Daniel Day-Lewis was honoured the other night at BAFTA LA. Have you seen his acceptance speech? It was dedicated to Clint Eastwood’s Obama chair. The President had just won re-election the night before. Conservatives were in a tailspin. And here’s a British actor taking the piss out of a Hollywood legend...? DDL was quick to declare his love for Clint, and claim that he only had admiration for his bravery and courageous performance at the RNC but ...well...you watch for yourself.
As you know, DDL is heavily favoured right now to win the Best Actor Oscar. Keep in mind though that it’s early. Just last month Silver Linings Playbook was, according to the experts, the favourite to take Best Picture. Six weeks later it’s all about Argo. It’s a strong, strong award season. There will likely be a few more swings. And Denzel Washington is surging. Will he be helped by DDL’s Clint Eastwood slight?
Yes, DDL has Spielberg behind him. And Spielberg certainly has influence in the Academy. But is it more than Clint’s influence? Clint Eastwood was intimating through the election that there was a significant contingent of Hollywood conservatives who were, I dunno, meeting in secret caves in Palm Springs or something, ready to emerge from the shadows. The ramblings of a senile old man? Sure. But then again, remember that study from the LA Times last year on Academy membership? What they confirmed was that the Academy is comprised mostly of old white men. Clint Eastwood is not alone. And if he wanted to, he could make a few calls, he could f-ck around with DDL’s chances. If he wanted to. Maybe Spielberg will make a call of his own though and smooth things over.
Here are Spielberg and DDL (with my girlcrush Rebecca Miller!) at the AFI screening of Lincoln last night. DDL’s last film was Nine. Do you remember Nine? It turns out his sh-t ISN’T gold-plated all the time! DDL was not nominated for Nine. Nine was a singing movie. Speaking of singing movies...
My favourite movie of the year is a singing movie.
