The Greatest Halloween Moment in the History of the Movies

"RAAAAACHELLL FLAAXXXX!!!"

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Cher, Christina Ricci, Mermaids (1990)

If you dare to disagree, you'd better list an inspired trick or a whopper of a treat in the comments!

Oh and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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How Do You Solve a Problem Like Christina?

Christina Ricci plays a dead girl in the horror flick After.Life (new on DVD). I'm not trying to be cheeky when I say that I wish her performance were more lively.

It's justifiable, as a characterization decision, to play this role like a corpse even before the death (for reasons you'll have to watch the movie to understand) but it doesn't exactly make for an exciting star turn.. Perhaps she was counting on her body -- she's quite naked -- to do the heavy lifting. Maybe Justin Long just wasn't the right scene partner? But even so. When will this girl get her mojo back? I feel like we almost got there with Black Snake Moan... but then. No. As child and teen stars go, there were few that felt more regularly inspired. She's adult-sized funny and showstopping in Addams Family Values, my choice for 'best in show' in the pretty formidable ensemble found in The Ice Storm and amazing (duh!) in The Opposite of Sex. But that's a long time ago now. Where'd that (cold) fire go?

Any suggestions for her career? Maybe she needs a fresh young auteur to find her a-MUSE-ing

Streep Nom #11: One True Thing

We're looking at each Meryl Streep Oscar nod and its competitive field.
Previously: 78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 88, 90 and 95

Twenty years after her first nomination for The Deer Hunter (1978) Meryl Streep replaced Bette Davis as runner up to Katharine Hepburn's Oscar throne with her cancer victim in One True Thing. For a very short time period (i.e. twelve months) the three legends had a 10-11-12 Oscar nomination spread. Streep would soon leave both Hepburn and Davis in the dust. But we'll get to her #1 status when it rolls around.

1998 the nominees were

• Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth
• Fernanda Montenegro, Central Station *Nathaniel's vote*
  
• Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love
• Meryl Streep, One True Thing
• Emily Watson, Hilary & Jackie
  

The Blanchett vs. Paltrow contest has arguably been the most discussed in modern Oscar Actress history with the possible exception of Swank vs. Bening (both rounds). People still get hot under their ruffs about this one a full dozen years later.

Other '98 women for context:
Globe nominees that didn't make Oscar's cut were Susan Sarandon (Stepmom), Jane Horrocks (Little Voice), Cameron Diaz (There's Something About Mary), Meg Ryan (You've Got Mail) and Christina Ricci (The Opposite of Sex). Elsewhere in Awardsland, Ally Sheedy (High Art) took Best Actress at the Indie Spirits, besting Alfre Woodard (Down in the Delta). Weirdness: Emma Thompson, an awards staple, couldn't get any traction for a mimicry job (Primary Colors).

Anne Heche & Ellen Degeneres still had tongues wagging --- >

1998 was a double dipper year for Drew Barrymore (The Wedding Singer, Ever After), Sandra Bullock (Practical Magic, Hope Floats) and Anne Heche (Six Days and Seven Nights, Psycho) who was the controversial rage at the time as the first out lesbian* headlining major studio movies.

Major 90s stars like Angela Bassett (How Stella Got Her Groove Back), Holly Hunter (Living Out Loud) and Jennifer Lopez (Out of Sight) came on strong. And Oprah Winfrey (Beloved) didn't generate the awards enthusiasm needed.

Finally, this is the year we met Lindsay Lohan, future hot mess -- and like Heche, also a future faux lesbian! -- in her wonderfully able child star debut in The Parent Trap. It was so wonderfully able, in fact, that I fell hard for her. To emphasize why that is unexpected is to admit that the Hayley Mills film was my BEST-MOVIE-EVER until I was about eight years old. Even thinking of it now in 2010 makes me all teary-eyed with nostalgia.


Nathaniel's List?
He's not so sure. Oscar's roster is Classic Bait: terminal illness, mental disorders, Shakespeare, royalty porn, older person opening their heart to a child (Yes, they have a thing for that, too). How could any of these performances not have been nominated even if they weren't as good as they are? Originally in the now mythic war for the statue between Paltrow & Blanchett I favored Blanchett but my opinion of Paltrow's star making turn has grown considerably over the years. Still, I'm not sure either would make my list. I'm not sure who would make my list. Strangely, given the topic at hand, I barely remember Streep's cancer mom.

Apologies to Watson but she'd probably be the first to go to make room for one of the worst snubs of the decade. I'm talking about Ally Sheedy's devastating photographer/junkie in High Art. I was madly in love with both Hunter and Ricci's smart sexy comic work in '98 so maybe I'd dump a couple more of the Oscar women for them. Who knows? Revisits are in order. But to make a long story short, the LAFCA got it exactly right with their tie; Ally Sheedy and Fernanda Montenegro tower over 1998's actress field.

*Anne "Celestia" Heche's lesbianism was short lived of course. But still. People were all "Oh My God!" -- OMG! wasn't in the vernacular yet -- "They're letting an out lesbian play romantic straight leads in movies! The world is going to end."
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Link & Order: Special Random Unit

The Awl "10 Reasons Why You Should Give Me One More Chance This Weekend" by that bucket of charm "Russell Crowe". (teehee)
Go Fug Yourself theorizes that Cate Blanchett stole a White House carpet
Go Fug Yourself... and welcomes Cannes crazy with open arms
Catalogue of Curiousities "floating heads of doom!"
Buzz Sugar the trailer for True Blood Season 3
Mister Hipp "He can take it." I love this illustration of Wolverine. So fun


Towleroad Elton John covering Madonna hits with scandily clad go go boys. What the hell?
Towleroad my weekly column
The Portland Mercury hilarious movie marquee. Poor Terrence Howard
A Socialite's Life Christina Ricci to join Laura Linney on Broadway in September. Interesting
Playbill Antonio Banderas returning to Broadway for Kander & Ebb's Zorba
Empire strangest bedfellows ever: Charlie Kaufman + Kung Fu Panda
/Film yes I've heard about the duleing Monroe biopics: Naomi Watts vs. Michelle Williams. Just haven't mentioned them yet since they kinda deserve a whole big post. Later. Have patience.

Finally, PopEater says goodbye to Law & Order (just cancelled) with a opening credits mashup of all casts from the franchise. I know people are sad that the original flagship series is going bye-bye. But puhleze. It lives on in 3 spinoffs and endless syndication like some unholy hydra beast. I will never be able to escape it. You've won, television my nemesis, you've won! I thank the original L&O for keeping my Broadway babies fed and in rent payments... but otherwise I kick it to the curb. See, I don't think I can take one more Linus Roache or Dianne Wiest situation wherein some gargantuan talent hides their magnificence under that particular bushel. The next great that the series plans to taint is... Isabelle Huppert. Je pleure.

Monster Movies

Glenn here from Stale Popcorn here to discuss one of my favourite films from 2003, Patty Jenkins' Monster. Earlier this year when Courtney Hunt's Frozen River was released here in Australia I wrote in my review that

It's a shame that Courtney Hunt's Frozen River is so good. It's unfortunate because now I will most likely be incredibly disappointed when this debut director falls between the cracks of the lead performance she helped create.

I then went on to cite Boys Don't Cry's Kimberley Pierce (9 years between films) and Monster as examples.


Patty Jenkins has yet to make a second film after her Monster debut and there has never even been any word on her wanting to make another film. That is such a shame since she brought such fascinating sense of place to the Aileen Wuornos film and her twists on the idea of "American Gothic" - queering it up in a way - are endlessly interesting.

Of course, Charlize Theron was the reason people were going to see this movie and not for Jenkins' ruminations on shattered mid-American dreams and theories on gender/sexual politics. I can't say I disagree with them about Theron, she's simply amazing. My estimation of her performance has actually gone up since I first saw it (a time when I ranked it below Toni Collette, Uma Thurman and Jamie Lee Curtis... hmm, not so sure about that anymore). It's one of those monolithic performances akin to Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive, Tilda Swinton in Julia and Laura Dern in INLAND EMPIRE.


Many people don't care for - or outwardly hate - Christina Ricci in Monster, not me so much. I liked her naivety and the way that Ricci looks as if she can't hide her astonishment at what Charlize is doing directly opposite her. Plus that scene towards the end of the film over the telephone? Gets me every time.

Have you watched Monster again in the intervening years? If so... thoughts?

Glenn Gives Thanks

Australia's only knowledge of Thanksgiving is, essentially, what we see from TV and the movies. I feel then that it is only fitting that I "give thanks" for a certain woman who has shaped by idea of Thanksgiving more than any other: Christina Ricci.

Bless her lil cotton socks, but Christina Ricci had already solidified herself in the annals of cinema history by the age of 17 with her performance in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm. The gifts of that film are many, but the bit that I always remember first and foremost is the toast that Ricci's Wendy gives. Let us relive it:

Dear Lord, thank you for this Thanksgiving holiday. And for all the material possessions that we have and enjoy. And for letting us white people kill all the Indians and steal their tribal lands. And stuff ourselves like pigs, even though children in Asia are being napalmed.

Literally very amazing. And if it weren't just The Ice Storm keeping the Ricci Thanksgiving alive it would be Addams Family Values, a movie in which Ricci gives one of the best supporting actress performances of the decade (the Oscar, however, went to the New Zealand child, Anna Paquin). That Thanksgiving pageant is delightfully insane, and Ricci's speech is something to behold. The best moment in the film is Wednesday's smile. The faint crack of a smile that she emits to shocked onlookers. "I'm not perky."

Thank you Christina Ricci for services towards making Thanksgiving somewhat relevant to people outside of America. You'll always have a place in my heart!

"The Look" Gets the Gold

Some people are never down for the count. And Lauren Bacall is one of those people. The famously silver tongued siren began bewitching moviegoers when she was only 19 -- surely the most mature teenager the screen ever saw -- in To Have and Have Not (1944). Aside from a fallow 1970s, she's been working steadily since. In all that time she's never learned to hold her tongue (so many choice soundbites over the years, god bless) and she's still a lively soul at 84 going on 85. Her birthday is next week.

When she lost her only Oscar nomination (1996's The Mirror Has Two Faces) to Juliette Binoche in The English Patient, most assumed that she would be of the Have Not variety when it came to the statue, despite her marriages to two legendary Haves, Oscar winners Humphrey Bogart and Jason Robards. But now, the wait for her very own golden boy is over. She'll receive her honorary Oscar in November.





While we'll see a clip of Bacall at the Oscar ceremony in March, it rankles me that it'll only be a clip. Such a stupid move. The Oscar were made for live moments like that, moments where you can celebrate the last of dying breeds and/or movie legends on the industry's High Holy Night as they mingle with contemporary stars and gazillions of people watch. And make no mistake, there are still plenty of people watching the Oscars every year despite the media's constant reports of Falling Sky! Falling Sky!

Just for fun, here's some of my favorite Tweets from "Lauren" over the past few months as she sounded off on smoking, cats, an unfinished Tarantino script, vampire and horror movies. So what if they were fake? They were so fun. Legendary name dropping, opinions, project pimping...




Now that the news and the tweets are out of the way I have to admit that I'm not really that well versed in Bacall's long career. I've always enjoyed her as a celebrity but aside from To Have and Have Not and How to Marry a Millionaire, my mind goes blank when it comes time to discussing her films. What's your favorite of her performances? Give us rental suggestions in the comments.

Red Carpet Lineup & 1980 Pflashback

Another random sampling of ladies hitting the red carpet or being caught by the paparazzi these past few days...


Kathy Bates was not at the press day for Chéri. But that's good. I was experiencing sensory overload anyway. Imagine if I had been made to feel even crazier than I already did about being in the same room with Michelle Pfeiffer. I didn't need Bates there as a freaky "I'm your no. 1 fan" reminder of the obsessive vibe I was probably giving off (uhhhh) NEW TOPIC!

Remember how fun Bates was on Six Feet Under a few years back? I kind of want her to do another TV series which is uncommon for me, given that I like my film actresses to stay put.

Sacha Baron Cohen, excuse me, Brüno at a photocall in Spain. That outfit... he really can't help himself. I'm drawn to the "too much" factor, I think. I'm not someone who likes comedy shows or standup but the comedians who are willing to push things so far that they ended up feeling dangerous rather than 'funny' or punchline oriented... like Andy Kaufman or early Sandra Bernhard. Those people I tend to love.

♫ I don't give a damn about my bad reputation ♫ It's not every day you see an actor with the famous person they're about to recreate onscreen. This isn't from a red carpet event but the annoying Kristen Stewart and the great Joan Jett are actually communicating about Stewart's Jett performance in The Runaways. Do you think Dakota Fanning, not to be outdone, asked to meet with Cherie Currie?

Actress Dakota Fanning @ 15. Chainsaw Chick Cherie Currie @ 49

If they did meet I really hope Currie made her carve something with a chainsaw. I really do. I want The Runaways to be good. If Stewart and Fanning don't fully rock this, it won't be.

update: Dakota did meet with Cherie. Here's proof [thx bartzina]

Catherine Deneuve is 65 years old and still giving sensational performances. Her matriarch in Un conte de Noël has really stayed with me. My favorite thing about her (aside from her onscreen magnificence) is the cinephile vibe she gives off. That could be wishful thinking but you can also feel that possibility emanating from Kidman, Huppert and Julianne Moore on her good days. Deneuve's been playing muse to auteurs for decades. Can any actress match her collection: Buñuel, Von Trier, Demy, Polanski, Carax, Tony Scott (er...), Truffaut, Téchiné, Desplechin?

Oh, Christina Ricci. I really thought you were going to experience a bonafide resurgence post Black Snake Moan. Why is nothing major happening? Please to explain.

Michelle Pfeiffer was working the talk show circuit right after her press day in New York and I missed it. I am exceedingly forgetful. Plus I tend to be more big screen oriented than general media oriented all told. I frequently forget that my favorites are going to be interviewed somewhen and somewhere. I just want to see them act. The rest is icing. Unfortunately I skipped dessert. How was she on Letterman? Who watched? I love that she's working her 1992 Catwoman 'do again, don't you? The only thing I can find online is this anecdote about her screen test with Al Pacino for Scarface (1983) and I've paired it with her 2001 Letterman appearance for a comparison (the video clears up after a bit)



And, finally, just because it's so freaky to watch now, here's her first major talk show: Johnny Carson in 1980. Can you believe it? At this point she's 21 or 22 and because she's got virtually nothing on her resume, her intro is basically... 'um, this girl is ridiculously beautiful.' I love that Shelley Winters, ole blowsy Shelley Winters, who famously carried her Oscars to auditions with her to terrorize young casting directors, is on hand to welcome her to Hollywood.



My mind is blown.
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Oh Isabella, You Crazy Thing

I'll wrap up those initial Oscar predictions tomorrow! (Frustrating busy day) For now, links...

Green Porno Isabella Rossellini is at it again with Season 2 of her Sundance series. It's so awesomely wrong and fascinating.

When needed I can have an erection that's six feet long.

I'll never understand how she and David Lynch broke up. They seem like soul mates... at least from the perspective of an outside observer. They both push envelopes and effortlessly combine risque adult subjects with such strangely sincere innocence.
Bright Lights explains the difference between Paul Thomas, Paul Thomas Anderson and Paul W.S. Anderson. Important stuff... commit it to memory.
House of Mirth and Movies "The Unofficial Female Film Canon"
Victim of the Time asks 'Whatever Became of Christina Ricci?'
Notes from the Culture Bunker reexperiences Pinnochio (following Some Came Running's lead) and is terrified. I've got to watch that again.
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Mystery Women Revealed!!!!!!

Posted by Thombeau von Fabulon.


Thanks to everyone who played our little game. Above are the women we featured, as more or less themselves. Will any of them end up as iconic as the legends they portrayed? Discuss.

The Flax Girls, All Grown Up

Noni & Christina, 1990 and 2008

Two responses come to mind...

1. Awwwwwww
2. Christ I'm old
   

I bet Cher is proud.
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Speed Failure

Spout has an interesting piece by Karina Longworth on why Speed Racer's box office failure ($18 on opening weekend with a $120 budget. OUCH) might be bad for "the cinema" some critics think it's trying to kill. Okay, one critic. That was the attention hording Armond White. I hear what Longworth is saying (and I love Bound too, nice shout out) but...

...defending the Wachowski's under "auteurism" is dangerous ground. Sure they have a point of view but do they make good films? Comparing them to Michael Bay is futile. It'll be unpopular to say but isn't he in his own banal way, just as much of an auteur as they are? I know people like to think of him as a hack. But "auteur" doesn't mean "good", it means "author" and can't you recognize Bay films as having one? Don't they scream "Michael Bay!" I'd argue that they do. Not an author I want to read, y'now, but still...

Also, calling Speed Racer "beautiful" is a stretch. I saw it last night and it's like it snacked on the f/x from Tron, black velvet paintings and old kaleidoscopes. Then, cuz it was still hungry and monochromatic (!) and whatnot, it swallowed the The Curse of the Golden Flower rainbow castle set whole, devoured every Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox it could get its hands on. Post meal, it ingested a few mushrooms for good measure... and then vomited it all back out again to be photographed by Pierre et Gilles. Or that's what it looked like to me. And isn't that a more suitable aesthetic for, say, Dazzler?

I think that's a fair question.

The Brothers Wachowski don't seem to have any self editing skills and to borrow a Project Runway's judging phrase 'I worry about their taste level'. You can applaud Speed Racer as its own peculiar contraption, I'll give it that. But the contraption is not even a car... which is disappointing. It doesn't move like cars do. Speed could just as easily be driving an airplane or a sleek sofa for how the "contraption" moves... backflips, sideways without slowing down (as if wheels can pivot in any direction, although they don't which makes the driving scenes nonsensical), any which way... or every way at once. Even Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which could fly and swim, behaved more like a car.

The movie works from time to time (its mostly committed to its experimentation) but it's messy and undisciplined. It experiments and then forgets to experiment. It revs it's engines and forgets to go. Or it goes to nowhere in particular. It comes to crashing halts for dialogue scenes, bereft of any ideas about human interaction, even though you can tell that they're meant to be played all goofy Spider-Man sincere). But sincerity needs to be felt. Even rainbow colored sincerity.

Speed Racer is definitely of the new post-Bourne school of action films where storyboarding, geography and physical suspense are not the issues at all... action films being all about abstraction now what with their disorienting multiple angles, supersonic cutting, blurred color and zoom pans. I sometimes wonder why action films cost so much to make. The new action films really don't have to make any physical sense so why not just recycle your big shots in different order for each scene, maybe flip a few images upside down or horizontally? Toss the scenes into the air like 21 Grams and wherever they land call it a day? The scenes, the cuts, the action would play virtually the same.

I hate to sound like an old man 'kids these days!' type but I'm so nostalgic for the early aughts. And that was not long ago. I long for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings or Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon when I watch action flicks. In those great genre flicks, you always understood exactly what was happening despite fast editing and bounteous action. The fights, chases, and collisions never wanted for intensity (if anything, understanding what you're seeing makes them more intense and "WHOA!") and the directors never once forgot about their actors or the story arcs during the fights. It seems so revolutionary not even a decade later.

About Speed Racer's actors: "Spridle" must be put down before he mugs his way through any more films. John Goodman and Susan Sarandon make do. I love my Christina Ricci in (almost) anything but aside from the googly-eyed endearing way she delivers Trixie's signature "cool beans!" and the fact that she already looks like a cartoon, the character is inconsequential. And Emile Hirsch... Oh, Emile. What can we do with you? Give me something Emile! The camera is actually on you. You're not part of the ensemble. You're the lead.

Does it sound like I hated it? I don't think I did. Like I said, it is nearly always itself. That's something. And it wants to be for kids and I'm not 8. It also wants, like many movies, to be a video game. I personally like video games. They're fun. But I'd rather play them than watch them. If I'm watching I'm just impatient for when it's my turn with the control pad. C+ (?)

Have you seen Speed Racer? If not have you braved the 7 minute free preview without protective goggles? Did you experience retina burn, throbbing temples or did you love the abstraction of this "ride"? To each their own. Do tell...
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Now Playing: Girlie Women and Semi Professional Men

L I M I T E D
Bonneville -Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and Joan Allen take a road trip. Together. How on earth have I not heard of this? I don't even really care if it's stale... though I'd prefer it to be slightly more risky, more three-dimensional and more surprising than the paint-by-numbers female buddy movie that this trailer implies. There, I've said it. Only I didn't...Okay, okay this trailer looks bad (sorry) but... but: Lange, Bates, and Allen! I will still see it.
City of Men is a sequel (of sorts) to City of God. This time Fernando Meirelles is a producer, not the director. I'm not sure I could handle a return trip but it'll be of interest to huge fans of the violent breakout '03 film.
Chicago 10 -it's a buzzy partially animated documentary about the volatile 1968 Democratic convention and the violent government oppression and trial that followed.

E X P A N D I N G
No Country For Old Men -the Oscar winner for Best Picture gets its biggest theater count yet by several hundred. I sometimes can't imagine who hasn't seen this yet but then I remember statistics about how few movies people actually go to in the theaters. It'll have a looooooooonnnngggg life on DVD. It's starting it's 17th weekend at the box office and it's been expanding then shrinking then expanding (repeat) that entire time. Perhaps unsurprisingly its weakest weekends were the two right before the Oscar nominations gave it its second wind. It's third wind comes today courtesy of Oscar wins.

How much of a post-ceremony boost do you think it'll get?

W I D E
The Other Boleyn Girl is getting bad reviews but at least this romantic "historical" drama has eye candy in the form of Scarjo, Natalie Portman and King Bana. Bonus points: costumes by world great Sandy Powell (The Aviator, Far From Heaven, The Velvet Goldmine, Shakespeare in Love).
Semi Pro Other websites have already said brilliant things about this latest Will Ferrel sports comedy and I'd like to let them do the talking but in my terrible habit of reading too many blogs and reading them poorly and in fits and starts, I've forgotten where I read that brilliant thing and what exactly was said and it begins to fade in my over-celluloided mind. What. Where am I? I don't care about this movie. Next...
Penelope -the magical tale of a blah blah blah... you know what it's about since the trailers gave Christina Ricci's miss piggy act away. I know this is really a chance to see Ricci again (yay!) and watch James McAvoy pucker up again (yay --pretty soon he will have made out with every young female star, right?) but my point... um. Oh, yes. Whenever I see photos of Reese Witherspoon in this (she produced and has a supporting role) I think of Meg Ryan's attempt at a little edge in Addicted to Love.


Is that weird? My mind always goes there. Maybe it's the kohl-ed eyes.
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Tonks' Failed Audition For Penelope

Executive producer Reese Witherspoon found Tonks' ever changing hair color distracting. Christina Ricci won the lead role by a nose. Hardy har har

Vanity Fair's Hollywood ~ Episode 4 (1998)

The recent release of the new "Hollywood" cover photo has reminded me that I've shirked my Hollywood Historian duties for a month now. If you missed previous episodes of my Vanity Fair Hollywood cover investigation here's 1995 , 1996 and 1997 and you'll be caught up.

In 1998, photographer Annie Leibovitz threw us for a loop. Boys and Girls. What a concept --but it was the first time the two sides of the gymnasium were forced to intermingle. (What? They say Hollywood is like high school, right?) The cover was called "The Hot Next Wave" but judging from the color scheme and styling, they were thinking more along the lines of new Oscar cool. 1998 Also marked the first year they started overstuffing the cover --11 people this time in place of the usual 10.

From left to right

Joaquin Phoenix was 23 when this cover premiered. I'm old enough [gasp] to remember that he started his career as "Leaf" Phoenix. He had not yet moved out from under his brother River's long long shadow though people began to suspect that he might with his affecting work in To Die For (1995) as a none too smart and lovestruck teenager, coldly controlled by Nicole Kidman in her artistic breakthrough. He had just had a mild success with Inventing the Abbotts which was to launch both he and Billy Crudup as new Hollywood heartthrobs. And he was due in theaters twice later that year with Clay Pigeons and the grueling Return to Paradise (both with cover companion Vince Vaughn). But it would take his overheated villain in Gladiator (2000) to raise him to the next level in Hollywood and garner him the first of two Oscar nominations.

Vince Vaughn was a skinny 28 year-old, all the casting rage since his "money" breakthrough in the beloved indie Swingers (1996). He had four movies coming out in 1998: A Cool Dry Place, Return to Paradise, Clay Pidgeons and Gus Van Sant's Psycho. None of these dramas were what you would call "hits" but superstardom was still on its gradual (comedic) way.

Natalie Portman, soon turning 17, had been cast as Luke & Leia's mother in the Star Wars prequels. In 1998 nobody knew that that would mean she would be giving terrible performances that we'd all love to mock for years to come! But Queen, excuse me, Senator Amidala aside... Natalie was already a big deal. She had hit the movies with pretenatural force in The Professional (also known as Leon, 1994) and had been the best thing about the ensemble dramedy Beautiful Girls (1996) with much bigger stars swirling all around her. Once Star Wars was behind her she was free to become an Oscar nominee and an all around badass superstah.

Djimon Hounsou who was turning 34 had already f***ed Sandra Bernhard ("onscreen!" he adds quickly) in Without You I'm Nothing, danced with Janet Jackson in the desert in the video "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" and, of course, sailed on that slave ship in Amistad (1997). He was still a decade away from modelling Steel underwear in his late 40s. Damn, he's aging well. Hollywood still likes to cast him in nothing muscled exotic parts (Eragon, Gladiator, Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life) but when they give him a real opportunity (In America, Blood Diamond), they usually reward him with an Oscar nomination. So... one wonders why they don't give him more opportunities.

and now we've reached the first fold out.

Cate Blanchett was turning 28 and, though I haven't done the research, I feel safe telling you that this was the last time she didn't make the cover of anything. When this cover premiered she had just come off of kind reviews for Oscar & Lucinda (with Ralph Fiennes) which approximately 100 people, besides the reviewing critics, saw. Elizabeth was on its/her way, though, and that would change everything.

Tobey Maguire turning 23, had been working in the industry for about eight years at this point but had yet to "break." Spider-Man was still four years away from being a reality but big roles had already started to fall his way (though we hadn't seen them onscreen yet). Later this year he had the lead role in the black and white gone color drama Pleasantville and Cider House Rules and Ride With the Devil (for Ang Lee) were not so far off.

Claire Forlani nearing 26 had already been seen in Julian Schnabel's Basquiat and the action hit The Rock. But it was surely her impending co-starring gig with Brad Pitt (Meet Joe Black, the coming November) that nabbed her a coveted cover spot. The film was not what people were hoping for and an A list career never materialized for her. But she's never lacked for work since. Recently she's been veering toward television work (CSI was the main gig) but you'll next see her opposite Daniel Craig in Flashbacks of a Fool.

Gretchen Mol 25 would appear on two Vanity Fair covers this year (two! in one year!! before she had ever been seen in a substantial role!!!) The second (pictured, right) arrived in the Fall, leading people to believe that maybe Conde Nast had bought shares of her career. Unfortunately it also set her up to become the butt of never-was style has-been jokes. But at this point Hollywood, or at least casting directors and her agent, was counting on her to skyrocket. It wasn't completely impossible to imagine numbers-wise. She appeared in an incredible 15 (yes, 15) movies from 1998 to 2000 but it wasn't until 2006 and her leading role as The Notorious Bettie Page where she began to turn the career around. The next couple of years are crucial. It's her second chance.

Christina Ricci, 18 had been a wee star since 1990's Mermaids, her film debut opposite Winona Ryder and Cher. She had already delivered two Oscar nomination worthy performances (in Addams Family Values --sheer brilliance-- and as a sexually curious teen in The Ice Storm) by the time this cover suggested she was a real star, not just a famous child. She had 7 (!) movies coming out that year including Pecker and Buffalo '66. By December she was winning critics awards and her wicked star turn as DeDe Truit in The Opposite of Sex (1999) won her her first and only Golden Globe nomination. Strangely, her career seemed to go into freefall almost immediately after this sensational year. But her recent work in Black Snake Moan (2007) and participation in the upcoming Speed Racer (2008) could return her to her former stature.

Edward Furlong, 20, had been famous since his debut (a leading role as the future savior of mankind no less) in the envelope pushing blockbuster Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). He hung around in leads or large supporting roles up until the time of this cover (when he headlined John Water's Pecker, opposite Christina Ricci and appeared with Edward Norton in American History X). He has appeared in several movies you haven't heard of since then, but 1998 was his last year of playing in the majors. Like so many young stars, there were drug abuse problems and arrests.

Rufus Sewell who was 30 had made a big name for himself on the British stage and Broadway, too. After well received turns in the 1996 Hamlet movie (there's soooo many of those) and Cold Comfort Farm he was in demand. In 1998 alone he had roles in Higher Love, Illuminata, The Very Thought of You, Dark City and Dangerous Beauty. He was less prolific with movies thereafter but you could spot him recently in The Holiday, Paris Je T'Aime, Tristan and Isolde, The Illusionist and Amazing Grace.

median age: approximately 25. Youngest: Natalie Portman ~ sweet sixteen. oldest: Djimon Hounsou @ thirty-four
collective Oscar nominations before this cover: Nada!
collective Oscar nominations after this cover: 10 (half of them are Blanchett's). 1 win (also hers)
fame levels in 2008, according to famousr, from most to least: Vince Vaughn, Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, Joaquin Phoenix, Christina Ricci, Claire Forlani, Djimon Hounsou, Gretchen Mol and Ed Furlong (Rufus Sewell is not listed on the website) ... I'm confused about how Forlani is more famous than Djimon. Hmmm
see also: 1995 ,1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001
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It's Superbowl Sunday

Goddamnit. Who forgot to lock up Christina Ricci?
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