Usually, an Oscar nomination--and especially an Oscar win--launches the honorees into a career stratosphere. The actors are cast in the next big projects, and the directors can afford to be picky about their next films. Although I've seen most of the 2010 acting nominees in a couple of movies since, only one of the 2010 directing nominees has released a new film. However, most of them are working on new projects, and two of them have films coming out this year. Let's check in: Where are they now?
Kathryn Bigelow (winner, Best Directing Oscar for The Hurt Locker). Bigelow beat her ex, James Cameron, for the Oscar and became the first female to win the directing honor. The Academy just can't pass up on creating a good story, can it? Bigelow's actually the furthest along of 
James Cameron (nominee, Avatar). Cameron went deep-sea diving. He converted Titanic to 3D. However, what audiences want most--a sequel to Avatar--may not be coming anytime soon. He and producer Jon Landau also just pushed back the release date of Avatar 2 from December 2014 to sometime in the future after that. That means there will be at least a six-year lag between the first film and its sequel, a bummer for fans who want to explore more of Pandora. (Word is the second film will dive down to the planet's oceans).
Darren Aronofsky (nominee, Black Swan). Since the success of his dark ballerina thriller, Aronofsky has mulled over three different biopics. He's currently casting Noah, with Russell Crowe in the lead role, so it appears the Biblical epic will go first. He's also considered directing Get Happy, a Judy Garland biopic with Anne Hathaway attached to star. Now comes word that Paramount may acquire The General, an Unforgiven-style biopic of our nation's first president, George Washington. He's obviously trying to find the most perfect follow-up project, but I hope he 
Jason Reitman (nominee, Up in the Air). Reitman is the only one of the group who has directed an original feature since his nomination. Young Adult, which came courtesy of screenwriter Diablo Cody and star Charlize Theron, was fantastic (in my opinion), but it did so-so both at the box office and at the awards circuit. I applaud Reitman for churning out projects while maintaining his sensibility--he tends to mix dark comedy with poignant moments, and I like films like that. He just cast his child lead for his next project, Labor Day. The adaptation of a novel by Joyce Maynard centers on a single mom (Kate Winslet) who gives a convict (Josh Brolin) a ride, leading to a relationship. It's filming this summer, and it will probably be out before Aronofsky's film.
Lee Daniels (nominee, Precious). Daniels' next film is The Paperboy, which IMDB lists as having a November 21, 2012, release date, but no major distributor. However, the thriller may show up at the Cannes Film Festival, and everyone will find out if it packs the wallop of Precious. The story centers on a newspaper reporter who goes to Florida to try to free an inmate on death row. Things start getting complicated when his younger brother, who is also working on the case, develops a relationship with a woman who has been corresponding with the inmate. He also has The Butler in the works, the story of a black White House butler who served eight U.S. presidents.
Each of these directors has likely had their pick of projects. Will they all deliver?
No comments:
Post a Comment