TowleroadFar From Heaven being adapted into a stage musical. I've been burned on this sort of thing too many times but at least it's by the composer of Grey Gardens and that had a few lovely tunes.
And would make a good stage-to-movie candidate actually...
NYT the latest injury from the set of the Spider Man musical on Broadway. Wednesday matinee cancelled. I am 100% certain that someone will one day write a bestseller about the behind-the-scenes of this disaster prone production Cinema Blend Peter Weir not interested in a sequel to Master & Commander. Awww. Maybe they should just adapt it for a stage musical instead. Kidding.
Movie|Line has a jolly interview with Mike Leigh on the eve of the release of Another Year. I love this bit on why he'd never make a superhero film (no, really. the question was posed to him in a way that's not as crass as it sounds)
I use film to make a personal kind of film in a very specific, particular way. And there is no more reason for me to do what I think you're suggesting than there would for me to give up being a film director an become the pilot of a jumbo jet flying across the Atlantic. Or a brain surgeon or, indeed, a coal miner.
I love thinking of Mike Leigh as coal miner. Tee hee. Come to think of it. He would make a GREAT director for a coal mining movie or a... wait a minute. I have it. Topsy-Turvy demonstrated that Leigh can sell a musical number. So... Mike Leigh, directing the acclaimed musical Floyd Collins about that explorer trapped in a cave!
Floyd Collins is so pretty. Let's listen to a couple of its songs.
Her Awesomeness Audra McDonald & Hair's Will Swenson doing "Through the Mountains" from Floyd Collins.
Matt Doyle (Gossip Girl) doing "How Glory Goes" from Floyd Collins. This song is perfection but it must be hard to sing because there are a lot of bad versions on YouTube. This version gets better as it goes.
My brain does like to wander. Obviously needed a break from thinking / writing about Oscar Oscar Oscar Oscar Oscar...
Moving On... Pop Eater have you heard this crazy story about 80s star Marilu Henner? Seems she has something called "superior autobiographical memory" - fascinating story really and totally unrelated: I've always thought Marilu was a hilarious celebrity. Go Fug Yourself Fug or Fab Style: Mila Kunis In Contention Jafar Panahi banned from making films. So terrible. As Guy says, this puts the silly annual Oscar bitching into perspective. AV Club Will Smith and Mark Wahlberg offered $1 million to box each other for charity cuz they both starred in boxing picture, see? This story cracks me up on so many levels. Like, no movie stars would risk their billion dollar faces for charity. The only risk movie stars take with their moneymakers is plastic surgery.
Tired of critics awards yet? You can say so if you are. The London Critics Circle have offered up nominations. Sadly, The King's Speech -- the only British film that doesn't need any Oscar boost -- is the only one they're willing to back for crossover attention; it shows up on both their "Film of the Year and "British Film of the Year" lists and doubles up on Helena Bonham-Carter and Colin Firth in two acting categories, too. (sigh) Whew... I thought Colin Firth was in danger of losing his Oscar momentum there for a second. Thank god, they threw their weight behind him.
Y'all remember when I did this for the ladies so I figure it's twin-time. You have to have both pieces of a matching set. Not that I'm looking forward to this one as much. Impress or surprise me fellas! You're not actresses so you have to work harder to provide Film Experience jollies. (If you have time to watch the full video it's at the bottom of the post.)
1:00Robert Duvall (Get Low) tells a rambling story about becoming an actor and reveals "my brothers were both professional singers." The Duvall Brothers, eh? I so wanna hear that record. Would it be like the Osmonds except with less smiling?
3:00 The discussion turns to acting as a rewarding profession. Colin Firth (The King's Speech) picks up this Duvall baton.
"You get to play all your life. Most people have to grow out of it. The fantasy thing stays alive which is wonderful. It can be a little hard on the people living with you..."
He then reveals the dangers in staying a child when you're a grown-up. Those who do get very susceptible to external matters of fame; they become needy about attention and far too giddy if someone pats them on the back.
4:00 The first laugh of the hour comes from Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right) who pats Firth on the back. Right then.
Blazing young star and seasoned professional.
6:03 Firth is still talking three minutes later but the thing that struck me here is realizing how young Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine) is. He just turned 30 two weeks ago. I never think about this but seeing him in this context I'm suddenly like 'oh, yes. baby star' Sometimes I forget that though actresses are regularly giant stars in their 20s, the male actors take longer to ascend.
7:00 This is funny. The reporters try to lead Firth to name projects he hated.
Reporter: Have you done a film or a role where you really felt it wasn't quality and you knew it? Firth: Have you glanced at my CV?
Funny. Firth is still talking. I don't recall any of the actresses hogging the convo this much.
7:40Linguistic Trivia! Firth claims that English civilians use the word "resting" to describe time off between actor's roles but he says that actual actors don't use the word as there's nothing "restive" about it. Ruffalo says he calls this "rotting."
9:02 The toughest moment in Ruff's career? He's talking about the bi-coastal issue of theater and the perception being if you're doing theater in LA people think you're a loser. It took him forever to get his first movie role. So he's doing theater and bartending (in LA) and going "Where's my Rumblefish?" This leads to an incredibly off moment where James Franco (32) suddenly gets confused about how old Mark Ruffalo is (43). Awwwk-kwward. (From the looks of things, Jesse Eisenberg doesn't know what a Rumblefish is.)
For the record Rumblefish debuted in 1983 when Ruffalo was only 16 and not legally allowed to serve alcohol. He meant it aspirationally rather than real-time concurrently. Duh, Franco!
10:49 Ruffalo says he's from Kenosha, Wisconsin. Wisconsin readers? Are you proud to claim the Ruff?
11:54 Now he is talking about seeing A Streetcar Named Desire on TV and realizing what acting was for the first time. This is the second random reference to Marlon Brando and we're only 12 minutes in. That man casts quite a long shadow with thespians.
14:00 Hmmm. Amazing descriptive nugget of great acting from Duvall "Terrific interior moment that works in the imaginary set of circumstances." I love that. But then he has to go and ruin it by bagging on critics for a split second. I hate when actors do this because it's so short-sighted. I always wish people would stop and ask themselves where the legends of entertainment would be, or rather, how large would their legend be if you removed the perceptive things that have been written about them over the years, the monuments to their performances and such. Not as legendary that's where they'd be.
17:24 Gosling explains that he worked on risky material now because of starting on undemanding television shows. He talks about growing up around a lot of crazy characters and not seeing them reflected on television or the screen.
They were good or they were bad [on film]. The people I was growing up around were everything all the time. They were good people but they were bad people. They were funny but they were doing terrible things. So I think I just naturally gravitated to those kinds or roles
He then talks about superhero films and the like and how he isn't sure he could do them and assumes they'd be hard to do, acting against nothingness rather than another actor. Brief shoutout to Michelle Williams for her difficult role in Blue Valentine.
20:54 James Franco claims that he no longer fights for roles. He thought he wasn't going to get 127 Hours but it turns out that the audition just went awkwardly because Danny Boyle thought he was stoned. The reporter, bless, says "were you?" "NO!" comes Franco's quick shocked response. Oh, Franco. Everyone always thinks you're stoned. It's the sleepy eyelids, glazed eyes and perpetual naughty smile.
21:53 Interesting bit on 127 Hours, where Franco likens the crew to actors since he had no one to act off of. So the cinematographer, director, etcetera felt like fellow actors to him.
25:37 Franco "I can only have one master." [*numerous hands raise for volunteering at computer screens across the world*]
26:15 The reporter brings up the not so uninteresting topic of disagreement with directors but these actors are too cagey to answer. Franco sees through this immediately and here is his silent response.
Firth makes an elusive stab at the question.
If you have faith in this person than you probably give your idea up for theirs. That's exhilarating. But that's awful if you don't trust the person which is not that unusual, really.
The King with the stammer then clams up after that tantalizing confession. So damn cagey. Why will no one answer? You don't have to name names. Speak cryptically to give us some guesswork at home. Think of the audience. You're entertainers, so entertain.
28:04 Ohmygod. It's weird. You know, I enjoyed watching The King's Speech but it's one of those movies that seems boring to discuss. They're talking about the research of playing a kingzzzzzzz. Biopics put me to sleep. Speaking of which why was Christian Bale not invited to this? Is it because he would hate this sort of thing?
34:00 We're still on researching biopics. I'm going to grow old and die while watching this. Cobwebs are growing twixt keyboard and screen. It's rather remarkable that Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) is just now speaking more than halfway into this thing and it's making me realize why the Actress roundtable was so much more interesting. And it's not, I swear, just because actresses are more interesting. I believe if you watched these back-to-back you would quickly realize that the actresses actually talked to each other. Banter sprung forth. This is just a group of six men waiting to be questioned. They're not interacting. Zzz.
Jesse says he was discouraged from researching Mark Zuckerberg but he found it impossible not to.
How could I not meet a guy I'm going to be playing?... I thought it would be limiting to play somebody real and so specific but it turned out to be really freeeing... maybe it would start as mimicry but then it would have some kind of visceral response and ultimately take you into it further.
36:50 Jesse talking about reading the script from Zuckerberg's point of view and feeling he was completely justified in everything. God, being an actor would be so weird, right? Constantly removing yourself and embodying other ethos and personalities.
38:40 There's a split second where I think we're going to get a good back and forth. Jesse glances at Mark and mentions that they've both worked for him (David Fincher though he is weirdly not named) but Ruff' doesn't respond. Duvall seems totally confused by Eisenberg's description of filming The Social Network ... since he keeps talking about 50 takes.
41:00 Gosling and Ruffalo are totally laughing about Eisenberg's candor and obsessiveness. He's telling about a director being pisssed at him for keeping track of which takes he thought he was terrible in and sharing his notes about which to use. (Not Fincher)
Duvall speaks his mind. He has opinions, this one.
42:05 Finally something interesting! It seemed like Duvall was deaf or confused by the Fincher discussion but it turns out he was listening. He says he turned down a role in Se7en (!) -- but mentions that he thought it was a great movie -- but is not happy to hear about Fincher's fondness for endless takes.
"Can I say one thing? To me 'The great Stanley Kubrick' was an actor's enemy. He was an actor's enemy. I can point to movies that he's done, the worst performances I've ever seen in movies. Terrible performances. Maybe great movies but terrible performances."
We'd probably have a spirited throwdown right then in a roomful of critics or chattier actors but these are polite hesistant interviews so he then trails off into discussing Brando again who has now been mimicked twice. Both Duvall and Ruffalo have done Brando during the first 42 minutes.
43:05 Finally some interaction. It took Duvall's Kubrick smackdown to wake them up (even if they didn't join in the fight) and they're actually talking to each other. Sometimes conflict on the set is good they all agree.
44:00 Franco says he's never had a director like that (hundreds of takes) but thinks that Fincher makes great movies.
45:00 God, I love Mark Ruffalo. He seems to be enjoying this the most (or is at least the most laidback of the six) and is describing those excruciatingly long days on Zodiac. 'You hit your stride and you're on take 25 and He starts walking toward you. You're thinking to yourself 'I hope he's coming over here to fire me' [laughter in room] And then he just walks past you and moves the extra behind you an inch...'
First there was no interaction and now physical interaction. Will there now be slash fiction involving Ryan & Mark? I offer this picture up for inspiration.
Ruff' says it's in moments like this that you realize that Fincher is a director who is always thinking of the entire frame and you are just happy to be taking up your small percentage of it. If this subject intrigues you and you're new to the Film Experience you might want to check out these recent comments from Jake Gyllenhaal on the same issue.
48:00 This leads to a bit about Gosling being fired from The Lovely Bones. Funny story about Peter Jackson and Gosling not seeing eye to eye on the character. "He hired me at 150 lbs and I showed up weighing 210 lbs" His diet consisted of melting down Häagen-Dasz and when he was thirsty he would drink it instead of water. YUM. Anyway, they had different ideas about the father and he was fired. "So I was unemployed and fat." He seems glad that he got fired which can only lead me to believe that he has seen the finished movie. The Häagen-Dasz saved him!
52:00 A question about expectations versus actual experience in Hollywood is asked but doesn't get traction. Jesse talks about his experiences as a child actor and trusting your own instincts about which projects to say "yes" to. He alludes to a horror movie (I'm guessing that'd be Cursed) that his agent and his dad were at odds about whether he should do and he went with the agent's advice but says his Dad was right.
56:00 The reporter tries to end with a "great takeaway from your life/career?" proudest moment type round table question. Duvall brings up The Godfather but it sounds like he's bringing it up just because it's expected of him. What really gets his emphasis is the TV miniseries Lonesome Dove.
58: 21 Colin says he can't do it, can't answer this question. Colin is pissing me off. He talks so much but he won't answer the questions. Yet his refusals are complicated and verbose. Shut it Darcy.
59:00 Oh! Sorry. I didn't mean to force the issue. The video shut off on me just as I typed that. No joke. It's a sign from the blogging gods that I've gone too far; shut it Nathaniel.
Here's the complete video if you have a full hour free.
Footnote (just for the helluva it) Movies/TV & Stars Name Checked
Duvall: Marlon Brando, The Great Santini, Eleanor Dusa, Sarah Bernhardt, Sandy Meisner, Othello, Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Lonesome Dove, Se7en, The Godfather, American Buffalo
Firth: Christoph Waltz, Nostromo
Ruffalo: A Streetcar Named Desire, Marlon Brando, Stella Adler, Rumblefish, Zodiac
Gosling: Young Hercules, Michelle Williams, Peter Jackson, The Lovely Bones, Blue Valentine
Franco: Danny Boyle, Milk, 127 Hours, James Dean, Alfred Hitchcock.
Bridget Jones was born on a day like today. She's the chubby, British spinster we all love to watch but fear to become: neurotic, obsessive, insecure and very, very unlucky. Do you remember how she spent her birthday in 2001?
Oh joy! I am broadcasting genius, celebrating by cooking birthday feast for close friends. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm also something of genius in the kitchen as well!
Coming from a great day at work she decided to cook for her friends. Is it normal for the birthday girl to cook her own party food?
String soup?
Bridget was obviously not as genius as she thought...
But ah, she has the perfect savior in the shape of good ole booze.
That is until the perfect savior comes along in the shape of Mr. Darcy (Gotta love how Colin Firth pulls off those white shirts...)
Judging by the guests' faces the dinner was far from scrumptious.
But still she deserves a toast!
To Bridget who can not cook but who we love just as she is...
And boy how we do!
Ah, can you believe it's been almost ten years since this movie was released? Has Renée Zellweger ever been as lovable again? What would you give Bridget for her birthday?
You guys. I'm so not (quite) ready for this. It's only November 1st and in English language cinema we've already had at least three awards lineups outside of the film festivals: NY's Gotham Awards, Australia's AFI, and now BIFA... which translates to the British Independent Film Awards.
BIFA considers Oscar-buzzing Lesley Manville as "Supporting"
It will surprise virtually no one that the Oscar hopeful Brit films like The King's Speech (and all of its actors), Made in Dagenham and Another Year are in play for various prizes. It may surprise some that the indifferently received Never Let Me Go, the divisive Kick-Ass, and the largely undiscussed Brighton Rock received multiple nominations as well.
A complete list of nominees (with Oscar-adjacent comments) follows after the jump but I shan't clog the main page with these über long lists that each awards groups hands out.
BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM
Four Lions
Kick-Ass
The King’s Speech
Monsters
Never Let Me Go
Interesting that Another Year did not make the "Best Film" list, despite important nominations elsewhere. BIFA has no problem with "genre" films as evidenced by the inclusion of both Monsters & Kick-Ass. I'm sure there will be pockets of online rejoicing if this film gets an awards run. I'd like to kick the ass of anyone who votes for it though. Metaphorically speaking! I'm mostly a pacifist. Plus an 11 year-old girl could probably kick my ass in real life, even if she didn't have Hit Girl's training.
BEST DIRECTOR
Mike Leigh - Another Year
Matthew Vaughn - Kick-Ass
Tom Hooper - The King’s Speech
Gareth Edwards - Monsters
Mark Romanek - Never Let Me Go
Leigh and Hooper are safely in the hunt for Best Director Oscar nominations. The rest of them, well, at least they have this homegrown honor to brag on.
BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR [THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD]
Debs Gardner Paterson - Africa United
Clio Barnard - The Arbor
Rowan Joffe - Brighton Rock
Chris Morris - Four Lions
Gareth Edwards - Monsters
I was confused about Rowan's nomination here until I remembered this wasn't Roland Joffe but his son. Clio Barnard (pictured left) recently on "best newcomer" at the BFI London Film Festival for the same film. It's a documentary that's also apparently an acted biopic (it's one of those uncategorizables) about the playwright Andrea Dunbar and her experience growing up in a housing project in Northern England.
BEST SCREENPLAY
Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Simon Blackwell, Christopher Morris - Four Lions
Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn - Kick-Ass
David Seidler - The King’s Speech
William Ivory - Made In Dagenham
Alex Garland - Never Let Me Go
BEST ACTRESS
Manjinder Virk - The Arbor
Ruth Sheen - Another Year
Andrea Riseborough - Brighton Rock
Sally Hawkins - Made In Dagenham
Carey Mulligan - Never Let Me Go
Good on Ruth and Sally who are both subtly fantastic in their movies.
BEST ACTOR
Colin Firth probably won't stutter during his Oscar acceptance speech
Jim Broadbent - Another Year
Riz Ahmed - Four Lions
Colin Firth - The King’s Speech
Scoot McNairy - Monsters
Aidan Gillen - Treacle Junior
I suspect this is the only place we'll see honors for Jim Broadbent because Ruth Sheen has the screentime in Another Year and Lesley Manville the showiest character. More pointedly: anyone wanna wager how many Best Actor prizes Colin Firth is going to have to accept this year.... 5? 10? 15? 20? 25? All? I always forget to count but I think there's something crazy like 30+ prizes one can win during precursor and Oscar season.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lesley Manville - Another Year
Helena Bonham Carter - The King’s Speech
Rosamund Pike - Made In Dagenham
Keira Knightley - Never Let Me Go
Tamsin Greig - Tamara Drewe
Interesting that in the two "local" awards so far (this and the AFI) we've seen Oscar contenders show up in the opposite category in which they've been pegged for Oscar consideration. It's safe to assume that Jacki Weaver would only be Supporting in her American awards run (despite the "lead" vote in Australia, where she's "a national treasure" according to her director and co-stars) but Manville could obviously go either way, depending on how the Another Year campaign plays out. The most interesting inclusion here is Rosamund Pike. She has a couple really great scenes in Dagenham -- and was my favorite supporting actress in the film -- but I had expected that Miranda Richardson, a more well known 'prestige' actress, would be the one to win honors and Oscar traction. Maybe not?
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kayvan Novak - Four Lions
Guy Pearce - The King’s Speech
Geoffrey Rush - The King’s Speech
Bob Hoskins - Made In Dagenham
Andrew Garfield - Never Let Me Go
<-- Hi, Kayvan! Nice to meet'cha. About this list: I'm pleased for Garfield. As you know, I really loved him in that movie. Meanwhile: This is the first memory jog I've been given that Guy Pearce is in The King's Speech since all the buzz and the trailer attention and whatnot is on the central three characters (Geoffrey, Helena and Colin).
MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER
Manjinder Virk - The Arbor
Andrea Riseborough - Brighton Rock
Tom Hughes - Cemetery Junction
Joanne Froggatt - In Our Name
Conor McCarron - Neds
Riseborough (pictured right in Toronto -- must have been a crazy year for her) was amazing in Never Let Me Go with almost nothing to work with and also highly watchable in Made in Dagenham in another sideshow role so I'm curious if she's even better in Brighton Rock with a big meaty role? Is more truly more with Andrea? I'm intrigued.
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION
The Arbor
In Our Name
Monsters
Skeletons
Streetdance 3D
RAINDANCE AWARD
Brilliant Love
Jackboots On
Whitehall Legacy
Son of Babylon
Treacle Junior
BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
The Arbor - Sound - Tim Barker
Brighton Rock - Cinematography - John Mathieson
The Illusionist - Animation - Sylvain Chomet
The King’s Speech - Production Design - Eve Stewart
Monsters - Visual Effects - Gareth Edwards
BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Arbor
Enemies of the People
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Fire In Babylon
Waste Land
BEST BRITISH SHORT
Baby
Photograph Of Jesus
Sign Language
Sis
The Road Home
Wow. I've actually seen one of these. Photography of Jesus, about photo archive requests,is cute and interesting and well animated. You can watch it here. Better yet, it doesn't outstay its welcome (which is always a plus whether we're talking short or feature length films).
BEST FOREIGN FILM
Dogtooth
I Am Love
A Prophet
The Secret In Their Eyes
Winter’s Bone
An odd mix of last year's Oscar nominees (Prophet, Secrets), a current submission (Dogtooth) and two directorial feats that are strangely mostly discussed only in terms of their fine leading actresses (Love, Bone).
NOT YET ANNOUNCED The Richard Harris (Outstanding Contribution Award), Variety Award and Special Jury Prize have not yet been announced.
And there you have it. What do you make of all of this? *
I suppose I must pick up my Oscar-pundit speed now. Sorry for the delays...
Let's talk about The King's Speech
As you know this film came roaring out of Toronto as the audience award winner (see previous post) and The Film to Beat at the Oscars... unless you think that's The Social Network but it's since it's only late September fans of either (in reality or in theory) need to calm down. We were always confident that The King's Speech was an Oscar film even before they started filming which is why we've predicted it for several nominations since April. But now that the trailer is here allowing non-festival goers to have a looksee, what do we think?
On the bright side, it looks fun. Or at least it looks fun to anyone who loved watching Eliza Doolittle learn to properly e·nun·ci·ate. It also gives Colin Firth a meaty role that seems like a reward for elevating A Single Man (2009) (but for the fact that he probably signed for this before anyone saw how great he was in last year's nominated turn). I'm also THRILLED -- and yes it needed to be typed in all caps -- to see that Helena Bonham Carter has managed to escape Burton's gothic dungeon for some badly needed air. She's probably heading straight to her second Oscar nomination with relative ease; You know how they love those supportive wives. What's most surprising about the trailer is that the production values look superb and not in some vaguely rote prestige way but with a vividly handsome specificity. I didn't expect great visuals so maybe Tom Hooper's Best Director buzz isn't so far-fetched for a film that on paper seemed like one for the acting and production design branches mostly.
On the other hand, I am completely allergic to Geoffrey Rush in hambone mode. His win for Shine (1996) is one of my least favorite Best Actor prizes in the category's history and they nominated him for the entirely wrong film in 1998 as he was much more restrained and effective in Elizabeth than he was in Shakespeare in Love. He looks to be bringing the kook to scenes that already have inherent kookiness (speech therapy's comedy friendly exercizes) and I may just break out in hives watching him go for a second Oscar. I'm taking epipen into the theater with me... just in case.
Then we come to the Oscar Bait -- as if Royalty Porn weren't enough of it -- which is the World War II 'Nazi's are coming!' time frame. I hope it's less awkwardly handled here than it was in Mrs. Henderson Presents which this film vaguely reminds me of sight unseen. That's not a purposeful mental jump. It's worrisome rather but probably just based on account of early Oscar buzz, prestige actors, and the world war haunting the periphery of a "light" film.
Again, I might need the epipen but the festival buzz is certainly something to think about in an optimistic way. I'm a Yes leaning Maybe So because, again, Geoffrey Rush is a total No for me most of the time ...especially whilst clowning around. Look, we can't help what we're allergic to. Don't give me a hard time about it.
Are you a Yes, No or Maybe So? And do you buy the Oscar frontrunner (or thereabouts) hype? *
