Interview: Elliot Grove on the Oscars

Ahead of our live blog this Sunday we caught up with Elliot Grove (above), founder of Raindance and the British Independent Film Awards, who shared some Hollywood insight and gave us a few Oscar predictions.

CM: What are your thoughts on the Oscar contenders?

EG: I believe The Artist is going to take home at least four Oscars, including Best Picture, since it won at the BAFTAs, Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards and Producers Guild. The Artist is a favourite for Best Director, Best Original Score and Best Actor. Best Supporting Actor is a lock for Christopher Plummer and Best Supporting Actress is a lock for Octavia Spencer. Best Actress in a Leading Role is the toughest choice. There may be an upset in this category. I believe the favourite is Meryl Streep, but Viola Davis has a shot after her Screen Actors Guild win. Martin Scorsese's Hugo may take some technical categories, while Harry Potter should win its first ever Oscar for Best Visual Effects. The final category that may be a tough choice is Best Original Screenplay. The Artist should be a favourite, but Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris is a definite threat since it's his most original work in years. It's not winning Best Picture, but the screenplay was too good to ignore with Allen's brilliant dialogue and unique storytelling skills. Anything can happen.

CM: What are the biggest myths or misconceptions about Hollywood?

EG: One is that it is a liberal institution. Is that a possibility?  Does Hollywood allow celebrities to act as they choose. That's a definite no. Recently, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen asked the Academy producers if he could attend the awards on Sunday as his new character in the upcoming The Dictator. Cohen was not allowed to do this. He was not given the freedom to do this, because it would be extremely inappropriate for cable television. I don't believe they force people to think a certain way, even if they have the freedom to do what ever they want, sometimes

CM: Is there any way for a film to be completely independent of Hollywood and still crack the Oscars?

EG: The last few years, the Best Picture winner was a film that never encountered a wide release until after it won Best Picture. The Hurt Locker and The King's Speech were not successful in the box office at all, but they still managed to sweep the major categories at the Oscars. After the Oscars, people decide to go see it. I saw The King's Speech before it won, but it took me a while to find it. I heard about The Artist, but could not find it in any local theatres. After I arrived in England, it was really well advertised and is playing in a few theatres. After viewing the film, I hope it wins every Oscar it's nominated for, because it will pull another independent film upset over the films that were a box office success

CM: What do independent fesivals like Raindance and BIFA do that Hollywood and the Oscars can't?

EG: Hollywood and the Oscars are a big deal, but they cannot show absolutely every film that many independent film festivals presented. Raindance had a better shot presenting The Artist, because it took Hollywood so long to present it in theatres. Most importantly, Raindance and BIFA want to promote upcoming filmmakers. They want to help filmmakers find their big break or teach them important aspects of making a successful film. For Hollywood it takes a while to work your way up to be successful, while you can be a beginner and learn how to make your own films in Raindance and BIFA. It wants to give people a chance, while Hollywood only want to exploit people that are just beginning. It doesn't always give people a shot unless they have a lot of experience doing it.

Remember to come back to Containing Multitudes Sunday from 10.30pm when we'll be live blogging the 84th Academy Awards. For more information on Raindance visit http://www.raindance.co.uk/

LIVE: The Oscars 2012

We're liveblogging the 84th Academy Awards through the night from the first arrival to the final award, so join us and get involved. Comment below or Tweet using #UEAOscars to get your opinions featured.

Remembering Whitney Houston

by Liam Heffernan

You don’t have to be a fan of Whitney Houston to recognise the impact she has made across the entertainment industry. Many of her critics would hold her responsible for influencing the likes of Christina Aguilera, or for single-handedly keeping the TV talent show alive with her catchy dance pop stuff and those timeless ballad things. I’m not a music buff. But this is an artist who has sold 170 million albums, has 11 US number one hits, 6 Grammy Awards, and the best selling single by a female artist of all time (data from BBC News), which makes her almost as big as Robson & Jerome, and for that she will always be remembered as one of the greats.

The 48 year old singer of I Will Always Love You was pronounced dead in her Beverley Hilton Hotel room at approximately 3.30pm (11.30pm GMT) on Saturday. She was in Los Angeles for this evening’s Grammy Awards, and was due to attend a star-studded party last night hosted by record industry bigwig and long time mentor Clive Davis. The awards are usually the biggest event in the music calendar, but tonight it will take an appropriately sombre tone as former colleagues and friends pay their respects to someone who influenced almost everyone in popular music today. And if Michael Jackson’s death in 2009 is anything to go by, Houston’s fans will be turning the charts into a celebration of her greatest hits. Plus, we can expect Simon Cowell to deliver a touching dedication to the singer on the next series of The X Factor, for which the ratings boost will be purely coincidental and not a heartless calculation in any way whatsoever.

In recent years Whitney Houston has made headlines for very different reasons. Her turbulent marriage to Bobby Brown and her long term substance abuse overshadowed her music, and her attempts at a big comeback a few years ago faced setbacks following a disappointing live tour. This will be covered in grisly detail over the following weeks as investigative journalists tell us everything we already knew and call it The Secret Life of Whitney, The Real Whitney Houston, and so on. But for the real fans of Whitney Houston, the ones she sang for, the ones who bought her records and sat through her movies out of nothing more than blind loyalty (because sitting through The Bodyguard is no mean feat) she will be immortalised as one of the most talented, most influential, and most successful performers of the twentieth century.

News: Liam Heffernan on the Golden Globes

For many, January is the start of an intense guilt-induced period of cutbacks, and as these people stress about their post-Christmas budget and waistline, the film buffs are stocking up their alcohol supply and bracing themselves for the start of another awards season. The Golden Globes is very much the opening ceremony, where Hollywood’s finest (and Stacy Keibler) descend on the Beverley Hilton Hotel for a night of heavy drinking and self-congratulation. Enter Ricky Gervais.

Back for a third year, Gervais gave an equally funny but slightly less scathing performance as host, but no doubt we can expect some to criticise for not being controversial enough, and for others to be predictably offended because he said the word penis on prime time NBC. Of course we Brits were resigned to staying up until 1am to see Ricky’s opening monologue. Or at least the first sentence, at which point E! chose to play an ad for Kim Kardashian’s new show. Again. And Again. And Again.

But let’s put aside the unfathomable incompetence of E! for a moment and look at the winners and losers. Predictably, current Academy Award favourite The Artist won Best Comedy or Musical, Best Actor – Comedy or Musical, and Best Original Score, although George Clooney’s The Descendants also picked up Best Drama and Best Actor – Drama, so the Oscars could be a close call. The TV awards saw a welcome return to the spotlight for 90s sitcom stars Matt LeBlanc and Kelsey Grammar, scooping awards for Episodes and Boss respectively. On the whole, this year seemed more about rewarding the veterans than recognising new talent (as in the previous couple of years) with Spielberg, Scorsese, Woody Allen, George Clooney, Kate Winslet, and Meryl Streep all winning. And with Michelle Williams getting the Globe for her critically-acclaimed performance inMy Week With Marilyn, it will be interesting to see whether the Academy favour that or The Iron Lady. Homeland was the big TV winner with two awards and American Horror Story, Modern Family, and Downton Abbey also won.

But how much do we really care about awards? In recent years we have only tuned in for the hosting, and here's a handy compilation of all the Ricky Gervais bits. Enjoy, and those of you with the money to see these films please comment with your thoughts and let the financially crippled students know what not to waste their overdraft on. Or just gloat, but do that anonymously for your own safety.

News: Liam Heffernan On This Season's American TV Imports

by Liam Heffernan

An obsession with film and television can be a terrible hindrance to essay-writing. Spending hours upon hours a day telling yourself you will start just as soon as you have caught up on Have I Got News For You and QI, but then you remember you forgot to watch Happy Endings and Glee from Thursday and how much work can you really be expected to do in the few minutes it takes to download? May as well put the kettle on and get all perked up so you’re ready to power on in an hour or two. Then you can properly focus. But wait, when does Harry Hill start? And you need to cook dinner too. Oh well, you’re free tomorrow, if you just catch up on Pan Am during breakfast and then crack on with essays in the afternoon before The X Factor Results.