Weinstein bringing "A Single Man" as date to Oscars

After glowing reactions radiating from Venice (and the festival awarding its Best Actor prize to Colin Firth), nearly a week of endless buzz surrounding a certain studio acquisition, and the Toronto screening where potential buyers finally got a look at Tom Ford's directorial debut, "A Single Man" has found a faithful companion in Harvey Weinstein.

Despite the financial woes that have plagued The Weinstein Company for the past year, which caused the notoriously headstrong brothers to bump a pair of Awards Season hopefuls (the John Cusack/Gong Li epic "Shanghai," and Andrew Jarecki's narrative feature debut "All Good Things," starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella, his first film since the incendiary 2003 doc "Capturing the Friedmans"), Harvey beat out reportedly thick competition from fellow studio heads to grab U.S. and German distribution rights for Ford's festival favorite.  The deal is estimated between $1 million and $2 million, a modest sum, though we need only glance back at "The Reader" to be reminded how much cash Weinstein is willing to pump into campaigns and court Academy attention for seasonal darlings.

Variety reports the studio plans on a late-breaking platform launch for "A Single Man" to qualify for Academy contention (duh) before rolling the film out into wider release in January.  It remains to be seen whether the recent relocation of "The Road" to November 25, where it joins the Weinstein's own assumed Best Picture frontrunner "Nine," will have an effect on the latter film's release plans.  It's very unusual for a studio to launch competing films, especially in wide release, which is currently the defacto plan for both, and on such a busy weekend for Oscar bait (Paramount also just bumped buzz magnet "Up in the Air" from Dec. 4 to a limited opening on Nov. 13, with a wide expansion scheduled on, you guessed it, November 25).  It's conceivable that "Nine" could open in limited release that weekend, as Bob Weinstein already told Variety he plans on booking 1,200-1,500 screens for "The Road," and "Chicago" received a platform expansion in 2002 under the reigns of a shrwed Weinstein-era Miramax campaign that paid off to the tune of $160 million+ domestic and an eventual Oscar for Best Picture.

With P & A funds strapped to the breaking point, the Weinsteins have a tricky budgeting challenge on their hands to delegate dollars with strategic acuity.  "The Road" has faced wildly mixed reactions from fest audiences, and its bleak, grisly tone was always guaranteed to be a hard sell.  Viggo Mortensen is the film's best bet for Oscar attention, aside from a handful of potential tech notices, but he'll be competing with the more unanimously adored performance Firth has delivered in "A Single Man."

Rob Marshall's star-studded "Nine" is a sure bet to sweep the gamut of kudos categories, though the grab-bag of Best Supporting Actress contenders (Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, and Kate Hudson) will face a challenger in "Single" co-star Julianne Moore, who's gotten charmed notices for her performance as the ultimate fag hag (a boozy extrovert whose obvious desire for her gay best friend pours), and perhaps even Melanie Laurent, the real star of The Weinstein Company's surprise blockbuster "Inglourious Basterds," whose facial expressions alone inject her performance with enough gravitas to mean business with Academy voters.

It's less likely that neophyte director Tom Ford will make the final five for Best Director, as the category seems particularly thick with veterans (Eastwood, Jackson, Campion, the Coens...even
Tarantino and Marshall are proven Oscar favorites with high profile projects up for consideration) and he's a likelier bet to be nominated for adapted screenplay or producer, if "A Single Man" indeed scores a spot among the Academy's newly expanded Top Ten.

While "Nine" lies in wait for its unveiling, critical support for "A Single Man" is already stellar.  Venice crowds were uniformly smitten, with ScreenDaily opening its Lido review with what’s pretty much the critical consensus:  “Fashion designer Tom Ford gets it spectacularly right first time round in his directorial debut.”  Variety’s Leslie Felperin joins the chorus of admirers, albeit taking a more dramatic angle on the film’s merits.  “Like the speck of sand that seeds a pearl, it's the tiny fleck of kitsch at the heart of "A Single Man" that makes it luminous and treasurable."  Felperin gushes about the “just-so exquisteness of the overall look” of the picture, which brings to mind the handful of presence potential tech contenders.

Ubiquitous in fashion as much for his handsome, seductive appearance as a singular creative vision, Ford has, not surprisingly, delivered the aesthetic goods. In Contention's Guy Lodge sums up the cream of the "Single Man" crop quite nicely, lauding Arianne Phillips’ costumes design as "immaculate," citing her prestigous credentials as evidence of existing support (Phillips, "a three-time Guild nominee and Oscar nominee for “Walk the Line"...has a strong track record").  Lodge continues, adding that the film's "cinematography and production design (from Dan Bishop of “Mad Men” fame) are no less accomplished and deserving. And Abel Korzeniowski’s [original score] is the best of the year so far. Something to consider." Indeed.

Based on Christopher Isherwood’s tragic, triumphant 1964 novel –
which has become a beloved touchstone of gay literature – Ford’s film takes place over the span of a single day in the life of George (Colin Firth), a British professor living alone in 1962 Los Angeles following the sudden death of his long-term partner (Matthew Goode) in a car accident.   Flashbacks of the couple’s
happy life together lend weight to George’s current dilemma by setting precedent for the unique relationship dynamic forged between the men so that its absence is palpable throughout George’s day, an emotionally authentic void that informs every decision George makes. 

It becomes apparent early on that George is in the middle of planning his suicide, prudently putting things in order at home before leaving to run a few errands and tactfully tie off loose ends at work, finally paying a visit to best friend Charley (Julianne Moore) as his penultimate destination.

Ford gradually illuminates a profound sense of possibility as the picture progresses, keeping thematic pace with George’s day, his revealing encounters with supporting characters, and the incongruent surprises that subtly evoke a genuine recognition of being alive, of feeling.  “For the first time in a long time he is seeing, and he is pulled by the beauty of life,” Ford told the Venice press.  “He has a kind of epiphany where he understands what life was about.”