Cate Blanchett is a Sh**

Did you binge on the Globes? Time to purge by thinking of something else for one hot minute.

Thanks to reader Red Rose for pointing the following news bit out to me. It seems that even when Cate Blanchett doesn't attend the big glitzy Hollywood awards, she still manages to walk a red carpet (figuratively) and pick up a trophy (okay, plaque)! While Hollywood was giving out the People's Choice Aw Golden Globes, Cate was being honored in Sydney Australia for playing Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire. I swear this woman can't breathe without someone raving about the way she processes oxygen. But at least she has a sense of humor about it, ribbing herself in her acceptance speech, where she beat herself for the win (like Meryl* last night at the Globes, she had two nominations for Best Actress here), saying

it does give me exquisite pleasure to pip the ubiquitous and, in my opinion, the much over-rated Cate Blanchett. I was at NIDA with her and she was a sh**.

Hee. Here's a video of the win.



Awards upon awards upon awards. I'm reasonably certain her family applauds her each morning for waking. And her staff give her gifts for allowing them to serve her.

What would you throw trophies at her for?

*incidentally -- thanks anon -- Meryl Streep saw this Streetcar performance and raved about Blanchett's work.
*

Monologue: "He was a boy..."

Jose here bringing you the Monday Monologue, this time taken from Elia Kazan's production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.

"Blanche, can I ask you a question?" says shy Mitch (Karl Malden) to Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) during one of their dates. She says yes and he proceeds "How old are you?". With this simple question Leigh takes us on a trip down memory, and insanity, lane as she reminisces about her unsuccessful marriage to a "boy" named Allan.

When I was sixteen I made the discovery: love. All at once and much, much too completely. It was like you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow, that's how it struck the world for me.

But I was unlucky. Deluded. There was something about the boy. The nervousness, the callousness, an uncertainty and I didn't understand.

I didn't understand why this boy, who wrote poetry, didn't seem able to do anything else, lost every job, he came to me for help. I didn't know then, I didn't know anything except that I loved him unendurably.

"I don't understand" says Mitch, "No, neither did I" says Blanche. And one might say neither did the audiences in the 50's who were oblivious to how the actual play went. You see, Williams made no point of hiding that Blanche had been married to a gay man. "He wasn't the least effeminate looking" she says in the play "still, that thing was there".
She goes on to reveal how she ended up discovering what was his problem "in the worst of all possible ways", by discovering him being unfaithful with another man.

When the movie was made, the League of Decency and their strict Production Code reigned over Hollywood with a firm, prudish hand. The notion of homosexuality being mentioned in film was unthinkable (how could you talk about something that didn't"exist" back then?), this left the filmmakers and cast with a void that needed to be filled. Blanche's monologue is one of the most crucial moments in the plot and Kazan was already having trouble with other elements featured in the play which included shameless lust, domestic violence, nymphomania and rape.

Therefore Kazan had to work his way around a controversial twist that revealed key traits in the lead character without alienating audiences who had to at least try to understand her. What he does then is turn the monologue into an atmospheric confession where Blanche reveals how she "killed" her husband.

Watch how Kazan plays with light, music and setting - they are almost theatrical in their stylized expressionism - and pay special attention to how Leigh bares Blanche's soul so much that for a moment we even forget Mitch is standing right in front of her. As the Varsouviana plays in the background like a nightmarish lullaby, she travels back in time, but always conceals part of who she really is.

The Code may have been an atrocity with the arts and freedom of expression. But who needs obviousness with this kind of acting? Leigh's capacity to elicit fear, pain and hope is miraculous, but the way in which she gave audience members the liberty to choose what was Allan's problem is what makes her immortal.

Like she says "sometimes-there's God-so quickly" and her performance is proof of that.

Cate Convalescing

This may surprise those among you who think the worst of me for my occasionally vocalized Blagnostichettism but I spent all day inbetween deadlines worrying about Cate Blanchett and her head injury. In case you missed it, she was struck on the head in Sydney yesterday while performing Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Live theater is dangerous! Seems that Stanley Kowalski -- ever the brute -- threw a radio at her. Maybe Stanley's (Joel Edgerton) aim wasn't true or Cate altered her blocking that night but the prop wasn't supposed to actually hit her.


I'm relieved to read that she's reportedly fine... but I'm still a little nervous. Head injuries are notoriously unpredictable. Gifted actresses are a precious commodity and should never ever ever come to harm. Especially not while they're in the middle of working their magic.

I don't really hear people vocalize this so much but do you think Blanche DuBois is the female equivalent of Hamlet? That Mount Everest role that every acclaimed actor feels compelled to climb.

Karl Malden (RIP)

<--- Marlon Brando, Nick Dennis, Rudy Bond and Karl Malden in Broadway's original production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1947 [via]

This past week has been very rough on the entertainment industry and our cultural history. Today, with Karl Malden's death, we've lost the last remaining principal cast member of Tennessee William's legendary play turned movie A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Now, Malden's career was much larger than mama's boy Harold "Mitch" Mitchel but that classic role, which he originated and owned, is a vital part of his legacy.

Strangely, Jessica Tandy's TONY honor (the original "Blanche DuBois") was the show's only attention from 'Broadway's Oscars' if you will. All the principles transferred to the movie except Tandy who was replaced by the cinema's most legendary southern belle (even though she was British) Vivien Leigh. When it came to the Oscars, three of the four actors (including Malden) collected statues. In typical Oscar fashion the performance most often regarded as game changing for the entire art of acting (Brando's) was the one snubbed on Oscar night. That's not a knock on the other indelible performances, don't misunderstand. It's a knock on Oscar. I'm getting off track but it's a sore spot for me as I'll never understand the instant or enduring love for The African Queen.

Malden was very prolific in the 50s and 60s and his second most treasured performance is probably his man of the cloth role in another Elia Kazan / Marlon Brando film, On the Waterfront (1954). Other enduring features include Baby Doll (1956, pictured right), Pollyanna (1960) The Birdman of Alcatraz and Gypsy (1962), Patton (1970) and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979).

Goodbye Mitch.
Rest in peace.

Vivien Leigh (1913-1967)
Marlon Brando (1924-2004)
Kim Hunter (1922-2002)
Karl Malden (1912-2009)

Don't you wish old photos came with audio tracks?

Or that you could time travel into the room as they were being taken.

[photo src]

And if either of those things were possible, wouldn't you grab every Old Hollywood candid you could find in order to listen in or join the party? What exactly would Rosalind Russell, Greer Garson and Merle Oberon chat about anyway? Roz only cares about the camera but who are Greer and Merle all smiles about?

I mean just fantasize for a moment about a night at ... on the bar with Marlene Dietrich and Claudette Colbert.

[photo src]

How much would you have to drink to not be starstruck and join right in. Too much. Too much I say. The mind clouds. The hangover would be epic.

Here's a photo I've cherished my whole life from an old out of print Natalie Wood book from the 80s. It's Dennis Hopper and Wood discussing acting styles as they screen A Streetcar Named Desire in the 50s. (Vivien Leigh was Natalie's favorite actress)


Imagine how many times "Method" and "Actor's Studio" were invoked in that conversation. Imagine the names that were casually dropped.

Blog challenge!
If you have a blog, post a hollywood candid or three you'd most like to hear the accompanying audio track to. I'll link up right here. Spread the namedropping / eavesdropping love.

first responders
Opportunistic Cinephile imagines that Bette Davis cares
Film Awards Watch goes on set with Jane Fonda and to theater with Orson Welles
A Blogwork Orange wonders if Liza Minelli was faking her laughter. Robert DeNiro can be so touchy. 'You talkin' to him?'
My New Plaid Pants gets kinky with Hitchcock and Kim Novak. Throw in Brando and Dean while you're at it.
Extra Criticum has a laugh with Monty & Liz. (sigh... How much do I love these two together? As much as kittens chasing their tails. Yes, that much)
Wipe That Smirk... attack of the princesses: Grace & Audrey
got here as soon as they could
Situated Laundry chooses Bette Davis and Joseph Cotton on the set of Beyond the Forest (I haven't seen this movie, have you?)
Culture Kid doesn't think Judy G needs that much cake. And what the hell are Queen Latifah and Meryl Streep doing?
The Silver Screening Room goes for Peter O'Toole and the "ladies", two Dames and confessions of a shopaholic?
Oscarvations wonders if DW Griffith was an the alpha male of United Artists? (I'm guessing it was Mary Pickford)
backup has arrived
StinkyLulu Sophia, Sal Mineo and Mae West. Oh my.
Stale Popcorn goes mental with Liza and Liz. Ha!
Reel Artsy Dorothy Dandridge wonders...

New Podcast: On Kate Winslet, Mickey Rourke and Slumdog Millionaire

First things first, big hugs and gratitude to my blog buddies Nick, Joe and Katey who agreed to return to the podcast after your requests for a reunion tour. Please follow those links to check out their home bases.

In the latest episode (53 minutes ~ we couldn't shut up) we discuss Kate Winslet's double win at the Globes, Slumdog fanaticism, our Oscar pipe dreams, the beauty of Brad Pitt, the dogs of Mickey Rourke, the assumed purpose and ultimate futility of Guild Awards and, because we're silly, a remake of A Streetcar Named Desire. "Stellaaaaaaaaaa!"

(Because it's a Globe/Oscar broadcast we're unusually star focused. Also name-checked: Salma Hayek, Penélope Cruz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Anne Hathaway, Gwyneth Paltrow,Frank Langella, Eileen Atkins, JLo, Tina Fey, Renée Zellweger and Sean Penn)

The best option is the iTunes version i.e. the enhanced podcast but you can listen to the simplified mp3 if you don't have an enhanced player.