Tag Archives: Ben Affleck

Jude Law was named as a presenter at the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® Executive Producer Jeff Margolis announced today.
He joins and completes the roster of actors who will honor their colleagues at the SAG Awards including Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, Alec Baldwin, Rose Byrne, Jessica Chastain, Bradley Cooper, Bryan Cranston, Jeff Daniels, Viola Davis, Daniel Day-Lewis, Robert De Niro, Taye Diggs, Peter Facinelli, Sally Field, John Goodman, Neil Patrick Harris, Anne Hathaway, SAG-AFTRA Co-President Ken Howard, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lawrence, Damian Lewis, Julianna Margulies, James Marsden, Alfred Molina, Julianne Moore, Dev Patel, Busy Philipps, Amy Poehler, SAG-AFTRA Co-President Roberta Reardon, Carl Reiner, Liev Schreiber, Justin Timberlake, Kerry Washington, Naomi Watts, Sigourney Weaver, Alfre Woodard and Noah Wyle.
Jude Law was a SAG Awards nominee in 2005 alongside the cast of Martin Scorsese?s ?The Aviator.? He was recently seen in Joe Wright?s ?Anna Karenina? opposite Keira Knightley. His next project is Steven Soderbergh?s ?Side Effects? co-starring Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
The 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, one of the awards season?s premier events, will be simulcast live coast-to-coast on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013, at 8 p.m. (ET)/5 p.m. (PT) from the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles. An encore primetime telecast will begin immediately following on TNT at 10 p.m. (ET)/7 p.m. (PT). The ceremony will also be telecast internationally, as well as to U.S. military installations overseas through the American Forces Network Broadcast Center.
Recipients of the honors for Outstanding Action Performances by Film and Television Stunt Ensembles announced at 6:15 p.m. (ET)/3:15 p.m. (PT) during the red carpet pre-show webcast on tntdrama.com, tbs.com and People.com which begins at 6 p.m. (ET)/3 p.m. (PT)
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Alan Arkin, Jessica Chastain, Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, John Goodman, Damian Lewis and Julianne Moore will be presenters at the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, Executive Producer Jeff Margolis announced today.
They join a growing roster of actors who will honor their colleagues at the SAG Awards that already includes Ben Affleck, Alec Baldwin, Bradley Cooper, Jeff Daniels, Viola Davis, Robert De Niro, Neil Patrick Harris, Anne Hathaway, SAG-AFTRA Co-President Ken Howard, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lawrence, Julianna Margulies, Busy Philipps, SAG-AFTRA Co-President Roberta Reardon, Carl Reiner, Liev Schreiber, Taye Diggs, Justin Timberlake, Kerry Washington, Naomi Watts and Sigourney Weaver.
Oscar nominee Alan Arkin received his first SAG Award in 2007 as a member of the ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ cast and was nominated for his supporting role in the film. He is currently nominated for his supporting role in ‘Argo’ and as a member of the film’s cast. He’s got two comedies on tap: ‘Stand Up Guys,’opposite Al Pacino and Christopher Walken, and ‘The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,’ opposite Steve Carell and Jim Carrey.
Golden Globe recipient and Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain earned a SAG Award in 2012 along with her fellow cast members in ‘The Help’ and was nominated in the supporting actress category, as well. This year, she is nominated for her lead performance in Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘Zero Dark Thirty.’ She currently stars in the Guillermo Del Toro-produced ‘Mama’ and will soon be seen in the double feature ‘The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His’ and ”The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Hers.’
Oscar nominee Daniel Day-Lewis was a Screen Actors Guild Award recipient in 2003 for his work in ‘Gangs of New York’ and in 2008 for his role in ‘There Will Be Blood.’ In 2010, he was nominated along with the cast of ‘Nine.’ He has received a total of five SAG Awards nominations, including two this year for his title role in Steven Spielberg?s ?Lincoln? and as a member of the film’s cast.
Oscar nominee Sally Field is an eight-time SAG Awards nominee and the recipient of one Actor® statuette, for her role as Nora Walker in ‘Brothers & Sisters.’ She’s nominated twice this year, for her performance as Mary Todd Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’ and as a member of the film’s cast. Last summer, she was seen as Aunt May in the blockbuster ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ opposite Andrew Garfield.
Along with his co-stars, four-time SAG Awards nominee John Goodman [...]

For those who don’t follow or don’t remember, in Best Picture I’ll be looking at essentially what the next 10 films could have been for the Academy. It’s partially just for fun (and keep in mind…this isn’t how I would have preferred things to have gone, or else the lists below would be quite different), but I’ve always felt that it also shines an interesting light on what the Oscar nominations could have looked like…for better or worse. Some of these choices are rather obvious, while others are just guesses. Either way, this is nothing if not a good conversation starter, so be sure to let me know what you think the Alternate nominations would have been like. For now though, let’s get started and see what the next level down of Oscar nominees would look like!
Best Picture
Anna Karenina
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Flight
Hitchcock
The Impossible
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
The Sessions
Skyfall
Ted
-While I have a feeling that not a lot of flicks got anywhere close to that #10 spot, I think ‘Flight’, ‘The Master’, and ‘Skyfall’ came the closest. ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ and ‘Hitchcock’ probably got more votes than they potentially deserved, but the limb I’m out on here is that ‘Ted’ had more fans than we ever realized.
Best Director
Ben Affleck- Argo
Kathryn Bigelow- Zero Dark Thirty
Tom Hooper- Les Miserables
Quentin Tarantino- Django Unchained
Robert Zemeckis- Flight
-Four of these snubs are rather obvious (regardless of my feelings on Hooper’s direction), but something tells me that Zemeckis got closer to sneaking in here than we’d expect, and would have been in if ‘Flight’ had scored a Best Picture nod. Still, I don’t want to focus too much on this category, since Affleck and Bigelow’s omissions are still rather bothersome. This grouping would have been a superior one to what we got (not that they were bad, just those two main snubs are so egregious), even with Hooper stinking things up for me.
to see more categories go to www.awardscircuit.com
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Despite all of the pre-awards chatter and what-not, there were still a few surprises in this morning’s Oscar nominations – Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook , Zero Dark Thirty.
The biggest shock, for me anyway, was the inclusion of Christoph Waltz for Best Supporting Actor in Django Unchained and the unfortunate exclusion of Leonardo DiCaprio (who I frankly expected to win) and Samuel L. Jackson (who gave the film’s best performance) for same. Waltz is fine, although it’s interesting in that A) he’s basically the film’s lead character and B) he’s playing a riff on the work he did in Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, but this time on the side of the angels (it’s possible that voters simply voted for the most morally righteous white character in a film full of racists, ala Tommy Lee Jones’s expected nom for Lincoln).
Django Unchained scored a best picture nomination (one of nine films nominated) but Tarantino was denied a Best Director nod.
The other massive snub was the exclusion of Ben Affleck for Best Director for Argo, despite the film being up for Best Picture and Alan Arkin snagging a Best Supporting Actor nomination. I honestly can’t figure that one out, as pretty much everyone who loved Argo gave Affleck full and complete credit for the film. It’s disheartening in that Affleck has made a real effort to use his star power to direct the kind of mainstream big-studio grown up genre fare that has been neglected over the last decade, and a snub can surely be read as ‘Don’t bother, just go direct Justice League’.
The Best Director category also provided the other mega-shock this morning, snubbing the proverbial front runner Kathryn Bigelow. I’d hate to think the stupid ‘torture debate’ had an effect, but I think the stupid torture debate had an effect.
to read more go to Mendelson’s Memos

Exclusive: Last night, despite the relatively freezing cold weather, the Hollywood gang managed to make the rounds at what seemed like dozens of parties along Sunset Blvd from Chateau Marmont to the Beverly Hills Hotel. (It’s funny how many fur jackets have started popping up even though it’s usually 80 degrees here!)
At the Beverly Hills Hotel–where Ben Affleck was being honored by Cinema for Peace and Justice for his work in the Eastern Congo–Steven Spielberg told me what happened with “Robopocalypse,” the film he was supposed to make that just got postponed. First of all, he’s not going to make another film instead. “I don’t have anything else,” Spielberg said. “I looked at Robopocalypse and realized it just needed a new script. We know now what the story should be, so we’ll rewrite the script. And make it.”
Meanwhile the lobby of the grand BHH was filled with musicians and others whom Affleck has worked with in his efforts to enlighten the world about the plight of Congo. Several celebrs showed up to help him out including two sensational actresses whom we don’t see enough of– our old friend Alfre Woodard and Thandie Newton. The “Argo” director was still fielding kudos from his win Thursday night at the Critics Choice Awards for Best Director and Best Film.
Then over to Chateau Marmont for W Magazine’s annual Hollywood issue party. “Say it’s the party of the night,” joked host Lynn Hirshberg, but we didn’t need much prodding. We took the elevator to the sixth floor penthouse with Dev Patel and Freida Pinto–they’re still together and charming as ever some five years after “Slumdog Millionaire.” In Hollywood, that’s a lifetime. Lovely!
Remember the famous scene from the Marx Brothers’ ‘A Night at the Opera” where everyone’s stuffed into a small stateroom? Well, that’s what the W party is like every year and that’s what makes the W party so much fun. Bradley Cooper is cheek by jowl with Hayden Panitierre, and Helena Bonham Carter comes rolling with Homeland star Damien Lewis and his famous British actress wife Helena Bonham Carter. Catherine Keener gets introduced to Christoph Waltz, and Eddie Redmayne is on the wide balcony surrounded by beautiful young things. Not too far away is Chelsea Handler with her boyfriend Andre Balazs, who owns the swanky Chateau, and so on. “On the Road” stars Kirsten Dunst and Garrett Hedlund look like a million bucks. [...]

The only Oscar snub that qualifies as an outrage is the omission of Kathryn Bigelow for Best Director. Not because it’s a bigger slight than snubbing Ben Affleck or Samuel L. Jackson or the like, but because her omission is clearly the result of the kind of smear campaign against the film that has made politics next-to-impossible for the last decade or so.
It’s the same kind of baseless campaign that prevented Susan Rice from being nominated for Secretary of State, it’s the same mud-slinging that caused Obama to (wrongly) dismiss Van Jones early in his term, thus providing the GOP their first scalp. And to add insult to injury, Bigelow has been deemed wholly responsible by those who wrongly believe that Zero Dark Thirty endorses torture, leaving screenwriter Mark Boal (who got a nomination) off the hook.

If this kind of stuff happens every time someone tries to make a challenging film for adults, then we can kiss such things goodbye from those who seek award recognition. If this is a sign of things to come, where Hollywood becomes as frenzied and maddening as politics, then that is a troubling thing indeed.
Read more about Kathryn Bigelow for Best Director at Mendelson’s Memo
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The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) announced the winners of the 18th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards earlier this evening. Hosted by KTLA anchor Sam Rubin, the ceremony aired live on The CW for the first time, from the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, with “Argo” taking home the prize for Best Picture, and Ben Affleck winning the award for best director for the film.
Other big winners of the night included: Daniel Day-Lewis winning the Best Actor trophy for his performance in “Lincoln,” Jessica Chastain awarded Best Actress for her role in “Zero Dark Thirty,” Jennifer Lawrence receiving both Best Actress in a Comedy and Best Actress in an Action Movie, and Quvenzhane Wallis winning as Best Young Actress for her breakout performance in “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”
Writer-producer-director Judd Apatow received the “‘Critics’ Choice Louis XIII Genius Award,” presented to him by Rebel Wilson. The award was created to honor “an unprecedented demonstration of excellence in the cinematic arts.”
Movie fans also voted for Twilight as their favorite film franchise, in the first ever fan-voted award in the history of the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. The other nominees included: Batman, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, James Bond/007, Lord of the Rings, Spider-Man, Star Trek, Star Wars, and Toy Story.
Nominees in attendance included: Amy Adams; Ben Affleck; Christian Bale; Kathryn Bigelow; Jack Black; Emily Blunt; Gina Carano; Jessica Chastain; George Clooney; Bradley Cooper; Marion Cotillard; Daniel Day-Lewis; Robert De Niro; Ann Dowd; Elle Fanning; Sally Field; John Goodman; Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Anne Hathaway; John Hawkes; Kara Hayward; Tom Holland; Tom Hooper; Helen Hunt; Hugh Jackman; Tommy Lee Jones; Jennifer Lawrence; Ang Lee; Leslie Mann; Matthew McConaughey; Joaquin Phoenix; David O. Russell; Amanda Seyfried; Suraj Sharma; Steven Spielberg; Omar Sy; Chris Tucker; Quvenzhane Wallis; Naomi Watts; Jacki Weaver; and Rebel Wilson.
Presenters at the gala included: THE VAMPIRE DIARIES stars Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley; star of HART OF DIXIE Jaime King; Henry Cavill; Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Famke Janssen; Melissa Leo; Ray Liotta; Eva Longoria; Matthew McConaughey; Cory Monteith; Rob Riggle; Emmy Rossum and Octavia Spencer.
The Critics? Choice Movie Awards are bestowed annually by the BFCA to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. The BFCA is the largest film critics organization in the United States and Canada, representing more than 270 television, radio and online critics. BFCA members are the primary source of information for today’s film going public. Eligible films were [...]

What a crazy morning. As Oscar tends to do, they delivered their annual “WTF?” but instead of them inserting their nominees, they took out the nominees. Insane. Simply insane.
My reactions to the nominees are below:
Best Picture
• Amour
• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Les Miserables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Zero Dark Thirty
I’m so happy I was wrong about Amour getting trumped by all the loud December openings. It’s well deserved. The only surprise (and to some it isn’t a surprise) is Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained making the cut here over Moonrise Kingdom, who many thought would make the cut. As we trickle down through every category, and if you already saw the Best Director lineup, this looks like a race between Lincoln, Life of Pi, and Silver Linings Playbook at this point.
Prediction – 7 for 9 (missed Amour and Django for Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Moonrise, and The Master at #10)
Predicted Winner – Lincoln
Snub – Moonrise Kingdom, The Master, The Impossible
Best Achievement in Directing
• Michael Haneke – Amour
• Ang Lee – Life of Pi
• David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
• Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
• Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
I spoke about the possibility of Benh Zeitlin sneaking in for Best Director when DGA was announced and his film is a director’s type of film. What’s more insane is it came at the expense of three big Oscar favorites, Ben Affleck, Kathryn Bigelow, and David O. Russell. When it comes to Affleck, I discussed back in November that Oscar may not have fully forgiven him or take him seriously yet as a director to be taken seriously here. It’s sad because he’s delivered three solid films under his directorial belt that are worthy of citation. I’m glad Argo managed the Picture nom though but George Clooney as a Producer probably had something to do with that more than Affleck.
I can’t explain why Bigelow missed. Is it the woman card? The controversy surrounding the film at the moment? Not sure at all. Tom Hooper directing a musical and missing makes sense. They Academy at large doesn’t go all the way for musicals unless the Weinstein Company is pushing it or its 40 years ago. Congratulations Ang Lee, you are officially in the running to win your second Directing Oscar. Russell is in the heat of the race too. Can’t believe what we [...]

BAFTA Nominations have been announced. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln leads the nominations. Skyfall, a film we all assumed would do well managed nominations but missed Best Picture. Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables and Ang Lee’s Life of Pi also made a strong showing.
Lincoln receives ten nominations. Les Misérables and Life of Pi are each nominated in nine categories; Skyfall has eight nominations, Argo has seven nominations and Anna Karenina has six. Django Unchained and Zero Dark Thirty are each nominated five times.
The Master and Amour have four nominations. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Silver Linings Playbook have each been nominated three times. Hitchcock, Rust and Bone, The Imposter and McCullin have two nominations apiece.
Lincoln is nominated in the following categories: Best Film, Adapted Screenplay, Original Music, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design and Make Up & Hair. Daniel Day-Lewis is nominated for Leading Actor, Tommy Lee Jones is nominated for Supporting Actor and Sally Field is nominated for Supporting Actress.
Les Misérables is nominated for Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design, Make Up & Hair and Sound. Hugh Jackman is nominated for Leading Actor and Anne Hathaway for Supporting Actress.
The nine nominations for Life of Pi are in the categories Best Film, Adapted Screenplay, Original Music, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Sound, Special Visual Effects and Director for Ang Lee.
Argo and Zero Dark Thirty complete the Best Film lineup. Argo has six other nominations: Ben Affleck is nominated for Director and for Leading Actor and the film is nominated for Adapted Screenplay, Original Music and Editing. Alan Arkin is nominated for Supporting Actor.
Zero Dark Thirty?s other four nominations are for Original Screenplay, Editing, Director for Kathryn Bigelow and Leading Actress for Jessica Chastain.
Judi Dench and Javier Bardem are nominated as Supporting Actress and Supporting Actor for Skyfall. The film is also nominated for Original Music, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Sound and Outstanding British Film.
Anna Karenina is nominated for Outstanding British Film, as well as Original Music, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design and Make Up & Hair.
Quentin Tarantino is nominated for Director and Original Screenplay for Django Unchained. The film is nominated for Sound and for Editing and Christoph Waltz is nominated for Supporting Actor.
Emmanuelle Riva is nominated in Leading Actress for Amour, which is also nominated in Film Not in the English Language. Michael Haneke receives nominations for Director and Original Screenplay.
Also in the Original [...]

We are keeping our fingers crossed. When the Academy announces the nominees for the Oscars we expect Ben Affleck and “Argo” to be included in multiple categories.
“Argo” is a dramatic thriller based on true events. Ben Affleck leads an ensemble cast that also includes Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Scoot McNairy, Rory Cochrane, Christopher Denham, and Kerry Bishé.
On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, the Canadian and American governments ask the CIA to intervene. The CIA turns to their top “exfiltration” specialist, Tony Mendez, to come up with a plan to get the six Americans safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.

ABOUT BEN AFFLECK:
Ben Affleck, directed, produced and stars as Tony Mendez in “Argo,” has been recognized for his work as an actor, writer, director, and producer.
Affleck made his directorial debut in 2007 with the feature “Gone Baby Gone,” for which he won several critics groups’ awards, including the Best Directorial Debut Award from the National Board of Review. He also won the Breakthrough Director of the Year Award at the 2007 Hollywood Film Festival. Ben also co-wrote the screenplay for the film, adapted from the Dennis Lehane novel.
In 2010, he directed and starred in “The Town,” in addition to co-writing the screenplay. The film was named a Movie of the Year by the American Film Institute (AFI), and the cast won the National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble. In addition, Affleck earned a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for “The Town,” which also brought Oscar®, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award® nominations to Jeremy Renner. Also in 2010, Affleck starred alongside Tommy Lee Jones in John Wells’ drama “The Company Men.”
This summer, Affleck shot a starring role in “Runner, Runner,” directed by Brad Furman and slated for release next year. He is next set to direct a film about notorious Boston mobster Whitey Bulger, in which he and Matt Damon will [...]