Oscar Outlook 2012: Quartet

Slightly Presumptuous
Filming Announcement

Dustin Hoffman makes his official directing debut with Quartet.  Ronald Harwood adapted his own play about a group of retired opera singers preparing to recreate the third act of Verdi's Rigoletto.  The writer behind The Dresser has hit a career stride the last ten years, having been nominated for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, as well as winning for The Pianist, he was behind the screenplays for Being Julia and Australia.  The films stars Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly (who replaced Peter O'Toole after subbing in for Albert Finney, the latter of which just wrapped roles in recent Bourne and Bond sequels), and Pauline Collins.  Also in the cast is Michael Gambon.  A fun fact of trivia: the play has been extremely popular in Finland since the closing of the original West End production in the early 2000s.  The Weinstein Company will handle the film's domestic release, with international dates already set up for this Fall.  Right now, the blogosphere is pushing Smith as a possible Oscar nominee.  Considering the dearth of competition, anything is possible.

Film Editor Barney Pilling has quietly amassed a steady stream of reputable credits lately: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, An Education, Never Let Me Go, and One Day.  He has sifted through John Borman footage a few times, who has lensed such features as Tsunami: The Aftermath.  De Borman worked with Hoffman on Last Chance Harvey and also worked on The Full Monty and Serendipity.  His next feature will be Half of a Yellow Sun, set in Nigeria.  The production design team includes members whose work can be seen in The Piano, The Queen, An Education, and Made in Dagenham.

Also on the Radar:

Anna Karenina     Amour     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     Killing Them Softly     Lawless     Lincoln     Lola Versus     Lovelace     Low Life     Magic Mike     The Master     Les Misérables     Life of Pi     Moonrise Kingdom     The Paperboy     People Like Us     Prometheus     To Rome with Love     Ruby Sparks     Rust & Bone     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