2006-2007: The First Plunge

If 2005 was the year of blatant topical discussion, 2006 and the coming awards season looks to take things a step further.



The specter of September 11, 2001 will be ushered directly into the spotlight in the forms of Paul Greengrass’s “United 93” (formerly "Flight 93") and Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center.” Long time French writer-turned-director Santiago Amigorena will even stretch his arms fictionally in this regard with “Quelques jours en septembre,” and Mike Binder will soon enough tackle the humanistic side of things with “Empty City” (formerly “Reign O’er Me”).

As soon as next week the public will be met with an example of more aggressive political grandstanding on celluloid as The Wachowski Brothers and James McTiegue unleash “V For Vendetta,” a rather flimsy realization of Alan Moore’s seminal tale, but scathing in its intent nonetheless.

Meanwhile, the overall conversational spectrum looks to focus in further, tackling subjects like the history of the CIA (Robert De Niro’s “The Good Shepherd”) and the human face of freedom fighting (Phillip Noyce’s “Hotstuff”). In addition, Steven Zaillian’s Robert Penn Warren adaptation “All the King’s Men” will finally spill onto screens, while Clint Eastwood will take us back to one of World War II’s most infamous moments in “Flags of Our Fathers.”

And not to be left out, Michael Moore will be back with his usual bag of trickery as he takes on the world of pharmaceutical companies and HMOs in “Sicko.”



2006 might also be seen as a year of true crime thrillers. The political intrigue of “Hotstuff” will join two of the most infamous homicide investigations in America’s history in Brian De Palma’s “The Black Dahlia” and David Fincher’s “Zodiac.” In addition, Allen Coulter’s “Hollywoodland” will recount the investigation of actor George Reeves’s mysterious death.

Meanwhile, Steven Soderbergh takes the investigation overseas with the Joseph Kanon adaptation “The Good German” and, unless the over-inflated budget and out-of-control shooting schedule has spelled its doom, Michael Mann looks to turn “Miami Vice” on its ear, perhaps stepping into “Heat” territory.

And that’s not even scraping the surface of the tip of the iceberg.

The summer has four tent-pole productions that will certainly make their marks at box offices – Gore Verbinski’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” Ron Howard’s “The Da Vinci Code,” J.J. Abrams’s “Mission: Impossible III” and Bryan Singer’s “Superman Returns.” God willing, Brett Ratner has not raped Singer’s legacy with “X-Men 3,” and the disaster waiting to happen looks to be Wolfgang Petersen’s “Poseidon.” But it still looks like a good time, right?

Martin Scorsese returns to his minimalistic roots in “The Departed” while Mel Gibson steps further into insanity with “Apocalypto.” There will be decent fluff for those interested in Bill Condon’s “Dreamgirls” and Gary Winick’s “Charlotte’s Web,” and we’ll get mind-bending science fiction (Darren Aronofsky’s “The Fountain”) and drama (Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Babel”) alike.



Master craftsmen Robert Altman (“A Prairie Home Companion”) and Robert Towne (“Ask the Dust”) will saddle back up, as will Francis Ford Coppola (“Youth Without Youth”), getting behind the camera for the first time in nine years. Maverick filmmakers Todd Field (“Little Children”) and Andrew Dominik (“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”) will put forth their sophomore efforts, and former Oscar favorites Curtis Hanson (“Lucky You”) and Ridley Scott (“A Good Year”) will take further steps toward ubiquity.

Then, as usual, there will be Oscar fare of the typical sort. The early frontrunner for such immediate classification looks to be Milos Forman’s “Goya’s Ghosts.” Though the genre bending of Sofia Coppola’s “Marie-Antoinette” could satisfy the fancy tickled by “Moulin Rouge!” five years ago.

A brief look at the performers of the upcoming year reveals a list of lady hopefuls far more extensive than what we saw in 2005.

Set to boast an even more extensive portfolio boost in 2006 is actress Cate Blanchett, with no less than four films on the slate. Her best chances lie with “The Good German” or “Babel,” though if those weren’t enough, Richard Eyre’s “Notes on a Scandal” will help. Perhaps she’s in danger of splitting her ticket a bit too much? Nonetheless, her heady 2006 experience began last month with the limited release of Rowan Woods’s “Little Fish,” so we’re off!



A likely fourteenth nomination seems in the cards for the always threatening Meryl Streep, and given her typical “every other year” frequency, it’ll be a bit overdue. The actress will have two stand-out roles in “A Prairie Home Companion” and David Frankel’s “The Devil Wears Prada.”

Scarlett Johansson looks to have another one-two punch following her 2003 offerings as she takes on the role of Kay Lake in “The Black Dahlia” and re-teams with Woody Allen fresh off of “Match Point” (and another Oscar snub) in “Scoop.” She’ll also be popping up in Christopher Nolan’s “The Prestige” for added “oomph.”

On the gentlemen’s side of things, Hugh Jackman will perform in four high-profile films in “Scoop,” “The Prestige, “The Fountain” and of course, “X-Men: The Last Stand.” Perhaps a first mention is lurking beneath the surface with all of that exposure.

Jude Law will be back in the awards hunt, teaming again with the collaborator that brought him his first two Academy Award nominations, Anthony Minghella, in “Breaking and Entering.” He’ll also reprise the Oscar-nominated role of Jack Burden in “All the King’s Men.”



Matt Damon will also have a stellar year as he stars in “The Good Shepherd,” “The Departed” and Kenneth Lonergan’s long-awaited sophomore effort, “Margaret” (fit with 9/11 atmosphere).

Meanwhile, Law’s “Closer” co-star Clive Owen will pull double duty that should make him noticeable, first in Spike Lee’s “Inside Man,” and later in the year in Alfonso Cuarón’s “The Children of Men.”

You can investigate the double, triple or quadruple duty of other stars this year in the charts below.

And ah heck, while I’m at it I might as well MENTION Paul Weitz’s “American Dreamz,” Emilio Estevez’s “Bobby” and M. Night Shyamalan’s “Lady in the Water,” right? As well as Ryan Murphy’s “Running With Scissors.”

All things considered, 2006 thankfully looks to be a much more promising cinematic year than 2005. This is just an early look, albeit a more probing one than you’re likely to find elsewhere at this point. More films will surely join this list, while a number listed above will join the ranks of “Alexander,” “Kingdom of Heaven,” and “Elizabethtown” as incredibly good bets from afar falling short, awards wise, upon examination of the product. But that’s the fun of the season. That’s the excitement of the game. Dem’s the ropes, folks.



Below, you’ll see the results of my research on the upcoming awards season. There are charts with rankings of 30 in each category (35 in the always stuffy Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor categories, 7 in the Animated Feature category and nothing in song, because I’m not that insane yet). You’ll also find a listing of films by studio, which will give you a look at which distributors have the best year ahead of them (looks like Universal and, oddly enough, Paramount to me). There you’ll find every film mentioned in the charts, plus a few more scattered throughout.

I’d say this is pretty much a one-stop shop, as I’m not including speculative films that might not see the light of day. Not everyone is a Steven Spielberg or a Clint Eastwood. If it isn’t filming by now or soon, it likely won’t find its way to screens this year. But if I’ve missed something, feel free to mention as much in the comments section below.

And, if you haven’t noticed, you’ll find my first set of full predictions in the sidebar for the 2006-2007 Oscar season.

So…enjoy them. Mull them over. Use them to dig further perspective into your own imaginings of the film season to come, if you like. But, it goes without saying, don’t take them too seriously. They’re all as educated as guesses can be at this point, but if we learn anything each and every year, it is that the season doesn’t make a lick of sense until we’re neck deep in it. And that’s a long ways off, yet.

I’ll leave you with my 15 foreseeable “it” films of the upcoming year and fall awards season:

“Apocalypto”
“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”
“Breaking and Entering”
“The Da Vinci Code”
“Dreamgirls”
“Flags of Our Fathers”
“United 93”
“The Good German”
“The Good Shepherd”
“Goya’s Ghosts”
“Hotstuff”
“Mission: Impossible III”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dean Man's Chest”
“Superman Returns”
“World Trade Center”


(NOTE: I’ll be taking the rest of the month off. Call it an extended spring break. But I’ll be back in April, and perhaps a few or more of the ideas I bounced around back in January will be a part of the regular updates here at In Contention throughout the spring and summer. Thanks so much for making the first year an exciting one. It’s been a grand experiment thus far. I look forward to continuing the discussion soon.)