematographers have announced the feature film nominees for its 26th annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards. The winner is to be announced at a ceremony February 12 at Hollywood & Highland. Last year, Wally Pfister won for Inception and went on to take the Oscar as well. This year’s noms:
Guillaume Schiffman
The Artist
Jeff Cronenweth
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Robert Richardson
Hugo
Hoyte van Hoytema
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Emmanuel Lubezki
The Tree Of Life
All worthy contenders from the films I’ve seen, the Cinematographers aren’t as insular or riddled with nepotism like the actors…
Oscar – Make-Up Shortlist
Beverly Hills, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that seven films remain in competition in the Makeup category for the 84th Academy Awards®.
The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
“Albert Nobbs”
“Anonymous”
“The Artist”
“Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
“Hugo”
“The Iron Lady”
On Saturday, January 21, all members of the Academy’s Makeup Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.
The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
I saw Tom Savini on Saturday the 7th in Sydney, he said that the make-up work on the Iron Lady was some of the best he’s ever seen, that’s good enough for me!
Oscars – VFX Shortlist
Yesterday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 10 films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 84th Academy Awards®. The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
“Captain America: The First Avenger”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
“Hugo”
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”
“Real Steel”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“The Tree of Life”
“X-Men: First Class”
All members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films on Thursday, January 19. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.
The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
If Doug Trumbull for Tree of Life and the guys from Rise of the Planet of the Apes aren’t on the shortlist, the Academy are as dumb and insular as ever…
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