Michael Bay Murders Pigeons? Plus, A Hollywood Conspiracy
I feel like this headline speaks for itself. We have a lot to discuss.
It’s January, which means we’re at a lull when it comes to movies. Well … sort of.
Horror movies are doing pretty well. M3GAN slaughtered its expectations and even the experimental freak-out film Skinamarink seems to be doing relatively decent business. I saw it in a very crowded theater, and yes, there were quite a few walk-outs. Even the horrific Avatar: The Way of Water is making money by the boatload. So it’s not like there’s NOTHING to see.
With that said, it’s certainly a steep decline when it comes to Things To Watch, and yet the movie industry never fails us. No, don’t worry about this newsletter. Business is boomin’.
Let’s get into the story of the year (so far), which is whether or not “acclaimed” Pearl Harbor director Michael Bay killed a pigeon.
Here are the facts:
“According to an insider with knowledge of the production, a homing pigeon was allegedly killed by a dolly in the middle of a take in Rome … Bay and his legal team have made three different attempts in the past past year to throw the case out of court. Because Bay was the director of the film during production, he’s being held responsible. Italian authorities gave Bay the option to settle and pay a small fine, which he declined.”
The movie in question is 6 Underground, which is an abomination, but if we were to sue directors for bad movies, we’d have very few directors left. The fact that this Netflix production was taking place in Italy is crucial too as Italy has a national law that prohibits the harming or killing of pigeons, as the country considers them a protected species.
When I first read this headline, I assumed that Bay strapped a bomb or fireworks to a pigeon. The man never half-asses anything. A dolly strike is almost too simplistic.
Honestly, I imagined this if we’re being honest.
The man loves to blow things up. You have to respect that.
Now, I’ve never spoken to “well-known animal lover and major animal activist” Michael Bay in person, so I’m more than happy to discuss this with him in-person for this newsletter. Michael, the ball’s in your court. However, there will be a countdown, and then this offer will explode.
Okay, as bizarre as that Michael Bay pigeon story is, it’s now time to discuss the wonkiest story of the fledgling year: Andrea Riseborough’s sudden Oscar rise.
I saw a lot of movies in 2022. 98 new ones to be precise. If you can believe it, there were quite a few I didn’t get a chance to check out, others that I knew about and decided to skip for one reason or another and many, many more that I hadn’t even heard of. To Leslie is one of the latter.
The American drama starring Andrea Riseborough, Allison Janney and Marc Maron had a world premiere in March at SXSW and a limited release in mid-October. As of November, it made $23,304 at the box office with decent reviews and minimal fanfare. And yet, there’s a good chance it garners an Academy Awards nomination for Andrea Riseborough despite very few people knowing about it. As I’m writing this, Riseborough is eighth in odds when it comes to Best Actress, right behind Ana de Armas in Blonde and Margot Robbie in Babylon and in front of true-blue contenders like Emma Thompson, Jennifer Lawrence and Olivia Colman.
The reason for her sudden rise is as compelling as her performance. A grassroots campaign that seems to have started out of thin air may boost her into the awards picture.
Now, Riseborough is a strong actress and probably will have at least a nom from the Academy at some point in her career—she’s been big parts of heralded fare from Birdman to Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical to The Death of Stalin—but it’s very peculiar seeing so many people in the industry campaign for Riseborough for a movie few have heard of so late in the season.
When you see the tweets and hear the positive mentions, it almost always claims that To Leslie is “a small film with a giant heart” and seems to have been written by a bot that only sort of knows how words go together.
World of Reel has put together a list of those that have shouted our Riseborough and it’s a who’s who of Hollywood: Charlize Theron, Kate Winslet, Amy Adams, Laura Dern, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, Patricia Arquette, Edward Norton, Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Watts, Susan Sarandon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Liam Neeson, Jane Fonda, Demi Moore, Ed Harris, Allison Janney, Catherine Keener, Jennifer Garner, Greg Kinnear, Patricia Clarkson, Mia Farrow, Sarah Paulson, Helen Hunt, Kim Basinger, Marisa Tomei, Melaine Griffith, Sally Field, Amy Ryan, Mary Louise Parker, Debra Winger, Geena Davis, Brookie Shields, Juliette Lewis, Minnie Driver, Mira Sorvino, Courtney Cox, Richard E. Grant, Rosana Arquette, Anne Archer, Frances Fisher, Demián Bichir
Cate Blanchett even went out of her way when accepting a Critics Choice award to call out Riseborough, and it all feels a bit phony (at least to me).
Puck’s Matthew Belloni has gone so far as to say that "rival campaigners believe" the agency CAA, "which reps a lot of the backers," could be behind it. I’m not that naive to think that behind-the-scenes campaigning isn’t a major part of these awards; it’s just very curious to see such a big surge at the last second for a movie that few know about.
It still seems like she’ll be on the outside looking in come Oscars nomination time, but this is definitely one of the quirky subplots to watch for over the next few weeks. Can she garner enough random support to best Viola Davis, Danielle Deadwyler or Michelle Williams when it comes to that final Best Actress spot? We’ll find out soon enough.
We may not know exactly what’s happening, but we can definitively state that To Leslie is “a small film with a giant heart.”
98% on RT is not "decent reviews." And those 3 posts are cherry picked. Go look at the actual praise from all those other actors. Out of 50 or more posts I've seen, only 3 or 4 use the small film/big heart phrase.