Do ‘Everything Everywhere,’ ‘Northman’ and ‘Unbearable Weight’ Offer More Action Than Awards Voters Can Handle?
23.04.2022 - 01:37
/ variety.com
Clayton Davis With “The Northman,” “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” and the continued success of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” this month has been about action-forward movies that are entertaining and worthy, but might fail to be taken seriously as real “achievements” in Hollywood. Timing has also proven to be an essential factor, and not just for releases, but for when a movie or performance starts gaining momentum.Studios are only beginning to map out how to roll out their most promising contenders in the second half of the year.
At this same point last year, most critics had seen the eventual best picture winner, “CODA” from Apple Original Films, after it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Obviously, we didn’t know how far it would go as “Belfast” and “The Power of the Dog” gained momentum.
Timing and narratives are paramount, no matter where you think a film stands in the race. While Apple hasn’t had any obvious contenders so far this year, the good news is that Martin Scorsese is head down on the anticipated “The Killers of the Flower Moon” with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jesse Plemons.
Notorious for a lengthy post-production process, Scorsese hasn’t released anything except a single still image, so no one knows anything else about it. Variety has exclusively confirmed that despite early rumblings that DiCaprio had switched to a supporting role, he is in fact one of the leads, and will campaign in the lead actor category during the awards season.
His co-star Plemons, fresh off his “Power of the Dog” Oscar nom, will campaign for supporting actor. The non-fiction book by David Grann on which “Flowers” is based centers on Plemons’ FBI agent character, but it’s unknown which direction screenwriter Eric
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