David Carr bumped into "Michael Clayton" helmer and scribe Tony Gilroy just before the weekend's WGA Awards and grabbed some quality time to discuss the strike amidst all the kudos brou-ha-ha.  Here's what Gilroy had to say:

“I’m trying to get happy about it,” he said, just before the awards started. “As writers and directors, we have our nose in the tent for real for the first time. There are question marks about how it will be implemented, but there is no one who can argue that the strike was not necessary. We would never be in the position we are without it. Anybody who says the strike was a bad idea is dead wrong.”

And if you missed it earlier, here's a clip of Gilroy talking about the strike quite passionately:

I got this note about last night's DGA awards this morning, and had to read it twice.  Apparently, things got a bit feisty.  Well, just take a look for yourself:

Being in the room was an odd experience to say the least.  I'm sure you have heard by now the drama of the show....

An extremely drunk Sean Young heckled Julian Schnabel the moment he walked on stage to accept his medallion.  She was quickly 86'd by security and tried to throw a punch at those ejecting her from the venue.  She really ruined Julian's moment and it was kind of sad.  He looked into the audience and said "Who said that?"  She blurted out something else unintelligible and then he said "Perhaps you'd like to finish my speech," said "thank you very much" and started to step away from the podium.  He came back, of course, but it seemed he was visibly pissed and upset by the interruption.  Sort of sad, actually.  It's like you get this big moment where you're one of the 5 directors honored in a year and then some drunk ass wipe in the audience ruins a lifetime moment for you.

(Tony Gilroy item/subjective reaction to a speech stricken from the record due to ruffled feathers.)

If you're looking for more coverage of last night's festivities, Tom O'Neil has a podcast up of the Coens' acceptance speech as well as some speculation on the DGA-Oscar win percentage.  Is "No Country for Old Men" going to take this year's Best Picture award?

Also, as always, Variety has its coverage of the goings-on.

When the Oscar nominations were unveiled two days ago, one name I felt certain would pop up was cinematographer Harris Savides, who was responsible for the lensing of two well-respected genre pictures in 2007: David Fincher's "Zodiac" and Ridley Scott's "American Gangster."  Alas, it wasn't to be, as the nominees included Seamus McGarvey, Robert Elswitt, Janusz Kaminski and Roger Deakins (squared).

It may not have been surprising to other Oscar forecasters out there, seeing as Savides hadn't necessarily popped up during the precursor season and has found himself coming up short in the awards arena for some time.  But there is certainly no shortage of respect for the lenser, considered by many to be the most talented photographer in the business.  It didn't take Tony Gilroy, for instance, more than a moment's thought to call Savides "probably the greatest working cinematographer there is" when I interviewed him back in October, and any given colleague I spoke to over the course of the season (Kaminski, Deakins and Elswitt among them) was quick to call him a personal favorite.

Why, then, has Oscar glory eluded Savides so far?

Granted, the lion's share of his work to date has been in the independent arena.  Savides has found himself the lenser of choice for helmer Gus Van Sant ("Elephant," "Gerry," "Last Days"), having brushes with mainstrem Hollywood entertainment here and there ("Heaven's Prisoners," "The Game," "Finding Forrester").  Perhaps his greatest work behind the camera so far came for a tiny, yet brilliant film that no one might have seen had Nicole Kidman not been in the lead (Jonathan Glazer's "Birth").  But 2007 was a real opportunity for Savides' fellow craftsmen to honor his work, as he had a chance to chew on some of his most commercially accesible material to date.

But a nomination just wasn't in the cards.  Maybe someday soon Savides will get that tip of the hat that his colleagues clearly feel he deserves.  He's hard at work preparing Van Sant's "Milk" at the moment, which may or may not provide that opportunity.

I had the pleasure of speaking to Savides back in December.  Ironically enough, he first called when I was vacationing in San Francisco, the setting of Fincher's grisly account of the Zodiac murders which has become one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year.

On the project, Savides treaded out into the unfamiliar territory of mixing his work with CGI material.  A number of sequences in the flm were manufactured through visual effects technology, something of a necessity, given the urban development of the Bay Area since the days of the Zodiac killer.

Savides and Fincher took a good look at Alan Pakula's "All the President's Men" while prepping, mainly for the simplicity of structure and, of course, the grit of the newsroom.  The filmmaker had already amassed a considerable amount of research before Savides came on board, but the real starting point for the lenser was studying still photography for the film's ultimate look.

"Steven Shore had these banal kind of images of America in the 70s, which were a great reference for colors and for props, and for the world that we were to inhabit and make the audience feel they were watching," he said.  "Something that did concern me, however, was that it was very dialogue-driven, and I wanted to do things that were more cinematic.  But all of David's references were these wonderful movies that had this structure that I became interested in.  The approach that he wanted to take was exciting for me."

Fincher proposed Eric Rohmer's "La Collectionnuese" and Ingmar Bergman's "The Passion of Anna" as source viewing on the project.  Savides says he is quite the fan of Bergman, and that Fincher's preparation techniques have made him an even bigger fan of Rohmer than he already was.

"I didn't come to appreciate Rohmer's movies until I studied this film," he said.

When it came to preparing the Frank Lucas biopic "American Gangster" with Ridley Scott, Savides found himself again digging into still photography as source material, perhaps even more so than on "Zodiac."

"There's a book by Bruce Davidson called East 100th Street, one of those classic black and white monograph collections of Harlem," he said.  "It was the first night Ridley and I met in person, and everything he showed me was black and white, a style which I think was en vogue if you look at the time of Nicky Barnes and Frank Lucas."

Savides also referenced photographer Helen Levitt, looking at her work for color detail.  Scott's mandate, Savides said, was to make a color movie that felt black and white.  Savides took this as a broad gesture and set out to refrain from producing an over abundance of color in the lensing of the pic.

As for compositional techniques, Savides and Scott set out to film the Lucas sequences in a more formal fashion, while looseness was the key to the Richie Roberts portions.

"That's one of the rules I remember us laying down," he said.  "But in retrospect, I don't know if we actually did it!"

If nothing else, Savides comes across as truly passionate about the medium that employs him.  He sounds like the wide-eyed kid who grew up and pinches himself every day because he gets to soak in the fruits of photography and the moving image.  A somewhat raspy but soothing voice, peppered with just the right amount of Big Apple inflection, reveals the thoughts of a man happy to find himself transfixed by what he might find on screen.

"Only movies can to that, to your heart and and your mind," he said, "making this event happen to you.  And even though I'm saying that now, I don't think a movie can sustain that for the whole time.  But if it can do it two or three times while you're watching, that's a great thing."

Here's hoping Oscar catches up to him one of these days.

I didn't realize I'd be making two posts about Tony Gilroy in a row, but there we are.  And, ironically enough, I sat down to watch "Michael Clayton" again last night, and in the 12 hours since I ejected it from my DVD player, I've already forgotten James Newton Howard's Oscar nominated score again.  That one will be a head-scratcher for a while, but nevertheless, it's a tight movie that deserved, well, a good portion of its accolades this season.

I stumbled across this here at homebase yesterday.  I think it's the first phase two Oscar ad we've seen:

"The Bourne Ultimatum" and "Michael Clayton" scribe Tony Gilroy is one of the coolest cats I've had the pleasure to speak with this Oscar season.  Always quick with an answer or thought, but never one that reads as unconsidered, he's one of the sharper tools in the shed to say the least.  Artistically, his attention to precision can easily be found in "Clayton," which wrangled 7 Oscar nominations Tuesday, including two for Gilroy himself (for writing and directing).

I stumbled across this clip yesterday of Gilroy in New York talking about the rights of writers and the issues presented in this season's now infamous WGA strike.  Forgive me if it has been posted elsewhere before, but this is the first I've seen of it.  It's great to see him get so fired up about the issue and clearly have an educated understanding of it, rather than toeing the party line, so to speak, without anything substantial to add to the conversation.

Yes, the BFCA awards are tonight, but tomorrow brings the most anticipated announcement of the Oscar season: the Directors Guild of America's list of feature film nominees.  According to the DGA's official site, Guild president Michael Apted will make the announcement at 10:00 a.m. (PT).

The DGA has long been considered the best predictor of the eventual Best Picture outcome at the Academy.  Going back over the last 35 years, the Guild has picked 139 of 170 nominees for an accuracy rate of 80% or so.  That's better than any of us "pros" could ever hope to manage, that's for sure.  The Guild has displayed 100% accuracy on nine separate occassions, the four of the last five years being chief among them.  Prior to 1970, the DGA sported 10 nominees for feature films, which makes tallying those totals kind of pointless, but this sufficient chunk of data ought to be enough to persuade you that tomorrow's announcement is an important one.

Tom O'Neil has been collecting predictions from various Oscarweb prognosticators over at Gold Derby, yours truly included.  You can see my black and white take on tomorrow's likely five over there, but let's take a moment to dig into the hopefuls in this space as well.

No one but no one can be considered a shoo-in except for the Coen brothers, whose "No Country for Old Men" has shown up this naysayer by already displaying some grit last month, taking down two Screen Actors Guild nomiantions.  (Critics awards just don't compute for me as great indicator of an industry award.)  Beyond that, it's really a free-for-all.

Sean Penn has been getting stellar reactions at DGA screenings of "Into the Wild," a film already leading the way at the BFCA and SAG.  One would have to consider the actor/director to be on solid ground.

Ridley Scott is a helmer clearly revered by his guild, taking down nominations in some cases that didn't correspond to Best Picture nods ("Thelma & Louise," "Black Hawk Down").  "American Gangster" was the only film to be making any box office headway until "Juno" came around, and two SAG nominations (in surprising categories) indicate industry love for the product.

Speaking of "Juno," Jason Reitman's film has been unfairly relegated to consideration as "the 'Little Miss Sunshine' of 2007," when that's really not a computeable comparison.  Nevertheless, naysayers have been left mouth agape as the film has taken some major monetary strides on its way to potentially securing the light-hearted slot of the season with AMPAS.  Reitman's showing up here tomorrow should come as no surprise if it comes to pass, especially given all those TV directors in the guild with ties to actors like Allison Janney, Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner.

There is a real opportunity for spoilerific things to happen, I think, outside of these strong potential candidates.  Tim Burton, for instance, has already nabbed a nomination from the BFCA and a win with the National Board of Review for helming the screen adaptation of "Sweeney Todd."

Denzel Washington, meanwhile, has seen his film, "The Great Debaters," met with standing ovations at DGA screenings.  But then, who wouldn't stand for Denzel?

Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" has been a critical darling throughout the precursor season, but did his Los Angeles antics while promoting the film leave a bad taste in voters' mouths?

Any number of peripheral surprises could pop up, from James Mangold ("3:10 to Yuma"") to Tony Gilroy (one to really watch for "Michael Clayton"), even Sidney Lumet ("Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"), a nominee here even when ignored by the Acadey ("Serpico," "Murder on the Orient Express").  David Fincher could even make good on a year-end rally of support for "Zodiac."

The real spoiler to watch, however, might just be Paul Thomas Anderson, whose "There Will Be Blood" has been the talk of the town, at least for the past two weeks.  A nomination tomorrow could be the first real step toward Best Picture aspirations, as an endorsement from the DGA has proven itself to be a telling seal of approval indeed.

But the safe bet always seems to surface, no?  Which leaves us with the very real possibility that Joe Wright could slide in for "Atonement," a film that lost steam after the festival circuit and a strong HFPA showing, but is still lingering in the mix nonetheless.

What do I know, right?  Whatever happens tomorrow, it still ain't the end of the road.  Crazy things happen, like Christopher Nolan grabbing a mention for "Memento" in 2000 or Robert Zemeckis sliding in for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" in 1988.  You just never can be too sure, so we'll have to see what the directors have in store for us in the morning.

As part of the weekend's Eye on the Oscars: Directors Roundup Feature Issue, Robert Koehler gives the auteur theory a once over by looking at filmmakers like David Fincher, Sidney Lumet and the Coen brothers, but there's also a very interesting collection of helmer profiles from Broadway directors to sift through.

There's Michael Mayer ("Spring Awakening") on Julian Schnabel ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"); Jack O'Brien ("Hairspray") on Sidney Lumet ("Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"); Des McAnuff ("Jersey Boys") on Anton Corbijn ("Control"); and Doug Hughes ("Doubt") on Tony Gilroy ("Michael Clayton:") among many others.  Give it a look.

I love these artist on artist things.  If you missed it the first time around, be sure to check out Variety's round-up of actors sizing up their colleagues from November.

Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" led the BFCA nominations tally today with seven tips of the hat, including nods for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay and, of course, a spot in the group's top ten list.

Jason Reitman's "Juno" wasn't far behind with six nods, while "Atonement," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men" and "Sweeney Todd" each managed five.

The morning's announcement was a huge boost -- nay, a shot in the arm for "Wild," one of a trio of Paramount Vantage hopefuls in this year's race.  Combined with a number of key mentions in yesterday's Chicago Film Critics nominations and the fact that, as far as I can tell, no film has ever solely led the BFCA field and missed out on a Best Picture nomination with the Academy, I'd say the Sean Penn effort is looking better than ever for a slot in the big five come January.

"Juno"'s tally of six was also exactly what Fox Searchlight's comedy hopeful needed to silence nay-sayers regarding its Academy potential.  It's clearly a formiddable contender.

Surprises included Best Actor mentions for Ryan Gosling ("Lars and the Real Girl") and Viggo Mortensen ("Eastern Promises"), as well as supporting actress berths for Catherine Keener in "Into the Wild" (a quiet contender this season) and Vanessa Redgrave in "Atonement" (for all of five minutes of screentime).

Casey Affleck, meanwhile, grabbed some more steam for his supporting portrayal in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," perhaps on his way to securing the same nod with the Academy.  And Amy Adams finally makes a significant appearance this awards season for her performance in "Enchanted."

A definite nod of note is Cate Blanchett's citation for Best Actress in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."  It might perhaps be read as Oscar tea leaf reading on the BFCA's part more than anything, given how critically reviled the film was, yet how undeniably Academy friendly the performance might still be perceived.

Finally, six composers were allowed room to wiggle in that category, including the first notices of the season for Marco Beltrami ("3:10 to Yuma"), Clint Eastwood ("Grace is Gone") and Alan Menken ("Enchanted").

The BFCA tends to be the best precursor for predicting the eventual Oscar turn-out, mostly due to a list of ten Best Picture contenders and a willingness to nominate across a wide spectrum of categories.  This year they seem to have spread the wealth evenly enough to have a decent prediction percentage yet again.

The BFCA's ten Best Picture nominees (with vote totals):

"American Gangster" (2)
"Atonement" (5)
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (4)
"Into the Wild" (7)
"Juno" (6)
"The Kite Runner" (2)
"Michael Clayton" (5)
"No Country for Old Men" (5)
"Sweeney Todd" (5)
"There Will Be Blood" (3)

The full list of nominees can be found on the BFCA website.  The awards will be broadcast live on VH1 on Monday, January 7, 2008, LIVE at 9:00 p/m. (e.s.t.).

Erik Childress' "Oscar Eye" column has the full list of Chicago Film Critics nominations mixed in with his tally of who's won what.  You have to kind of pick things out, but the full list is there.

"No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" continue to show up, but the group went out of its way to personally champion "Once" in more than a few areas, including Best Picture.

Casey Affleck popped up again for his supporting turn in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," while Viggo Mortensen found some Best Actor love for his work in David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises."  Frank Langella also made another appearance in the lead field for "Starting Out in the Evening."

Another key contender showing up in the nominations is "Zodiac," which managed citations for Best Director (david Fincher) and Best Adapted Screenplay.

"Michael Clayton" led the way with seven nominations.  "Blood" wasn't far behind with six.  Nothing for "The Kite Runner" or "Sweeney Todd."

Best Picture
"Into the Wild"
"Michael Clayton"
"No Country for Old Men"
"Once"
"There Will Be Blood"

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood"
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, "No Country for Old Men"
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"
David Fincher, "Zodiac"
Jason Reitman, "Juno"

Best Actor
George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"
Ryan Gosling, "Lars and the Real Girl"
Frank Langella, "Starting Out in the Evening"
Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises"

Best Actress
Julie Christie, "Away from Her"
Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"
Angelina Jolie, "A Mighty Heart"
Laura Linney, "The Savages"
Ellen Page, "Juno"

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"
Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"
Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton"

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchet, "I'm Not There"
Jennifer Jason Leigh, "Margot at the Wedding"
Leslie Mann, "Knocked Up"
Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton"

Best Adapted Screenplay
"Atonement"
"Into the Wild"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"
"Zodiac"

Best Original Screenplay
"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"
"Juno"
"Michael Clayton"
"Ratatouille"
"The Savages"

Best Cinematography
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
"Atonement"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Best Score
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
"Atonement"
"Lust, Caution"
"Once"
"There Will Be Blood"

Best Animated Feature
"Beowulf"
"Meet the Robinsons"
"Persepolis"
"Ratatouille"
"The Simpsons Movie"

Best Foreign Film
"4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"La Vie en Rose"
"Lust, Caution"
"The Orphanage"

Best Documentary
"Darfur Now"
"The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters"
"Lake of Fire"
"No End in Sight"
"Sicko"

Promising Director
Ben Affleck, "Gone Baby Gone"
John Carney, "Once"
Craig Gillespie, "Lars and the Real Girl"
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"
Sarah Polley, "Away from Her"

Promising Performer
Nikki Blonsky, "Hairspray"
Michael Cera, "Juno"/"Superbad"
Glen Hansard, "Once"
Carice van Houten, "Black Book"
Tang Wei, "Lust, Caution"

The big guns are coming out Variety's awards season coverage.  Landing online today (and in print on Monday), the Eye on the Oscars Preview issue.

Iain Blair has the lede, a look at the 2007 Oscar race as a more crowded one than usual.  He talks to four studio honchos including Miramax's Daniel Battsek, who talks up "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."

David Mermelstein, meanwhile, gets into the Oscars' ambition at 80 years old.  He chats it up with AMPAS president Sid Ganis and executive director Bruce Davis about the upcoming Academy Museum of Motion Pictures project, which hopes to open in 2012.

Steve Challogan talks to Tony Gilroy, Andrew Dominik and Noah Baumbach about 2007 films as echoes of the 70s era in cinema.  He also includes quotes from Sidney Lumet and journalist Peter Biskind.

And yours truly has a grand ole' time chatting it up with a trio of fellow Oscarologists about violence in movies and the Academy's reaction to it.

There a lot more material at Award Central.  Here's a quick list:

•  Chinese feast on Oscar hype

•  DVD mailers drum up support

•  Brits turn agains the Beatles

•  Retirees talks about their Oscar films

•  Specialty divisions enter Oscar race

•  Unger tackles broad scope of Acad

•  A brief Oscar history photo gallery