Hiya

Dave Poland has a nice long look at Closer’s early buzz and I don’t feel like waiting till later and a full update. So here it is…

Apparently, I irritated and/or confused a number of people with my Oscar Chart squib on Closer, suggesting that the ?bad buzz? on the film was a good sign.

To clarify, not that many people have actually seen Closer. Some people claim it is locked while others talk about re-shoots as recently as two weeks ago. It is a major part of the September/early October predictions game, especially in a year in which the contenders seem to be ready to be selected off of a dart board. Everyone wants to know, so minor rumors, with little other fuel available, become ?what I hear,? all over town.

In the case of Closer, the negative buzz has been pretty consistent? and pretty ignorant. The main attack is that the film is ?cold.? Is that English Patient cold or Cold Mountain cold? Is that a Traffic chill or a Full Frontal wind?

But what Closer is getting that Alexander and The Aviator and Phantom of the Opera ? the other right down the center major Oscar-bait movies of the season ? are not is this constant sense that it is under attack already. And to me, that suggests that ?they? are more scared of Closer than they are the other films. ?They? also have more information, as Closer is a very well-respected stage play whose positives and negatives are very accessible to anyone with 20 bucks and a Samuel French bookstore nearby.

When people start lining up to smear a film this early? especially a film that, unlike so many, the long lead press has not had an opportunity to start backstabbing (how many times have I heard a studio claim that Outlet X loved something when people from Outlet X are telling every colleague in town that it sucks)? that film has some power. And any idiot can tell you that Mike Nichols and Julia Roberts and Jude Law and Natalie Portman are going to get all the attention they need and that the movie will run or stumble on its own merits, not what we Oscar baiters ? whether a Webster like myself or ?mainstream? mooks with a million readers – have to say about it.

And that is why bad buzz can be a good sign.