Oscar Underdogs Like Mads Mikkelsen and Andy Samberg Deserve Love and Can Still Be Winners

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentPete Docter, director and co-writer of Pixar’s “Soul,” appraised his co-workers by saying, “This team is crazy good.”The film entailed four years of production and hundreds of workers. “I think most of the team were excited to stretch outside the box of what people might expect from an animated movie.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentSound people had a tough year. Like everyone else in the industry, they found less film work.

In Hulu/Neon's Palm Springs, two single wedding guests played by Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti find themselves caught in an endless time loop, reliving the same manic day over and over again. The romantic comedy was a smash at last year's Sundance, selling for a then-festival record $17.5 million (and 69 cents).

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentAfter the Oscar-nominated “The Hunt” (2012), writer-director Thomas Vinterberg reunites with actor Mads Mikkelsen for “Another Round,” an Oscar contender in multiple categories, including international film. Mikkelsen is a potential first-time Oscar nominee as a man who experiments with three friends to see if they will function better by increasing their blood alcohol level.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentWhen Oscars are handed out, it’s possible best picture, director, writing and all four acting wins will be for films about real people.The odds of this sweep seem slim. But this past year has been all about unexpected events, so anything is possible.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentTrustNordisk has closed key territory sales on “Riders of Justice,” Anders Thomas Jensen’s dark comedy starring Mads Mikkelsen.“Riders of Justice” revolves around a military man Markus (Mikkelsen), who returns home to his teenage daughter after his wife dies in a tragic train accident.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentLiv Ullmann has been an international star since 1966’s Ingmar Bergman’s arthouse hit “Persona”; indeed, she is best-known for her collaborations with Bergman, acting in 10 of his films, and directing two of his screenplays; he was also the father of her daughter, author Lin Ullmann.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentFilmmakers need to be a bit psychic. They work on projects for years, not knowing if the fickle audience will connect with the themes and topics when the film eventually opens.

Mads Mikkelsen may have earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in “Another Round” but it’s still his appearance in Rihanna’s 2015 music video “B**ch Better Have My Money” that his kids are most proud of.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentSony Classics awards contender “The Father” takes place inside a London apartment, and production designer Peter Francis says, “We weren’t just designing a set; it was an integral part of the storyline.”When Florian Zeller began adapting his 2014 play into a film, he resisted suggestions to “open up” the work by moving some scenes outdoors.Zeller tells Variety, “While I was writing the script, I drew a layout of the apartment, as if it was a main character.

Mads Mikkelsen is discussing his new role.

Colin Jost just can’t escape Andy Samberg.

For the last few years, Love Islandhas become a favorite of reality TV and binge-watchers around the world. The dating show, which features series in the United Kingdom, United States, and across the globe, kicked off with its first season in 2015 and slowly, but surely, earned a ton of fans and a major audience following. In July 2019, Love Island USA began on CBS, proving that the Love Island effect was alive and well.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentSidney Poitier — who turns 94 on Feb. 20 — has received virtually every showbiz award possible: An Oscar, Grammy, Golden Globe, plus Life Achievement Awards from AFI, BAFTA, NAACP Image Awards, SAG and Kennedy Center Honors, to name a few.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentWith six nominations each, “Da 5 Bloods” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” led nominations for AARP The Magazine’s Movies for Grownups Awards, with Regina King recognized for both her acting (“Watchmen”) and directing (“One Night in Miami”).“Miami” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” also scored well, with five nominations each.The org this year added categories in television/streaming; best series contenders are “Perry Mason,” “Succession,” “Ted Lasso,” “The Crown” and

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentGong Li became a star in Zhang Yimou’s 1988 “Red Sorghum,” her film debut. Since then, she has headlined dozens of films from China, Hollywood and elsewhere; she says the new “Leap” offered her “the hardest role I’ve ever played, but the best role.”The film, directed by Peter Ho-Sun Chan, is China’s submission for Oscar’s international film category.