An Education

Carey Mulligan Interview; Talks MY FAIR LADY, EFFIE, WALL STREET 2, NEVER LET ME GO, Working for Mark Romanek, and a Lot More

by Sara Wayland    Posted: March 25th, 2010 at 8:52 pm

Since her Oscar nominated performance in An Education, all eyes have been on British actress Carey Mulligan. With a role in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, recently pushed back to a September 24^th release date, and the intriguing dramatic thriller Never Let Me Go, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, everyone wants to know what she’ll be doing next.

According to the actress herself, she stated during the press day for her latest drama The Greatest (which we’ll have more on closer to the April 2^nd release date) that she has not signed on to play Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, nor has she received a call to do Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, at this point, but she is looking to play really interesting characters that challenge and terrify her.  She also talked about working for director Mark Romanek.  Check out what she had to say after the jump:

THE HURT LOCKER Wins 6 BAFTA Awards Including Best Picture

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 21st, 2010 at 9:34 pm

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts added momentum to The Hurt Locker awards train tonight as they award the film Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Sound.  Hurt Locker‘s awards in the technical categories are particularly interesting because perhaps Academy-thinking that usually awards those categories to the big blockbuster movies, i.e. Avatar.  But perhaps BAFTA and Oscar voters on the same wavelength and despite the massive box office of Cameron’s tech demo, the Academy could recognize the impressive editing, sound, and achievement in other technical categories (although Avatar won the BAFTA for best visual effects and it’s a lock to win the Oscar in that category as well).

Other nice victories included Colin Firth for Best Actor (A Serious Man), Carey Mulligan for Best Actress (An Education), and my personal favorite: Outstanding British Debut to Duncan Jones for Moon.  He gave a very sweet acceptance speech and I’ve included video of it after the jump along with the full list of winners.

2010 Oscar Nominations Announced; AVATAR and THE HURT LOCKER Lead with 9 Noms Each

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 2nd, 2010 at 6:29 am

Despite opening up the Best Picture race from five nominations to ten, this morning’s announcement of the 2010 Oscar nominations hardly had any surprises.  When the biggest shocker comes from the widely-unseen The Secret of Kells being nominated for Best Animated Feature, then the prediction system worked as it should.  That’s not to say that there’s nothing to be happy or disappointed about.  It’s just that with no surprises, that happiness or disappointment has probably been felt well in advance.  Personally, I’m jazzed that District 9 picked up a Best Picture nomination and I’m really bummed that Peter Capaldi wasn’t nominated for Best Supporting Actor for In the Loop.

But the race between Avatar and The Hurt Locker remains close.  Each film picked up nine nominations and so there’s no clear favorite to win the award.  Right now, Hurt Locker would seem to have a slight edge with its victories from both the Producers Guild and the Directors Guild.  But Avatar‘s box office numbers contribute to its status as does the mainstream acclaim for the film.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees.  The winners will be announced at the 82nd Academy Awards on Sunday, March 7th at 8pm EST on ABC.

BAFTA Nominees Announced; AVATAR, THE HURT LOCKER, and AN EDUCATION Lead with 8 Nominations

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 21st, 2010 at 8:11 am

The Brits certainly like our flicks with Avatar and The Hurt Locker scoring eight nominations each from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).  However, they didn’t overlook one of their own accomplished films with An Education also grabbing eight nominations.  But what’s really impressive about the BAFTA nominations isn’t where they’ll most likely overlap with the Oscar nominations, but where they’re going to diverge.  District 9 has seven nominations and matches Avatar in every category except Best Picture and Best Director (but it also has a Best Screenplay nomination, while Avatar does not).  I am a little surprised that in their Best Supporting Actor category, they overlooked Peter Capaldi for In the Loop, but you have to love a country where Andy Serkis can get nominated for Best Actor (that’s not meant ironically; it truly is great–we should’ve nominated him in 2002 for Best Supporting Actor for The Two Towers).

Hit the jump for the full list of nominees.  Winners will be announced on February 21st.

A Good Year for Directors Who Aren’t Straight White Men

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: December 30th, 2009 at 11:07 pm

The position of director has long been dominated by heterosexual, Caucasian males in Hollywood. For evidence of this, one need only look at the Academy Award for Best Director nominations over first 81 years of the award’s existence. Only three times have female directors received nominations (Lina Wertmüller in 1976, Jane Campion in 1993, and Sofia Coppola in 2003) and only once has an African-American director been nominated (John Singleton in 1991). Homosexual directors have had more luck, with such notable openly gay directors as Rob Marshall, Gus Van Sant, and Pedro Almodovar gaining nominations, while John Schlesinger and George Cukor even won the award. Still, directing in Hollywood is not a particularly diverse game. So it is noteworthy when, as Variety points out, “it’s possible the best-director noms might not include a single English-speaking, Caucasian, straight male”.

For a look at the directors who might instead seize this year’s Oscar nominations, including Kathryn Bigelow, Lee Daniels, Tom Ford, Lone Scherfig, and Rob Marshall, hit the jump.

Duncan Jones’ MOON Wins Best Picture and Best Debut Director at the British Independent Film Awards

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 6th, 2009 at 9:43 pm

One of the best sci-fi films of the past several years, Duncan Jones’ Moon took home both Best Picture and Best Debut Director at this year’s British Independent Film Awards.  The was also received nominations for Sam Rockwell for Best Actor, Duncan for Best Director (a category which included both debut and veteran directors), Nathan Parker for Best Screenplay, and two nominations in the Best Technical Achievement category with Clint Mansell getting a nod for Original Score and Tony Noble for Production Design.

Any victory for Moon is an important victory because while it received large critical acclaim, its June release may have left it slightly adrift in the minds of critics and societies compiling their Top 10 of 2009 lists.  I’ll admit that it is disappointing that Rockwell didn’t win, but he did lose to Tom Hardy’s universally loved performance in Bronson so it wasn’t like the BIFA made a grievous error.  What’s important for Moon is to just make sure people don’t forget about it.

Other big films at BIFA were Fish Tank (7 nominations, 2 wins), Nowhere Boy (6 nominations, 1 win), An Education (6 nominations, 1 win), and In the Loop (5 nominations, 1 win) Hit the jump for the full list of nominees and winners.

National Board of Review Chooses UP IN THE AIR as the Best Picture of 2009

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 3rd, 2009 at 12:33 pm

The National Board of Review has chosen Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air as the Best Picture of 2009, but as Anne Thompson states, the National Board of Review tends to be a bellwether of where Oscar momentum is heading, but not necessarily a forecaster of where it will be.  However, it’s a near-certainty that Up in the Air will be getting some Oscar nominations because not only is it in the zeitgeist (the main character Ryan Bingham fires people for a living), but it’s just a damn good film and critics agree with an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes (look for my review tonight).  If you’d like a track record for the NBR, its Best Picture choice has gone on to be nominated for Best Picture Oscar nine of the past ten years (their selection of Quills in 2000 was a swing and a miss), and won the award the past two years.

George Clooney also won the NBR’s Best Actor award for Up in the Air (tied with Morgan Freeman for Invictus), Carey Mulligan won Best Actress for An Education, Woody Harrelson won Best Supporting Actor for The Messenger, Anna Kendrick won Best Supporting Actress for Up in the Air, and Clint Eastwood won Best Director for Invictus.  Hit the jump for the full list of winners including the NBR’s picks for the 10 Best Films of the Year after Up in the Air.

Peter Sarsgaard Exclusive Video Interview AN EDUCATION

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: October 6th, 2009 at 10:08 am

As I’ve been saying for the past few days…opening this Friday is a fantastic film called “An Education”. The movie was written by Nick Hornby and it was based on a memoir by Lynn Barber. Anyway, it’s a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl (Carey Mulligan) in 1960s suburban London and how her life changes after meeting a man nearly twice her age (Peter Sarsgaard). While the entire cast was great, Carey Mulligan’s performance was another level. Her work is exceptional, and I believe she’s a lock for getting nominated come awards season. Anyway, I recently say down with Peter Sarsgaard and we talked box office numbers, Twitter, the Nintendo Wii, filming the movie, his next film “Wichita”, and a lot more. It’s one of those all over the place interviews and that’s why it’s great. Take a look:

Dominic Cooper Exclusive Video Interview AN EDUCATION

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 7:15 pm

Opening this Friday is a fantastic film called “An Education”. The movie was written by Nick Hornby and it’s based on a memoir by Lynn Barber. Anyway, it’s a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl (Carey Mulligan) in 1960s suburban London and how her life changes after meeting a man nearly twice her age (Peter Sarsgaard). While the entire cast was great, Carey Mulligan’s performance was another level. Her work is exceptional and I believe she’s a lock for getting nominated come awards season. Anyway, I recently say down with Dominic Cooper (he plays Peter Sarsgaard’s best friend) and we talked about how his career has taken off, how does he decide to take a project, what has he been working on, and I even got in a “Mamma Mia 2″ question. It’s a great interview so take a look:

Director Lone Scherfig Exclusive Video Interview AN EDUCATION

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 7:10 pm

Opening this Friday is a fantastic film called “An Education”. The movie was written by Nick Hornby and it’s based on the memoir by Lynn Barber. Anyway, it’s a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl (Carey Mulligan) in 1960s suburban London and how her life changes after meeting a man nearly twice her age (Peter Sarsgaard). While the entire cast was great, Carey Mulligan’s performance was another level. Her work is exceptional and I think she’s a lock for getting nominated come awards season. Anyway, I recently say down with director Lone Scherfig and we talked about the challenges of making the movie and a lot more. Watch the interview after the jump:

Carey Mulligan Exclusive Video Interview AN EDUCATION

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 5:07 pm

Opening this Friday is a fantastic film called “An Education”. It’s a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl (Carey Mulligan) in 1960s suburban London and how her life changes after meeting a man nearly twice her age (Peter Sarsgaard). While the entire cast was great, Carey Mulligan’s performance was another level. Her work is exceptional, and I believe she’s a lock for getting nominated come awards season. Anyway, I recently had a chance to talk with her and you can watch the interview after the jump. She talks about the buzz around the movie and awards, working with Peter Sarsgaard, how she got involved in the project, and she talks about her next project “Wall Street 2″. It’s a great interview so take a look:

Exclusive: Peter Sarsgaard Reveals he’s in James Mangold’s WICHITA with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: October 1st, 2009 at 10:37 pm

Earlier today, I attended the Los Angeles press day for “An Education”. The film is a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl (Carey Mulligan) in 1960s suburban London and how her life changes after meeting a man nearly twice her age (Peter Sarsgaard). It’s a great movie and something worth checking out.

Anyway, towards the end of my interview with Peter, I asked what he’d be doing next. He revealed he’s about to leave for Boston to be in director James Mangold’s “Wichita” opposite Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. When I asked what character he’d be playing, he’d only say he was Tom Cruise’s foil. Does that mean he’s the villain? I don’t know. But I do know he hadn’t been announced as part of the cast yet. Watch what he said about “Wichita” after the jump:

Exclusive: Carey Mulligan talks WALL STREET 2

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: October 1st, 2009 at 10:23 pm

Earlier today, I attended the Los Angeles press day for “An Education”. The film is a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl in 1960s suburban London and how her life changes after meeting a man nearly twice her age. While the film was great, Carey Mulligan’s performance was another level. It’s absolutely one of the best I’ve seen this year and she’s a lock for getting nominated come awards season.

Anyway, with her star starting to rise, director Oliver Stone cast her as Winnie Gekko in “Wall Street 2″, and as you can tell by her character’s name, she’s playing Michael Douglas’ daughter and the love interest of Shia LaBeouf. While filming just began a few weeks ago, I got Carey to tell me how it’s going. Watch what she said after the jump:

Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard Exclusive Video Interview ORPHAN

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: July 20th, 2009 at 5:55 pm

What would you do if strange things started to happen when you brought home an adopted child? Would you think it was all coincidence, or would you think something was wrong with the girl? Because in director Jaume Collet-Serra’s new film “Orphan”, Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard have different reactions to what’s happening around them. In the film, they play parents who decide to adopt a young girl named Esther after losing their third child. Unfortunately for them, the child has some issues….

So to help promote the film, I sat down with the two stars and they talked about why this genre is so popular, Peter talks about some of his favorite films in the genre, and a lot more. Also, Vera talked about her work in Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” and Peter talked about his next film, “An Education”. Take a look after the jump:

Trailer for AN EDUCATION Starring Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 14th, 2009 at 6:39 pm

In addition to the trailer they just released for Despicable Me, Yahoo! Movies has also put up  the trailer for Lone Scherfig’s “An Education” starring Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Emma Thompson, and featuring Carey Mulligan who gives what many are calling a breakthrough performance and perhaps the next hot female talent in Hollywood.  She’s already being rumored for a supporting role in “Money Never Sleeps”, Oliver Stone’s sequel to “Wall Street” starring Shia LaBeouf, Michael Douglas, and Javier Bardem.  Hopefully the hype won’t create unrealistic expectations but I trust those who saw the film at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and couldn’t stop raving about her work in this film.

Check out the trailer after the jump, along with a brief synopsis.  “An Education” begins a limited release in theatres on October 9th.

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