Harvey Weinstein is not happy right now. The Producers Guild of America announced its nominations yesterday, creating buzz around several films which have been struggling to gain traction on the awards circuit.
But it was also a dismal day for The Weinstein Company, whose awards hopefuls were shut out. “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “August: Osage County,” “Philomena,” “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” and “Fruitvale Station” failed to score any nominations. That must be a major jolt to Harvey Weinstein, who will seemingly do just about anything to get his films into the awards race.
The ten nominees for the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures — the guild’s top prize — include “Blue Jasmine,” “American Hustle,” “Captain Phillips,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Gravity,” “Her,” “Nebraska,” “Saving Mr. Banks,” “12 Years a Slave” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
Any one of these films has a good shot at the grand prize, but my money is on “American Hustle” and “12 Years a Slave,” both of which have already done well with Golden Globes (seven noms each) and Broadcast Film Critics (13 noms each) nominations.
“Gravity,” “12 Years,” “Phillips” and “Hustle” are not a surprise in this list, as they’ve been stalwarts so far this awards season. As for “Wolf,” I’m sure the nomination is cause for relief for the filmmakers and folks at Paramount. The film has been battling controversy over the rampant drugs, sex scenes and (some say) glorification of greed.
The other nominees are interesting. “Her” is a futuristic love story, while “Nebraska” is a black and white drama. But both films made it into the top ten lists of the American Film Institute and the Producers Guild of America. No small feat.
Apart from noms for lead actresses Cate Blanchett and Emma Thompson, “Jasmine” and “Mr. Banks” have been largely absent from the awards buzz. Meanwhile, “Dallas Buyers Club” has gained steam with a SAG ensemble nom and a PGA nom.
In terms of how this affects the Oscars race, it’s anyone’s guess. But let’s not forget the little movies that could – which went on to land Best Picture wins, including “The Artist” (2011), “The Hurt Locker” (2009), “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008), “No Country For Old Men” (2007) and “Crash” (2005). Even last year’s “Argo” was a surprise to many.
While “Slumdog,” “The Artist” and “Argo” were all widely anticipated winners, “Hurt Locker” and “King’s Speech” (2010 winner) both faced uphill climbs. They’d already been beaten at several awards shows like the Golden Globes (“Avatar” and “The Social Network,” respectively). Their recognition with Producers awards began to turn things around for them.
The Producers Awards are the first major guild-hosted ceremony on the awards calendar, which means they’re the first to throw in their choices from the people who actually make the movies.
The awards will be handed out at the 25th annual PGA Awards on Jan. 19, 2014 at the Beverly Hilton. Here’s the full list of nominees.
Theatrical Motion Picture:
The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures
American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)
Producers: Megan Ellison, Jon Gordon, Charles Roven, Richard Suckle
Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics)
Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum
Captain Phillips (Columbia Pictures)
Producers: Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin
Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)
Producers: Robbie Brenner, Rachel Winter
Gravity (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Producers: Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman
Her (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Producers: Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze, Vincent Landay
Nebraska (Paramount Pictures)
Producers: Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa
Saving Mr. Banks (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Producers: Ian Collie, Alison Owen, Philip Steuer1
12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Brad Pitt & Dede Gardner
Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)
Producers: Riza Aziz, Emma Koskoff, Joey McFarland
Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:
The Croods (DreamWorks Animation)
Producers: Kristine Belson, Jane Hartwell
Despicable Me 2 (Universal Pictures)
Producers: Janet Healy, Chris Meledandri
Epic (Twentieth Century Fox)
Producers: Jerry Davis, Lori Forte
Frozen (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Producer: Peter Del Vecho
Monsters University (Pixar Animation)
Producer: Kori Rae
Television (the longform television category encompasses both movies of the week and miniseries):
The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:
American Horror Story: Asylum (FX)
Producers: Brad Buecker, Dante Di Loreto, Brad Falchuk, Alexis Martin Woodall, Ryan Murphy, Chip Vucelich
Behind the Candelabra (HBO)
Producers: Susan Ekins, Gregory Jacobs, Michael Polaire, Jerry Weintraub
Killing Kennedy (National Geographic Channel)
Producers: Mary Lisio, Larry Rapaport, Ridley Scott, Teri Weinberg, David W. Zucker
Phil Spector (HBO)
Producers: Michael Hausman, Barry Levinson
Top of the Lake (Sundance Channel)
Producers: Philippa Campbell, Jane Campion, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:
A PLACE AT THE TABLE (Magnolia Pictures)
Producers: Julie Goldman, Ryan Harrington, Kristi Jacobson, Lori Silverbush
FAR OUT ISN’T FAR ENOUGH: THE TOMI UNGERER STORY (First Run Features)
Producers: Brad Bernstein, Rick Cikowski
LIFE ACCORDING TO SAM (HBO Documentary Films)
Producers: Andrea Nix Fine, Sean Fine, Miriam Weintraub
WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS (Focus Features)
Producers: Alexis Bloom, Alex Gibney, Marc Shmuger
WHICH WAY IS THE FRONT LINE FROM HERE? THE LIFE AND TIME OF TIM HETHERINGTON (HBO Documentary Films)
Producers: James Brabazon, Nick Quested
The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:
Breaking Bad (AMC)
Producers: Melissa Bernstein, Sam Catlin, Bryan Cranston, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Mark Johnson, Stewart Lyons, Michelle MacLaren, George Mastras, Diane Mercer, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett
Downton Abbey (ITV – United Kingdom; PBS – United States)
Producers: Julian Fellowes, Nigel Marchant, Gareth Neame, Liz Trubridge
Game of Thrones (HBO)
Producers: David Benioff, Bernadette Caulfield, Frank Doelger, D.B. Weiss, Christopher Newman, Greg Spence, Carolyn Strauss
Homeland (Showtime)
Producers: Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Michael Cuesta, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Michael Klick, Meredith Stiehm
House of Cards (Netflix)
Producers: Joshua Donen, David Fincher, Karyn McCarthy, John Melfi, Eric Roth, Kevin Spacey, Beau Willimon
The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy:
30 Rock (NBC)
Producers: Jack Burditt, Robert Carlock, Luke Del Tredici , Tina Fey, Matt Hubbard , Marci Klein, Jerry Kupfer , Colleen McGuinness, Lorne Michaels, David Miner, Dylan Morgan , Jeff Richmond , Josh Siegal, Tracey Wigfield
Arrested Development (Netflix)
Producers: John Foy, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Mitchell Hurwitz, Dean Lorey, Troy Miller, Richard Rosenstock, Jim Vallely
Big Bang Theory, The (CBS)
Producers: Bill Prady, Chucke Lorre, Steve Molaro, Faye Oshima Belyeu
Modern Family (ABC)
Producers: Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Ben Karlin, Elaine Ko, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Jeffrey Morton, Dan O’Shannon, Jeffrey Richman, Chris Smirnoff, Brad Walsh, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker
VEEP (HBO)
Producers: Simon Blackwell, Christopher Godsick, Armando Iannucci, Stephanie Laing, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Frank Rich, Tony Roche
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television:
30 for 30 (ESPN)
Producers: Bill Simmons, John Dahl, Erin Leyden, Connor Schell
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN)
Producers: Anthony Bourdain, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Sandra Zweig
Duck Dynasty (A&E Networks)
Producers: Deirdre Gurney, Scott Gurney, Mike Odair, Hugh Peterson, Adam Saltzberg, Charlie Van Vleet
Inside The Actors Studio (Bravo)
Producers: James Lipton, Shawn Tesser, Jeff Wurtz
Shark Tank (ABC)
Producers: Mark Burnett, Becky Blitz, Bill Gaudsmith, Yun Lingner, Clay Newbill, Jim Roush, Laura Skowlund, Max Swedlow
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television:
Colbert Report, The (Comedy Central)
Producers: Meredith Bennett, Stephen T. Colbert, Richard Dahm, Paul Dinello, Barry Julien, Matt Lappin, Emily Lazar, Tanya Michnevich Bracco, Tom Purcell, Jon Stewart
Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)
Producers: David Craig, Ken Crosby, Doug DeLuca, Gary Greenberg, Erin Irwin, Jimmy Kimmel, Jill Leiderman, Molly McNearney, Tony Romero, Jason Schrift, Jennifer Sharron, Josh Weintraub
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC)
Producers: Hillary Hunn, Lorne Michaels, Gavin Purcell, Michael Shoemaker
Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
Producers: Scott Carter, Sheila Griffiths, Marc Gurvitz, Dean Johnsen, Bill Maher, Billy Martin, Matt Wood
Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Producers: Ken Aymong, Erin Doyle, Steve Higgins, Erik Kenward, Lorne Michaels, Lindsay Shookus
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television:
Amazing Race, The (CBS)
Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Elise Doganieri, Jonathan Littman, Bertram van Munster, Mark Vertullo
Dancing With The Stars (ABC)
Producers: Ashley Edens-Shaffer, Conrad Green, Joe Sungkur
Project Runway (Lifetime)
Producers: Jane Cha Cutler, Desiree Gruber, Tim Gunn, Heidi Klum, Jonathan Murray, Sara Rea, Colleen Sands
Top Chef (Bravo)
Producers: Tom Colicchio, Daniel Cutforth, Casey Kriley, Jane Lipsitz, Erica Ross, Nan Strait, Andrew Wallace
Voice, The (NBC)
Producers: Stijn Bakkers, Mark Burnett, John de Mol, Chad Hines, Lee Metzger, Audrey Morrissey, Jim Roush, Kyra Thompson, Nicolle Yaron, Mike Yurchuk, Amanda Zucker
The following programs were not vetted for producer eligibility this year, but winners in these categories will be announced at the official ceremony on January 19:
The Award for Outstanding Sports Program:
24/7 (HBO)
Hard Knocks (HBO)
Monday Night Football (ESPN)
Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel (HBO)
SportsCenter (ESPN)
The Award for Outstanding Children’s Program:
Dora the Explorer (Nickelodeon)
iCarly (Nickelodeon)
Phineas and Ferb (Disney Channel)
Sesame Street (Sprout)
SpongeBob Squarepants (Nickelodeon)
The Award for Outstanding Digital Series:
Burning Love (http://screen.yahoo.com/burning-love/)
Epic Rap Battles of History (www.epicrapbattlesofhistory.com)
Lizzie Bennet Diaries, The (www.youtube.com/lizziebennet)
Video Game High School (http://www.rocketjump.com/category/vghs)
Wired: What’s Inside (http://video.wired.com/series/what-s-inside)
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