Conspicuously absent from the Toronto and Venice lineups was Truth, the star-studded journalism drama starring Robert Redford as reporter Dan Rather and Cate Blanchett as CBS News journalist Mary Mapes, and now Sony Pictures Classics has confirmed that the film will indeed enter the Oscar race with a newly set October release.
Zodiac scribe James Vanderbilt will make his directorial debut on the tense drama, about the last days Rather, an anchor, and Mapes, a producer, spent at CBS News after broadcasting a highly damaging and controversial report about how President George W. Bush, then seeking re-election, relied on his family connections to avoid serving in the United States National Guard for over a year during the Vietnam War. The story made national headlines, and its accuracy was soon called into question, resulting in Mapes’ firing and hastening Rather’s retirement from the news network.
Truth certainly has all the trappings of an Oscar contender. The question is, how will it tackle the challenge of Blanchett simultaneously competing for a Best Actress nomination for Todd Haynes’ period romance Carol? She’s unquestionably a lead in that film and will be submitted as such, but her part in Truth also seems extremely central, so it would be somewhat unfortunate to see Sony Pictures Classics push her into Best Supporting Actress. Additionally, that maneuver would put her up against Carol co-star Rooney Mara. We’ll just have to wait to see how that all plays out, but Blanchett is certainly attracting Oscar buzz for both performances.
Elisabeth Moss, Topher Grace, Dennis Quaid and Bruce Greenwood all co-star in Truth, which opens October 16.
A behind-the-scenes look at news anchor Dan Rather during his final days at C.B.S. News when he broadcast a damaging report about how President Bush relied on privilege and family connections to avoid fighting in the Vietnam War.
