by Iain Blair

Now the holidays are over, Oscar talk – and buzz – is heating up again. As usual, the end of the year was swamped by quality releases - “No Country for Old Men” from the Oscar-winning Coen Brothers, “Gone Baby Gone,” Ben Affleck’s directorial debut, “Atonement” and “The Diving Bell and theButterfly,” the acclaimed film by director and artist Julian Schnabel (“Basquiat,” “Before Night Falls”) are all getting attention. Chatting with my neighbor, producer Mike Marcus, the former president and COO of MGM (’93-’97) whose comedy “You Kill Me,” staring Ben Kingsley as an alcoholic hitman and Tea Leoni as his love interest, was one of the best-reviewed indies of the year, about the crowded field. And while “You Kill Me” never gained the expected traction at the box office, it’s now also building some buzz. “I thinkTea – as Best Supporting Actress, and the writers have the best shot,” he says.“It’s the film I’m most proud of since I made “Get Shorty” at MGM.” But Marcus agrees that it’s tougher and tough to get noticed around Oscar time. “It’s crazy – there are just so many releases coming out, it’s hard to pick a date,” he says. “Every distributor I talk to says there’s no great weekend anymore, because they’re all so crowded. And it’s getting worse.”

Share This

This entry was posted on Monday, December 31st, 2007 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.