With Monday’s announcement of the Oscar nominations, Hollywood’s 2020 awards season is gearing to its crowning conclusion. And throughout the highly competitive process, Warner Bros.’ trifecta of awards-worthy films has always been part of the conversation: “Joker, “Richard Jewell” and “Just Mercy.”
“Joker”
Beloved by fans and admired by cineastes, “Joker” garnered a whopping 11 Academy Award nominations, the most for any film this year. Joaquin Phoenix is vying for Best Actor, its director-writer-producer Todd Phillips is up for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture. It’s also nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing. The $1-billion grossing hit is nominated for virtually same categories in the British Academy Awards (BAFTA).
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In the recently concluded Golden Globes, the film won two awards — Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Original Score for composer Hildur Guðnadóttir.
“Joker” started its awards campaign by winning the Golden Lion or Best Picture at the Venice Film Festival. To date, the R-Rated blockbuster has collected more than 40 awards, and still counting.
“Richard Jewell”
Director Clint Eastwood’s latest real-life cautionary tale also ruled the awards season. Kathy Bates snagged an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role with her performance as the suffering mother Bobi Jewell, repeating her accolade from the Golden Globes.
The National Board of Review honored the film as one of The Ten Best of 2019, and bestowed Bates with the Best Supporting Actress award and lead actor Paul Walter Hauser with a Breakthrough Performance Award.
The American Film Institute also declared “Richard Jewell” as Film of the Year.
About “Richard Jewell”
“There is a bomb in Centennial Park. You have thirty minutes.” The world is first introduced to Richard Jewell as the security guard who reports finding the device at the 1996 Atlanta Games bombing—his quick thinking making him a hero whose swift actions save countless lives. But within days, the law enforcement wannabe will become the FBI’s number one suspect, vilified in the court of public opinion, his life ripped apart.
Directed by Clint Eastwood, the suspense drama “Richard Jewell” centers around the events that forever made his name synonymous with that terrible act. The film stars Oscar winners Sam Rockwell (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”) as attorney Watson Bryant and Kathy Bates (“Misery,” TV’s “American Horror Story”) as Richard’s mom, Bobi; Jon Hamm (“Baby Driver”) as lead FBI investigating agent Tom Shaw (a fictionalized character); Olivia Wilde (“Life Itself”) as reporter Kathy Scruggs; and Paul Walter Hauser (“I, Tonya”) as Richard Jewell.
“Just Mercy”
The inspiring drama about America’s justice system scored a nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role for Jamie Foxx in the upcoming Screen Actors Guild Awards 2020.
The film is also contending for six NAACP Awards: Outstanding Motion Picture, Outstanding Ensemble, Outstanding Actor (Michael B. Jordan), Outstanding Supporting Actor (Foxx), Outstanding Breakthrough Performance (Rob Morgan) and Outstanding Writing.
National Board of Review likewise honored the film with a Freedom of Expression Award, while the African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) and a Best Supporting Actor prize for Foxx.
The film previously won the Audience Choice Award and Best Feature Film for director Destin Daniel Cretton at the St. Louis International Film Festival.
About “Just Mercy”
“Just Mercy” is an inspiring drama that brings one of the most important stories of our time to the big screen. Award-winning filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton (“The Glass Castle,” “Short Term 12”) is directing the film, which is based on the award-winning nonfiction bestseller by Bryan Stevenson.
A powerful and thought-provoking true story, “Just Mercy” follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Michaael B. Jordan) and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan had his pick of lucrative jobs. Instead, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or who were not afforded proper representation, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley (Brie Larson). One of his first, and most incendiary, cases is that of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), who, in 1987, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and the fact that the only testimony against him came from a criminal with a motive to lie. In the years that follow, Bryan becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter, and others like him, with the odds—and the system—stacked against them.
“Richard Jewell” opens in Philippine cinemas on January 15, to be followed by “Just Mercy” on January 22.
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