Friendly rivalries
Several pairings linked in Oscar’s past will return this fall, including directors Barry Jenkins and Damien Chazelle.
Barry Jenkins and Damien Chazelle often found themselves in the same places — directors panels, awards shows, film festivals, valet lines — in the six months between “La La Land” and “Moonlight” screening at the 2016 Telluride Film Festival and the 89th Academy Awards, where Chazelle became the youngest director winner and Jenkins’ “Moonlight” (eventually) took the best picture honor. The filmmakers will be reunited on the awards season trail this year, as will a great many other recent nominees and winners. Sight (mostly) unseen, let’s dig into some tantalizing possibilities.
DIRECTOR: Barry Jenkins and Damien Chazelle
These men will be linked forever, thanks to the Oscars’ best picture envelope snafu and the grace with which the “Moonlight” and “La La Land” teams handled it.
Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk,” an adaptation of James Baldwin’s 1974 novel, tells the story of a young woman trying to prove the innocence of her fiancé, falsely accused of rape by a racist police officer. The teaser trailer showcases the material’s urgency and depth as well as Jenkins’ gift for imagery. The movie opens Nov. 30 after premiering in Toronto.
Chazelle’s fourth film, the Apollo 11 biographical drama “First Man,” reunites him with “La La Land” star Ryan Gosling, who plays astronaut Neil Armstrong. It feels like a bit of a departure for Chazelle, who says he employed a documentary style of filmmaking that plays up the space mission’s risks and peril. With a big theatrical release Oct. 12 via Universal, it could be a hit with the Space Force crowd.
DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuarón and Steve McQueen
Or how about Cuarón and McQueen, who were both nominated for their 2013 films, with Cuarón winning the Oscar for directing “Gravity” and McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” taking best picture.
McQueen’s “Widows” (Nov. 16), which he adapted with Gillian Flynn (“Sharp Objects,” “Gone Girl”), is a heist thriller focused on women uniting to finish an elaborate robbery planned by their late husbands. The gritty trailer seems made for anyone put off by the formulaic escapism of the “Ocean’s” movies. Viola Davis is front and center, as she should always be.
Cuarón’s “Roma” is a family drama set in Mexico City based on his own formative years in the early 1970s. He has called it his most personal film, his most “essential” film. Cuarón shot it himself, and the blackand-white visuals, as glimpsed in the trailer, are breathtaking. Netflix is betting heavy that “Roma” (Oct. 5), will finally make it a player in the best picture race. Its confidence appears well-founded.
ACTOR: Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale
Five years ago, Cooper was rocking perm rollers and Bale a world-class combover on their way to Oscar nominations for David O. Russell’s “American Hustle.”
Now, Cooper goes the elegantly wasted route in “A Star Is Born” (Oct. 5), the remake costarring Lady Gaga that marks his directorial debut. Sun-baked and sporting the beard oils of a thousand Bergamot oranges, Cooper looks as beautiful as he sounds.
Bale, meanwhile, gorged on pies and went bald and gray to make like former Vice President Dick Cheney in Adam McKay’s story of political power and eroding ethics, “Backseat,” opening Dec. 21. The movie promises to be a pellet blast to the face — in the best possible sense.
ACTRESS: Saoirse Ronan and Glenn Close
With six nods, Close, 71, stands as the most nominated living actor to have never won an Oscar. With her smart, simmering turn in “The Wife” (now in limited release), Close has another opportunity this year. Expect her advocates to be out in force.
Ronan has earned three Oscar nominations — and she hasn’t yet celebrated her 25th birthday. The title role in “Mary, Queen of Scots” (opening Dec. 7 and also featuring Margot Robbie, nominated last year for “I, Tonya”) offers a prime chance to add to the total. SUPPORTING ACTOR: Daniel Kaluuya and Timothée Chalamet
Kaluuya anchored last year’s “Get Out” through tears and those amazingly expressive eyes and now has a choice supporting role in McQueen’s “Widows” (Nov. 16). We’re ready for him this time around.
Chalamet could go lead or supporting for “Beautiful Boy,” playing a young man struggling with drug addiction. Call it Oscar bait all you want. I’m bringing a handkerchief to the theater on Oct. 12. SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Adams and Regina King
This one’s a bit of a cheat as King has long reigned at the Emmys but has yet to break through at the Oscars. (Her powerful work as Margie Hendricks in “Ray” remains a highlight of that movie.) Readers of “If Beale Street Could Talk” know that it may be about the lovers but it’s the mothers who own some of the juiciest, fiercest dialogue and scenes.
As for Adams, her five nominations without winning put her right behind Close among the ranks of the Oscar-less. Adams will play Lynne Cheney opposite Bale in “Backseat.” If this woman is anything like Adams’ steely string-puller in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master,” she’ll have another chance to snag an Oscar next year.