Here Are The 2016 Nominations From The Casting Society of America!


The Academy really should give out an Oscar for Best Casting.  But until they do, we’ll just have to be happy with the annual nominations from the Casting Society of America!

Here are the 2016 nominations.  (It’s interesting to note that this is the third guild to nominate Deadpool.  How many heads would explode is Deadpool somehow landed a best picture nomination?  That probably won’t happen but the wild speculation is the best part of Oscar season!)

BIG BUDGET – COMEDY

  • Deadpool”  Ronna Kress, Jennifer Page (Location Casting), Corinne Clark  (Location Casting)
  • “Hail, Caesar!”  Ellen Chenoweth, Susanne Scheel (Associate)
  • “La La Land”  Deborah Aquila, Tricia Wood
  • “Rules Don’t Apply”  David Rubin, Melissa Pryor (Associate)
  • “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot”  Bernard Telsey, Tiffany Little Canfield, Jo Edna Boldin (Location Casting), Conrad Woolfe (Associate), Marie A.K. McMaster (Associate)

BIG BUDGET – DRAMA

  • “Arrival”  Francine Maisler, Lucie Robitaille (Location Casting)
  • “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”   Fiona Weir, Jim Carnahan (Location Casting)
  • “Hidden Figures”  Victoria Thomas, Jackie Burch (Location Casting), Bonnie Grisan (Associate)
  • “Nocturnal Animals”  Francine Maisler
  • “The Girl on the Train”  Kerry Barden, Paul Schnee, Joey Montenarello (Associate), Adam Richards (Associate)

STUDIO OR INDEPENDENT – COMEDY

  • “20th Century Women”  Laura Rosenthal, Mark Bennett
  • “Bad Moms”  Cathy Sandrich Gelfond, Meagan Lewis (Location Casting)
  • “Café Society”  Juliet Taylor, Patricia DiCerto, Meghan Rafferty (Associate)
  • “Hell or High Water”  Richard Hicks, Jo Edna Boldin, Chris Redondo (Associate), Marie A.K. McMaster (Associate)
  • “The Edge of Seventeen”  Melissa Kostenbauder, Coreen Mayrs (Location Casting), Heike Brandstatter (Location Casting)

STUDIO OR INDEPENDENT – DRAMA

  • “Captain Fantastic”   Jeanne McCarthy, Angelique Midthunder (Location Casting), Amey Rene (Location Casting)
  • “Jackie”  Mary Vernieu, Lindsay Graham, Jessica Kelly (Location Casting)
  • “Lion”  Kirsty McGregor
  • “Loving”  Francine Maisler, Erica Arvold (Location Casting), Anne N. Chapman (Location Casting), Michelle Kelly (Associate)
  • “Manchester By the Sea”  Douglas Aibel, Carolyn Pickman (Location Casting), Henry Russell Bergstein (Associate)

LOW BUDGET – COMEDY OR DRAMA

  • “Christine”  Douglas Aibel, Stephanie Holbrook, Tracy Kilpatrick (Location Casting), Blair Foster (Associate)
  • “Goat”  Susan Shopmaker, D. Lynn Meyers (Location Casting)
  • “Hello, My Name is Doris”  Sunday Boling, Meg Morman
  • “Moonlight”  Yesi Ramirez
  • “White Girl”  Jessica Daniels

ANIMATION

  • “Finding Dory”  Kevin Reher, Natalie Lyon
  • “Moana”  Jamie Sparer Roberts, Rachel Sutton (Location Casting)
  • “The Jungle Book”  Sarah Halley Finn, Tamara Hunter (Associate)
  • “The Little Prince”  Sarah Halley Finn, Tamara Hunter (Associate)
  • “Zootopia”  Jamie Sparer Roberts

The Austin Film Critics Association Honors Moonlight!


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The Austin Film Critics Association have announced their picks for the best of 2016!

Best Film: Moonlight (dir: Barry Jenkins)

Best Director: Barry Jenkins, Moonlight

Best Actor: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

Best Actress: Isabelle Huppert, Elle

Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis, Fences

Best Original Screenplay: Barry Jenkins, Moonlight

Best Adapted Screenplay: Eric Heisserer, Arrival

Best Cinematography: Linus Sandgren, La La Land

Best Score: Justin Hurwitz, La La Land

Best Foreign-Language Film: The Handmaiden (dir: Park Chan-wook)

Best Documentary: Tower (dir: Keith Maitland)

Best Animated Film: Kubo and the Two Strings (dir: Travis Knight)

Best First Film: The Witch (dir: Robert Eggers)

The Robert R. “Bobby” McCurdy Memorial Breakthrough Artist Award: Keith Maitland, Tower

Austin Film Award: Tower (dir: Keith Maitland)

Special Honorary Award: To the ensemble cast of Moonlight and casting director Yesi Ramirez for excellence as an ensemble.

Special Honorary Award: To honor Anton Yelchin for his contribution to the cinema of 2016, including performances in Green Room and Star Trek Beyond. His was a brilliant career cut profoundly short.

Special Honorary Award: To A24 Films for excellence in production in distribution. Their work gave us Moonlight, Green Room, Swiss Army Man, The Lobster, The Witch, and 20th Century Women, among others.

Special Honorary Award: To filmmaker Keith Maitland and his film Tower for revisiting a tragic event in Austin, Texas history in a sensitive and unique manner.

AFCA 2016 Top Ten Films:

  1. Moonlight
  2. La La Land
  3. Arrival
  4. The Handmaiden
  5. Manchester by the Sea
  6. Elle
  7. Hell or High Water
  8. The Lobster
  9. Jackie
  10. Sing Street

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists Announced Their Picks For The Best of 2016!


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The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (of which I am not a member and what’s up with that!?) announced their picks for the best of 2016 earlier this week.

And here they are:

AWFJ BEST OF AWARDS
These awards are presented to women and/or men without gender consideration.
Best Film
Arrival
Hell or High Water
La La Land
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

Best Director
Damien Chazelle – La La Land
Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
David Mackenzie – Hell or High Water
Denis Villeneuve – Arrival

Best Screenplay, Original
20th Century Women – Mike Mills
Hail Caesar – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Hell or High Water – Taylor Sheridan
La La Land – Damien Chazelle
Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan

Best Screenplay, Adapted
Arrival – Eric Heisserer
Lion – Luke Davies
Love & Friendship – Whit Stillman
Moonlight – Barry Jenkins
Nocturnal Animals –Tom Ford

Best Documentary
13th – Ava DuVernay
Gleason – Clay Tweel
I Am Not Your Negro – Raoul Peck
OJ Made in America – Ezra Edelman
Weiner – Elyse Steinberg and Josh Kriegma

Best Animated Film
Finding Dory – Andrew Stanton andAngus MacLane
Kubo and the Two Strings- Travis Knight
Moana – Ron Clements, Don Hall, John Musker, Chris Williams
Zootopia – Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush

Best Actress
Amy Adams – Arrival
Isabelle Huppert – Elle
Ruth Negga – Loving
Natalie Portman – Jackie
Emma Stone – La La Land

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Viola Davis – Fences
Greta Gerwig – 20th Century Women
Naomie Harris – Moonlight
Octavia Spencer – Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea

Best Actor
Casey Affleck – Manchester By The Sea
Joel Edgerton – Loving
Ryan Gosling – La La Land
Tom Hanks – Sully
Denzel Washington – Fences

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Mahershala Ali – Moonlight
Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
Ben Foster – Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges – Manchester By the Sea
Michael Shannon – Nocturnal Animals

Best Ensemble Cast – Casting Director
20th Century Women – Mark Bennett and Laura Rosenthal
Hail Caesar – Ellen Chenoweth
Hell or High Water – Jo Edna Boldin and Richard Hicks
Manchester by the Sea – Douglas Aibel
Moonlight – Yesi Ramirez

Best Cinematography
Arrival – Bradford Young
Hell or High Water – Giles Nuttgens
La La Land – Linus Sandgren
Manchester by The Sea – Jody Lee Lipes
Moonlight – James Laxton

Best Editing
Arrival – Joe Walker
I Am Not Your Negro — Alexandra Strauss
La La Land – Tom Cross
Manchester By The Sea – Jennifer Lame
Moonlight – Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders

Best Non-English-Language Film
Elle – Paul Verhoeven, France
Fire At Sea – Gianfranco Rossi, Italy
The Handmaiden – Chan-Wook Park, South Korea
Julieta – Pedro Almodovar. Spain
Toni Erdmann – Maren Ede, Germany

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS
These awards honor WOMEN only

Best Woman Director
Andrea Arnold – American Honey
Ava DuVernay -13TH
Rebecca Miller – Maggie’s Plan
Mira Nair – Queen of Katwe
Kelly Reichardt – Certain Women

Best Woman Screenwriter
Andrea Arnold – American Honey
Rebecca Miller – Maggie’s Plan
Kelly Reichardt – Certain Women
Lorene Scafaria – The Meddler
Laura Terruso – Hello, My Name is Doris

Best Animated Female
Dory in Finding Dory –Ellen DeGeneres
Judy in Zootopia – Ginnifer Goodwin
Moana in Moana – Auli’i Cravalho

Best Breakthrough Performance
Sasha Lane – American Honey
Janelle Monáe – Moonlight and Hidden Figures
Madina Nalwanga – Queen of Katwe
Ruth Negga – Loving

Outstanding Achievement by A Woman in The Film Industry
Ava DuVernay – For 13TH and raising awareness about the need for diversity and gender equality in Hollywood
Anne Hubbell and Amy Hobby for establishing Tangerine Entertainment’s Juice Fund to support female filmmakers
Mynette Louie, President of Gamechanger Films, which finances narrative films directed by women
April Reign for creating and mobilizing the #OscarsSoWhite campaign

EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

Actress Defying Age and Ageism
Annette Bening – 20th Century Women
Viola Davis – Fences
Sally Field – Hello, My Name is Doris
Isabelle Huppert – Elle and Things to Come
Helen Mirren – Eye in the Sky

Most Egregious Age Difference Between The Lead and The Love Interest Award
Dirty Grandpa – Robert De Niro (b. 1943) and Aubrey Plaza (b. 1984)
Independence Day: Resurgence – Charlotte Gainsbourg (b 1971) and Jeff Goldblum (b 1952)
Mechanic Resurrection – Jason Statham (b. 1967) and Jessica Aba (b. 1981)
Rules Don’t Apply – Warren Beatty (b. 1937) and Lily Collins (b. 1989)

Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent
Jennifer Aniston – Mother’s Day and Office Christmas Party
Melissa McCarthy – The Boss and Ghostbusters
Margot Robbie – Suicide Squad and Tarzan
Julia Roberts – Mother’s Day
Shailene Woodley – Divergent Series

Bravest Performance
Jessica Chastain – Miss Sloane
Naomie Harris – Moonlight
Isabelle Huppert – Elle
Sasha Lane – American Honey
Ruth Negga – Loving

Remake or Sequel That Shouldn’t have been Made
Ben-Hur
Ghostbusters
Independence Day: Resurgence
The Magnificent Seven
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2

AWFJ Hall of Shame Award
Sharon Maguire and Renee Zellweger for Bridget Jones’s Baby
Nicholas Winding Refn and Elle Fanning for The Neon Demon
David Ayer and Margot Robbie for Suicide Squad
David E. Talbert and Mo’Nique for Almost Christmas