Thursday, January 08, 2009

Why Sarah Polley Rules

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JA from MNPP here. Today is Sarah Polley's 30th birthday, so we all must take a moment and bow down to this most lovely of creatures. Here are ten reasons why she's awesome.

1 - She played Sally Salt in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen when she was 9 years old, and recently described the experience as "incredibly unsafe" and "traumatic"... so much so that she publicly derided Terry Gilliam when he cast a girl of the same age as his lead in Tideland. I mean, I love Gilliam, but you go, girl.

2 - Her performance in The Sweet Hereafter,
where I fell in love with her for the first time.


3 - She was in an episode of Friday the 13th: The Series. Insta-cool points.

4 - "And here I thought you just gave me head."

5 - She cuddled with Scott Speedman. Swoon.


6 - She loves doing genre flicks. She kicked ass as the lead in Zach Snyder's pretty-decent remake of Dawn of the Dead (no matter your opinion on the whole of the film, I think we all must admit that those first fifteen minutes are killer), and her only two upcoming credits on IMDb are a time-jumping fantasy called Mr. Nobody opposite Jared Leto (more on that here) and a sci-fi-tinged horror story about DNA disruption opposite Adrien Brody called Splice (more on that here) I mean, I like it when she does the prestige stuff too, but the girl knows how to let her hair down as well, thankfully.

7 - "You know what makes it better? If you take a lot of pot with it. I mean, like, A LOT of pot."

8 - Along with Michelle Williams, Polley is a big part of the "previous co-star procession" nightmare that goes through Katie Holmes' brain every night as she tries to sleep and thinks of all the people she worked with back when she was doing good work and now they are so much more established and respected than she is, even though she was the hot one back in the day. Ha - suck it Katie!

9 - "Who the hell are you? Monty Hall?"

10 - As her very first feature film directing gig at the tender age of 27 she took on the challenge of crafting a loving ode to long-term commitment and the loss and regrets of old age. And she hired Julie Christie and lit her like the most amazing thing you'd ever seen in all of the world. (Which she is, of course.)

Happy birthday, Sarah!
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24 comments:

Mikadzuki said...

I really haven't seen her in much besides her work for Atom Egoyan. But she were great in those films.

Kurtis O said...

I LOVED this. Number 8 almost made me pee my pants.

Anonymous said...

ROAD TO AVONLEA!! Anyone?
Sarah is a true Canadian star. She is truly passionate about Canada and works politically to ensure Canadian films are made and seen. I heart Sarah!

Thanks for the post!

NATHANIEL R said...

great post.

I didn't know about the Gilliam brouhaha (he's such a troublemaker)

but i heartily agree with points #5 (JEALOUS) #6 (Snyder makes me crazy but this really proved he was a fine director of action sequence) and #10

JULIE CHRISTIE 4EVAH!

Anonymous said...

Sarah Polley RULES!!!...

She should be NOMINATED and WON for her outstading performance in "The Sweet Hereafter" at Supporting Actress Category.

I hope she will return with an excellent role or maybe direct "August: Osage County" film... :)

Anonymous said...

I wanna see Sarah Polley & Anna Faris in a really good comedy together! (Wohee, what a suggestion...)
Also, I want a movie with Chris Evans, Channing Tatum, Cheyenne Jackson and James Marsen about, I don't know, "gayness" or something, as long as they're half naked very often...

Anonymous said...

Ooooooh doesn't my Julie look awesome in that pic? Sigh... if only she had won that oscar. I really got let those things go and accept the oscars are kinda stupid. On an objective level I know that. But on a deeper more profound level I am more impacted by them than I think... Still, it's great to see miss Polley is an Oscar nominee!

Anonymous said...

C'mon. "Ramona" has to be at least one of the reasons.

Love. Her.

Anonymous said...

Reason 11: She's in the movie "GO" Lotsa fun!

Michael in DC

TK said...

Goddamn, The Sweet Hereafter is a magnificent movie. This was a great little piece on an underappreciated woman. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Julie Christie should've won her second oscar instead of that piece of crap named La Vie en Rose. The biopic performance was terrible, non-involving, and non-emotional. However, the movie is even more terrible than her performance.

J.D. said...

OMG, Happy Birthday Sarah!

God, she's amazing. Sometimes I say she's my favorite actress not only because she really is a great actor, but because I respect her so much. Her political activism, her outspokenness, overwhelming support of the arts. Ugh. Best Canadian ever? I think so.

Also: everyone, see The Secret Life of Words if you haven't. She is fucking incredible in that.

Eric Arvin said...

TheMedwenitsch: Love the Chris/Cheyenne/Channing/James suggestion. Yes! Yes! A thousand times, Yes!

Anonymous said...

Kudos also for being in "eXisTenZ", the best sci-fi movie you didn't see in the year of "The Matrix" with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law, under Master Cronenberg's direction.

Anonymous said...

The #8 reason is priceless LOL!

Jason Adams said...

I really considered including a reference to eXisTenZ, Luis, but I couldn't think of a way to word it without it being spoilery, as her role there at the end is kinda spoilery and gives some of Cronenberg's game away. But she's great in it, even if it's like two minutes of screen time.

Jeanette said...

What about AVONLEA?!?!??!??!?!

Anonymous said...

Existenz belongs to The Law

Anonymous said...

Anyone who ever had anything to do with the Friday the 13th Series is amazing in my book!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic post JA. Love her, love her, love her - the greatest actress in the world. Reason #11 - her amazing performance in The Weight of Water (the anger blazing out of those gorgeous eyes). Reason #12 - her haunting version of The Tragically Hip's 'Courage' from The Sweet Hereafter soundtrack. Is there anything that this woman can't do?

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Sarah!

how come no one remembered the fantastic My Life without Me?

Unknown said...

I'd go on and say that Polley was robbed of Best Actress for My Life Without Me. And seriously, Dawn of the Dead is an outstanding film, extremely well crafted and acted. Polley was excellent - so Ving Rhames was - and it was damaged for a) being a genre movie, b) has less pretensions than the overrated original, c) wanting to entertain above any other consideration. But yeah, at least everyone agrees that the initial sequence of Dawn of the Dead is a model of how to start a movie.

Anonymous said...

Sarah is indeed a very lovely and talented woman. I was the First AD on "Dawn of the Dead" and it was an absolute pleasure to work with her for several months.

Peter

Anonymous said...

love sarah to death! she's one of my favourite actresses, she and michelle williams. They rock! they should make a movie together :D that would be amazing! Courage such a beautiful song, that's a reason too...