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 For favorite "La La Land," which took director Damien
Chazelle six years to get made, and indie challenger
"Moonlight," made on such a tight budget the cast and crew
shared one trailer, the tortured path to the Academy Awards has
only added to their allure.
Other recent films like Martin Scorsese's "Silence" was 28 years
in the making, while Warren Beatty flirted for two decades with
the idea of "No Rules Apply." They were notably snubbed in
awards season and at the box office, however, as was Ben
Affleck's personal project "Live by Night."
Hollywood awards watchers say that may have little to with the
skill and commitment of the filmmakers. But certain passion
projects and their creators found a way of breaking through to
audiences at what turned out to be the just the right moment,
years after they were first conceived.
"Timing is everything on these movies and how they resonate.
It's about passion but it's also about being in the right place
at the right time," said Pete Hammond, awards columnist for
Deadline.com.
"Moonlight," the tale of a young black man struggling to grow up
in an impoverished Miami neighborhood, was drawn from the
personal experiences of director Barry Jenkins and writer Tarell
Alvin McCraney.
"No one was doing it for the paycheck," said "Moonlight"s
Oscar-nominated supporting actress Naomie Harris. "We didn't
have a publicity budget, it was all word of mouth and us doing
interviews."
Despite such hardships, the unsentimental view of bullying,
drugs and gay issues arrived just as Hollywood was clamoring for
movies about modern, black stories rather than "maids and
slaves" fare. "Moonlight" has eight Oscar nominations.
The film shows "a very specific place and point of view and I
think people right now want to experience genuine and authentic
stories," Jenkins said.
FANTASY COMES KNOCKING
Meanwhile, "La La Land," a new, romantic musical with old world
charm but a not-so-happy ending, is favorite to take the best
picture Oscar on Sunday after getting a leading 14 nominations.
[to top of second column] |
 Six years ago, "the idea of making an original Los
Angeles-set movie was an utter fantasy," said producer Fred
Berger, while accepting a Golden Globe last month, thanking
voters for "ignoring conventional wisdom."
After a bitter U.S. election campaign and a slew of sudden
celebrity deaths in 2016, escaping it all with a musical has
proved appealing.
"Musicals have been very successful at times when the country is
in a state of depression or war. When the nation is not in a
good place, musicals explode," said Craig Zadan, who with Neil
Meron produced Oscar-winner "Chicago" in 2002.
Waiting does not always have a happy ending.
Beatty directed, produced, wrote and starred in his film about
Howard Hughes. But his dream project failed with audiences who
may have felt they knew enough about the eccentric business and
film tycoon from Scorsese's acclaimed 2004 film "Aviator." Also,
after a 15 year-absence from movie screens, many people under 30
had barely heard of Beatty.
Affleck channeled his love of 30s and 40s gangster movies to
write, direct, produce and star in "Live by Night." But critics said
it fell short of celebrated films of the same genre like "The
Godfather," or the recent TV series "Boardwalk Empire." Variety said
poor box office resulted in a $75 million loss for movie studio
Warner Bros.
With "La La Land, Chazelle also used an old form, but he infused it
with a modern love story about ambition and artistic compromise.
"That's the big difference in making it successful. Chazelle hit the
zeitgeist because he knew he had to make it something for audiences
today who would respond," said Hammond.
"It has the passion behind it but it also has something that people
can relate to and that's the magic formula," he added.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Leela de Kretser and Tom
Brown)
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