Oscar Outlook 2012: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

When it's learned that an asteroid is going to destroy the earth, a man's (Steve Carell) wife leaves him and he ends up helping a girl (Keira Knightley) find her long lost love in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.  Relative newcomer Lorene Scafaria wrote and directed this story.  Up until now, the New Jersey-native is most notable for scribing Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist.  She writes plays, sings, as well as acts and is extraordinarily attractive.  Although, if she associates herself any longer with Ashton Kutcher, he will suck the beauty right out of her.

Also in the cast: Adam Brody, Melanie Lynskey, Patton Oswalt, Connie Britton, William Persen, Melinda Dillon, Gillian Jacobs and TJ Miller.  Editor: Zene Baker.  Cinematographer: Tim Orr.  Production Designer: Chris L. Spellman.  Set Decorator: Kathy Lucas.  Costume Designer: Kristin M. Burke.  Composers: Jonathan Sadoff and Rob Simonsen.

Every couple years or so, on average, an actress, manages to score two Golden Globe nominations, either in leading/supporting, comedy/drama or even two nods in the same category.  Meryl Streep scored two in the Musical/Comedy category alone in 2009 for It's Complicated and her Julia Child.  That was the last time an actress collected double nods.  Sandra Bullock scored two leading nods the same year as well for The Blind Side and the commercial hit The Proposal.  For 2008, Kate Winslet dabbled in a little category fraud with lead and supporting.  Streep again got two that year in the leading categories, this time one in each.  For 2007, Cate Blanchett got lead/supporting nods for both Golden Globes and the Oscars.  For 2003, Scarlett Johansson's two leading nods failed to materialize in Oscar recognition.  For 2002, Streep did it in leading/supporting.  For 2001, Nicole Kidman got one in each leading category.  For 1999, Julianne Moore did it.  For 1993, Emma Thompson managed leading/supporting, both of which translated to AMPAS nominations.  For 1992, Miranda Richardson also managed leading/supporting nominations.

The pattern has the phenomenon happening in spurts for women.  While it was infrequent in the 90s, the occurrences really took off comparatively in the 2000s, as it happened eight times.  We've gone for two seasons straight now where there have been no female double-nominees and 2012 may not offer any for women.  Also interesting to note is, in the past, they occurred during the time of the actresses' career to "strike while the iron is hot."  Richardson, Thompson, Moore and Johansson were all in the infancy of their star ascension.  You can make the same argument for Kidman, whose career never really began to spread its wings until she parted ways with Tom Cruise.  Yet, lately, the phenomena has taken a turn towards the more established with commercial appeal, as we have seen with Sandra Bullock, and Meryl Streep (twice).  Winslet may have been a shrewd example of demoting her Reader performance to supporting status, as it is next to impossible to offer up two dramatic leading performances in the same year and fit both of them into the appropriate Golden Globe category.

But, who are the likeliest this year?  Naturally, Keira Knightley sits at the top of the list, as her Anna Karenina prospects are so pronounced.  Amanda Seyfried and Carey Mulligan are relatively in the beginning portions of their respective film careers, as far as their award traction goes.  But out of their upcoming films, only Les Misérables has any clear box-office potential.  Seyfried will also be battling it out in the supporting category with Anne Hathaway (the presumed frontrunner due to her cropped hair and impending weight loss, I guess) and newcomer Samantha Barks (and perhaps even Helena Bonham Carter, though I think she has Great Expectations with another film).  Seyfried's Lovelace just strikes me as a disaster waiting to happen, but you never know.  Amy Adams seems to be the unassuming prospect.  She has two roles that little is known about thus far, but the talent she's working opposite (Clint Eastwood in Trouble with the Curve and PT Anderson and Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master) raises a couple of eyebrows.

But, it's Knightley who will be red carpet ready this Fall and has a comic role opposite Steve Carell in this Summer's Seeking a Friend for the End of the World who offers the best chance on paper.  Filmed last Summer in the LA-area, Focus Features will release the film in the US on June 22nd.

Also on the Radar:

Anna Karenina     Argo     Beasts of the Southern Wild     The Bourne Legacy     The Dark Knight Rises     Dark Shadows     Django Unchained     Gangster Squad     Great Expectations     The Great Gatsby     The Hobbit     Hope Springs     The Hunger Games     Hyde Park on the Hudson     Lawless     Lincoln     Lola Versus     Lovelace     Low Life     Magic Mike     The Master     Les Misérables     Life of Pi     Moonrise Kingdom     People Like Us     Prometheus     To Rome with Love     Ruby Sparks     Savages     Seeking a Friend for the End of the World     The Silver Linings Playbook     Smashed     The Surrogate     Trouble with the Curve     Won't Back Down 


The Avengers     The Amazing Spider-Man     Men in Black III