SAG Injustice: When a Nomination is Still a Snub

In the afterglow of the SAG nominations, when publicists, stars and pundits are all aglow with congratulatory messaging of every sort and critics are bemoaning the fate of talented but snubbed performances, one annual dismaying group of snubs always slips through the cracks. I'm talking about the people who contributed to the movies nominated as Best Ensemble but weren't actually included when the nomination was awarded.  The nominated ensemble casts of The Fighter, The King's Speech, Black Swan, The Social Network and The Kids Are All Right do not, in all cases, fully represent the acting achievements within the film.

The following actors were not nominated in "ensemble"

Black Swan ~ This nomination includes all those demented raven-haired beauties: Natalie Portman, Barbara Hershey, Mila Kunis, Winona Ryder and the man fucking with their pretty heads: Vincent Cassell. Noticeably absent: Benjamin Millepied, the principle male dancer should have also been listed. While it's true he doesn't have a lot of "acting" to do, he gets some in, and actors sometimes get nominated for a lot less; he is one of the chief contributors to the film being its choreographer as well.

The Fighter ~ This nomination includes only the principle Oscar seeking cast: Wahlberg, Bale, Adams and Leo and one more for good measure. That's Jack McGee who plays Melissa Leo's husband so beautifully. Noticeably absent: cameo players like Sugar Ray Leonard (remember that Gwen Stefani got nominated for dressing up like Jean Harlow in The Aviator), the entire gaggle of big haired comic relief sisters, Mickey O'Keefe, the cop/trainer who Bale loves to mock (name?) and everyone else who contributed to the film's invaluable local color and weird but hugely enjoyable tragicomic bent.

The Kids Are All Right ~This nomination includes only the immediate family: Moms Bening & Moore and kids Mia Wasikowska & Josh Hutcherson and "Interloper" Mark Ruffalo. Noticeably absent: Yaya daCosta, who so deliciously handles her role of Ruffalo's fuckbuddy and employee. Seriously now, she delivers fantastic line readings in this movie and underlines some of the movie's more subtle points about Ruffalo's character as well as contributing to its randy high spirits. I consider it an egregious omission. Also absent are Mia & Josh's friends and the gardener who Julianne fires who each get more than one scene.

The King's Speech ~ This nomination includes the three principles plus Anthony Andrews, Jennifer Ehle, Michael Gambon, Derek Jacobi, Guy Pearce and Timothy Spall. It's arguably the most inclusive of all the nominated cast lists but it still manages to diss one key player. Noticeably absent: Eve Best (from Nurse Jackie) who plays the controversial and plot-relevant Wallis Simpson.The royals didn't want her around and treated her like shit. So... did the Weinstein Co decide to follow suit and do the same? 

The Social Network ~ The Facebook movie has the most bizarre and confusing case of the internal snubbings. Obviously the triumvirate of Eisenberg, Garfield and Timberlake are accounted for as are the Winklevi (both played by Armie Hammer) and their business partner (Max Minghella). But what's most curious is that the body actor Josh Pence who helped to play the Winklevi but whose face does not appear in the film was nominated but the following six actors were not. Noticeably absent: Rooney Mara's soulful portrayal of Erica kicks off the entire successful dynamic of the film's rapid-fire dialogue which in turn reveals, comments on and delights in every badly managed personal relationship within the film. The film is smart enough to return to Mara on three key occasions but she was not nominated. All of the lawyers, officials and interns are also absent. You can't include everyone of course but a few people's contributions are very noticeable including Douglas Urbanski's audience-beloved cameo as Larry Summers, John Getz and Rashida Jones as Zuckerberg's council, Denise Grayson as Eduardo's lawyer (great write up of her work at Nick's Flick Picks) and Brenda Song as Eduardo's terrifying girlfriend?

Can someone please explain how these people are not an intrinsic part of the acting network within The Social Network? 

From my understanding, the nominating committee does not pick and choose which members of a cast receive the official title of SAG nominee, they merely vote on the film titles. The studios themselves also sometimes submit For Your Consideration cast lists that already do the omissions (The Fighter's FYC screener, f.e., lists only the five names). Or perhaps the problem is the SAG rules which go like so

"The Cast of a Motion Picture includes all performers whose names appear in the cast credits of the final release print. Motion Picture casts shall be represented by those actors billed on separate cards in the main titles, wherever those titles appear. In cases of special, unusual or non-billing or credit, eligibility shall be at the sole discretion of the Screen Actors Guild Awards Committee. Members of the cast who are not single billed but are credited in the cast crawl of the motion picture announced as the recipient of the Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture shall each receive a certificate."

So by this rule, no matter how great you are in a movie, no matter how large your role, if your agent can't get you single billing, you can't be nominated.
Every year there are glaring examples of actors adding to the texture, tone and overall success of their movie, that are kicked to the curb when it comes time to say "Great Ensemble!"  We think, in a prize meant to honor the whole being greater than the individual parts, that this is a terrible and avoidable injustice. So here's to those snubbed actors inexplicably dropped from the honor bestowed to their co-workers! We salute you one and all.
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Globes Snubs From Ruff' to Gritty

While the Hollywood Foreign Press Association does not have member overlap with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, their very high profile assures that their nominees get a large media platform with which to pursue more Oscar votes. Sometimes it helps sometimes it doesn't. But here's a list of major contenders shunned by the Globe voters this morning.

"I never thought they'd use my stuff!"

Mark Ruffalo -though The Kids Are All Right won four major nominations, he was still snubbed. This could be a bad Oscar sign. As we've long thought, he makes acting look far too easy. He takes complex characters and performs them so naturalistically that voters who like to see actors sweat or strain for effect -- there are many such voters as awards history readily proves -- will never be won over. Arguably only Jeff Bridges, an American icon, has ever really been able to get away with that and win steady awards love. Ruffalo has yet to be nominated by either the Globes, the Oscars, SAG or the BAFTAs for anything. His only major awards run remains a small handful of critics citations for his debut You Can Count on Me (2000). It's not all bad news though. His performance in The Kids Are All Right was recently nominated at the Spirits and by the BFCA.

127 Hours -It didn't place in Best Director or in Best Picture. In terms of the awards race, has it morphed into the one man show (James Franco) that it looks like on the surface?

Cher - We were pulling for a Best Actress Comedy/Musical honor because we know they don't perform the nominated songs. Get Cher back on that red carpet, damnit. This was the only place to do it really. You can never count on Oscar to let the nominated songs be performed as they should. So who knows what to expect even if "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" gets shortlisted by Oscar. For all we know, the ageist Academy producers will ask Miley Cyrus to sing it.


Rabbit Hole  *just added* it's still only the Nicole Kidman show (but what a show that is), despite fine work from Aaron Eckhart and Dianne Wiest to either side of her.

True Grit -Zero nominations. Nada. Perhaps they didn't screen in time. Perhaps the HFPA just didn't bite... they've embraces Coen Bros pictures in the past, even more often than Oscar.

The Ghost Writer -Zero nominations. The Roman Polanski film won some early honors overseas but has been ignored by the majority of American awards. Pity. Everyone has such short memories here in the US awards circuit... even the "Foreign Press"


How Do You Know - Zero nominations. The brand new James L Brooks comedy stars Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Jack Nicholson and Paul Rudd. Brooks and his cast have won 26 Globe nominations, 8 Globe statues and a Cecil B. DeMille between them. Why no love this time? It can't be the bad buzz. The Tourist, which has received an excruciating 20% critical approval on Rotten Tomatoes (and disappointing box office receipts!) won a Best Picture nomination.

Other rejected films: Mike Leigh's Another Year, Clint Eastwood's Hereafter (they often go for him), and the Robert Duvall period piece Get Low.

Finally, we think it's worth noting that in the very loosely defined Comedy/Musical Best Picture category  --they chose two action films Red & The Tourist, one eyesore Alice in Wonderland, one musical Burlesque and one dramedy The Kids are All Right -- any number of entirely snubbed films like Greenberg, Please Give, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World or Made in Dagenham would have been far worthier choices than the first three category (and quality) definition-stretchers. The Globes are the only major organization that reaches out regularly to comedic-tilting films, so to screw up so badly, eschewing all traditional notions of quality, is a blunder; a real opportunity wasted.

The tragedy of that Comedy category -- does it actually hurt the wonderful Kids, this guilt-by-association effect? -- is something of a headscratcher in that within some years they do make a real effort to think about the comedy categories. Remember how acclaimed the bulk of that category was just two years ago?
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NYFCC's 2010 Wins: "The Social Kids That Are All Right Network"

The New York Film Critics Circle forms, together with LAFCA (Los Angeles Film Critics Association) and the NSFC* (National Society of Film Critics), the holy trinity** of critics awards. LA & NY combined can be a potent influential mix... not that they often agree. But this year they did, further underlining the dominance of The Social Network this awards season. The other big boost went to The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko's warmly funny family-at-crossroads film, which picked up three major wins (Actress, Supporting Actor, Screenplay)

Picture The Social Network
Director David Fincher for The Social Network
Actress Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right
Actor Colin Firth for The King's Speech

We already knew that Best Actress was shaping up to be a Bening vs. Portman showdown. But it was not confirmed in a neatly bi-coastal way since Portman did not take LAFCA yesterday. She wasn't even runner-up. Nevertheless, it's still firmly on track to turn out that way, a two-person battle, since they're the likely Globe winners in Comedy and Drama, respectively.


Supporting Actress Melissa Leo for The Fighter
Supporting Actor Mark Ruffalo for The Kids Are All Right
Screenplay Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg for The Kids Are All Right
Cinematography Matthew Libatique for Black Swan
Animated Film Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist
Documentary Inside Job
Foreign Film Carlos
First Feature David Michôd's Animal Kingdom
Special Prize is there one this year? I haven't seen one specified online and their site has not been updated.

Having been a big fan of Animal Kingdom all year, I am pleased for David Michôd's win, since the praise has usually reduced the film to the Jacki Weaver show. Weaver aside, the entire cast is strong and so is the film so good on NYFCC for noticing.

Animal Kingdom's cast: Frecheville, Stapleton, Ford, Weaver,
Joel Edgerton and Ben Mendelsohn

In other film critics org news today, The Southeastern Film Critics Association named The Social Network the years best and also hilariously named True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld the best "supporting" actress of the year. What she's supporting, other than her entire Coen Bros picture, we don't know. They used to call that "carrying" a film and that's only done by lead actors. What the Christ? She's even more of a lead than Frances McDormand was in Fargo! See also: BFCA Nominations for this year's most egregious Category Fraud party. Every year has one.

*in recent years it seems that the NSFC has been fading -- so perhaps the only powerful critics orgs are now LA & NY... at least in terms of media interest -- given NSFC's late voting and the ever expanding roster of film awards.

Spirit Awards. What They Do and Don't Say About Oscar.

Now that I've had a day to think over the Spirit Awards (nominee discussion) and what they reveal and obscure about the Oscar race, here's a deeper look for my Tribeca Film column.

Eligible "Best Feature" Snubs
Blue Valentine, Get Low, Somewhere, Rabbit Hole
Not eligible for "Best Feature" or Acting Prizes
The King's Speech, I Am Love, Another Year, Animal KingdomNot eligible for anything
Toy Story 3, The Social Network, True Grit, The Town, Etc...

Remember last year when Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire swept the Oscars, becoming the first... oh, no, wait, that didn't happen at all. That was the Film Independent Spirit Awards. They take place the day before the Oscars each year. And they take place in a tent. We don't know the square footage, but it’s safe to say that it’s got nothing on the Kodak Theater. 

Generally speaking, the Spirit Awards are a looser, rowdier event. You can even wear jeans. As a group, they’re much more likely to honor African-American abuse dramas (Precious) or intimate character studies of "broken down pieces of meat" (The Wrestler) or teen pregnancy comedies (Juno) than the mainstream Academy is. In fact, in their entire 25-year shared history with the Oscars, the “Best Feature” and “Best Picture” prizes have only gone to the same film once.

...read the rest in my weekly Tribeca Film column.
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Actors on Actors: SAG Buzz

Have you read the Variety feature where SAG card holders are essentially campaigning for other actors for awards season? Sometimes the admiration is surely talent-based and not about who they're friends with or have worked with and sometimes it's clearly a mixture of the two.

Nicole Kidman, marvelous again in Rabbit Hole.

Marion Cotillard worked with Nicole Kidman on Nine, for example, but her tribute has one very insightful observation. She's talking about how, in the first moments of Rabbit Hole you know nothing about Becca's (Kidman) story but you're instantly drawn in despite her abrasiveness.

"Becca" is so far and yet so close at the same time. The space that is created between her and the audience is simultaneously delicate, strong, violent and full of life. A part of her is gone and will always be gone, yet you feel nothing but life.

Marion & Nic' last year

And when Marion concludes her tribute with...

She is simply one of the world's best actresses.

You have to say "amen." That's too true and a half, whether or not the actresses hit it off on musical soundstages.

Reading all the articles is a pain since Variety takes such measures to hide their content but read we must. Helen Mirren loves the theatricality and imagination of Lesley Manville in Another Year, Alec Baldwin was wowed by the authenticity of the duet in Blue Valentine. And a few actors cite the cast of The Kids Are All Right. Laura Dern calls Mark Ruffalo one of her acting heroes and delivers an astute read on why he's so magical in that very difficult part (which, alas, probably won't look difficult enough to voters less discerning than Dern). Amy Ryan gives props to The Bening, particular in the Joni Mitchell scene (her obvious Oscar clip, yes?) and Colin Firth's ode to Julianne Moore (his co-star last year in A Single Man) is wonderfully expressed. His conclusion gives me hope that The Kids Are All Right will get that "Ensemble" nomination it so richly deserves at the SAG Awards.

All of the actors in this film are on the same formidable level. I kept thinking what a joy it must have been for them to all play off of each other.

Colin & Sally. She moves him.

But my favorite might be Colin Farrell's ode to Sally Hawkins in Made in Dagenham since he admits their offscreen friendship right up front but is clearly bowled over by the talent of the friend in question. Here's the fun intro.

Sometimes I see a film. Sometimes I see a film that moves me. Sometimes I see a film that has a friend in it. Sometimes that friend's name is Sally. When I see a film with a friend in it and that friend's name is Sally, that film moves me.

I can't say that I know the feeling exactly as I have few close friends that I regularly just happen to catch on the silver screen. But I can say that I know the feeling; when I see a film with a stranger in it and that strangers name is Sally, that film moves me.

Related Posts: 

• Sally 'I Beat Meryl' Hawkins
• 7 Word Review: Rabbit Hole
• Nine thoughts on Nine
• SAG Live Blog Jan 2010

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Social Network Typography (and Screenplay Structuring)

Saw this at Rope of Silicon and just loved it. The mind boggles at the complex architecture / spacial relation skills? required to pull this off...



...of course it wouldn't be that special if it didn't have the platform of Aaron Sorkin's amazing dialogue and/or Zuckerberg's wit (from transcripts presumably), now would it?

Best Screenplay. Having recently rewatched both The Kids Are All Right and The Social Network the screenplays for both play even stronger than they initially did. Sturdy blueprints for potentially great movies they were. Both screenplays are so witty, well constructed and filled with engaging character-specific details. There's just very little that's generic about either film and there's so much that's generic about the bulk of movies released in any given year, you know? But maybe Kids has the more graceful structure arcing as it does from kids (son) to parents back to kids (daughter) without feeling too deterministic or purposefully symmetrical but still smartly pinpointed (one summer). Social employs the more traditional continual flashback frame structure but perhaps its more ambitious in scope and it's hard to top some of its killer lines. My point is: They'd both better be Oscar nominated. I love both of them but I like to weigh these things for a good long while before I name my nominees or medalists.

 FWIW the writer's branch used to be my favorite Oscar branch but I don't trust them at all anymore after the finger they gave Rachel Getting Married in 2008. Whatthehell?

Which screenplays are you enamored with this year?
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DVD Tuesday: Kids, Kitties, Benders and Bow Wow

Hey there. Kurt here from Your Movie Buddy. Today brings a fun batch of DVD releases. Or an eclectic one, anyway, especially catered to those whose brows are fairly high or exceedingly low.

The first one has something to celebrate, seeing as it just made the Academy's shorlist of Animated Feature contenders. That's right: Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore has an outside shot at making it to the Kodak. Oh, what a world. As far as I'm concerned, this is a film that doesn't even enter the critical discussion. It's like Saw 3D – yes, it's one of the worst movies of the year, but it doesn't warrant the energy of placing it on a “Worst of” list. For adults without rugrats, the only logical reason I can think of to see Cats & Dogs 2 is a self-punishing desire to fret over the current state of Bette Midler's film career.

Moving on, we have Lottery Ticket, an urban comedy about greedy friends and neighbors which, like Cats & Dogs 2, I never got around to seeing. If this film musters any of the freewheeling spirit of Friday, whose community-wide mayhem it seems to be aiming for, it may generate some scattered laughs. It certainly has enough noteworthy African American comics to deliver the jokes, namely Mike Epps, Charlie Murphy and '09 buzz-maker Brandon T. Jackson. Really though, this movie seems little more than an experiment to see if Bow Wow (née Lil') can actually act. And I don't think we need to scratch off any tickets to know how that's gonna turn out.

In the plus column, there's Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right, one of the very best films of 2010. I'm reeeaally looking forward to watching this one again, to laugh and smile and revel in it, of course, but also to reassess whether or not I was right the first time 'round in thinking that Cholodenko was too tough on Ruffalo's character. Did y'all feel that way, too? I ultimately let it slide, and accepted it as a necessary part of the family unit's progress and Cholodenko's feminist sensibilities. I basically refused to let it tarnish my full approval of the film, so wonderful 'twas.

Ironic that in the same week one of the year's best hits home video, so does what is quite possibly the year's worst. Anyone who's sat through M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender (in muddy, after-the-fact 3D, no less) knows full well it's a disaster of epic proportions, and by no means the success this foolish moviegoer thought would come from Shyamalan being behind the camera but not dreaming up the story. At this point, there's not a doubt in my mind that Shyamalan's at least half crazy, for the sheer fact that he felt this unwatchable hogwash was the best product to present to the public. I'm avoiding details and examples because there are too, too many. I'll just say I was actually pleased when the drama of a mother and her screaming child one row behind me averted my attention.

*Finally, I think it appropriate to have as an addendum The Extra Man, a weirdo Kevin Kline comedy based on the novel by Jonathan Ames and helmed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (American Splendor). The film wasn't exactly embraced by most critics, but I found it seriously funny, and wasn't even bothered by the excessive quirk. Its class-conscious, F. Scott Fitzgerald DNA serves it well, and Kline hasn't been this uncaged since In & Out. It's worth a look.

Note: Disney's A Christmas Carol also drops today, but that movie's so 2009.

What will you be watching at home this week?

Happy Josh Day

Happy 18th birthday to one of the most in demand young actors in Hollywood, Josh Hutcherson. As time goes by, I've stopped handing The Bening, Juli and  Ruff' all the credit for the beauty of The Kids Are All Right and the glory of the ensemble work becomes clearer.  (They'd better get a SAG ensemble nod in January.) When the DVD arrives in November, I know it'll be the type of movie that gets a lot of spins.

In our introduction to "Laser", we seem him watching his friend's dad wrestle and Josh lends Laser a heartbreakingly specific look, equal parts longing, physical adrenaline (there is wrestling involved), and inchoate wonder. It's really a beautiful moment, telegraphing exactly what we need to know about the character, the one whose emotional needs kick off the film's plot. Well done, Josh.

In truth this was my first exposure to the young actor but I understand he was a minor child star? Anything worth seeing from his filmography?

Here is The Bening (!!!) -- who hasn't been leaving the Beatty estate much this year -- presenting him with a "Breakthrough Film Actor of the Year Award" a couple of months ago at something called, hey look at that, the "Breakthrough of the Year Awards"...



You'll next see Josh in either the already completed remake of cheesy 80s flick Red Dawn (the release has been shelved for the time being due to MGM problems), the art forgery drama Carmel (whenever that comes out) or the slasher comedy Detention .... no scratch all that. You'll next see Josh on the red carpet since The Kids Are All Right will get some sort of awards run... Size TBD by various precursor voting bodies.

Related Posts
Josh Hutcherson's Spider-Man Audition
Julianne Moore -Nathaniel's interview

All Good Links

Before we get to today's link roundup -- I went a little crazy as I sometimes do -- enjoy the heat sensor-like photography of the All Good Things poster. Perhaps Ryan and Kiki were a bit jealous of the ruckus Jake & Annie's nude poster caused online.

P.S. Jake Gyllenhaal is obsessed with Ryan Gosling. Just saying. I would try to quote his answer from Saturday night when the audience question 'who would you like to work with?' popped up but it was so rambling and long and confusing that I can't. But let's just say it began with Ryan Gosling, was jilted by Ryan Gosling via text "I'm busy" and then ended again with a circular non sequitor shout of "Ryan Gosling!" Jake likey. Ryan Gosling is what you might call an actor's actor... since everyone seems to want to work with him.

On to the linkage...
Candy Magazine A double take of pleasure. Yes, that's James Franco to your left continuing his trans formation from one of the great herd of Hollywood pretty boys to an actually interesting celebrity.
My New Plaid Pants is an über fan of Let the Right One In. Doesn't hate Let Me In. Since the response has been so positively muted like "it's good: also, a recreation" I've decided not to see it.
Broadway.com Carrie the Musical being revived. Wow.
Cinema Blend Me pal Katey basically says all I have to say about the trailer for Julie Taymor's Tempest so I don't need to cover it here. What she said, minus the positive bits since I liked the movie even less than she.
The Big Picture Tony Curtis grand sendoff in Las Vegas
Hero Complex Emma Stone will play Gwen Stacy in the new Spider-Man. I'm glad that early reports were wrong. Why do the whole Mary Jane story again. That said, isn't it weird that someone known as a redhead is going to play Spidey's favorite blonde and someone known as a blonde was cast as his favorite redhead. Weirdness.
The Awl Sasha Frere-Jones and Natasha VC on The Social Network. If you haven't read enough yet, it's fun as always to read these two.
50 Best Theater Blogs I'll have to investigate this list.
Just Jared Joseph Gordon-Levitt lost his older brother. So sad.
Towleroad celebs speaking about gay bullying on Larry King Live
Movie|Line offers tips to Renée Zellweger on how she could regain her A list status. I love the suggestion of a brilliant twitter feed. I hope she calls it @Zeéeee after my new nickname for her. Zeéeeee reads me right? *

Double Duty!
Movielicious Have you seen this great mashup poster for Toy Story and Tron? I wish I knew who did it to give them proper cred.
Scott Feinberg "Are Bening *And* Moore All Right." Some smart words on the The Kids Are All Right Oscar campaign.
John Luciano a Calvin & Hobbes mashup with Let the Right One In. Teehee. I used to love Calvin's girlcrush but can't remember her name right now

*Obviously I am kidding. Someone I am acquainted with who works in the industry once told me that every star googles themselves --whether they admit it or not -- and is familiar with their biggest cheerleaders and nemeses online. But I chose not to believe her because it weirded me out too much to think of Beelzebub, She Who Must Not Be Named, La Pfeiff and The Bening reading or even knowing of my puny existence.

The Essential Bening Me

Dear Subjects!

We haven't visited this blogsite in some time -- has it really been four years? -- as Nathaniel hasn't been so loyal. I have Google Alerts of my own name We've been told that he barely mentioned us in 2009.

Bygones.

While I'm pleased that he selected me "Best in Show" for my smash hit star vehicle The Kids Are All Right, (the distinction is oddly redundant), I do wish he'd have done some fact checking in his article. I must have been nominated for at least 11 Oscars by now and won thrice. I would also like the record to reflect that that "fragile" singing voice he mentions during the Joni Mitchell sequence is not my real singing voice. My real voice would have distracted you with its beauty. Some things just aren't right for the character.

At first I was intrigued to read his list of the "Essential" Bening performances but I'm afraid he's quite terrible at math. He mentions only 8 films in the entire article and any simple web search will reveal that I have made 23 features. 2 haven't yet filmed but that's a minor detail. So, let's err in his favor -- I am a reasonable woman -- and say 21. Even so his essential list is still off by an alarming 13 films! Did he never pass remedial arithmetic?


Which of my 21 performances are your favorites? I know it's impossible to choose just one but do try to narrow it down to 21 in the comments. Go.

And go see The Kids Are All Right again. I'm even better the second time. See you at the Oscars!

~ loved, Ms. Bening

Could Have Beens: Josh Hutcherson Parker / Toni Roxie Collette

Josh Hutcherson's Spider-Man screen test went up at Latino Review. Though I'm sure they'll be pulled soon it's fun to watch. It's actually interesting to see how much effort went into these screen tests. Wouldn't it be great to see all of them back to back? We're talking wire stunts, editing, scene recreations from the original Spider-Man. Everything. Plus, it's not one of those audition tapes that makes the actor look bad. Hutcherson looks like he'd be an excellent Peter Parker. All the press he got for even being in the running will surely do him good. Well, that and holding his own in the stellar The Kids Are All Right cast this summer. I see a SAG nomination come January 2011 (ensemble).

Here's the video and a few screen caps in case it disappears.




The online wailing about Andrew Garfield is a clear case of fear of the unknown. He's as solid a choice as any and probably moreso given that they went with him without any bankability whatsoever and him being older than they'd planned on going. In other words: they know something we don't, having seen his screen test.

But "could have beens" are fun, too. Every once in a blue moon I try to imagine Basic Instinct with any of the women who were considered or rejected it before Sharon Stone got it... and there were so many. I always wonder if Holly Hunter would have won a second Oscar for As Good As It Gets had she not priced herself out of the movie. Or I try to picture Rachel McAdams as Invisible Girl in Fantastic Four. Easy! Or Brad Pitt attempting an English accent for About a Boy. How weird would that have been? (That's why Not Starring is such a fun site to visit randomly.)

This topic also makes me think of Evita (1996) and how it might have been Streep or Pfeiffer (who recorded a demo) instead of Madonna in another iteration.

My saddest could-have-beens will probably remain Michelle Pfeiffer as Clarice Starling (Fact: turned it down) -- not because Jodie wasn't superb but because, well, Oscar! -- or Toni Collette as Roxie Hart in Chicago (Rumor: deemed not bankable enough despite being first choice). Both would surely have been excellent.



But maybe the Toni Collette as Roxie thing haunts me only because I l-o-v-e-d her in The Wild Party on Broadway so much. And because I wanted her to play Liza Minnelli for so long in a biopic. I'm dying to see Toni in another musical. Will it ever happen again?

"Respect the Link. Tame the Blog. Tame It!"

Flow TV a structural analysis on Glee, why some episodes don't work and others do.
Examiner Would Tom Cruise's career be different today had he won the Oscar?
Pullquote You can draw a line from Prince through Laurel Canyon and on to The Kids Are All Right.
Just a Cineast looks at Olivia de Havilland's first released movie Alibi Ike, 75 years ago.


Socialite's Life I hadn't heard this rumor about Taylor Lautner taking on Hugh Jackman's role in X-Men First Class and now I want to die a little inside. See also: every post where I lament franchise actors playing in multiple franchises. Don't mix up my film worlds!
Cinematical interviews the great cinematographer Wally Pfister from Inception
Twitch Film Christopher Nolan's little seen first film Following is now available on demand.
Dear Old Hollywood visits the sites visited by one Joan Crawford in Possessed. I always wish that someone would do them with NYC movies. Don't say "do it yourself." You don't wanna know the depths of my inability to know which way is up let alone north south east west.
Film Business Asia Gong Li & Andy Lau to star in remake of Mel Gibson movie What Women Want.
i09 reminds people of flops promoted heavily at past Comic Cons. A bit of reality to preface the annual uber-hype fest.
Chateau Thombeau "Is it Wong?"
Awards Daily The NY Post endorses homophobia in a piece on The Kids Are All Right

another thinkpiece on Inception

Roger Ebert linked to his latest piece from Twitter with a "you are allowed to dislike "Inception". While my initial reaction was to scoff 'Uh, thanks (?) for giving people permission.' I realize that a lot of the same mob who demand agreement from every critic (missing the point of criticism by 100%) worship Ebert as a God so I'm glad he wrote this article. It's a good one with lots of civility. I shan't scoff at the 'permission' given.

It's so weird that Christopher Nolan films always put me in this position.

• Truth: I have never disliked a Nolan film. I think they're all good... "thumbs up" in Ebert parlance. Yay for consistency!
• Weird Secondary Truth & Conundrum: The reviews of Nolan films always make me crazy. After each release and the attendant flurry of raves, I always end up disliking his films more than I did while watching them. In each and every case, the hysterical praise makes me feel uncharitable towards [insert film title] that I liked a lot. More than perhaps any other acclaimed filmmaker, I feel that people don't actually discuss the merits of his movies so much as shoot big blurb loads on them, bukkake style. Yuck!
  

Finally...

via Twitch we can see the teaser for the Tran Anh-Hung's adaptation of the modern classic Norwegian Wood starring Rinko Kikuchi. The official site is also up.



We need to read the novel soon, having heard only awestruck love vows to it. But the film looks pretty from these teasing glimpses.
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Oscar Predictions. 3 of 10 Best Pictures Are Already Upon Us.

The Oscar Predictions have been revised for July. Finally! I think with the critical and (so far) audience response to The Kids Are All Right, Inception and Toy Story 3, we may have 30% of our Best Picture field filled in. Will we have a fourth by the time summer is up? Last year summer brought us 40% of the Oscar lineup: Up, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds and District 9.

The only one of these three buzzy titles I hadn't predicted back in April was Toy Story 3. Who could have forseen a third film in a franchise being that blissfully embraced? It's possible that voters will figure Pixar is amply rewarded and look at other live action movies but given the lack of strong competitors that 2010 has offered, it's looking good for the big show for now.


Bear in mind that the rankings are a mix of hunches, buzz, Oscar history factors, personal feelings, reviews and more. They are strictly for entertainment/predictive purposes and predictions should never be confused with statements about quality. As you all know, both horrible and great films get nominations every year. This year, for example, the ghastly eyesore Alice in Wonderland is probably looking at a few nods through its sheer excess. (Sometimes AMPAS confuses "Most" with "Best".)

A good chunk of the remaining slots each year are filled with whichever pleasant mediocrities can muster up temporary enthusiasm in precursor bodies and actual Oscar ballot holders.

In the charts and on the individual pages, you'll see major gains for the Danny Boyle/James Franco true story survival drama 127 Hours (now confirmed for a 2010 release) and the Cannes approved Another Year (Oscar has been known to warm to Mike Leigh). The saddest switch is this pundit's (temporary?) loss of faith in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, if only because I remember so vividly what happened and what didn't happen when it came to The New World's release. That nightmare has been resurrected in the wake of the Apparition troubles. Malick's The New World was a jaw droppingly beautiful visual experience and it couldn't even muster up a handful of technical nominations? Insanity. Nothing's a done deal with Oscar until all the deals are done.

As for Inception, the movie on everyone's lips this week, people need to calm down. It was a good Oscar bet before release and it still is. The mix of absolute boosters, passionate detractors and even a few opinions somewhere in the middle like mine -- I liked it but I wouldn't ever dream of calling it a masterpiece -- is totally normal for any big hyped release, though people may be behaving as if this has never happened before... or only once before in 2008. But we'll get to that in a second.


Nevertheless, Inception has several crucial Oscar plus factors going for it such as

1. Due? The general perception that Chris Nolan is due for a nod. That's out there, thickly felt in the pop culture air and that sure does matter.
2. The "Make Up" situation. Many feel that The Dark Knight was not properly rewarded. This has always struck me as odd but I'm the odd man out. It did win more nominations than most films ever come near and even a couple of actual statues so, for the superhero genre or for sequels in general, it was practically Titanic huge with Oscar. But then facts never deter people from personal feelings.
3. Auteurial and technical ambition in spades. This will go a long way with at least a handful of Oscar branches. Just about the only place that Inception hasn't a prayer is in the acting categories since the characters are paper thin, and sci-fi epics have a difficult time getting the actor's branch excited. Just about the only time it ever happens is when someone is just so fantastic that nobody would deign deny their accomplishment (think Sigourney Weaver's immortal Aliens performance).

Do share your feelings about the state of the Oscar battle thus far in the comments (I've been having technical difficulties so I'll fix any errors on the pages as I can get to them.)
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"Stone Cold Fox"

I love Mark Ruffalo...


...and iPhones.

...and Scrabble for that matter.

So, this screen capture from the trailer to The Kids Are All Right is more than all right. It's like a triple scoop of love. yum-yum-yum.

[This post has been brought to you by Nathaniel's ever growing obsession with The Kids Are All Right. You went this weekend right? Or you will as soon as it gets to your town? Word is that it will aggressively expand since the specialty box office is booming. Hurry up! P.S. I'll complete the July Oscar prediction revamps after I see Inception on Tuesday. Stay tuned.]

Further Reading:
Lisa Cholodenko Interview (at Towleroad)
Julianne Moore Interview (Nathaniel meets the goddess)
The Kids Are All Right Review (from Sundance)

Lisa Cholodenko, Too

<-- Love this pic. It's Lisa Cholodenko with Emmy nominee Jane Lynch (Glee) at the Focus Features party for The Kids Are All Right. The ladies who love ladies are taking over the world. I always knew they would.

I want them to devote one of those foldout Vanity Fair covers to Hollywood's Power Lesbians. We have so many out ladies now. Yay!

As an FYI and teaser, right before I met Julianne Moore (previous post), I had a sit down with Lisa Cholodenko, a writer/director who first burst into cinema with the potent High Art (1998) starring Ally Sheedy (shoulda won the Oscar), Radha Mitchell (just discussed) and my beloved Patty Clarkson. I should probably write about that movie sometime soon. It's been six years since Cholodenko made a film so I'm really hoping The Kids Are All Right is successful enough to convince the world (i.e. Hollywood) that she needs to work more often. I wrote up the interview for Towleroad.

I couldn't fit all the interesting bits into this piece, so I'll share more here next week. I have to stretch out the Kids... posts since the movie is in limited release and we'll have to keep talking about it. It's mandatory. Thems the rules.

Juli with her bestie Ellen Barkin at the premiere after party

Is it coming to your town this weekend or are they making you wait?
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Dreams Come True: Nathaniel's Audience With Julianne Moore.

As some of you know, I had the opportunity to sit down with Julianne Moore last week. The occasion was the release of The Kids Are All Right, Julianne's 48th movie and one of her very best. Julianne plays "Jules" the flighty wife of "Nic" played by Annette Bening. They've raised two children together. Nic had Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and soon thereafter Jules had Laser (Josh Hutcherson). It's one of Julianne's best comic performances in a career that's mostly been noted for her dramatic magic with internally shell shocked women. But it wasn't always accolades. Julianne's big screen career started twenty years ago this summer when the horror flick Tales of the Darkside was released. Inauspicious beginnings but no matter.

My history with Julianne doesn't stretch back quite that far. I first took true notice of Julianne in Benny & Joon (1993) when she was playing a former (bad) actress turned waitress. In one of the movies most endearing scenes, Johnny Depp mimics her horror performance that he's memorized as they watch it together. She nearly dies of embarrassment. Five years later, I did more than notice her. I fell madly in love with her in her next bad actress incarnation as porn star Amber Waves. Ironically, though those two key bad actress roles were the beginning of my major Moore obsession, the woman herself is anything but a bad actress. She's one of the greats.

The first incarnation of The Film Experience (my baby that you're reading right now) was actually a print zine called "FiLM BiTCH" and Julianne Moore was the first iconic (literally) cover girl. I painted her as a religious icon. I met Julianne once before in 2002 on the Oscar campaign trail for Far From Heaven but it was a simple 'hello, good luck' type of public event and my girl friend snapped this dorky photo.

Julianne & Nathaniel in 2002 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood.

I knew when I was granted an actual audience with Ms Moore eight years later that I'd have to risk the ridiculous and bring my post collegiate / pre website zine with me to show her. Entering the plush hotel suite, I told Julianne I was nervous. "I'm not scary," she assured warmly and then we discussed what to drink (sparkling water it was) and then she actually poured me a glass. Her serving me... What universe is this?! I told her I wasn't scary either. It was important for her to know that, I joked, before we began since I was about to whip out the truly fannish obsessiveness. Julianne took it all in stride, laughing, and even seemed to enjoy the history as I showed her the zine.

(I've bolded, italicized and explained to give you a sense of my interpretation of what follows)

Nathaniel: You actually inspired my writing career inadvertently, I'm not even joking.

Julianne: No kidding? [Wide eyed look at magazine, squeals] Did you make a magazine?

Nathaniel: I did.

Julianne: Oh my gosh, that's nuts!!! [reading aloud] "Julianne Moore is God" [laughter]. You're so sweet! Holy cow. This is crazy.

Nathaniel: I even brought one for you in case you have a stash of weird fan things.

Julianne: Well, thank you. I'm very touched. [Signed the cover] Can you read this? It says "To Nathaniel, with love and deep appreciation"

Nathaniel: You know what it was? It was Boogie Nights. I had so many feelings about that movie at the time that conversations weren't enough so I had to start writing. I'm being totally serious. You were a big inspiration.

Julianne: That's so cool. I'm very touched.

Nathaniel: So that said --that crazy story said -- how weird is fame for you?

Julianne: [Laughs]

Nathaniel: Strangers giving you gifts. Have you totally acclimated to it?

Julianne: It's funny. We were just talking -- my friend who I've known for a really long time -- he was talking about reality stars. And people just want to be famous. I said, 'I don't understand that. I don't understand fame without content.' Because it's not -- I don't know if fame is anything in particular. I feel like it's an offshoot of something else.

You know I always said to my kids when they were little, especially when they'd see me on a magazine, and like, if somebody said 'Are you there because you're famous?' I'd say to them 'No, I'm there because of this job that I do and this job requires that I do this other public stuff.' I think if it's not rooted in something that you actually do, then it becomes -- then it's not necessarily a comfortable thing.


And also I'm not wildly famous, you know? I'm a person who is sort of moderately famous.

Nathaniel: But your fame, the ascendance of your fame, happened in lockstep when things were getting really crazy for famous people in the late 90s.

Julianne: Actually, that's true. There was never... when you were an actor, there was never any expectations that it was going to come with all this other stuff. Suddenly the whole celebrity culture blossomed around the same time.

That stuff, I think, is unusual. I think you've got to compartmentalize. It has to be a completely different thing.

Nathaniel: So, The Kids Are All Right. I read that you signed on because of High Art. Love that film. You signed on before while Lisa was still writing it? Is that correct?

Julianne: Well, no. What happened was I met Lisa at a Women in Film luncheon. I went over to meet her and I said 'Hey, why didn't I see the script to High Art?' She laughed. And I was like 'No, seriously. I don't understand. I see all these scripts. I never saw your script.' I loved the movie. I just thought it was great. She kind of laughed. I said 'Well, you know...' We agreed that we liked each other and we had a meeting. She said 'I'm going to write something for you one of these days.' Not too long after that she sent me Kids... which she had written with me in mind.

And then it was a period of four or five years before we finally got it off the ground. So, I would have done anything she sent me, probably. And it just happened to be this really terrific script. And then there were many iterations of it: Stuart came on as a co-writer, the script became much more comedic in tone. But it was always something I really responded to.

Nathaniel: Because you were involved early, did you have any input into the character?

Julianne: I don't do that.

Nathaniel: You don't?

Julianne: I actually don't do that. I like the tension between the character and the actor. So I don't want to say things, like, "I wanna make her blah blah blah."

But I will get attached to certain things. There was some stuff in the movie -- remember I had that line when Annette and I walk away and I say that thing about Jose. 'I had to fire him he was a crack addict.'?

Nathaniel: Hilarious.

Julianne: Yeah. That was a line that was left from another scene, another version, where I kept talking about the gardener having a huge drug problem and how I have to do something about it. It was so funny and then it got cut. I was like 'I'm bringing it back!' I didn't care that it was on our backs as we were walking away. I'm just throwing it back in there.

In that sense I will harvest thing from other versions.

Nathaniel: I know you don't talk about your process that much.

Julianne: Right.

Nathaniel: A little nugget? I know the scripts mean a lot to you. Do you just read them a lot and internalize or if someone grabbed your script would it be just covered in notes?

Julianne: Almost nothing in the script. If there are line changes I put them in. My scripts are pretty empty. It's just about internalizing it, actually, like you said. I read it...think about it... think about it. It kind of percolates. The interesting thing is that I might not do a lot of writing on it and that kind of stuff but I get really upset if I don't have the script for a few months. It has to be there for me to be reading and thinking about.

Nathaniel: On the set?

Julianne: Before I'm shooting. If someone says to me 'Hey we're shooting this movie in two weeks.' 'WHAT? WHAT I need...' I like to have the script for a couple of months at least because I have this process of thinking and thinking about it.

Nathaniel: One thing I loved about the performance is the energy with Annette Bening -- I'm sure this is conscious -- there's a little bit of shrinking back like you were almost one of the kids in the family?

Julianne: Right, right.

Nathaniel: I thought it was really interesting. With your peer group of actresses ... you've done The Hours with Kidman and Streep but you didn't have scenes with them.

Julianne: We were all separate.

Nathaniel: I was wondering. What was that like working with someone [Annette Bening] of your stature, so to speak?

Julianne: Great! It was great. It was definitely a partnership, a marriage. It was our job to illuminate that and the dynamics of that marriage. And insomuch as she [Jules] doesn't seem to be the dominant partner, you realize that she has an emotional transparency and fluidity that her wife [Nic] doesn't have.

Nic (The Bening) and Jules (God)

She might not be the one making the decisions or the money or whatever but then you realize, oh, but she's the fun one. It might seem like someone is in charge but then you go 'noooo...' There's all this balance, I think.

Nathaniel: The script is beautiful. You haven't had that many opportunities to be paired with an actress.

Julianne: No, you never get to do that. Who was I just talking to about this? Just to be around women. It's very exciting. You're always with guys. Always, always, always with guys. I was just talking about this to this young actress, this girl, Emma Stone. Most of your career you spend with men.

Nathaniel: Paul Thomas Anderson and Todd Haynes are two of your most famous collaborators. How different are they than Lisa Cholodenko to work with?

Julianne: You know, every person is different. Every director is different by virtue of who they are. But the directors that have interested me and who I've had successful collaborations with are people with very strong visions. That's sort of my job to facilitate that, to be a conduit for their words and imagery. To get it out there. A lot of it with an actor is to figure out, to be somewhat adaptable to whatever their personal, like, vibe is. That's interesting to me, to key into that and avail yourself to that.

Nathaniel: You've played lesbians before even though it's not a famous part of your career like 50s housewives, for example. And you've worked with a lot of gay directors.

Julianne: Yeah.

Nathaniel: Have you always felt that affinity with the gay community?

Julianne: I don't know that... [Considering her words] I always hate to be divisive about gender or sexuality or race or anything like that. I feel like sometimes, even with the best of intentions, when we put ourselves into boxes, it ends up being a less universal thing.

But I will say that I've always worked with filmmakers who are interested in very human, not so much plot driven, stories -- more kind of character and emotionally driven. And a lot of gay filmmakers fall into that category.

[At this point Julianne and I were interrupted. My time was coming to a close. Time is a cruel mistress. Wrap up! For the finale, I couldn't resist swinging way back to the beginning.]

Nathaniel: I have to ask you this because I was giggling to myself outside about your career and how long I've followed it.

Julianne: It's so cute.

Nathaniel: I've seen all of your movies but four.

[At this last confession outburst, Julianne registers a split second of shock, followed by hilariously self-deprecating sympathy.]

Julianne: Really? My god, you've seen some junk then!

Nathaniel: Twenty years ago -- your debut on screen was twenty years ago, in Tales of the Darkside. When you were being killed by the mummy, did you ever imagine this future for yourself?

Julianne's Darkside in 1990

Julianne: No.

Nathaniel: ...Oscar nominations?

Julianne: No way. No way.

The funny thing about that mummy movie is that I didn't even read the end of it. Because I have this tendency not to read the stage directions. I just like dialogue. At the end of the movie there's all this stuff about me being, you know, attacked by the mummy and I thought I was finished. I remember the director says to me you 'You didn't read the end, did you?' I was like 'UH OH!'

So, no, I didn't imagine it at all. I just wanted to work. I just wanted steady work.

Nathaniel: It was so nice to meet you.

Julianne: I'm so flattered. Oh Nathaniel, thank you.

<-- Julianne on the day we met.

As I rose to leave I offered my hand to shake and Julianne threw out her arms for a hug instead.

I'd run out of time. I already knew I was her last interview before her lunch break after a full morning of interviews. It was ending and we hadn't even talked about the sore topic (to fans at least) of her Oscar record! I collected my bag and we said our final goodbyes. I couldn't help a smidgeon of small talk about the Oscars... the good lucks and such. "I'm pissed you haven't won yet," I grumbled. She smiled. She's heard this a million times, though she said nothing of the sort. "Oh," she said, shooing it off sensibly "As long as I keep getting jobs." And then she was off to lunch and I was floating away, having met one of the great screen actresses and a personal inspiration, too.

And for the record, no.

No, I never imagined any of this either when I was painting that oil portrait of her in 1997 and affectionately nicknaming her "god" with other actress-loving friends. No way. No way.
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