Independent studios gear up for Oscar battle

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Oscar race has now begun, with the specialty divisions of the major Hollywood studios and the truly independent players pulling out all the stops to ensure their films make the cut when nominations are announced on January 22.

"It's like a bloodbath, with too many people on the elevator and no one getting off," says Focus Features CEO James Schamus. "You want to say, 'For the good of all of us, please, get off!' But of course no one will. The only thing for sure is that at the end of the day, there will be tears in the milk. Passions are running measurably higher this year."

What follows is a detailed rundown of the projects inciting all this emotion.

FOCUS FEATURES

Joe Wright's adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel "Atonement," starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, broke out of the Venice Film Festival and earned resounding applause at Toronto.

Another strong contender is Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution," which was deemed ineligible for best foreign-language film but will compete for picture, direction, cinematography, score and performances.

Another challenging standout in all categories is David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises," starring Viggo Mortensen, with a strong supporting performance by Armin Mueller-Stahl and an original score by Howard Shore.

Other buzzy performances include those from Jennifer Connelly, Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Ruffalo under Terry George's direction in the drama "Reservation Road," and Don Cheadle's turn as Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene in Kasi Lemmons' biopic, "Talk to Me."

FOX SEARCHLIGHT

The Fox specialty division has six movies it believes are worthy of consideration: Mira Nair's "The Namesake"; Adrienne Shelly's "Waitress"; John Carney's "Once"; Wes Anderson's "The Darjeeling Limited"; Tamara Jenkins' "The Savages"; and Jason Reitman's dramedy "Juno."

IFC

If IFC had its way, the Romanian abortion drama "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" would sweep the Oscars. But the studio's not the only one trumpeting the film. The film, written and directed by Cristian Mungiu, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year.

LIONSGATE

"As far as our consultants tell us, it's all over, with '3:10 to Yuma' winning everything," jokes studio president Tom Ortenberg of James Mangold's Western starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. "But no joke, we think it's a contender from top to bottom." In addition to pushes for the leading men, Ben Foster and Peter Fonda will be championed as supporting actors. The studio also will push Sarah Polley's "Away From Her," especially performances by Julie Christie, Olympia Dukakis and Gordon Pinsent.

MIRAMAX

"I'm far too superstitious to predict anything," says Miramax president Daniel Battsek, who nevertheless admits excitement for Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"; the Coen brothers' "No Country for Old Men"; Ben Affleck's directing debut, "Gone Baby Gone"; and Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood," which Paramount Vantage is distributing domestically. Standout performances include Richard Gere's in Lasse Hallstrom's "The Hoax," Casey Affleck's and Amy Ryan's in "Gone" and Anne Hathaway's in "Becoming Jane."

PARAMOUNT VANTAGE

Paramount's specialty division has several contenders for best picture, with Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood," starring Daniel Day-Lewis and co-starring Paul Dano. For Sean Penn's "Into the Wild," in addition to direction and Emile Hirsch's performance, there will be a push for Hal Holbrook as supporting actor and for Eddie Vedder's songs. Marc Forster's adaptation of "The Kite Runner" (Paramount Classics/DreamWorks) will be supported, as will Noah Baumbach's "Margot at the Wedding," starring Nicole Kidman and Jack Black.

PICTUREHOUSE

While Olivier Dahan's "La Vie en Rose" was passed over by France in favor of Sony Pictures Classics' "Persepolis" for its official entry in Oscar's foreign-language film race, enthusiasm remains high for the film, the director and especially Marion Cotillard's performance as Edith Piaf. As far as performances, Picturehouse president Bob Berney singles out Jennifer Lopez's and Marc Anthony's turns in Leon Ichaso's "El Cantante."

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

The studio is riding high with the animated film "Persepolis," the French entry directed by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi and based on the graphic novels about growing up in Iran. The film won the jury prize at Cannes and closed the New York Film Festival with a standing ovation.

The studio's also thrilled by Francis Ford Coppola's period romance "Youth Without Youth," which had its world premiere in Rome in October.

In the foreign-language category, the studio will get behind "The Counterfeiters," Stefan Ruzowitzky's concentration camp drama, which is based on a true story and earned its director a nomination at the Berlin Film Festival, as well as the Israeli film "The Band's Visit," from Eran Kolirin, which will receive an Oscar-qualifying run.

THINKFILM

"It does appear that there is a consensus that we have worthy films and not just by people who are employed by us," jokes head of U.S. theatrical Mark Urman. Topping that list is Sidney Lumet's thriller "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei and Rosemary Harris.

The company traditionally shines in the documentary category, and this year is no exception, with a record four films on the Academy's documentary shortlist: the abortion epic "Lake of Fire"; Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's "Nanking," on the 1937 Japanese massacre of the Chinese city; Alex Gibney's "Taxi to the Dark Side," an examination of the use of torture by U.S. forces; and Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine's look at a Ugandan musical competition, "War/Dance."

THE WEINSTEIN CO.

As always, Michael Moore will compete strongly in the documentary category. But the Weinsteins have other contenders besides "Sicko." Already guaranteed a big push is the Denzel Washington-directed drama "The Great Debaters," which stars Washington and Forest Whitaker in the fact-based story about a professor who founded a debate team. There will also be campaigns for Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan project, "I'm Not There," specifically Cate Blanchett's performance as the tireless troubadour; Sam Riley's turn as Joy Division front man Ian Curtis in Anton Corbijn's biopic, "Control"; and John Cusack's performance in James C. Strouse's "Grace Is Gone." "Grace's" score, composed by Clint Eastwood (who has never before scored a movie he hasn't produced), also will get attention, as will as Sheryl Crow's contribution in the original song category.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter