Warner Brothers has pushed back the romantic drama, “Her” from a limited release open on November 20 to December 18. The film will then go wide on January 10. It’s directed by Spike Jonze (“Where the Wild Things Are”, “Being John Malkovich”) and stars Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore, a man who’s recently been divorced, but begins to form a friendship with his new home operating system. The voice that attends to his every need, named “Samantha”, is played by Scarlett Johansson.
I was intrigued by the first trailer for “Her”, which was released a few weeks ago. It feels similar to other films about humans interacting with modern technology. Last year’s “Robot & Frank”, starring Frank Langella as a man who lived with a robot “butler”, was promising but just didn’t have enough emotional bite or originality.
However, “Her” appears to have what it takes to potentially become a Best Picture contender, especially now with this prominent date change. It’s certainly a role that Phoenix could turn into a Best Actor nomination. Jonze is no stranger to Oscar attention, earning a director nom. in 2000 for “Malkovich”. He’s got a chance this year as well. But the big question is: What about Johansson? Will WB push to get her a nomination even though it’s only a voice performance and she never appears on screen? If “Her” is a hit, this could be one of the hot issues come awards season.