'FROST/NIXON', MILK and 'KNIGHT' Among Producers Guild of America Best Picture Nominees
By: Eddie Varley Jan. 05, 2009
The Los Angeles Time reports that "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "The Dark Knight," "Frost/Nixon," "Milk' and "Slumdog Millionaire" were nominated Monday for the Producers Guild of America's top award. The Envelope section of the LA Times website gives a detailed view of the entire list of nominees, you can read them by going here.
Missing from the list were the Golden Globe best picture nominees "The Reader" and "Revolutionary Road." Perhaps the biggest surprise among the nominees was "The Dark Knight," which has largely been ignored in the best picture category so far this awards' season.
The Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures has become one of the more reliable bellwethers for the best picture Academy Award since its inception in 1990. Last year's PGA winner, "No Country for Old Men," " went on to win the Oscar for best film.
Documentary feature nominees were "Man on Wire," "Standard Operating Procedure" and "Trouble in the Water."
"Bolt," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Wall-E" earned nominations for producer of the year in animated motion pictures reports the Envelope.
The PGA Awards will be presented Jan. 24th at the Hollywood Palladium.
Oscar®-winning director Ron Howard brings to the screen writer Peter Morgan's (The Queen, The Last King of Scotland) electrifying battle between Richard Nixon, the disgraced president with a legacy to save, and David Frost, a jet-setting television personality with a name to make, in the untold story of the historic encounter that changed both: Frost/Nixon. Reprising their roles from Morgan's stageplay are Frank Langella, who won a Tony for his portrayal of Nixon, and Michael Sheen, who fully inhabited the part of Frost onstage in London and New York. The film opened in selected cities 12/5 and 12/12 with a nationwide release on Christmas Day.
For three years after being forced from office, Nixon remained silent. But in summer 1977, the steely, cunning former commander-in-chief agreed to sit for one all-inclusive interview to confront the questions of his time in office and the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency. Nixon surprised everyone in selecting Frost as his televised confessor, intending to easily outfox the breezy British showman and secure a place in the hearts and minds of Americans.
Likewise, Frost's team harbored doubts about their boss' ability to hold his own. But as cameras rolled, a chargEd Battle of wits resulted. Would Nixon evade questions of his role in one of the nation's greatest disgraces? Or would Frost confound critics and bravely demand accountability from the man who'd built a career out of stonewalling? Over the course of their encounter, each man would reveal his own insecurities, ego and reserves of dignity-ultimately setting aside posturing in a stunning display of unvarnished truth.
Frost/Nixon not only re-creates the on-air interview, but the weeks of around-the-world, behind-the-scenes maneuvering between the two men and their camps as negotiations were struck, deals were made and secrets revealed...all leading to the moment when they would sit facing one another in the court of public opinion.
Frost/Nixon is a collaboration between Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Films, with Academy Award® winners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard joining Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner as producers. Joining Langella and Sheen as the colorful real-life personalities who provide the men counsel is a formidable roster of actors including Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, Toby Jones and Matthew Macfadyen.
For more information visit, http://www.frostnixon.net/
Photos Courtesy of Universal Pictures 2008
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