The nominations for the 2013 Independent Spirit Awards have been announced, and Oscar hopefuls Silver Linings Playbook and Moonrise Kingdom lead the pack.  Both films picked up nominations for Best Feature, Director, and Screenplay with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper landing acting noms for SLP and Bruce Willis garnering a swell Best Supporting Actor nomination for his work in Moonrise Kingdom.  Beasts of the Southern Wild, Bernie, and Keep the Lights On round out the Best Feature nominees, while The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Safety Not Guaranteed were singled out for the Best First Feature award.  Also, Matthew McConaughey pulled double nominations for his stellar work in this year’s Magic Mike and Killer Joe, landing a Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor nod, respectively.  Notably shut out of the race entirely was Leos Carax‘s critically-lauded Holy Motors.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominations.  The winners of the 2013 Spirit Awards will be announced on Saturday, February 23, 2013.

Here’s where things get interesting.  Over that past few days we’ve been taking an early look at the 2013 Oscar race, running down the contenders in a number of categories including Best Supporting Actor and Actress, Best Actor and Best Actress, and Best Animated Feature, Screenplay, and technological category quick picks.  We’ve now come to our final installment, Best Picture and Best Director, and these two races are shaping up to be incredibly interesting. Hit the jump for the full rundown.

We’re continuing on with our weeklong preview of the upcoming 85th Academy Awards, and after running down both acting categories it’s time to take look at some of the other races.  Today we’ll be looking at the Best Animated Feature, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Screenplay categories in depth, and I’ll also make some way-too-early quick picks in the technical categories.  The fun begins after the jump.

[Note: This is a re-post of my review from the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.  Silver Linings Playbook opens today in limited release.]

We have acceptable levels of “crazy” in our society, and that in itself is kind of crazy. Some psychosis is cute and charming, while other acts of craziness demand hospitalization and medication. This distinction is obviously based on harm, both to others and to oneself. But there’s a “healthy” level of crazy, and the search for that level is what makes David O. Russell‘s Silver Linings Playbook sharply comic and surprisingly sweet. O. Russell has once again returned to study the dysfunctional family, and while Silver Linings Playbook is softer than Flirting with Disaster and even The Fighter, it still has enough of an edge to deliver some great jokes, and strong performances to make the emotions ring true.

While The Fighter director David O. Russell’s latest feature Silver Linings Playbook heads into awards season as an early frontrunner, the filmmaker is currently busy firming things up for his next feature.  Previously referred to as American Bullshit, the film is based on a real-life undercover sting operation set up in the 1980s by a con artist working for the FBI who rooted out corruption in Congress.  There’s been a bit of confusion regarding who’s playing what role, with Jeremy Renner recently reported as replacing Christian Bale in the film, but today the producers have announced that Renner, Bale, Bradley Cooper, and Amy Adams will all be starring in the pic.

Hit the jump for the details regarding which characters the actors will be playing.

The first clip from director David O. Russell’s (The Fighter) new film Silver Linings Playbook has gone online.  The pic was launched into the Best Picture conversation following a rapturous response to its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival (read Matt’s review here) where it won the People’s Choice Award.  Bradley Cooper stars as a man who’s recently been released from a mental hospital after having a nervous breakdown as a result of walking in on his wife sleeping with another man.  However, he’s resolved to get his wife back, but along the way he meets the equally-damaged Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), who’s recovering from her husband’s death.  This clip showcases the strong performances from Cooper and Lawrence as they bond over the various medications they’ve been on over the years, and we get a good sense of Russell’s blend of comedy and drama.  This is definitely one to keep on your radar this fall.

Hit the jump to watch the clip.  The film also stars Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, and Chris Tucker.  Silver Linings Playbook opens November 21st.

The winners of the 37th Toronto International Film Festival were announced earlier today with David O. Russell‘s Silver Linings Playbook taking home the festival’s People’s Choice Award and Martin McDonagh‘s Seven Psychopaths being recognized with the Midnight Madness Award. For the sake of context, it’s worth noting that the 34 previous Peoples Choice winners have gone on to garner 10 Best Picture nods at the Academy Awards (with Chariots of Fire, American Beauty, Slumdog Millionaire, and The King’s Speech bringing home the Oscar).

For a complete list of the festival’s winners, including director Bartholomew Cubbins‘ Best Documentary win for Artifact, hit the jump to check out the press release. After perusing that, be sure to stay up to date on all of our ongoing TIFF 2012 coverage.

Thanks to the success of his 2010 Oscar-magnet The Fighter, David O. Russell has been able to parlay that acclaim and interest to new projects, including Silver Linings Playbook, a Weinstein Co. feature about bipolar disorder starring Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro and Jennifer Lawrence, which premiered this past Saturday at Toronto (read Matt’s positive review here).

Russell is also looking towards doing an upcoming film about the Abscam corruption scandal, a currently untitled piece (previously referred to as American Bullshit), that will be another collaboration with Cooper, as well as Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.  Now word comes that Cooper may link up again with Russell for a property he acquired called American Sniper.  Hit the jump for more on these projects as well as this new found creative partnership (and where the zombies come in).

We have acceptable levels of “crazy” in our society, and that in itself is kind of crazy.  Some psychosis is cute and charming, while other acts of craziness demand hospitalization and medication. This distinction is obviously based on harm, both to others and to oneself.  But there’s a “healthy” level of crazy, and the search for that level is what makes David O. Russell‘s Silver Linings Playbook sharply comic and surprisingly sweet.  O. Russell has once again returned to study the dysfunctional family, and while Silver Linings Playbook is softer than Flirting with Disaster and even The Fighter, it still has enough of an edge to deliver some great jokes, and strong performances to make the emotions ring true.

Many projects go through growing pains during development.  James Cameron’s Titanic was labeled the biggest bomb of all time before it even hit theaters, Martin Sheen had a heart attack during the year-long shoot of Apocalypse Now, and filming on Men in Black 3 halted for a few months so that they could work on the script.  David O. Russell’s Nailed, however, was a bona fide production nightmare.  The film has yet to be finished and it’s unlikely it’ll ever see the light of day, but none of this is the fault of the creatives involved.

The political comedy satire was filmed in 2008 with Jessica Biel, Jake Gyllenhaal, Catherine Keener, and Tracy Morgan and centered on three people with serious health issues that stormed Washington D.C. to demand treatment. Production was shut down multiple times during filming, and just as Russell was getting to the filming of the film’s centerpiece scene the project was shut down for good.  The story behind Nailed’s filming and subsequent permanent limbo is stranger than fiction, and Steve recently got a lot of background on what exactly went down from producers Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher (of Red Wagon Entertainment) when he spoke with them in anticipation of the release of Lawless.  Hit the jump for the full story.

Just yesterday we learned that Jeremy Renner had entered negotiations to replace Christian Bale in director David O. Russell’s next project, and now it looks like Russell has nabbed his The Fighter actress Amy Adams to star as the female lead.  The currently untitled pic, formerly referred to as American Bullshit, is based on a real-life undercover sting operation set up in the 1980s by a con artist working for the FBI who rooted out corruption in Congress.  Bradley Cooper is in talks to play the con artist, Mel Weinberg, while Renner would play Jimmy Boyle, the FBI agent who busts Weinberg then partners with him on the sting.

Per Variety, Adams will be playing Cooper’s partner and mistress.  The actress previously worked with Russell on 2010’s The Fighter, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. Production on the untitled drama is scheduled to begin in February, and this stranger-than-fiction story sounds like a swell fit for Russell’s offbeat style.  Adams will be seen later this year in The Master and Trouble with the Curve.

A casting change is being made on director David O. Russell’s (The Fighter) next film.  Russell has been lining up the real-life story previously known as American Bullshit for his next project with Christian Bale in the lead, but Variety now reports that Jeremy Renner is in talks to take over that role.  Written by Eric Warren Singer, the stranger than fiction story is based on a real-life undercover sting operation set up in the 1980s by a con artist working for the FBI who rooted out corruption in Congress.  Bradley Cooper is in talks to play the con artist, Mel Weinberg, while Renner would play Jimmy Boyle, the FBI agent who busts Weinberg then partners with him on the sting.

Russell’s drama adaptation The Silver Linings Playbook, also starring Cooper, opens later this year, and he’s poised to start production on American Bullshit next February.  No word on why Bale dropped out, but he’s currently busy filming two Terrence Malick projects back-to-back.

The first trailer for David O. Russell‘s Silver Linings Playbook has gone online.   Bradley Cooper plays a former teacher who, after spending four years in a mental institution, moves back in with his mother and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife.  However, he strikes up a relationship with a neighbor (Jennifer Lawrence) who’s also mental problems.  I really like what I’m seeing from the cast, especially Cooper and Lawrence.  The trailer does make the film look a little sacchrine, but Russell has never skewed towards the mawkish, so I’m going to assume the heavy-handed feel-good stuff is designed to make the film appeal to a larger audience.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Jackie Weaver, Chris Tucker, Julia Stiles, and Robert De Niro.  Silver Linings Playbook opens on November 21st.

After wrapping a little-publicized movie called The Dark Knight Rises, Christian Bale will reunite with The Fighter-director, David O. Russell for American Bullshit.  We previously reported that Russell was set to direct the picture, but this is the first we’ve heard of Bale being attached.  If that wasn’t enough, Bradley Cooper is also reportedly in talks to star.  A drama scripted by Eric Warren Singer (The International), American Bullshit (which more-than-likely won’t clear the MPAA with that title intact) is about the 1970s FBI sting known as “Abscam” that brought down a number of U.S. Congressmen.  Details are in short order as to who Bale and Cooper would play, but what is clear is who will be financing the film.  Hit the jump to find out more on American Bullshit.

Director David O. Russell is throwing yet another project on to his “to-do” list.  A little over a year ago we heard that the The Fighter director was circling a biopic of 21-year Rhode Island mayor Buddy Cianci.  Nothing was firm at the time, but now 24 Frames reports that Russell has officially attached himself to the project, though he won’t write the screenplay.  For those unfamiliar, Cianci built a career on rooting out corruption only to serve nearly five years in prison on racketeering charges.  The untitled biopic will be based on Cianci’s autobiography Politics and Pasta.

Russell is currently in post-production on his adaptation of The Silver Linings Playbook starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence and recently attached himself to the 1980s-set undercover sting story American Bullshit.  There’s no word on what project he’ll do next, but given that the Cianci biopic is early days I’m assuming that one’s quite a ways off.  Hit the jump to read a synopsis for the autobiography.