Alexander Payne has become a reliably Oscar-nominatable filmmaker in the years since “Sideways” and “About Schmidt.” “Nebraska”, shot in black and white, with Bruce Dern as a coot who thinks he’s won a $million, Will Forte as his long-suffering son and Stacy Keach as his rival, has a whiff of Oscar bait about it.
Will the great character actor, Mr. Dern, pull a nomination of the hat for this one?
I once spent a day with him while he was shooting the Oscar-winning “Monster” in and around Orlando. He’s a talker, a tell of tales about movies, a philosopher, all about filmmakers and critics who “get it.” His highest praise, of people like Walter Hill (“The Driver,” “Wild Bill”) — “He GETS it.”
A prediction — he gets a nomination, he wins an Oscar. And no matter how loud they play, the band can’t “play him off the stage” Oscar night.