Now that it's been a week of processing the BS, I want to reiterate something that's been mentioned by more than just one. All of Austin's awards as Elvis appear here from other users, but it's important to again focus on just how significant his BAFTA victory is, as well the movie's BAFTA wins. BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Awards) ceremony and awards are widely the second most celebrated for the film industry throughout the world. It finds itself near the top of most lists not just for film, but awards for all forms of entertainment (film, television, music, stage and literature) And naturally it's not influenced by Hollywood politics. From Wiki "The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is a highly prestigious annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The first BAFTA Awards ceremony was held in 1949." Here's a quote by someone who's rated over 4,000 films. "Once you get past the Academy Awards and BAFTA, there’s a pretty steep drop off in terms of prestige. The Golden Globes have a big crossover in awards categories with the Oscars, but they’re given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, rather than peers, so it’s not anywhere near the same level. SAG gets a lot of attention because there’s a big crossover in membership between that and Academy, but a SAG Award is no more prestigious than the other guild awards (notable the WGA, DGA and PGA). Many of the other “awards season” awards (i.e. those that come at the end of the year, rather than film festival awards) are judged by film critics, so, again, not the same level of prestige."
Austin's BAFTA win is all the more remarkable considering the following. I discovered that Colin Farrell won almost 40 awards as actor for Banshees from various local film critic bodies, as well as the National Society of Film Critics. During this time Brendan Fraser won about 10. Austin was being given Breakthrough Performance awards during this time, 11 out of 13 that I saw, with Stephanie Hsu taking a couple. Colin's disappearance after his Golden Globe win (Musical or Comedy) is pretty jarring when looking back. The way Fraser dominated further into the new year with Critics Choice, Hollywood Film Critics, SAG and the Oscar, when Farrell had been so strong, only goes to show how much influence sentiment can have once it gains momentum. Austin beat Fraser for the Golden Globe (Drama) but his BAFTA win had to compete with the Fraser sentiment and Farrell not only being extremely popular in the UK, but beyond all his U.S. critic wins, he had wins from Dublin and London as well, and BAFTA gave the supporting categories to Irish actors from Banshees. All of that while it was Austin's first lead role. I will forever have respect for The British Academy of Film and Television for their objectively.
I've just listened to Austin Butler on Marc Maron's podcast+ found him a very impressive young man. Level-headed and focused. I thought he was pretty brilliant as Elvis . Congratulations to him.
Yeah BAFTA was legit all things considered, and if Brendan Fraser was so undeniable without his narrative, he would have been the one racking up the large majority of the film critic awards before the sob story really picked up. He would have for sure won the National Society of Film Critics that Colin won, and it appears Fraser wasn't even nominated. Also, he would have won the Globe regardless of his boycott, if his performance was that spectacular, plus BAFTA and AACTA International.
Remarkable the ongoing bitterness towards another actor because they won the Acadamy Award over the actor who portrayed our man Elvis Presley. Carry on.
If you read closely people are focusing on the wins Austin Butler received and stating their opinions as to why they feel he, and Collin Farrell, came up short, not only with the Oscars, but SAG and Critics Choice as well. The Brendan Fraser narrative comments are not based in hate, but we're being discussed ever since Critics Choice, here and elsewhere, and we're frequently cited by award experts who made predictions, as well as from actual anonymous Oscar voters, just like Austin Butler's obstacles with voters were often stated by both. I'd like to think that even you don't believe that any category, for any awards in the entertainment business, should have votes casts based on narrative or withheld because of the lack of it. Also, there's been points discussed here outside of Austin that deal with the Elvis movie's other categories for nomination, along with concenes others have had with A24's actions in general.
I wish Austin had won as well, but I also wish Avatar had won Best Picture. I'm not happy they lost, but that's the way life goes sometimes.
I love this movie and so much more than I thought I would. I was happy to see them include Frank with Elvis for a moment at the end from the 1960 tv special. Some of these awards comments are very interesting but accolades are far too subjective, and yes, affected by outside factors, to be taken seriously. Baz Luhrmann set out to make a commercially successful film and with the attempt to make Elvis Presley more relevant. He succeeded in both counts and all the wins and nominations that followed from around the world is icing on the cake. I can only hope that Sinatra could get such a boost.
What a fantastic post @Sinatra Guy and welcome to this fine forum. You put everything about the movie's success in perfect perspective. The Elvis movie has been so successfully, both commercially and critically, we should all really count our lucky stars. You are part of a pretty exclusive club of fans around here that love both Elvis and Sinatra. They seem like very different artists at first look, but they both are just amazing vocalists and charismatic entertainers. I was so hoping that Martin Scorsese would make the biopic on Sinatra with the family's blessings, but it seems like they could not work things out. I actually thought that film was going to get made before anyone ever got around to making an Elvis biopic. Hollywood is an unpredictable town, Lol. I hope to see a lot of you on both the Elvis threads and the Sinatra threads. We could use some fresh perspectives.
I like the format of this forum. It's easy to navigate. So many older websites aren't updated to flow like modern social media. The Elvis movie was well done and that was surprising because Baz Luhrmann can be a wildcard. I always liked Elvis because he was very versatile like Frank, although both worked within different genres of influence. Thanks for the welcome
I too was a bit nervous about Baz Luhrmann until forum member @GillyT posted a video interview of Baz with Elvis's childhood friend Sam Bell. I started seeing the amount of research he was doing for the biopic and that raised my hopes up quite a bit. It wasn't until I saw the first trailer before I relaxed a bit and took a deep breath. I knew Baz was my guy when I saw that the trailer used Elvis's awesome live version of Unchained Melody as a prominent piece. That was outside the box thinking right away. I also had no idea how talented his wife, Catherine Martin was or the stupendously gifted cinematographer Mandy Walker would be. My father started out in the television business as a cameraman before he worked his way to be a director, so he was always pointing out great moments in movie or television direction. One of this favorite moments was his review of the Steve Binder directed 68 Comeback Special.
I had seen that link that our good friend @GillyT had posted as well. I've been lurking here in the background and other Elvis boards for quite sometime before I began posting. As soon as I saw the trailer, I knew I was going to dig the film. If anything I want more! Even an extended cut with 20 minutes of extra footage to bring the film to 3 hours would work for me. 4 hour version? Sure!
Oh yeah, I feel exactly the same way. Give me the 4 hr version right now. I have another antidotal story, but I think these stories are starting to add up to something great. I have been taking a taxi everyday to the hospital to see my lady. So, I have been taking informal polls on the movie as well as their views on what's been happening to their former great city of Portland, Oregon. A ton of crime going on as two people were shot to death inside the Embassy Suites Hotel near the airport while I was in Portland, which is a hotel that Diane and I have actually stayed at before. I won't delve further into the crime issue as that ultimately could end up with a political discussion, which is highly frowned upon on this forum. I will say that both sides of the spectrum seemed very concerned about the crime issue and homeless situation. I will leave it at that for now. Back to the less depressing and far more fun issue to discuss. The Elvis movie. My driver was a super nice former Iraqi refugee with two kids and a wife. I didn't want to ask him his age, but he looked to be in his early 20's. He said he loved to go to the theater at least twice a week before he had kids, Lol. I asked him if he saw the Elvis movie and he said he had and knew next to nothing about Elvis, other than he was some huge musical icon from the U.S. He absolutely loved the movie and thought Butler was outstanding as Elvis. Before me even asking him his opinion on the Oscars, he quickly said emphatically that "It was complete bull**** that the movie did not win any awards," Lol. He also added, again without me prodding him, that he had started to watch Everything Everywhere All At Once and that his wife asked him to stop it after 20 minutes. He replied to her,"Come on, this thing won 7 Oscars, so let's give it a chance." After another 20 minutes (they are now 40 minutes into it), his wife and he decide that they cannot take anymore of EEAAO. He said to me, "It's not funny, it does not make sense and it was stupid." He and his wife did make it 20 minutes longer than my wife and I did when we tried to steam it. We lasted only 20 minutes before my wife turned to me and said, "I cannot take this anymore!"
Well no wonder we didn't like the Everything Everywhere All At Once.. I should have ironed it before I "steamed" it. I meant to say "streaming" obviously, Lol.
Expanding on this with another one of my rambles, I want to focus for a moment on Austin's Satellite award win. As we've mentioned before, the AACTA International win was big for Austin because with them being Australian and going with Australian Cate Blanchett, and having Australian Hugh Jackman in the mix vs Austin, as well as Colin Farrell and Brendan Fraser, it shows he won on his own merits, in spite of it being his first lead role, or Jackman having a home field advantage. As also mentioned, the BAFTA win was massive because of three other actors being on their home turf, Farrel, Mescal and Nighy, as well as it being against Fraser. I also don't think Fraser had any narrative power in Australia or the UK. The Satellite win I think is more significant than some may realize. First off, it's presented by the IPA, International Press Academy, and has been around since 1997, only one year less than Critics Choice, and 2 years less than the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) "The International Press Academy (IPA), one of the most diverse associations of professional entertainment journalists, was founded in 1996 by Mirjana Van Blaricom. Our first Satellite Awards presentation was held in 1997. With a growing membership of working press representing both domestic and international markets, the IPA reaches millions globally via Print, Television, Radio, Cable, New Media and Internet." Austin won for actor in a Comedy or Musical, so, he didn't face off against Fraser, who ended up winning for Drama, but he did have to go against Colin Farrell, without Fraser taking any votes away from Farrell, and in a category that Colin had already won the Golden Globe for from the Hollywood Foreign Press. Consider too, that Colin had won about 35 or so of the local film critic's awards for best actor vs Austin and Fraser, and not with the category being condensed to a genre. So, Austin winning vs Colin in a category that was right up the Banshees category's alley, is very impressive.
This is interesting. It's not going alphabetically and it's ranking them as supposedly viewed from around the world. BAFTA and the Golden Globes are both ahead of the Oscars, and Critics Choice and SAG or Guilds as a whole aren't on the list. Now before we assume that this list is lame, it's from this year and it could be considering that the Oscars has taken quite a hit in recent years to many around the globe. Top 11 Most Prestigious Film Awards In The World - Top List This one appears more legit at first, but it's also 8 years old. Both The Golden Globes and BAFTA are present, with BAFTA being just behind the Oscars, and again Critics Choice and SAG or Guilds as a whole aren't mentioned. Top 10 Most Prestigious Movie Awards in the World | TheRichest This one is 5 years old and has BAFTA just behind the Oscars and the Golden Globes next in line. It only lists five, and none of those are Critics Choice SAG or Guilds as a whole. A Guide to The Most Important Film Award Shows - NYFA This one has BAFTA again just behind the Oscars and mentions the Oscars aren't what they used to be and too has the Golden Globes up high and with no mention of Critics Choice or SAG or the Guilds as a whole. 10 Most Prestigious Movie Awards Around World - Insider Monkey According to three of the four lists here, there are only three awards bodies, who award actors, which are considered prestigious outside of the States or around the world, and one lists includes four. Of those that include three, although Fraser one the biggest one, Austin won two of three. The other one that made a list (NY Film Critics Circle) awarded Collin Farrell.
Sitting here watching "Elvis" and it really hits me that the Costume Design and the Hair and Makeup, aren't just about Austin over three decades, or even Hanks or Olivia as Priscilla, but all the members of the audiences at the Hayride for 1954/55, the Milton Berle Show for 56, Beale Street for 55/56, The NBC Comeback Special for 68, Vegas and the U.S. for the 70s. The wardrobes and hair and makeup worn by Austin was amazing enough, but all of the audiences were just another level. No way you can convince me that its losing both of those categories wasn't based on a bias against the movie or Elvis himself. The Wahle hadn't won Hair and Makeup anywhere and they did one thing for one person, whereas Elvis had won it at last three times for the hundreds of extras it addressed, as well as the main cast. Black Panther had won Costume Design once, with Elvis winning it twice, but again, Elvis covered far more people. It doesn't matter how original the Black panther costumes when comparing it to how many people Elvis had to make look authentic over three different decades.
Cool pictures and deserving of all. I hadn't seen any of the real competition until last night. I went ahead and watched The Banshees of Inisherin on HBO Max and then I rented The Whale on Vudu. Both are good movies and award nomination worthy performances by Colin Farrell and Brendan Fraser. Just my own personal insight, but knowing that both of those were winning over Austin Butler as Elvis for any acting award seems quite silly really. Austin Butler just knocked it out of the park on so many levels that you can't help but believe there's other factors, besides his competition, behind him not winning way more than he did.
All I know is I’m looking forward to seeing him in Dune Pt.II. Looks like he’s also in the upcoming Masters of the Air(TV mini-series) and The Bikeriders, two projects I don’t know much about.
As far as I understand it all BAFTA members can vote on film and actors, and that is a varied bunch including TV and Games professionals. Where as the acting awards at the Oscars are voted for by only the members of the specific acting guilds. Which would seem to suggest that the Oscar winner is more the type of performance that fellow actors like while the BAFTA winner appeals to a more general demographic.
The Oscar voters, like with BAFTA, have the entire membership vote on all nominated categories, including acting. However, only actors can vote to nominate the actors, and this applies to all categories. Each group of nominations are nominated only by that profession, except for best picture. All professions vote to nominate best picture. If you read the anonymous Oscar ballots you see all the various professions such as directors, producers, marketers, cinematographers etc. commenting on their votes for actors and all other categories. An earlier point some pages back was that it seemed odd that since all 9600 select 10 nominations for best picture, of and didn't select the Whale as one of the 10 nominees, that the same 9600 would go majority on Fraser for actor when they didn't think he was good enough to put it as one of the best picture nominees out of 10 slots. It was added that you'd think they'd want to do that if so moved by his portrayal, incase the 1300 actotrs that only nominate actors, didn't select him as a nominee.
Totally agree. As much as I wanted Austin to win as best actor, I knew it wasn't a total shoo-in. No wins at all for the film was surprising to me.
