Arnon Milchan's 'The Reverent' Nominated for 12 Oscars, including 'Best Picture'

Arnon Milchan, the lead producer and financier of The Reverent, has been personally nominated for an Academy Award, and his film has been nominated for 12 Oscars in total, leading all other 2016 nominees. The nominations came in almost all of the leading categories such as Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Cinematography.... and of course, Best Picture.

Milchan-produced films have won 'Best Picture' in the past two years, including Twelve Years a Slave and Birdman. But with 12 nominations in hand, The Reverent seems to be the favorite going in, which would make it the third Best Picture in a row should it win. What sets this year apart, however, is that Milchan has been personally nominated, which means that should The Reverent win, he will accept the Oscar on stage and will likely take the opportunity to speak.

People who have read the book Confidential and are familiar with Arnon Milchan's backstory will understand the significance of such a moment. As the recent article in New York Magazine states;  "...the 71-year-old Milchan himself proves to be a character worthy of an epic."
 

Milchan, the owner of New Regency is surrounded by his filmmakers
during the 2014 Academy Awards 'Best Picture' win for '12 Years a Slave'. 

     

Arnon Milchan Is On the Way to a Third 'Best Picture' Oscar in a Row

Arnon Milchan has had an extraordinary run of good fortune since the publication of "Confidential". Perhaps it took the liberation from his secretive past, following his outing in the book, and the follow-up documentary, to set him on a business and artistic path that has resulted in what appears to be a likely third 'Best Picture' win in a row at the Academy Awards.... Twelve Years a Slave, Birdman... and now The Reverent? 

It's enough to drive the army of conspiratorial anti-Semites on the internet who hate him, stark raving mad, and generate a smile for the rest of us.

His latest films, The Reverent and The Big Short are currently the most talked about films in the world, as the hype surrounding the release of Star Wars subsides. Indeed, it was The Reverent that cleaned up at the Golden Globes last night, winning in the Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Drama categories. Milchan was named by Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu the 'hero' of the film, sticking with it during almost insurmountable production problems,cost overruns.  

The 2016 Academy Awards are scheduled for February 28th. Stay tuned.  

Once Again, an Arnon Milchan Film Wins Best Picture at the Academy Awards

Producer Arnon Milchan, on the left, applauds his cast and crew on stage at the Oscars

Arnon Milchan took to the stage as his film Birdman swept the key categories at the 2015 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. This was the second year in row that Milchan ascended the stage at the grand finale of the Oscars to celebrate with his jubilant cast and crew. As is his practice, Mr. Milchan kept silent and let stars shine.  

Arnon Milchan's 'Birdman' Nominated for Nine Academy Awards

For the second year in a row, Arnon Milchan / New Regency films are up for nine Academy Awards. Birdman, staring Michael Keaton, is up for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and more. Milchan's Gone Girl is up for Best Actress. Most analysts agree that Milchan will face stiffer competition this year, compared to last year when Twelve Years a Slave was an obvious favorite.  

Arnon Milchan Takes Center Stage as New Regency's '12 Years a Slave' Wins Best Picture at the 2014 Academy Awards

New Regency's 12 Years a Slave wins the 2014 Academy Award for Best Motion Picture. Producer Arnon Milchan thus completes an amazing journey from his controversial role in South Africa of the 1970's to the very pinnacle of Hollywood success and recognition, with a film that depicts the evil of racial discrimination in the starkest possible form. Some will view all of this with cynicism, others will see a strong measure of redemption... either way, it is a hell of a story.    

 

Arnon Milchan not Listed as Producer of '12 Years a Slave' by the Academy of Motions Pictures.

Lacarno Film Festival awards Milcahn with
The Best Independent Producer Award in 2013

The film 12 Years a Slave would likely not have been made without producer Arnon Milchan, who co-financed the movie and distributed the film through his distribution agreement with Fox. The Academy of Motion Pictures announced this year's Oscar nominations on March 16. Interestingly, the Academy nominated 12 Years a Slave for 'Best Picture', but failed to list Arnon Milchan as one of the producers up for the Oscar. The reason for Mr. Milchan's omission by the Academy is not yet clear. Updates to come.

Coincidentally or not, one day before the Academy Award nominations announcement, the UK Guardian ran a lengthy article titled The Truth About Israel's Secret Nuclear Arsenal, in which Mr. Milchan featured prominently. The Article, written by the Guardian's Diplomatic Editor, Julian Borger, described at length key exclusive elements from Milchan's biography Confidential.   

Arnon Milchan...New Regency....'12 Years a Slave'....Golden Globe Best Drama...On track for 'Best Film' Academy Award?

“New Regency were the last people in, but I think it’s fair to say they are the reason the movie got made”
 

 

Arnon Milchan was in South Africa recently promoting 12 Years a Slave, which was co-produced and released by his company New Regency, and distributed by Fox under the Fox-New Regency distribution agreement. South Africa is a country he knows well and has special feelings for. 12 Years a Slave won the coveted Golden Globe 'Best Drama' of 2013. Oscar nominations are to be announced on Thursday, January 16th.

Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment co-produced the film with Mr. Milchan. Plan B Entertainment President Dede Gardner explained in Screen Daily the partnership arrangement that could very well lead to Mr. Milchan's first Academy Award:

Heading into production a US distributor had yet to be attached. Summit was a potential candidate but its imminent acquisition by Lionsgate soon ruled out the company.

Paramount, which had an output deal with Plan B since 2005 and whose chairman Brad Grey co-founded Plan B with Pitt, was also a potential distributor but ultimately was not seen as the right fit.

Pitt’s outfit would instead turn to Los Angeles-based financier New Regency, whose chairman Arnon Milchan and CEO Brad Weston separately had long-term relationships with Pitt and his executives.

“We were repositioning ourselves,” says Weston of New Regency, which up to that point had focused on mainstream comedies and action fare. “We had a strategy for the company and Steve fell into that category of a wall-to-wall brilliant film-maker that we wanted to work with.”
For New Regency and all the backers, McQueen’s film represented the ultimate in highbrow but accessible film-making.

In April 2012, a few weeks before filming began, New Regency agreed to co-finance and distribute the picture via Fox Searchlight, per its output deal with Fox. In fact, the company committed less than 48 hours after reading the script.

“New Regency were the last people in, but I think it’s fair to say they are the reason the movie got made,” acknowledges Gardner."

THE RACE IS ON: Milchan and Pitt's '12 Years a Slave' in Epic Awards Season Faceoff with 'American Hustle'. Milchan's Past will be Tested.

By Eric Wilder - Hollywood

It may be early, but clearly, an epic battle for the Best Picture Academy Award is now on.... and everybody in the industry knows it. Arnon Milchan and Brad Pitt's 12 Years a Slave, will face off with Columbia Pictures' American Hustle, in an awards-season clash of the titans. Both movies have picked up the bulk of the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild top nominations... which are historic barometers for the Oscars.

If 12 Years a Slave pulls it off, it will be the first Academy Award for Arnon Milchan, one of the most successful and prolific independent producers in Hollywood history. An award that would be long overdue, considering his massive portfolio. It is unknown how recent publicity surrounding Mr. Milchan's extracurricular biography as a former spy will affect the voting. Co-Author of Milchan's biography, Joseph Gelman, said the following:

"Given his massive body of work and contributions to the industry, if there is one person in Hollywood who deserves an Academy Award, it would be Arnon. 12 Years a Slave is a worthy and meaningful candidate for Best Picture. It is a movie that will stand the test of time as perhaps the definitive cinematic portrayal of America slavery, the most problematic institution in American history.  

I don't think that American Hustle, a fun movie, brings that kind of gravitas to the table. It's not a serious movie. It is not a movie that people will look back on 20 years from now, or even a year from now, and say 'wow!' Hollywood likes to think of itself as a meaningful industry, in addition to being an entertainment industry.  

Somewhere deep in Arnon's conscience, I know that he sees 12 Years a Slave as a small measure of repentance for past transgressions involving his activities in South Africa. It's an interesting story of redemption, and Hollywood loves stories of redemption. If Milchan wins the Oscar for this important movie, I would put that as the final scene in the movie version of his biography. A real closing of a circle. A "Hollywood ending" if you will.   

Meir and I will be pulling for 12 Years a Slave, not because of Arnon, but because frankly, it's the best movie of the year. It's that simple."