With so much time and effort going into analyzing each year's potential Oscar nominees before they're even screened, it's rare to be surprised by anything coming out of the festival circuit. The Oscar race follows such specific patterns, with each move precisely calculated by people who know the game better than the rest of us. That's why it's more shocking when something like Downsizing flops than it is when The Shape of Water becomes an instantly acclaimed hit. The 2017 race is perhaps one of the most painfully predictable in recent memory, as the only late-breaking hot prospects are Steven Spielberg's The Post, Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World, and Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread. That being said, we did receive a bit of an unexpected surprise at the Toronto International Film Festival in the form of Craig Gillespie's I, Tonya. The Margot Robbie-starred biopic of disgraced figure skating champion Tonya Harding originally seemed to be the kind of movie that would get scooped up for an early 2018 bow, but early reviews pushed it into this year's Oscar race. Upstart distributor NEON snapped up the rights, and earlier today, the studio revealed a brief teaser for the film- check it out below!
This is a pretty great teaser trailer, and while I can't say I entirely understand the tone that this film is going for, everything I've seen and heard has me excited. If anything, this teaser attempts to mimic that weird tonal divide- it starts out with a serious and meditative angle before switching to electrifying dark comedy. Critics and audiences at Toronto described it as a kind of Scorsese-esque crime movie, and that's the kind of thing that is almost always in my wheelhouse. It's also an advantage to the filmmakers that I just don't know much about the Tonya Harding story, which means I'm eager to know more about the insanity of this bizarre set of characters. Even in this brief clip, it's clear that Margot Robbie is going to be absolute dynamite as Harding, a performance that will certainly be a part of the competitive Best Actress race. And if NEON can find a way to properly market this film, I have a feeling that it could strike box office gold as well. There isn't much to analyze here (this first glimpse is under a minute long), but I'm sold. This one should live up to the hype.
I, Tonya opens in limited release on December 8 before expanding throughout the rest of the month.
This is a pretty great teaser trailer, and while I can't say I entirely understand the tone that this film is going for, everything I've seen and heard has me excited. If anything, this teaser attempts to mimic that weird tonal divide- it starts out with a serious and meditative angle before switching to electrifying dark comedy. Critics and audiences at Toronto described it as a kind of Scorsese-esque crime movie, and that's the kind of thing that is almost always in my wheelhouse. It's also an advantage to the filmmakers that I just don't know much about the Tonya Harding story, which means I'm eager to know more about the insanity of this bizarre set of characters. Even in this brief clip, it's clear that Margot Robbie is going to be absolute dynamite as Harding, a performance that will certainly be a part of the competitive Best Actress race. And if NEON can find a way to properly market this film, I have a feeling that it could strike box office gold as well. There isn't much to analyze here (this first glimpse is under a minute long), but I'm sold. This one should live up to the hype.
I, Tonya opens in limited release on December 8 before expanding throughout the rest of the month.
Comments
Post a Comment