Oscar for Joker?

2008-09-09 10:12

Toronto - The last time a movie topped a $500m at the domestic box office, it sailed away with most of the Oscars.

That was Titanic 11 years back. This time, it's The Dark Knight, a critically acclaimed movie, but a genre picture that will be a tougher sell to Academy Award voters, except for the performance delivered by Heath Ledger.

As Hollywood enters the prestige season, when studios unveil most of their awards contenders, Ledger seems a solid bet for an acting nomination as the maniacal bad guy the Joker.

The role has been classified as one of the best villains in Hollywood history, a remarkable turn by the actor who died in January of an accidental prescription drug overdose.

While The Dark Knight also should score well in technical categories, its Oscar prospects are slim for other key awards, among them an acting honour for Christian Bale, reprising his Batman Begins lead role.

"There are no prospects for that," Bale said shortly before The Dark Knight came out in July. "It's the genre thing again, but hey, look, I'm very happy with what I did and what I set out to do. But it's not award-worthy. It's not the kind of thing that gets it.

Extraordinary performance

"Listen, Heath's performance is extraordinary, and I'm quite happy to say he steals the show. He does, absolutely. He's just phenomenal in it."

With The Dark Knight finally winding down at theatres after crossing the $500m mark, studios are beginning to roll out their serious awards contenders, though Oscar night on February 22 remains nearly six months away.

The Toronto International Film Festival, along with the Venice and Telluride fests, traditionally launch the marathon of screenings, interviews and celebrity appearances that lead up the Oscars.

"Toronto has a track record over the years of breaking films for awards consideration," said Piers Handling, director of the festival that runs through Saturday. "We're perfectly positioned in September to sort of tee it off."

Among films that played Toronto in advance of their Oscar triumphs were best-picture champs American Beauty and Crash.

Familiar Oscar names

Acting winners Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) and Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton) also gained early exposure in Toronto.

While surprise contenders almost always materialise near year's end, the line-up so far looks heavy on familiar Oscar names, a veteran or two finally getting recognition, and a handful of fresh faces.

The Toronto line-up includes such potential contenders as past Oscar nominee Keira Knightley for her period piece The Duchess, Anne Hathaway for her stark family drama Rachel Getting Married and relative unknown Sally Hawkins for the comic drama Happy-Go-Lucky.

Hawkins offers a stellar performance as a teacher whose eternal optimism is put through the ringer in the latest from director Mike Leigh, who has a history of putting British actresses on Hollywood's map with such films as Secrets & Lies and Vera Drake.

- AP