Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Linker

Glark makes an of-the-moment funny. RIP Swayze [thx Joe Reid]
Dave Kehr interviews Lars Von Trier but also discovers some new (old) Italian masterpieces that sound intriguing
Indiewire A Single Man will be distributed this year by the Weinsteins. Colin Firth is gunning for Best Actor. I love festival season. It always makes the awards race seem so near
New York Times 5 great upcoming performances: Gabourey Sidibe and Carey Mulligan have more buzz than they can deal with already but this article also contains less common drooling over Robin Wright Penn in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee


Variety Nicole Kidman continues on her gloriously pathological quest to work with every fine director in the world. Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) will direct The Danish Girl. Unfortunately Charlize Theron has bolted. I want to root for Theron, I do. But her filmography bores me
Some Came Running Glenn Kenny on three TIFF titles
Self Styled Siren isn't too fond of Mad Men. Her new post on it and movies she loves from the era might make an interesting sidebar for you if you've been reading and enjoying the Mad Men @ the Movies series right here
In Contention maybe Robert De Niro is worth watching in Everybody's Fine?
/Film Karyn Kusama's next project may terrorize, destroy or otherwise alter Rachel Weisz's gorgeous body

Finally, as you probably read yesterday (what? I'm busy. I've had two hellish days of spotty internet service. Leave me alone) Hollywood Elsewhere loves Annette Bening in Mother and Child. Loves the whole film actually. Will it find distribution in time for an Oscar run?

I think it's "cute" that Jeffrey Wells thinks it's the best performance of The Bening's career. You see, someone says that just about every time with her. That's how you know you're dealing with a major actress. With lesser actresses everyone always agrees on what their "best" is, you know? It was Warren Beatty who said it about Running With Scissors but then, he has vested interest in her eventual (?) Oscar crowning.

28 comments:

Iggy said...

Off topic.

Broken Embraces won't represent Spain at the Oscars. As every year, three movies have been pre-selected as the possible submissions for the Foreign Language Film category and Almodóvar's isn't one of them.

Andrew K. said...

Aaaaah. Nathaniel you cannot do this...I was living in oblivion about the possibility of Annette's performance now I'm either going to be depressed if the film doesn't get a distributor or sad when she doesn't get nominated. Sigh.

PS. I though Naomi was the lead in this?

Jeff said...

disappointed about Charlize withdrawal from the Danish Girl... which other acress could play her role?
My hopes for that movie are skyrocketing! "Let The Right One In" was amazing! another iconic performance by miss Kidman is on the way.

Lea said...

I thought Charlize would have been great as Greta and at the moment I don´t know who else could play her, but I am disappointed as well that she withdrew from that role. No project can possibly be so fascinating than "The Danish Girl" directed by Tomas Alfredson.
But this will be another iconic performance by Nicole.

I am just terribly curious who will be Charlize´s replacement.

mB said...

Oh dear. If The Benning is the in the running, does this mean Ms Swank's gonna win AGAIN!?

:: RUNS AWAY SCREAMING!! ::

Sean said...

I love that Annette Bening is popping up again in a year where She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is in a showcase role playing a masculine female. Could we see Bening-Swank, Round Three?? And more importantly will Warren Beatty pull a Kanye and storm the stage if Swank won again???

Anonymous said...

Yes, Nicole is making all the right moves with her career. I hope she continues to work with these directors of the highest caliber.

NicksFlickPicks said...

re: Danish Girl, I think this seemed perfect for Charlize, but it would be lovely if it gave BFFs Nicole and Naomi a chance to work together, which it's hard to imagine they wouldn't both bend over backwards for.

I agree with Beatty about Scissors being the Bening's best performance. I have different feelings about why people receive her work the way they do, but I know what blog I'm on, so I'm gonna hush. (She does seem to get better and better, which is exciting.)

Wayne B said...

Charlize Theron dropped out? I'm interested to see if Amy Adams would have the range to play a Dnaish painter...

Victor S said...

I'm really happy that someone picked up "A Single Man" for distribuion.
I'm also happy that is the Weinsteins because Harvey will promote the hell of it, like he always does.
But I'm also afraid that being the Weinsteins being the Weinsteins they will focus only on the 6 supporting actresses of "Nine" and won't spend a single buck promoting Julianne Moore for supporting actress.

Alexandro said...

Kidman continues to amaze me.

Nine, Rabbit Hole, The Danish girl...

Is there a Superstar with a more diverse résumé ?

Paul Outlaw said...

God, I thought that unflattering photo of Bening was of the Z-Woman... Nat, couldn't you find a nicer one? ;-)

Michael B. said...

The way I see it is that Nicole is putting her career in her own hands now by producing her work and doing what she wants to do. I have a feeling if it was up to her she wouldn't have taken the roles in Bewitched or Stepford Wives.

NATHANIEL R said...

Paul... i was looking through "on the set" pics and there wasn't much to choose from. Not a lot of stills available yet from the movie.

Victor S i honestly don't think i can think about Julianne's oscar chances anymore because it's gotten to the Pfeiffer point where I'm just trying to accept my two beloveds as Deborah Kerrish in their Oscar appeal. highly respected but maybe never quite crazily loved. tis a shame.

Nate said...

I'm sorry, but Charlize Theron just bores the hell out of me. I'm glad she's out of the project.

The Oscar race is getting interesting. I think Mother and Child is an ensemble piece and there are three leads, Bening, Watts and Washington. At least that's the way the director and Roger Ebert (He liked it) described it. So it can go any which way? I'm just happy that Kerry Washington is in a decent film for a change.


Also Moore, is getting good notices for Chloe, but the revelation seems to be Seyfried. So if Chloe gets a distributor, I'm thinking that Moore could find herself in the supporting actress category with two good performances this year.

rosengje said...

It sounds like Moore only has an extended cameo in A Single Man, but it would still be nice to see her making the circuit to promote the film.

[Hesitates] I really do not like Annette Bening. I respect her filmography, but I just find her kind of... shrill. I admittedly may irrationally harbor some residual hope that if she didn't exist, Julie Christie and Warren Beatty could reign supreme as the world's most wonderful celebrity couple. Yes I know the two are completely unrelated. That's why it's irrational.

Glenn said...

Was it Jeff Wells who said that exact same thing about Diane Keaton in The Family Stone (or whatever that movie was called)? I don't trust those sort of reports where it's only one person saying so.

I love that Kidman has scored another breakthrough director to work with. How much will this horrify the cool kids though? The man who made Let the Right One In, their beloved vampire movie, making Nicole Kidman movie about a transgendered artist. I'm sure they're recoiling at the thought of their new favourite director shacking up with Kidman who they all hate because she appears in movies that aren't made for them.

Charlize, btw, is probably making Hancock 2. She has her priorities, people!

Guy Lodge said...

I must admit, I made the same mistake as Paul. Open your eyes, Annette!

NATHANIEL R said...

Glenn hee and good point (in the reverse order)

Anonymous said...

Charlize Theron dropped out to do Hancock 2 instead. I guess she chose paycheck over Oscar#2.

NATHANIEL R said...

you gotta have priorities

The Siren said...

Thanks very much, Nathaniel, for the link and the traffic. I am sorry to say that I am only now reading your excellent series on movie references in Mad Men. Made me wish I had seen the relevant episodes. The Best of Everything scene was a pip.

jess said...

Since when is it cool to bash Charlize Theron ??

She's doing The Tourist in January, a thriller, and she might also work on Atlas Shrugged in late 2010.

And why not make Hancock 2 ? Who knows, Kidman might work on Happy Feet 2 in 3D as well !

Anonymous said...

thank god charlize is out!!! YES! YES!!

Tonne said...

January Jones or Naomi Watts would be good replacements for Theron in Danish Girl.

Anonymous said...

agree. if charlize can do it... i am sure naomi watts can do better

Unknown said...

Charlize Theron is only 34-years-old and has already been nominated for the Oscar twice :) and won one of the times, at 34 Nicole Kidman had a pretty boring filmograhpy herself :) and let's not forget Charlize was a producer in Monster too. I love both of them and it would have been smashing to see the theatre screen filled with beaty and talent...

Nate, what is going on with "The Ice at the Bottom of the World" ? any info would be greatly appreciated :)

NicksFlickPicks said...

Charlize filming Hancock 2 at the same time The Danish Girl is in production does not mean she necessarily "picked" either one, much less "a paycheck over Oscar #2." Given how long TDG has been in pre-production, it's very likely that CT only had a certain window she could keep herself available; and with Hancock's studio quite likely hopeful for a franchise (however weird that seems), it's entirely possible that her contract obligated her to a sequel if one got green-lit.

Or, maybe she did pick it. Or, any number of other things. It's just a little ridonkulous of us to think we know what's happening or why, based on superficial evidence. I'm just sorry not to see her in this.