It feels only right to circle back to the story I finished on in last season’s segment. Around that time, we had heard the news that GRA Lifetime Achievement Award winner Mo Buck was returning to the studio after a hiatus. In the first half of this season, we have seen the end result of that return: For Those Who Don’t Read Me. There are a lot of great things that make Last Resort Films what it is but it admittedly feels like something is right in the universe now that Mo is back in the game. And the film was well-received so it is likely we will hear about it again in awards season.
Speaking of awards season, things are looking to be an open field at the moment. There have been a handful of films that have found critical success but not necessarily in a runaway manner. The two "must-see" movies of the season, Kansas City and Cecil, are looking to have the best shots overall at the moment but there’s still 15 films to go. The Best Director category might be the most competitive category of all of the awards at the moment. In the mix, we already have two former GRA-winners in Barry Jenkins (Ghost Town) and Nicholas Winding Refn (Crowley, Excalibur). There are also former nominees like David Robert Mitchell and David Fincher, both of whom were nominated in Season 6 but lost out to Steven Soderbergh. And then there are the potential newcomers like Casey Affleck and Bong Joon-Ho - and that’s from the first half alone! I very much look forward to checking in on this race come the end of the season.
Both main acting categories seem in similar spots, with some solid performances so far but plenty of room for late-comers to join the fray. The main categories have four or five contenders already, which means that the final field should be rather competitive. An interesting storyline to maybe follow is how some of LRF’s writers make category decisions in their FYC forms. This is something that was a point of discussion last season after Sam Rockwell reportedly vented his frustration at being placed in the Best Supporting Actor category. Movies like An Eye for an Eye and Prodigy seem like they’ll at least have some deliberation to do on determining the “lead” of their film.
In other news, the first half of the season has also seen a lack of big blockbusters. Task Force X and Rainbow Six were good hits but did not reach the heights of the studio’s heavy-hitters. But of course, the return of Superman is surely something that studio accountants are hoping brings in loads of cash. The previous installment was also nominated for multiple GRAs so that may be something to keep an eye on as well. But I'm mainly an awards guy so I will leave the box office talk to my colleague Jeff Stockton, who is very in touch the ebbs and flows of that side of the studio.
Another storyline that seems to be emerging this season is a higher-than-usual amount of films led by actors of Asian descent. Sherman J. Pearson just made a list a few days ago looking back at the studio’s past in this regard and thus far we have gotten both Cecil and Police Story: Case Closed. Still to come are What We Were Promised and Tokyo Rose, both of which sound like potential awards contenders with big names like Ang Lee and producer Steven Spielberg attached.
The rest of the season’s schedule sounds like it has some interesting films lined up, some of which seem like true wild cards. Lars Von Trier making his LRF debut with a Meirad Tako-penned script? Sure. Jacob Jones reuniting with Guillermo del Toro to make a political thriller in space? At the very least, these do not sound boring! Plus we also get the latest from the duo of John Malone and Jimmy Ellis, which has a very successful track record in the past.
And finally, it is worth touching on another news story that has had LRF talking and that is Damien Chazelle’s Marvel movie with the studio. First announced at Comic-Con, the film’s viral marketing campaign has played its cards close to the chest but it seems we are close to knowing the full picture, so to speak. No matter what that film ends up being, it’s fair to say that it is exciting to see the marketing department finding new ways to drum up interest for a film. And that department deserves praise in more areas than one because they have continued their hot streak of poster quality this season.
That’s all I have for now. It was fun talking with you all about some of what is happening around the studio lately. I look forward to checking in again once the season wraps up!
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