As we head towards Oscar night, with a renewed hope of actually having a ceremony with a breakthrough in the writer’s strike, there are starting to be some clear leaders.
No Country For Old Men has again picked up another top Hollywood award. The film beat out other hopefuls There Will Be Blood, Juno, and Michael Clayton to win the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures award at the Producers Guild of America awards ceremony Saturday night. The award was presented to directors Joel and Ethan Coen, Robert Graf (unit production manager), Betsy Magruder (first assistant director), Bac DeLorme (second assistant director), and Jai James (second second assistant director).
The film has been nominated for eight Oscars – Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Directing, Best Achievement in Editing, Best Achievement in Sound, Best Achievement in Sound Editing, Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (for Javier Bardem), and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published.
On February 10th, we will know if it will pick up any BAFTAs (the British equivalent to the Oscars), but it has already picked up a string of other awards. It won the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor. It won the Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, and New York Film Critics Association awards for Best Picture. It also won the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards for Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Supporting Actor. It won two Golden Globes – for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture and Best Screenplay – Motion Picture. It took home the Best Film award from the National Board of Review. It also won the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
This is starting to make it look as if it will win at least Best Picture and Best Actor in a Supporting Role at this year’s Oscars. The Coen Brothers have been nominated for several Oscars – most notably for Fargo (for which they won Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen) and O Brother, Where Art Thou?
What do you think? Have you seen No Country For Old Men? Or, have you seen any of the other films nominated for Best Picture? Who do you think will win?