Eisenberg vs. Damon? The Youngest Best Actor Nominees!

"Do I have your full attention?"

Whilst continuing my "Best in Show" column for Tribeca Film, I decided it was high time to highlight Jesse Eisenberg from The Social Network and this is why. Here at The Film Experience though, it's time for Oscar trivia! Though I would love to see Eisenberg win traction for Best Actor, he has something else working against him besides the subdued performance: his age.

Youngest Best Actor Nominees

And where Eisenberg would fit in, were he to be nominated.
Disclaimer/Bragging: You won't find info this extensive elsewhere! The Official Oscar site / Wikipedia only offer top tens. However the following info is approximate. Though the Academy's top ten is down to the day of the actual nominations, they don't provide official nomination dates only ceremony dates. Inside Oscar and Wikipedia also only list the ceremony dates so we're just using February 1st, ∞ as a general calculation date for when nominations happened for given years.

1. Jackie Cooper, Skippy (1931) was 9 years old.
   Nine, Guido, Nine! Kind of strange that he was nominated, wasn't it, since back then they were giving people "junior" Oscars. Why wasn't he handed one of those instead? Or perhaps they started those in the wake of this nomination.
2. Mickey Rooney, Babes in Arms (1939) was 19 years old.
3. Mickey Rooney, again, The Human Comedy (1943). He was 23.
   Bonus Trivia Note: Rooney is not the youngest actor to receive two Oscar nominations. If you include supporting work, the record holder is Sal Mineo who by the age of 22 had been nominated twice: Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Exodus (1960). If you include actors, male or female, Angela Lansbury holds the record of fastest to "two-time nominee" status: she had two nominations for Supporting Actress by the time she was 20 (The Picture of Dorian Gray and Gaslight).
   
   
   
   Mickey & Sal: fast-start careers, quick industry respect.
   
   
4. John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever (1977) was 24.
5. James Dean, East of Eden (1955) was 24 years old when he died. This nomination came posthumously when he would have just turned 25.
6. James Dean again for Giant (1956). He would have just turned 26.
7. Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson (2006) was 26 years old.
8. Orson Welles, Citizen Kane (1941) was also 26.
9. Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain (2005) was 26 going on 27.
   ****If Jesse Eisenberg is nominated for The Social Network he will boot Matt Damon out of the top ten by a hair (it's a matter of approximately 14 days).
10. Matt Damon, Good Will Hunting (1997) was 27 years and 125 days old.
    
11. Tom Cruise, Born on the 4th of July (1989) was 27½
12. Albert Finney, Tom Jones was also 27 going on 28.
13. Marlon Brando, A Streetcar Named Desire was 27 but rapidly approaching 28.
14. Montgomery Clift, my favorite actor, for The Search (1948) when he was 28.
15. Marlon Brando again for Viva Zapata! (1952) when he was almost 29.
16. Chester Morris, Alibi (1929) was turning 29 probably within a week or two of the nominations.  But I can't find the date that the Academy announced the nomination in 1930 for the films of 1928/1929.  
17. Kenneth Branagh, Henry V (1989) was newly 29 as well.
18. Anthony Franciosa, A Hatful of Rain (1957) was 29.
19. Edward Norton, American History X (1998) was 29½.
    From here on out it gets dubious/tricky. I can't vouch for the following order without official nomination dates since all of these men were born in the month of April and the nominations usually arrive in February but dates vary quite a lot.
20. Adrien Brody, The Pianist (2002) was almost 30.
    
21. Marlon Brando again for Julius Caesar (1953) when he was almost 30.
22. Ryan O'Neal, Love Story (1970) was almost 30.

Once actors have hit 30 the leading roles start coming. Though Rooney and Dean are near the top of "youngest ever" charts I think it would be best to consider Brando the patron saint of all the future young guns given his instant impact and fascinating longevity, despite many career twists and turns.

 Brando from '51 to '54: Four consecutive nods by the time he was 30 for
A Streetcar Named Desire, Viva Zapata!, Julius Caesar and On the Waterfront.

He was nominated in four consecutive years starting at the age of 27 with his history-altering performance as Stanley Kowalski (Streetcar Named Desire, 1951) and ended that insane run with a golden boy win (On the Waterfront, 1954) just 4 days shy of his 31st birthday ...which is about the time most people just start being considered for good roles let alone prizes.  

Excessive Trivia Alert! Brando snatched that youngest winner title from James Stewart (who was 32 when he won for The Philadelphia Story besting Clark Gable's win for It Happened One Night at age 34). The Godfather held onto the title for two decades until Richard Dreyfuss won at 30 (The Goodbye Girl, 1977). Dreyfuss was dethroned a quarter century later by Adrien Brody (The Pianist, 2002) who won three weeks shy of his 30th birthday. Are you loving this trivia or are you begging for it to stop? I can't stop once I get started. But I must. I must!

The only other nominees at the age of 30? That'd be Warren Beatty -Bonnie & Clyde, Richard Todd -The Hasty Heart, Franchot Tone - Mutiny on the Bounty, Dustin Hoffman -The Graduate, Sylvester Stallone -Rocky, and Leonardo DiCaprio - The Aviator.

31 Up and the men become too numerous to list. But in the past decade the men who achieved a lead nomination by 31 were Javier Bardem in Before Night Falls (2000), Jude Law in Cold Mountain (2003) and Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line... though few noticed the latter's youth at the time since Heath Ledger was making more noticeable history at 26 years of age. Together they made 2005's lineup one of the youngest skewing ever.

Here's the ten youngest best actor nominees of the past decade from youngest to oldest. (DiCaprio is the biggie here having rung up his 3rd Oscar nomination before he was 33. Still hasn't won yet, though.)

Youngest Lead Nominees of the Aughts

I promise I'll stop now!!!
What do you make of all this and do you think Jesse Eisenberg has a shot at all, given the super early frontrunner status of The Social Network minus their resistance to subdued performances and young men?

If you are over 30 reading this list I apologize. It makes me feel unaccomplished, too. If you are under 30 and an actor, take note. There's still plenty of time for you; nail your next audition!

Companion Articles / Related Reading
Best in Show: Jesse Eisenberg
Familiar Faces: Actors David Fincher Uses Frequently 
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Adrien Brody, Posterized

Oscar winner Adrien Brody is back in theaters with Predators (i.e. Predators 5: A Reboot??? I don't know. I don't follow these things) and it arrives so shortly after his last sci-fi effort Splice... why not feature him? We never discuss him and isn't there plenty to discuss. As in WTF with his career? I can't include all 35 movies so I thought we'd pick up just where things got interesting.

Though he's had his share of straight to DVD or barely released indies over the years, he actually started off with quite a few classy projects with the likes of Steven Soderbergh (King of the Hill) and Francis Ford Coppola (New York Stories). He reportedly expected Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line (1998) to be his film-carrying breakthrough but Malick's film was so fluid in the telling that many famous actors were entirely deleted in the final cut and Brody's part was drastically reduced. The film ended up being a breakthrough showcase for Jim Caviezel instead. Though really, let's be honest, the star of all of Malick's movies is Malick himself.

But Brody's reputation as a quality actor was growing all the time and acclaimed directors like Spike Lee, Barry Levinson and Ken Loach were next...

Summer of Sam (99) | Liberty Heights (99) | Bread and Roses (00)

Love the Hard Way (01) | Affair of the Necklace (01) | Dummy (02)

The Pianist (02) | The Singing Detective (03) | The Village (04)

The Jacket (05) | King Kong (05) | Hollywoodland (06)

Darjeeling Limited (07) | Brothers Bloom (08) | Cadillac Records (08)

Giallo (09) | Splice (10) | Predators (10)

Summer of Sam (1999), an undervalued Spike Lee joint, was a minor turning point, wasn't it? It was impossible not to notice him, his fine performance being all tautly tangled up in spikey punk hair and lanky sex worker physique (Why was everyone surprised by the muscles in King Kong and then again in Predators? Collective amnesia.) His mainstream peak was obviously mashing on Halle Berry when he won the Oscar for The Pianist in spring 2003.

But since then...

Dire choices? Lack of support from the right people in Hollywood? Bad luck? The stars not lining up correctly? Drifting interest (I'm sure all the modelling pays well)? Or are things going just fine... no cause for alarm?

How many have you seen? And, aside from The Pianist, what's your favorite in from his Brody of work?

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P.S. Because it's so funny, let's end with BRODYQUEST [thanks, Nick]


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The Future is Link

future movies
Burlesque now has a website so you can actually try to work up excitement from the sparkly logo design until a teaser hits. Hurry up, teaser!
In Contention has a teaser poster for Sofia Coppola's Somewhere. I like it. I'm sure we'll get something more generic before release though.
/Film Sam Raimi for Oz, The Great and Powerful. Not a bad choice
Movie|Line Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Ramona's seven evil exes get their own posters
Low Resolution says what needs to be said about the Tom Cruise Les Grossman pic.
Just Jared Reshoot set photos from The Adjustment Bureau with Emily Blunt & Matt Damon
MTV Movies Charlize Theron joining Tom Hardy for the next Mad Max film

And here's the first official still from The Tourist (2011)


Jolie means Pretty in French... or any other language.

randomness
Natasha VC speaks wise words about Adrien Brody.
Old Hollywood Barbara Stanwyck will own it.
Movie|Line funny bit on the first official still from Mad Men season 4.
Twitch a promo for HBO's new series Boardwalk Empire about Atlantic City. Good luck being as good as Atlantic City (1981)... no relation but for locale.
Noh Way on the upcoming revival of Evita.
Deadline Hollywood on Karate Kid's resounding box office beat down over The A Team.
Towleroad Joan Rivers and my continued plea for Friday Night Lights Emmy love.
A Socialite's Life celebs galore at the AFI party honoring Mike Nichols.

RCL: Demi Gods, Bag Ladies, Gutsy Smurfs and Action Heroes

Red Carpet Lineup: Once weekly we check in with random celebrities. Who is Where and Why? And What (are they wearing)?


From left to right: Jonathan Groff was at the Paley Center to promote GLEE (He's joined the cast drizzling yet more awesomeness on a show that's already fully marinated in the stuff). Groff wowed New York on stage (Spring Awakening + Hair) and now he's after the rest of the world. He's pulling off a mere mortal look here surprisingly well but do not be fooled. He's actually a demi-god (see: that 'I'll Possess Your Soul And You'll Ask If I Can Take Your Body, Too' stare in Taking Woodstock and the actual demi-god thing in The Baccae last summer where he hypnotized Anthony Mackie into doing all sorts of, uh, naughty things). Helena Bonham-Carter attended the premiere of Alice in Wonderland in Paris. If HBC ever feels the public has lost interest in her, I have a surefire solution for a comeback: stop dressing like a billionaire bag-lady. Think of the uproar if she showed up somewhere all sleek, minimalist and goddessy ... like a Cate Blanchett look or something. People would be talking about it for a month!

poll by twiigs.com

Tilda Swinton premiered I Am Love in Italy in navy tiles. We love I Am Love but worry that it's going to be one of those movies that has premieres all over the world for the next 17 months without ever once feeling like it's playing in theaters. Marion Cotillard received the Officer of the Order of the Arts and Letters in Paris. That sounds prestigious and we love that Marion shows up all demur/pastel to receive it "What? No! What did I do to deserve this? You're too kind. You mean little Oscar-winning me?"


from left to right: Meryl Streep is wearing a beige drapey sweater look that would be right at home in a Nancy Meyers movie. She was bestowing honors at Diane von Furstenberg's DVF awards. The awards are for women who struggle to improve their communities which sounds like such a worthy selfless thing... until you remember that the woman who created the honor named it after herself. Adrien Brody hit SXSW to premiere footage from Predator. Honestly, I don't understand his career at all post-Pianist. Nor do I understand why people are surprised that he has muscles to play an action hero. King Kong five years ago, 'member? Jennifer Tilly is still alive and proved it by taking in a gallery show in LA. This Official Declaration of Life I direct towards Hollywood's casting directors who have misfiled her headshot into their posthumous file 13. That's the only explanation for her screen absence. She's one of a kind. "Charmed. Charmed. Charmed."

We end with Alan Cumming who hosted the first leg of GLAAD's media awards this past weekend in NYC (there's two more events coming up in California). Funky suits are sometimes really fun to look at but immediately after smiling at them you think "You can only wear that once. Hope it was worth the money". Not that the fab Tony winner should worry about money. There's the cologne, the album, the abundant voicework and the television, film, stage and Spider-Man villain gigs. He's also one of the voices for the upcoming The Smurfs movie. Full disclosure: I loved The Smurfs as a kid (why pretend otherwise?) but I do not remember any character named "Gutsy Smurf".

Day of Rest

Shhhhhhhh... Adrien is sleeping


Hustling is hard work. Plus, it's hot outside.
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Red Carpet: Yo, Adrien. It's Marion and Maid Marian

Time for our weekly stream of consciousness trip to the red carpet to visit with random celebrities who've been walking it.

First up are two Hogwarts franchise girls. Sartorial madwoman Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix LeStrange) and the delightfully batty Miriam Margoyles (Professor Pomona Sprout) came out for the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince premiere. Helena gets a few wickedly cackling scenes in the new picture but Miriam goes entirely missing. Oh well. Next time, Miriam. What is it with out lesbian actresses that they are all so endlessly adorable? I mean Jane Lynch + Miriam Margoyles + Lily Tomlin + Fiona Shaw... it doesn't get much better than them. They're always an audience treat. But back to Helena. Sometimes I try to time travel back to the late 80s and imagine this current fate for Lucy Honeychurch (sharing a home and hairdresser with Tim Burton) and I'll tell you... it's hard to fathom. Who saw this onscreen/offscreen persona coming for Merchant/Ivory's favorite dress up doll?


Adrien Brody chose to wear a blue cardigan without a shirt to some fashion event which upset the Fug girls quite a lot. Adrien is clearly proud of the sculpted body he's been sporting ever since he played a stripper in Summer of Sam (1999) -- good Spike Lee joint, that. My theory is that Brody shows it off as much as he does because he achieved his greatest fame without the bod, all emaciated for his Oscar winning role in The Pianist (2002). It's just a kindly reminder. He doesn't want us to forget.

Cate Blanchett attended an Armani show looking diva fine. Don't all freak out at once but I saw this photo and experienced a brief moment of temporary amnesia in which I actually thought "I miss you Cate!" forgetting that I was so glad to be having a one year break from The Ubiquitous One. Perhaps this short hiatus will bode well for her return as Maid Marian next year in Robin Hood. Maybe I'll fall back in love? Here's a photo of her in costume [via].

Speaking of Maid Marian... this past month's celebrity death parade was really upsetting to me and I've been thinking about 93 year-old Olivia deHavilland nearly every day. I wish her the best of health. No, that's not enough. I wish her Gandalf-like longevity. I want the Golden Age Maid Marian to hit the red carpet premiere of Robin Hood and have a photo op with the latest in the long line of actresses who've followed her in the role.

Sophie Okonedo came out for the UK premiere of Skin in which she plays the black daughter of white parents in Apartheid-era South Africa. It's been on the festival circuit for a year but there's still no word yet on whether or not it's ever coming to the States.

Look, it's Marion Cotillard and her mama! (up top far right) How cute are they? You'd think Cotillard would be exhausted by the endless premieres of Public Enemies around the globe but she's also showing up at fashion shows and doing commercials and short films and she's got three more movies on the way including Nine (see many previous posts). I fear we're talking about Blanchett level stamina here. J'en ai peur.

Marion Cotillard est très occupée. Photos from May 4th ~ July 6th

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Lev Leaves Toronto. And Stays.

Our young festival-going correspondent Lev (pictured left) actually lives in Toronto. So, he's not going anywhere now that TIFF has wrapped. But post festival frenzy he has one last report to offer us. Here he is...

That's a wrap! Well, at least it was a few days ago. I realize I'm a little behind the times. Here are my final three movies:

The Brothers Bloom - Rian Johnson's (Brick) sophomore effort is a predictable and slight film. Johnson seems to be channeling Wes Anderson in everything from the quirky-cleverness to the family issues to Adrien Brody, and if Wes Anderson doing Wes Anderson is past its prime then another director doing him is even staler. Brody is much too mopey, Ruffalo is fun but he doesn't have much of a role, Weisz overplayed her character to the point of irritation, and Kikuchi doesn't really do anything at all besides having a clever name that's not all that clever. C

It doesn't surprise me at all to hear that Weisz may have erred on the side of overplaying. That's exactly how I felt about her turns in The Shape of Things and The Fountain. Well, she'll always have The Constant Gardener.

Me & Orson Welles - I really really hate HD. My viewing experience would've been enhanced ten-fold if Linklater had shot film. HD just looks like bad TV. This actually feels like a TV movie, and it would have felt less so if it was shot film. I still had fun. The first two acts are much stronger than the third. I got the feeling the writers didn't really have an ending, so they just let it go on. Still, Christian McKay (as Welles) is a hoot, and Zac Efron doesn't make you cringe, although he can never quite match the brilliance of that basketball song in the High School Musical 3 trailer (for those who haven't seen the trailer, you have to see it for it's comedic brilliance). B-

Che - A lot of unjust controversy over this one. It's not really all that difficult or dense. Yes, Soderbergh does omit numerous dramatic moments, but this is nothing new. Wasn't it Bunuel and his co-writer Jean-Claude Carrière who wanted The Phantom Of Liberty to be a series of thinly connected stories and then stop each story right before it got interesting? That's not to say that Che is uninteresting. Besides the second act of The Argentine, the film(s) are quite compelling, and Soderbergh shifts from action to humour to powerful drama effortlessly. Benicio Del Toro is, as he always is, brilliant. He probably won't get an oscar nomination; he has no showy moments or breakdowns but he brings motivation and humanity to a coldly written character. Soderbergh shot in HD with the brand new Red camera, and for the most part it looks pretty dingy. Unfortunate, because Soderbergh knows how to shoot scenes: never cutting too much, choosing his angles carefully. Don't let the running time scare you, Che is well worth seeing. A-/B+

No matter how many times I hear that I shouldn't worry about the running time... I still do! I'm seeing it shortly @ NYFF press screenings and perhaps I'll have to do some yoga during intermission to make it through. Back to Lev...

I can't compare this TIFF to previous fests, but I learned a lot in terms of choosing my films, and next year I'll do a lot more research. My order of preference for the 12 films I saw.

1. Synecdoche, New York
2. Four Nights With Anna
3. Che
4. The Wrestler
5. Gigantic
6. Me & Orson Welles
7. Linha De Passe
8. Sugar
9. The Brothers Bloom
10. The Burning Plain
11. Acolytes
12. Zift

Thanks for reading

No thank you, Lev, for sharing your festival with us here @ The Film Experience. Give him a round of applause in the comments, please. And if you missed any TIFF coverage just click the label below for all the posts.
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Birthday Boys and Girls

Today I am spent. Musta been those dinosaurs on Sunday that hogged all of my imagination. So please enjoy these pictures of today's birthday kids that I deeply lust/love... along with the primary reason I do. It's the best I can muster this afternoon. Forgive me.

Adrien Brody (happy 35th) ~ because improbable beauty is the best kind.


Julie Christie (happy 67th) ~ because she always had "it" and she never lost it.


Robert Carlyle (happy 47th) ~ because he filled Linus Roache with... um... love in Priest (1994)


...sweet guilt-ridden love surely but Linus was still working through his issues. Forgive him. Question that nobody will ever be answer to this film bitch's satisfaction: How is it that Linus Roache doesn't have a massive film career? What an actor that man is. I've said it before but he should at least have a career akin to say, Ralph Fiennes's, instead of playing aliens who snatch Julianne Moore's children away and the like.

And of course...

Sarah Michelle Gellar (happy 31st) because she slays vampires. She slays them long time. She makes them go all >poof< and dusty like.

Talk amongst yourselves in the comments. Do you feel the love?

Vanity Fair's Hollywood ~ Episode 5 (1999)

The Hollywood Historian in me continues his work after a long sabbatical ... Missed other episodes? See: 1995 , 1996, 1997, 1998 | 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005

In 1999, Vanity Fair went both a little crazy (14 people? The most ever for a Hollywood cover) and a little blah (seriously now, zzz). This issue gets my vote for worst cover in their history of Hollywood editions. They called it "New Kids on the Block" as if they were trying to date it instantly. I called it "Call me in Spring 2000 when the next one comes out." None of them look like they're in the mood to due boy band choreography or even sing one bar of a power ballad.

Adrien Brody, Thandie Newton, Monica Potter, Reese Witherspoon, Julia Stiles,
Leelee Sobieski, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Polley, Norman Reedus, Anna Friel,
Omar Epps, Kate Hudson, Vinessa Shaw, and Barry Pepper.

Adrien Brody, newly 26 years-old, had just come off of an extremely disappointing role downsizing in Best Picture nominee The Thin Red Line (see fascinating time capsule interview from several years back) --originally touted as the lead he was barely in the film by the time notoriously slow filmmaker Terence Malick was through with it. He had not yet been cast in The Pianist which would prove his rather massive critical / awards / Halle Berry kissing breakthrough. He was on the cover, as they often are because he was busy... already popular with casting directors with 5 performances emerging between 99 & 00 (his stripper in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam and his union organizer in Bread and Roses chief among them).

Thandie Newton was also 26. 1998 had been a big year with both Bernardo Bertolucci's Besieged and Jonathan Demme's Beloved haunted by her beauty. All was not rosy thereafter. She snagged the female lead of Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) but it did as little for her as the previous film had done for Emmanuelle Béart stateside. Interest was renewed with her memorable supporting part in Crash (2005) and buzz has it that we'll next see her as Condoleeza Rice in Oliver Stone's Bush bio W. (2009).

Monica Potter, about to turn 28, was one of many actresses who were weighted down with "next Julia Roberts" buzz. Believe me, it was a plague that decimated the female 20somethings of Hollywood that entire decade. She had been in two hits Patch Adams and Con Air and would be in a couple more (the already forgotten Along Came a Spider, 2001 and the unfortunately remembered franchise-spawning Saw, 2004) Her last big gig was a stint on TV's Boston Legal.

Reese Witherspoon, all of 23, was still an up and comer and she was about to marry Ryan Phillipe, whom she had been dating since '97. Hopes for her career had stayed high mostly due to her impressive and soulful debut in The Man in the Moon (1991) but none of her films had been hits. That wouldn't change in 1999 (though Cruel Intentions nearly did it) because Election, the film that announced her formidable talent with the subtlety of a megaphone, also flopped in theaters (though it's better remembered than most of the smashes of that year... quality does sometimes win out in the end. It just takes a long time --Tortoise and Hare, you know). Two years after this cover, Legally Blonde would open and she'd join Hollywood's A list to become the biggest star to emerge from this cover's gelatinous mass of wannabees ---seriously. There's way too many people on this cover.

Julia Stiles, newly legal at 18, probably won this cover treatment on the basis of the just-then opening lead role in 10 Things I Hate About You (co-starring the late Heath Ledger). She worked a lot in the years that followed in films both successful and otherwise but her career didn't grow as much as people expected or she herself expected for that matter (that's my presumption from some interviews at least). Today people are still familiar and she is pretty terrific in that tiny role in the Bourne series.

Leelee Sobieski, also known as 'Helen Hunt Jr' among my crowd at the time, was a critical darling turning 16... a status I never understood how she achieved so quickly. Never could I understand her appeal but she worked steadily from her debut in the Tim Allen comedy Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) through the blockbuster Deep Impact to Kubrick's controversial Eyes Wide Shut and the horror thriller Joy Ride (2001). She's never stopped working but the press definitely stopped paying attention, ignoring her from about 2002 onward just as suddenly as they'd once inexplicably decided to dote on her. She's in the new Al Pacino thriller 88 Minutes which is about to open.

Giovanni Ribisi, from the twitchy school of acting that also spawned Jeremy Davies was 24. He had already worked a lot in indies with his biggest claim to fame being part of Saving Private Ryan's young soldier ensemble the summer before this cover was shot. He had eight projects open between this cover and the end of 2000. Presumably he slept some time in 2002 or thereabouts because every year brings several films. His career has been cooling off considerably but he's part of the next buzzy Michael Mann picture Public Enemies so his career might find its second wind next year.


Sarah Polley, 20 at the time, just had quite a year with an Oscar nomination for her first full feature behind the camera Away From Her. But we're talking 9 years ago, aren't we? Nine years back she was a critically celebrated actress with The Sweet Hereafter (1997) behind her for which many people thought she deserved an Oscar nomination. She had four movies coming out the year of this cover, the most famous of which would be Doug Liman's Go. Sarah hasn't totally given up acting (two movies coming next year) but expect more work behind the camera, too.


Norman Reedus at 30 was the oldest character on this cover. This former model was about to have a baby with longtime girlfriend Helena Christensen (they split up in 2003). He had made a few indies directly before this cover as well as the horror sci-fi flick Mimic (1997), which was his first picture. The heat was on with three more small films due in 99 but he never "broke out" as it were. He stayed mostly in indies with the occasional small role in bigger films dotting the filmography like Blade 2 and last year's American Gangster.

Anna Friel, about to turn 23, had up and comer buzz despite very little screen work. 1999 was an important year for her (see time capsule interview) as she was part of the quartet of players in Broadway's Closer (which became a film in 2004 --she played "Alice", later become Natalie Portman's role) and she was also in the ensemble in the umpteenth film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream (this one with Kevin Kline and Michelle Pfeiffer). Everybody forgot about her for awhile but she's more popular and adorable than ever, suddenly, as one fourth of Pushing Daisies central quartet of players. She's "dead girl" ...but you knew that already if you've been watching.

Omar Epps, nearly 26, had gotten his film start in the Harlem set drama Juice(1992) with Tupac Shakur and had been working steadily in both TV (ER) and film up until this cover. 1999 was a big year with three major roles (The Woods, In Too Deep, and The Mod Squad) and 2000 would be equally crowded but success was only moderate. Lead film roles dried up and he moved over to TV in 2004 as a regular cast member on the Emmy nominated House, M.D.

Kate Hudson , turning 20, had an Oscar-winning superstar mother (Goldie Hawn) but little else to recommend her for this cover. Major stardom of her own would arrive approximately a year and a half later when Almost Famous (2000) opened, for which she received an Oscar nomination and became a mainstream media staple. One romantic comedy blockbuster followed (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, 2003) but, honestly, she gets a lot of attention for how little success her films have hand. And that filmography: yikes!

Vinessa Shaw, nearly 23, was known from her work as a teenager on television and in films like Hocus Pocus and Ladybugs. Nothing major but the Kubrick film Eyes Wide Shut (pictured, right) was in post-production when this cover was shot and the buzz on her appearance/sex appeal in the mystery shrouded film was fairly loud. Not sure why a bigger career didn't materialize but you'll probably remember that she did a brief Russell Crowe snogging act in 3:10 to Yuma last year.

Barry Pepperwas turning 29 and the previous year's feature film landscape had suggested that he might be breaking free of television, where he had spent the first six years of his Hollywood career. In 1998 he had played a memorable sniper role in Saving Private Ryan and supported Will Smith and Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State. A role in Best Picture nominee The Green Mile followed this very December and then he hit the brick wall that was the Scientology inspired Battlefied Earth(2000). The future didn't hold big successful lead roles after that but damn he was good in 25th Hour (2002), don't you think? Next up: supporting Will Smith again in Seven Pounds this Christmas.

Anna Friel ~ then and now

median age: approximately 24. Youngest: Leelee was still fifteen when the cover was shot. oldest: Norman Reedus @ thirty
collective Oscar nominations before this cover: Zilch
collective Oscar nominations after this cover: 4 (Reese, Adrian, Sarah and Kate), 2 of which led to big wins (Witherspoon in Walk the Line & Brody in The Pianist)
fame levels in 2008, according to famousr, from most to least: Reese Witherspoon, Kate Hudson, Julia Stiles, Adrien Brody, Omar Epps, Giovanni Ribisi, Thandie Newton, Leelee Sobieski, Sarah Polley, Barry Pepper, Monica Potter, Vinessa Shaw (Anna Friel and Norman Reedus are not listed on the website)
see also: 1995 ,1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
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don't miss future installments. Yes I will one day get through them all

St. Patrick's Gifting

Since I am not Irish I thought it only appropriate to appropriate the holiday for my own purposes as most Americans do by wearing something green today and saying silly things like "kiss someone Irish"... or, wait, is that Irish people saying that to get kissed? Either way, a big smooch to all the Irish readers --especially those that are actually reading in Ireland!

I hereby gift the discovery of a four leaf clover to the following people who can certainly use the luck:

Juliette Lewis (left, where the hell is that one role to remind everyone of her considerable screen power?), Kirsten Dunst (Sofia, save her!), Maria Bello (still waiting for overdue Oscar love. And better roles), Ewan McGregor (what's going on there?), Lindsay Lohan (finally out of leggings and a redhead again... can this career be saved?), Adrien Brody (The Pianist is starting to feel like ancient history --where's the dramatic intense follow up?), Meg Ryan (please let The Women be a hit. She has been suffering too long. You know these romantic comedy queens need the public adoration. Imagine Julia Roberts without the mass undulating waves of crowd ardor. It ain't pretty, right?)

And since they'll need major luck to ever win their long awaited Oscars, a huge mutated clover with gold specks to the Academy's abused ex-girlfriends Sigourney Weaver, Miranda Richardson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Joan Allen, Annette Bening and Glenn Close, their rudely dismissed one night stands Kathleen Turner and Angela Bassett, and their current fiance Kate Winslet. Jesus, they have been stringing that last girl along forever. It's like they're never going to set the date.


To the following baby filmmakers I'm gifting pots of gold so that they don't have to wait around for financing to make follow-ups to their amazing debuts or add another gem to their small but interesting filmography.

Fernando Eimbcke (pictured right). I'm eager to see what else he has in him after the charming witty and moving Duck Season. Although in truth I'd also like to paint myself gold and jump in the pot to await him... but that's a story for another blog. *Ahem*
Jonathan Glazer I'm sure that Birth (his second film) didn't line his block with future sponsors, but if I were a wealthy producer I'd be donating for the love of the art, you know. That movie was so misunderstood and he deserves more shots. His first film (Sexy Beast) was also a keeper.
Kimberly Peirce -her follow up to Boys Don't Cry (Stop-Loss) opens next Friday but it was 9 long years in coming. Anything some multi-billionaire can do to rush #3 along would be great. Nine years is too long in between projects so let's throw some gold the way of other fresh talent like Peter Sollett (Raising Victor Vargas), Sarah Polley (Away From Her), and Nicole Holofcener (Walking and Talking, Friends With Money)... because, though Catherine Keener doesn't need the help staying employed, they work so well together and few other filmmakers give her leading roles.

What will St. Patrick's Day --or night at this point-- bring you readers?
*

Hollywoodland

As soon as the lights came up after the screening of Hollywoodland I knew I wouldn't have the drive to write a full review. It's one of those movies that you can see potential in but that you can't work up energy to root for: unfulfilling.

The film is about an investigation into the death of TV's first Superman George Reeves (Ben Affleck, exceptionally well cast). Choosing an unsolved mystery as a story is not necessarily a problem, but it requires deft handling. This type of crime film comes with an obvious storytelling risk: no ending. Choosing to focus on the investigation, which is obviously doomed (see also: unsolved) is where the problem comes in I think. That's shooting yourself in the foot. It makes for impotent drama. A straightforward approach to the story of George Reeves would've been more effective. The investigation and its attempts at parallel emotional journeys don't fuse well with the flashbacks.

I felt bad for Adrien Brody who shoulders the impotent half of the film. He's had a rough time following up The Pianist. I enjoy him as an actor but his intensity is wasted in this film. You spend all of his scenes waiting to get back to the Superman story. That's where the film engages interest, even if it still doesn't dive deep enough into the murky psychologies it introduces.
C+

Since it's not a special film overall the big question is this: Can Ben Affleck make it to the Supporting Actor Oscar shortlist? This is the kind of role they love played by the kind of actor they love to reward for career CPR. But will that be enough to generate votes since Hollywoodland won't be a contender elsewhere?

Hollywoodland

As soon as the lights came up after the screening of Hollywoodland I knew I wouldn't have the drive to write a full review. It's one of those movies that you can see potential in but that you can't work up energy to root for: unfulfilling.

The film is about an investigation into the death of TV's first Superman George Reeves (Ben Affleck, exceptionally well cast). Choosing an unsolved mystery as a story is not necessarily a problem, but it requires deft handling. This type of crime film comes with an obvious storytelling risk: no ending. Choosing to focus on the investigation, which is obviously doomed (see also: unsolved) is where the problem comes in I think. That's shooting yourself in the foot. It makes for impotent drama. A straightforward approach to the story of George Reeves would've been more effective. The investigation and its attempts at parallel emotional journeys don't fuse well with the flashbacks.

I felt bad for Adrien Brody who shoulders the impotent half of the film. He's had a rough time following up The Pianist. I enjoy him as an actor but his intensity is wasted in this film. You spend all of his scenes waiting to get back to the Superman story. That's where the film engages interest, even if it still doesn't dive deep enough into the murky psychologies it introduces.
C+

Since it's not a special film overall the big question is this: Can Ben Affleck make it to the Supporting Actor Oscar shortlist? This is the kind of role they love played by the kind of actor they love to reward for career CPR. But will that be enough to generate votes since Hollywoodland won't be a contender elsewhere?

Topher. Paddy. Andy. Brian. Adrien.

The Top 100 Actor Countdown Continues... with numbers #40 through #36

Read and then talk amongst yourselves. Would you like to win a date with Topher? Be kissed by Adrien at the Oscars? Be threatened vigorously by Brian?

tags: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, movies, celebrities, actors, Lord of the Rings

Topher. Paddy. Andy. Brian. Adrien.

The Top 100 Actor Countdown Continues... with numbers #40 through #36

Read and then talk amongst yourselves. Would you like to win a date with Topher? Be kissed by Adrien at the Oscars? Be threatened vigorously by Brian?

tags: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, movies, celebrities, actors, Lord of the Rings