ATOM BOMBED JONATHAN ROSS GIVES HIS OSCARS PREDICTIONS
Movie show presenter admits he’s not the biggest fan of awards fave Oppenheimer.. even though he thinks the nuclear epic will win
JONATHAN Ross might be hosting the coverage of the Oscars for ITV1 but he has revealed he is not a huge fan of Oppenheimer – the movie expected to pick up the Best Picture gong.
Christopher Nolan’s epic, about atomic bomb creator J Robert Oppenheimer, played by Irish actor Cillian Murphy, has already picked up several awards and took home seven Baftas last month.
But Ross, 63, said, although he liked the way the movie looked and sounded, he had a major issue with the script which he found “unfocused” and “meandering”.
Despite this, he said he wouldn’t mind seeing Oppenheimer win as director Nolan is British and he isn’t that fussed on Killers of the Flower Moon – the other film tipped for Oscar glory.
The chat show host and film critic said: “Best Picture wise, I can see why they’re all nominated, I think they all deserve a nomination.
“Some of them, as a viewer and audience member, didn’t excite me as much as others, so I have been a little mystified at the praise heaped on Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon, I’m not huge on either of those two.
“As you get older and a bit more circumspect, you realise just because a film isn’t for you doesn’t mean it’s not a film which a lot of people love and isn’t a good film.
“Clearly Oppenheimer, the craftsmanship.. I love the way it looks, I love the way it sounded. It was the script I had a major problem with. It felt meandering and somewhat unfocused. I’d be very happy for it to win. Christopher Nolan is an incredible talent, a real master of his craft. Some of his movies I’ve adored, some I haven’t liked, but I’d be very pleased to see him get it because he’s such a massive talent and, of course, British.”
He added: “I love Poor Things, American Fiction I loved as well. It felt quite of the moment. Anatomy of a Fall, I think, is incredible. I’ll be very surprised if that wins
but it might, you never know, Parasite pulled it off a few years ago. Killers of the Flower Moon I don’t think will get it and, personally, don’t think it deserves it, I know a lot of people love it. “Maestro left me somewhat cold, Past Lives I quite liked... Poor Things and The Zone of Interest both felt very fresh, very unique and very outside of the normal mode of storytelling, so I’m pleased to see them there... I suspect it’ll go to Oppenheimer.” Ross thinks Lily Gladstone might scoop Best Actress for Killers of the Flower Moon and would be surprised if Emma Stone comes through and steals it for Poor Things. He said: “I think it’ll go to Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon. Once again, a movie I didn’t particularly like, but I thought her performance was absolutely stunning. Really, without her in the film, it’s nothing in my opinion. I think she was a standout performance in a movie I think should have been a bit more engaging. I suspect she will probably get it.”
His tip for Best Actor is Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers but thinks Oppenheimer’s Cillian Murphy or Rustin’s Colman Domingo are also in with a shout.
Ross, who is married to British screenwriter Jane Goldman, said: “I suspect Paul Giamatti will get it for The Holdovers, he’s well loved and it is a tremendous performance, he kind of is the film really. Cillian Murphy is also in with a good chance.”
Ross believes Jimmy Kimmel is the perfect choice for this year’s Oscar host as he has an edge but knows not to go too far and have the actors quaking in their seats.
He said: “Kimmel’s an interesting choice because he’s edgy enough to make it interesting and fun, he’s a bit more surprising than Jimmy Fallon but he isn’t too edgy.
“You have to walk that fine line, you don’t want it to be completely anodyne and bland, which they’ve gone in that direction a few times over the years, but you don’t want to go full Ricky Gervais and have the actors sat panicking thinking, ‘What are they going to say about me?’”
Ross is a massive movie buff and says he has so many favourite moments and speeches, he struggles to pick his favourites.
He said: “We look back to the year Marlon Brando didn’t turn up and he sent Sacheen Littlefeather and that, at the time, was kind of mocked and now you look back and go, he was so far ahead of the curve.
“There was a night where Michael Caine, Roger Moore and Sean Connery joined each other on stage, that was such a lovely moment and captured such a period in film history.
“Olivia Colman’s speech was wonderful when she came out and blew the raspberry at the man trying to hurry her off the stage.”
Ross admits when it comes to film memorabilia, he’s a bit of an addict and his ultimate trophy would be a prop from Top Gun.
He said: “I’ve been on several of the Bond films sets and I collected a few bullets, so I’ve got bullets that were discharged in Pierce Brosnan’s last film and I’ve got some bullets from Daniel Craig’s first Bond movie. But tragically I’ve mixed them up...
“I was watching Maverick, the new Top Gun film, when Tom Cruise lands and he throws his helmet to someone and I thought, ‘Man, if I’d been the person he threw it to, I’d have just turned and run off with it.”
Jonathan Ross hosts Oscars® LIVE on Sunday, March 10, from 10.15pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
i have been a little mystified at the praise heaped on oppenheimer JONATHAN ROSS ON HOW HE THINKS OSCARS WILL GO