Michael Fassbender

[fandora]

JOSH BROLIN: Where are you right now?

MICHAEL FASSBENDER: I’m in London, man. I’m here for a while, but I’m gonna be in L.A. on the weekend actually.

BROLIN: I heard. You’ll be with your buddy Steve McQueen?

FASSBENDER: With Steve McQueen and Steven Soderbergh and David Cronenberg.

BROLIN: And whatever other director you choose to hang out with at the moment . . . It’s good to hear your voice. You do realize that you and I have probably never spoken on the phone.

FASSBENDER: I know. It’s kind of surreal.

BROLIN: Do you still not have a cell phone?

FASSBENDER: I mean, I do have one, yeah . . .

BROLIN: [laughs] Somewhere.

FASSBENDER: I just went off for two months traveling around Europe on a motorcycle and pretty much turned my phone off. I did 5,000 miles with my dad. We went through Holland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Italy . . . and then I did Spain and France by myself. It was a trip—you would have loved it. Do you remember when we were doing Jonah Hex and I was telling you that I wanted to do a trip on a bike? It was something I was planning for ages. I talked to my dad about it 10 years ago, before I even had a license or a motorcycle, and then, when I was finishing up Prometheus, I was like, “****, I need to take a break now.” So I said to my dad, “This could happen, so be ready to move.”

BROLIN: What kind of motorcycles did you guys use?

FASSBENDER: My dad had the Triumph Tiger. My Speed Triple got nicked last year, so I bought a new BMW, the R 1200 GS Adventure.

BROLIN: I would love to do something like that—just be able to turn off the phone. Actually, that’s a good segue into the fact that you’ve been working like nuts and with all of these different directors. You’ve done two movies now with Steve McQueen, and you’re gonna do a third, 12 Years a Slave. I met Steve when I met you for the first time. In Toronto, right?

FASSBENDER: That’s right. In Toronto in 2008.

BROLIN: We ended up having a blast in a hotel room—laughing, having drinks, whatever. It was you, me, Sean Penn, Steve McQueen, and a few other people, and I remember Steve giving a speech about how he was so grateful to have this film, Hunger, under his belt. Nobody really knew about it at that point except the few who had seen it. But when he gave that little speech, I remember thinking, “What a sweet guy. I can’t wait to see this movie.” Then I saw the movie and I go, “This is really severe. This does not parallel with the guy I just hung out with at all.”

FASSBENDER: That’s the thing with Steve. He’s kind of like a little boy and an old man at the same time. He’s sort of masculine, and yet he’s also got a very feminine quality. The first thing that struck me when I met him was that he doesn’t pull any punches. There’s no room for bull**** with him. To give an example, on Shame we were doing a scene that was pretty full-on, and he came onto the scene, and I was like, “Yeah, that’s pretty good for a first take. You know, not bad.” Then he said, “Let’s have a chat.” So we went into a separate room, and he was like, “Some actor geezer just came into the room here. That wasn’t Michael Fassbender. I know what you’re doing, but you’ve got to find something different.” [both laugh] I was like, “Oh, ****.” So I went back to the drawing board and tried to pare things down and just make them honest. It’s such a clichéd thing to say, but it’s true. His philosophy is to just go for it—go to a place and see what comes of it, because we’re all gonna die one day, so what have you got to lose? If you fall flat on your face, then you fall flat on your face. It makes for a scary environment, but a very exciting one as well . . . And then I see the grip, who’s been in the business for, you know, 35 years, and he’s like, “Show him that you’re brilliant. Don’t let Steve down.” [Brolin laughs] So that feeling he creates is not just between the actors and director but literally throughout the entire crew making the film. You know, if you can keep the crew guessing and interested in what you’re doing, then chances are . . .

BROLIN: That it’s gonna resonate on a bigger level. So, just to give you some context, I saw Shame with my wife [Diane Lane] at 10 o’clock in the morning in a Fox screening room, and we were by ourselves, so that’s how I took in the film. [Fassbender laughs] By the way, Diane wanted me to tell you that she thinks you’re phenomenal in this film. I also think Carey [Mulligan], who I know from Wall Street [Money Never Sleeps] [2010], is probably the best actress of her generation right now, and watching you guys do what you do is incredible. But there is an image near the end of the movie that is the perfect hybrid of abject horror and ecstasy, where you, as the audience, are looking at your character and the hamster wheel that he’s on in this vortex that he can’t get out of, where he realizes that this is his life and it’s just going to get worse . . . I’m watching him do this thing and I’m thinking, Is he really ecstatic? Or is he realizing that his life will never be normal?

FASSBENDER: I think you’re talking about one of the sex scenes. What’s great about all of those sex scenes is that, in terms of a character journey, you can see how far down the rabbit hole this guy is going. That particular scene really embodied his desperation mixed, as you say, with the need for a hit. He’s a prisoner, you know? It’s kind of funny that this is sort of a continuation of Hunger in a lot of respects. In Hunger, my character, Bobby, is in prison, and throughout the film, he’s just trying to assemble some form of freedom. And then you have Brandon in Shame, who is sort of using his body to imprison himself—he’s imprisoned by his own physical urges and impulses. I don’t really know what to think of it . . . How do you relate sexual addiction to the other addictions that seem to be more recognized and discussed? You’re dealing with a topic that you want to give as much respect and contemplation to as you can.

BROLIN: But it resonated so completely. In this film, you do some horrific things, but we can’t sit there and judge you completely. We all have these voids we try to fill in different ways. I found myself going, “Oh, my god, I understand that. I don’t understand it based on the sex or the porn, but I understand it on another level.” When I left the screening room, I didn’t feel disgusted and angry. I just felt that this character was stuck in this vortex he couldn’t get out of, and when you watch this movie, you’re in that vortex. Afterward, I felt like I wanted to just do something good. I wanted to go hug my kids. I wanted to go kiss my wife.

FASSBENDER: I think you’ve touched on something interesting. All of these characters are trying to connect to one another in some way or other. We’re all trying to connect to each other and find some levels of intimacy. There’s so much going on in the world. There’s so much information being thrown at us—so many things are being sold to us, and we’re being told how we should appear and how to be more successful, blah, blah, blah. How does that manifest itself? In the pressures, the stress, this need to escape. I like Brandon because he’s trying. You mentioned this idea of disgust—that was something I knew I wanted to represent in him in the sex scenes, making them a repulsive sort of thing to look at. But I was also hoping and banking on the fact that he’s trying. There’s his date with the character Marianne: They go for the walk where he’s clumsy, but he tries to open himself up, and we see this childlike personality start to emerge. So I was just hoping the audience would understand that he’s struggling with this addiction. It’s not like he’s going, “To hell with it, and damn the consequences.” He’s living the consequences.

 

[fandora]

BROLIN: You also worked with David Cronenberg on A Dangerous Method and Ridley Scott on Prometheus. How did you like those directors? I loved working with Ridley.

FASSBENDER: Yeah, I remember you were telling me that when you were on American Gangster. What bowled me over is that Ridley comes from the sort of old-school opinion of getting out there and learning by doing, you know? No idea is stupid until he sees it. He’s just running around set going, “I don’t like the color of that. Change that to a darker shade.” And then he comes over to me, and he’s like, “Hey, listen, I thought your character would have this prop,” and he doesn’t tell me what to do with it or anything. He’s just like, “I thought it’d be kind of funny.” And then you take it on board and you do whatever you want with it. He was like an old-school conductor. It was a pretty smooth process.

BROLIN: And what about Cronenberg?

FASSBENDER: I think I saw Scanners [1981] when I was like 14 or 15, and it’s just—

BROLIN: An exploding head.

FASSBENDER: Yeah, that’s all I can remember. That was followed by Naked Lunch [1991] and then The Fly [1986] and then Crash [1996] in later years. I just remember thinking, god, this makes me feel unusual. [laughs] You know, it’s like when you first become a teenager and you’re proposed this idea of society and reality and how we’re all supposed to sort of, you know, follow certain etiquette and behave. But what happens underneath that veneer? There was this blurring of the lines between fantasy and reality, and I thought, Well, here’s somebody who’s doing something unique and provocative and, uh, kind of scary. When I met him, I found him to be very gentle and generous, with a loving nature and a great sense of humor as well—a fantastic sense of humor on set. You know, these great directors—and I don’t know what you think about this—I always say that they’re great manipulators. Of course, they have to be, but they seem to do the manipulation in the lead-up to filming. Once you’re on set, you’re up and running.

BROLIN: The best directors, at least from what I can ascertain, are just brilliant at casting. They know something you don’t. When I was cast in W. [2008], Ridley Scott and I had a dinner one time—and Gus Van Sant and Oliver Stone were there—and Ridley looked at me and said, “Don’t ever forget that [Oliver] saw this in you.” The great directors can see something in you that you can’t see in yourself, so there’s a trust that happens when you show up on set and they just go, “Do your thing. We know you can do it. If you need help, we’ll be here to guide you, but you already know what to do, even though you may not think you do.”

FASSBENDER: I think of Cronenberg like an engineer. He’s very interested in engines and mechanics and how things function, so his work is kind of like that, too. A lot of the time, instead of doing full takes, he’ll do, like, a 30-second wide and go, “If you don’t mind, I’m just gonna cut ’cause I know I’m not gonna use the rest of this.” We would do it in sections like that. At the beginning, I was thinking, Oh, man, I’m kind of used to running the whole scene. But then you learn new things and you’re excited by that technique. You’re learning all the time.

BROLIN: So what is it about certain characters that you’re drawn to? What is it that you want to explore?

FASSBENDER: Well, I guess it’s the drama, isn’t it? It’s the conflict. If there’s really something at stake, then the questions that we can ask are a lot more severe and force us to take a look at things without the sugar coating. I don’t have any answers—that’s for damn sure. But why not pose the questions? Why not provoke some thought and get people talking about things? I like characters that are flawed because we all are. When people break up in a script, you think, Oh, right, there must be tears shed here. But maybe the fact of the matter is that they’re both laughing. People are complicated. Our behavior towards one another is strange. So I like opportunities to investigate that.

BROLIN: Of the movies you have done so far, which one do you think has allowed you to do that on the deepest level?

FASSBENDER: Probably Shame. I’d come off from four or five films back to back when I started Shame, so I was tired to begin with. Then I was really delving into this world as much as I could in the prep time leading up to the five-week shoot, and the focus while we were filming was really, really intense. I was going to some unusual places. So, yeah, I would have to say Shame was probably the deepest and the toughest.


This is an excerpt of the cover story. To read the full Michael Fassbender interview pick up a copy of the February issue of Interview.

 

[Penny_Lane_]

New Interview (in Little White Lies)

Little White Lies met with Fassbender at the BFI London Film Festival, where he opened up – nervously, often stumbling over his words – about the passions that drive him, and his incredible collaboration with McQueen.

The first time you met Steve McQueen was at your audition for Hunger, but beyond that first meeting what actually bonded the two of you together? Why does this partnership work so well?

Fassbender: For me, I just thought this was somebody who was very different, somebody that was very comfortable in himself. He seemed to have a great empathy and interest in human beings – in how we relate to one another and how we relate to ourselves, and how we negotiate getting through life, sometimes in ordinary situations and sometimes in extraordinary situations. I knew that I would learn from him. But we really started to bond through the making of Hunger, and that was just down to working with one another and trying to surprise each other and discover things together. When we got to Shame, it was like we picked up where we left off.

You’ve said that you want to be the De Niro to his Scorsese. That’s a bold ambition.

Fassbender: Yeah, or, you know, Lumet/Pacino, Coppola and John Cazale… You know, you’re always looking for somebody with some kind of connection, where there’s a chemistry that works, and that person will take you to a place that you wouldn’t be able to find on your own.That was always something I was looking for.

Are you both big personalities on set? How does the professional part of the relationship work?

Fassbender: I think we had one stand-off on day one of Hunger where, you know, you’re feeling each other out. There was definitely, sort of, an insecurity on my part involved. You want to make sure you’re being protected… But I have implicit trust in him. The director is the boss – it’s his vision and his story that he’s trying to realise. I have a function within that just as all other departments do, but he’s the captain. Steve knows what he’s looking for, but then there’s the freedom of trying to, sort of, discover it as you move. The only fear and worry in my mind is that I’m keeping my end of the bargain: that I come with the character; that I’m facilitating the character properly or to the best of my ability; that there’s a certain standard there, or quality of work.

How do you make sure you adhere to that standard?

Fassbender: You’re trying to tell a story, and you’re trying to do it without judging the people you’re portraying. You’re just trying to understand them, and sometimes the best way to do that is to ask yourself very honest questions; other times it’s through research or talking to people that are familiar with the material. It’s about coming prepared and coming with ideas and coming with an open frame of mind – to be relaxed, aware and awake.

What was your approach for Shame specifically? Did you do much research into sex addiction to get your head into Brandon?

Fassbender: A lot of it’s in the story itself; I spent a lot of time with the script. What was very helpful, and what I’m very grateful for, is having the opportunity to sit down and talk to people that suffer from the condition. And rather than ask them direct questions… We’re all trying to protect ourselves in terms of what we want to reveal, and so for me, having people tell stories is a good way for me to identify where motivation is born. In particular, what’s really at the core of Brandon’s character is this problem with intimacy. I learned a lot from talking to one particular gentleman about that. I’m very grateful that he was as honest and open with me as he was.

How did that process compare to other roles you’ve played? Was Brandon particularly difficult given the issues involved?

Fassbender: It doesn’t stand out as a particularly difficult character to crack more than any others. You know, it’s always the same process: you write down what you think the characteristics of this personality are, and then you go through them and you go, ‘Okay, I have this one available to me; this one I need to work on a little bit more; as with this one; this one’s okay…’ It’s just a process that I go into when I’m at home, which would be wrong for me to kind of go into [in more detail]. But it’s essentially the same for each character, whether they be fantastical or in a very real environment.

We only see a snapshot of Brandon’s journey – does that make it harder for you to detach from the character, if you don’t know where his story ends?

Fassbender: I have hope for the character – otherwise, what’s the point? We might as well all give up. That’s what I like about the way Steve makes films. It’s almost like when you watch the start of the film, it’s like the film has been going on for however long before you arrived in your seat at the cinema. And when you leave your seat at the end, that life and journey is going to continue on afterwards. The main thing is that Brandon bottoms out by the time he gets to the pier at the end of the movie, and when we see him at the end on the subway, I don’t know what decision he makes at that point but I know that he’s definitely struggling. At that point he has gone to seek help, so I think that’s already a position of hope, or a position of optimism for the guy.

Why do you think there’s a taboo – or at least scepticism – around the subject of sex addiction?

Fassbender: I don’t know. I really don’t know. I think maybe because our first introduction to this was from celebrities who claim to have been suffering from it. People think that celebrities can be quite self-indulgent anyway and so… Maybe it’s an uncomfortable situation for people to face, maybe more people see it in their own lives then they like to admit. I don’t know, I mean, I really don’t have any answers. All I know is it’s interesting to pose the questions and provoke thought on the matter. For me, I think it’s a very real situation, I think a lot of people are genuinely afflicted by this and yet a lot of the time people sort of laugh it off.

People might look at this and say it’s a brave role to take on. Do you look at roles that way – as potentially risky or controversial?

Fassbender: I try to take risks and I try to challenge myself and I try not to be complacent or lazy in any way. For Shame, I tried to do justice to the beautiful script that Abi [Morgan] and Steve put together. I’ve got to put myself out on the line and try and represent [that] as best I can. And that’s, I think, just part of my job description, I don’t see it as being exceptional or anything else. The thing is, I try and move forward, you know? I put heart and soul into this film six months ago, now I have to concern myself about the next thing. I can’t linger in the past.

And what’s next? Are you looking to do something you’ve never done before?

Fassbender: I never go, ‘Right, now I have to play a monster…’ It’s never really that planned. You just read scripts and then you think, ‘Okay, this seems like a challenge,’ you know? There’s always an element of fear, I think, that keeps you on your toes and that’s important. So for sure I’m going to continue trying to find things that are challenging and take risks and keep myself guessing, and everyone else. I try not to restrict anything. I look at the things that come my way and if there’s something there that stirs my gut I'll respond to it, and if not I’ll wait for something that does.

 

[Penny_Lane_]

Gina Carano ('Haywire' co-star) talking about Michael:



Michael as her Acting Coach:
Carano admits she was so inexperienced that Fassbender had to teach her to run lines with another actor. “I’d never done that before,” she says. “Michael took me under his wing. He was really giving with his time. When we got to the fight sequence, it was great because that is my comfort zone. I was able to be physical and shine. It felt like an exchange of expertise.”

"Michael really took care of me. He made me feel very comfortable. He ran lines with me. Even when we have phone calls in the movie, it would be Michael at some pub on the other line. I just responded to him very well."


About their kissing scene:
"On the first day of shooting I was really nervous because I had a kiss scene with Michael Fassbender. It was just a peck but to me, I mean, I was shaking probably as bad as I am right now."

 

[Artica]

Thanks for posting those interviews Fandora and Penny!

 

[Artica]

Anyone had a look at the Vogue Italia spread? Pretty cool, great clothes. Someone else will have to post photos because my internet talents are limited to ctrl+C

Here's the accompanying text:

http://www.vogue.it/en/uomo-vogue/cover-story/2012/01/michael-fassbender

Another great article.

I generally ask my partner if I can kiss her, or caress her back, breasts, crotch, in order to understand how far I can push things without looking like a maniac.

Wow, I'll bet Keira didn't let him touch her crotch. Those 2 had absolutely zero chemistry together.

 

[Penny_Lane_]

Another great article.

I generally ask my partner if I can kiss her, or caress her back, breasts, crotch, in order to understand how far I can push things without looking like a maniac.

Wow, I'll bet Keira didn't let him touch her crotch. Those 2 had absolutely zero chemistry together.

He does sound like a creepy old perv by saying that though: "how far I can push things without looking like a maniac"?

Although Keira appears as quite frigid in real life, she had far worse sex scenes in other movies ('Domino', 'The Jacket', 'Silk') didn't understood the fuss made about those spanking scenes and I agree they had no chemistry whatsoever.
It's probably because her acting/overacting in 'A Dangerous Method' was awful to watch TBQH, she comes off as bad acting 101 in this one (and that Russian accent was terrible ) that's why the movie fell flat and a bit boring IMO despite great performances from both Viggo and Michael.
It could have been so much better...

 

[Penny_Lane_]

The 17th Annual Critics Choice Awards arrivals at The Hollywood Palladium (Live on VH1).
Michael is not on the red carpet yet...

 

[Penny_Lane_]

More arrivals...
Where is Fassy?

Best Ensemble: 'The Help' so far

 

[Penny_Lane_]

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer 'Beginners'
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer 'The Help'
Best Comedy: 'Bridesmaids' (Judd Apatow accepts the award: "Jerry Lewis once said women aren't funny, with all respect 'F#ck you !' )
Best Foreign Film: 'A Separation'
Best Animation: 'Rango'
Best Young Actor/Actress: Thomas Horn 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close'

*Not sure if Fassbender is attending tonight* (but Dicaprio, Pitt [without Jolie], Clooney and Dujardin are in da house )

 

[Ejm1059]

No word on Michael. I think he skipped out on this one. I don't blame him it's so lame right now.

 

[Gemini Chica]

Hey all. So I thought I'd swing down to the Palladium in Hollywood to see if I could catch Michael but by the time I got there, and thanks to rush hour traffic, pretty much everyone had already arrived - except for Brad Pitt and Emma Stone. There were a few fans and photogs outside the gates so I waited with them in hopes of catching a glimpse of our boy. No luck, though. And when I asked if he had arrived, everyone was like, "who?". Lol. I'm telling you, people here are clueless to this man's existence.

I did get to see Brad get out of his limo, wave at us, pose for pics for us and rush inside after interviews. That was kind of cool for me because I've been in this town for 10 years and have seen damn near everyone but him, Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp.

Emma was really sweet as she came over to us and signed autographs and posed for pics. She is super cute in person...just a sweetheart.

I'm still at the venue. The awards won't air on the west coast for another 2 hours. Any sightings of Fassy yet? If he's not here I don't want to waste my time waiting until this thing is over.

 

[Penny_Lane_]

No word on Michael. I think he skipped out on this one. I don't blame him it's so lame right now.

I think he went back to London after the NBR Gala for 'Shame' Premiere or something like that... [He's the only one who's not there though, maybe he already knew that he wasn't going to won the award so he skipped it or maybe he's been hiding all night somewhere wrecking some famous sweetshops with da beast ]

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius 'The Artist'

Great gig and speech honoring Scorsese's work from both Bob Dylan and Dicaprio though.

 

[Penny_Lane_]

Hey all. So I thought I'd swing down to the Palladium in Hollywood to see if I could catch Michael but by the time I got there, and thanks to rush hour traffic, pretty much everyone had already arrived - except for Brad Pitt and Emma Stone. There were a few fans and photogs outside the gates so I waited with them in hopes of catching a glimpse of our boy. No luck, though. And when I asked if he had arrived, everyone was like, "who?". Lol. I'm telling you, people here are clueless to this man's existence.

I did get to see Brad get out of his limo, wave at us, pose for pics for us and rush inside after interviews. That was kind of cool for me because I've been in this town for 10 years and have seen damn near everyone but him, Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp.

Emma was really sweet as she came over to us and signed autographs and posed for pics. She is super cute in person...just a sweetheart.

I'm still at the venue. The awards won't air on the west coast for another 2 hours. Any sightings of Fassy yet? If he's not here I don't want to waste my time waiting until this thing is over.

I'm sorry for you but he definitely not there, I thought he was hiding at first but sadly he did not attend that ceremony. Mindy Kaling [from 'The Office'] even asked where the hell he was? (She's some serious competition girls ).

But at least you did get to meet Brad and Emma that's something





Best Original Screenplay: 'Midnight in Paris'

Best Actress: Viola Davis 'The Help'
" The two most important days in a person's life are the day you are born and the day you discover why you were born, you deserve !"

Best Actor: George Clooney 'The Descendants'
" If you're not proud of what you're doing then do it better."

 

[Penny_Lane_]

And finally...

Best Picture: 'The Artist'

*George smug face* :boxing:

And the 17th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards winners are (IN BOLD):

BEST PICTURE

The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

BEST ACTOR

George Clooney – “The Descendants”
Leonardo DiCaprio – “J. Edgar”
Jean Dujardin – “The Artist”
Michael Fassbender – “Shame”
Ryan Gosling – “Drive”
Brad Pitt – “Moneyball”

BEST ACTRESS

Viola Davis – “The Help”
Elizabeth Olsen – “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Meryl Streep – “The Iron Lady”
Tilda Swinton – “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Charlize Theron – “Young Adult”
Michelle Williams – “My Week With Marilyn”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kenneth Branagh – “My Week With Marilyn”
Albert Brooks – “Drive”
Nick Nolte – “Warrior”
Patton Oswalt – “Young Adult”
Christopher Plummer – “Beginners”
Andrew Serkis – “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Berenice Bejo – “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain – “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy – “Bridesmaids”
Carey Mulligan – “Shame”
Octavia Spencer – “The Help”
Shailene Woodley – “The Descendants”

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

Asa Butterfield – “Hugo”
Elle Fanning – “Super 8”
Thomas Horn – “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Ezra Miller – “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Saoirse Ronan – “Hanna”
Shailene Woodley – “The Descendants”

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

The Artist
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Help
The Ides of March

BEST DIRECTOR

Stephen Daldry – “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Michel Hazanavicius – “The Artist”
Alexander Payne – “The Descendants”
Nicolas Winding Refn – “Drive”
Martin Scorsese – “Hugo”
Steven Spielberg – “War Horse”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

“The Artist” – Michel Hazanavicius
“50/50” – Will Reiser
“Midnight in Paris” – Woody Allen
“Win Win” – Screenplay by Tom McCarthy, Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni
“Young Adult” – Diablo Cody

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

“The Descendants” – Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” – Eric Roth
“The Help” – Tate Taylor
“Hugo” – John Logan
“Moneyball” – Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

“The Artist” – Guillaume Schiffman
“Drive” – Newton Thomas Sigel
“Hugo” – Robert Richardson
“The Tree of Life” – Emmanuel Lubezki
“War Horse” – Janusz Kaminski

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

BEST ACTION MOVIE

Drive
Fast Five
Hanna
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Super 8

BEST COMEDY

Bridesmaids
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Horrible Bosses
Midnight in Paris
The Muppets

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

In Darkness
Le Havre
A Separation
The Skin I Live In
Where Do We Go Now

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Buck
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Page One: Inside the New York Times
Project Nim
Undefeated

BEST SONG

“Hello Hello” – performed by Elton John and Lady Gaga/written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin – Gnomeo & Juliet
“Life’s a Happy Song” – performed by Jason Segel, Amy Adams and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie – The Muppets
“The Living Proof” – performed by Mary J. Blige/written by Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman and Harvey Mason, Jr. – The Help
“Man or Muppet” – performed by Jason Segel and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie – The Muppets
“Pictures in My Head” – performed by Kermit and the Muppets/written by Jeannie Lurie, Aris Archontis and Chen Neeman – The Muppets