Thursday, November 7, 2019

Joker’s Murky Oscar Future

Now that it’s a bona fide worldwide hit and, at least thus far, has not resulted in the real-world violence so many people feared, Joker really only has one question left: What’s gonna happen at the Oscars? Even as it remains the movie the world can’t stop talking about, its path is remarkably unclear. As Mark Harris writes today, even Joaquin Phoenix, whose committed lead performance is one of the film’s biggest talking points, faces ferocious competition in the lead-actor category—someone well deserving is going to be left out, and it could still be him. Then again, Joker could run the table, Harris writes, and “nomination day will be one big, bloody grin.” It’s hard to tell for sure, which is what makes Joker one of the most interesting questions of this Oscar season.
Elsewhere in HWD, Richard Lawson reviews Last Christmas, a holiday season bowl of mush that he says fails to take advantage of the spark between Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding, and Yohana Desta checks in on the latest casting news for the Robert Pattinson-led Batman movie, which could offer Colin Farrell a chance at comic book movie redemption. Over in the Hive, Eric Lutz reports on a sexual harassment case filed against Donald Trump by former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos, whose lawyer claims her case is bolstered by the president’s own cell phone records.