THR Still Predicting ‘September 5’ to Win Best Picture

THR’s Scott Feinberg is firmly staying on the “September 5” bandwagon, despite the film not really having much traction at the moment — he believes it’s still the film to beat for Best Picture. Hey, maybe its momentum will accentuate once more eyeballs get to see Tim Fehlbum’s film, who really knows.

Here’s Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffrey Wells wondering what’s up with Feinberg’s insistence that “September 5” is the real deal:

What’s behind Scott Feinberg‘s bizarre insistence upon listing Tim Fehlbaum‘s September 5 as the most likely Best Picture contender of them all? It’s a good film but not top-of-the-list good. I’m not irked or angry or fuming. I’m not slapping my forehead. I just honestly don’t get it.

Feinberg also has September 5’s Peter Sarsgaard winning Supporting Actor, and Leonie Benesch firmly planted in the top 5 for Supporting Actress.

Last month, “September 5” landed at Paramount Pictures in a $10M deal. The film will hit theaters on Nov. 27 before expanding in December with a “major awards campaign behind it.”

Sarsgaard, Benesch and John Magaro star in “September 5,” the third feature from director Tim Fehlbaum (“The Colony” and “Hell”), a dramatic thriller about ABC Sports’ coverage of the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist attack in which Palestinian militants took hostage Israeli athletes. The story is told from the perspective of the broadcasters.

The Oscar Experts have been as curious as me about THR’s “September 5” push, and finally got a chance to watch the film recently. In a newly posted video, they claim that the narrative behind the film is “fake news.” They just don’t get the hype.

THR has been hyping up “September 5” as the real deal for months now. The film didn’t screen at TIFF and was overshadowed by more buzzy titles at Venice but had a great showing at Telluride. It didn’t screen at either NYFF or London.

If “Gladiator II” fails to ignite a spark in November, which is a real possibility, I can see Paramount focusing most of their energy on “September 5” as their main awards horse. It just needs to be seen by a wider public, and a TIFF showing would have probably done it some good. Sadly, Toronto rejected the film, fearing controversy due to its tackling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Frankly, as far as films that dealt with the Munich massacre go, I would have loved to have seen Steven Spielberg’s “Munich” get more awards traction in 2005. It ended up being nominated for only 5 Oscars, and won zero. A real shame since I believe it’s Spielberg’s best film of the last 20 years.