Good directors are everywhere. They populate the awards race this year and every year. They dazzle with their first movie, try to live up to it in their second movie and with each hyped film try to beat back the seduction of Big Hollywood and its long inappropriate affair with superhero movies and films about branded toys. I’m lucky that 2014 turned out to be a year David Fincher released a movie. I don’t think people who cover films are sexist but they don’t have many options this year, not when great filmmakers young and old finds the stories of men so fascinating. They are fascinating. They are not the problem. The problem is the lack of an equally fascinating female characters.
Enter Amazing Amy.
Because Fincher trusted Gillian Flynn to adapt her own novel, stuck to that commitment, we get a retwisted adaptation of Flynn’s book that is a dramatic departure the book’s fans weren’t expecting. The cinematic Amy was far less likable, but far more compelling. The daring and heartstopping ending still confuses people. “It’s got a dumb ending,” at least one guy will tell me on Twitter. They didn’t believe Ben Affleck’s character would stay with Amy. But if you follow the film closely you’ll learn the reason why; you’ll dig deeper into Affleck’s character to find that reason. That’s the beauty of Fincher’s work – he lays out tiny mysteries like breadcrumbs to be uncovered and discovered on multiple viewings. There aren’t many directors like that anymore.
Yet, Fincher is, for some reason, still the “enfant terrible” where the Academy is concerned. His early films were ignored completely, as was Zodiac, a terrifying rumination on obsession. It was, by far, one of the best films of that year yet it was not acknowledged by the Academy. They liked Benjamin Button better. But they really liked The Social Network, which nearly took the Oscars by storm, famously, in 2010. In the end, the Academy and the industry would reject outright Fincher’s film, which still holds the record for most love from the critics. It was also such a final NO to film critics that it left them forever changed. Never again would they unite around a movie the way they did that film, not even this year’s Boyhood. There were two Best Pictures that year, the industry’s choice of the King’s Speech and the critics choice of the Social Network, two films that were polar opposites in every way: sympathetic royal overcomes speech impediment to help win World War II versus a self-made billionaire who changed the world forever but ends the movie unloved and mostly alone.
There is also a story to be told behind the scenes of titans and strategists and publicists and money and rumors and the British Film Council but for our purposes we’re going to ignore all of that – must never shake loose the mirage that the Oscars are a magical night of worthy winners.
To work this job you have to accept the rules of the game. Or at least know them. I know them and most of the time I choose to ignore them. I don’t think the Oscars were ever intended merely to repeat one style of film over and over again. Â It isn’t that the King’s Speech did not deserve to win – it is like the King himself; it was born to win. The Social Network was kind of accidentally there. It didn’t look like an Oscar movie and nobody liked the people in it.
Gone Girl has remained the year’s biggest question mark where Best Picture is concerned. Most of the top named pundits in the race, like Dave Karger, Scott Feinberg, Kris Tapley and Pete Hammond have all said Gone Girl would not make it in. There were several reasons for this but namely there were too many other movies coming that would knock it out. And, as Kris once said, “there’s that Dragon Tattoo thing.” What is that, you might want to know? Perhaps it’s best if you look at the following chart:
Even with all of that guild support and an AFI nomination, in the end Dragon Tattoo was not deemed serious enough to be nominated. It was too much of a genre picture, too popular, too airport novel-y. Even still, no matter that the entire industry, up to the DGA, thought Dragon Tattoo good enough, the Academy said no. Tapley thinks, and I’m betting he could right, that the same thing is likely to happen to Gone Girl.
By this point, I’m fairly certain the last person who cares about this is Fincher himself. Clearly if he were gunning for Oscar he’d set his movie way in the past, with a script about a man who overcomes obstacles and makes good. The best films THIS year were not tailor-made for Oscar, like the frontrunner, Boyhood. The reason being, if you want to have impact as an artist the last place you’re likely to be recognized is in the Best Picture race. They are very much about the seriousness of good character. They want movies that reflect the goodness in people, that sweet sweet lie we tell ourselves to get through another day. Their lives aren’t miserable so why would they want to dwell in misery? Isn’t it enough, they might think, they have to stock up on antidepressants when confronting the screener pile? Is it too much to ask for a little lightness, a little brightness and a bit with a dog?
Indeed, many Oscar voters are in the twilight of their lives – they’ve seen it all, done it all. Now, they’re more about the comfort of that twilight, the embracing of each day. At that point, and really at every point, just waking up in the morning and standing on two legs is cause to celebrate. So why would they want to dwell, necessarily, in discomfort? No, David Fincher did not set out to make an Oscar movie with Gone Girl but wouldn’t you know he would accidentally make one of the best pictures of the year?
When you look at 2011, and the other years where the race expanded, you’ll see that the Academy punishes success in some ways. Bridesmaids was a silly comedy that would never have gotten nominated but it was also a resounding success that starred and was written by women. The Hangover was successful also and was shut out for the same reasons. Dragon Tattoo was successful and popular in the industry but not deemed ‘important’ or at least MORE important than its competitors, more important than War Horse or Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The Oscars are probably never going to change.
2014, though, might force the Oscars to change unless they surprise everyone by picking divisive films like Interstellar and Unbroken. These are much more in keeping with Oscar’s traditional sensibilities than Gone Girl, Nightcrawler or Foxcatcher. There is likely the notion that success is its own reward, even with the drastically altered landscape of the film industry, even with the need to preserve hard R films aimed at adults. Success, Gone Girl style, could be both its own reward ($167 million) and a good example of how the Academy refuses to ever really change.
Even if David Fincher gets a DGA nomination it won’t mean the film is in for Best Picture. It still has to reach enough number one ballots to secure a spot. With our PGA ten one of them has to go – and if you make room for Selma, two have to go:
Birdman
The Imitation Game
Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler
Boyhood
Whiplash
Gone Girl
American Sniper
Foxcatcher
Theory of Everything
There are only two films Gone Girl and The Theory of Everything that have possible Best Actress nominees. If you take out Gone Girl that leaves you with one film that has a lead actress Oscar contender in it. Compare that with all five of the lead actor contenders represented in Birdman, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything, Foxcatcher and Nightcrawler, even Ralph Fiennes could squeak in, or Bradley Cooper.
I would have fought for this film anyway – because I can’t stop watching it, because it’s the most visually, emotionally and intellectually satisfying film I’ve seen this year. That it also represents the female voice in the race, perhaps the ONLY ONE in the writing categories who will get in at all, makes me want it to succeed.
If I had to put aside my heart’s desire and be more objective I would say Gone Girl is out for Best Picture. I would say I think Scott Feinberg, Kris Tapley, David Poland and Dave Karger‘s instincts are correct. Nearly everyone else over at Gold Derby has it getting in.
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Fincher may be the Kubrick of our time, failing to win Miss Popularity time and time again and ending up in the top tier of moviemakers of all time. Certainly neither ever got Miss Congeniality either (not that either would lose sleep over that), but they both end up with great love from those who learned to appreciate them. I became a Kubrick lover with “Paths of Glory” back when it first came out. That love has remained. I fell in love with Fincher way back when it was not at all fashionable to do so: “Alien3.” Even in the butchered original release print I could tell that something great was at work. The extended cut put together for the Alien 4-paks confirms that. “Gone Girl” I have seen only once, and while in my initial reactions I have reservations, I can’t wait for the Blu-ray:
http://www.hollowsquarepress.com/movies/gone-girl
I’ll follow this man anywhere!
(As for those who thought “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” not important enough for Oscars, well, I wonder where their collective heads were. For sheer craft alone it deserved inclusion. And for me it is more than craft: art happens.)
Also on Metacritic PIKE IS ON TOP AT THE MOMENT
I watched American Sniper last night and all I could think was how can this film even be a contender. It will be very upsetting If films like Into the woods or american sniper get nominated and Gone Girl doesn’t. The Oscars are supposed to be the best of the best but how can they be when so many films that don’t even compare to the best ones of the year get nominated in place of the good ones.
Nice movie better to include it on the top!
@This One- I know, right? Almost like it’s her web site or something.
Another stellar piece of analysis, Sasha! Writing like this is why I keep coming back to Awards Daily.
(I actually got a chubby from reading this… is that okay to say? )
“Gone Girl has remained the year’s biggest question mark where Best Picture is concerned.”
Not at all. American Sniper, Foxcatcher, Nightcrawler are much bigger question marks, for starters. And Whiplash a bigger question mark as well.
“If I had to put aside my heart’s desire and be more objective I would say Gone Girl is out for Best Picture.”
Not at all. Sasha, it looks to me like your worried and foreboding heart makes you entertain the possibility as more-than-likely when in fact it’s not! (Just like you insisted “American Hustle” would win BP over a long period of time because it was the worst outcome imaginable to you 🙂 .) The other pundits were wrong about GG’s chances early on, and you were right, and it will be fine. The real questions are whether American Sniper, Foxcatcher, Nightcrawler, and Whiplash get in–none of them, which of them, etc. “Gone Girl” riding stronger than those, and on par with “Grand Budapest Hotel”.
Graham, we think alike. Also a male nearing 30 (27), a few years ago I came to a similar realisation : I seem to enjoy and appreciate those kinds of films (strong female lead) much more than the male-centric ones. I figured it was because 1. films with strong female leads are few and far between, therefore whenever I see one, it feels like a rare treat already 2. I had the male perspective all my life, so it makes sense that I find stories told from a point of view that does not come naturally to me, simply more interesting. I’m not saying a charming, eccentric white guy who may be a dick but his heart is clearly in the right place (a.k.a. most leads of Best Picture contenders, not just this year, every year) like a stuttering king or a fading silent movie star can’t be interesting to me, because actually they can, I’m saying I find the Ninas and Jasmines MUCH more interesting and definitely more memorable…probably because I’ve seen a thousand of the charming, eccentric white guys with the heart of gold and yet I had the privilege to witness only a few Ninas and Jasmines, and THAT is the fault of the industry.
Gone Girl has a bit with a cat. Doesn’t that count for something?
Fincher should have won the best director and best film for the social network .
He should not get nominated for gonegirl the film did not make my top 2O list.
@Mac – I personally think that, if Nolan has failed to garner buzz now with Interstellar, then it’s unlikely that he’ll ever do something that really goes over well with the Academy. That movie was just uber-Nolan, and pretty much the apex of what his aesthetic can produce. It showed everyone that he is really not out to change his detractors’ minds, and that his current idiosyncrasy will always repel a lot of people regardless of the subject matter. Unless he goes back to his more thriller-esque roots or stages a big personal reinvention, then I can’t see him making a movie that gets the kind of attention necessary to make it big at the Oscars.
Fincher, on the other hand, seems more inclined to make the kind of “important” movie that tends to win, albeit in his own, non-pandering way. The Social Network would have won easily if it weren’t for that whole Weinstein circus, so I can definitely see Fincher making another modern masterpiece about a relevant social problem and getting the Oscar thanks to a “long overdue” push.
There sure seem to be 11 films that could all easily show up. I just don’t know what (and how many) will miss the cut. This 11 excludes Into the Woods and Unbroken. I suppose I’d say Interstellar is a more likely 12 than those two, but who knows.
Nightcrawler and Gone Girl could be fighting for that spot. Or maybe the cold but stellar Foxcatcher? Is it weird that I still think Theory of Everything may be the most vunerable? In the trail of Imitation Game, it seems like it might be more regulated to acting and score. Perhaps that’s me since I think the film is very average beyond some good performances and a few crafts.
War Horse and Extremely Loud weren’t complete surprises, so I’m not sure how much the list expands beyond these 11ish. (I for one still think Extremely Loud remains underappreciated.)
The ASC miss is a small troubling stumble for Gone Girl. Dragon Tattoo showed up even more than Gone Girl with the guilds, BUT… Gone Girl has some comparative strenghts. It’s not a remake (which felt like a sequel type of effect for the Academy). Gone Girl did better at the box office. It got way more public attention. Audiences still remember it. I have up and down days with it, but I certainly still think about it even when I’m torn on my thoughts about it. Then there’s this…
Pike is in a much stronger position than Mara was at this point. That gives the film more attention when a voter is casting their ballot, I think.
The point: I think you and Kris are both right. Being in or out are both logical at this point. It’s anyone’s guess. It’s not in my top ten of the year, but I still weirdly hope it gets in (perhaps because I like it much better than some of the others that will.)
Not particularly on topic, but reading this post and the potential comparison between Gone Girl and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I came to a realization:
I’m a man under the age of 30 (if just) and I’ve been a member of the PGA for five years. I don’t particularly think of myself as a champion of women’s stories or female filmmakers, I simply enjoy and vote for films that entertain me and feel like complete productions (that care and energy go into every aspect of the process from script, to direction, and every job below the line.) Since 2010, the number 1 pick on my weighted ballot has been: Black Swan, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Zero Dark Thirty, Blue Jasmine and will likely be Gone Girl this year. I never thought that there was a narrative between all five films until this evening when I realized that all five films feature lead performances by women who play challenging and potentially unlikable characters. These are women who, unlike female characters in a majority of male-driven films, are not primarily defined by their usefulness to the men in the film, and who are so well written and well realized that I imagine both male and female actors are envious of the material.
I realize how few films driven by “difficult woman” or female anti-heroes exist compared to the same types of roles featuring men. Which is a shame, they are apparently my favorite type of film.
@ Q Mark – Ah, but Fincher marches to the beat of his own drum. Hitchcock, Kubrick, and Wells never really sought to make an Oscar-type movie, sometimes their movies just happened to cross into that territory. I’m glad Scorsese wasn’t rewarded for the inferior (considering his repertoire) Aviator and got his Oscar for The Departed, which is definitely more his style.
Hitch was surrounded by the likes of James Stewart, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Fontaine, Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Miklos Rozsa, Franz Waxman, Edith Head and other Oscar talent, and the Academy always passed him by. He may never be rewarded
Just like Hitchcock, Fincher’s protagonists are just as likely female as male. Nolan’s women are typically just supporting, meaning his films are about Men. I think it is much more likely that Nolan will get the gold before Fincher (if either of them are ever rewarded), just by sticking to his aesthetic.
The best films THIS year were not tailor-made for Oscar, like the frontrunner, Boyhood.
Do you mean to say that Boyhood was or wasn’t tailor-made for Oscar? I’m guessing the latter, but that sentence has left me a little confused.
It’s one of the best of the year, and one of my favorite Fincher films. So yes, it would be extremely disappointing if it didn’t get in. While the comparison to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo isn’t extremely baseless, I don’t think this is going to be the same. At least I hope not. For one, Gone Girl has been getting more nominations than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo did on the whole. It might not have gotten nominated for Best Picture at the Globes, but it might as well have with a Director, Screenplay, Actress, and Score nod. It’s a much more popular and talked about movie as well. And not that it matters that much when it comes to Oscars, but Gone Girl’s reviews are a little better. I actually think it helps that there are other films like Foxcatcher and Nightcrawler that aren’t typical Oscar movies either since I have hard time seeing all three of them getting in. Maybe I’m biased, but I just think Gone Girl is the most likely to get in out of of those three. But who friggen know. The only one’s that I completely feel confident are in are Boyhood, The Imitation Game, and Birdman.
That’s just how the Academy rolls….ignore Fincher for his great movies (Social Network aside), then nominate him for “Benjamin Button,” one of the worst Best Picture nominees of the last 20 years. While you’re right in presuming that Fincher doesn’t give a hoot about Oscar nominations and that his legacy is just fine without them, remember that it only takes one movie to turn around the Academy’s perception of a filmmaker. Given that Fincher keeps making high-profile projects with A-list talent on both sides of the camera, it’s gotten to the point where all of his movies are automatically getting some Oscar nominations, even if not always Best Picture nods. If he decides to make a film with a more “Academy-palatable” subject matter a la Button (except, you know, not terrible), then it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Fincher pick up a Best Director trophy sooner or later.
While there are still some very notable 2014 movies I haven’t seen, I feel comfortable at this point in saying that ‘Gone Girl’ will be in my top 10 for the year. While it wasn’t a perfect movie for me, it still had more than enough great elements going on to push it above my personal “if this won Best Picture, I wouldn’t be upset even if it wasn’t my personal favourite of the year” line. Hell, Gone Girl is a freakin’ hands-down masterpiece compared to the thin-gruel biopics (Imitation Game/Unbroken/Theory Of Everything) that all might end up with BP nominations.
And I know some of you may be thinking Fincher and Nolan are a long ways off from Kubrick but take note that Stanley only made 13 feature films if I recall correctly. Hitch made four times the amount of all three but even with him as my favorite director of all time I have to admit he made at least a few stinkers and didn’t have the consistency. Still, I put Alfred #1 all time because he has at least a dozen masterpieces imo among the 54 feature films that he directed and a handful of other great ones. I guess for some it may come down to quality over quantity but in many ways Hitch satisfies both measures…
*for 2014, that is.
(Off topic)… watching double feature with “Pride” *** 1/2 and Interstellar (I’m testing this as watching the film, it’s boring me).
Pride, in any other year, has all the elements for a Best Picture nomination. It’s cute and poignant, but not specially great filmmaking.
Interstellar has probably the biggest load of bullshit in its 30 first minute, I’ve seen in a long time. I mean, really. It couldn’t be more incoherent.
Fincher and Nolan are the two best and most consistent directors working today, end of story. I see a lot of Hitchcock and/or Kubrick in them and I would argue they already belong in the conversation of all time greats. Nolan is 9 for 9 and Fincher 9 for 10 with only Aliens3 as a mis-step.
P.S. Interstellar (which has also been accused of having a “dumb ending”) is now the only ORIGINAL film among the Top 10 worldwide box office.
sympathetic royal overcomes speech impediment to help win World War II
wait, Hitler would have won WWII if Bertie had not stopped stammering? The British army can’t fight without a King who talks on the radio once in a while? I gotta watch that movie again someday. I missed all that.
sympathetic royal overcomes speech impediment to help win World War II versus a self-made billionaire
or, put another way: UK guy does nothing at all and he’s a billionaire, and the USA guy creates something really cool to become billionaire
Let’s face it, Fincher has a huge problem with AMPAS as he’s probably considered just another style over substance director, as Ridley Scott or Tim Burton.
I disagree with that, but it’s the feeling I have. He’s delivered some deep masterpieces, with thought-provocking films like Fight Club or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – but he’s still made Alien 3 and Panic Room. Zodiac, Se7en, Gone Girl or The Social Network are great films but, thematically, are interesting but not in the same league of, the two films I mentioned before, at first. Plus, he does not have the extra punch of being implicated screenplay wise, that diminish his aura as “auteur”. Fincher’s chance of actually winning the two big awards might come the day, Fincher does another Benjamin Button and signs the screenplay. I don’t know, it’s the feeling I have.
I deliberately “forgot” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, because it was a remake, and honestly, he wasn’t as due as Scorsese when he won for another remake, “The Departed”. Marty is probably still upset, he won for his less original work.
The movie is too good not to get in. (Call me naïve…)
It would be so disappointing if Gone Girl doesn’t make the Best Picture cut, especially if American Sniper, The Theory of Everything, The Imitation Game, or Unbroken do make it in. I too found the movie endlessly fascinating. There are several characters that I would have been interested in following throughout their days: Carrie Coon as Nick’s sister; the small town sheriff; the stalker ex-boyfriend.
I could have watched a side-showing of Amy’s past, and the poor ex-boyfriend she had crucified over false accusations of rape. Or even further back, to her childhood and her overbearing mother. What about the con artists Amy meets at the backwoods resort? What a list of memorable characters!
Gone Girl reminded me of much older films. There are obvious thematic comparisons to Psycho and Suspicion. There are also visual reminders of Night of the Hunter and Carrie. The movie jam packed with references.
Yep, we have similar taste 🙂 Hopefully Fincher will score a DGA nod on Tuesday and all the pundits will finally get a grip…and from then on we can only hope the Academy won’t fuck it up.
Ah, a commenter after my own heart. 🙂
Box Office. Reviews. Zeitgeist. Instant Cult Status. Fincher. Affleck. If the Academy still manages to snub Gone Girl in BP, once again they will prove how utterly out of touch they really are. Giving this film some well-deserved love – nods in picture, writing, directing, acting (Pike) – should be one of their EASY tasks this year.