For the last month or so, I’ve been handing out "movie of the week" kudos to films that have managed to stand out or gain a little momentum in the awards race over the previous seven days.
Going by the usual standards, to be honest, it probably doesn’t make sense to give this week’s award to "Anvil! The Story of Anvil."
I mean, it’s a rock documentary about a sad-sack Canadian heavy metal band, a film that didn’t get any offers when it showed at Sundance two years ago.
And it didn’t make the Academy’s documentary shortlist of 15, meaning it’s ineligible in the only category where it had a decent chance to land a nomination.
So after the shortlist disappointment, what does "Anvil," director Sacha Gervasi’s story about what is in many respects a real life Spinal Tap, do?
It mounts a best-picture campaign.
That’s right. These guys actually think they have a chance of landing one of those 10 spots, even though they couldn’t land one of the 15 documentary slots.
They brought their film to theWrap Filmmaker Screening Series on Thursday night, and the next day threw a bargain-basement Oscar party of sorts in the distinctly funky confines of Canter’s Deli in the Fairfax district.
The same day, they took out a full-page ad in Daily Variety. "For Your Consideration," it had the nerve to proclaim. "Best Picture."
They’re nuts.
Of course, Anvil singer Steve "Lips" Kudlow was nuts four years ago when Gervasi told him of his idea to make a movie, and Kudlow immediately said that he saw himself standing on a stadium stage singing in front of tens of thousands of people. Which happened a couple of months ago, when Anvil opened for AC/DC at Giants Stadium in New York and at two other mammoth outdoor gigs.
Gervasi was nuts to think that his film would be helped by sending Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner to a miniscule film and music festival held in the basement of a nightclub in Prague. But it was, because two VH1 staffers happened to be vacationing there and saw the film.
Kudlow and Reiner were nuts to think that a low-budget movie would enable them to quit their menial day jobs, get a real manager and be successful after 30 yeas of struggling. But it did.
The filmmakers were nuts to think that their movie would be embraced by people who don’t like metal, that it would win the top prize at the International Documentary Association awards, that it would pick up high-profile fans like Tilda Swinton, Catherine Keener, Michel Gondry, Cameron Crowe and Dustin Hoffman. But it did all of those things.
Nuts? Hell, Anvil lives for nuts.
And the film, which is far less a movie about heavy-metal music than an oddly inspirational story of hope and belief and friendship in the face of ridiculous odds, is touching such a nerve with people, and inspiring such passion, that improbably, and maybe foolishly, I just can’t rule it out.
On Friday afternoon, Hoffman, who came to Gervasi with tears in his eyes when he first saw the movie, calling it the most wonderful emotional experience he’d ever had in a movie theater, showed up at Canters to sit with Kudlow and Reiner and pick up a copy of the pair’s new book.
So did Crowe, who said, "It’s fun to root for ‘Anvil’" in the best picture race. So did director Curtis Hanson, who’s shown with the likes of "8 Mile" and "Wonder Boys" that he knows how to make music and movies work together. So did a handful of friends and fans who were there not because they had Academy votes, but because that’s how Anvil rolls.
Kudlow sat amidst the turmoil with a beatific grin on his face and said he’d seen it all coming. "It’s weird," he said. "I’m sitting there with Dustin Hoffman, and I felt like, yeah, I knew this was going to happen."
Gervasi, meanwhile, kept shaking his head at the craziness of it all. "What do you make of this?" he asked. "This is crazy, right?"
Right.
The ad is crazy, the Oscar campaign is crazy, the tour they’re on is crazy, the plans they’re cooking up for what could be a truly remarkable awards-season moment are crazy.
So here’s a toast to crazy. "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" is the Odds movie of the week, damnit.
And here are a couple of videos from theWrap’s screening:
Producer Rebecca Yeldham and director Sacha Gervasi
Band members Robb Reiner and Steve "Lips" Kudlow
