TORONTO — Oscar may be considering Denis Villeneuve, but Denis Villeneuve is not prepared to consider Oscar.
The acclaimed Quebec filmmaker says he’s focusing on anything but the Academy Award foreign-language film short list, which comes out Thursday.
His searing family drama, Incendies, is Canada’s submission for the category, which will be whittled down to nine films before final nominations are announced Jan. 25.
Villeneuve said last week that speculating on his Oscar chances does him no good.
“I’m not thinking about Oscar because if I think about Oscar I will stop sleeping,” Villeneuve said at the Toronto Film Critics’ Association Awards, where his film took the top Canadian prize.
“And I need a lot of sleep right now because I’m working a lot.”
Incendies opens in Toronto and Vancouver on Friday after months of acclaim on the festival circuit.
Accolades have included prizes at Venice, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, Abu Dhabi, and Valladolid, Spain.
The Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle named it best Canadian film and Villeneuve best director, while the Quebec movie-maker also earned a spot on Variety’s “10 Directors to Watch” list.
Despite mounting acclaim, Villeneuve is quick to turn the spotlight onto his source material, Wajdi Mouawad’s play, which he saw in Montreal in 2004.
“Wajdi Mouawad’s play, Incendies, is a masterpiece,” he said of the intense drama, which follows twins Simon and Jeanne as they travel to the Middle East to uncover their mother’s dark secrets.
“I did use Wajdi Mouawad’s ideas, which are fantastic and it was a privilege for me to use them.”
When he brought the film at the Toronto International Film Festival, Villeneuve said Mouawad gave him free rein to reinterpret his play for the big screen, resulting in a four-year odyssey that took Villeneuve from Montreal to Jordan where he wrestled with the “logistical nightmare” of interpreters, extras and explosive war scenes.
“It was an every day struggle to make this film,” said Villeneuve, who shot Incendies at the same time he was working on his award-winning Polytechnique.
“Of course, I’m talking about my own experience of filmmaking. I’m not a very well-experienced film director.”
Many would beg to differ.
Cameron Bailey, co-director of the Toronto International Film Festival, declared Incendies to be one of the best films he saw last year.
“I’m hoping that the Academy voters recognize that,” Bailey says.
“It’s not a movie that has obvious hooks or any kind of great publicity campaign necessarily that can make people want to see it but when they see it, I think everyone comes out impressed.”
Other foreign-language films being considered for the Oscar short list include Mexico’s Biutiful from Alejandro Gonzalez-Inarritu and starring Javier Bardem; Thailand’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives from Apichatpong Weerasethakul, which took the top prize at Cannes last year; and Argentina’s Carancho from Pablo Trapero and starring Ricardo Darin, who starred in last year’s winner, The Secret in Their Eyes.
Bailey said it’s difficult to predict what will resonate with Academy voters.
“What people always say about the Academy voters is that they want feel-good stories,” said Bailey.
“I think most movie goers want feel-good stories, they’re not so different from that. But what Incendies gives you, I think, is a story that’s very emotional but is also so beautifully direct. This is great filmmaking.”
Brian Johnson, president of the Toronto Film Critics Association, said there’s a strong possibility Villeneuve could be representing the Maple Leaf at the glitzy awards bash when trophies are handed out Feb. 27.
“Incendies has a really good chance of getting an Oscar nomination, I would be surprised if it didn’t, but you never know,” said Johnson, calling Villeneuve “one of the most accomplished directors in the country” and “a natural successor to Denys Arcand.”
“The interesting thing is that his distributor is Sony Classics, a very good distributor of independent films, but they also represent Biutiful, by Inarritu, starring Javier Bardem. Well where do you put your resources? Is there a bigger campaign behind Biutiful than there is behind Incendies? I don’t know. But it’s a crap shoot, as they say.”
“Incendies” has already won over audiences in Quebec, racking up more than $2 million in that province alone.
Johnson said Villeneuve stands to gain a stronger profile in English Canada, where he courted English audiences last year with “Polytechnique, a haunting, black-and-white account of the Montreal massacre.
“That sounds like a fool’s errand to (tackle the horrific subject matter) without it turning into lurid melodrama and he succeeded brilliantly,” says Johnson. “’Incendies’ I think will have a broader appeal.”
“Incendies” opens in Toronto and Vancouver on Friday.
Other Canadians who have a shot at nominations in other categories include Ryan Gosling, who stars and serves as executive producer on the wrenching love story, “Blue Valentine,” and could find himself in line for acting and best film nods; producer Robert Lantos, whose adaptation of the Mordecai Richler book, “Barney’s Version,” could work its way onto the best picture list; and documentary filmmaker Peter Raymont, whose “Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould,” is one of 15 projects shortlisted in the documentary feature category.