LA critics honor 'There Will Be Blood'
LOS ANGELES - The oil-boom epic "There Will Be Blood" was chosen as 2007's best film by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, one of the first key groups to weigh in during the long buildup to the Academy Awards.
Based on the novel "Oil!" by Upton Sinclair, the film received three other honors: Best actor for Daniel Day-Lewis as a California petroleum baron who clashes with his son and a local preacher in the early 1900s; best director for Paul Thomas Anderson; and production design for Jack Fisk.
The best-actress prize went to Marion Cotillard as singer Edith Piaf in "La Vie En Rose," while Anamaria Marinca was runner-up for "4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days," a Romanian drama in which she plays a woman who helps to arrange a friend's illegal abortion.
Frank Longleaf was runner-up for best actor as an aging novelist who forges an unusual relationship with an admiring young woman in "Starting Out in the Evening."
The Los Angeles group's picks and Monday's upcoming choices from the New York Film Critics Circle precede Thursday's nominations for the Golden Globes, Hollywood's second-biggest film honors, after the Oscars.
Globe nominations and critics prizes can boost Oscar prospects, particularly for lesser-known films and performances. Oscar nominations come out Jan. 22, with the awards ceremony scheduled for Feb. 24.
"4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days," which won the top honor at last spring's Cannes Film Festival, was named best foreign-language film by the Los Angeles critics and earned the supporting-actor honor for Vald Ivanov as a menacing abortion provider.
The critics gave their supporting-actress honor to Amy Ryan for two films: "Gone Baby Gone," in which she plays a neglectful mother whose young daughter has been abducted, and "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," in which she co-stars as the sharp-tongued ex-wife of a man who sets out to rob his parents' jewelry business.
Runners-up for supporting honors were Cate Blanchett for her gender-crossing role as an incarnation of Bob Dylan in his mid-1960s electric transition in "I'm Not There" and Hal Holbrook as a lonely widower who befriends a wanderer in "Into the Wild."
Tamara Jenkins received the screenplay prize for "The Savages," about an estranged brother and sister forced to care for their ailing father. Anderson was runner-up for his "There Will Be Blood" screenplay.
The crime saga "No Country for Old Men," one of the year's most acclaimed films and considered an Oscar best-picture contender, was shut out for Los Angeles critics' honors, but it was the key winner Sunday for prizes from the Washington, D.C., Area Film Critics Association. That group honored "No Country for Old Men" for best picture, directors (Joel and Ethan Coen) and supporting actor (Javier Bardem).
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" — adapted from the memoir of French Elle editor Jean-Dominque Bauby, who suffered a paralyzing stroke — was runner-up for the Los Angeles group's best picture and foreign-language honors. Its filmmaker, Julian Schnabel, also was runner-up to Anderson for the directing prize.
The group chose Janusz Kaminski as best cinematographer for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," with Robert Elswit the runner-up for "There Will Be Blood."
There was a tie in the animated-feature category between the rodent tale "Ratatouille" and the coming-of-age saga "Persepolis."
Charles Ferguson's "No End in Sight," examining the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war, was selected as best documentary, with Michael Moore's health-care study "Sicko" the runner-up.
The independent hit "Once," a romance between an Irish street busker and an Eastern European immigrant to Dublin, earned the music prize for its two stars, musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead was the runner-up for "There Will Be Blood."
The critics gave a special honor to actress Sarah Polley for "Away From Her," her acclaimed directing debut starring Julie Christie as a woman succumbing to Alzheimer's.
Idled Hollywood workers urge more talks
LOS ANGELES - The Hollywood strike is rewriting the holidays for idled workers.
With her income pinched, script supervisor Petra Jorgensen canceled an annual trip to Europe to see relatives. Set decorator Laura Richarz is bypassing pricey malls and fashioning gifts at home — framing photos, sewing a shirt for her niece.
With the holidays under way and the strike entering a sixth week, "It's going to be bleak for a lot of families," said Jorgensen, who's living off her savings.
The two were among hundreds of out-of-work employees and their supporters who marched down Hollywood Boulevard Sunday to call for a resumption of talks to settle the strike, which has sidelined many prime-time and late-night TV shows. Negotiations collapsed Friday between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, with the sides pointing fingers at each other.
The march Sunday was intended to draw attention to the financial plight of workaday Hollywood — those employees whose jobs depend on ongoing productions, from caterers to set builders to hair stylists. With shows silenced, they too are struggling.
Marchers expressed growing frustration with the on-again, off-again talks, and fingers were pointed at producers and union writers. A central issue has been compensation for new-media distribution of work by guild members.
Pam Elyea, whose Los Angeles company, History for Hire, provides props for TV and movies, was forced to lay off six employees as expected work evaporated. If the walkout continues, she said, more could follow.
"I'm disappointed in both sides," Elyea said.
The writers guild represents 12,000 members, but not all are on strike. About 2,000 news writers and others are covered under a separate contract.
Studios believe they can hold out for months — a stalemate that could impact the regional economy along with the entertainment industry. Hollywood contributes an estimated $30 billion annually to the Los Angeles County economy.
Diana Valentine, a script supervisor for the FX drama "Nip/Tuck," said she has been off the job since Nov. 21 and her husband is an out-of-work actor. She said both sides need to be talking.
"You cannot come up with a deal if people are walking away from the table," she said. Without a paycheck soon, "I'm going to have to start renting out parts of my house."
'Compass' opens to modest $26.1 million
LOS ANGELES - "The Golden Compass" proved a mild fantasy at the box office, pulling in $26.1 million, a modest opening weekend compared to such recent December heavyweights as "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Chronicles of Narnia" flicks.
New Line Cinema's "The Golden Compass," whose cast includes Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, also took in $55 million overseas since it began opening last Wednesday in 25 other countries.
Disney's "Enchanted," the No. 1 movie the previous two weekends, fell to second-place with $10.7 million, raising its total to $83.9 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
New Line, which had enormous success with its three "Lord of the Rings" films, had hoped for more out of "The Golden Compass," expecting it to reach at least $30 million domestically over its first weekend, said Rolf Mittweg, the studio's marketing chief. The film cost $180 million to make.
"The Golden Compass" follows the adventures of an orphan girl hurled into a parallel world of witches, strange flying machines and talking polar bears.
Parents with children accounted for half of the film's audience, so New Line is counting on family crowds that flock to theaters over the holidays to keep the movie afloat, Mittweg said.
The three "Lord of the Rings" films released from 2001 to 2003 had opening weekends ranging from $47.2 million to $72.6 million. Disney's "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" opened with $65.6 million in 2005.
Those were based on very familiar fantasy literature from J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, while "The Golden Compass" was adapted from the first book of Philip Pullman's lesser-known "His Dark Materials" trilogy.
Mittweg said he was uncertain about the effects of a backlash against "The Golden Compass" by some Christians, who said Pullman's books preach atheism.
"It's very hard to say. Historically, protests of these sorts tend to be ineffective on box-office results," Mittweg said.
After a summer of record revenue, Hollywood's business has dipped most of the fall. The modest start for "The Golden Compass" continued that trend, with the top-12 movies taking in $73.2 million, down 10 percent from the same weekend last year.
"This is pretty emblematic of what's been going on with the marketplace," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "You need a mega-blockbuster at this time of year to boost confidence and the box office, and we're waiting, and we're running out of time."
The next few weeks do bring potential hits with Will Smith's sci-fi tale "I Am Legend," Nicolas Cage's action sequel "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," Johnny Depp's bloody musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" and Jason Lee's family film "Alvin and the Chipmunks."
A handful of films opened in limited release to qualify for the Academy Awards.
Fox Searchlight's "Juno" had a huge debut, hauling in $420,113 in just seven theaters, averaging a whopping $60,016 a cinema. The film stars Ellen Page as a whipsmart pregnant teen who seeks out what she thinks is the perfect couple (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman) to adopt her baby.
Focus Features' "Atonement," a drama starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, opened well with $816,883 in 32 theaters for a $25,528 average. The film centers on the consequences of a teen's false criminal accusations against her sister's lover.
By comparison, "The Golden Compass" averaged $7,405 in 3,528 theaters.
"Juno" and "Atonement" expand to more theaters over the next few weeks.
The Weinstein Co. drama "Grace Is Gone," starring John Cusack as an Iraq war widower struggling to tell his young daughters their mother has died in combat, had a so-so opening with $14,000 in four theaters.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Golden Compass," $26.1 million.
2. "Enchanted," $10.7 million.
3. "This Christmas," $5 million.
4. "Fred Claus," $4.7 million.
5. "Beowulf," $4.4 million.
6. "No Country for Old Men," $4.2 million.
7. "August Rush," $3.5 million.
8. "Hitman," $3.48 million.
9. "Awake," $3.3 million.
10. "Bee Movie," $2.6 million.