In what is undeniably a big blow for Sony, Steven Zaillian's All the King's Men
will not finish post-production in time for its planned December 16
release - which means it won't be eligible for any Oscars until next
year. Both the film, based on Robert Penn Warren's novel about
political corruption in the South, and star Sean Penn
(who plays a character loosely based on Louisiana governor Huey Long) had
been hotly tipped for awards this year; now Penn and Sony will have to
wait. The unfortunate thing for us is that it appears audiences are going to have to wait as well. Since voters are notorious for forgetting everything they saw before November, the studio is expected to hold onto the film until late 2006 - a rare case of a studio sitting on a film because it's good, rather than because they're trying to bury it. Sony's other Oscar hopefuls, Memoirs of a Geisha and Freedomland, are both on track for December releases.
