Crisis would seem to be a central theme in writer/director J.C. Chandor’s feature filmography, from his debut movie Margin Call (which earned him a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination in 2012) to All Is Lost (a Film Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Director in 2014) and now A Most Violent Year (which the National Board of Review earlier this month named 2014 Best Picture of the Year).
Acknowledging that crises of different stripes are a part of each film, Chandor noted that the true common thread through all three of his films is simply “real people on planet Earth. Audiences watch these people as they walk through their lives. You’re visiting these people–one person in Robert Redford’s case in All is Lost, 10 in Margin Call, and two people in particular in A Most Violent Year. Audiences are watching these people during an extraordinary day, week or month where the path taken can go one way or another–and hopefully viewers can relate to these characters and how they meet their different challenges.”
The challenges are evident in A Most Violent Year (an A24 release in association with Participant Media, Image Nation Abu Dhabi, FilmNation Entertainment). The drama is set during the winter of 1981 in New York City. It’s a year that statistically was one of the most violent in NYC’s history. Oscar Isaac stars as Abel Morales, a fuel supplier who’s trying to grow his business while staying true to his moral compass, a proposition which seems impossible in the face of rampant violence and corruption. Both the business and Morales’ family–including his wife portrayed by Jessica Chastain–are in jeopardy.
Regarding her group naming it the year’s Best Picture, Annie Schulhof, president of the National Board of Review (NBR), said, “A Most Violent Year is an exhilarating crime drama with a compelling story, outstanding performances, and an elegant cinematic style. J.C. Chandor has given us a new and provocative perspective on the American Dream.”
NBR voting yielded a tie for the Best Actor honor between Isaac for A Most Violent Year and Michael Keaton for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). Chastain earned Best Supporting Actress distinction for her performance in A Most Violent Year.
A Most Violent Year has also earned Film Independent Spirit Award nominations for Best Screenplay (Chandor), Supporting Actress (Chastain) and Editor (Ron Patane). Chastain additionally scored a Golden Globe nomination while Isaac received a Best Actor nom from the Gotham Independent Film Awards.
Chandor’s latest Spirit Award nomination continues quite a run in that indie competition. Margin Call won him the Spirit’s coveted Robert Altman Award, the Best First Feature Spirit Award, and was nominated for Best First Screenplay. All Is Lost secured Chandor a Best Director Spirit nomination.
First-time collaborators
For A Most Violent Year, Chandor collaborated for the first time with editor Patane and cinematographer Brandon Young. The latter recently earned a Spirit Award nomination for Best Cinematography on the strength of the Ana DuVernay-directed Selma.
Chandor described Young as “a young genius in composition and lighting.” The director was drawn to the DP initially for his cinematography on director David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Body Saints, which was one of two films (the other being the Andrew Dosunmu-directed Mother of George} which earned Young the U.S. Dramatic Cinematography Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Chandor recalled being in an editing room adjacent to the one where Ain’t Them Body Saints was being cut. “I got to know the people behind the movie and they went to Sundance with the film. I first saw the finished product in Cannes. I literally walked out of the screening and it was like a no-brainer–I tried to hire Bradford. Eventually we came together for A Most Violent Year.”
Pete Beaudreau edited Margin Call and All Is Lost but personal circumstances and timing made him unavailable for A Most Violent Year. He instead edited the recently released Rupert Wyatt-directed The Gambler starring Mark Wahlberg. “My movie got greenlit a few weeks after The Gambler got greenlit,” recalled Chandor. “It was a big opportunity for him [Beaudreau] and sad for me. He needed to take that opportunity. So I found myself in the market for an editor and I was looking to build a lasting relationship.
“When I work with an editor,” continued Chandor, “I’m quite hands off on one hand, and am hyper specific on the other. I let the editor work, trust their taste but I also need an editor to be open to me coming in. I will bend, break and give in to different ideas. It’s a really important relationship–and I feel fortunate to have connected with Ron [Patane]. He’s an editor through and through, a student of the art form. He has a poster of Walter Murch on his wall. He had worked with director Derek Cianfrance in New York. I wanted someone based in New York. And he worked with Derek as part of a collaborative group. Derek would work with two or three editor on movies–Ron was used to that, instinctively open to going back and forth with another editor and the director. I met with him and liked his seriousness. I loved his work on Blue Valentine [directed by Cianfrance]. Everything about him played into the way I like to edit a movie. He’s a great editor and collaborator.”
While on the promotional swing for A Most Violent Year, Chandor is also slated to embark on his biggest budgeted film to date, Deepwater Horizon, based on the true story of the 2010 BP oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico which caused a horrific oil spill. The explosion killed 11 workers and injured 16 others. The story introduces us to the workers on that rig and is based in part on a New York Times article titled “Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hour.”
This is the sixth in a multi-part series with future installments of The Road To Oscar slated to run in the weekly SHOOT>e.dition, The SHOOT Dailies, SHOOT’s January print issue (and PDF version) and on SHOOTonline.com. The series will appear weekly through the Academy Awards. The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 15, 2015. The Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.
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