The Links Are Alive...

In Contention Tapley's review of Conviction.
New York Magazine Mark Harris great piece on The Social Network in case you haven't read it yet. "I poked Aaron Sorkin..."
Cinema Styles "Coming Home to Tango" a look back at two seminal 70s films and how they age when you age. Interesting stuff. For the record I love Coming Home and don't care for Last Tango in Paris but saw them both in my early 30s.
MUBI remembers Arthur Penn (RIP) We've lost another film great. Time to watch Bonnie & Clyde again.

 Flames... on the Side of My Face pays tribute to the late Madeline Kahn, for whom the blog is titled, on her birthday. "Taffeta, darling"
Ruchome Obrazki late addition to the 'Best Shot' party featuring David Fincher's Se7en (1995). Check it out.
Some Came Running has a wonderfut bit on Sally Menke's eye for shots juxtaposed.
Movie | Line offers up my favorite title about the Star Wars in 3D news.
Serious Film 8 voice performances that were worthy of acting nominations.
IGN offers up some mainstream "summer movie awards" as we head into fall.

And finally, Playbill delivers Holy Playclothes-Made-of-Curtains shocking news. The cast of The Sound of Music is reuniting next month on Oprah !!! This will be epic even if we have to hear Ms. Winfrey screaming...

"Julieeeeeeeee AaahNDROOOOOOoosss"

...over and over again. Are you dying out there?  Now I'm going to have "The Lonely Goatherd" stuck in my head for the rest of the day because this is always what happens to me when someone mentions The Sound of Music.

August: Osage County (The Movie)

CAST THIS!

But before the movie... the tour! It starts in just under three weeks in Denver. I'm not getting paid for this but I'm going to shill because live theater needs to be promoted. It's so much cooler than TV ... even if Corporate America can't profit off of it as much (finite audience = number of seats in house) and thus makes it seem uncool by ignoring it or dismissing it as irrelevant.

Oscar winner Estelle Parsons, 81, headlines the August tour

And given that THE MOVIE -- all caps because if it's any good it'll be BIG -- is going to be the subject of much discussion whenever it begins to film and especially once it's in theaters, you'll want to be in the know early on. Even if you're not normally a theater person. If you haven't been following theatrical buzz and awardage these past couple of years, it's the latest from Tracy Letts who also wrote the incredible Bug which was made into a movie that a lot of people misunderstood or outright hated but I assure you that the play itself was phenomenal. They're much different beasts anyhow: Bug was taut, claustrophobic and tiny where August is messy (in the good sense), sprawling and very populated. It's a darkly funny drama about a family in crisis in Oklahoma. The father has disappeared and the daughters rush back home to deal with their abandoned and impossibly difficult pill popping mother. At three hours or so in length it's far more complicated than that but it's a great night out at the theater: funny, involving, memorable, dramatic. In short: if you're near it, get tickets. They're on sale now.

July: Denver August: San Francisco September: LA October: Portland and Seattle November: Toronto and Hartford December: DC January: Tempe, Dallas, Tulsa Feb: Chicago, Michigan, Iowa. It's also in Melbourne and then Sydney, Australia

<-- Parsons on the set of Rachel, Rachel with director Paul Newman

This will also give you the rare chance to see an Oscar winner live on stage. I stupidly missed Estelle Parsons here in NYC when she was playing Violet (one of the two lead roles, a combative mother and daughter) so I'm considering catching the show again in DC or Michigan if I can figures out the $. I always enjoyed Parsons as a comic foil on Roseanne and I love her work as the lesbian friend of Joanne Woodard in Rachel, Rachel (they were both nominated). That's such a fine underseen film so, rent it. Parsons won the Oscar as "Blanche" in Bonnie & Clyde (1967).

But back to August: Osage County
If you're game now, let's think up a dream cast.
Here are the main roles, in descending order of their "screen time" and the age according to the text (though obviously Hollywood will practice some creative license there)

Leads
Violet -Pill popping drug-addled matriarch, fond of devouring her young and filled with rage about her miserable childhood. She's also funny (65). Deanna Dunagan, left, originated the role on stage.
Barbara - Violet's eldest daughter, a college professor. Exhausted but controlling. Her marriage is failing (46)

Major Supporting Roles
Ivy -Violet's middle daughter who has never left home. A secretive plain jane type (44)
Karen -Violet's youngest. Flighty, willfully naive and eager to be loved. Newly engaged (40)
Bill -Barbara's husband, also a professor. He's left her for a student but comes back to Oklahoma with her to deal with the family crisis (49)
Jean -Barbara's daughter. A sexually precocious pot smoking vegetarian (14)
Mattie Fae -Violet's sister. Loud, flamboyant, nervous. Also fond of devouring her young (57)

Minor supporting characters
Charles -Mattie's husband. Calm, good natured (60)
Little Charles -Mattie's son, largely regarded as a shy loser (37)
Beverly -Violet's husband, a pontificating poetry-loving alcoholic. He disappears in the first act, setting the plot in motion (69)
Steve - Karen's insensitive businessman fiancé (50)
Johnna -empathetic Native American housekeeper and cook (26)
Sheriff Deon -Barbara's ex-boyfriend, on the search for Beverly (47)

The two lead roles and at least one of the supporting parts (Mattie Fae) are complete Oscar Bait roles: high drama, sneaky comedy, southern accents, total theatrical fireworks. The nearest film equivalent I can think of is Terms of Endearment but this is darker and more vicious, though also quite funny. And Violet is closer to Annette Bening's character in Running With Scissors in terms of how nightmarish she is as a druggy mother than to Shirley Maclaine's Aurora.


Working actresses in the right age range for the three daughters are too numerous to mention here but every actress in her late 30s to early young-looking 50s would be wise to already be prepping and campaigning for either Barbara, Ivy or Karen (or even Mattie Fae). Acclaimed juicy prestige material like this with so many roles for smart talented women doesn't come along regularly.

Though it's been assumed that Mike Nichols will direct and that Meryl Streep's talent and box office pull will win her the "Violet" role nothing is yet set in stone. The road from announcement to contract signing to pre-production can be quite volatile and with the Weinstein Co involved who the hell knows...

Other actresses in vaguely the right age range for the Violet or Mattie Fae parts (i.e. mid50s to mid70s) include: Judy Davis, Glenn Close, Kathleen Turner, Kathy Bates, Anjelica Huston, Dianne Wiest, Susan Sarandon, Sissy Spacek, Melinda Dillon, Diane Ladd, Jane Fonda among many others. It's an ideal movie for getting underused actresses back in play.


Is this all overwhelming to read? It was to type.

Some people have gone either further than me, like Walter Hollman (who you'll know from frequent comments right here) who has casting suggestions for every role.

I hope the lucky casting director takes this as seriously as one might take brain surgery. It's important! There are so many options. You could go real life mother/daughter (Diane Ladd & Laura Dern) you could experiment with co-stars with proven chemistry reuniting (Thelma & Louise as Violet & Mattie Fae?). You could use math multiplied by Oscar fever to try and create the single most nominated cast in the history of motion pictures. Whether or not you've seen the play, cast away in the comments. Would you cast by pure talent, family resemblance or gut instinct?

I can't remember who suggested it to me but the idea of Kathleen Turner in the Mattie Fae role fills me with utter delight. So let's start there. Comment away!

Top 10 Movie Characters

I've been asked "What are my ten favorite characters in the history of movies?" Curse you Timothy! And Squish. The question is not something specific like ten favorite characters in Moulin Rouge! (easy) or ten favorite performances by an actress in the past three years or ten favorite Disney villains. No, this question is broader than Ursula's tentacle span. This is like asking someone "What are your ten favorite notes in the history of music?" Insanity. So I'm doing this off the top of my head. I'm avoiding things I talk about too much (Ursula, Lt. Ellen Ripley, Dorothy Gale and any character played by Michelle Pfeiffer). I'm also presenting in chronological order so as to avoid nervous meltings or celluloid breakdowns.

Top Ten Movie Characters

Peter Pan
The movies are full of franchise characters, but usually I stay picky only getting wrapped up for short bursts of time. Take James Bond. It totally depends on the Bond for me. And though I love vampires in general I prefer them when they're not actually Count Dracula himself or Vlad the Impaler or whatever he's calling himself now. I could definitely swing with some Tarzans but I don't seek out his movies. But Peter Pan? From the silent version in 1924 (starring Betty Bronson) the stage musical (starring whomever... though I always hate that it's a girl playing the impish boy), through the Disney cartoon right up to the underappreciated 2003 incarnation, I'll always watch him fly. Even though I sometimes regret it. Bonus points for Tinkerbell even if Disney is attempting to destroy my love for her [on Tinkerbell and Wendy]

Lucy Warriner in The Awful Truth (1937)
If I could marry Lucy and Jerry Warriner, played by Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, I would. Every time I watch the movie I fall madly in love with Lucy and fall totally in sync with Jerry. He and I become totally discombobulated. She's impossible and hilarious, sexy and maddening, baffling and endearing all at once and often at the same moment. Though to tell the truth, I could just as easily have picked Hazel Flagg in Nothing Sacred (1937), Susan Vance in Bringing Up Baby (1938), Ellie in It Happened One Night (1934) or Sugarpuss O'Shea in Ball of Fire (1941). There is no list of Greatest Anything that is complete without the screwball comedy.

Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd (1950)
The ur diva actress and arguably the best mirror character for the cinema as a whole, reflecting back on the silents and still projecting forward and resonating today. She's a nightmare avatar of stardom curdled that forever haunts the movies. It doesn't matter how small the pictures get. She's also the unavoidable reminder of the inevitability of aging and death even for the true immortals of the screen.

Clyde Barrow in Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
I should say "Bonnie and..." but that'd be cheating. And though I love Faye Dunaway's fierce style and her eagerly swift descent into criminality, my heart tips ever so slightly to Warren Beatty's Clyde... beautiful, violent, impotent, infamous Clyde shooting and stealing his way through a short life in those dust bowl days.

Sevérine in Belle de Jour (1967)
For her perversity and beauty... but most of all for her unknowability. Few characters in cinema retain their mystique so well once the credits roll. Was Catherine Deneuve ever better? Then again... when isn't she superb? [more Deneuve]

Sally Bowles in Cabaret (1972)
Doesn't her body drive you wild with desire? I realize there's stiff competition out there but she may well be the most quotable character in all of cinema... or at least within the musicals. [on Cabaret]

Roy Batty in Blade Runner (1982)
I never quite understood the deep pathos of the Frankenstein myth until I came face to face with his futuristic descendant, replicant Roy Batty as portrayed by Rutger Hauer. With his white shock hair, adult malice and incongruous little boy pouting he mesmerized. That double emotional arc/climax stunned: the first in which he meets his physical maker and exterminates him, the second in which he himself expires knowing there's no spiritual maker to go home to. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain... [more on Batty]

Freddy Honeychurch in A Room With a View (1986)
When Lucy Honeychurch's uncouth suitor George shouts "Beauty!!!!!" into the open air in this Merchant/Ivory classic, I think not of the landscape he shouts to or of Lucy, but of her little brother Freddy. I think of the young Rupert Graves and his amateur hour musicality, vivid immaturity, impossible bangs (his hair seems as eager to frolic as he is) and uninhibited enthusiasms... "fancy a bath?". What's mo --- okay, okay, it's a sexual fixation. I confess. But it's not like we all don't have them with movie characters. You think Rita Hayworth's Gilda became a classic character strictly for her personality? [previous Freddy Honeychurch]

Suzanne Vale in Postcards From the Edge (1990)
She combines three elements that are utterly amazing on their own, let alone fused: Carrie Fisher's wit, channelled through Meryl Streep's awesomeness in order to illuminate what happens to be my favorite species on earth, the Actress Neurotica. It's not exactly an endangered species but I still think we ought to set up a preservation fund to make sure they never go the way of the dinosaur. And maybe get zoos involved in case things get too dangerous for them in the wild.

Amber Waves in Boogie Nights (1998)
The foxiest bitch in the whole world. In some ways Amber Waves forever cursed Julianne Moore to be seen as "the bad mother" but if you have to get stuck in a typecasting rut, get there by playing one of the most indelible screen creations ever. Bonus points: Good actors spoofing bad acting (see also: Jean Hagen in Singin' in the Rain and Jennifer Tilly in Bullets Over Broadway) is one of the greatest pleasures of the silver screen.

Wither the Aughts? If you're on your movie-loving training wheels --there's no shame in that. We all start with movies of the here and now, whenever our here is now -- and would like this list caged into the past 10 years, well... I decided to save the current decade for a later list. Turns out this wasn't as painful as I thought but fun to create even as it fails on the definitive front. There are just too many characters to embrace.

Who should I tag (i.e. punish)? I really want to see the lists that JA, Dave, Gabriel, Fox and Adam would whip up. And I tag you if you haven't a blog of your own should you like to share in the comments. And tell me what'cha think of my ten ...do we share a few character obsessions?
*

Get Off My Link

Goatdog a top ten list. But not the kind you usually get. Top ten rentals. I love this list
Word Smoker a sharp 'five second review' of Let the Right One In
In Contention the makeup finalists for Oscar. I think this is the first year where they can't embarrass themselves with their final nominees. These are all good choices.
The Flick Filosopher "the merely very good movies of 2008"
Cinema Styles talks about the Supporting and Lead categorizations and what they mean in terms of Protagonist/Antagonist. Interesting stuff and not as strident as I get ;)


Stop Smiling looks back at their year of film reviewing
Welcome to LA the joy in revisiting Bonnie & Clyde. Mmmmmm, Bonnie & Clyde.
NY Post Josh Brolin at the NYFCC awards... drunk
Antagony on the OFCS nominations
The Hot Blog Poland's top ten (with a fun hat tip to Mamma Mia! -- no, really)
Lazy Eye Theater the 20 Actress meme continues... only this time with redheads
ModFab geeks out over the forthcoming Caprica series (Battlestar Galactica prequel of sorts)

Dustbowl Dreams

Hey gang, this is Thombeau, visiting from Fabulon and Arcanta. I'll try not to be too pretentious or annoying!

It wasn't until the mid-1960s that a new generation of filmmakers was ready to address "The Great Depression" in more artistic terms than the backdrop for the struggles of the noble Joad family. Though the cinematography may be beautiful in these films, giving a haunting, almost romantic feel, the barren landscapes and weatherworn faces of the poor provided desolate images of loss and despair. It is in the midst of dusty towns and rural environs that the following three films are set. You have probably seen them all, as they are universally acclaimed and considered modern classics by many. If you haven't, you really should, and if you have then you just might want to experience them again.

By far the most popular, and arguably revolutionary, of this trilogy is Bonnie and Clyde (1967). The beauty and charisma of its leads, the great ensemble acting, the sass and violence, all make for a rollicking good time with an overtone of serious issues. However fictionalized, this was based on events that actually took place. Hovering around the periphery is the constant reminder that these were hard times; people had lost everything and were just trying to get by. Robbing banks may have been a fun and easy way to get money, but most of those banks were near empty. The famous scene where Bonnie reunites with her elderly grandmother, on a windswept hilltop, is striking for summing up the era in a few short minutes with the eyes of an old woman who has seen it all.



Seldom taken as seriously, Paper Moon (1973) is not only a great comedy, it's a fantastic evocation of a time when pleasures were simple and money was scarce. The use of period music ("Let's have another cup of coffee"), or, conversely, the silence that fills the background in many scenes, plus the attention to detail in the prop, costume, and makeup departments, create a very definite time and place. Long dirt roads and wide open spaces provide a vast context for the tiny dramas of the lead characters. Once again, a windy hilltop comes to mind: when Miss Trixie, after going winky-tink, approaches young Addie and tells her what her plans are, the desperation and determination are obvious.



The incredible Days of Heaven (1978), though portraying a slightly earlier time, fits in well with the above-mentioned films. Much has been written about the fabulous, dreamlike cinematography. The vast and endless plains seem to swallow up the characters and their intertwined destinies. The sound of the wind is almost another character. The gypsy lives of migrant workers is shown without explanation; it's simply a given. Again, people are doing whatever they can to get by. This movie, more than most, is so image-driven that it is difficult to choose only one that sums it all up. If ever possible, see this on the big screen. Please.

Other recommended films that display an essence of the era are They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) and Bound for Glory (1976), but this list is far from complete. Any additions that you're crazy about?


As a footnote to this post, I simply must add that each of these films has a fantastic supporting cast. Estelle Parsons won a well-deserved Oscar for her hysterical (in every sense of the word) performance in Bonnie and Clyde. Paper Moon would not be the same without the fabulous Madeline Kahn as Trixie Delight. Also, P. J. Johnson's performance as Imogene never fails to amuse! And Days of Heaven would not be as strange and wonderful without the phenomenal narration of a young Linda Manz. Great stuff!

via thombeau

AFI: The New Top 100 List

The Revised Greatest American Films List
I'm happy to see Blade Runner, Nashville, and Cabaret added. They all hold high rank in my own favorites listing. What say ye about this new lineup? (To be helpful I've added their previous AFI ranking to the right --big changes in bold)

1. "Citizen Kane" (1941) same
2. "The Godfather" (1972) 3
3. "Casablanca" (1942) 2
4. "Raging Bull" (1980) 24
5. "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) 10
6. "Gone With the Wind" (1939) 4
7. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) 5
8. "Schindler's List" (1993) 9
9. "Vertigo" (1958) 61
10. "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) 6


11. "City Lights" (1931) 76
12. "The Searchers" (1956) 96
13. "Star Wars" (1977) 15
14. "Psycho" (1960) 18
15. "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) 22
16. "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) 12
17. "The Graduate" (1967) 7
18. "The General" (1927) new
19. "On the Waterfront" (1954) 8
20. "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) 11

21. "Chinatown" (1974) 19
22. "Some Like It Hot" (1959) 14
23. "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940) 21
24. "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) 25
25. "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962) 34
26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939) 29
27. "High Noon" (1952) 33
28. "All About Eve" (1950) 16
29. "Double Indemnity" (1944) 38
30. "Apocalypse Now" (1979) 28

31. "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) 23
32. "The Godfather, Part II" (1974) same
33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) 20
34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) 49
35. "Annie Hall" (1977) 31
36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) 13
37. "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) same
38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) 30
39. "Dr. Strangelove" (1964) 26
40. "The Sound of Music" (1965) 55

41. "King Kong" (1933) 43
42. "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) 27
43. "Midnight Cowboy" (1969) 36
44. "The Philadelphia Story" (1940) 51
45. "Shane" (1953) 69
46. "It Happened One Night" (1934) 35
47. "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) 45
48. "Rear Window" (1954) 42
49. "Intolerance" (1916) new
50. "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001) new

51. "West Side Story" (1961) 41
52. "Taxi Driver" (1976) 47
53. "The Deer Hunter" (1978) 79
54. "M*A*S*H" (1970) 56
55. "North by Northwest" (1959) 40
56. "Jaws" (1975) 48
57. "Rocky" (1976) 78
58. "The Gold Rush" (1925) 74
59. "Nashville" (1975) new
60. "Duck Soup" (1933) 85

61. "Sullivan's Travels" (1941) new
62. "American Graffiti" (1973) 77
63. "Cabaret" (1972) new
64. "Network" (1976) 66
65. "The African Queen" (1951) 17
66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) 60
67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966) new
68. "Unforgiven" (1992) 98
69. "Tootsie" (1982) 62
70. "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) 46 (i still don't understand how this one qualifies as American)

71. "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) new
72. "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994) new
73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) 50
74. "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) 65
75. "In the Heat of the Night" (1967) new
76. "Forrest Gump" (1994) 71
77. "All the President's Men" (1976) new
78. "Modern Times" (1936) 81
79. "The Wild Bunch" (1969) 80
80. "The Apartment" (1960) 93

81. "Spartacus" (1960) new
82. "Sunrise" (1927) new
83. "Titanic" (1997) new
84. "Easy Rider" (1969) 88
85. "A Night at the Opera" (1935) new
86. "Platoon" (1986) 83
87. "12 Angry Men" (1957) new
88. "Bringing Up Baby" (1938) 97
89. "The Sixth Sense" (1999) new
90. "Swing Time" (1936) new

91. "Sophie's Choice" (1982) new
92. "Goodfellas" (1990) 94
93. "The French Connection" (1971) 70
94. "Pulp Fiction" (1994) 95
95. "The Last Picture Show" (1971) new
96. "Do the Right Thing" (1989) new
97. "Blade Runner" (1982) new
98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942) 100
99. "Toy Story" (1995) new
100. "Ben-Hur" (1959) 72

<---they're tearing him apart: James Dean lost BOTH his spots on the top 100. And Monty Clift too. Argh. The films that fell out were...Doctor Zhivago #39, North by Northwest #40, Birth of a Nation #44, From Here To Eternity #52, Amadeus #53, All Quiet on the Western Front #54, The Third Man #57, Fantasia #58, Rebel Without a Cause #59, Stagecoach #63, Close Encounters of the Third Kind #64, The Manchurian Candidate #67, An American in Paris #68, Wuthering Heights #73, Dances With Wolves #75, Giant #82, Fargo #84, Mutiny on the Bounty #86, Frankenstein #87, Patton #89, The Jazz Singer #90, My Fair Lady #91, A Place in the Sun #92, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner #99

weirdest entry: Sophie's Choice... almost never listed in any "best of", apart from Meryl Streep's astonishing performance, is in the top 100 --They collectively name it the 6th best of the entire 80s decade. Whaaaa?

lesson learned: nothing below the top 30 is ever safe. It all depends on who they poll and which way the winds blow.

Blogosphere Multiplex: Arden @ Cinephilia

Season 2 of the blogosphere interview series arrives....now. I had fun last year with a dozen bloggers of various topic persuasion and it's time to reboot. I'm dusting it off with Arden @ Cinephilia. She was a rowdy guest at the Oscar Symposium this past winter, she wrote a hilarious play (I saw it), she guests @ Gilded Moose for film reviews and best of all: she is certifiable when it comes to the cinema. Thems the best kind of people.

10 Questions with Arden @ Cinephilia

Nathaniel: So, Arden, how often do you go to the movies?

Arden: Lord. I used to go all the time. Like I would go every night. Midnight screenings on Thursdays. Sometimes I'd see two movies back to back if I was trying catch up on reviews. I saw Casino Royale twice within a 12 hour span. But since I've started this gig as an assistant to a pretty high-profile film producer, it's been difficult. Readers razz me about the lack of reviews and I'm like "When you're stranded in Sundance, flagging down a local with a $100 bill so you can hitch a ride to the Variety Directors to Watch party and deliver a cut of a film you're not supposed to have to someone who probably wont even watch it.... it's hard to make time to see Dreamgirls". So nowadays I've resolved myself to one movie every 10-15 days.

Nathaniel: I love that you've numbered the days between cinematic hits. But Arden, I suspect a lot of people would love to have that 'holding the goodies' problem. Although some of those people would end up in prison! Is pirating films the worst problem Hollywood faces or what? They're obsessed.

Arden: The studios freak out over piracy when they started the epidemic in the first place. Unlike another art form where the original is tantamount and considered the work of art, the business of cinema is based on reproduction and distribution. If I made a whole bunch of little Van Goghs in my apartment and sold them off, no one would pay me a million dollars because they know that I'm not Van Gogh. The 8,000 copy of 40-Year-Old Virgin is just as profitable as the original canistered print. Wide release and the advent of DVD emphasize that. In an effort to make as much money as possible, Hollywood used technology to lessen the originality of film and now audiences are using technology to steal from Hollywood.

To combat this problem, Hollywood MUST acknowledge that wide release is failing. That the only films that make their 100MM are films that cost 200MM. They are losing money more often than they are making it. Many "blockbusters" have to overperform on DVD to recoup and a lot of stars (on the backs of whom the studios sell most of these films) have gotten the wiser and a request backend on DVD sales up front. This is why Tom Cruise got fired. Not because he jumped on a couch.

Nathaniel: Totally agreed on the reasons Tom Cruise got dumped but the media loves distortion. Couch jumping rifts in sanity being inherently more interesting than profit sharing. Not to dwell on Tom Cruise but let's segueway: Apart from Cruise which celebrity meltdown troubles you most or do you find most revealing about fame/showbiz AND/OR (this question is so incoherent --I'm melting down too!) What complete breakdown do you find most fascinating in an actual movie?

Arden: Britney Spears is hands down phenomenal. I couldn't write that. If I wrote that, no one would buy it. She lived it. It's positively Greek. It's like teen pop version of Medea. In fact, I think "woman scorned" breakdowns are the best. Whether its Glenn Close over top psycho or the quiet savage defeat of Isabelle Huppert, it gets me every time. The most fascinating cinematic example of this is Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass. My God. A broken heart melting into mental instability. The scene where she reads Wordsworth in class is a work of genius. Even the usually composed Elia Kazan has to adjust his tight shot to capture her fantastically real moment.

Nathaniel: We both love that movie ---ahhh my heart shatters when I watch that. And I actually think that I first discovered your site when you posted about Warren Beatty circa 1961 (the same film obviously) How did you discover him? And why do you suppose he never works? It's not like the other Old Hollywood guys have retired.

Arden: My crush on Warren Beatty is a perfect example of what I define to be Cinephilia. It's not simply loving or appreciating film. It's when the line between your reality and a cinematic reality no longer exists. There was a period of time where I was actually dating Warren Beatty via film. I felt a stronger connection to him onscreen than to a breathing guy lying next to me. So I wrote my script and started my blog. I don't think Warren Beatty works that much anymore because I think he's too smart, a perfectionist and an overachiever. He's a sick person and a control freak. He has final cut for practically every movie he's worked on whether or not he actually directed it. Bonnie and Clyde was his movie. I love him and no one really thinks of him as an important filmmaker because he was a movie star. Beatty is the only person other than Orson Welles to receive Oscar nominations in the same year for acting, directing, writing, and producing, and he did it twice, in 1978 and 1981. Reds is a genius movie. Definitely in my top 3.

Nathaniel: Which begs the question: What are the other two?

Arden: Haha. Favorite films are a touchy subject. Usually film elitists use this as an opportunity to show off how smart they are. I would categorize "favorite" as a film that seriously altered my life. Kubrick's The Shining was that film for me. Is it a flawed film? Is it Kubrick's "best" film? It doesn't matter. It changed me. In one viewing I felt I had been exposed to a truth about myself. I personally identify with that film. I have "redrum" tatooed on my back. It's A Wonderful Life is a close second. The ghosts of that film are with me in practically every major decision I make.



Nathaniel: Beautifully stated. I so respond to passion about film --to cinephilia as you define it. Some people think that that blurring of reality is a problem. But I actually don't trust people who don't get a little wild-eyed about something. I don't care if it's movies, knitting, cooking, synchronized swimming... if you're not obsessed with something I have to ask: what's wrong with you?

Arden: I agree. Cassavetes has this great quote which is that the most difficult thing in the world is to reveal yourself, to express what you have to. I think everyone is obsessed with something and I think everyone goes a little crazy sometimes. But I think everyone is living under this assumption that if they just keep it together for another 24 hours there will be some sort of pay-off. Believe me, there's no pay-off for pretending to be like everyone else. You are better off just admitting you're bat-shit crazy.

Nathaniel: Yep. Speaking of crazy: describe the following Warren Beatty conquests lovers in five words or less: Julie Christie. Diane Keaton. Natalie Wood. Madonna and Annette Bening.

Arden:

Julie Christie - independence never looked so co-dependent

Diane Keaton - more of a Nicholson girl

Natalie Wood - too fragile to resist breaking

Madonna - boring girl, great blow jobs

Annette Bening - I mean... better than Capshaw...

Nathaniel: lol. You kill me. What's the weirdest thing that's ever happened to you (or near you) at a movie theater?

Arden: Probably having my boss lecture me outside a screening at Sundance in front of a bunch of people. The lecture began with "Let me tell you something...I didn't write the Bible... but I know everything." That was embarrassing. Also, I went on a blind date to Miike's Audition at the New Beverly in LA. Its just the worst date movie. Especially with someone you don't know. I never saw that guy again. He probably thought I was going to saw his foot off with a piano wire.

Nathaniel: Oh dear, yeah. Especially if you picked the movie. Which leads me (I'm so sorry to segueway from pianowire to this. I truly am) to the topic of sex. Your play Cinephilia is rather hormonal... you don't seem like a shy girl. What do movies get wrong and right about sex? Favorite sex scenes...?

Arden: I like being provocative and discussing sex because it's like licking a battery. I just feels titallating on the tongue. I think its because in mainstream film sex is really boring and not at all representational of the human experience. So going into any detail at all is fun for me. Sex is usually a narrative beat (...and then they had sex) and never explored further. I like sex scenes that involved real characters and not airbrushed cartoons. I really liked the oral sex scene in Gallo's Brown Bunny. I love Joe Swanberg's Kissing on the Mouth where all the girls have cellulite and pubic hair and sex is portrayed as what it's become to the post-collegiate set: a casual sport. All of Last Tango in Paris. The scene on the stairs in A History of Violence. Robert Downey Jr. and Heather Graham's sex scene in Two Girls and a Guy.

Nathaniel: God, I'd forgot all about that one. I remember that gave the MPAA heart palpitations at the time and if I recall they barely take their clothes off. You like the grittier realism. Everyone who does should see Late Marriage (2001). The sex scene is like a whole act in the film and it's brilliant. You learn everything you need to know about the relationship.

OK Final Question: They make a movie of your life. Who plays you? Title? Rating? Tagline?

Arden: oooo! It would be a brisk romantic dramedy in black and white called Imitating Life. I want Madeline Kahn circa 1974 to play me. Written by Elaine May and directed by Mike Nichols. It's defintely an R (for the smoking and the multiple uses of the word "fuck"). Tagline: "It's her world. You're just making a cameo."

Nathaniel: I've already bought my ticket and I've already handed the Oscar to Madeline Kahn posthumously. Thanks Arden!

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READERS: Share your thoughts about this exchange in the comments. Also, if you'd like to suggest some underappreciated blogger or rightly celebrated web celeb for me to toss 10 questions at, do so there as well.

A Movie Meme

I'm in a horrid mood so rather than bore you with whiny details, I thought I'd force a new silly meme into the blogosphere. I'm pushy and community-oriented like that. Enough with the book memes, ipod shuffles, and god knows what else. MOVIES! I'm tagging the following ten humanoids to answer this bakers dozen of movie-related questions on their own blogs.

Arden, JA, Catherine, Jeffrey, Nick, Javier, Glenn, Rob, Nova, and RC

After which they should tag at least 3 more people to answer it.

1. Popcorn or candy?
2. Name a movie you've been meaning to see forever.
3. You are given the power to recall one Oscar: Who loses theirs and to whom?
4. Steal one costume from a movie for your wardrobe. Which will it be?
5. Your favorite film franchise is...
6. Invite five movie people over for dinner. Who are they? Why'd you invite them? What do you feed them?
7. What is the appropriate punishment for people who answer cell phones in the movie theater?
8. Choose a female bodyguard: Ripley from Aliens. Mystique from X-Men. Sarah Connor from Terminator 2. The Bride from Kill Bill. Mace from Strange Days
9. What's the scariest thing you've ever seen in a movie?
10. Your favorite genre (excluding comedy and drama) is?
11. You are given the power to greenlight movies at a major studio for one year. How do you wield this power?
12. Bonnie or Clyde?
13. Who are you tagging to answer this survey?

My Boy Beatty

Happy 69th birthday to my idol Warren Beatty! I worship the ground that he walks on. It isn't just that he slept with three different women from my "10 people I'd switch teams for" list (Natalie Wood, Madonna, and Annette Bening being the delicious trinity for the unduly curious among you). It's that he's a ridiculously handsome man, an intelligent director, and a smashingly good actor (that's the part that people forget). People are always so busy worshipping Eastwood, Nicholson, and whoever... but for this movie buff Old Hollywood IS Warren Beatty.

If you've never understood the fuss, rent yourself Bonnie & Clyde, Shampoo, Splendor in the Grass, McCabe & Mrs. Miller or Reds and be converted.