Michael Hazanavicius, Oscar’s reigning Best Director for The Artist, is in talks to direct an adaptation of the nonfiction book In the Garden of Beasts.  Tom Hanks is set to star as William Dodd, a professor who becomes America’s ambassador to the Hitler-run Germany just prior to World War II.  Hanks is also producing with Gary Goetzman through their Playtone banner, and Deadline hears they are courting Natalie Portman to play William’s daughter.  Hazanavicius is reportedly working on a new draft of the script with an unnamed writer that will soon be hired.  With this level of talent attached and the awards-friendly subject matter, it should not surprise you to hear that the project is a priority for Universal Pictures co-chairman Donna Langley.

Hit the jump for more on the story by way of the synopsis for Erik Larson‘s book.

Oscar-winning director Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) has shown interest in helming Will, a dormant project scripted by Demetri Martin (Late Night with Conan O’Brien).  When last we reported on this picture, Paul Rudd and Zach Galifianakis were attached to co-star with Little Miss Sunshine directors Valerie Ferris and Jonathan Dayton on board and producers Adam McKay and Will Ferrell signed on as well.  There’s no word on how the picture got lot in the shuffle, but it seems like Hazanavicius is interested in reviving it.  Hit the jump for more plot details on Will and to see where it could fit in Hazanavicius’ schedule.

I’m really hoping for some surprises on Oscar night if only to make things interesting, but it’s looking less likely every day. Last night The Artist nearly swept the British Academy Film Awards (essentially the British Oscars), taking home the prizes for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Music, Best Cinematography, and Best Costume Design. Meryl Streep was named Best Actress for The Iron Lady, while Octavia Spencer and Christopher Plummer won Best Supporting Actress and Actor. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy wasn’t sent home empty-handed, as the spy thriller won Best British Film and Best Adapted Screenplay. I was happy to see Senna get some well-deserved recognition, as the Formula 1 doc chronicling the life of driver Ayrton Senna was named Best Documentary.

While George Clooney seemed the favorite in the Best Actor Oscar race for his magnificent turn in The Descendants, The Artist’s Jean Dujardin could easily prove the spoiler. With the SAG Award in hand and now the BAFTA, the French comedian may very well step up to the podium come Oscar night. Hit the jump to see the full list of BAFTA winners. The Academy Awards will be handed out on February 26th.

The Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year will go to The Artist. It’s over. Call off the dogs. The little silent film that could will be crowned the winner at next month’s ceremony. After riding a pretty solid frontrunner status throughout the past two months, the film has now picked up two of the most important Oscar precursor awards: the Producers Guild Award and the Directors Guild Award. Michel Hazanavicius was given the Best Feature Film director award at last night’s DGA ceremony, besting the likes of Hugo’s Martin Scorsese and The Descendants’ Alexander Payne.

The writing has been on the wall for a while now, but with the PGA and DGA in hand, there’s virtually zero chance of anything upsetting The Artist for Best Picture. I’m not saying Hazanavicius isn’t deserving of the DGA, as his crafting of the silent pic is certainly commendable (though I’m partial to Scorsese’s work on Hugo), I’m just pointing out that we’re most likely in for an incredibly predictable ceremony come next month. Hit the jump to see the full list of DGA winners in both film and television. The 84th Academy Awards will be held February 26th.

The nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards have finally been unveiled. Many of the categories have fallen in line just as most have predicted (I fared alright with my predictions, but not great), with Hugo scoring 11 nods, followed closely by The Artist with 10. The biggest surprises are War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting in for Best Picture, the exclusion of The Adventures of Tintin from Best Animated Feature, and The Tree of Life nabbing Best Picture and Best Director nods (hooray!). On the snub side of things, despite landing the most precursor critics awards of any other actor in the race thus far, Albert Brooks was denied a Best Supporting Actor nod for his stellar work in Drive (boo). Additionally, Tilda Swinton was overlooked for giving the best performance of the year in We Need to Talk About Kevin, and AMPAS has no love for Michael Fassbender‘s haunting work in Shame.

There’s still plenty to be happy about, as Gary Oldman has his first ever Oscar Nomination (yes, that’s right) and Melissa McCarthy is a Best Supporting Actress nominee. Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees. The 84th Academy Awards will be presented by Billy Crystal on February 26th.

As I’ve been covering awards season pretty extensively here on the site over the past few months, I figured it would be appropriate to (foolishly) try to predict the upcoming Oscar nominations. It’s been a fairly tame year, as a few frontrunners were singled out early in the race and have held their ground throughout the grueling awards season. We haven’t been without a few surprises, as Steven Spielberg’s War Horse took a massive tumble following snubs from most of the major guilds, and David Fincher has surged back into the race bringing his adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with him.

Though there are plenty of safe bets when it comes to the 2012 Oscar nominations, there are still a few wildcards and tricky categories. I’ve put on my prognosticating cap (those interested can purchase one of these nifty hats at your local Target) and compiled a list of who and what I think will make the cut. Hit the jump to see how I think the nods will stack up when they’re announced on January 24th.

Another awards ceremony, another The Artist triumph. Michel Hazanavicius’ silent film continues its near sweep of awards season as it took home the Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor prize from the London Film Critics Circle Awards. Surprisingly, the other film to tie The Artist with three awards was the Iranian drama A Separation. The foreign film has been riding a wave of immense positive word of mouth, and the London Film Critics awarded the pic with Foreign Language Film of the Year, Best Screenwriter, and Best Actress.

Nearly shut out of the awards was Britain’s own Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The espionage drama failed to pick up any major prizes and was sent home with a win for Best Production Design. Elsewhere, We Need to Talk About Kevin was named Best British Film, Anna Paquin shared the Best Actress prize with Meryl Streep for her work in Margaret (quickly becoming the little engine that could), and Michael Fassbender won British Actor of the Year for his stellar work in Shame and A Dangerous Method. Full list of winners after the jump, which includes the critics’ top 10 films of 2011.

With each passing awards ceremony, it’s looking more and more likely that we’re in for a fairly boring/predictable Oscars this year. The Artist continues to dominate the precursor ceremonies as it took home the Best Picture and Best Director prize at the Critics Choice Awards. On the acting side of things, George Clooney was named Best Actor for his work in The Descendants, and Viola Davis won Best Actress for The Help. The Artist is our clear frontrunner headed towards Oscar night, and I don’t really think anything else will be able to take it down. I can’t really complain about any of the acting wins, though for what it’s worth I think Brad Pitt gave the best performance of the year in Moneyball.

Elsewhere, Drive won Best Action Movie (though it’s really a drama) Bridesmaids won Best Comedy, and Rango was named Best Animated Feature. Hit the jump to see the full list of winners.

The Golden Globe-nominated director of The Artist has announced his next project: a re-imagining of Fred Zinnemann’s Oscar-winning 1948 film, The Search. Though Michel Hazanavicius is currently in the middle of the awards season for The Artist (a black-and-white, dialogue-free tribute to the silent era of movies), he’s already setting his sights on a contemporary slant on The Search. The original was a story about a mother’s search for her young son who survived the concentration camps of World War II. His version will be set in Chechnya and will focus on the “special relationship between a woman and a young boy as well.” The Artist co-star and Hazanavicius’ wife, Berenice Bejo is already attached as the female lead, an NGO employee in the war-torn republic of Chechnya. Hit the jump for more on The Search.

Awards season is officially in full-swing, with this morning’s announcements of the Gotham Awards winners and the full list of nominees for the upcoming Independent Spirit Awards. Now it’s the critics’ turn, as the New York Critics Circle have unveiled their list for the best in film of 2011. The Artist took home the top two prizes (Best Picture and Director), solidifying its status as an Oscar frontrunner. Brad Pitt was named Best Actor for his work in Moneyball and The Tree of Life, with the former also taking the Best Screenplay prize for Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian. As for Best Actress, the undeniably talented Meryl Streep took the honor for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

In the supporting categories, Albert Brooks was recognized for his dastardly role in Drive, while the prolific Jessica Chastain was named Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Tree of Life, The Help, and Take Shelter. While The Artist was already running into the Oscars with a good deal of steam, Moneyball‘s two wins give the film a much needed boost heading into the thick of awards season. Hit the jump to see the full list of winners.

The nominations for the 27th Annual Independent Spirit Awards were announced this morning with The Artist and Take Shelter each nabbing five nominations. In addition to The Artist and Take Shelter, Drive, 50/50, The Descendants, and Beginners will duke it out for the top prize. Absent from the Best Feature list is Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, though the film was recognized in Best Supporting Male (Corey Stoll) and Best Cinematography. Also of note, Elizabeth Olsen and John Hawkes landed nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Male for Martha Marcy May Marlene, and Ryan Gosling and Woody Harrelson were both singled out in Best Actor for Drive and Rampart respectively.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominations. Recognizing the best in independent film, the awards will be handed out on February 25th, the day before the Oscars.

Mixing comedy, romance and melodrama to tell a story set at a pivotal moment in movie history, The Artist is itself an example of the form it celebrates:  a black and white silent film that relies on images, actors and music to weave its singular spell. Having never written a silent film, Michel Hazanavicius immersed himself in the genre to gain an understanding of what did and didn’t work. Along with watching films, the director read cinema histories as well as memoirs and biographies of silent era directors, producers and stars, and he drew inspiration from the work and lives of such stars as Douglas Fairbanks, Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, John Gilbert and Greta Garbo.

We sat down with Hazanavicius at a roundtable interview to talk about his heartfelt and entertaining valentine to classic American cinema. He told us how he immersed himself in the silent movie form, which artists from that era inspired the creative decisions he made, and why it was a moving experience for him to scout locations in Hollywood that still mirror what it looked like in the late 1920s. He also described his complicated collaboration with his composer, his thoughts on which of today’s modern actors could be successful in a silent film, and why he’s glad he didn’t have to do a silent film in 3D.

[This is a re-print of my review from the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. The Artist opens today in limited release.]

We owe a debt of gratitude to silent films. That may seem like an obvious statement but today the films of that era are considered quaint, and to an extent they are. The progress of cinema is to create an imitation of life and the world has sound. But what if it didn’t? What if the real-world was a silent movie and those who had thrived in that environment had their existence disrupted by the cacophony of noise and progress? Michel Hazanavicius‘ The Artist explores this idea but never in the weighty, heavy-handed manner. It’s a silent movie about a silent movie star but rather than coming off as self-indulgent and irritatingly meta, The Artist is always playful with its conceit. Its light-hearted attitude, thoughtful subtext, and a magnificent performance from star Jean Dujardin, makes for a engaging and uplifting love letter to silent cinema.

We owe a debt of gratitude to silent films.  That may seem like an obvious statement but today the films of that era are considered quaint, and to an extent they are.  The progress of cinema is to create an imitation of life and the world has sound.  But what if it didn’t?  What if the real-world was a silent movie and those who had thrived in that environment had their existence disrupted by the cacophony of noise and progress?  Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist explores this idea but never in the weighty, heavy-handed manner.  It’s a silent movie about a silent movie star but rather than coming off as self-indulgent and irritatingly meta, The Artist is always playful with its conceit.  Its light-hearted attitude, thoughtful subtext, and a magnificent performance from star Jean Dujardin, makes for a engaging and uplifting love letter to silent cinema.

Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist is a loving tribute to the twilight years of the silent movie era.  The story revolves around a silent film star who falls in love with a young extra who eventually becomes a movie star.  And The Artist is a silent movie.  In 2011.  That’s just awesome and judging by the glowing response out of the Cannes Film Festival, the movie works.  The Weinstein Company picked up the film and has put some serious faith in their marketing team to sell a movie where no one talks.  In 2011.  That’s going to be jarring for modern audiences (and the leads aren’t American movie stars!  Bonus!) but I can’t wait to check out this movie at TIFF.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The Artist hits theaters on November 23rd.