Birthday Suit: Shapeshifters

Sing your favorite stars a happy birthday in the privacy of your own home.
Maybe not out loud.

Happy birthday to Ethan, Rebecca and Mike

11/06
Today's filmic / famous birthdays.
If it's your own birthday shout it out. It's your day, after all.

1882 Thomas H Ince actor who became a lifeguard then an actor again until he was a pioneering film director who became a studio mogul until he morphed into Cary Elwes having an affair with Kirsten Dunst ... and then died mysteriously.
1903 June Marlowe lovely brunette who became the Warner Bros proclaimed "Most Beautiful Girl On Screen" and eventually settled in as Our Miss Crabtree
1931 Mike Nichols Second City Improv founder who became a comedian then morphed into one of the most celebrated film directors of the second half of the 20th century. The filmography is kind of uneven, though, right?

poll by twiigs.com

1946 Sally Field a little Pasadena girl who became Gidget then a nun who flew before splintering into several personalities as Sybil. After which she became Burt Reynolds girl then a union activist who was suddenly a farmwife and, with that farm job, a Double-Oscar-Winner. Finally she was passing along the sweetheart torch as a grieving mom "I just want to hit something! I want to hit it hard" ...until she finally became Nora Walker. Judge me all you want but I freaking love her.
1947 Edward Yang an engineer who became a computer guy and then an auteur behind who made the internationally reknowned YiYi (2000)
1949 Brad Davis Floridian who became a television star then a film star of ridiculously potent sexual charisma (Querelle and Midnight Express ...about that shower scene) before becoming an AIDS activist in his final years

1952 Michael Cunningham, novelist (The Hours, A Home At the End of the World) who is also a professor and screenwriter and sometime awards magnet
1957 Lori Singer Fame's (1980) freaky cellist who became Short Cuts (1993) freaky cellist. Hey now, she didn't shape shift at all!
1978 Taryn Manning TV actor who became supporting movie player who I was worried had peaked (?) as snow bunny in Hustle & Flow... but thankfully she's employed for another couple of years at least. Lot of films in pre-production
1988 Emma Stone TV guest actress who is suddenly a busy comedic film actress (Super Bad, House Bunny, Zombieland)

Finally... three actors are celebrating big days and I can never decide how I feel about them: Ethan Hawke, a child actor turned film star turned Mr. Uma Thurman turned actor/novelist celebrates his 39th, the wildly uneven Thandie Newton (is there actually two of her? So good in some scenes/films, so ungood in others) turns 37, and themodel turned Femme Fatale turned nude blue lady turned TV star known as Rebecca Romijn also turns 37.

I haven't watched Romijn's new show Eastwick -- have any of you? -- because the Cher|Pfeiffer|Sarandon trinity is too holy for mine eyes to blaspheme. Is it any good?

BAFTA Winners and Moments

The BAFTAs were once a shrug. Then a raised eyebrow. This year they were a scratched head. To me at least. So let me just speed through this. The last round of pre-Oscar winners. In other words, rehearsals for Oscar speeches. That's the only point.

Best Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Score & Sound (and more prizes later too) Slumdog Millionaire
I wish there was a Best Craft Services Oscar so Slumdog Millionaire could win that one, too.

Best MakeUp, Visual Effects & Art Direction The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
I know there's been a lot of talk about Button going 0 for 13 at Oscar which would be a record but it's not going to happen. It should have an easy time in a couple of technical categories as it did here at BAFTA.

Carl Foreman Award Steve McQueen Hunger
That is such an amazing movie and I happy that they recognized it in a small way. I still remember whole passages vividly. I hope it can make more than 2 dollars once they finally deign to release it properly around the world.


Introducing this award was the ridiculously lovely Thandie Newton who was introduced in exactly this way

recently attracted attention for her uncanny portrayal of Condoleeza Rice.

"attracted attention" heh. What a shrewdly diplomatic way to put it.

Original Screenplay Martin McDonagh In Bruges
Michael Sheen and David Frost (whom he played in Frost/Nixon) introduced this prize. How fun. I hope the Oscars get similarly frisky with their presenter pairings and choices.

Costume Design Michael O'Connor The Duchess
I imagine he'll be repeating this win at the Kodak (as will many of these winners come to think of it). He kissed his boyfriend. Awwww. I love that at awards shows.
Foreign Film I've Loved You So Long
Outstanding British Film Man on Wire
Rising Star (voted on by the public) Noel Clarke



Best Supporting Actress Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
James McAvoy (sigh) gave this one out. Heart. I hope we see Cruz repeat at the Oscars as I've said before. On the way up to the podium she grabbed Kate Winslet for a hug... And then Kate positively beamed with joy through Penélope's whole acceptance speech. I so want to understand the backstory here, don't you?

Best Supporting Actor Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
I desperately hope that the Oscars will not follow or precede Ledger's win with the "In Memoriam" segment as SAG and BAFTA did. I understand the sweep since he was phenomenal in the movie but all of this "ooh, he's DEAD" fetishizing is so reductive. Quit proving to us that you only voted for him because he died. It's so cynical and disrespectful. Let's honor the greatness of the actor instead.

They weren't kidding around with their nickname the "Orange" Film Awards.
Or is that just my television? My god the set was garishly colored.

Best Actress Kate Winslet, The Reader
Kate has been under a lot of fire for her acceptance speeches this season and it's getting a little strange. Certainly many (one might even say "hundreds of people") before her have been worse at the "thank you"s when handed a statue. I think what's been happening is that a) she's the heir apparent to Meryl Streep in terms of nomination & statue pulling and anyone would suffer in comparison, speech-wise and b) she's been denied for so long that everyone who has ever had any interest in seeing her win has already imagined it too many times for the real thing to live up to their fantasy. I liked this speech: short, to the point, and genuinely happy for the honor.

Tribute to Terry Gilliam. Right on. Would Oscars ever honor someone that crazy? I guess the American equivalent might be a tribute honorary award for David Lynch?

Best Actor Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
This speech was a little like a rusty rehearsal embryonic version of his Golden Globe speech last month. Is Mickey Rourke time travelling? He'd be a great candidate for "do it all over again!" so good luck with that, Mickey. Two new bits for this speech though: One dedicating it to his late friend King Arthur himself, Richard Harris. The second was a hilarious bit about how brave Marisa Tomei was to take off her clothes and how much he liked looking at her do just that.


Best Director Danny Boyle Slumdog Millionaire
I wonder what's going to happen at the Oscars this year. It's SO suspenseful. On a less snarky note the speech was sincere and well spoken and there was a fun rousing "I love you Dad!" shout-out from his son in the crowd.

Best Picture Slumdog Millionaire
But more importantly: Angelina Jolie laughed in the banter intro! One might even say she giggled. Guffawed would be an overstatement. But she did seem genuinely amused by presenter Mick Jagger's joke that her brood should perform The Sound of Music on stage in a Movie Star / Rock Star Exchange Program.

She's been getting progressively more cheerful as we march towards Oscar. Will she eventually leap on chairs at the Kodak? That's what the last impossibly happy person did, right?

That's it.

P.S. I dread all the added weight the oft ridiculous BAFTAs will get after their sure to be excellent correlation to eventual Oscar wins this year. Do you?
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Pet Peeves and Dishonors

Year in Review: Part 2 of 5

I had to stretch to find unworthy characters for my 2008 Cinematic Hall of Shame list. I skipped most of those movies you might find below 30% on the tomatometer for example. But I found a few things to poke a stick at nonetheless. Read it and weep.

<-- That's better! Stop Edward's pervy staring and Bella's endless moping and Twilight immediately becomes more bearable.

[pet peeve tangent] I really hate the Twilight logo. On its on it's totally attractive/cute but how does it properly represent the book/movie? What is that dangling curlicue g for anyway? It makes the property look fanciful/playful not mopey/romantic. It suggests nothing so much as the dangling lightning bolt "P" in the book/movie the media loves to compare Twilight too. Yes, it screams 'You'll like this as much as you like Harry Potter! We hope!!!' Aside from moody teenagers what do those franchises really have in common anyway in terms of temperament? [/tangent]

On the Hall of Shame page, you'll find that one of the normal fields (the pet peeves chart) is empty this year. I'm going to let you fill it out. Load up these comments with minor moments, characters, films, thingamajigs, trends and whatever that you found most annoying in 2008 movies and I'll fill in the chart with some of the best ones. Type a name (quit going "anonymous") and you'll get credit on the page if I use it.
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Linkdog

my internet is where I want you to touch loves Slumdog's "throbbing" imagery
The House Next Door 5 for day: Mia Farrow
Film Essent Best Picture locks?
Victim of the Time a prize for Thandie Newton
DaddyCatcher I must have been asleep at the wheel? How had I not heard this Baz Luhrmann/Wicked thing [thx]
MTV Hugh Jackman on being 'the sexiest man alive' and those gay rumors
Berlinale Tom Tykwer's thriller The International will open Berlin
Antagony & Ecstacy has some words for the outrageous anti-feminism of Twilight
i09 further proof that The Dark Knight caused a loss of public sanity earlier this year -- a man left his 2 year-old in a locked car while he watched it. In Utah, natch

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