By Robert Goldrich, The Road To Oscar Series, Part 14

Thomas Vinterberg recently became part of recurring history relative to the Best Director Oscar and DGA Award nominee lineups. For 68 of the DGA Awards’ 73 years, there’s been at least one discrepancy between the Guild nominations and their Academy Award counterparts.

This time around directors Vinterberg and Aaron Sorkin are in line with that predominant trend. Vinterberg earned a Best Director Oscar nod for Another Round (Samuel Goldwyn Films). Sorkin, who didn’t make the directorial Oscar cut, earned a DGA Award nomination for The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix).

Four of the five directors vying for the DGA Award and the Outstanding Achievement in Directing Oscar are in sync this year: Lee Isaac Chung for Minari (A24); Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman (Focus Features); David Fincher for Mank (Netflix); and Chloe Zhao for Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures).

On the flip side of tradition, if Vinterberg were to win the directing Oscar, he wouldn’t be aligned with but rather bucking history. Only eight times has the DGA Award winner not gone on to win the Oscar. That happened most recently last year when Sam Mendes won the DGA Award for 1917 while Bong Joon Ho scored the Oscar for Parasite.

Last month’s Best Director Oscar nomination for Vinterberg was a surprise to many, including him. Vinterberg said that he didn’t at any time envision that Another Round would yield his first career Best Director Oscar nomination. But when that came to pass last month, he was moved by the recognition from his colleagues. Vinterberg’s Danish film also earned an Academy Award nod for Best International Feature. 

Written by Vinterberg and his longtime compatriot Tobias Lindholm, Another Round centers on four teachers–including most notably Martin (portrayed by Mads Mikkelsen)–at various stages of middle age looking to re-energize and find some compelling meaning in their mundane lives. They decide to experiment upon learning of a hypothesis from an obscure philosopher that we are all born with an alcohol shortfall in our blood. They endeavor to rectify that by each attaining and maintaining a set higher blood alcohol content level to see how their existence will be impacted. The results are wide ranging–from tragic to inspiring, at times emboldening them and generating a new zest for life.

Another Round marks a dramatic–and sometimes whimsical–departure from films that delve into alcohol consumption. It is not a moralistic look at drinking booze but instead an examination of different lives and the needs within not just the middle-aged protagonists but also their young students.

Vinterberg explained how the story evolved. “We live in a very controlled, sometimes slightly mediocre safe zone in our little country (Denmark). I guess our movies are a reaction against that somehow.” The writer-director went on to relate that this results in a number of folks “rooting for inspired, less controlled behavior, for what cannot be planned, executed or measured.”

This in part inspired Vinterberg and Lindholm to dig deeper, researching world history, finding accomplishments made by famous people under the influence. He recalled looking into great world leaders, including Winston Churchill who once famously said, “I never drink before breakfast.”  The rest of the day was fair game for Churchill yet his decisions, unorthodox thinking, strategizing and boldness helped to win World War II. 

Add to that the creative choice to take some liberties with the aforementioned blood alcohol theory and Vinterberg and Lindholm found the engine for their storyline which champions exploration of one’s life while not imparting a heavy-handed lesson. At the same time, Another Round also clearly shows that people can be destroyed by excessive drinking.

Vinterberg as a filmmaker brings the audience into his characters’ lives, collaborating with a cast and crew largely familiar to him, including close friend Mikkelsen who gives a tour de force performance. But Vinterberg also went outside his comfort zone to team with other select artisans for the first time, a prime example being cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen. Vinterberg said of the DP, “He has an enormous sensitivity which I saw in his cinematography on other movies.” The director said he was moved by how Grøvlen moves the camera. “This movie needed this sense of closeness to the characters, that sense of truthfulness and sensitivity,” observed Vinterberg.

Grøvlen’s handheld approach to Another Round followed a guideline that he and Vinterberg agreed upon–described by the director as depicting “the awkwardness of the sober life” and “the smoothness of the drunk life,” until excessive drinking takes hold.

Grøvlen has graduated from a local to an international cinematic hero, according to Vinterberg who cited the DP’s much lauded work including shooting the feature Victoria in one long take. Grøvlen achieves an intimacy with his subjects, continued Vinterberg, that helped make Another Round feel “as if what’s happening on screen would have happened even if the camera did not get there in time to catch it.”

That sensitive, empathetic feel helps to advance the script despite it going “in all sorts of different directions,” said Vinterberg who pointed, for example, to the silliness of a scene in which middle-aged men try to catch codfish, to a tender moment of reckoning eliciting tears from Martin, to even a musical number at the end of the film. 

Among the filmmaking challenges, quipped Vinterberg, was that musical number in which he had to convince Mikkelsen to dance. Both that and the point in the story when Mikkelson’s character is crying reflect the deep mutual trust between the director and actor. The challenge of the latter scene had nothing to do with the crying in that Mikkelsen is “a fantastic actor” but rather, said Vinterberg, was rooted in all that was around that scene which required extensive orchestration of writing, rehearsal time, shooting and editing. Vinterberg noted that the range of scenes from the musical to the emotional to the comedic underscores “the complete faith” he and the actor have in each other.

And perhaps the major takeaway or lessons learned from Vinterberg’s experience on Another Round has to do with a trust in himself. While structure and planning remain integral elements to filmmaking, breaking free from a controlled, contrived safe zone to gain and apply creative inspiration is also important–and akin to what the main characters in Another Round are struggling to attain. The film, he said, has “widened my perspective on storytelling.”

At the same time, Vinterberg said it will be some time before he gets a handle on what resonates most for him. “For private reasons this is the most important film I ever have done or will ever do. I lost my daughter while making this movie,” he shared, noting that so much has happened during the past two years in his life spanning celebration and profound grief. As for what he walks away with first and foremost from his experience on Another Round, Vinterberg observed that he might be able to fathom a deeper answer 10 years from now. In the meantime, the final frame of Another Round informs viewers that the film is dedicated to his daughter, Ida.

Judas and the Black Messiah
Sean Bobbitt, BSC recently scored his first career Best Cinematography Oscar nomination for Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros.) and his second BAFTA Film Award nod (the first coming for 12 Years a Slave in 2014).

Bobbitt read the script for Judas and the Black Messiah and said that by “sheer luck” he was later working in New York on another film, which enabled him to meet with director Shaka King who also co-wrote (with Will Berson) the screenplay. Bobbitt recalled that within minutes of meeting King, he was hoping that the film would be offered to him. 

“Shaka had such a passion and knowledge for the film,” said Bobbitt. “He’s such an eloquent man with a great aura and great humor. The way he described the film, his ideas–it was exciting.”

Bobbitt also felt a measure of shame in that the story was unfamiliar to him. “I grew up in Saudi Arabia and England through the 1960s so that whole period of American history had been a mystery to me. I was being taught about Kings and Queens in England.” But the awareness of the story was also nonexistent, continued Bobbitt, among white Americans. “Every white male of my age from America seemed to not know the story while every single Black male and female I spoke with knew the story.”

Judas and the Black Messiah recounts the events surrounding the betrayal and assassination of Illinois Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton. The film chronicles the true story of William O’Neal (portrayed by Lakeith Stanfield), a petty criminal offered a plea deal to become an FBI informant and gather intelligence on Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), resulting in the brutal murder of the young charismatic leader by Chicago police in 1969.

Bobbitt, whose roots are in news and documentary filmmaking, related, “I did work documenting injustices around the world. To see something of this scale and horror having happened in America was shocking. And it’s still happening in America as we speak. This film tells a very powerful story that everyone should be watching and learning, thinking and talking about–to help make sure this doesn’t keep happening. 

Judas and the Black Messiah sadly remains all too relevant in society today, underscoring the deep sense of purpose that Bobbitt felt in tackling the story. “When you have a true story like this, you’re duty bound to be faithful to that story itself and the memory of the people. That was important to all of us in the production, that the story be treated with respect and honesty.”

King did just that, affirmed Bobbitt who described him as “a great director with all the skills of great direction–the major one of those being the gift of collaboration. While he is a very open collaborator, he has done the work, knows the story, has been thinking about it for years. He has a strong idea of what the film should be, what it should look like yet he’s still open to suggestions. We spent hours in his office working through the script. We had sessions talking about shots and sequences. We would try to surprise each other with ideas. It’s an incredibly creative and fulfilling way of working.”

Bobbitt deployed the ARRI Alexa LF and Alexa Mini LF on Judas and the Black Messiah. The cameras provided attributes that King and Bobbitt valued. Bobbitt explained that they wanted to ensure that the characters’ flesh tones were captured accurately. “It was important for us to maintain that accuracy throughout the run of the film,” said the DP. “In the past lots of Black actors were forced to wear makeup to be ‘acceptable’ to the camera. That was not a consideration for us. I had worked with the Alexa LF before and knew it would hold those flesh tones beautifully.”

Bobbitt also wanted to be true to the black-and-white and color photographs from the era that King had collected to provide an idea of what they were going for. Bobbitt said that the colors had specific characteristics–black was very black and there were punchy colors that faded over time. “We wanted to echo those colors, that vibrancy. These characters were young people doing something to change the world. They were dynamic and vibrant and we wanted the colors to reflect that vibrancy, to be lively. I knew we could do justice to that with the Alexa LF.”

The lenses of choice were from the ARRI DNA line. They combine vintage lens optics and sensibilities with modern technical advantages, related Bobbitt who added, “They gave us a sense of the period feel. They are spherical, all glass, a little bit softer, not clean and antiseptic. They have character and foibles. They provided a very subtle way of introducing that period look to the audience without smacking them over the head.”

The Alexa LF Mini offered a smaller package that works well in tight spaces, able to serve as a handheld camera.

Reflecting on his experience on Judas and the Black Messiah, Bobbitt said, “This film felt special from the beginning. We were filming in Cleveland and pulled in crew from all over America. All of the crew was there because they very much wanted to be. They knew the story of Fred Hampton and wanted to be part of telling that story. There was a camaraderie, a collective desire to make this right. As a result, people went out of their way. They were not there for the money but because they wanted this film to be good. What you see on the screen is testament to the desire and hard work of everyone on the crew and to the leadership of Shaka King.”

Further testament is reflected in a total of six Oscar nominations. In addition to the recognition for cinematography, Judas and the Black Messiah is up for Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Original Song (“Fight For You,” H.E.R., Dernst Emile II, Tiara Thomas) and Supporting Actor (for both Kaluuya and Stanfield).

One Night in Miami…
Based on the stage play by Kemp Powers who also penned the screenplay, One Night in Miami… (Amazon Studios) relates a fictional account of four high-profile Black Americans together in a hotel room in 1964 the night after a 22-year-old Cassius Clay (portrayed by Eli Goree) won the heavyweight boxing title with a stunning knockout of Sonny Liston. 

Clay, who would later change his name to Muhammad Ali, joined Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Hall of Fame football player and actor Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) to discuss racial injustice and how they could use their celebrity to better society. Regina King, a Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner in 2019 for If Beale Street Could Talk, made her theatrical feature directing debut with One Night in Miami… She has numerous TV series to her directorial credit (including episodes of Insecure, Shameless and This Is Us) and is on the commercialmaking/branded content directing roster of Independent Media. King is a four-time primetime Emmy winner for her acting–three for American Crime and the most recent coming in 2020 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series for Watchmen.

Last month One Night in Miami… earned King a DGA Award nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director.

Jess Wu Calder, a producer on One Night in Miami…, recently participated in a Producers Guild of America panel discussion consisting of this year’s nominees for the PGA’s Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures. She recalled that the pandemic lockdown took hold when One Night in Miami... had but three scenes left to shoot in March 2020. Production resumed in July under heavy scrutiny. Calder said that “the eyes of the world were upon us” because One Night in Miami… was the largest film at that time to resume lensing in Los Angeles. 

Yet another complication arose, noted Calder, when King’s COVID-19 test produced inconclusive results. King was ultimately cleared to return to work. However, the director was prepared to figure something out if her subsequent COVID test or tests were also inconclusive. King even mentioned a possible Facetime alternative to keep her involved in the process, according to Calder. 

The director, cast and crew had a strong sense of urgency to get back to work. Calder explained that for King and colleagues, the film was too important to hold up–particularly given the death of Breonna Taylor, a Black medical worker. In March 2020, Taylor was shot and killed by police officers during a botched raid on her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky.

One Night in Miami… scored three Oscar nominations–Adapted Screenplay (Powers), Supporting Actor (Odom, Jr.) and Original Song (“Speak Now,” Odom, Jr., Sam Ashworth).

Upon getting news of his nomination, Powers stated, “I’d like to thank the Academy for honoring the story behind One Night in Miami… I wrote this script hoping to give the world a look into the humanity of Black men through the prism of these four icons. I’m thrilled that its message has resonated with audiences the way it has, especially during a time when reasserting the value of Black lives is so important. I want to thank Jennifer Salke and the team at Amazon for throwing so much support behind this film. I want to thank our tremendous cast, who brought life and vibrance to our characters in ways I never imagined, even when it was on the page. I want to thank producers Jess Calder, Keith Calder and Jody Klein for believing in me and this story. And lastly, I want to thank Regina King, the captain of our ship and the truly visionary artist without whom this film would not exist. I am proud to also be a part of the creative team behind Soul (as co-director/co-writer), which the Academy honored with a nomination for Best Animated Feature. Being able to help put two meaningful pieces of art into the world during these challenging times has left me feeling both humbled and grateful.”

Promising Young Woman
Frederic Thoraval earned his first career Oscar nomination for editing Promising Young Woman (Focus Features), which marked the feature directorial debut of Emerald Fennell who also wrote the screenplay. The editing nod was one of five for the film, the others being Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and Leading Actress. 

The latter went to Carey Mulligan who stars as Cassie, a medical school dropout. Cassie’s once promising prospects have fallen off a cliff. She’s working at a coffee house and spends her free time either moping about or pretending to be blind drunk at nightclubs where she ultimately shames guys who try to take advantage of her seemingly impaired state. It’s an inexplicably strange double-life until we become privy to what made her quit med school, a terrible trauma suffered by her dear friend and fellow student, Nina, years ago. This genre-busting film plays at times like a dark comedy, a comic tragedy, a thriller, a psychological tale that perfectly dovetails with the #MeToo era, all the above and more.

Thoraval credits Fennell with having a major hand in his Oscar nomination. “She is a brilliant everything–writer, director, an amazing person. She made an impossible dream come true for me.” The editor described the script as one that “you start and just can’t stop reading. I could see very clearly from the outset that she had a very clear vision of what she wanted to do. It was the kind of movie you knew instantly you wanted to be a part of. When we first met two years ago, it was not a job interview. It was more of a talk and we connected very quickly.”

Thoraval recalled that “from day one, Emerald gave an energy and something very positive to the making of the film. It was an adventure. She knows every word in the story, is very precise about words but was never attached to them. She was very open, one of the things that made the adventure so good. She wanted whatever worked to go on the screen. It was very collaborative in the cutting room. I never had the feeling that I was working with a first-time director. She had directed a short (Careful How You Go which made its mark at Sundance in 2019) before and was quick on everything. It was a very honest, collaborative process.”

A priority for Thoraval was creating a connection between the audience and the character of Cassie. “We had to make sure we followed her path,” he said, adding that Mulligan’s brilliant performance went a long way toward kindling that empathy.

Among the lasting impressions that the experience of working on Promising Young Woman made on Thoraval was the power of the collective, collaborative spirit. “You feel that every single person on that movie had an impact on it. You feel how much every department contributed, helping to build the world Emerald had in mind. It’s a movie that is very honest and was very important to all of us.”

The Academy Award nomination is one of several accolades bestowed upon Thoraval’s cutting of Promising Young Woman. He also garnered his first career BAFTA Film Award and American Cinema Editors Eddie noms.

Mank
Director David Fincher’s Mank (Netflix) marked the first time that production designer Donald Graham Burt and set decorator Jan Pascale had worked together. Yet from that collaboration sprung a common bond this awards season in that Mank earned a second career Oscar nomination for each. 

Burt’s first Oscar nod and win came for another Fincher film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in 2008. Burt has a long filmography with Fincher as reflected in his Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Award nominations over the years, all for Fincher films–The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl and Mank. Burt won the ADG Award for Benjamin Button in 2009 and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in 2012.

By contrast, Mank is Pascale’s first Fincher film. Her initial Oscar nomination was for Good Night, and Good Luck in 2006. Her ADG Award nominations have over the years come for The Spiderwick Chronicles, Argo and Sicario.

Mank tops this year’s Oscars field with 10 nominations, the other nine being for Best Picture, Director (Fincher), Cinematography (Erik Messerschmidt, ASC), Original Score (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross), Sound (Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance, Drew Kunin), Costume Design (Trish Summerville), Makeup & Hairstyling (Gigi Williams, Kimberley Siteri, Colleen LaBaff), Leading Actor (Gary Oldman) and Supporting Actress (Amanda Seyfried)

Shot digitally in glorious black and white by Messerschmidt, Mank centers on screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (portrayed by Oldman) as he races to finish the script for director Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane on a tight timetable, secluded in a bungalow in a desert town miles removed from Los Angeles as he recuperates from a car accident in 1940. Attending to him are his secretary Rita (Lily Collins) and his German nurse (Monika Grossmann).

In the process, through Mankiewicz’s worldview–marked by his abiding social conscience and wit, at times caustic–we are introduced to not only Hollywood but life in the 1930s, ranging from the struggle of the rank and file during the Great Depression to the grandeur of Hearst Castle and high society. We also become privy to Mankiewicz’s own inner struggles with alcoholism, as well as a professional battle with Welles (played by Tom Burke) over screen credit for what became the classic Citizen Kane. The Mank cast also includes Charles Dance (as William Randolph Hearst), Seyfried (as Marion Davies, Hearst’s wife), Tuppence Middleton (as Sara Mankiewicz, Herman’s wife), Arliss Howard (as Louis B. Mayer), Sam Troughton (as John Houseman), Tom Pelphrey (as Joe Mankiewicz, Herman’s brother), Toby Leonard Moore (as David O. Selznick) and Ferdinand Kinsley (as Irving Thalberg).

Burt connected with Pascale through a recommendation. They struck up a rapport and were off to the races on Mank. Pascale jumped at the opportunity, noting that she’s been a long-time admirer of Burt’s work. Both felt fortunate to have such a great story to tell. 

Burt recalled reading the script and then having an early conversation with Fincher who shared his vision for the film in part through a unique scenario. Fincher told him to picture being in a film vault and you see Citizen Kane on the shelf. Right next to it there’s another film which you don’t recognize; it’s Mank. You watch it and it feels like a film that was made at exactly the same time. It was more like a “sister movie” to Citizen Kane. 

That vision further intrigued Burt who knew he had to be painstakingly true to the era, transporting us to the 1930s and ‘40s in California, running the gamut from the larger than life Hollywood glamour at a Louis B. Mayer birthday party or a circus party at the Hearst Castle to the unvarnished reality of the Great Depression which left many unemployed, on the dole or grifting. Some aspiring entertainment industry workers found themselves taking on whatever gigs emerged, including making propaganda films smearing the California gubernatorial candidacy of Sinclair Lewis. 

There was “a little more real world” in Mank, observed Burt, that differentiated it from Citizen Kane. At the same time there was an element of Mank paying homage to Citizen Kane, which made the project all the more challenging and rewarding for Burt and Pascale.

Burt and Pascale did extensive research, even finding some black-and-white photos with the film’s characters at Hearst Castle in San Simeon, Calif. Still there was one bit of research Burt didn’t care to do. “I didn’t want to go to Hearst Castle and look at it. We knew that if we tried to replicate Hearst Castle, it would be a losing battle.” Instead the tact was to try to tell the story and make the setting feel extravagant, opulent and full of grandeur with the resources available to them. It was all about conveying a sense of place. To replicate Hearst Castle would clearly have been impossible.

Then there was the consideration of how settings would look in black and white. Pascale said a useful tool emerged on that front–a noir filter on the iPhone. She noted that the filter yielded an image somewhat akin to what the RED Helium Monochrome camera captured. This helped Burt and Pascale to learn about what colors worked and which ones didn’t for particular scenes, how to make the set less jarring for the actors.

Burt added that after utilizing that filter for a few weeks, he and Pascale developed an instinct for how colors and scenes would translate into black and white for the movie.

Burt and Pascale worked closely with Fincher and other compatriots, including DP Messerschmidt and costume designer Summerville, to help realize the desired look, tone and feel.

Both Pascale and Burt observed that most rewarding for them on Mank was to be part of such a meaningful narrative, a purposeful film that will continue to resonate years from now, sparking people to question some aspect of their lives, to ponder, to have an awakening of some sort. “This involves more than the endeavor of just going to a movie,” said Burt. “It’s being part of a narrative that has greater value.”

Pascale added that another takeaway for her was the camaraderie in the process itself of making Mank. 

“Every department just cared so much. Everybody brought their ‘A’ game,” related Pascale. “You could feel the energy in the production. It was a tough schedule, very busy, getting rid of 21st century things to go back to the 1930s and ‘40s yet everybody was all in, with a great attitude so that we could achieve the best possible results.”

News of the World
James Newton Howard earned his latest Oscar nomination for Best Original Score on the strength of the Paul Greengrass-directed News of the World (Universal Pictures). This marked the ninth career Academy Award nod for composer Howard, the others coming for: The Prince of Tides in 1992, The Fugitive in ‘92, Junior in ‘95, One Fine Day in ‘97, My Best Friend’s Wedding in ‘98, The Village in 2005, Michael Clayton in 2008, and Defiance in 2009.

“One never gets tired of being nominated for an Oscar,” said Howard, noting that his last such recognition came over 10 years ago. Howard found it reaffirming that he has now returned to the nominees’ circle. “I’ve been doing music for movies for 35 years and to again be nominated means a lot.”

Howard was drawn to News of the World on several fronts–the story, the fact that it was a Western, and the opportunity to work for the first time with Greengrass, whom he had long admired. 

On the genre front, Howard shared, “From the time I was a kid, I thought Westerns had it all–fast paced, good guys, bad guys, romance, a stagecoach careening through the mountains, unbelievably beautiful backdrops. The film music I most closely identified with as a kid was in Westerns.”

Howard has already demonstrated an acumen for scoring Westerns as reflected in such credits as Wyatt Earp and Hidalgo. The composer found the News of the World script by Greengrass and Luke Davies, adapted from the best-selling novel by Paulette Jiles, appealing and relevant to today. 

The film centers on the relationship and the deep bond that is formed over time between Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (portrayed by Tom Hanks), a Confederacy veteran, whose profession is that of a non-fiction storyteller, moving from town to town, sharing the news of presidents and queens, glorious feuds, devastating catastrophes and gripping adventures from the far reaches of the globe. As he travels in the backwoods to reach his next town hall gig where he will regale attendees with stirring stories directly from the pages of newspapers, Kidd crosses paths with a stranded Johanna (portrayed by Helena Zengel), a 10-year old taken by the Kiowa native tribe six years earlier (after the murder of her parents) and raised as one of their own. Johanna, hostile to a world she’s never experienced and dealing with the trauma of being ripped away from two families, is being returned to her biological aunt and uncle against her will. Kidd agrees to deliver the child where the law says she belongs. As they travel hundreds of miles into the unforgiving wilderness, the two face tremendous challenges of both human and natural forces as they search for a place that either can call home.

Howard described Greengrass as “extremely confident and specific of what he wanted the music to feel like in different parts of the movie.” For example, the writer-director wanted the music to reflect the character of Kidd, a man who, said Howard, is “a loner, an outsider trying to fit into a broken world. Paul wanted the music to relay that.” Howard put together an ensemble of “broken instruments” dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries, with musicians playing them in an effort to get that desired feel, tone and mood. 

That “broken” theme applied not only to Kidd but the era of the film, right after the Civil War when the country was battered, brutalized and divided. The Civil War had left the U.S. with 600,000 dead and assorted communities shattered. The rift in America was great yet at that point in News of the World two people from different worlds and generations are thrown together. “Paul was interested in the concept of healing, the possibility that we can come together,” said Howard, adding that the parallels between the News of the World story and today are inescapable. Howard observed that the pandemic has left a trail of death, a devastated economy and we are in a time of great political division.

News of the World offers some hope. Howard shared that Greengrass believes–and the movie believes–that we can come together. The composer said it was inspiring to be part of an “uplifting” film.

Much of the film called for Howard to be “restrained” in his approach. It wasn’t until well into the film that he could flex his epic Western music chops. “For between the first third to half of the film, the music is very restrained. I felt that was an achievement,” assessed Howard. “Paul told me, ‘I will ask you at times to write so little that you will feel you’re doing nothing at all.’ That’s hard for a guy who’s classically trained. But it all comes down to telling the same story as the director is telling. That’s what it’s all about.” 

Howard said he’s grateful for getting a lesson in restraint from Greengrass whom he hopes to work with again. “I feel it’s a significant new relationship for me,” affirmed Howard. “He’s a wonderful filmmaker.”

News of the World also gave Howard the opportunity to rekindle a longstanding collaborative relationship with editor William Goldenberg, ACE, a five-time Oscar nominee who won for Argo in 2015. Howard and Goldenberg worked previously on such films dating back to the editor’s first feature cutting solo, Alive, followed by Confessions of a Shopaholic, Concussion and Detroit. 

Howard said that Goldenberg is a pleasure to work with. All their collaborations have been marked by simple, clear, honest communication and a worthwhile exchange of ideas. “I always felt his agenda was pure. The only thing he’s interested in doing is making the movie better,” related Howard.

Howard received one of the four Academy Award nominations garnered by News of the World, the others being for Cinematography (Dariusz Wolski, ASC), Production Design (production designer David Crank, set decorator Elizabeth Keenan) and Sound (Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller, John Pritchett).

This is the 14th installment of a 16-part series with future installments of The Road To Oscar slated to run in the weekly SHOOT>e.dition, The SHOOT Dailies and on SHOOTonline.com, with select installments also in print issues. The series will appear weekly through the Academy Awards gala ceremony. The 93rd Oscars will be held on Sunday, April 25, 2021.

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