'Is it a crime to link at Lange?'

popbytes Kate Winslet as Mildred Pierce. Have a looksee
Huffington Post rightly declares that Christina Hendricks is looking way too much like Julianne Moore in Esquire. But now that she's pulled off that trick, can we have some big movie roles please?
Critical Condition investigates Iceland in the movies. Very cool topic. I'm possibly going to Iceland for the first time this year. We've been planning it forevah
The Big Picture bemoans the Oscarlessness of the late great film editor Dede Allen. Such a giant of the field and I didn't know she'd died since I've been film festivalling :(
Movies Kick Ass ♥ Jayma Mays on Glee. As do I
Back Stage Blog Stage Despite critical drubbings, Addams Family could well win big at the Tony Awards this summer. One wonders when we'll get another stage musical based on a movie that's actually good enough to move back to the movies (see Hairspray)

Finally, I hope you've visited me pal Nick's site Nick's Flick Picks recently...

He's really outdone himself with three evocative portraits of Oscar winning actresses: Julie Christie, Jessica Lange and Emma Thompson. His beautiful incisive studies of these legends are more than a little intimidating but so worth having in the world. My favorite is the one on Christie. I don't share Nick's love of Lange but neither is it a crime to look at her. His writeup helps me understand what some think all the fuss is (or was) about.
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Emmy Live Blogging: Swine Flu Fever Edition (Pt 2)

part one
refresh screen regularly

9:03 I recently flew home to visit my parents who were moving out of my childhood home. One of my brother's friends was living in their basement. Killing time one night, I watched How I Met Your Mother on the ancient TV system. It only seemed to carry the broadcast networks. It's like the TV had absorbed my parents refusal to join the modern world. Anyway... while watching the show, my brother's friend comes in the room and says "this is a funny show but you know what the funniest show is? Two and a Half Men. I LOVE that show."

This is why people like Jeff Probst win "Best Host of a Reality TV Program"

9:07 Gilles Marini is thrusting so often on that clip from Dancing With the Stars I feel like he should be punished on an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

9:14 Shohreh Agdashloo wins Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie blocking Marcia Gay Harden's attempts at the triple crown. If Shohreh Agdashloo worked a sex phone line I would go bankrupt calling it. That voice!

Too much information I know. I'm sick. You're required to put up with me.

9:15 We're over an hour in and we've only had two Kanye West jokes. This is a surprising development.

9:28 It's hard to tell what is my fever and what is Patricia Arquette and Jennifer Love Hewitt standing before me. It's a chicken and an egg situation, surely. The cold sweats have set in.


Sadly, I'm not joking.

9:34 I just realized that both Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange can't win for Grey Gardens because they rightly considered them both leads. No category fraud here. It's Jessica Lange. I'm happy for her but quite honestly I thought Drew deserved it. Didn't you?

9:46 I'm dying here. Little Dorrit keeps winning things and I could have sworn that was an Oscar movie in the 80s. I'm starting to hallucinate. The Year in Variety. Like varieties of flus? HA? Avian? H9N2? I could have sworn I just saw a cross dissolve wherein Will Swenson from Broadway's Hair lept at me with his legs spread until he was Barack Obama.

9:57 If you have any antibiotics I could borrow, please convert them into comment form so I can absorb them before it's too late.

10:02 They have a Original Music category at the Emmys? Hugh Jackman's number from the Oscars wins. I love that the Emmys are always giving awards to other awards shows. Hollywood Inbreeding. It stops only for Hollywood Back Patting! Inbreeding is the theme of the weekend (see also: previous post).

I wish other blogs would give me awards but patting my back right now might not be a good idea. I can only imagine what I'd cough up.

10:11 I can't go on without more comments. The pillows are singing their siren song. Say something damnit.

10:17 NPH was just standing next to Dianne Wiest and he neither acknowledged her nor fell to his knees in worshipful genuflection. This is the first time I've ever been disappointed in NPH.

10:21 They're speeding things up. Michael Emerson wins Best Supporting Actor for Lost. Cherry Jones wins Best Supporting Actress for 24. WAIT! Where is Sarah Paulson??? First no NPH / Burtka kiss and now I'm denied girl on girl action with my ladies? What the hell... I have a fever. I deserve my televised gay love.

10:27 Sarah McLachlan sings "I Will Remember You" for the in memoriam. There's no way to cover this adequately whilst liveblogging. So I won't say anything other than 2009 has been a real death bummer, no?

10:38 Mad Men wins Best Writing for "Meditations in an Emergency" -- that was the second season finale about the Sterling Cooper merger and Betty's pregnancy

Close of the fierce back and faulty memory

10:40 Best Actress in a Drama Series goes to... Glenn Close Damages. Kyra Sedgwick is bummed. Elisabeth Moss is robbed. Glenn is confused... claiming that Patty Hewes is "maybe... the role of her lifetime". As NoNo smartly says in the comments: "Glenn hasn't seen herself in Fatal Attraction lately". Right? "Or Dangerous Liaisons!", I'd add. Time to pull those DVDs out of storage, Glenn.

10:50 Best Actor in a Drama Series goes to Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad. (I don't even know what that show is about). Best Comedy Series goes to 30Rock.

11:01 I think it's shameful when awards shows that are running over time go to commercials before the final award. I mean, really. Screw the advertising dollars, think of the audience with the flu watching at home.

11:02 SIGWEAVIE! A vision in red. And Mad Men wins best series. Good night. Thanks for watching with me from your homes, through the internet where you can't catch my flu virus. Only other kinds.

Good night, and good luck.

Vintage Pfeiffer & Lange

Twelve years ago today A Thousand Acres premiered.


I love how incongruous this photoshoot was with the material it was promoting. Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange look like they're reliving their childhoods and they're just happy-go-lucky. Not so onscreen. They're all kinds of miserable in their tragic King Learish farm wives movie.

Lange is up for an EMMY tomorrow night for Grey Gardens [editors note: I'll be live-blogging. Be here!]. La Pfeiffer is also in comeback mode after a well deserved hit Hairspray and a probable Oscar campaign for Chéri. That said, "Comeback" is such a weird and misleading concept. It feels like these 80s superstars have always been with us. There's an ineffably endearing quality to that kind of longevity, don't you think?
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Movie Stars For EMMY

Since the EMMYs have 2,741 categories, we only focus on two things: first, how our favorite shows did and second, which big screen stars other than La Pfeiffer (she's always there with her television kingpin husband) will show up. Which of them got nominated for their small screen sojourns whether longform or more movie-like?

Speaking of which...

Drew Barrymore on the set of Going the Distance

Yes, you, Drew. But you knew she knew (everyone knew) that her affecting work in Grey Gardens as "Little Edie" was going to make the grade. "Big Edie" Jessica Lange also won a nomination for the narrative feature based on -- but also sort of jumping off from and commenting on -- the famous beloved documentary of the same name. I hope to have an interview with their director here soon.

Before we get to the rest of the big screen folks, here's the nominees in the big two categories

Big Love finally gets recognized. Strangely none of the actors do.

outstanding drama series (7 nominees. eep)

• Big Love (HBO)
  
• Breaking Bad (AMC)
  
• Damages (FX)
  
• Dexter (SHOWTIME)
  
• House (FOX)
  
• Lost (ABC)
• Mad Men (AMC)

No Friday Night Lights or Battlestar Galactica (sigh) but we expected as much. Some shows just aren't in the EMMY wheelhouse no matter how strong they are. The surprise here is definitely the exclusion of previous winner "24" which the EMMY's have previously loved in all its torture-approving glory.

Interesting note: Mad Men hogged 80% of the writing nominations with only Lost able to slip in there for the fifth slot. BOO! Rose Byrne's category fraud for Damages (she's competing in supporting) probably caused the snubbing of Marcia Gay Harden for that same show. Byrne is *not* a supporting actress on that show. Hello, it's a two-hander. I actually bet she has more screen time than Glenn Close not to mention that the story is usually told through her perspective.

outstanding comedy series (also 7 nominees)

• 30Rock
• Entourage
• Family Guy
• Flight of the Conchords
• How I Met Your Mother
• The Office
  
• Weeds

Two and a Half Men's reign of terror ends at last. Rejoice. BOO: No Pushing Daisies again. TV did not do right by their wonderful "gone too soon" series. YES: Especially good news here for the other Krak addicts out there: Jane Krakowski wins her first EMMY nomination after multiple merciless snubbings. Interesting note: 3 time consecutive supporting actor winner Jeremy Piven is not nominated for Entourage. Does this mean Neil Patrick Harris finally gets the gold?

Movie actors for EMMY
The following races mostly lean towards silver screen thespians. This time they're competing for that gold and winged woman trophy rather than the naked guy with the sword.

Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie pits Oscar winner Kevin Kline (Cyrano de Bergerac on PBS) against Kevin Bacon (Taking Chance on HBO), frequent supporting MVP Brendan Gleeson (Into the Storm on HBO) and Oscar nominees Sir Ian McKellen (King Lear) and Kenneth Branagh (Taking Chance) are all competing for . Hey, no fair: Kiefer Sutherland's TV character Jack Bauer from "24" somehow slipped into this category, spoiling its silver screen style.

Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie features the Grey Gardens girls alongside screen divas Sigourney Weaver (Prayers for Bobby) and Shirley Maclaine (Coco Chanel). EMMY & TV regular Chandra Wilson (Accidental Friendship) rounds out that category.


Lead Actress in a Drama Series usually contains a few movie stars who have migrated to the small screen once Hollywood stopped offering them amazing lead roles. That's the big screen's loss, obviously. Holly Hunter (Saving Grace), Glenn Close (Damages) and Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters) are competing once again with TV stars like Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) and Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men). Moss's character Peggy Olson is wonderful but she really should be competing in the supporting category where everyone but Jon Hamm belongs since the cast is so huge and screen time is limited. The other fine Mad Men women, January Jones and Christina Hendricks, were once again snubbed. This category is often frustrating. The brilliant layered work of Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) goes unnoticed again and Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica) four season snubbing for her work as President Laura Roslyn will surely have to go down in television history as one of the worst 10 offenses that EMMY ever committed.

Miscellania Oscar winners Ernest Borgnine (ER), Ellen Burstyn (Law & Order), Dianne Wiest (In Treatment) and Oscar nominees Brenda Blethyn (Law & Order) and Gena Rowlands (Monk) are all competing in Guest or Supporting acting categories.

Bonus. What's the best category this year?
My vote for the strongest category this year goes to either Lead or Supporting Actress in a Comedy both of which have really strong lineups with no bad apples spoiling the bunch by snubbing far superior work. The nominees are...

Toni Toni Toni and Toni. Do you think she'll win?

Lead Actress in a Comedy

• Julia Louis Dreyfuss, The New Adventures of Old Christine
• Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
• Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Show
• Tina Fey, 30Rock
• Toni Collette, The United States of Tara
• Mary Louise Parker, Weeds

Supporting Actress in a Comedy

• Kristin Chenowith, Pushing Daisies
• Amy Poehler, SNL
• Kristin Wigg, SNL
• Jane Krakowski, 30Rock
• Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty
• Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds

What say ye? How well did EMMY do this year?

P.S. You can download a complete list of nominees here but be warned, it's 40 pages long.
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May Flowers, Frances and Frances

May Flowers, evenings at 11

It's not a crime to look at Lange. So herewith, Frances Farmer in her prime (surrounded by... hmm, levitating flowers?) and the woman who played her in 1982's Frances, Jessica Lange. There are no flowers in this old photograph of Lange but I think you'll agree that she was in full bloom.


I've never seen any of Frances Farmer's movies (she didn't make many. Any suggestions?) so maybe that was a minor obstacle for me, but I am not a fan of the film. But I do enjoy a good Old Hollywood biopic. It's the one type of biopic that holds immediate appeal for me. So, can we please get some more of them about old Hollywood? Like... a lot more of them. Let's immortalize the immortals.

Didn't you love those lavish scenes in The Aviator when Jude Law was pretending to be Erroll Flynn and Cate Blanchett was pretending to be Katharine Hepburn and neither of them had to break a sweat to drip Old Hollywood charisma? I almost wish Scorsese had let a few other directors onto those sets to film other Old Hollywood biopics simultaneously.

But back to Frances... If the 1982 movie is to be believed Ms. Farmer was a self sabotaging volatile handful. Have you ever stopped to wonder which of today's superstar actresses are actually crazy people under their carefully constructed public personæ? On that note, you know there'll be an Angelina Jolie biopic by 2056!

My vote for a modern actress that deserves a stellar bio is Mia Farrow. My vote for an old Hollywood glamor movie (a la The Aviator) is Jean Harlow or -- I'm too predictable -- Norma Shearer... but especially if Joan Crawford figures prominently in that screenplay.


What's your dream movie star bio?
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Today, Jessica Lange Is 60...

.

... and besides wishing her a very happy one,
JA of MNPP here would like to ask two related questions:

1) To those of you who saw it this past weekend, how was she in Grey Gardens? How was the whole thing? I haven't gotten around to watching it yet (I will tonight), but the only thing I've noticed from the trailers and pictures of the production is that the blankets on Old Big-Edie's bed just don't seem pee-stained enough to me, ya know what I mean? I wanna feel like I can't breathe in in there. Like my eyes are burning.

2) And what's your favorite Lange performance? Frances?
Carly in Blue Sky? Julie in Tootsie? Tamora in Titus?

(And as a star-f*cking side-note, I have to admit that right this very second as I was working on this post, Jessica Lange actually called my office and I just spoke to her. WEIRD. I mean, not that weird, she's friendly with my boss and I've spoken to and met her several times here in the real world, but still, it threw me off. [/starf*cking]) .
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Oscar and The Jesus Year

I'm really trying to leave the gold man behind but he never unclenches his grip. Have you noticed the arms? Plus he has a sword... so, one has to move slowly away. Tip toe. Tip toe. I advise against sudden movements.

Anyway, for fun I thought I'd dedicate a post to the dozen acting Oscar winners who won when they were 33 years of age. Why? Because it's all about Kate Winslet right now! Here they are...

• Harold Russell, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946... the only man! they make them wait longer. He was also the first disabled Oscar winner if my trivia is correct)
• Olivia DeHavilland, The Heiress (1949... second Oscar)
• Donna Reed, From Here to Eternity (1953)
• Sally Field, Norma Rae (1979)
• Meryl Streep, Sophie's Choice (1982... second Oscar)
• Jessica Lange, Tootsie (1982)
• Geena Davis, The Accidental Tourist (1988)

• Emma Thompson, Howards End (1992)
• Juliette Binoche, The English Patient (1996)
  
• Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich (2000)
• Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago (2002)
  
• Kate Winslet, The Reader (2008)

You know this list makes Mel Gibson seethe with jealousy.

No Best Actor nominee has ever won during his Jesus year. In fact no actor who has ever risked playing Jesus has won an Oscar either before or after that Only Begotten Moment (and that includes actors as acclaimed as Ralph Fiennes, Max von Sydow -- whom I interviewed and asked about the "spiritual thread" in his career, Willem Dafoe and Christian Bale all of whom you'd think would have a statue by now) so maybe it's an Academy curse.

If I am struck by lightning after posting this, I'll try to film it so David Fincher can use it in his next movie.

If your Jesus year is still ahead of you you can use this trivia as a goal post. How will you work towards winning an Oscar by then? Make a plan and get busy! If you're older than 33 try not to feel desperately unaccomplished.
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Grey Gardens Promo

Early in the year I mistakenly assumed that the feature inspired by the classic documentary Grey Gardens was headed for movie theaters. It's going to air as an HBO film. The movie stars Jessica Lange ("Big Edie") and Drew Barrymore ("Little Edie") at their current ages as well as in old age prosthetics. Apparently the narrative structure is closer to the Broadway musical telling (albeit without the songs) which had Act 1 taking place in the mother & daughter's well-heeled past and Act II in their isolated ruins (the familiar time frame of the documentary). Here's the first promo.



We've known for some time that Jessica & Drew weren't headed for the Oscar Best Actress race this year but maybe next years EMMYs will be within their grasp. HBO tends to kill in TV awardage. [news source]

Hump Day Hottie, Drew Barrymore

It's a shame that Drew Barrymore doesn't do photo shoots like this one anymore...

[image src]

Lately she's selling the romantic cute far more often than the nympho sex kitten. You no longer see her stretched out naked in the grass on magazine covers. She doesn't strip on David Letterman's desk. But, given that she's been famous since she was 6 or 7, she probably feels like one of the grande dames of Hollywood. Even if she's only 33.

Wouldn't you love to see the sex kitten come out again? Take her for one less rampage through the stuffy mainstream media, Drew!

Well, I might not be over that incarnation of Drew but the girl herself seems to be and she's the boss of her. She's been making romantic comedies for so many years now that it seems like people have forgotten that for a brief flickering moment in Donnie Darko she gave us a peak at the future mature actress Drew. Little Gertie from E.T. as a high school teacher. My brain was sufficiently blown. We're about to see the "Serious Actress" Drew again in Grey Gardens but first she'll take another spin into romantic comedy with the all star adaptation of He's Just Not That Into You. Other ladies in the ensemble include Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Aniston, Scarjo and Jennifer Connelly. Yes, they're apparently pulling out all the stops for that one.

As I've said in the comments before, I've always believed that as soon as Drew challenged herself in a Oscar friendly role, she'd be nominated. Oscar friendly = dramatic. It's not that Drew isn't skilled at comedy. But that's not what actors win significant acclaim for. Not fair but true. So, why shouldn't one of the most beloved movie stars in the world follow her great aunt (Ethel) and great uncle (Lionel) to Oscar glory?

If you've already checked out my Best Actress Oscar predictions, you'll see that she's one of my five choices for next February's shortlist. Yes, it's way too early to be doing these things but I'm pretty confident about seeing her there. In fact, she's one of only two actresses I feel confident about (the other is Meryl Streep. duh x 15)

"Little Edie" and "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale, cousins of Jackie Onassis have stayed in the public consciousness due to the beloved 1975 documentary Grey Gardens. Last June Broadway star Christine Ebersole won the lead TONY Award playing "Little Edie" in a musicalized version of the story. Her win was a slam dunk, so memorable was both role and star turn. While the documentary trained its eye only on the Beales as old women, the musical sliced the story in half to show you the past (Act 1) and then, like the documentary, give you the older women reminiscing in the present (Act 2). The movie Grey Gardens is sans show tunes but I believe they're using a similar approach. After all, early stills of Drew in character have her looking young and glamorous and Jeanne Tripplehorn will appear as Jackie Onassis. Perhaps the second half of the movie will be more like the documentary and we'll see Little Edie middle aged, bizarrely dressed and living with her decrepit mother in squalor.

I don't know anything about the 35 year old behind the camera (Michael Sucsy) because this is his directorial debut. It could be special, cross your fingers. I can't wait to see Jessica Lange ("Big Edie") and Drew Barrymore surrounded by cats, continually obsessing on their earlier and more glamorous lifestyles.


Full pointless "Early Bird" Oscar Predictions here
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Oscar's Best Actress Hierarchy. A Discussion

I'm psyching myself up for Fall pre-Oscar season. Join me. You know how it goes once September hits. The prestige movies arrive and virtually everything from trailers to talk shows to box office numbers work as viral "for your consideration" ads. The new banner up top, which I've broken into two for discussion purposes here, shows in descending order the women with the most "Best Actress" nominations. No supporting nominations were included in the totals. These are Oscar's favorite leading ladies ranked. And this, is (duh) my favorite category.


01. Katharine Hepburn -12 nominations (32/33, 35, 40, 42, 51, 55, 56, 59, 62, 67, 68, 81) look at that time span ~ just astounding isn't it?
02. Meryl Streep -11 nominations (81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 88, 90, 95, 98, 99, 06) the most modern woman on the list in terms of Oscar since she switches between supporting and lead nominations: that's very common now but it didn't use to be for big stars.
03. Bette Davis -10 nominations (35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 50, 52, 62)
04. Greer Garson -7 nominations (39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 60) She's the least well known today but see any of her performances and understand why Oscar fell hard. A charm machine.


05. (Tie ~6 lead noms each... in chronological order)
Norma Shearer (yay! 29/30, 30/31, 34, 36, 38) One could argue that she's only had 5 noms since she was nominated for two different performances in one year --before they changed the rules on that. But why quibble? Norma needs -- nay deserves your love
Ingrid Bergman (43, 44, 45, 48, 56, 78)
Deborah Kerr (49, 53, 56, 57, 58, 60) the most nominated female lead to have never won the naked shiny man... though Peter O'Toole has her beat overall in the male counterpart category
Jane Fonda (69, 71, 77, 78, 79, 86)
Sissy Spacek (76, 80, 82, 84, 86, 01)

The last time there was a significant change in the field was when Spacek joined, expanding Oscar's top eight women to a top nine once In the Bedroom (2001) hit, ending her 15 year Oscar drought. How long until someone forces a true top ten?


10. (eight-way tie with 5 lead nominations each)
The next group (5 lead noms) is bigger and includes actresses who've passed away (Susan Hayward, Anne Bancroft, Audrey Hepburn) and one retired giant (La Liz!) so let's just talk about the ones that are still living and working in films and who, thus, still have a chance at increasing their legends:

Shirley Maclaine (58, 60, 63, 77, 83)
Ellen Burstyn (73, 74, 78, 80, 00)
Jessica Lange (82, 84, 85, 89, 94)
Susan Sarandon (81, 91, 92, 94, 95)

Almost all of them have been working strictly in ensembles in recent years. Can they find their own In the Bedroom?

18. (fourteen-way tie: 4 lead noms each)
Just below them in the Oscar horse race are many who've passed on (Barbara Stanwyck, Irene Dunne, Greta Garbo, Janet Gaynor, Rosalind Russell) five retired winners (Jennifer Jones, Jane Wyman, Olivia DeHavilland, Joanne Woodward, Glenda Jackson) and one who has moved to TV guest work (Marsha Mason)...

Three working legends are also in this tier. How many more rungs up the ladder can Judi Dench (97, 01, 05, 06), Diane Keaton (77, 81, 96, 03) or Vanessa Redgrave (66, 68, 72, 84) climb? Or is it supporting roles from here on out?

Oscar's 80th birthday is just six months away ~ What happens to the Best Actress field in Oscar's octogenarian years? Must we wait until Kate Winslet is in her 40s for a real shakeup of the rank? You want to share your theories about the future of this hierarchy in the comments. You know you do.

Thanks to ~Little Golden Guy for a great database. Related stuff ~This year's Best Actress Race (updates soon) or click any of the labels below for more on these cinema greats...

1982: Terri, Jessica, Kim, Lesley, and Glenn

It's that time again. Last Sunday in the month = A "Supporting Actress Smackdown" with StinkyLulu and posse.


This months installment is very near and dear to my heart: 1982. Why so dear? Well, it's the first year in which I noticed that these golden thingamajigs called Oscars existed. I was staring at a TV Guide in March and there was this photo of an Oscar and behind it, pics from all five best picture nominees (Gandhi, ET, Tootsie, The Verdict, and Missing) --three of which I had seen and had "feelings" about. I had to watch. The rest is history. Oscar night immediately became my favorite holiday. Here's the 'NatReel'...



That's five clippy minutes with a high-spirited crop of Oscar Contenders, three of whom are in movies I never tire of (Tootsie & Victor/Victoria) so head on over and join in the discussion over at the "Supporting Actress Smackdown"

tags: Jessica Lange, Glenn Close, Terri Garr,Oscars, Academy Awards, celebrities, movies, cinema, films

1982: Terri, Jessica, Kim, Lesley, and Glenn

It's that time again. Last Sunday in the month = A "Supporting Actress Smackdown" with StinkyLulu and posse.


This months installment is very near and dear to my heart: 1982. Why so dear? Well, it's the first year in which I noticed that these golden thingamajigs called Oscars existed. I was staring at a TV Guide in March and there was this photo of an Oscar and behind it, pics from all five best picture nominees (Gandhi, ET, Tootsie, The Verdict, and Missing) --three of which I had seen and had "feelings" about. I had to watch. The rest is history. Oscar night immediately became my favorite holiday. Here's the 'NatReel'...



That's five clippy minutes with a high-spirited crop of Oscar Contenders, three of whom are in movies I never tire of (Tootsie & Victor/Victoria) so head on over and join in the discussion over at the "Supporting Actress Smackdown"

tags: Jessica Lange, Glenn Close, Terri Garr,Oscars, Academy Awards, celebrities, movies, cinema, films

Monologue Monday: "Julie Nichols"

I don't know how to say this...

I understand that you weren't able to tell my dad last night. So it'd be better for all of us if I tried to explain it to him.

Look, I wouldn't be honest if I didn't tell you how much you've meant to me these past couple weeks. You taught me how to stand up for myself because you always do. You taught me to stop hiding and just be myself, because you're always yourself.

I'm grateful to you. But....

Well, I just --I just can't see you anymore, you know? I just feel it would be leading you on. It wouldn't be fair to you.

I really love you, Dorothy. But I can't...

I can't love you.

-Jessica Lange, just luminous as "Julie Nichols" in the comedy classic Tootsie, which has one of the best screenplays ever written by committee.

Don't Forget! On October 29th, the monthly Supporting Actress Smackdown will focus on 1982. So rent yourselves some Tootsie, Victor/Victoria, Frances, and The World According to Garp to brush up beforehand. It's more fun when you know the movies and it's a great batch. In the meantime head on over to StinkyLulu's tribute to Jessica Lange's work here .

Bonus: A video clip! Tootsie is pleasureable viewing for about 100 different reasons and 1 of those is that it brought Geena Davis to the cinema. Sure, she's a floundering TV star now but from Tootsie in 1982 through the early 90s she was one of Hollywood's bright lights. This 47 second clip is her delightful entrance into cinematic history.


Tags: blogging, tootsie, oscars, Academy Awards, Geena Davis, Jessica Lange, film, movies, blogs, 1982

Monologue Monday: "Julie Nichols"

I don't know how to say this...

I understand that you weren't able to tell my dad last night. So it'd be better for all of us if I tried to explain it to him.

Look, I wouldn't be honest if I didn't tell you how much you've meant to me these past couple weeks. You taught me how to stand up for myself because you always do. You taught me to stop hiding and just be myself, because you're always yourself.

I'm grateful to you. But....

Well, I just --I just can't see you anymore, you know? I just feel it would be leading you on. It wouldn't be fair to you.

I really love you, Dorothy. But I can't...

I can't love you.

-Jessica Lange, just luminous as "Julie Nichols" in the comedy classic Tootsie, which has one of the best screenplays ever written by committee.

Don't Forget! On October 29th, the monthly Supporting Actress Smackdown will focus on 1982. So rent yourselves some Tootsie, Victor/Victoria, Frances, and The World According to Garp to brush up beforehand. It's more fun when you know the movies and it's a great batch. In the meantime head on over to StinkyLulu's tribute to Jessica Lange's work here .

Bonus: A video clip! Tootsie is pleasureable viewing for about 100 different reasons and 1 of those is that it brought Geena Davis to the cinema. Sure, she's a floundering TV star now but from Tootsie in 1982 through the early 90s she was one of Hollywood's bright lights. This 47 second clip is her delightful entrance into cinematic history.


Tags: blogging, tootsie, oscars, Academy Awards, Geena Davis, Jessica Lange, film, movies, blogs, 1982