Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Tilda Swinton in the Flesh

This weekend I had the opportunity to listen to cinephile actress Tilda Swinton reminisce about her career at the New Yorker Festival. I covered that beat (thrilling, rapid fire... oops, that was my heart) for Tribeca Film. Naturally, wrestling the goodies down to article form was a mite troubling, because she was so candid, interesting and worthy of plunking down money for... though I guess with these new blogging laws I should indicate that my ticket was comped.


I always love hearing Tilda talk about her first collaborator Derek Jarman (which she did, a lot... there wasn't much discussion of her recent forays into mainstream fare) but one of my favorite bits was her story about meeting Eric Zonca, her Julia director, in Cannes. He was drunk and they tried to sneak into a party that they were both turned away from... even though they were both Cannes officials. A brief clip from that film only reminded me that it's practically insane that people aren't screaming "Oscar Number Two!" for her sozzled blabbermouth trainwreck character in that film. You can just about smell the alcohol while watching that performance. No Smell-O-Vision required.

Justin Bond of 'Kiki and Herb' and Shortbus fame, a close friend of Tilda's, came out at the end of the night raving about the new Italian film I Am Love (Io Sono L'Amore)
It's the kind of movie you dream of seeing Tilda in
Hmmm, for me that describes every movie she's in.

I'd like to say you had to be there but that would kind of defeat the purpose of sending you over to read my piece. The New Yorker also has a brief bit on the event.
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14 comments:

Mikadzuki said...

What an awesome coincidence - I saw Tilda Swinton a few hours ago at a Macy's in Washington D.C.! I was standing three feet away when she came walking down the hallway with an entourage of four men in suits.

Obviously, I was too scared to approach her, but it was truly cool nonetheless.

adam k. said...

Tilda Swinton is amazing. She SHOULD win oscar #2 this year. I recently rewatched Julia on netflix instant, and while the film as a whole was less exciting this time, Swinton keeps it compulsively watchable. Totally brilliant and riveting. "You can practically smell the alcohol" is the perfect description.

Is she definitely eligible for awards this year? I feel like the film might've opened too early in some festival last year or something. If she's eligible, it'd be a crime for her to not be at least in the conversation for GG, SAG, BAFTA and Oscar. Critics' awards should happen.

Anonymous said...

Nathaniel, you still haven't posted the recent news of Jolie's possible upcoming projects:
The Tourist with Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118010085.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&query=Florian+Henckel+von+Donnersmarck

Jolie + possibly DiCaprio in Ridley Scott film: http://weblogs.variety.com/bfdealmemo/2009/10/jolie-dresses-up-scotts-gucci-film-.html

Victor S said...

I've been asking myself "Where the hell is the buzz for Tilda's second Oscar???" ever since I saw Julia. Totally the best performance i've seen this year so far. And yes, you can almost smell every drop of alcohol.
And I have the (very bad) felling that this is going to be a 1994 year for best actress. Great work from a lot of people in non-academy friendly films and with a bunch of easy going nominees and Meryl winning her third Oscar just as Lange won her second.

adam k. said...

A 1994 wouldn't be that bad. I can deal with Meryl winning her third oscar.

And I realize a Swinton win right on the heels of her '07 supporting win is not gonna happen, but the nomination REALLY should. I mean, really.

adam k. said...

Maybe Tilda could win the Independent Spirit Award? Julia seems tailor made for those.

adelutza said...

Tilda Swinton's Julia is the best actress performance of the year from what I've seen until now - and I guess I'm only missing The Lovely Bones and Amelia in terms of best actress performances, but I doubt those two would produce better acting than that. I have no clue as why she's not getting any buzz. Very weird in a very open season when even Michelle Monaghan with a very dubious ( in my opinion, of course) performance in a very dubious Trucker gets attention.

Victor S said...

Okay, I can totally deal with Meryl winning her third oscar this year.
But, seriously, a 1994 kind of year wouldnt be bad?? You got to be kidding me!!
All the actresses nominated in 1994 are at least very very good actresses, but come on, Susan Sarandon in The Client and Winona Ryder in Little Womem means they were in trouble to fill those 5 spots because all the good stuff was in unfriendly material.

adri said...

I've been mesmerized by Swinton's talent ever since I saw "Orlando". I haven't seen "Julia" yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I think the chances are actually better for her to be nominated again, soon after her win, rather than waiting for them to re-discover her all over again.

NATHANIEL R said...

Victor S. agreed... 1994 was a disaster. They missed nearly all the good stuff because they just couldn't see it buried as it was in non baity movies.

Juliette Lewis is about 20x times more imaginative and inspired in Natural Born Killers than 60% of that lineup. But whose gonna nominate that weirdass feverish detour? Jamie Lee Curtis was awesome on True Lies but an action comedy with a worthy performance? Jennifer Jason Leigh doing a biopic... but it's Jennifer Jason Leigh and they don't like her... etcetera. Lots of good stuff. That's just scratching the surface. Completely uninspired lineup (though I readily admit that I think Foster is better in Nell than she almost ever gets credit for)

adelutza if Swinton gets nominated for Amelia I will barf. It's so lame and she's so stiff in it.

mikadzuki Tilda in Macy's? She shops with suits? weird.

Steolicious said...

Tilda should get an Oscar for her work as Julia in "Julia" but there is no buzz.

In the end it´s still a great movie! :)

Agustin said...

NAt, I'm guessing you tried to say Swank in Amelia,
cause Swinton and barf don't go on the same sentence!

NATHANIEL R said...

AGUSTIN. eeeep!!!! i am mortified that i made that slip. Swinton is a goddess and Swank, well, not.

All "Sw"s are not created equally.

Anonymous said...

If you're interested in the early work of Derek Jarman, his paintings and films, I can recommend you an interesting book.
Derek Jarman, Moving Pictures of a Painter.
It’s in german, but easy to read and with many rare illustrations
some more information you will find at
http://www.derekjarman-filmbuch.info