This is just a scratch idea. But here goes as of today:

BEST PICTURE— Dunkirk, The Post, Ladybird, The Florida Project, Phantom Thread, The Darkest Hour, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, Three Billboards, The Shape of Water.  The Big Sick is hanging in there. My two favorite movies, The Meyerowitz Stories and Baby Driver won’t get in, sad to say. Mudbound is on the waiting list. So is I, Tonya.

BEST ACTOR— Tom Hanks, Daniel Day Lewis, Gary Oldman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Timothee Chalamet– with Daniel Kaluuya on the outside, gaining traction.

BEST ACTRESS— Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, Sally Hawkins, Saorise Ronan, Vicky Krieps– with Margot Robbie so close, and Jessica Chastain holding onto a spot. I think Kate Winslet is out this year.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR — Mark Rylance, Willem Dafoe, Sam Rockwell, Armie Hammer, Dustin Hoffman. Before they moved Hammer to Supporting, I thought Michael Stuhlbarg would be included. Now that seems unlikely. Ben Mendelsohn special mention for “Darkest Hour.”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS— Alison Janney, Laurie Metcalf, Holly Hunter, Octavia Spencer, Melissa Leo (for “Novitiate”– Academy members watch this performance, please). Lesley Manville, Mary J. Blige, Lois Smith (who should be a presenter this year, please) all runners up in a hot category.

BEST DIRECTOR— Spielberg, Joe Wright, Paul Thomas Anderson, Christopher Nolan, and Guillermo del Toro. I wish there were slots for Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach, Martin McDonagh, and Sean Baker.

Who knows? This will change, and change again.

Daniel Day Lewis doesn’t do a lot of publicity. But the three time Oscar winner did turn up Sunday night for the Directors Guild screening of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread,” a piece of exciting filmmaking that will figure greatly in the Oscar race.

Daniel looked happier than I’ve ever seen him in such a setting. He laughed and answered questions at the Q&A following the screening moderated by Lynn Hirschberg. He seemed very comfortable. The only thing different about him since we last saw him promoting “Lincoln” was…everything. He wore work boots, jeans, and a short sleeved flannel shirt that showed his arms are now covered in tattoos. Covered. His head is also shorn of hair, cut to the buzz. He’s not bald, but just the overall look– well, you’ll see the photos.

DDL says he’s retiring from acting with this film, but the look tonight made us think maybe he’s in the “Sons of Anarchy” feature film.

Joining DDL on stage were director PTA (“There Will Be Blood,” “The Master”) plus beloved veteran actress Lesley Manville and hot newcomer Vicky Krieps (pronounced crepes). The latter’s big revelation at Q&A’s is that– reading the script in her native Luxembourg–she thought the lines she’d been asked to put on tape were for a student movie. “I didn’t know until about three weeks in that Daniel was involved.”

DDL looked skeptical, but it doesn’t matter. Krieps is a find and may get herself a Best Actress nomination. For a newcomer, she is very self assured.

Also in the audience, the wonderful actress Harriett Harris, who you will know from “Frasier” as his literary agent. She nearly steals the movie as a pivotal secondary character.

Daniel plays a British fashion designer in the 1950s and much is made of the fashions and so on. But that’s not really what the movie is about. His character, Reynolds Woodcock, is a genius, a prodigy, an arrogant bastard who is totally wrapped up in his own ego. He thinks he’s a loner but cannot be alone, which is displayed as the movie unfolds. The fashion part is almost beside the point.

As DDL said tonight, “During the early days we really didn’t quite understand what profession of Reynolds might be. It could have been anything in the creative world… The work itself is kind of immaterial.”

With the review embargo in place, I can’t tell you much more about the movie except that yes, there is a plot, there’s even a surprising plot twist. PTA has invoked Hitchcock, Shakespeare, Orson Welles and a few other elements of influence. The music is superb. There will be a lot of talk about this movie because, like a lot of DDL’s and PTA’s work, it’s a piece of art. DDL could indeed win a fourth Oscar, even with the tattoos (we don’t seem them in the movie).

Photos c2017 Showbiz411

“Gotti,” a movie that should never have been made, has been postponed. Richard Johnson of the NY Post says Lions Gate has scratched the planned December 15th release date, sending the John Travolta-Kelly Preston feature into the abyss of 2018.

“Entourage” star Kevin Connolly makes “Gotti” his directing debut after several others decamped including Barry Levinson. Travolta, his wife, and daughter Ella Blue had always been attached and eventually filmed this thing. But AL Pacino, Lindsay Lohan and others have come and gone.

My pal, Richard, says producer Marc Fiore hung up on him when Johnson called to ask about a payment due to legendary star Shirley Jones, widow of Marty Ingells, who set up the most recent deal to get “Gotti” made. That wasn’t very nice since Jones is mourning her stepson, David Cassidy.

But Fiore’s rudeness is not unexpected. An ex con, Fiore has a long and unpleasant history. So do most of the people associated with “Gotti.” Why Lions Gate got involved is a mystery.

Christmas and Oscar time were odd choices for a “Gotti” release anyway. Travolta’s not getting an Academy Awards. And a movie about a cut-throat killer with no remorse, but lots of real life victims isn’t what you’d called Happy Holidays material!

I like Kevin Connolly personally. But “Gotti” has got to be a disaster, and an expensive one. Will we ever see it? Who knows! But now we can put it on a death watch with so many unreleased films including Louis CK’s current “I Love You Daddy” and Nick Pritzker’s infamous “Bolden!” now overdue by several years and many hundreds of millions of dollars.

Actor Rance Howard, father of Ron and Clint Howard, grandfather of actress Bryce Dallas Howard, has passed away at age 89.

Rance Howard was a journeyman actor, most recently seen in Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska.” He had small roles in movies like “Chinatown” and “Cool Hand Luke.” He worked a lot in television in the late 50s, and when Ronnie Howard became Opie Taylor in “The Andy Griffith Show,” Rance played a variety of roles in four episodes. He has a long list of appearance in various shows including “Gentle Ben,” which starred his other son, Clint. Both Clint and Rance have appeared in most of Ron Howard’s movies.

Clint & I have been blessed to be Rance Howard’s sons. Today he passed at 89. He stood especially tall 4 his ability to balance ambition w/great personal integrity. A depression-era farm boy, his passion for acting changed the course of our family history. We love & miss U Dad.

— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) November 25, 2017

Just a couple of weeks ago, Ron and daughter Bryce celebrated Rance Howard’s last movie, “Broken Memories,” at an event in Hollywood. Ron told the audience (Rance was not there): “He has an undying love of the process, which has made him appreciate every day on a film or television set. And he’s never lost the youthful excitement for being a part of a process that tells a story that reaches audiences in different ways and reflects the work of a team of collaborators that share that excitement and that always rubbed off on me, that joy of being lucky enough to be among the storytellers.”

Condolences to the Howard family. Even 89 years old is not enough.