5 Things the Fall Festivals Told Us About the Oscar Race, From Julianne Moore and John Malkovich to ‘La Bola Negra’ and ‘I Play Rocky’ — SkimNews
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- "La Bola Negra" won TIFF's People's Choice Award, capping a festival triple crown where Venice's Golden Lion went to May el-Toukhy's "Woman Unknown" — and 9 of the last 10 People's Choice winners landed a best picture nomination, with two of those winning
- John Malkovich won Venice's Volpi Cup for Best Actor in Martin McDonagh's "Wild Horse Nine" (Searchlight), playing a dying CIA agent in the days before Chile's 1973 coup; the film earned a 13-minute standing ovation and opens Nov. 6, with Malkovich's last Oscar nomination dating to the Clinton administration
- "La Bola Negra" — Netflix's Spanish Oscar submission directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, shot on 35mm and inspired by Federico García Lorca's unfinished work — also took Cannes' best director prize in May and stars Penélope Cruz
- Julianne Moore emerged as best actress front-runner for Jesse Eisenberg's "The Debut" (A24, Dec. 11), playing a New Jersey homemaker who can't stop singing; she already owns an Oscar for "Still Alice" 11 years ago, complicating A24's "second win" pitch
- Mathilde Arcel won Venice's Volpi Cup for "Woman Unknown" — in her first lead role and first film festival — making the Golden Lion winner eligible for international feature under the Academy's new rules
- Peter Farrelly's "I Play Rocky" and Siân Heder's "Being Heumann" finished behind "La Bola Negra" in Toronto's top three; Heder previously rode "CODA" from Sundance all the way to best picture
- TIFF officials clarified there is no separate international ballot — the international People's Choice goes to the highest non-North American film, which is why a British English-language drama won that prize
Why it matters: TIFF's People's Choice Award has landed nine of the last ten winners a best picture nomination — and two of those won it outright — so Netflix, which has never won the category, now has a real cross-category contender in 'La Bola Negra.' Meanwhile, A24 needs to pitch Moore as 'a Moore the Academy hasn't seen,' not a victory lap, after her 'Still Alice' win 11 years ago.
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