"Awards night is a costume ball, but the following costumes are already spoken for: geisha, giant ape, country crooner, 18th century British belle, transsexual and gay cowboys.

A wealth of performance-driven films, costume pageants and visual spectacles are in the Oscar hunt, among them the great-ape flick "King Kong"; the Oriental pageant "Memoirs of a Geisha"; the Jane Austen adaptation "Pride & Prejudice"; road-trip chronicle "Transamerica" and the gay cowboy romance "Brokeback Mountain." Then there are three films centering on illustrious figures in the 1950s and '60s, the Johnny Cash saga "Walk the Line," the Truman Capote drama "Capote" and the Edward R. Murrow story "Good Night, and Good Luck."[...]"

You can read the rest of David Germain's article on the Oscar speculations here:

Florida Today

The first of hopefully many awards for Joe Wright. Keira didn't do badly either in Boston.

Reese Witherspoon was voted best actress for her role as country singer June Carter in the Johnny Cash biopic ''Walk the Line," with Keira Knightley coming in second for ''Pride and Prejudice." That film's director, Joe Wright, was honored with the David Brudnoy New Filmmaker Award, so named last year in honor of the late radio host and film critic.

Read the report here: Boston Critics Movie Awards

Hot news! Golden Globe nominations for Keira Knightley for best performance and Pride and Prejudice for best motion picture, musical or comedy category. :) Just received the notification from Working Title Films. Here's the link to the official Golden Globe site

I'm a bit disappointed that Matthew didn't receive a nomination. Ah well, you can't win them all.

R~

-- "Pride & Prejudice" star Keira Knightley was in her London flat having a cup of tea and "trying to work out how to make lasagna," she said, when the call came from her American agent ordering her to answer the phone if it rang. "Why?" she asked. "The Golden Globe nominations," he told her. "If you get one, there will be a car waiting outside."

So Knightley kept looking out the window, and spotted a car pulling up. "He didn't drive off," she said, "so I knew I got nominated."

The car whisked Knightley away to the Soho Hotel for a day crammed with interviews. "I had expected to be making the ingredients for pasta today," she said. "It's very odd. Very nice. And very cool."

Knightley nabbed her first Golden Globe nomination, which she said was "completely unexpected," for taking on Jane Austen's memorable heroine Elizabeth Bennet in the first film version of "Pride & Prejudice" since 1940's MGM classic.

"This is a character I was obsessed with since I was about 7," she said. "I loved the book and the character and all the other actresses who played her, so I begged my agents not to put me up for it. I didn't want to let the character down. But they did, and now they're very smug." --

Source: Reuters 14 December 2005

Oscar speculations...

[...]Besides Witherspoon, the other serious awards contender this year seems to be Keira Knightley in "Pride & Prejudice," an example of a baby actress coming into her own after finding her way in supporting roles ("Bend It Like Beckham," "Pirates of the Caribbean," "King Arthur") and one above-the-title disaster ("Domino"). Knightley is the model of a modern Austen heroine in "Pride" -- smart, witty, passionate -- and she proves she has the makings of a major talent, but there's a sense that she needs more seasoning before awards can rightly come her way.[...]

I think I agree... Read the article here:

Good luck finding a best actress this year

Read Edward Douglas's thoughts on the Oscar nominations in The Oscar Warrior part 2

1. Pride and Prejudice

I’m sticking to my guns on this. I loved it. The acting, direction, cinematography and writing are all impeccable. A friend of mine was less impressed, noting that the film was “too outdoors.” He noted that Jane Austen was an “indoor writer,” and that the landscape scenes were borrowing from the Bronte sisters. Picky, picky, Murphy. I never cry during love stories, but I fell for this one. And I’m a hard sell. I am hoping the Academy members have the sense to nominate it for Best Film, but early hints are they won’t.

Read the entire article here:
Who will take home the GOLD?

More speculations...

Read David Germain's article here:
Dailypress.com

[...]Composer Dario Marianelli, nominated for his "Pride & Prejudice" score, was in his London studio laboring on the score for director Asif Kapadia's forthcoming feature "The Return" when he got the call. Marianelli said, "Joe Wright, the director, rang me and said, 'Have you heard?' I said, 'No.' I had to sit down. I couldn't breathe for a few seconds. ... I was literally speechless. It was not something that was on my mind." Marianelli said that for Wright's adaptation of the Jane Austen novel, he attempted to approach the music organically. "One of the challenges was that I wanted to keep the score free from click tracks," he said. "I had to find a number of ways to work that I hadn't before. It was the first time I've done something that way. I learned a couple of new tricks."[...]

Read the reactions of the other nominees here

Personally I'm thrilled for the composer, I love the score, own the CD and listen to it all the time!

I'd be surprised if Keira won, but I think it so cool for her tha't she's been nominated. She did a great job for such a young actress.