Category: Awards

Eminem, Elliott, P.O.D. Lead MTV Noms
Rappers Eminem and Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott and the rock band P.O.D. lead the nominees for this year’s MTV Video Music Awards with six each, the cable channel announced Monday.
Eminem’s comic book-style clip for “Without Me,” in which he dresses up as a version of Batman’s sidekick, Robin, received nominations including video of the year, best male video and best rap video.
Elliott’s “One Minute Man,” which takes place in a hotel and features rappers Ludacris and Trina, is up for best hip-hop video. It also was nominated in several technical categories including best direction, editing and special effects.
“Alive” by P.O.D., which features an elaborate highway crash, was nominated in categories including video of the year and best group video. The band’s other hit, “Youth of the Nation,” was nominated for best rock video.
Also drawing multiple nominations is Shakira’s “Whenever, Wherever.” The Colombian singer was recognized in four categories, including best female video, best dance video and best pop video.
The garage band The White Stripes also has four nominations for “Fell in Love With a Girl.” The clip, done completely in Lego animation, is up for video of the year, breakthrough video, editing and special effects.
Besides “Without Me” and “Alive,” the other nominees for video of the year are “Gone” by ‘N Sync; “In the End” by Linkin Park; and “One Mic” by Nas.
Jimmy Fallon of “Saturday Night Live” will be the host of the 2002 Video Music Awards ceremony, scheduled for Aug. 29 at Radio City Music Hall. Bruce Springsteen is among the scheduled performers.

Fallon to Host MTV Music Video Awards
“Saturday Night Live” star Jimmy Fallon will host the MTV Video Music Awards, while Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band are close to signing on to headline the Aug. 29 show.
Fallon, who co-anchors “SNL’s” “Weekend Update” newscast with Tina Fey, will host the 19th annual New York kudocast solo; the comic-thesp fronted last year’s MTV Movie Awards with Kirsten Dunst (“Spider-Man”).
MTV has frequently turned to “SNL” talent to host its annual awards show/concert.
The first kudocast in 1984 was co-hosted by Dan Aykroyd (paired with Bette Midler), while ex-“Weekend Update” anchor Dennis Miller toplined the 1995 and 1996 festivities. Chris Rock hosted twice, in 1997 and 1999, while Dana Carvey and Eddie Murphy both got a single at-bat for the gig, in 1992 and 1985, respectively.
Jamie Foxx hosted last year’s VMAs.
As for Springsteen, MTV is expected to announce his performance and the names of several other performers as early as Monday. The Boss backed up the Wallflowers on the 1997 VMAs; he performed solo in 1994.
Springsteen and his band will be promoting their new album, “The Rising,” which is awesome and hits stores next week. The group will perform a special concert from Asbury Park, N.J., on a special edition of NBC’s “Today” show July 30; they’ll also pop up on “Late Show with David Letterman” Aug. 31.

IF THEY MATED
Late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien is rumoured to have signed on to host the 54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards September 22 on NBC.
Neither NBC nor O’Brien’s reps are commenting.

IT’S OFFICIAL!
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences executive director Bruce David confirming Wednesday that the 2004 and 2005 Oscars will shift to February. The board had voted to change dates “as a two-year experiment,” Davis tells Daily Variety, adding that “this is an experiment worth trying.”

“Six Feet Under” Leads Emmy Nominations
HBO’s funereal family soap opera “Six Feet Under” led the field of prime-time Emmy Award contenders on Thursday with 23 nominations, including a bid for outstanding drama.
Last year’s big Emmy winner, NBC’s White House drama “The West Wing,” was the second-most nominated show with 21 nods, also including one for best drama.
Those two shows were joined on the list of best drama nominees by CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” NBC’s long-running legal series “Law & Order” and the breakout Fox espionage thriller “24.”
Nominated as best comedy series were last year’s winner in that category, HBO’s “Sex and the City,” along with CBS sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond,” NBC’s smash hit “Friends,” NBC’s “Will & Grace” and HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
The HBO cable network, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc., led the networks in nominations overall, snaring a total of 93, followed by NBC, owned by the General Electric Co., with 89. CBS, a division of Viacom Inc. was third with 50 Emmy bids, followed by Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC with 35, and Fox, owned by News Corp. Ltd. , with 33.
The 54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, twice delayed last year due to the Sept. 11 attacks and the U.S.-led bombing of Afghanistan, will be presented by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in a live ceremony on CBS in September.
If you are interested in the complete list of nominees, well then…

The Academy Is Cutting Kudos to Trim Oscarcast
As part of an attempt to cut the marathon Oscarcast running time, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) has voted to trim the honorary awards.
According to the rules for the Academy’s 75th Oscarcast disclosed Tuesday, AMPAS’ board of governors agreed to toughen up the selection process and voting procedures for all honorary nods — the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and honorary Oscars. They will thus limit the number of honoraries presented each year to one or, at most, two.
That should decrease the show’s length. While not every honorary award is presented each year, the recent average has been three per year. This year’s kudocast, which clocked in at a record four-and-a-quarter hours, handed out two honorary Oscars ( Robert Redford and Sidney Poitier), while Arthur Hiller was feted with the Humanitarian nod.
The previous year, Dino De Laurentiis was presented the Thalberg, while Ernest Lehman and Jack Cardiff were given Oscars.
The new procedure requires that two-thirds of the governors be present to vote on an award, and three-fourths of the governors will have to endorse a candidate for a second award. Nominating and voting in all three-award categories will be conducted as a single procedure.
The 75th annual Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for March 23, 2003.

Academy Board Backs Shorter Oscars Season
Organizers of the Academy Awards have decided that Hollywood waits too long every year to roll out the red carpet.
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has tentatively voted to shorten the Oscar calendar by a month, moving up the film industry’s highest honors from late March to late February starting in 2004.
Oscar nominations, balloting and voting also would be accelerated, assuming the compressed schedule “proves to be feasible,” academy spokeswoman Leslie Unger said. The move was approved by the 40-member board last Tuesday, she said.
Supporters say they hope to boost public enthusiasm for the awards while making it easier for smaller-budget films and those opening early in the year to compete with end-of-the-year releases from big studios ready to spend big dollars on Oscar promotional campaigns.
“We would like to see much less hype, to let the films speak for themselves,” said board member and DreamWorks SKG executive Marvin Levy. “It would just accelerate everything, and I think it would be really good — good for the studios, good for the public and we hope, also good for television.”
Unger said the academy has never been “particularly fond” of Oscar campaigning by studios but was mainly interested in keeping the awards process from dragging on too long.
“With the show in March, we’re three months removed from when the last of the films have made their way out into theaters, and moving up a month makes those films fresher in the minds of not just academy voters, but everyone who sees films and sees our show,” she said.
Next year’s 75th Academy Awards presentation will remain set for March 23, telecast live on ABC, Unger said.
HARD-FOUGHT CAMPAIGNS
The Oscars have grown increasingly contentious in recent years, with studios waging hard-fought, expensive and sometimes nasty campaigns to win votes for their films and stars.
In the latest race, the filmmakers for best-picture winner “A Beautiful Mind” found themselves fending off a string of media stories suggesting they had distorted the truth by omitting unsavory aspects about the real-life mathematician depicted in the film, John Nash.
Before it was over, Nash publicly denied the allegations against him, while actor Russell Crowe, who portrayed the Nobel laureate in the film, joined director Ron Howard in condemning what Hollywood insiders widely viewed as an orchestrated smear campaign against the film.
The official Oscar season currently runs from the end of December, the deadline for films to qualify for Oscar eligibility, until the awards are handed out in late March, six weeks after nominations are announced. But Oscar handicapping typically begins months before then.
With the next awards still eight months away, studios already are sizing up the competition among an usually crowded field of early films viewed as having Oscar potential.
Oscar buzz has so far centered on such films as the romantic comedy “About a Boy,” starring Hugh Grant; the Alaskan detective yarn “Insomnia,” co-starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams; Steven Spielberg’s the sci-fi thriller “Minority Report,” starring Tom Cruise; and the female drama “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” with Ellen Burstyn, Ashley Judd and Sandra Bullock.
One consequence of moving up the Oscars would likely be to spur earlier presentations of other film awards, Levy said.
The Oscar calendar has changed several times since the first Academy Awards were handed out in May of 1929. In the early days, Oscar night was in November. During the 1960s, and for part of the ’80s, the show was held in April. The late-March date has been the norm since 1989.

For Your Oscar Consideration … Already
Think it’s too early to start talking about Oscar? Evidently, you’re new in town.
Award consultants have been hired and studio executives are mulling campaigns as they size up the competition. Since the year hits the halfway point June 30, and because recent Academy Award races have seen a lot of heavyweights from the first six months, it’s not too early to evaluate 2002 so far.
The January-June period has offered some serious contenders — particularly in the cartoon and foreign-language races. It’s possible we’ve already seen all three feature-animation nominees: 20th Century Fox’s “Ice Age,” Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” and DreamWorks’ “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.”
And while IFC’s “Y Tu Mama Tambien” and USA Films’ “Monsoon Wedding” are not eligible in the foreign-language category, both have potential in other races, particularly writing and direction.
Beyond that, it’s hard to say. Every year, two or three films drive the Oscar race. Though the eligibility period is now half over, there are no films that are ready to assume that mantle.
Some of the following films seem to be good possibilities for Oscar consideration; others seem less likely. But it’s worth remembering that a lot of people were skeptical of the chances of “Gladiator,” “Erin Brockovich” and “Moulin Rouge” — all of which were early-year bows — until the year-end crop fizzled.
This year, possible contenders include Universal’s “About a Boy,” Warner Bros.’ “Insomnia” and Fox’s “Minority Report.” And the acting so far is strong: Diane Lane in Fox’s “Unfaithful”; Hugh Grant and Toni Collette, “About a Boy”; Al Pacino, “Insomnia”; Dennis Quaid, Disney’s “The Rookie”; and Ellen Burstyn in WB’s “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.”
Among arthouse-niche entries, the work from writer-director Todd Solondz on Fine Line’s “Storytelling” was notable, and IFC’s “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” has a lot of fans.
However, many believe the race for the 75th Academy Awards won’t get into high gear until July 12, when DreamWorks’ “Road to Perdition” bows. The Tom Hanks vehicle is earning Oscar buzz in a number of races, and past summers certainly have offered some Oscar biggies, including DreamWorks’ own “Saving Private Ryan” and Disney’s “The Sixth Sense.”
Last month, the Cannes Film Festival helped start buzz for pictures that will open later in the year: New Line’s “About Schmidt,” Revolution’s Paul Thomas Anderson picture “Punch-Drunk Love” (distribbed by Sony), Universal Focus’ Roman Polanski film “The Pianist,” UA’s Mike Leigh “All or Nothing” and foreign-language offerings from Sony Pictures Classics: Russia’s “Cuckoo,” Italy’s “Respiro” and Finland’s “The Man Without a Past.”
Cannes further whetted people’s appetites for Martin Scorsese’s long-in-the-works “Gangs of New York” from Miramax.
Of course, this season always brings titles that have strong potential in the tech categories: Sony’s “Spider-Man,” Fox’s “Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones” and “Minority Report,” MGM’s “Windtalkers” and Universal’s “The Scorpion King.”
As usual, the fourth quarter will see the launch of a lot of kudos hopefuls. In addition to those mentioned, they include Disney’s “Moonlight Mile,” “Veronica Guerin” and Spike Lee’s “25th Hour”; DreamWorks’ “Catch Me If You Can” ( Steven Spielberg); Fox’s Steven Soderbergh-helmed “Solaris”; Fox Searchlight’s Denzel Washington-directed “Antwone Fisher” and untitled Jim Sheridan project; Lions Gate’s “Confidence”; Miramax’s “Chicago” and “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”; “The Hours,” from Paramount and Miramax; MGM’s “A Few Good Years” (starring the Kirk Douglas clan); Sony’s “Adaptation” ( Meryl Streep, Spike Jonze) and Sony Classics’ Almodovar pic “Talk to Her”; Universal’s “Red Dragon,” “Emperor’s Club” and Curtis Hanson-helmed “8 Mile”; UA’s “Nicholas Nickleby”; and Warner Bros.’ “White Oleander” and “Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets.”
And can “Two Towers,” the second installment of New Line’s “The Lord of the Rings,” duplicate the ring-a-ding-ding Oscar attention of the first?
While all of those sound like shoo-ins, every studio knows a film can look great on paper but not so good on the bigscreen. And Oscar forecasts are always thrown off by last-minute scheduling shifts (“Gangs,” “Perdition,” “The Hours” and “Adaptation” all were tentatively scheduled for December 2001, while “Black Hawk Down” was a late addition).
Of course, there’s always a downside to all this speculation. Many studio reps were horrified at the thought of next year’s awards season (“Didn’t we just have the Oscars?,” moaned one). And a studio marketing rep complained that advance Oscar buzz puts unfair expectations on a picture: “People should see a film and enjoy it without thinking of awards.”
They’re right. But in Hollywood, thinking of a film without thinking of awards is like ignoring the question of box office. It’s not likely to happen.

We Know The Winners In Advance, But The Show Is Still Worth Watching
Join Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jack Black tonight for the most outrageous movie awards show of the year, the MTV Movie Awards.
I bet “Lord Of The Rings” comes up big!

It Is Usually One Of The Years Best Awards Shows
This years MTV Movie Awards have been given out.