A prominent Hollywood director unleashed a colorful, blistering assessment of tomorrow’s Oscar contenders — dismissing actress Jennifer Lawrence as “mean-spirited,” deeming “Silver Linings Playbook” as “blah” and pronouncing “Zero Dark Thirty” “amazing.”
The veteran member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences anonymously roasted and toasted everyone from Sally Field to Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg as he went through his picks for the Hollywood Reporter, gleefully explaining each checkmark.
“I don’t think it deserves to win and am annoyed it is on track to win,” the director said of Best Picture front-runner “Argo,” whose screenplay he dismissed as “a whole lot of nothing.”
“It’s a very engaging story but with nothing particularly clever in the writing,” said the director, although he did back Ben Affleck for a Best Director nomination.
He rejected Best Picture nominee “Les Miserables” as “the most disappointing film in many years” and said “Amour” is “just a woman dying, and there’s no real story, and it made me feel like s–t. There’s only so much diaper-changing that I can tolerate . . . I’m just pissed off at that film.”
“Django Unchained” got points for being “fun,” even though it’s “basically just Quentin Tarantino masturbating for three hours.”
“He’s made the same film eight times,” the director said.
“Silver Linings Playbook” actor Bradley Cooper got high marks, but the movie itself “is just a ‘blah’ film,” the director said.
“Life of Pi” — which garnered the director’s vote for Best Adapted Screenplay — was “unique” and well done “until its irritating ending,” and “Lincoln” was “a bore . . . but well-meaning and important,” the director said.
He gave “Zero Dark Thirty” his vote for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, calling Mark Boal’s script “amazing, with very good moments and great tension.”
“Knowing that it’s not gonna win Best Picture, part of me just wants to try to push through an award for it as an ‘I’m sorry,’ ” the director said.
He gave “Lincoln” his Best Production Design and Best Director votes, explaining, “Spielberg deserves an Oscar every 10 years or so out of respect.”
The acerbic critic didn’t hold back when it came to the Oscar-nominated actresses and actors.
Best Actress favorite Jennifer Lawrence lost the director’s vote when she bashed her rivals in a recent “Saturday Night Live” skit.
“I thought it was mean-spirited and shows a lack of maturity on her part,” he said.
And Quvenzhané Wallis, the 9-year-old star of “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” lost him at hello.
“Her parents really put her in a hole by giving her that name . . . I don’t vote for anyone whose name I can’t pronounce,” he said.
He cast his vote for “Amour” leading lady Emmanuelle Riva, who turns 86 Sunday, even though he didn’t like the movie itself.
“Riva was extraordinary in it,” he said. “She might not even live through Oscar night, so . . .”
The “charming” Anne Hathaway got his vote for supporting actress, while Sally Field was ripped as “undeserving” of her best-supporting nomination in “Lincoln.”
“She’s playing an annoying character, and she is rather annoying, plus she’s about 20 years too old for the role,” the director said.
He predicted Daniel Day-Lewis would get the majority of votes for Best Actor but cast his ballot for Joaquin Phoenix, “who gives a performance for the ages” in “The Master.”
The director had little good to say about the supporting-actor nominees.
“Alan Arkin in ‘Argo’? I’m shocked he’s even nominated. Robert De Niro was just Robert De Niro; he had one crying scene, but crying is not enough,” he sniffed.
“Tommy Lee Jones has been such a bitter guy — all that scowling at the Golden Globes? I’m telling you, people don’t like the guy.”
Only Philip Seymour Hoffman escaped scorn with his “sublime” performance in “The Master.”
“It’s a very original performance,” the director said.
Meanwhile, when it comes to music, it’s “a no-brainer” for “Skyfall” as Best Original Song.
“Adele is f–king brilliant,’’ the director said.
“Plus, I think it’s about time that a James Bond song won best song. This is my F-you for not giving it to ‘Live and Let Die’ back in 1973.”