“The Young and the Restless” star Jeanne Cooper sounds off about the Daytime Emmys: “The Emmys made us look desperate. Even porn conventions don’t look desperate. Porn conventions have such a happy thing going about them. Everybody’s happy, and at least something is going on. There were a couple of people that looked so tarnished doing it. I thought, ‘Why would you do it when you promised me you wouldn’t? You said you wouldn’t.’ I couldn’t support them … What made it even worse that when it was over, they started playing it all over again, and when that was over, they played it again. It went on three times in succession which means if you hadn’t gone out and shot yourself in the head after the first one, you will have done so by the third showing (laughs).” SMASHING INTERVIEWS
Thelma Adams provides a mid-year look at the state of the Oscar-race: “Well, Osca-teers, with half the year in the rearview mirror, let’s take a quick look to see whether there are any films that are Oscar contenders. I waited until I saw ‘The Dark Knight Rises‘ to see if we had a popcorn tent-pole film that would be a game-changer for the 85th Oscars. Well, not so much … Like in most years, the Oscar season is back-loaded, and the first six months looks pretty thin. But remember: Last year, best picture winner ‘The Artist‘ didn’t play domestically until deep into the fall season, and ‘The Help‘ came with the August heat.” YAHOO!
Scott Feinberg analyzes the Oscar prospects for Focus Features: “My sense is that the studio’s strongest best picture contender is [‘Hyde Park on Hudson‘], which is the sort of historical period piece that Academy members eat up. (The fact that some of them personally remember the era in which it is set will only help the film, just as it did ‘The King’s Speech.’) Moreover, [stars Bill Murray] and [Laura Linney] are both popular and respected actors who remain Oscar-less, so look for that to be a recurring narrative throughout the season.” HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
The cast of “The Dark Knight Rises” discusses the film’s Oscar chances: “Christopher Nolan‘s three ‘Batman’ films have racked up more than a billion dollars in box office sales and near-unanimous praise from critics. Despite this, they’ve been mostly ignored in the prestigious categories at the Oscars, with the notable exception of Heath Ledger‘s posthumous win for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ in 2009. But why? ‘The Dark Knight’ picked another seven nominations, but these were in technical categories like ‘Art Direction’ and ‘Sound Editing’. It was ignored for ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’, while far weaker films, such as ‘Frost/Nixon’, ‘The Reader’ and (yawn) ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ got nods.” YAHOO! UK
Mira Nair‘s “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” will open the Venice Film Festival: “Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, Martin Donovan, Om Puri and Shabana Azmi star in the out-of-competition adaptation of the bestselling novel about a young Pakistani working on Wall Street when 9/11 shatters his bright future and plunges him into doubts about all he thought he know. Movie was adapted by William Wheeler from the 2007 novel by Mohsin Hamid.” DEADLINE
Will “The Dark Knight Rises” be hurt by the Colorado shooting? “In the scheme of things, damage to the film’s Oscar chances is one of the least important effects of the shootings. But just as the horrific events impacted dollars and cents at the box office, they could have an effect on how the film is perceived by Oscar voters, who are normally reluctant to embrace films with comic-book pedigrees.” THE WRAP
