Unlike other indie films this year, the Fox Searchlight release has had strong ticket sales since Oscar nominations were announced.
"Crazy Heart" stars Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal earned Oscar nominations. (Lorey Sebastian / Fpx Searchlight / January 1, 2000)
By Steven Zeitchik
Purveyors of art-house films like to talk about the "Oscar bounce," the phenomenon by which niche movies see a surge in ticket-buying after being nominated for Academy Awards.
This year, few films are bouncing, as "Avatar" dominated the winter months and adult audiences continue to stay away from upscale dramas. Oscar nominees "An Education" and "A Single Man," for example, have earned only about $2 million apiece since the nominations were announced.
But "Crazy Heart," a story about an alcoholic, washed-up country singer that wasn't even scheduled to be released last year -- and isn't contending in the major categories of best picture or best director -- has proved a shining exception. The film has earned nearly $20 million since stars Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal were nominated for acting Oscars. (The film received a third nomination for original song.)
By topping the $2-million mark in total domestic box office last weekend, the drama became one of the most successful specialty films released in 2009, despite difficult subject matter and an R rating. Scott Cooper's film has shown remarkable staying power. Even as it begins its fourth month of release, the movie continues to widen, going from about 1,150 theaters last week to roughly 1,300 this week. And its numbers in those theaters still impress; the film saw its weekend receipts drop by just 17% last weekend compared with the previous one.
Part of the success of the Fox Searchlight film can be attributed to the simple matter of release date: "Crazy Heart" came out later than many of the other art-house pictures this season, thus avoiding a crowded fall and also benefiting from the February Oscar attention. (The film was initially slated for this spring, but with Bridges headed off to shoot the remake of "True Grit" this month, he would have been unable to promote the film. So Searchlight accelerated the postproduction process and moved up the release to December.)
Searchlight has also been savvy about how quickly to push a film whose appeal isn't immediately understood from a quick television spot, allowing word-of-mouth to drive it. "The key to a platform release is like Goldilocks: You can't go too fast and can't go too slow," says Fox Searchlight President Stephen Gilula.
But perhaps most notable is the way the movie has crossed over from the art house to a mainstream older audience. The film has performed extremely well among viewers older than 50, which can be gauged by its performance in cities in Florida and elsewhere.
"Bridges is sort of an antihero in the movie, and he's smoking and drinking, so we weren't sure how it would play with audiences over 50 or 60," Gilula says. "But there's so much goodwill for Bridges and his filmography. This is an actor who has been working for four decades. I think a lot of older people want to see his achievement in this film."
JEFF BRIDGES Crazy Heart GEORGE CLOONEY Up in the Air COLIN FIRTH A Single Man JEREMY RENNER The Hurt Locker ANDY SERKIS Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
MUSIC
AVATAR James Horner CRAZY HEART T-Bone Burnett, Stephen Bruton FANTASTIC MR FOX Alexandre Desplat SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL Chaz Jankel UP Michael Giacchino
Crazy Heart. This year's late-opening sleeper, built on a probable Oscar-winning performance by Jeff Bridges. He plays a nearly-forgotten C&W singer, touring nasty dives and smoky honky-tonks for a few dollars and change. He had hit songs, but alcoholism eroded him. Maggie Gyllenhaal is inspired as the woman who cares for him but doubts his newfound sobriety--and no, this isn't a cornball story about romantic redemption. After the screening a critic said: "This year's "The Wrestler." That sounded about right. Astonishing debut by Scott Cooper." (Roger Ebert)
A list of awards and nominations for CRAZY HEART (so far):
CRAZY HEART Alliance Of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) 2009 EDA Award Winner Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART
Boston Society Of Film Critics Award Winner Best Use of Music in a Film: CRAZY HEART
Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) Critics' Choice Movie Award Nominee Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART Best Song: “The Weary Kind” by T Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham, CRAZY HEART
Chicago Film Critics Association Nominee Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART Most Promising Filmmaker: Scott Cooper, CRAZY HEART
Golden Globe Nominee Best Actor, Drama: Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART Best Song: "The Weary Kind" (Theme from CRAZY HEART)
Houston Film Critics Society Nominee Best Performance By an Actor In a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART Best Original Song: "The Weary Kind" by Ryan Bingham & T. Bone Burnett, CRAZY HEART
Independent Spirit Award Nominee Best First Feature: CRAZY HEART Best First Screenplay: CRAZY HEART
International Press Academy (IPA) Nominee Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama: Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART Original Song: “The Weary Kind" by Ryan Bingham & T Bone Burnett, CRAZY HEART
Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) Award Winner Actor: Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART Music/Score: T-Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton, CRAZY HEART
New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO) 2009 Award Winner Actor: Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART Film Music or Score: CRAZY HEART, Steve Bruton & T Bone Burnett; music supervisor, Jeffrey Pollack
St. Louis Film Critics 2009 Nominee Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART Best Music: CRAZY HEART
Hollywood’s second biggest film honors after the Academy Awards, the The Golden Globes are a key ceremony that sort out the prospects leading up to the Oscar nominations Feb. 2.
The 67th annual Globes will be handed out Jan. 17, six days before nomination voting closes for the Oscars.
The Globes are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 85 critics and reporters for overseas outlets.
The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) - Single by Ryan Bingham - Buy On I Tunes
"Film critics come to the war after the war is over and shoot the wounded." -- Peter Travers via Michael A. Simpson
SAG Nominating Committee CRAZY HEART Screening & Q&A with Jeff Bridges, Maggie G and director Scott Cooper, moderated by Peter (Crosby Street Hotel, NYC)
"Make no mistake: Bridges more than delivers the goods for Oscar eligibility. He is the mesmerizing, dangerous, unpredictable heart of "Crazy Heart."" Kirk Honeycutt (Hollywood Reporter)
CH has been nominated for two 2009 Satellite Awards, Jeff for best actor and T Bone for best song ("The Weary Kind"). The International Press Academy hands out the Satellite Awards. The key in all of this is "Press Academy," meaning this may look similar to some Oscar nominees, but it's not at all the same groups of voters.
Film opens Dec. 16: Once a headlining Country and Western star, Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) is now lucky to get a gig at a bowling alley in Pueblo, Colo., which is where we first meet him in Crazy Heart. At a grizzled 57, he's a broke, chain--smoking alcoholic with four marriages under his belt and a tendency to run outside to vomit in the middle of a set. Still, he hasn't lost his voice, or, when he needs it, his charm, so you can understand why Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a small-town reporter who wants to interview him, might, against her better instincts, fall for him. (Article continued below…)
First-time director Scott Cooper, who wrote the screenplay from a Thomas Cobb novel, gives his cast (which includes Duvall, in a small but tasty role) lots of breathing room. What he prizes in this character study is not originality, but authenticity. From the songs Blake sings (written by Stephen Bruton and T. Bone Burnett) to the light in the eyes of his aging groupies, the details feel right. Crazy Heart gets to you like a good country song—not because it tells you something new, but because it tells it well. It's the singer, not the song.
Patrick Goldstein on the collision of entertainment, media and pop culture
I'd be lying if I didn't admit to having a serious bout of trepidation when I headed off the other night to see "Crazy Heart," the new Fox Searchlight film that stars Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake, a hard-drinking, faded country star relegated to one-night gigs at bowling alleys and dingy saloons. After all, if there's ever a subject that been mined deeply in movies, it's the saga of the self-destructive country music singer. With so many real-life role models, from Hank Williams to George Jones to Waylon Jennings to Steve Earle (and about 100 others), it's a trajectory that's hard to avoid. And after you've seen Robert Duvall as the broken-down Mac Sledge in "Tender Mercies," you know that it's a hard act to follow. But I'm here to say that "Crazy Heart" is the real deal. It's a beautifully told story (by first-time writer-director Scott Cooper) made even better by a terrific performance by Bridges, who does a wonderful job of showing us a good man who's hit bottom, having run through five or so wives and boozed away all the money he made when he was riding high. If Cooper was worried about any comparisons with "Tender Mercies," he doesn't show it, especially since he cast Duvall in a nice small role as a bar owner who doubles as Bridges' fishing buddy. Maggie Gyllenhaal costars as a vivacious small-town reporter who wheedles the skittish Blake into giving her a series of interviews, which turn into a surprisingly affecting relationship.
I'll leave the serious reviews to the critics, but as a country music fan, I was especially impressed by the film's attention to musical detail. It's pretty obvious that Bridges' performance will catapult him into the best actor Oscar race, but it's also the kind of performance that will impress musicians with the way it captures the idleness of life on the road as well as the angst of a performer who sees how his core audience has blithely deserted him, opting for a new kind of air-brushed, "American Idol" style of country over the rough-edged grit of Bad Blake's era.
Bridges' Blake is full of echoes of a host of old country icons. When I was a young rock writer, I spent a lot of time in smoky clubs, interviewing some of the unadorned original C&W luminaries. Once, preparing to interview Jerry Lee Lewis at a club in Memphis in the 1980s, I put my tape recorder on the table. Glistening with sweat from the pills and alcohol in his system, Jerry Lee said, "Son, a tape recorder is a dangerous weapon," reached around behind his back and pulled out a pistol, which he set lightly on the table, explaining "Now we're even."
Bridges has a little bit of that edge in his performance too. In fact, there were times when he seemed to be channeling a big chunk of the outlaw country vibe from the 1970s and '80s. To see him on stage singing, sweat dripping off his beard and seeping through his open-neck shirt, is to see someone who's a dead ringer for the ghost of Waylon Jennings, whose own personal life -- booze, cocaine and lots of wives -- isn't that far from the character Bridges plays in the film.
The music in the film is killer old-school country, written by T Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton, a Texas musician who died earlier this year after spending nearly 40 years playing with Kris Kristofferson (who many will say Bridges resembles at times in the film as well). And as if acknowledging its debt to Jennings, the film has a scene scored to Jennings' own "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way."
The film opens in New York and L.A. in mid-December for an Oscar-qualifying run before going wider after the first of the year. The highest praise I can offer is that "Crazy Heart's" music wonderfully embodies the spirit of the film and the film itself captures the bittersweet, soulful life force of country music.
Photo of Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Crazy Heart" from Fox Searchlight
It’s not just Jeff Bridges who leaps onto the Oscar landscape with Scott Cooper’s “Crazy Heart.” It’s possible in a few months that we’ll be talking pretty seriously about Maggie Gyllenhaal in the supporting actress race and, most certainly, T-Bone Burnett’s contributions as the film’s music supervisor.
Fox Searchlight screened the film this morning to a handful of press and will do so again this evening, looking to gauge reactions to what could be a big boost both on the awards front and commercially. With “Amelia” losing money at the box office and a dwindling slate of product for the Oscar push, it seemed almost inevitable that this little mid-summer pick-up would find its way onto the 2009 schedule. More and more, that’s looking to be the case.
But back to the film. I would rather not offer up a proper review for a movie that hasn’t been color-timed, still has some sound mixing work to be done and, on the whole, just isn’t finished yet, but I feel comfortable calling it a slow burn that settles warmly in the tradition of “Tender Mercies” or “Nobody’s Fool.” While it might be unfair to reduce it to a “country-music ‘Wrestler’” (as The Hollywood Reporter’s Steven Zeitchik did yesterday without having seen the film), that is nevertheless a pretty streamlined way of describing the narrative.
More importantly, however, that “performance of a lifetime” from Jeff Bridges that Fox Searchlight was on about when the studio bought the film nearly four months ago? I think it could be this year’s Oscar-winning lead actor turn walking away.
Bridges fully embodies the broken but spirited Bad Blake, an alcoholic country singer touring the Southwest in his 1970-something Suburban, playing any dive that’ll have him. He brings every inch of charisma and charm he has to a role that certainly doesn’t seem made for him on the surface, but somehow ends up entirely owned by the actor come film’s end.
Bridges haunts the stage behind a dark pair of aviator sunglasses, under a silvery, unshampooed mane, unmistakably conjuring the image of Hank Williams Jr. as he belts out a number of tunes from gig to gig. He shares the screen with Maggie Gyllenhaal, who plays Jean, a journalist and single-mother love interest. Gyllenhaal holds her own and provides a complex, emotional core to the story that could also nail down a few kudos here and there.
Colin Farrell has something of a glorified cameo as Tommy Sweet, a famous modern country star who owes his career to Blake, while Robert Duvall (who also serves as one of the film’s producers, along with Burnett, in fact) offers a small but meaningful supporting turn as Blake’s confidante.
Speaking of Burnett, it’s entirely likely (barring any unforeseen music branch silliness…which, you never know) he and his team will be recognized for the original songs that appear in the film, something like seven or eight tracks that should make for a wonderful soundtrack. The title song, “Crazy Heart,” is probably the best bet, as a number of moments in the film’s third act are dedicated to Blake’s writing the song, which draws upon his emotional journey as an alcoholic seeking sobriety. The tune also plays in the final scene and through the closing credits. I couldn’t get it out of my head on the drive home. “Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try.” (Check out one of the songs, performed with Farrell, in the clip below.)
Other nods could follow. Best Picture might be a longshot given the scope of the film, though an adapted screenplay notice for Cooper is certainly possible. But the story here, it goes without saying, is Jeff Bridges.
From where I sit, I’m having a hard time arguing with his potential as this year’s Best Actor Oscar winner — especially when you look at the competition. George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Morgan Freeman — they all have their Oscar. The potential for a big awards comeback from Robert De Niro was considerably muted when “Everybody’s Fine” landed with a thud at AFI Fest last night, while other contenders just won’t have the strength of “The Story” that a Bridges campaign will have.
The man is one of the great unrecognized American actors. “Crazy Heart” will give voters a chance to both remember his consistency, recognize that he remains Oscarless and, best of all, feel good about checking the box next to his name. Because this really is one of his finest moments.
I imagine we’ll be talking about “Crazy Heart” more and more in the coming weeks and months, but those hoping for a last-minute shake-up certainly look to get their wish. These are the moments I live for in an Oscar season.
The Big Picture Patrick Goldstein on the collision of entertainment, media and pop culture
We knew Fox Searchlight was in love with "Crazy Heart," the low-budget country music drama that stars Jeff Bridges as a faded, booze-fueled singer named Bad Blake who's trying to get his career back on track. Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Scott Cooper, the film costars Maggie Gyllenhaal (playing a small-town reporter), Robert Duvall and Colin Farrell.
Searchlight acquired the film in July, taking it off the market with a low seven-figure bid, enamored by the film's acting and nuanced storytelling. Its original plan was to release the movie in the spring of 2010. But the studio must be smelling award-season gold, because my sources say the movie is moving into Oscar territory, with Searchlight now planning a limited Dec. 11 release in Los Angeles and New York before taking the film wider early next year.
Since Searchlight's only serious Oscar contender, as of now, is its well-reviewed summer release, "(500) Days of Summer," the studio must be betting that Bridges -- always a favorite with the academy, especially as he's aged into Nick Nolte-style gray-bearded grizzly guy -- could land some best actor nominations. Searchlight suddenly sent out screening notices today, another tipoff that the movie is looking for some early word-of-mouth enthusiasm from the blogosphere.
My favorite movie-music magician, T Bone Burnett, supervised the film's soundtrack, so I'm betting it will have some real C&W authenticity. As soon as I get a chance to see it, I'll report in on whether we've got another serious Oscar candidate or not.
Photo of Jeff Bridges by Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times.
In one of the first acquisitions since Peter Rice left Fox Searchlight to run Fox TV, Searchlight co-presidents Nancy Utley and Steve Gilula acquired worldwide rights to rookie director Scott Cooper's Crazy Heart, which stars Jeff Bridges as an aging country star and Maggie Gyllenhaal as a young reporter. T-Bone Burnett supervised a country music soundtrack. The distrib paid low seven figures. "We just liked it," says one Searchlight executive.
There's more to it than that. Until recently, most specialty distribs conservatively pre-bought, co-financed or acquired completed films out of festivals, so this pre-festival-season worldwide acquisition marks a sea change. Searchlight is not alone in seeing more submitted films ahead of fests, now that a North American sale is far from guaranteed. In this case, the main reason for a distrib to pick up a movie like this: an Oscar play for Jeff Bridges. If that were the case the movie would be booked at Telluride or Toronto, which both wanted it. But Searchlight is heading for 2010 release. That's because yes, they do want to put Bridges in play. But they also want to tweak and cut the film--and not show it at festivals until it's polished. The old strategy of throwing a swiftly edited film into a fest and seeing what happens is foolish. People are more wary of taking those chances. "People are more likely to take a bird in had than wait for the bird in the bush," says one studio acquisitions exec. "They may not get one."
The foreign market isn't what it was, and neither is the domestic. Financeers want to make sure they get domestic distribution. That's the only way they'll get their money back.
The good news for Crazy Heart: with engaging stars and an accessible country soundtrack, the movie has commercial potential between the coasts, which makes Searchlight the distrib best-positioned to take that advantage.
The full press release is on the jump.
Fox Searchlight Pictures Presidents Stephen Gilula and Nancy Utley announced today that the company has acquired worldwide rights to the moving drama CRAZY HEART. Written and directed by Scott Cooper and adapted from Thomas Cobb’s book of the same name, CRAZY HEART stars Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Robert Duvall with an original soundtrack by T-Bone Burnett. The film was produced by Judy Cairo, Scott Cooper and Butchers Run's Rob Carliner and Robert Duvall. The film is scheduled to be released in Spring 2010.
“Jeff Bridges delivers the performance of a lifetime and the entire cast is fantastic in Scott Cooper’s powerful film,” said Utley and Gilula. “We are thrilled to be bringing this film to audiences everywhere.”
“Being acquired by Fox Searchlight is the highlight of my professional career. Their illustrious release record speaks for itself,” says Cooper. “I’m thrilled to be working with Nancy, Steve, and Claudia, and I'm elated CRAZY HEART has found such a special home.”
The deal was brokered on Fox Searchlight’s side by Executive Vice President of Worldwide Acquisitions Tony Safford and Vice President of Business Affairs Megan O’Brien. ICM arranged financing on the project and acted as the worldwide sales agent. ICM represents Duvall, Cooper, Carliner and Butchers Run.
Fox Searchlight Pictures is a specialty film company that both finances and acquires motion pictures. It has its own marketing and distribution operations, and its films are distributed internationally by Twentieth Century Fox. Fox Searchlight Pictures is a unit of Fox Filmed Entertainment, a unit of Fox Entertainment Group.
Fox Searchlight picks up 'Crazy Heart'
Pic stars Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell By Carl DiOrio
July 21, 2009
Fox Searchlight has acquired worldwide rights to the Jeff Bridges starrer "Crazy Heart" for release in the spring.
Bridges plays an aging country singer in "Heart," which multihyphenate Scott Cooper adapted from Thomas Cobb's book of the same name while getting a first directing credit. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Robert Duvall co-star in the pic, which boasts an original soundtrack by T-Bone Burnett.
"Jeff Bridges delivers the performance of a lifetime," Searchlight co-toppers Nancy Utley and Steve Gilula said in announcing the acquisition Tuesday.
