Two of the closest major races at the Oscars this year — Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress — have something very intriguing in common: They’ve both become competitions between Harvey Weinstein and the company he used to run, Miramax. In the lead-actress race, the top two contenders are The Reader’s Kate Winslet (a Weinstein Co. release) and Doubt’s Meryl Streep (a Miramax film), while in supporting actress, Vicky Cristina Barcelona’s Penélope Cruz (Weinstein Co.) and Doubt’s Viola Davis (Miramax) have the best shot at a win.
In a year when Weinstein — who had an 11-year run of consecutive Best Picture nominees while at Miramax but had been absent from the big dance the last few years — is surprisingly back in the race, it’s rich that his two best chances at Oscar victories are against his old company. Since Weinstein’s departure in 2005, “the new Miramax” is a much different place, run by the unflappable, understated Daniel Battsek. But that’s not to say Battsek’s relative calm hasn’t produced Academy results: He and his team shepherded Helen Mirren to a Best Actress win for The Queen in 2007 and took home Best Picture last year with No Country for Old Men. This year they’ve had a rougher go: After dominating the critics’ awards, Happy-Go-Lucky’s Sally Hawkins was shut out of the Oscar race, while five-time nominee Doubt failed to score a Best Picture nod.
For the sake of equality, I’m hoping Weinstein and Miramax each take home one female-acting prize next Sunday. But my hunch is that Harvey might just turn out to be a double winner.
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Who cares? The Weinsteins are fat pieces of sh!t.
I think that the American movie going public has had their fill of Harvey “Loud Mouth” Weinstein. His bad-mouthing of “Slumdog Millionaire” is appalling. Mr.
Weinstein is just like that other blowhard
producer of an era gone by…Jack Warner.
Mr. Weinsten…you’re going to lose that Best Picture Oscar to “Slumdog” which is so much more deserving than “The Reader.” Yes, Kate Winslet, will win (finally) her Best Actress Oscar for “The Reader” but in my mind, she claims only half of her Oscar for “The Reader.” The other half she claims for “Revolutionary Road.” After all,
Sam Mendes who directed her in that great performance is her husband. Kate loves her husband over Mr. Weinstein, I’m sure. I’ll just mute my TV when Ms. Winslet thanks Mr.
Weinstein. But maybe I’ll get lucky…
maybe Ms. Winslet won’t mention Mr. Weinstein’s name in her acceptance speech.
That would be sweet!!
Unless it’s in the best picture category, i rarely notice which studio produce what, i take it by performance… so yeah, this doesn’t matter in the scheme of things… it’s which studio takes home the BP that matters.
When will your rival magazine finally name Harvey Weinstein as the Sexiest Man Alive?!?
Viola Davis, truly powerful and could take Penelope Cruz down in an acting ring, should win and Kate winslet should win — if the Academy wants to have any credibility left.
It upsets me that Kate Winslet is not nominated for Revolutionary Road –her best performance to date and I can thank Harvey weinstein for that turn of events — his influence is far reaching and once again the oscar will go to the performance that is not her best role. Viola Davis MUST win — i don’t see how they can ignore this great performance, a scene that runs the gamut of emotions and is so unforgettable.
I think the winners of the will be Kate Winslet and Taraji P. Henson, call me crazy but i see it happening.
I love Kate Winslet, but she was better in Rev. Road then the Reader. She’s probably going to win, and I would like to see that, because she’s way overdue, but I didn’t think this particular role was worthy of winning an oscar. Personally, I thought Meryl Streep was better in Doubt. I guess when she wins her oscar, which she probably will, it will be some kind of reward for all the great work she’s done in the film business.
in the interest of transparency and honesty, i pose this question to mr. dave karger:
who between the weinstein company and miramax influenced you more during this award season?
As much as I hate Harvey Weinstein in this case, his girls Kate and Penelope DESERVE to win. Kate certainly deserves to win over Meryl’s over the top nun performance with her brilliant subtle complex acting in the Reader. As for supporting actress, well my fave in that category is Marisa Tomei but I like all the nominees in that lineup.
I hope Anne Hathaway upsets Kate and Meryl. And I hope Amy Adams upsets Viola and Penelope. I love to see someone come out of the blue and screw up everyone’s plans on who is “supposed” to win, unless that person really should win. And in this case, I don’t think Kate, Meryl, Viola, or Penelope were good enough in their categories to be shoo-ins. Considerations, yes, but not shoo-ins.
I was really hoping Kate Winslet would have been nominated as supporting for The Reader so that she could get her first Oscar in that category and we could also end the Meryl drought in the Lead Category. Seeing as that is not the case (unless God loves me a lot that day and there is a tie), i have a feeling that Weinstein will get his win with Winslet in the lead race and Miramax will champion in the supporting race with Viola Davis.
The Weinsteins should up their game a bit if they don’t want to be viewed as sleaze.
This is crazy! R.Road was a better movie but after The reader win Supporter how could they creditibly claim Lead in the Oscar?
It’s like cheating, laughing at your victim, and kicking him in the ass at the same time…and that’s not fair!
I don’t care – as long as Kate Winslet gets her LONG overdue Oscar.
i have seen the reader and the oscar is kates hands down
I love Penelope. She deserved it: http://www.actressscene.com/2009/02/penelope-cruz-and-scarlett-johansson-in.html
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