2012 Awards discussion

http://reel6.blogspot.com/2012/02/bafta-preview-best-actor.html

Sunday, 5 February 2012
BAFTA Preview: Best Actor
In the first part of Reel 6's week-long preview of the BAFTAs, it's Oldman vs. Fassbender for Best Actor

The BAFTAs are the awards body which gets the nominations right. On the whole, that is. Though they occasionally over reward the British contingent when the awards are handed out, they do at least recognise more of the very best in film than Oscar actually does. No category represents this better this year than Best Actor.

BAFTA is in line with everyone else in appreciating the excellence of George Clooney (The Descendants) and Jean Dujardin (The Artist), who appear to be the two battling it out for the Oscar. They have also been charmed by Brad Pitt (Moneyball), but it is two Brits (well, a Brit and an Irishman) who seem to be in pole position for the BAFTA.

Gary Oldman’s performance in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was rightly praised and would be very deserving of any award. To act in the shadow of the great Alec Guinness is impressive enough, but to do it so effectively and with such (very) quiet confidence and subtlety deserves a great swathe of superlatives.

However, and I don’t like saying this, he shouldn’t win. It’s not his fault at all. It is simply that Michael Fassbender’s performance in Shame seems to be from a completely different planet. Whilst Oldman had the challenge of living up to those who had gone before, Fassbender had a ridiculously difficult task: portraying a highly inaccessible character who, being a sex addict, has some very explicit scenes to portray.

Fassbender does not just play this role. He completely nails it, producing a performance of genuine intensity and becoming an utterly compelling presence at the heart of a challenging and difficult film. The fact that he has not been nominated for an Oscar is just shocking, showing either a distressing level of timidity from the Academy or a vast lack of imagination.

Dujardin, whose silent performance in The Artist is deftly executed, has the potential to challenge them, but if either Oldman or Fassbender win, it will be a triumphant moment. I reckon Oldman will take the gong, but, for me, it would have to be Fassbender.


The BAFTA Film Awards are on Sunday 12th February and will be broadcast at 9pm on BBC One
Posted by Jack Blackburn at 22:27

http://www.rte.ie/ten/2012/0206/misspiggy.html

Piggy awaits Fassbender encounter
Monday 6 February 2012
Having been confirmed as the red carpet host for the BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday February 12, Miss Piggy has told Michael Fassbender and the other Best Actor nominees that they're set for the interview of their lives.
Miss Piggy - "I will be asking questions that only moi would dare to ask"
Miss Piggy - "I will be asking questions that only moi would dare to ask"

Miss Piggy said: "Imagine the likes of Clooney, Dujardin, Fassbender, Oldman and Pitt achieving the very pinnacle of their careers by getting a chance to speak with the one and only moi - Miss Piggy!

"Naturally, I will be asking questions that only moi would dare to ask."

With Clooney dating a former wrestler, Stacy Keibler, Miss Piggy also extended an unusual invite to him.

"I don't wrestle girlfriends," she said. "However, if George wants to wrestle, bring it on! Best two out of three falls? Winner gets a dinner?" Miss Piggy's new film, The Muppets, opens in cinemas this Friday, February 10.

The BAFTA Film Awards will be shown on BBC One on Sunday February 12 at 9.00pm.