I couldn't let the day pass without an acknowledgement of the great Julianne Moore hitting the big 5-0 milestone.
<--- This is what 50 looks like when you're Her. (Yes, that picture was taken this year.)
Having celebrated Julianne Moore many times over the years (just click the label or read this summer's interview) I thought we shouldn't make too much of a fuss today. But bless bless. Isn't she divine?
I've always had a thing for mermaids. I can't truly remember if it preceded Daryl Hannah or if she caused it but in my movie addled brain I have come to blame her. I remember our first magical meeting vividly: I was fully clothed, she was naked.
What you're looking at below is a screenshot from the new Film Experience site (opening in a couple of weeks) in the "top tens" section... which is more like a "top 1" for each year from 1920-1979 (until I see or revisit more films from those years).
Woody Allen made my favorite films of 1977 (Annie Hall), 1979 (Manhattan) and 1985 (The Purple Rose of Cairo) and came very close to doing so in 1986 (Hannah and Her Sisters) and 1992 (Husbands and Wives). I haven't done the math but he's way up their under "most represented filmmaker" in my personal bliss lists. Other repeat #1 champs are Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks and William Wyler. But you'll see those lists soon enough.
Though I've expressed concern about Woody Allen's qualitative if not quantitative decline in various posts (I've nearly hated the last two films, Whatever Works and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger), he has given us so much great cinema over the past four decades that today on his 75th birthday I only want to sing him "Happy Birthday". Or maybe play it for him on the clarinet. If only I could play.
10 Favorite Woody Flicks
Manhattan (1979)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Annie Hall (1977)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Husbands and Wives (1992)
Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
Interiors (1978)
Match Point (2005)
Stardust Memories (1980)
Sleeper (1973)
Disclaimer: This list is constantly in flux after the top 5 which are inarguably my favorites. I should probably rewatch some of the older ones. I've been meaning to take a good long look at Crimes and Misdemeanors and Another Woman again especially. The only ones I haven't seen: Bananas (1971), Love and Death (1975), Zelig (1983... I've been meaning to watch this one forever. It's like a strange mental block for me), and Cassandra's Dream (2007)
Weird Oscar Trivia: This is little commented on but I think it's worth noting. Though it's well known that Woody Allen is Oscar's #1 screenwriter (14 nominations, 2 wins) and among their 10 favorite directors of all time (6 nominations, 1 win) isn't it bizarre that, given the intensity of that AMPAS love, he's only ever had 2 Best Picture nominees (Annie Hall & Hannah and Her Sisters)? Strange.
Next? Woody's 42nd feature film Midnight in Paris which is about an engaged couple travelling to Paris on business and cheating on each other. I'm guessing on that last part of that sentence but it doesn't take a psychic. Will the film be another goodie like Vicky Cristina Barcelona or a mess like Whatever Works? The new film stars Rachel McAdams and Michael Sheen (now a real life couple). Marion Cotillard plays a character referred to as the 'Muse' -- an Allen staple. When it comes to the new cast, we're most excited to see Mimi Kennedy join the Woodyverse. She seems ideally suited for it, yes? She was so gutbustingly funny in In the Loop (2009).
Woody directing Kennedy and McAdams in Midnight in Paris (2011)
All of them are newbies to the Woodyverse but he doesn't repeat his cast members that much anymore (sigh). Still no Dianne Wiest in sight. Since Paris is done filming he's undoubtedly writing Untitled Woody Allen Project i.e. the 43rd due in 2012. That how he do.
Wish Mr. Allen a happy 75th in the comments, and tell us your favorite of his films! *
At some point in the chronology of me dealing with Tangled, a complicated psychological rollercoaster for this lifelong Rapunzel lover, I had completely forgotten (or maybe never known?) that it was to be the 50th Disney animated feature.
I think I wasn't counting the compilation films but Disney does. Here's a helpful reminder from Disney of that rich history (which I saw courtesy of All Things Fangirl). How many have you seen?
I haven't seen Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls, but my understanding is that, despite the sprawling cast of divine (and, in one case, Devine) actresses, they don't actually share many scenes together. That's a shame for actressexuals such as Nathaniel and myself, but whenever Janet Jackson and Whoopi Goldberg were in the same room together, do you think Ms Jackson-if-you're-Nasty herself serenaded Whoopi with renditions of her fabulous "Whoops Now!" track from her amazing 1993 album Janet? I like to imagine that she did.
Today is Whoopi's 55th birthday and she somehow managed to take time away from pretending to not be insulted by everything Elizabeth Hasselback says on The View to film For Colored Girls, so why not go celebrate Whoops' birthday by going to the cinema for a rare big screen glimpse of her? That she co-stars alongside the likes of Jackson, Lorette Devine, Thandie Newton, Phylicia Rishad, Kimberley Elise, Kerry Washington, Anika Noni Rose and Macy Gray would be enough to persuade me, even if the reviews are dismissive as some sort of tonally kooky Precious wannabe... and yet... THOSE ACTRESSES!
If you don't want to venture out to the cinema why not revisit The Color Purple, Ghost, Sister Actor Theodo... or any of the other memorable movies she has made over her time. Or, lazier still, just watch these clip from her 1986 comedy vehicle Jumpin' Jack Flash on a repetitive loop (one is a music video featuring Aretha Franklin, Whoopi, Randy Jackson and the Rolling Stones!). They're so entertaining! As is the entire film, actually, a definite guilty pleasure of mine.
Today, somewhere outside Minneapolis, fantasy writer Neil Gaiman celebrates his 50th birthday (or not; birthdays don't seem to fit the persona the author has created for himself. But I don't have to care). And while he's better known for his comic books and novels than for his work in movies, his short cinematic career is filled with enough highs that it seems more than fair to commemorate the man's half-century.
Gaiman's film career got a rough start with his BBC miniseries Neverwhere: cheaply made and hurt by an underbaked structure, it's not half as memorable as the novelized version of the same story from the following year (the morbidly curious can find it on Netflix Watch Instantly). Fortunately, Gaiman first theatrical project was quite a bit more promising, as Miramax tapped him to write the 1999 English dub for Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke. The challenge of telling a densely mythological story in which details fly at the audience without pause was perfect for an author whose own created worlds were so rich, and his Mononoke script maybe remains the best thing he's done in the movies.
In 2003, Gaiman directed his first film, the mockumentary A Short Film About John Bolton; for a freshman effort it's not half-bad, but a bit stiff and overly talky. Better by far was his next project, the script for MirrorMask, directed by longtime collaborator Dave McKean. Gaiman's plot is a standard-issue Alice in Wonderland riff, but its simplicity is a virtue: McKean's incredible visuals are the true star, and Gaiman managed to walk the fine line of telling an elemental story with enough detail that the protagonist is real enough to like, without unbalancing the rest of the fantasy. The movie is unjustly overlooked, the script most of all.
2007 was a banner year: summer saw Matthew Vaughn adapting his book Stardust, and he also co-scripted Robert Zemeckis's Beowulf that fall. The first of these is fairly reedy and thin, through no fault of the author's; his delicate fairy tale was made leaden and obvious through clumsy filmmaking. Beowulf, while problematic, at any rate found Gaiman and Roger Avary bringing the ancient British poem to life with crisp, fresh language that is modernized without being idiotically slangy or informal.
Gaiman's finest cinematic moment came when Henry Selick adapted his children's book Coraline for the screen in 2009. Here we find the spirit of his prose captured perfectly, finding the exact blend of innocent wonder and literary worldliness that marks the writer's work. One of the best animated films in years, Coraline is a promising demonstration that Gaiman's work, no matter how overwhelmingly written, can be turned into the best kind of cinema in the hands of a gifted filmmaker.
Most of the rumored Gaiman adaptations in the pipeline are in one stage of development hell or another, some for more than a decade. So let's play producer: what Gaiman project do you want to see made into a movie next, and who would you have on either side of the camera?
Hey, folks. This is Michael C. here from Serious Film, thrilled to be helping fill in for Nathaniel this week while he takes his well-earned vacation.
Now that I have free rein to spend a few days smudging my finger prints all over The Film Experience, item one on my to-do list is to make sure this year doesn't zip by without us commemorating a notable anniversary. 2010 year marks ten years since Christopher Guest's Best in Show came along to blow the lid off dog shows and answer such burning questions as, "If you were making an all-dog football team, which breed would you want as wide receiver?" So to mark this anniversary here are my top ten funniest lines from the movie. I am sure you will inform me in the comments which of the few hundred equally funny lines I overlooked.
Ten Funniest Lines From Best In Show
10. "We're so lucky to have been raised amongst catalogues."
If I have a favorite part of Best in Show it might be the materialistic, fashion-obsessed Swans, played by Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock. Guest's improvisational techniques are firing on all cylinders with these characters. Like a comedic cousin to Mike Leigh, they have been built from the ground up, and there is a wealth of hilarious details to show for their efforts. From their matching sets of braces to the way they speak in catalogue shorthand to the way they let their tone of voice addressing the dog bleed into their dialogue with each other, the Swans are unforgettable comic creations.
09. "On the marquee, big letters: Us!"
This line from John Michael Higgins perfectly captures the mentality of those who have been behaving as if they are on camera long before the documentary crew showed up. Guest's films have coincided neatly with the rise of reality television, and have proven prophetic in a lot of ways. What, after all, are the opening rounds of American Idol other than a less affectionate version of Waiting for Guffman. And how often do the competition shows bring Best in Show to mind when the eccentric personalities of the competitors take center stage over the finer points of the competition.
08. "The judge in his mind...because he can pick up on the telepathy...will sometimes give...blue ribbon..."
Christopher Guest's characterization of bloodhound enthusiast Harlan Pepper is notable for being such a subtle performance in the midst of all the improvisational fireworks. Being the director, Guest didn't have to worry about vying for the spotlight so it freed him to focus entirely on getting into the skin of his character. It's quietly astonishing work; there's not a trace of Corky St. Clair to be found. In this line from Harlan, Guest zeros in on the heart of the material as he slowly drifts away from simple praise for his dog until he has convinced himself that his animal can communicate telepathically with the judge.
07. "Is there some process by which they physically miniaturize the dogs?"
If I'm not careful this whole list could easily turn into a collection of Fred Willard quotes. Looking back ten years it's clear what a perfect pairing of actor and role Buck Laughlin was for Willard. All he had to do was wait for the signal from Guest and let loose with his seemingly bottomless supply of nonsense. From speculating about miniature jockeys racing the dogs, to wondering aloud why nobody thinks to dress the hounds like Sherlock Holmes, Willard give the impression he could fill the whole of the movie with this inspired drivel without a moment's pause.
06. "The Pom broke his gait. He may as well have taken a dump."
I think I speak for most viewers when I say I could watch dog shows all day and never spot the slightest difference between the best and worst dogs in competition. That's why lines like this from John Michael Higgins are such a hoot. Best in Show wisely never pushes the events of the competition outside the plausible. Rather, Guest and company understand dog shows are innately funny with their teeny tiny details inflated to ridiculous importance. The fact that Higgins' character is positively gleeful at the Pomeranian's misfortune only adds to the funny.
05. "I'm gonna punch you in the eye 'til it turns to jelly. I'll stab you with forks 'til you bleed, how 'bout that?"
Part of the pleasure of Guest's films is that he finds room for lots of comedy pros to come in as ringers and absolutely nail a scene or two (think David Cross's UFO expert in Guffman). The blue ribbon for Show's funniest one-scene wonder has to go to Larry Miller as the aggressively unskilled crisis negotiator. A pessimistic negotiator is a funny enough idea on its own ("They always jump") but it crosses into uproarious when we get to hear him in action letting loose with this stream of graphically brutal threats.
04. "He went after her like she was made out of ham!"
You couldn't expect me to limit myself to just one Fred Willard line, could you? This one, arriving at the sad finale to the busy bee incident, may be the single biggest laugh of the movie. Aside from his ingenious idiocy, I think part of the reason Willard so thoroughly runs away with his scenes is the fact that, for all his stupidity, Buck is the only cast member who refuses to take the proceedings seriously. He can't ignore what he knows, and what those of us watching the movie know: that they are, after all, just dogs.
03. "A pet store downstairs? What are you a wizard? A genius? Why didn't you tell me that before, you stupid HOTEL MANAGER!"
This line, shouted by an enraged Meg Swan at the height of the busy bee meltdown, never fails to inspire fits of laughter in me. At the risk of analyzing all the funny out of it, let me count the ways this is brilliant. First, the way Posey somehow manages to turn "hotel manager" into an obscenity. Second, the perfection with which she portrays the limits of egomaniacal stage parent lunacy ("You obviously don't know my dog!") Finally, the way it highlights the benefits of the improvisation. Somehow I doubt a writer sitting at a laptop could have accessed the desperation that inspired Posey to reach for "wizard" in the heat of the moment.
02. "Awww!"
That line, in case you didn't recognize it written out, is the sound of Catherine O'Hara's Cookie Fleck injuring herself by tripping over absolutely nothing. Comedians often measure a performer's commitment to a bit as a mark of their ability. By that standard O'Hara stands with the best in the business. So much so that they didn't even need to write a gag to sideline her character for the finale. Guest simply had O'Hara go down like a ton of bricks and O'Hara sold it like the pro she is.
01. "I remember you said that last year."
The competition is killer, but I've got to award best in show to this line from Jim Piddock's poor Trevor Beckwith, uttered in response to yet another tasteless joke from the albatross around his neck, Buck Laughlin. As co-commentator for the Mayflower Dog Show, Beckwith is the model of class and professionalism. So naturally his performance is a study in slow-burning indignation at being saddled with a blithering, uninformed nitwit as a co-host. This line is a throw-away that grows into a gut-buster on repeat viewings. It suggests a long-suffering history for the horribly mismatched pair. How long has he been putting up with this dim bulb's cheerful "observations"? How many times has poor Trevor been cajoled into guessing how much Buck could bench press? In one deft stroke it makes an already hilarious segment exponentially funnier.
The fabulous Tilda Swinton is now a half century oldyoung timeless -- old, young... these concepts are too limited when it comes to the greats. But fact: On November 5th, 1960 Tilda Swinton first came into the world. So a tribute is most definitely in order.
50 Appropriate Ways to Celebrate Swintonian Greatness
Other the years I've been writing for The Film Experience I've realized I'm quite obsessed with chronologies and time. Stars that have been part of our rear view mirror of film history our whole lives were once fresh faces. It's a simple concept but intermittently hard to absorb. I mean, Olivia de Havilland and Mickey Rooney, two of the oldest living film stars, were once newbies! In fact, seventy-five years ago on this very weekend in 1935 the Shakespearean adaptation A Midsummer Night's Dream opened, introducing the world to Olivia, than billed as de Haviland for some reason. She picked up an extra "l" shortly thereafter.
Mickey Rooney playing "Puck" at 14 years of age.
Have any of you seen it? It still looks beautiful in 2010, all black and white and shimmering; the fairy motif helps with the sparkliness.
Rooney, who'd been acting since he was 6, was already famous and his "Andy Hardy" franchise was just around the corner. I know this will read like an exceptionally odd non-sequitor, but if you get a chance to watch this movie soon, I swear that you'll have to wonder whether Leonardo DiCaprio watched this performance directly before playing What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993). I'm not saying that Puck is mentally disabled in this picture, only that there's a shocking similarity of early teenage exuberance and tree branch bounciness, paired with uninhibited squealing and odd vocalizations. (It struck me as entirely uncanny, but perhaps it's only that I watched Gilbert Grape just recently.)
When we first spot the lovely Olivia de Havilland as Hermia, she spots her love Lysander (Dick Powell). This is our endearing introduction to her.
According to The Movie Timeline, which I like to visit on occasion, Helen (Goldie Hawn) drank that potent boob &butt lifting potion in Death Becomes Her (1992) on this very day, October 26th, back in 1985! That scene isn't included onscreen but we do get to see Madeline (Meryl Streep) follow in her footsteps years later. And, anyway, I'm always up for an excuse to celebrate a 25th anniversary!
I almost let the day slip on by without wishing the Muscles from Brussels a Happy 50th Birthday. So happy birthday to the Time Cop himself, Jean Claude Van Damme, our Universal Soldier. He hit the big 5-0 today.
He can do the splits and you can't.
(For a brief moment I considered posting 50 pics of JCVD doing the splits. Then sanity returned.
Or at least I can't.
But even if you can, I think maybe the Cannes Film Festival is not the place. Just sayin'.
This post has been brought to you by repressed 90s memories that came roaring back last night whilst perusing the wackyworld wide webs!
This week's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" topic is Federico Fellini's wonderful classic La Dolce Vita (1960). One caveat before we begin: I've had a difficult night and computer issues, so I was only able to pull screenshots from the film's first half. But no matter. Ninety minutes in, Fellini has already gifted us with a greater movie than most and there's still another one its same size waiting after the imaginary intermission.
Who crafts pictures like Fellini? Or rather, who crafts motion pictures like him? No one. His camera is often moving and its subjects always are. Fellini loves a crowd and his hordes are either surrounding the action on the verge of chaos or they're lining up to follow some invisible pied piper of dance leading them through a restless black & white bacchanalia. The effect is so sensual and dizzying that the image of Anita Ekberg as Sylvia lifted up exposing maximum cleavage only to be continually spun around is about as perfect an encapsulation of the Fellini feeling as you can get.
This image of Marcello Mastroianni (below), which suggests he's directing the picture (and he will in 8½ as proxy), is interesting. He's not directing anything at this moment but observing the chaos. He's climbed up a tower to get a better view of the religious frenzy in progress.
About that religious frenzy. It's insane to stand in the pouring rain whilst in ailing health praying for magical healing. It's crazy to run to and fro and back and forth following the ever-changing whims of two kids who claim to have seen the Madonna. It's bonkers to tear the branches off a tree as if the leaves had healing powers. The madness ends when the children demand that a church be built right on the spot they're standing on.
I'm certain Italy has enough churches already. But make it a movie theater and I'll riot with you. I believe in the church of cinema and Fellini is a* god. (*Cinema is a polytheistic religion.)
My favorite shot in the film's first half is Anita's dreamy aimless wandering through Italian streets with a newly adopted furry friend. The camera isn't sloppily drunk, careening around her but it's definitely got a good buzz going, while she communes with kitty. This is, you should know, a very personal choice for "best shot" as Fellini proceeds to completely spoil me: cats, beautiful actresses, rich black and white images, the glory of unexpectedly vivid details (Ekberg placing the cat on her head); all of these could make me ecstatic alone...but together?
(These images are culled from more than one shot -- there's a few cuts -- but the work is so fluid and alive that it all just flows.)
Imagine the joy of being in a Fellini movie. You get to wear great clothes, dance, cruise Italy while lit and lit perfectly. And when you're coming down from the high of a great party, when sleep is as yet unthinkable, you can take a whimsical stroll through magically quiet city streets.
Should you suddenly decide to take an immortal dip into a nearby fountain, you've arrived in style with an utterly fashionable mewling chapeau.
MEAN GIRLS (2004). I don't think I've ever looked at this movie from an images standpoint. But I love to watch it, so why not? Are you with me? Pick your favorite shot by next Wednesday, let me know, and I'll link up.
In the "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series we choose our favorite images from motion pictures. Next Wednesday we're looking at Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) in glorious black & white. Today's topic is Darren Aronofsky's haunting addiction drama... in full color.
"If this is red, I wanna know what's orange?"
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
10th Anniversary Appreciation
Requiem for a Dream warns us continually about the addictive power of drugs, dreams, and dieting... but who will warn us about the addictive properties of Requiem for a Dream? The movie is, in its own teeth-grinding way, as hard to kick as Sara Goldfarb's (Ellen Burstyn) diet pills or the harder stuff her only son Harry (Jared Leto) ingests. But I realized something during my umpteenth view that I haven't quite processed before. I rarely watch the whole movie. When the characters get high in Requiem there's often a long slow fade to white to end the scene. My fade to white is the centerpiece monologue, one of the most brilliantly shot and performed monologues ever. After it, I can't take anymore.
Ellen Burstyn is such a quivering ball of despair, held together by willfully hand-stitched delusion... "I like thinking about the red dress... and the television." Jared Leto's aftershock moment in the cab afterwards, from weeping baby to instantly stoned man, is a pitch-perfect exit scene. Aside from two brilliant performances, the cinematography by Matthew Libatique is masterful. The whites are always too white in Requiem;it's not just dope that's making them snowblind. It's a harsh world out there. Also note the sickly green light of the interior Goldfarb apartment. The outside world will swallow you up but you're no safer inside.
But for "Best Shot" let us applaud the split screen. Darren Aronofsky isn't the only contemporary filmmaker who uses the split screen but the practicioners are few. It's a surprisingly versatile technique which can reference additional artforms, show narrative parallels, provide style/eye candy, offer character P.O.V. or heighten the tension of some impending moment both images foretell. In this film, Aronofsky is mostly using it for P.O.V. purposes (Sara staring at the fridge) or as a visual metaphor for disconnectedness.
In one of the best scenes, Harry and Marion (Jared Leto and Jennfier Connelly, both giving the finest performances of their careers) do pillow talk. The images and the the dialogue convey both eroticism and emotional intimacy but the slightly out of sync eyelines and timing (note that the images aren't completely in sync since hands reach faces before arms move and the like) convey that something is broken. Their love may well be real but they're so far removed from their own realities that the connection is inherently false.
Harry: Hey, you know something? I always thought you were the most beautiful girl I ever seen.
Marion: Really?
Harry: Ever since I first saw you.
Marion: That's nice Harry. Makes me feel really good. You know other people have told me that before and it was meaningless.
Harry: Why is -- You thought they were pulling your leg? Marion: No, no, not like that. I mean... I don't know or even care if they were. From them it was just meaningless, you know? You say it and I hear it. I really hear it.
Harry: You know somebody like you could really make things all right for me.
Marion: You think?
Heartbreaking.
And one more. In a moment of true inspiration shortly afterwards, Aronofsky reminds us of this same self-medicated disconnection in what looks like a split screen but isn't.
Sara has just begun to grind her teeth and retreats to the bathroom mirror to investigate this new development. The diet drugs have kicked in and after a closeup of her shifting jaw, this image. She's not losing weight. She's losing her self.
*
*
"Be Excited. Be Be Excited" Best Shot Participants
To celebrate the 75th birthday of the great Julie Andrews, our favorite singing governness, our favorite magical nanny, our favorite gender bending toast of Paris. Something big was in order. Why, she's practically perfect in every way... so in her honor, a resurrection of a long dormant exhaustively researched 100% true* series that was once the Film Experience's most popular feature.
1935 Julia Wells is born to Mrs. Barbara Wells in Surrey, England. Mr. Wells is not the father. Scandal! This bastard child will one day become the icon of squeaky clean family entertainment. She won't always enjoy it. At her christening the good fairy Fauna grants her the gift of song
One gift, the gift of song,
Melody your whole life long!
The nightingale her troubadour,
Bringing his sweet serenade to her door.
(We figure that's the only way you get a voice that lovely.)
1940 Having already recognized the fairy's generous gift, non biological daddy Ted Wells sends Julia to live with mom's new man Ted Andrews (also not her biological father --- so confusing!) who is better equipped to give her the musical education she needs.
1947 Julia -- now "Julie Andrews" -- makes her professional debut at the London Hippodrome singing the aria "Je Suis Titania" (i.e. 'I am Titania' -referencing the Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Nights Dream, no doubt an homage to generous Fauna) from the opera Mignon. She blows the roof off the place.
1951 Does not prick her finger and fall into an unnatural slumber but is, by now at 16, a British star of stage and radio. Waits impatiently, but sweetly, for love's first kiss total world domination.
1954 Start at the top: Debuts on the American stage on Broadway in the lead role of The Boyfriend.
1956 Wouldn't it be loverly if she originated the plum role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and concurrently became a superstar with the live television airing of the musical Cinderella? Statistics vary but her numbers are basically up their with the explosion of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show and the final episode of M*A*S*H. We're talking everyone... or roughly 10 times the numbers that even the biggest "event" nowadays.
1959 Love's first kiss: Marries set designer Tony Walton who she met on the stage in London many years prior whilst playing the Egg in Humpty-Dumpty.
1960 Her eggs produce first child, Emma. Also creates the original Guinevere in the smash hit Broadway musical Camelot.
1962/1963 Julie, already a household name in America, is passed over for the movie version of the role she created in My Fair Lady because Jack Warner, in a typically lazy movie industry move (that we still see every day in 2010) only wants someone "bankable." Never mind that her first two movies become enormous "all time" blockbusters, each outgrossing My Fair Lady (which was also a hit with "bankable" Audrey Hepburn). Nobody can see into the future and most people aren't willing to risk casting based on rightness for a role... even though anyone in the right role at the time can become bankable as Mary Poppins will soon prove.
1964 Kill Audrey, Vol 1: Julie's movie debut Mary Poppins outgrosses My Fair Lady.So much for not bankable.She also stars in the acclaimed adult-oriented drama The Americanization of Emily, a film which she reportedly loves, though few notice in the enormous wake of that flying nanny.
1965 Kill Audrey Vol. 2: Julie wins the Oscar, besting Audrey Hepburn (who actually wasn't nominated but this isn't the way history remembers it. Shut up!).
As follow up, Julie spins around on a mountain top; billions of people all over the world get dizzy, and thousands of fairies are born. The Sound of Music outgrosses every movie that's ever existed including Gone With the Wind (if you don't adjust for inflation).
After defeating Audrey Hepburn, Julie targets Vivien Leigh. 'You can make one dress out of curtains? Amateur!'
Von Trapp play-clothes
1966 Hitchcock, having worn on Tippi Hedren's last nerve, has to find a replacement blonde. He tries Julie out for Torn Curtain. Outcome: Not icy and anonymous enough for Hitch. They never work together again. The film is a big hit. So is Hawaii that same year. Even outside of musicals Julie is beyond bankable.
1967 Julie stars as wannabe flapper Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie. People remember it today as a misfire or flop but sorry: another huge hit, the biggest in Universal's history up till then. Julie + musicals =box office gold.
1968 Except when it don't. Oops. Star, a bloated biopic of Gertrude Lawrence becomes her first failure. Julie divorces Tony Walton and...
1969 ...marries Blake Edwards after filming Darling Lili (1970) for the director with Rock Hudson.
1970s After five years on the mountain top of global stardom, Julie bows out of the movies, making only two more films over the decade. She has two more children and then adopts two more still. She makes multiple television appearances.
1981 Blake convinces his wife to bare her breasts, which he had undoubtedly seen thousands of times already but he's a sharer. Her boob flash in S.O.B totally scandalizes Mary Poppins fans and my parents (also Mary Poppins fans). I remember the fallout vividly from my youth. They were furious.
1982 Despite her "betrayal" of squeaky clean loving fans, Hollywood and pop culture reembrace the icon when Victor/Victoria hits. Her multi-octave slide in "Le Jazz Hot" shatters glass and thousands more fairies are born. Julie is nominated for another Oscar for her woman-pretending-to- be-a-man-pretending- to-be-a-woman nightclub act wherein she falls in love with gangster King Marchand (James Garner again) or "Fairy Marchand" as his arm-candy girlfriend rechristens him in a jealous rage.
1983 Julie Andrews loses the Oscar to Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice as would anyone from any year in any film under any circumstance.
rest of the 1980s makes a few more movies with Blake Edwards but nothing ascends. Bares her breasts again opposite Rupert Everett in Duet For One (1986) but few notice. You only get a shock from that once.
1990s-1999 returns to Broadway, eventually revives Victor/Victoria in new form, refuses a Tony nomination for their "egregious" snubbing of her fellow cast members. Vocal problems begin. Undergoes surgery for throat nodules and something goes wrong and she is unable to sing again. A special new circle of hell is created for whomever is to blame though...
2000 ...here on earth the matter is settled in a malpractice lawsuit. Julie's Just Rewards: She becomes "Dame" Julie Andrews by order of the Queen.
2001 Speaking of Queens... The Princess Diaries opens, surprising virtually everyone by becoming a smash with non-bankable Anne Hathaway in the leading role of the Princess and non-singing no-longer bankable Julie as the Queen of Genovia. The hit film will win her a new generation of young fans and set in motion a new career in children's films, albeit usually just as voice work. As in...
2010Despicable Me wherein Julie Andrews plays the disapproving mother of super villain Gru. On October 1st, Julie Andrews celebrates her 75th birthday.
Here's to her next quarter century as one of the great entertainers of all time!
Today, somewhere outside Minneapolis, fantasy writer Neil Gaiman celebrates his 50th birthday (or not; birthdays don't seem to fit the persona the author has created for himself. But I don't have to care). And while he's better known for his comic books and novels than for his work in movies, his short cinematic career is filled with enough highs that it seems more than fair to commemorate the man's half-century.
2007 was a banner year: summer saw Matthew Vaughn adapting his book Stardust, and he also co-scripted Robert Zemeckis's Beowulf that fall. The first of these is fairly reedy and thin, through no fault of the author's; his delicate fairy tale was made leaden and obvious through clumsy filmmaking. Beowulf, while problematic, at any rate found Gaiman and Roger Avary bringing the ancient British poem to life with crisp, fresh language that is modernized without being idiotically slangy or informal.
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