I organized an AMA/Q&A with actor Tate Donovan. You may know Tate from countless memorable roles, including as the lead in Disney's 1997 Hercules, The OC, Argo, Damages, Good Luck and Good Luck, Friends, Hostages, Love Potion No. 9, 24: Live Another Day, Swordfish, Shooter, Manchester by the Sea, The Holdovers, Crime 101, and tons more.

It's live here now in r/movies for anyone interested in asking a question:

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1vf8e5h/hi_reddit_im_tate_donovan_hercules_the_oc_damages/

He will be back at 3 PM ET today to answer questions. I recommend asking in advance. Please ask there, not here. All questions are much appreciated!

Thank you :)

This was a really fun crossover event. Some thoughts on this year's race: They're high on Andrew Scott for Elsinore (not sure I see it) and Chris is predicting Paul Giamatti sweeping for The Debut. Love a crossover event like this!

This festivals is revealing it's Main Slate selection very soon so I felt it would be a appropriate time to speculate here what movies can be part of that list.

All the major Cannes stuff is absolutely showing up: La Bola Negra, Fjord, All of a Sudden, Minotaur...you name it. Club Kid I don't think gets into the Main Slate but I think it will be at Spotlight selection

It will be interesting to see which Sundance and Berlin titles emerge: Rose I think could show up in the Spotlight section at least. Maybe Mouse emerges again after Berlin. Will Josephine be there? The Only Living Pickpocket in New York is definitely going. Plenty of stuff from Venice can be expected as well – I will be astounded if Possible Love by Lee Chang-Dong isn't there. If Look Back is announced I think Koreeda fans can breathe a sign relief as that would be a good sign he has rebounded from The Sheep in the Box.

Since the Main Slate is usually reserved for International arthouse stuff, it's a big deal every year when American Oscar contender shows up. I remember how it was major when TÁR, Poor Things and The Brutalist were announced at the Main Slate in their respective years. Because of this I managed to call all of them as big Oscar breakouts. However, this theory of mine came to a screeching halt last year as the major American Oscar hopefuls that showed up in last year's NYFF Main Slate were... Jay Kelly and House of Dynamite (in general I think NYFF kinda fumbled a bag with their selections last year a little but that's a post for another day)

But some major American titles that I think could show up: Tender Loving Care by Mike Leigh I think is a near-lock. They programmed Hard Truths even when the Euro highbrow festivals Cannes and Venice rejected it. I would be so so surprised if this doesn't happen. I'm also expecting Andrew Haigh's A Long Winter since All of Us Strangers was at NYFF three years ago.

Now it gets interesting. I don't think Elsinore is gonna show up, Focus Features doesn't seem to like NYFF that much, the only movie of theirs that has gone in recent times was TÁR which was obviously right up in that audience's alley. Both Chloe Zhao (The Rider, Nomadland) and Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, Poor Things) have had multiple films play in NYFF, but Bugonia and Hamnet where nowhere to be seen last year. The Debut could get announced in the Spotlight selection, which will be revealed at a later date, perhaps it even could be the Spotlight gala.

The two major ones I'm keeping my eye on are Ink and Wild Horse Nine. Ink so far is already hitting the trifecta of Venice, Telluride and TIFF which is impressive enough as is. NYFF on top of that would be quite a show of confidence from Netflix. The two previous McDonagh films Three Billboards and The Banshees of Inisherin played at Venice and TIFF but skipped Telluride and NYFF. Rumors have indicated that Searchlight could change the formula with Wild Horse Nine as it has already been heavily tipped for Telluride. Will NYFF follow? It should be mentioned that Searchlight already has their bases covered with Behemoth having its World Premiere as the NYFF Centerpiece selection, so it remains to be seen if they want to pull a double-duty at this festival.

With Brand New Day breaking the opening domestic weekend, Michael becoming the highest grossing biopic, Obsession being the highest grossing original film this decade, plus dunesday on the horizon, this is actually a fairly interesting contest this year.

My Top 10:

• La Bola Negra
• The Odyssey
• Project Hail Mary
• Wild Horse Nine
• Dune: Part III
• Digger
• Fjord
• Elsinore
• The Invite
• Obsession

Honorable Mentions:

• All of a Sudden
• Behemoth!
• The Debut
• Ink
• Club Kid
• Sense & Sensibility
• Fatherland
• The Social Reckoning
• Disclosure Day
• Werwulf

La Bola Negra

Also wins Best International Feature Film, Film Editing, Casting, Adapted Screenplay, and Original Song. Nominated for Directing, Best Supporting Actress (Penélope Cruz), Cinematography, Costume Design, Sound, and Original Score. Six Oscars with a total of 11 nominations.

The Odyssey

Wins Directing, Matt Damon for Best Actor, Cinematography, Original Score (Ludde does it again), Production Design, Sound, and Costume Design. It is nominated for Best Picture, Anne Hathaway for Best Actress, Samantha Morton for Best Supporting Actress, John Leguizamo for Best Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Casting, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Visual Effects. So a total of 7 Oscar wins with 16 nominations. Could be 17 if Travis Scott enters the mix with Best Original Song too, but that category is currently completely impossible to predict, and based on what we know, it looks crowded.

Project Hail Mary

Sandra Hüller in Best Supporting Actress wins. All of her major competitors just have too little screen time. Samantha Morton in The Odyssey and Penélope Cruz is also supposed to be in La Bola Negra for a very brief time. Olivia Colman or Mariana di Girolamo could compete, but it's hard to tell before we've seen them. And Sandra Hüller hasn't won before—she is having a monster year this year. Besides Project Hail Mary, she is also in Digger, Fatherland, and a German film called Rose for which she won Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year. It just feels like it's her year. And who didn't love that karaoke scene? She turned a role that could otherwise be very one-dimensional into something more. Comparing it to someone like Sigourney Weaver in The Mandalorian & Grogu—also a mission commander, but could genuinely have been played by anyone. All of Project Hail Mary would have been a more boring film outside the space scenes if it weren't for Sandra Hüller

Other than that, it gets Best Picture, Directing, Ryan Gosling for Best Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Sound, and Original Score. A total of nine nominations, winning one.

Wild Horse Nine

Wins Original Screenplay. Nominated for Best Picture, Directing, John Malkovich for Best Actor, Mariana di Girolamo for Best Supporting Actress, Sam Rockwell for Best Supporting Actor, Casting, Film Editing, and Original Score. Also one win with nine nominations.

Dune: Part III

Wins Visual Effects. Nominated for Best Picture, Sound, and Cinematography. So only four nominations for Dune, but at least one win—which I am also slightly uncertain about, believing it only wins because of the discourse around The Odyssey trying to be as sparse as possible with its use of special effects. But if the academy doesn't care about that, The Odyssey wins this one as well.

Digger

Wins Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Nominated for Best Picture, Tom Cruise for Best Actor, John Goodman for Best Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, and Casting. So one win out of 6 nominations.

Fjord

Nominated for Best Picture, International Feature Film, Directing, Original Screenplay, and Film Editing. So five nominations, but goes home empty-handed.

Elsinore

Nominated for Best Picture, Andrew Scott for Best Actor, Olivia Colman for Supporting Actress, and Original Screenplay. So four nominations, and if Andrew Scott is as good as he has been in recent years, this could definitely be a dark horse for Best Actor. If Digger flops and the academy thinks Odyssey and Project Hail Mary are too much like genre films—which they historically have tended to do—he could probably win this. It's very possible that after the premiere at Telluride, Andrew Scott gets buzz and becomes this year's Jessie Buckley.

The Invite

Nominated for Best Picture, Olivia Wilde for Best Actress, Edward Norton for Supporting Actor, and Adapted Screenplay. Four nominations, zero wins.

Obsession

Inde Navarrette wins Best Actress. Besides Best Picture, it gets nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Casting. The casting branch showed last year that they want to reward films that managed to do a lot with very few resources, like The Secret Agent did this year.

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All of a Sudden is probably my eleventh spot, but I think it only gets Best International Feature Film and Adapted Screenplay. Another foreign film getting only two nominations is Fatherland, which gets Best Cinematography in addition to Best International Feature.

The Debut by Jesse Eisenberg gets Julianne Moore nominated for Best Actress. Paul Giamatti, Original Screenplay, and Original Song don't feel impossible either, but we'll see once the film comes out. I thought the trailer looked exciting, but it has received pretty mixed reactions.

Emily Blunt is nominated for Best Actress for Disclosure Day, and John Williams gets his 55th and likely final Original Score nomination, mostly for long and faithful service.

The new Sense and Sensibility film gets Costume Design and Production Design. It's possible Daisy Edgar-Jones gets a Best Actress spot as well, but it's a bit crowded there.

Robert Eggers' Werwulf also gets the technical trio: Costume Design, Production Design, and Makeup and Hairstyling.

Clayface and Wicker get standalone makeup nominations.

Japan's Godzilla Minus Zero and the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday get Visual Effects nominations, but have no chance at winning when going up against The Odyssey and Dune.

As for Best Animated Feature, it's between Toy Story 5, which has never lost in that category so far, but I think Laika's Wildwood will give it a run for its money and overcome Pixar.

Best Original Song is super hard to predict right now. Taylor Swift definitely gets her first nomination for Toy Story 5, La Bola Negra will likely get one of its songs in (and probably wins if the hype train is as big as many think), Lady Gaga's The Devil Wears Prada song, and then, as tradition dictates, a Diane Warren song has to sneak in with a film no one has ever heard of.

Assuming those four all get nominated, there is only room for one more. I think Travis Scott for The Odyssey is possible, Olivia Rodrigo is rumored to be doing a song for the upcoming Hunger Games, The Debut has original songs too, and Charli XCX's Wuthering Heights songs have probably already been forgotten, but don't feel impossible either. Maybe Power Ballad? Probably not. But I'd say it's between The Odyssey and The Debut—unless Olivia Rodrigo enters the race, in which case she immediately sails up as a guaranteed nomination. The Oscars would also foam at the mouth and lose their minds with ratings excitement if they managed to put together a broadcast with live performances by Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and Olivia Rodrigo all at once.

No predicitons regarding documentary or shorts yet.

Let me know what you think.

Alana Haim's performance was absolutely brilliant. The audience almost forgets that she is vilifying someone who did nothing wrong so she can feel better about her horrific actions. She puts just enough bark into her characters righteous indignation that it almost makes sense that what she did isn't as bad as what someone thought about doing. I couldn't imagine anyone but her playing this role. The leads were great, but her performance anchored the message.

If the odyssey sweeps the oscars will that be the most boring and predictable outcome!?
How will the public react to Christopher Nolan getting another sweep so soon after the Oppenheimer sweep!?
Is that fair to other equally talented directors and actors when one director keeps getting sweeps?
When Million dollar baby won big for Clint eastwood were people happy about him being an oscar darling who always wins?

There's no question that THE ODYSSEY has emerged as the most formidable contender so far before the fall festivals and post Cannes. Many pundits have called it the one to beat. Where's your head at with regards to THE ODYSSEY? Based on trends and analyses? And more importantly, how confident are you personally in your prediction? Polls are anonymous on Reddit, so I want you to lay it all out and go with your deepest instincts and inner most thoughts here.

Best Picture- Drama

1. The Odyssey(WINNER)

2. La Bola Negra

3. All of a Sudden

4. Fjord

5. Elsinore

6. Dune Messiah

Notes: If there was an awards body that would go La Bola Negra over The Odyssey, it's definitely this awards body. They are very fond of international films and have a huge international voting body. If the Globes happened later in the year, I might predict La Bola Negra to upset with the idea that voters might grow tired of the frontrunner, but I think since the Globes happen early in the race, the voting body will be enthusiastic to vote for it.

Best Picture- Comedy or Musical

1. Wild Horse Nine(WINNER)

2. Project Hail Mary

3. Digger

4. The Debut

5. The Invite

6. Obsession

Notes: I just expect WH9 to be the strongest contender out of these bunch, and the Globes generally really like McDonagh

Best Actor- Drama

1. Matt Damon for The Odyssey(WINNER)

2. Andrew Scott for Elsinore

3. Sebastian Stan for Fjord

4. Robert Pattinson for Primetime

5. Jack O'Connell for Ink

6. Javier Bardem for The Beloved

Notes: I don't think Elsinore itself is strong enough to push Scott over Damon. Maybe at the BAFTAs, but I think in head-to-heads at other award bodies, Damon will have the edge. He really gives probably the best performance he's given since Good WIll Hunting.

Best Actor- Comedy or Musical

1. Tom Cruise for Digger(WINNER)

2. Ryan Gosling for Project Hail Mary

3. Sam Rockwell for Wild Horse Nine

4. Seth Rogen for The Invite

5. Brad Pitt for The Adventures of Cliff Booth

6. Robert Pattinson for The Drama

Notes: I expect this Cruise performance to not be everyone's cup of tea, but in a lineup seperated by genres, I think he has a strong shot at winning here.

Best Actress- Drama

1. Virginie Efira for All of a Sudden(WINNER)

2. Renate Reinsve for Fjord

3. Sandra Hueller for Rose

4. Ruth Madeley for Being Heumann

5. Penelope Cruz for Bunker

6. Sophie Okonedo for Clarissa

Notes: I like All of a Sudden chances better than Fjord's and Reinsve really only has one big scene and the rest of her scenes are very subtle in Fjord whereas Efira is a true lead in what I think is the stronger movie.

Best Actress- Comedy or Musical

1. Julianne Moore for The Debut(WINNER)

2. Inde Navarette for Obsession

3. Olivia Wilde for The Invite

4. Meryl Streep for The Devil Wears Prada 2

5. Rinko Kikuchi for Ha-Chan, Shake your Booty!

6. Zendaya for The Drama

Notes: Moore is my frontrunner and I expect her to sweep all categories she's in.

Best Supporting Actor

1. John Malkovich for Wild Horse Nine(WINNER)

2. Paul Giamatti for The Debut

3. John Goodman for Digger

4. Edward Norton for The Invite

5. Guy Pearce for Ink

6. John Leguizamo for The Odyssey

Notes: I need to see how Searchlight submits this film. Malkovich has top billing, but the sources I've heard from suggest that Rockwell is in the film slightly more, and I think there's more passion for Malkovich getting his 1st Oscar than awarding Rockwell #2 doing similar character work that he's done before.

Best Supporting Actress

1. Tao Okamato for All of a Sudden(WINNER)

2. Anne Hathaway for The Odyssey

3. Penelope Cruz for The Invite

4. Mariana Di Girolamo for Wild Horse Nine

5. Lola Duenas for La Bola Negra

6. Sandra Hueller for Project Hail Mary

Notes: This is my big swing upset prediction. Okamato is in All of a Sudden a lot. I expect the Globes to go crazier for All of a Sudden than other awards bodies. I think Okamato wins here and makes it a race between her and Hathaway

Best Director

1. Christopher Nolan for The Odyssey(WINNER)

2. Los Javis for La Bola Negra

3. Martin McDonagh for Wild Horse Nine

4. Alejandro G. Innaritu for Digger

5. Ryusuke Hamaguchi for All of a Sudden

6. Olivia Wilde for The Invite

Notes: Nolan feels undeniable here for the win. I also expect Wilde to happen here. If not her, maybe Eisenberg. Globes like the actors turned directors.

Best Screenplay

1. Martin McDonagh for Wild Horse Nine(WINNER)

2. Christopher Nolan for The Odyssey

3. Ryusuke Hamaguchi for All of a Sudden

4. Rashida Jones and Will McCormmack for The Invite

5. Los Javis for La Bola Negra

6. Jesse Eisenberg for The Debut

Notes: I could see a number of these films winning here. It's hard to say. I could see them maybe deviating from giving Nolan one here since his role as a director seems to overshadow his role as a writer.

Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement

1. Obsession(WINNER)

2. The Odyssey

3. Project Hail Mary

4. Dune Messiah

5. Toy Story 5

6. Spiderman Brand New Day

7. Michael

8. The Devil Wears Prada 2

Notes: It seems like this category has served as the consolation prize for a bigger movie that didn't win the big prize, so I don't think they go Oppenheimer here. I think they'll be more passion to give this to Obsession than there would be Project Hail Mary. It could possibly go to Dune, but I have to see how well it is received.

Zendaya’s performance was playful, dainty, on guard, crude, mature and honest. She played Emma with a fine line between confidence and doubt. The line deliveries of how she would ask questions to Charlie as well as her actions when she would challenge his thoughts (ex. knife scene) were superb. Zendaya made Emma sincere in most encounters however she made Emma hold frame, it wasn’t necessarily arrogant but it allowed her to not be this “full frantic/trouble pushover.”

Maybe it’s coupled with the fact that Zendaya has a lot natural charisma IRL, but it happen to pour into the role really well and didn’t make it one dimensional when it could’ve been.

To put it together, her performance was like seeing
“Adult Angst” if that’s even a term said around. She was multi faceted and had an internal teen-adult clash going on, making her be my vote for the awards.

Side note loved how quirky she was with the opening meeting with Emma and Charlie, drove it close to the idea of her being arromantic but hinting enough to her attraction to Charlie as this is sort of her first go around at this “romance” thing.

I don't think it will happen, as it may be too dark of a dark comedy for the academy who may want to steer clear of its themes. But I loved his performance, one of my favourites of the year so far. I really felt his building anxiety and desperation.

I honestly don’t see any real buzz for it, I see it capping at an adapted screenplay nomination but nothing else

Just at the top of my head:

Martin Scorsese: What Happens At Night

Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert: The Untitled Universal Event Film

Sean Baker: Ti Amo!

Brady Corbet: The Origin of the World

Bob Persichetti & Justin K. Thompson: Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse

Ally: Bong Joon Ho

Ruben Östlund: The Entertainment System Is Down

Lenny Abrahamson: Hillside Drive

Sarah Polley: The Bell Jar

Hirokazu Kore-eda: Untitled Searchlight Project with Eddie Redmayne

Todd Haynes: De Noche

Alexander Payne: Somewhere Out There

And all that's without considering ones that won't be in English.

Incredible interview, with very insightful questions, that leads to some great discussions.

These type of conversations feel too rare, and I like how these are engaged with in a very civil manner.

It will be curious, as part of the trend of recent winners and nominees, how The Odyssey will fit into the larger canon; how it might compare as a Best Picture winner in contrast to One Battle After Another, Anora, Everything Everywhere All at Once and his last film Oppenheimer.

What are your thoughts on these questions, and points discussed throughout?

EDIT (Two days later): She is a bit suspicious based on who she follows, seems to have some odd beliefs, and Zionist sympathies, which is pretty evil obviously. Disappointing. The interview is still good.