Harvey Weinstein is famous for campaigning earlier, harder, and more successfully for Oscars than any of his filmmaking peers. But the "For Your Consideration" ads for Factory Girl that ran this week in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter may represent a new benchmark for claiming award-worthy status for a film that is, to all appearances, still very much in production.

With entire new scenes—not reshoots—still being shot in New York, most critics have still seen only limited footage of the movie, and the window for getting even a rough cut in front of them is rapidly closing. "You'd really better have a screening by the first week of December, or you're risking a lot of critics not being able to see it in time" for Golden Globe nominations, says Anne Thompson, deputy film editor of the Hollywood Reporter.

A spokeswoman for Weinstein, however, notes some critics have already "seen an early cut of the movie and given it high praise, especially Sienna Miller and Guy Pearce's performances. We don't think it's premature to start promoting the film for awards consideration."

Based on the story of Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick, Factory Girl has been dogged by delays and rumors of dissatisfaction on the part of its producers. But Thompson says the ongoing tinkering is not an automatic red flag as long as it is only "pickups" being shot and nothing more substantial. "Harvey knows what he wants, and he'll know what's missing, especially if he's aiming for the Oscars. And the Weinstein Co. has been known to play these things out very late in the day."