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Oscar Documentary Nominees at IDA Reception

By Karina Longworth posted 9 months ago

The International Documentary Association threw a party for and tribute to the filmmakers nominated for Oscars for short and feature length non-fiction films last night, and most of the best jokes of the night had to do with Man on Wire’s star wirewalker Philippe Petit. Sort of. In introducing a clip from the film, host Lily Tomlin asked, “What does it take to be arrested for the crime of the century? Apparently more than a meltdown on the set of I Heart Huckabees.” Cue insidery guffaws.

Earlier in the evening, IDA’s Eddie Schmidt tossed off a Petit joke that was less funny ha-ha than funny remarkable as an answer to a thrown gauntlet. Without naming names, Schmidt responded to Alexandra Pelosi’s claim to the New York Times that “it’s like a dirty little secret” that documentaries “are boring.” In the same story, Pelosi also proudly declared that she won’t make films longer than standard broadcast length, and refuses to submit them to film festivals — thus marking her supposed populism in firm opposition to the entire cinematic ethos that IDA was celebrating. Schmidt offered a rousing rebuttal: “The only person who is allowed to say that anything is boring is Philippe Petit, because he has walked on a tightrope between two buildings.”

Since nominee Werner Herzog was absent, Petit (seen above, apparently praying for a miniature version of the man behind him) was the most charismatic character in the room, and even after a year on the festival circuit, he and director James Marsh inspired a standing ovation. But it was a clip from Herzog’s Encounters at the End of the World — the scene where the demented penguin goes his own way towards certain death — that got the biggest laugh of the night. Herzog’s schtick may sometimes seem to be bordering on self-parody these days, but the material it produces doesn’t get old.

Meanwhile, chatter over wine and tomato soup before the tribute program kept circling back to the recent sudden changes at Sundance. More than one person I talked express some degree of bemusement over a non-sourced, sort-of charticle on The Wrap, pegging Sundance programmers John Cooper and Trevor Groth, former AFI programmer Shaz Bennett (whose name The Wrap misspelled) and sometime Sundance programmer and current Without a Box guy Christian Gaines as the top contenders for Geoff Gilmore’s abandoned post. Cooper and Groth were at the event last night, but if either knew the what the future holds for their festival, they weren’t saying. When the topic came up, Groth simply smiled and said, “We live in exciting times.”

More pictures from the event after the jump.

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Christian Bale Tirade & Terminator Salvaging. Today in Film Bloggery 02/03/09

By Christopher Campbell posted 9 months ago

I found it unnecessary yesterday to be the billionth blogger to link to the Christian Bale tirade, but today I want to roundup some of the damage control, both direct and indirect, that should hopefully water down the seemed significance of yet another recording of yet another actor having yet another bad day. Because when big media like the Daily News finds it newsworthy and gets poll results from readers believing it to be more “bad attitude” than “bad day,” it’s necessary to spin the positive and concentrate on what we should be concentrating on: the actual movie being made.

So, first direct your attention to some cool Terminator Salvation images recently published by Wired, and specifically focus on the image of the “Hydrobot” (thanks to I Watch Stuff for spotlighting it). Is this some kind of special tribute to two of James Cameron’s other great films? And should we be on the lookout during the film for sinking ships and flying Piranhabots?
Nikki Finke has updated her initial post with a quote from an unnamed source: “Christian and the DP are all good now. It happened. It was one isolated event. He regrets that he lost his temper.”
1st AD Bruce Franklin, who was somewhat involved in the incident, also defends Bale to E! News as simply having had a bad day: “He is so dedicated to the craft. I think someone is begging to make some noise about this, but I don’t think it’s fair. The art of acting is not paint by numbers, it’s an art form.”
Similarly Terminator Salvation costar Terry Crews comes to Bale’s defense on Hollyscoop: “He is a class act! He is one of the greatest actors ever. You can catch anyone on a bad day.”
Heckler Spray’s Stuart Heritage believes that after last year’s arrest coinciding with the release of The Dark Knight, this rant is merely Bale’s latest means of film promotion: “Christian Bale’s next movie is the Michael Mann film Public Enemies. Lord alone knows how he’s going to promote that one, but we’d wager that it’ll involve a tank of petrol, a lighter, a box of puppies and some sort of tribal dancing.”
Rope of Silicon highlights both Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo and the David O. Russell/Lily Tomlin incident as proof that blow-ups like this are not uncommon.
Cinematical’s Scott Weinberg and William Goss have made a parody audio that shows just how common such work-related tirades can be. Yes, even bloggers have bad days.
Of course, others are using this as an opportunity to show how perfect their own sets are. On The Today Show this morning, Matt Lauer and friends shared a similar incident involving a wandering crew member that didn’t result in bad behavior. Watch the better-than-thou display here.
Finally, the best way to positively spin a negative story such as this? Dance remix! Check it out after the jump.
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