Deadpool named as Producer’s Guild narrows award picks
TEN FEATURE films plus five animated features have been named as nominees for the 28th edition of a traditionally Oscar-predicting Producers Guild Award ceremony on Jan 28.
Raucous comedy “Deadpool” is rubbing shoulders with social commentaries (“Fences,” “Hidden Figures,” “Moonlight,” “Manchester by the Sea”) highbrow sci-fi (“Arrival”) and extravagant fantasy musical (“La La Land”) as one of the nominees for 2017’s Theatrical Motion Picture award from the Producers Guild.
The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures has gone to an eventual Oscar winner 70 per cent of the time.
Nominations in two motion picture categories have been fi nalised by the Producers Guild of America, with ten proposed in the Theatrical and a further four in Animated.
Record-breaking, R-rated comic book comedy “Deadpool” is in contention, following earlier high-profi le nominations for the Golden Globes and Writers Guild of America awards.
Mainline contenders “La La Land,” “Manchester by the Sea,” and “Moonlight” are also nominated for the accolade, as are “Arrival,” war drama “Hacksaw Ridge,” philanthropic heist movie “Hell or High Water,” and truelife family reunion “Lion.”
Only the corresponding Directors Guild award has a better track record of foreshadowing the Best Picture Oscar, even though its enviable 80 per cent success rate dropped to 74 per cent once the Producers Guild awards started in 1989.
In a separate category for animated fi lms, “Finding Dory,” “Kubo and the Two Strings,” “Moana” and “Zootopia” – an increasingly familiar quartet for awards-watchers this season – are joined by “The Secret Life of Pets.” The Directors Guild is to announce its own list of five feature film nominees on Jan 12. The 28th annual PGAs take place on Jan 28, the 69th annual DGAs on Feb 4, and the Academy Awards, whose voting session runs Feb 13-21, and whose AMPAS membership overlaps with those of both guilds, take place on Feb 26.