Cineliteracy: What You Want and Need to Know about 2006 as Movie Year
My Pioneering Oscar Book:
Philip French described 2006 as “an outstanding year for British cinema, six of our well-established directors have made highly individual films of real distinction: Michael Winterbottom’s A Cock and Bull Story, Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Christ Nolan’s The Prestige, Stephen Frears’s The Queen, Paul Greengrass’s United 93 and Nicholas Hytner’s The History Boys.
Two young directors made confident debuts, both offering jaundiced view of contemporary Britain: Andrea Arnold’s Red Road and Paul Andrew Williams’s London to Brighton.
The gifted Mexican Alfonso Cuaron came here to make the dystopian thriller Children of Men.” He also stated, “In the US, Shyamalan of The Sixth Sense fame fell flat on his over-confident face with Lady in the Water, but Martin Scorsese’s The Departed was his best for years, and he was with Jack Nicholson at last. Apart from that, the best American films were political (Syriana, Good Night, and Good Luck, The New World) or very personal (Little Miss Sunshine, Little Children, The Squid and the Whale). Sadly, Oliver Stone’s 9/11 picture World Trade Center was neither. Asian cinema produced a string of elegant thrillers and horror flicks. The best Eastern European movie was The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, a devastating look at the Romania Ceausescu left behind him. Most of the best Western European films came from France, with Michael Haneke’s Caché, proving the most widely discussed art-house puzzle picture since Last Year at Marienbad.
The award of 18 certificates by the BBFC to Shortbus and Destricted has brought close the abolition of censorship, but not of classification, and Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain was a real step forward for the representation of homosexuals in mainstream cinema, though Gore Vidal claims that there’s a gay subtext to every western.
However, the year’s most extraordinary event was the almost simultaneous release of Tommy Lee Jones’s directorial debut The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Who would have predicted in the Sixties, when they were roommates at Harvard and used by Erich Segal as joint models for Oliver Barrett IV in Love Story, that both Jones and Gore would end up as movie stars – if, in Gore’s case, accidentally and temporarily?”
Highest-Grossing films of 2006
Rank Title Distributor(s) Worldwide gross
1 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Buena Vista $1,066,179,725
2 The Da Vinci Code Sony $760,006,945
3 Ice Age: The Meltdown 20th Century Fox $660,998,756
4 Casino Royale Sony $606,099,584
5 Night at the Museum 20th Century Fox $574,480,841
6 Cars Buena Vista $461,983,149
7 X-Men: The Last Stand 20th Century Fox $460,435,291
8 Mission: Impossible III Paramount $398,479,497
9 Superman Returns Warner Bros. $391,081,192
10 Happy Feet $384,335,608
Box office records
Sony Pictures grossed more than $3 billion in worldwide box office for the first time in its history.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest became the third film in history to gross over $1 billion and is the 43rd highest-grossing film of all time.
Events
Month Day Event
January 4
The Producers Guild of America nominates Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck and Walk the Line as contenders for their best-produced film award. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) nominate The 40-Year-Old Virgin, I Tried, Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck and The Squid and the Whale for best original screenplay.
The WGA nominees for best adapted screenplay are Brokeback Mountain, Capote, The Constant Gardener, A History of Violence and Syriana.
5 Jon Stewart is named host of the 78th Academy Awards.
9 The Broadcast Film Critics Association present their Critics’ Choice Awards for the best films of 2005 live on The WB network. Brokeback Mountain is named best picture, best director for Ang Lee and ties for best supporting actress for Michelle Williams. Philip Seymour Hoffman is named best actor for Capote and Reese Witherspoon is awarded best actress for Walk the Line.
19 The 2006 Sundance Film Festival starts in Park City, Utah.
24 Disney announces plans to acquire Pixar
28 Directors Guild of America names Ang Lee best film director of 2005 for Brokeback Mountain, best documentary goes to Werner Herzog for Grizzly Man and its Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Clint Eastwood.
29 The Screen Actors Guild names Philip Seymour Hoffman outstanding male movie actor for Capote, Reese Witherspoon as outstanding female lead movie actor for Walk the Line, Rachel Weisz as outstanding female actor in a supporting role for The Constant Gardener, Paul Giamatti as outstanding male actor in a supporting role for Cinderella Man, the cast of Crash as outstanding ensemble in a theatrical motion picture, and Shirley Temple Black is given a life achievement award.
30 The 26th Golden Raspberry Awards nominees include Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Dirty Love, The Dukes of Hazzard, House of Wax and Son of the Mask for worst film; Tom Cruise, Will Ferrell, Jamie Kennedy, The Rock and Rob Schneider for worst actor; and Jessica Alba, Hilary Duff, Jennifer Lopez, Jenny McCarthy and Tara Reid for worst actress.
31 The Academy Awards: Brokeback Mountain led the nominations with 8, followed by Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck and Memoirs of a Geisha all earning six.
February 5 The 33rd annual Annie Award – Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit won the best animated feature, as well as all nine categories which it was nominated. Family Guy won the best voice acting and directing, Star Wars: Clone Wars II Chapters 21-25 won the best animated TV production, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch won the best home entertainment award, and Ultimate Spider-Man won the new “best video game award”.
March 4
Dirty Love dominates the 26th Golden Raspberry Awards with 4 awards including Worst Picture and Worst Actress for Jenny McCarthy. Rob Schneider took home for Worst Actor for his performance in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. Other awards went to Hayden Christensen as Worst Supporting Actor for Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Paris Hilton as Worst Supporting Actress for House of Wax
March 5: 78th Academy Awards:
Crash earns a win for Best Picture upsetting favorite Brokeback Mountain. No film, for the first time in 58 years, won a clear majority. Both films as well as Memoirs of a Geisha and King Kong win three Oscars each. Favorite March of the Penguins wins Oscar for Documentary Feature. South Africa wins its first motion picture Oscar with the Best Foreign Film award for Tsotsi. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit wins Oscar for Animated feature film.
Major awards as follows:
Director: Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain
Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote
Actress: Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line
Supporting Actor: George Clooney for Syriana
Supporting Actress: Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener
April 18 Tom Cruise and fiancée Katie Holmes welcomed their newborn baby Suri.
25 The 5th annual Tribeca Film Festival opens with Mission: Impossible III and United 93.
28 TV double act Ant & Dec make their big screen debut with Alien Autopsy.
May 17
The 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Films in competition included Babel by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Fast Food Nation by Richard Linklater, Iklimler by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, El Laberinto del Fauno by Guillermo del Toro, Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola, Southland Tales by Richard Kelly, Volver by Pedro Almodóvar, and The Wind That Shakes the Barley by Ken Loach
27
Brad Pitt and Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie give birth to daughter Shiloh in the African nation of Namibia.
June 3
The 2006 MTV Movie Awards winners were announced.
14 The American Film Institute releases its ninth list of its AFI 100 Years… series, AFI’s 100 Years…100 Cheers recognizing 100 films as the most “inspirational” in cinema history. Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life is named the most “inspirational” film of all time.
July 7 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest opens later grossing $55.8 million on its opening day, setting records for the largest opening day, the largest single day gross, and the largest Friday gross of all time (the previous record was held by Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith with $50,013,859, the previous year). It also surpassed the opening weekend gross (at $135,634,554 between July 7–9) previously set by Spider-Man in 2002 with $114,844,116 between May 3–5.
28 Actor and Oscar-winning director Mel Gibson is arrested after speeding on Pacific Coast Highway due to DUI. Police reports later reveal anti-Semitic comments made to the officer (a Jew). Gibson checked into rehab and issued statements apologizing for rude comments.
September 7 Ellen DeGeneres is named host of the 79th Oscars.
7-16 The 2006 Toronto International Film Festival takes place.
Awards
Category/Organization 64th Golden Globe Awards
January 15, 2007 12th Critics’ Choice Awards
January 14, 2007 Producers, Directors, Screen Actors, Writers Guild Awards
79th Academy Awards, February 25, 2007
Best Film: The Departed
Best Director Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Best Actor Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Best Actress Helen Mirren, The Queen
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Best Supporting Actress Jennifer Hudson
Dreamgirls
Best Screenplay, Adapted, William Monahan, The Departed
Best Screenplay, Original Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
Best Animated Film
Best Original Score The Painted Veil
Alexandre Desplat The Illusionist
Philip Glass — Babel
Gustavo Santaolalla
Best Original Song “The Song of the Heart”
Happy Feet “Listen”
Dreamgirls — “I Need to Wake Up”
An Inconvenient Truth
Best Foreign Language Film: The Lives of Others
Deaths
Month Date Name Age Country Profession Notable films
January 2 Osa Massen 91 Denmark Actress
A Woman’s FaceRocketship X-M
2 John Woodnutt 81 UK Actor
Who Dares WinsLifeforce
5 Mark Roberts 84 US Actor
GildaShadowed
7 Jim Zulevic 40 US Actor
Let’s Go to PrisonMatchstick Men
12 Stu Linder 74 US Film Editor
Rain ManGood Morning, Vietnam
12 Norris Spencer 62 UK Production Designer
Thelma & LouiseNational Treasure
14 Shelley Winters 85 US Actress
The Diary of Anne FrankLolita
19 Anthony Franciosa 77 US Actor
A Hatful of RainA Face in the Crowd
21 Robert Knudson 80 US Sound Engineer
E.T. the Extra-TerrestrialThe Exorcist
23 Joseph M. Newman 96 US Director
This Island Earth711 Ocean Drive
24 Fayard Nicholas 91 US Actor, Dancer, Choreographer
Stormy WeatherThe Pirate
24 Chris Penn 40 US Actor
Reservoir DogsFootloose
25 Moss Mabry 87 US Costume Designer
The Way We WereGiant
27 Paul Valentine 86 US Actor
Out of the PastHouse of Strangers
28 Henry McGee 77 UK Actor
The Italian JobRevenge of the Pink Panther
31 Moira Shearer 80 UK Actress, Dancer
Peeping TomThe Red Shoes
February 1 Roy Alon 63 UK Stuntman
Indiana Jones and the Temple of DoomEntrapment
3 Walerian Borowczyk 82 Poland Director, Screenwriter
Goto, Island of LoveLa Bête
3 Jean Byron 80 US Actress
FlareupThe Magnetic Monster
3 Al Lewis 82 US Actor
Used CarsMarried to the Mob
5 Franklin Cover 77 US Actor
Wall StreetAlmost Heroes
6 Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez 80 US Actor
The High and the MightyRio Bravo
8 Akira Ifukube 91 Japan Composer
GodzillaThe Burmese Harp
9 Phil Brown 89 US Actor
Star WarsSuperman
13 Andreas Katsulas 59 US Actor
The FugitiveExecutive Decision
14 Darry Cowl 80 France Actor
Not on the LipsDon’t Touch the White Woman!
18 Richard Bright 64 US Actor
The GodfatherOnce Upon a Time in America
19 Erna Lazarus 102 US Screenwriter
The Body DisappearsHollywood or Bust
21 Richard Snell 50 US Makeup Artist
Demolition ManHow the Grinch Stole Christmas
24 Don Knotts 81 US Actor
The Incredible Mr. LimpetThe Reluctant Astronaut
24 Dennis Weaver 81 US Actor
Touch of EvilDuel at Diablo
25 Darren McGavin 83 US Actor
The Man with the Golden ArmA Christmas Story
March 1 Peter Sykes 66 Australia Director
To the Devil a DaughterJesus
1 Jack Wild 53 UK Actor
Oliver!Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
2 Phyllis Huffman 61 US Casting Director
Million Dollar BabyUnforgiven
7 John Junkin 76 UK Actor
A Hard Day’s NightThe Football Factory
7 Gordon Parks 93 US Director
ShaftThe Learning Tree
12 Joseph Bova 81 US Actor
SerpicoPretty Poison
13 Maureen Stapleton 80 US Actress
RedsCocoon
16 Moira Redmond 77 UK Actress
A Shot in the DarkNightmare
17 Bob Papenbrook 50 US Voice Actor
Stranger than FictionJeepers Creepers 2
18 Michael Attwell 63 UK Actor
LabyrinthHigh Heels and Low Lifes
25 Richard Fleischer 89 US Director
20,000 Leagues Under the SeaTora! Tora! Tora!
29 Henry Farrell 85 US Screenwriter
Hush…Hush, Sweet CharlotteWhat’s the Matter with Helen?
29 Gretchen Rau 66 US Set Decorator, Art Director
Memoirs of a GeishaThe Last Samurai
31 Candice Rialson 54 US Actress
Hollywood BoulevardSummer School Teachers
April 4 Gary Gray 69 US Actor
Rachel and the StrangerWild Heritage
9 Vilgot Sjöman 82 Sweden Director
I Am Curious (Yellow)My Sister, My Love
13 Jacques Maumont 81 France Sound Engineer
The Longest DayBreathless
17 Henderson Forsythe 88 US Actor
SilkwoodSpecies II
22 Alida Valli 84 Italy Actress
The Third ManSuspiria
23 Susan Browning 65 US Actress
Sister ActThe Money Pit
23 Jennifer Jayne 74 UK Actress, Screenwriter
The Medusa TouchDr. Terror’s House of Horrors
29 Alberta Nelson 68 US Actress
Beach Blanket BingoDr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
May 1 Jay Presson Allen 84 US Screenwriter
CabaretMarnie
1 Betsy Jones-Moreland 76 US Actress
Last Woman on EarthCreature from the Haunted Sea
4 Michael Taliferro 44 US Actor
The ReplacementsBad Boys
7 Tanis Chandler 81 France Actress
Shadows Over ChinatownLured
10 Val Guest 94 UK Director, Screenwriter
Casino RoyaleThe Day the Earth Caught Fire
14 Paul Marco 78 US Actor
Plan 9 from Outer SpaceHiawatha
21 Katherine Dunham 96 US Dancer
Stormy WeatherCasbah
24 Henry Bumstead 91 US Art Director, Production Designer
To Kill a MockingbirdVertigo
27 Barbara Cohen 53 US Casting Director
RushmoreI Am Sam
27 Paul Gleason 67 US Actor
The Breakfast ClubDie Hard
29 Katarína Kolníková 85 Slovakia Actress
Vášnivý bozk
30 Shōhei Imamura 79 Japan Director, Screenwriter
Endless DesireThe Insect Woman
30 Robert Sterling 88 US Actor
Voyage to the Bottom of the SeaShow Boat
June 8 Robert Donner 75 US Actor
Cool Hand LukeEl Dorado
10 Gerald James 88 UK Actor
The Man with the Golden GunHope and Glory
12 Hugh Latimer 75 UK Actor
The Million Pound NoteJane Eyre
10 Monty Berman 92 UK Producer, Director, Cinematographer
Jack the RipperWhat a Carve Up!
16 Arthur Franz 86 US Actor
Invaders from MarsSands of Iwo Jima
18 Vincent Sherman 99 US Director
The Young PhiladelphiansMr. Skeffington
18 Richard Stahl 74 US Actor
Private SchoolGhosts of Mississippi
23 Aaron Spelling 83 US Producer, Actor
Mr. MomSoapdish
25 Kenneth Griffith 84 UK Actor
Four Weddings and a FuneralSky Riders
July 2 Jan Murray 89 US Actor
Which Way to the Front?The Busy Body
3 Jack Smith 92 US Actor
On Moonlight BayCannonball Run II
5 Amzie Strickland 87 US Actress
Pretty WomanShiloh
6 Kasey Rogers 80 US Actress
Strangers on a TrainTwo Lost Worlds
8 June Allyson 88 US Actress
The Glenn Miller StoryThe Three Musketeers
9 Chris Drake 82 US Actor
Them!A Walk in the Sun
11 Barnard Hughes 90 US Actor
TronMidnight Cowboy
12 Kurt Kreuger 89 Germany Actor
SaharaThe Enemy Below
12 Loredana Nusciak 64 Italy Actress
DjangoGladiators 7
13 Red Buttons 87 US Actor
SayonaraPete’s Dragon
19 Pascal Renwick [fr] 51 FR French voice actor
The TerminatorThe Running ManThe Matrix
19 Jack Warden 85 US Actor
Heaven Can Wait12 Angry Men
20 Robert Cornthwaite 89 US Actor
The War of the WorldsWhat Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
21 Mako 72 Japan Actor
Conan the BarbarianThe Sand Pebbles
27 Johnny Weissmuller Jr. 65 US Actor
THX 1138American Graffiti
28 Patrick Allen 79 Malawi Actor
Dial M for MurderJet Storm
August 4 John Alderson 90 UK Actor
Blazing SaddlesMy Fair Lady
7 Lois January 92 US Actress
The Wizard of OzThe Pace That Kills
13 Tony Jay 73 UK Voice Actor, Actor
The Hunchback of Notre DameBeauty and the Beast
14 Bruno Kirby 57 US Actor
City SlickersWhen Harry Met Sally…
16 Alan Vint 61 US Actor
BadlandsThe Panic in Needle Park
19 Sig Shore 87 US Producer, Director
Super FlyThat’s the Way of the World
25 Ann Richards 88 Australia Actress
Sorry, Wrong NumberAn American Romance
25 Joseph Stefano 84 US Screenwriter, Psycho, Two Bits
29 Bill Stewart 63 UK Actor
101 DalmatiansAnna and the King
30 Glenn Ford 90 Canada Actor Gilda
31 William Aldrich 61 US Producer, Actor
Flight of the PhoenixThe Sheltering Sky
September
Sep 9
Gérard Brach 79 France Director, Screenwriter, The Name of the Rose, Frantic
Sep 14
Mickey Hargitay 80 Hungary Actor, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? The Loves of Hercules
14 Virginia Vale 86 US Actress
Blonde Comet, Broadway Big Shot
19 Elizabeth Allen 77 US Actress, Donovan’s Reef, Star Spangled Girl
Sep 20
Sven Nykvist 83 Sweden Cinematographer, Cries and Whispers, Unbearable Lightness of Being
Sep 22
Edward Albert 55 US Actor, Butterflies Are Free, 40 Carats
23 Malcolm Arnold 84 UK Composer, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Suddenly, Last Summer
October
9 Danièle Huillet 70 France Director, The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena, Bach History Lessons
10 Jerry Belson 68 US Screenwriter, Producer
AlwaysFun with Dick and Jane
12 Gillo Pontecorvo 86 Italy Director, The Battle of Algiers, Kapò
15 Derek Bond 86 UK Actor
Uncle SilasWhen Eight Bells Toll
16 Jack DeLeon 81 US Actor
The HobbitLife Stinks
16 Tommy Johnson 71 US Musician
The MatrixThe Godfather
19 James Glennon 64 US Cinematographer
About SchmidtElection
19 Phyllis Kirk 79 US Actress
House of WaxBack from Eternity
20 Jane Wyatt 96 US Actress
Lost HorizonStar Trek IV: The Voyage Home
21 Peter Barkworth 77 UK Actor
PattonWhere Eagles Dare
21 Daryl Duke 77 Canada Director
The Silent PartnerThe Thorn Birds
21 Milton Selzer 87 US Actor
Sid and NancyThe Cincinnati Kid
22 Arthur Hill 84 Canada Actor
Harper, The Andromeda Strain
22 Richard Mayes 83 UK Actor
GandhiTop Secret!
29 Roy Barnes 70 US Set Designer, Art Director
War of the WorldsThe Last Samurai
29 Nigel Kneale 84 UK Screenwriter
The EntertainerQuatermass and the Pit
31 William Franklyn 81 UK Actor
Cul-de-sacThe Satanic Rites of Dracula
November
Nov 1
Adrienne Shelly 40 US Actress, Director, Waitress, Unbelievable Truth
Nov 2
Leonard Schrader 62 US Screenwriter, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Blue Collar
16 Ernest Day 79 UK Cinematographer, Director
A Passage to India, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
16 Eustace Lycett 91 UK Special Effects Artis
Nov 20
Robert Altman 81 US Director, M*A*S*, HGosford Park
Nov 23
Betty Comden 89 US Scribe, Lyricist, Singin’ in the Rain, The Band Wagon
Nov 23
Philippe Noiret 76 France Actor, Cinema Paradiso, The Postman
December
Dec 4
Adam Williams 84 US Actor, North by Northwest, Fear Strikes Out
Dec 5
Michael Gilden 44 US Actor, Return of the Jedi, Pulp Fiction
Dec 12
Peter Boyle 71 US Actor, Taxi Driver, Young Frankenstein
25 James Brown 73 US Singer, Actor, The Blues Brothers, Rocky IV
Film Debuts
David Ajala – Kidulthood
Dianna Agron – When a Stranger Calls
Moisés Arias – Nacho Libre
Dave Bautista – Relative Strangers
Common – Smokin’ Aces
Ana de Armas – Virgin Rose
Scott Eastwood – Flags of Our Fathers
Greta Gerwig – LOL
Bill Hader – Doogal
Rebecca Hall – Starter for 10
Scott Haze – Danny Roane: First Time Director
Sandra Hüller – Requiem
Kellan Lutz – Stick It
Deepika Padukone – Aishwarya
Imogen Poots – V for Vendetta
Andrea Riseborough – Venus
Léa Seydoux – Girlfriends
Olivia Thirlby – United 93
Mia Wasikowska – Suburban Mayhem
