Start Your Outrage: INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS On The Road To Oscar Snub
Today the Director's Guild released their nominees for the DGA Award, and the Coen Brothers did not make the cut*. This marks the third major guild nomination that has utterly ignored the brilliant Inside Llewyn Davis - the Writers Guild and the Producers Guild both overlooked the film as well in their nominations. The critics have loved the movie, but the industry has straight up given it the cold shoulder.
Why? I honestly have no idea. I love the film, and I find it to be warm and funny and beautiful and smart. I walked out of it thinking the film would really connect - it feels very much of the moment in a lot of ways - so of course it's underperforming. I get why A Serious Man did small box office, but Inside Llewyn Davis being sluggish in theaters makes no sense to me. The soundtrack isn't even selling that well!
But I figured once the awards race heated up the movie would get a bump. I figured that Inside Llewyn Davis was a lock for a couple of nominations. I didn't think it would win much of anything, but I really thought it would make a showing. Now that the guilds have been snubbing it, I have to wonder if Oscar will follow suit - after all, these are many of the same people who make up the Academy. All of a sudden things don't look so great for Inside Llewyn Davis.
It's worth noting that the Coens aren't the only great names left off DGA's list; with only five spaces they couldn't nominate everybody, and Spike Jonze and Alexander Payne fell to the wayside. It's a hellluva year for great movies, and some of the greats will simply not get recognized, but Inside Llewyn Davis feels like the film that's getting the complete shaft thus far, when it comes to industry awards. The Golden Globes have it in the running for Best Picture, Comedy or Musical, but that's (technically) a press award.
Maybe getting shafted is the best thing that could happen to Inside Llewyn Davis. I've already written about how winning the Oscar (and it looks pretty good right now) will destroy American Hustle; getting shut out of the Oscars in all major categories (I imagine there will be a costume nod or something. None of the music in the movie is eligible for a nomination) will only add to the eventual myth of Inside Llewyn Davis, a movie that is as unappreciated in its own time as its main character was in his.
* The list is Alfonse Cuaron, David O. Russell, Martin Scorsese, Paul Greengrass, Steve McQueen. It's hard to argue with who they included.
