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13.12.09

Samson & Delilah continues winning streak at AFI Awards (Screen)

Warwick Thornton’s Samson & Delilah has proved its critical prowess once again, this time at Australia’s most prestigious awards ceremony, the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards, held Dec 12 in Melbourne.

The portrait of what it can be like growing up black in outback Australia won the best film and the members’ choice awards, as well as best direction, best original screeenplay and best cinematography for Warwick Thornton.

The film’s two on-screen newcomers, Marissa Gibson and Rowan McNamara, shared the young actor award, and it also won the sound category.

The film’s widespread acclaim continues to disguise what an exceptional year it has been for Australian films, yet producer Kath Shelper, at the end of her acceptance speech, summed up why the importance of the film means nobody really minds.

“After a screening in Los Angeles a Catholic nun called Sister Rose came up and said that Samson & Deliliah are the children that God has forgotten,” said Shelper. “After making the film we now hope that Samson & Delilah will be the children that Australia remembers.”

Balibo won best adapted screenplay for David Williamson and its director Robert Connolly, as well as best editing; Australia topped the costume, production design and visual effects categories, and Mao’s Last Dancer won best music score. Australia was also acknowledged for its outstanding box office gross and Mao’s for its popularity with the readers of News Corporation newspapers.

Anthony LaPaglia won best lead actor for Balibo, and that film also earned Guatemala-born Oscar Isaac the supporting category. Frances O’Connor won best lead actress for Blessed and Rachel Griffith the supporting category for Beautiful Kate.

In the international acting awards, Russell Crowe was acknowledged for his performance in State ofPlay and Toni Collette for United States of Tara.

Another Australian, Nathan McGuinness, also won an interntional award for his visual effects work on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Terminator Salvation, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and a slew of others.

In an unusual but much welcomed result, key grip Ray Brown won the Byron Kennedy Award and made a plea for the safety of technicians everywhere.

Members’ choice award: Samson & Delilah — Kath Shelper

Best film: Samson & Delilah — Kath Shelper

Best direction: Samson & Delilah — Warwick Thornton

Best original screenplay: Samson & Delilah — Warwick Thornton

Best adapted screenplay: Balibo — David Williamson, Robert Connolly

Best cinematography: Samson & Delilah — Warwick Thornton

Best editing: Balibo — Nick Meyers ASE

Best sound: Samson & Delilah — Liam Egan, David Tranter, Robert Sullivan, Tony Murtagh, Yulia Akerholt, Les Fiddess

Best original music score: Mao’s Last Dancer — Christopher Gordon

Best production design: Australia — Catherine Martin, Ian Gracie, Karen Murphy, Beverley Dunn

Best costume design: Australia — Catherine Martin, Eliza Godman

Best lead actor: Anthony LaPaglia — Balibo

Best lead actress: Frances O’Connor — Blessed

Best supporting actor: Oscar Isaac — Balibo

Best supporting actress: Rachel Griffiths — Beautiful Kate

International awards. Acting: Russell Crowe — State of Play; Toni Collette — United States of Tara. Excellence in filmmaking: Nathan McGuiness for visual effects.

Young actor award: Marissa Gibson & Rowan McNamara — Samson & Delilah

Visual effects award: Australia — Chris Godfrey, James E. Price, Andy Brown, Rob Duncan

Byron Kennedy Award: Ray Brown.

Highest grossing film: Australia — Marc Wooldridge, Baz Luhrmann, G. Mac Brown, Catherine Knapman, Stuart Beattie, Ronald Harwood, Richard Flanagan

Readers’ choice award: Mao’s Last Dancer — Jane Scott

Best feature length documentary: Glass: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts — Scott Hicks, Susanne Preissler

21.12.08

"Australia" director defends movie against critics (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Baz Luhrmann 's " Australia " may be doing some middling U.S. boxoffice, earning about $39 million since it opened Thanksgiving weekend , but the director is unrepentant as the movie nears its first month of release stateside.

In one of his first interviews since the movie opened, he spoke out against "Australia's" critics and those he feels call him the " black hole of cinema." He also said he will move quickly on his next project, an adaptation of " The Great Gatsby ," which he described as a perfect parable for economic disaster.

"A lot of reviewers like 'Australia.' And we're making people cry; I know because they write to us," he told the Hollywood Reporter during an interview at the Four Seasons Hotel. "But there are those that don't get it. A lot of the film scientists don't get it. And it's not just that that they don't get it, but they hate it and they hate me, and they think I'm the black hole of cinema. They say, 'He shouldn't have made it, and he should die.'"

Asked why he thought the reactions were so passionate, he replied: "I know what it's about."

The movie's detractors, he said, were used to movies that were neatly defined.

"This is not (simply) a romantic comedy for 40-year-old women or action movies for 17-year-old boys, and that's not OK with some people. It's not OK for people to come eat at the same table of cinema. But you look at movies like ' Gone With the Wind ' and Old Hollywood classics, and they don't fit in any box.

"Corny Hollywood movies from the '40s freak out (the film scientists)," he added.

Luhrmann struck a tone that was as unyielding as many of the creative choices in his movies, but was also occasionally conciliatory. "I'm not whining, because when you do what I do, you expect to be covered in mud. But there seems to be a lot of misinformation."

Among those pieces of misinformation is box office, he said; Luhrmann noted that " Moulin Rouge " has been on a similar pace as his latest epic, and that sticking it out for the long haul was not an uncommon experience for him. "I'm used to the waves crashing around me. And what I do is stick to a craggy rock as they keep coming. And if you stick to it long enough someone else will stick to it, too, and then someone else and then someone else."

(Indeed, "Rouge" was at $36 million through three weeks of release and finished with $57 million, though some might say the reported $130 million production budget of " Australia " necessitated a higher return.)

The director confirmed that he officially acquired rights to "Gatsby," the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel set during the roaring 20s. Luhrmann sees the pre-Depression story as a wake-up call as the economy crashes and another gilded age, as he sees it, comes to an end.

"If you wanted to show a mirror to people that says, 'You've been drunk on money,' they're not going to want to see it. But if you reflected that mirror on another time they'd be willing to."

He added, "People will need an explanation of where we are and where we've been, and ' The Great Gatsby ' can provide that explanation."

Luhrmann appeared as particularly interested in worsening economic times and attitudes -- noting a kind of glib wealth that came with "the Wall Street trader who has a house in the Hamptons as big as an airport" -- and he went on to say that the people needed to take the message of hope from "Australia."

He said that he wants to move quickly on the "Gatsby" project because of that timeliness. "I'm going to move faster than I have before. I'd be surprised if it's another seven years," he said, referring to the period between "Rouge" and "Australia."

The project also might not be with Fox. The director said he's "talking to everyone, and they're all interested" -- and paused a full 10 seconds when asked if his experience with Fox was a satisfactory one, before offering a noncommittal answer.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter