Sandra The Good Sport

Sandra Bullock collected her Razzie in person in keeping with her sly self-deprecating charm on the Oscar campaign trail. That's good sportsmanship!



...and brilliant game-playing, too. Even if Sandra B does lose the Oscar tonight (nobody's ever picked up both the Razzie and the Oscar in the same year) she's got heaps and heaps of goodwill to coast on as she nears the quarter-century mark of a crazy successful career.

<-- Sandra with her Miss Congeniality: Armed and Fabulous co-star Regina King at the NAACP awards last week.

She could probably even risk another Ernest Hemingway biopic or misbegotten sequel... or even an All About Steve level blunder or third Miss Congeniality toss-off. The "Get Out of Jail Free" card is hers.

Do you think she'll win tonight or are you feeling an upset? I know everyone seems to be on pins and needles about this category, despite the seemingly obvious (Sandra) conclusion.
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Spirit Awards Live And Possibly Spirited (Or Dispirited) Blogging

10:52 The unwieldy title is accurate because my mood is inscrutable at the moment. Even to myself. What's yours like?

11:01 Eddie Izzard is so great. Smart choice of host. Have you ever seen his concerts? Brilliance. Eddie talks so fast and in so many circles (His show CIRCLE you must rent) that I can't even comment on this opening monologue but he's the best. "We're going to have shame and fear tonight... " haha. He's now telling the winners that they haven't really won if they win. The other nominees can still win instead if they kill the winner. Hee. Is this what Adam Shankman actually wanted when he started talking about the Oscars as reality tv, a sudden death round?

11:09 Best Supporting Actor winner Woody Harrelson (The Messenger) to his fellow nominees "I think you're all better." Is that so they won't try to take him out?


11:15 Regina King and Emile Hirsch are announcing Best First Feature. I like Regina King. Does anyone reading watch Southland? I like her perpetually sour mood in that, there's depth under it and you wonder why her character can't smile more... and you love it whenever her wall drops a little. Anyway, I think she's an underrated actor. She was so good in Ray and The Year of the Dog, too. Crazy Heart wins Chris Coo Scott Cooper this prize.

Writer/director Scott Cooper is quite attractive but uh... "If I see 20 or 25 films a year, you can bet that 22 or 23 of them are independent films" In an acceptance speech. You're a filmmaker and that's all you see? And you're saying it out loud?

11:26 Vera Farmiga is smoking hot. Those pupils are crazy light and she's smart enough to always surround them with the smoky eye. If you stare at them too long she will possess your very soul. And you might like it, too. Maggie Gyllenhaal is also looking sensational if a little more reality based... and favoring assymetrical decolletage. Yay, Geoffrey Fletcher wins Screenplay for Precious.

11:31 There's no commercials in this thing? That's when I do my photo editing! And pee. I need to pee. If there's no commercials soon I'll have to pull a Bad Blake. Where's the plastic jug? Speaking of... Jeff Bridges is singing one of Crazy Heart's numbers. I can't believe Oscar didn't want Jeff up there strumming and warbling. I'm not crazy about this "Funny How Falling Feels Like Flying" song though. Give me the Oscar nominated one or the "Somebody Else"


11:39 Mo'Nique wins Supporting Actress for Precious looking as polished and beautiful as ever. She talked about bringing your A game to a low budget movie and that the wardrobe for Mary Jones came from producer Lisa Cortes's closet. 'What that says about Lisa Cortes, I don't know' hahaha. This is such a great acceptance speech. To a beaming Gabby "You are a special gift to the universe"

11:45 Mariah Carey arrives... uh, expanded... to present Best Cinematography. Roger Deakins wins for A Serious Man. Eddie Izzard returns and the microphone keeps rising up from the floor and then falling back down. He calls it a "strange penis thing". The crowd doesn't seem to think he's funny but he is brilliantly funny. It's just his kind of cerebral chain of thought rapid fire cumulative laughs (funnier the more they sink in) is not the type of humor that maybe translates best to showing up in between acceptance speeches.

11:57 The John Cassavettes Award (for a super low budget movie) goes to Humpday. That was a good one.

12:03 The Robert Altman Award (for ensemble) goes to A Serious Man. For a second I thought they said A Single Man and I was like "Colin Firth and Julianne Moore are an ensemble??? Where I come from we call that a duo!" And in case you've always wanted to know what Ellen Chenoweth (Casting Director) looks like, here she is!

I've been seeing her name on movie screens my whole life and I did always wonder. Lately I pretend that she's actually Kristin Chenoweth's older sister and that they do not get along. Hence Kristin's trouble finding worthy film roles.

12:12 We so want to see Son of Precious. John Waters just pitched it. Someone to Watch Award goes to Easier With Practice.

12:16 This night is all about the blacktresses! Now it's Taraji P Henson's turn to come out looking fan-tas-tic. Oh, it's a tribute to Roger Ebert. Taraji is so cute, giggling, 'You always had great things to say about me so I love you!' Well, at least she's honest about it! I always wonder when filmmakers and actors honor critics. Like, do they do it through gritted teeth? It must be an odd relationship. Ebert and his wife are sponsoring this award "Truer Than Fiction" for documentary filmmakers. The Ross Brothers from Ohio win. They thank their mom "she's our producer... literally." Hee.

12:23 Carey Mulligan, like Marisa Tomei before her tonight, is wearing some sort of crushed jewelry superglued to a tight black bodice. This is another Best Screenplay category. I'm confused. We already had one. Maybe that was a "first screenplay" and this is for old pros? (500) Days of Summer wins. I bet this feels good for these guys after the Oscar snub.

12:31 ANVIL! THE PERFORMANCE OF ANVIL. You know, I'm glad people discovered this movie (rent it!) but the music is not why the movie is good ;) And Anvil! The Story of Anvil wins Best Documentary.

Incidentally, Maria Bello & Lenny Kravitz presented this award. I am so hot for Bello (I know I know blonde 40something actresses. they kill me) and I wish she'd get better jobs. There was a very weird moment when she seemed to be trying to welcoming Lenny to acting (via Precious) only she's like really talented. And he's like a musician who acted once. I kept wanting him to bust out "American Woman" with Maria Bello in the Heather Graham role.

12:47 Why do I hate David Spade? I always have. It's a weird personal reaction but ewww. I can't even look at the screen. Foreign Film goes to An Education.


Lone Scherfig fawns all over Carey Mulligan verbally just like she does visually in the movie! Surprisingly she reserves even crazier praise for Peter Sarsgaard 'best actor she's ever worked with' or some such. He looks adorable bald.

Stella Artois has sponsored tonight's event. But you might say they have hijacked the night's event because every time someone wins the logo comes up and blocks out the delighted winner. Bad form sponsor, bad form.


12:53 Best Actress goes to GABOUREY SIDIBE. Woooooot. I am gonna transcribe the whole thing (insert your own giggles) because she's just too delightful for words. Or rather... more delightful with words. Gimme a sec.

[huge applause] Stop! I'm getting nervous.

Thank you. [looking at statue] It's got wings on it, yay!

I'm so excited. Okay, I'm kind of a dork. My mom used to pay me $2 a day to go to school and I used to ride by an independent movie theater. I saved up my money for a week so I could see Welcome to the Dollhouse. And that's the first film I saw where I thought... I could do that. So to be corny I'll say that is perhaps when my independent spirit was born. Now I am officially corny.

I'd like to thank our casting directors Billy Hopkins and Jessica Kelly. I'd like to thank all of our producers who worked tirelessly, our awesome awesome director, our screenwriter. They all collaborated to make me look good. Or too look bad because there was no makeup on set at all. No makeup. We all looked bad. I'd like to thank my fellow actors who... taught me how to act. Really I showed up not knowing anything. I still hardly know anything. I'm going to call all those tricks up for my next role!

And I'd like to thank everyone here with independent spirit and our studio Lionsgate. Thank you so much!

Delightful.

12:59 I think this is the end. Eddie Izzard never takes a breath and he just makes me laaaaaaauuugh. Wait, what? THREE more awards to go. No fair. I'm ready for the triple Z

1:05 Maggie Gyllenhaal, her right breast, and Ryan Reynolds present Best Actor to Jeff Bridges. Weird but very affectionate moment(s) between Jeff & Maggie during the intro, presentation and acceptance speech.


Weird partially because they played lovers in the movie and their energy in person is ALL daddy and daddy's little girl. So, uh, yeah. Kinda creepy when juxtaposed with scenes from the movie. But I love them both. Jeff's speech is filled with lots of "man"s and "baby"s. He and Mo'Nique should have a conversation. The Dude keeps looking up and talking to dearly departed people. Three of them.

1:11 Jodie Foster and Jeremy Renner look right together. Hmmmmm. J&J rave about Jeff and then they announce Best Director which goes to Lee Daniels for Precious. After a very lengthy giddy trip to the stage (he stops and hugs each Precious star) Jodie gives him a backpat and Jeremy kisses him. Lee Daniels is having a very good night.

He says "Kathryn Bigelow is not here tonight but I am' He is overcome with emotion. He literally says nothing after saying Mo'Nique's name but just tears up. I understand. I saw the performance, too.

1:20 PRECIOUS = BEST PICTURE. The Hurt Locker is probably so glad it held its release a year. Not that I want other movies to follow suit. It avoided the fate of being that Indie Spirit darling which rules over Oscar weekend until the actual Oscars. Of course there are much worse fates than to have a glitzy party with influential peers in your industry celebrating you. Congratulations to Precious! Lee Daniels to his producer (the one with the Mary Jones wardrobe) "Tell all these white people what you gotta say!"

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Red Carpet Rendezvous

Checking in with a random sampling of stars @ events this past week or so, all of them sized to represent their actual heights. Because I'm anal like that. I like to keep you (and myself) guessing about who I might include.

individual images

Remember when Chlöe Sevigny was like the "it" fashion girl. What happened to that? And what happened to her acting --is it just me or has she been a little dull lately onscreen. I'm thinking of Zodiac and Manderlay? Angelica Huston still goes to things... but apparently only Wes Anderson remembers that's she's quite a great actress. I'm including Brooke Smith because now that she's been unceremoniously dumped from Grey's Anatomy... maybe filmmakers can remember that she's been all kinds of terrific in movies like Vanya on 42nd Street and Silence of the Lambs and Series 7: The Contenders and maybe without a television contract bogging her down, they ought to throw some interesting supporting roles her way. I'm just saying. Lukas Haas still looks like a little boy, albeit a 6' 1" 30 year-old boy. We'll always have Witness (1985). Pink! I know she's not a film person but so what... she's still a rock star (plus I love her so I must include). And finally Regina King. Remember how hard she worked her big moment in Ray? Remember how sweetly funny she was in The Year of the Dog? Apparently casting directors do not. What's wrong with them?
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Top Ten: Black Actresses

tuesday top ten. for the listlover in you and the listmaker in me
yes, I'm aware it's thursday

A reader sent me this interesting snippet of Essence's December feature on Hollywood's black actresses and their unique career issues. It's a minefield of a topic and for more reasons than just race. There's also the combustible issues of gender inequality in acting careers (no matter your skin color) and then there's the fun sticks of dynamite I like to call 'Generic Celebrity Entitlement.' (hereafter referred to as GenCelEnt)

To explain. Features on the troubled careers of actors always walk a tightrope between generating valuable discussion of the issues at hand and snarky dismissal along the lines of 'Let me get this straight: You're complaining.' Chances are there are tens of thousands of young actors (of various colors, persuasions and genders) who would trade places with the employed covergirls here: Nia Long, Sanaa Lathan and Gabrielle Union. These three may not have their dream careers but they make their living from acting which automatically puts them in the top 10 percentile of their profession, doesn't it?

Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading this and it is a topic worth hashing out. I also checked out this trailer to a documentary about black actresses called Angels Can't Help But Laugh which I'm already willing to love in the hopes that it will be as richly hilarious and rewatchable as its white girl counterpart Searching For Debra Winger (a must see of the highest order, particularly for actressexuals and folks who enjoy the double edged sword delights of GenCelEnt... 'you're complaining and also: good point')

The topic of black actresses always makes me long for the lean muscle and forcefully clipped dramatic annunciations of one Angela Bassett, who I fell madly in fandom with in the early 90s only to realize that her ascendance was also her finale. How does that happen? The beginning is not the end --that's not how things are supposed to work! She falls into the exact same age and talent bracket as Annette Bening and Holly Hunter and she is nowhere to be seen damn-you-Hollywood! So the following list is dedicated to her. It is not dedicated to Halle Berry who has somehow become the most successful black actress ever despite not being half as interesting as the ones who came before her or many of those struggling to unseat her from her throne. Anyway...

10 Black Actresses I Wish Had Bigger Careers

10 Anika Noni Rose
From her good sportsman participation in the dreadful From Justin to Kelly (my torturous recap) to her outstanding TONY winning 'children are our future' hope in Caroline or Change on Broadway to her chipper girlgroup backup in Dreamgirls, she brings infectious joy to her material.
Soon: The voice of a Disney heroine in Princess and the Frog

<--- 09 Regina King
It perturbs me that I get unwelcome unfunny flashes of Miss Congenality 2 lately when I think of her (I watched it on a plane or something in a fit of buddy comedy masochism? What was I thinking?) but she can't be blamed. When she gets saleable material --like that potent "hit the road Jack" scene in Ray or basically everything about her good natured matchmaker in Year of the Dog, she knows just what to do with it.

08 Naomie Harris
See previous post for Naomie props

---> 07 Hazelle Goodman
I enjoyed her very brief roles in Hannibal (freaky) and Deconstructing Harry (cookie) and I'm always rooting for strong stage personalities to make it in the cinema.

06 April Grace
I know she's made a living with television gigs, hell, in preparing this list I realized that TV has plentiful opportunities for black actresses even if the great roles are still missing. April is even playing "TV Personality" in the upcoming I Am Legend. (oops, typecasting) but after her sensational head-to-head with Tom Cruise in Magnolia (also as a television personality) --not everyone can survive let alone resonate in scenes with megawatt performers-- how is it that no other filmmakers have thought to capitalize on her steel? Are they blind?

05 Tonya Pinkins
You've just seen her as a near divorcee in Enchanted (the one with the sparkly eyes, Enchanted discussion here) but really. That's beneath her. I'll just say this. Her star turn in Caroline or Change on Broadway is among the best performances I've ever seen. In any medium. If some A list director ever handed her a movie version of same, an Oscar nomination would follow. But considering how shabbily Hollywood treats musical talent, I'm sure they'd replace her with someone who can't sing who is already a "name". What a world.

04 Audra McDonald
Another Broadway diva. She's a four time TONY winner. That's right. At the relatively young age of 37 she's in second place for most TONY awards ever. She's like the Kate Winslet of stage (only Kate hasn't won any Oscars yet), racking up nominations consistently while still young. Audra is raising her profile (and presumably bank account) as a regular on Private Practice but it's hard for me not to feel like it's a waste. How will she have time for Broadway? I mean, have you heard her sing? She's not just any actor with musical ability --her vocal and theatrical talents have landed her comparisons to legends like Barbra Streisand. Someone cast her in a musical right now.

03 Gabrielle Union
Sometimes I am in wary awe of her like T-t-t-t-t-orrance was in Bring It On but I should probably see more of her movies. My bad.

02 Viola Davis
How do you have a year like Viola Davis had in 2002 where she gifted audiences with a rich trinity of supporting performances in Antwone Fisher, Far From heaven and Solaris (I gave her a gold medal for this triple triumph) and NOT be swimming in Hollywood offers therafter?

---> 01 Kerry Washington
She rules. That is all. If you read this site regularly you already know of my love (and proprietary claims --I saw her first! I even gave her a prize in 2001)
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SAG Nominations

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Don Cheadle / HOTEL RWANDA - Paul Rusesabagina - United Artists

Johnny Depp / FINDING NEVERLAND - Sir James Matthew Barrie - Miramax Films

Leonardo DiCaprio / THE AVIATOR - Howard Hughes - Miramax Films

Jamie Foxx / RAY - Ray Charles - Universal Pictures

Paul Giamatti / SIDEWAYS - Miles - Fox Searchlight Pictures



Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Annette Bening / BEING JULIA - Julia Lambert - Sony Pictures Classics

Catalina Sandino Moreno / MARIA FULL OF GRACE - Maria - Fine Line Features

Imelda Staunton / VERA DRAKE - Vera - Fine Line Features

Hilary Swank / MILLION DOLLAR BABY - Maggie - Warner Bros.

Kate Winslet / ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND - Clementine Kruczynski - Focus Features



Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Thomas Haden Church / SIDEWAYS - Jack - Fox Searchlight Pictures

Jamie Foxx / COLLATERAL - Max - DreamWorks SKG

Morgan Freeman / MILLION DOLLAR BABY - Scrap - Warner Bros.

James Garner / THE NOTEBOOK - Duke - New Line Cinema

Freddie Highmore / FINDING NEVERLAND - Peter Llewelyn Davies - Miramax Films



Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting RoleCate Blanchett / THE AVIATOR - Katharine Hepburn - Miramax Films

Cloris Leachman / SPANGLISH - Evelyn - Columbia Pictures

Laura Linney / KINSEY - Clara McMillen - Fox Searchlight Pictures

Virginia Madsen / SIDEWAYS - Maya - Fox Searchlight Pictures

Sophie Okonedo / HOTEL RWANDA - Tatiana Rusesabagina - United Artists



Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture



THE AVIATOR - Miramax Films

Alan Alda - Senator Ralph Owen Brewster

Alec Baldwin - Julian Trippe

Kate Beckinsale - Ava Gardner

Cate Blanchett - Katharine Hepburn

Leonardo DiCaprio - Howard Hughes

Ian Holm - Professor Fitz

Danny Huston - Jack Frye

Jude Law - Errol Flynn

John C. Reilly - Noah Dietrich

Gwen Stefani - Jean Harlow



FINDING NEVERLAND - Miramax Films

Julie Christie - Mrs. Emma Du Maurier

Johnny Depp - Sir James Matthew Barrie

Freddie Highmore - Peter Llewelyn Davies

Dustin Hoffman - Charles Frohman

Radha Mitchell - Mary Ansell Barrie

Joe Prospero - Jack Llewelyn Davies

Nick Roud - George Llewelyn Davies

Luke Spill - Michael Llewelyn Davies

Kate Winslet - Sylvia Llewelyn Davies



HOTEL RWANDA - United Artists

Don Cheadle - Paul Rusesabagina

Nick Nolte - Colonel Oliver

Sophie Okonedo - Tatiana Rusesabagina

Joaquin Phoenix - Jack Daglish



MILLION DOLLAR BABY - Warner Bros.

Clint Eastwood - Frankie

Morgan Freeman - Scrap

Hilary Swank - Maggie



RAY - Universal Pictures

Aunjanue Ellis - Mary Ann Fisher

Jamie Foxx - Ray Charles

Terrence Dashon Howard - Gossie McGee

Regina King - Margie Hendricks

Harry Lennix - Joe Adams

Clifton Powell - Jeff Brown

Larenz Tate - Quincy Jones

Kerry Washington - Della Bea Robinson



SIDEWAYS - Fox Searchlight Pictures

Thomas Haden Church - Jack

Paul Giamatti - Miles

Virginia Madsen - Maya

Sandra Oh - Stephanie



commentary tonight at the thefilmexperience.net as well as complete Oscar update-a-thon since we're past the point of no return... most of the ballots if not all of them are in now and, well, etc... what a surprisingly boring and homogenous year when you'd think without clear frontrunners in some categories that it would have gotten a little wilder.



ah well...