Five ways to turn your film into Oscar bait

< Prev | 1 | 2

Movie video

Murphy autopsy finds no signs of trauma
Dec. 22: The Los Angeles County coroner’s office says it appears actress Brittany Murphy died this weekend of natural causes after being ill. She was 32. TODAY correspondent Maria Menounos reports.

'Avatar' tops box office

Coroner: Medications found in Murphy's home

Actress on role in 'Nine'

Actress Brittany Murphy dies at 32

Slideshow

December movies
James Cameron’s spectacle “Avatar” hits theaters, along with George Clooney, who is “Up in the Air,” and Robert Downey Jr. as “Sherlock Holmes.”

more photos

Strategy 4: Dazzle them with craftsmanship
Academy members aren’t above being awed by spectacle, so they often ladle on the nominations in technical categories for movies they either didn’t otherwise like, as well as for films that operate in genres (fantasy, science-fiction, musical) that they aren’t always prepared to take seriously. If these nominations for cinematography, costumes, etc. get added onto a film that’s also scoring in the acting, writing and directing categories, so much the better.

2008 examples: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Australia,” “Slumdog Millionaire”

Recent Oscar faves: “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “The Matrix,” “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

Oscar won’t like: “Synecdoche, New York,” which has a decent shot at a best original screenplay nomination. Its elaborate and visionary production design, however, won’t be the kind to dazzle Academy voters. It’s complicated in an analog and quotidian way that dares to be confusing on the first viewing, and I suspect its accomplishments will be lost among its razzlier and dazzlier competition.

Strategy 5: Cast Leonardo DiCaprio as your lead
This is one of those chicken/egg conundrums: Does DiCaprio pick the kind of material that the Academy loves, or does the Academy love the material because DiCaprio picked it? In any event, he’s become a fairly steady bellwether for Oscar’s path in the last few years.

2008 example: “Revolutionary Road”

Recent Oscar faves: “The Departed,” “Blood Diamond,” “The Aviator”

Oscar won’t like: “Body of Lies.” Granted, it had the misfortune of being part of a recent wave of War on Terror movies — “Stop-Loss,” “Rendition,” “Redacted,” “The Kingdom,” “Lions for Lambs” — that audiences shunned in droves. Given that the film won’t rank among the finest efforts of DiCaprio, his co-star Russell Crowe, or director Ridley Scott, however, “Body” probably would have been both a box office and Oscar dud whenever it was released.

< Prev | 1 | 2