In an off blog e-mail correspondence earlier this week, one of my fellow movie bloggers said to me "The best thing about this year's Best Actress race is that Streep isn't in it." That's funny. It's true that her ubiquity can be exhausting. It must especially feel like a relief for other Tinseltown goddesses in those rare years when she isn't in play. More room for them. But since Streep at 60, a web series we started over a year ago, needs to wrap up, let's discuss her final (to date) nominations.
In the past two years Streep put yet more distance between herself and her nearest competitors. Her two closest Oscar rivals, Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn, are long gone from planet earth. Streep's similarly aged / Oscar friendly peers (Lange, Close, Weaver, Sarandon, Spacek & Field) have faded from the movie spotlight, comparatively speaking, robbing them of Meryl's abundant Oscar-tallying opportunities.
We suspect Streep's "most nominated" record will stand forever unless, and it's a longshot, Kate Winslet's career (she's only 35) has similar curves, reinventions and renewals: When Streep was 35 (circa Falling in Love) she had collected 5 nominations and 2 wins; Winslet has collected 6 Oscar nominations and 1 win.
2008.
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married*Nathaniel's vote*
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River *Nathaniel's second choice*
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader
Other women for context Probably Came Close: Sally Hawkins (Happy Go Lucky) and Kristin Scott Thomas(I've Loved You So Long); Traction Trouble: Emma Thompson (Last Chance Harvey) and Cate Blanchett (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)... I suspect they just needed a break with the latter since they loved the film; Low Impact: Nicole Kidman (Australia -just discussed), Keira Knightley (The Duchess); Box Office Queens:Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia!), Kristen Stewart (Twilight), Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex & the City) and Reese Witherspoon (Four Christmases)
2009.
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education *Nathaniel's second choice*
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire *Nathaniel's vote*
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Other women for context Probably Came Close: Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria) and Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones); Traction Troubles: Abbie Cornish (Bright Star) and Tilda Swinton (Julia); Low Impact: Julia Roberts (Duplicity), Hilary Swank (Amelia); Box Office Queens: Sandra Bullock (The Proposal) and Meryl Streep (It's Complicated) a rare case of the main Oscar rivals also being big bank in separate films within the same year.
So...
IMPORTANT NOTE: These last two years of the Best Actress category have been very polarizing battles with the winners beloved & loathed in seemingly equal measure. Let's NOT discuss those divisive wins again but the fields in general. Stay Positive. It'll allow new discussions to unfold.
Answer me these questions, four
Which performance has grown on you?
Who do you think landed in the dread six-spot in both years?
Concerning the newbies (Mulligan, Sidibe, Hathaway, Leo, Bullock)... which do you think will return to the race and how soon/often? [Keep in mind that most don't. Approximately 67% of acting nominees are never recognized with a second nomination.]
and...
Meryl Streep's Julia Child offers to cook you dinner. But only if you eat it at the table with Sister Aloysius icily judging you with every bite, chew and shallow. Do you accept the offer?
News this heavy with starry wattage and awarded source material spreads quickly. I'm sure you've heard this morning that Kate Winslet & Matt Dillon will square off with Jodie Foster & Christopher Waltz as the combative couples of Yasmine Reza's hilarious and occasionally disturbing four-hander, God of Carnage. Make that Roman Polanski's God of Carnage, since he's bound to make adjustments in the adaptation. I fear that they'll add characters and scenes and lose the play's intense get-me-outta-here vibe... all in the name of "opening it up" as a movie. But perhaps I worry for nothing. Polanski has shown skill at non-literal claustrophic material in the past. In the play two sets of parents meet up cordially to discuss a school fight between their children and the way it breaks down, everyone basically breaks down. The play is entirely set in the living room of one of the couples and takes place in real time.
James Gandolfini, Hope Davis, Marcia Gay Harden and Jeff Daniels in Broadway's God of Carnage (2009)
Polanski is a reliable auteur and all four actors are strong but I still have to worry. It's my nature. I'm hoping that everyone involved understands first and foremost that it's a comedy. This type of material could easily fall apart if it loses its satiric edge and embraces the dramatic too willfully. If it does, people will just be like "ugh. these people are so immature. I hate them!" and you know how the public reacts to characters they don't like.
Pray for Jodie to pull this off!
The most intriguing casting choice has to be Jodie Foster, who I assume is taking on the Tony-winning Marcia Gay Harden role. I would haved loved to have seen Harden get this shot on the big screen but they rarely let people transfer... even Oscar winning people who aren't bankable. Anyway, Foster knows from claustrophic environs (Panic Room, Flight Plan, Silence of the Lambs) but she hasn't spent much time honing her comic gifts and this character is, at least in my experience of the play, the fulcrum point. She's full of abundant pretense and holier-than-thou speechifying and she'd be utterly detestable and annoying if she weren't also so funny and so endearingly a complete emotional wreck. It's just a killer role.
I'm glad the two time Oscar winner will be truly challenging herself for the first time in well over a decade but if you rest you rust and I hope she's up to the challenge. *
Antenna looks at the year in Bollywood box office. Not a pretty story Pussy Goes Grrrr on loving Julianne Moore Mr Hipp "we all go a little mad sometimes" If Charlie Parker... Sir Ian McKellen before and after. popbytes Clint Eastwood wants Joaquin Phoenix and Leonardo DiCaprio as lovers for the Hoover biopic.
Twitch a teaser poster for Wong Kar Wai's The Grand Master popbytes Kate Winslet's new man Empire wait... they're still trying to make Ender's Game into a movie? Give it up already. Love the book but I am most decidedly not down with Gavin Hood after that atrocious Wolverine movie. /Film four people watch Buried...while buried. That is SO not right as promotional events go. Shudder. Serious Film thinks that Jesse Eisenberg is getting an Oscar nomination for The Social Network. Hmmm, I can't see it yet (the nomination, not the film. I see the film very soon) Some Came Running brief notes to prepare you in the watching of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Damn, I wish I'd read this before the movie. Actually, I don't. I like to go to movies as blind as possible as to their content. But if you like a little more of an inkling, this is a good users manual.
It's not intentional but today will be something of a TV day here at The Film Experience -- and to think how we were just bitching about all the false arguments in its favor -- and let's start with this trailer for the HBO Miniseries Mildred Pierce. [thanks to Sebastián for alerting me]
Like Angels in America seven years back, the director, cast and production values allow us to easily pretend that it's really just a feature film in disguise. It's just another part of The Great Convergence because what are today's franchises like Harry Potter and Twilight other than three season'ish long television series with bigger budgets?
YES I'll see anything -- and have seen everything -- that Todd Haynes directs. From subversive queer shorts like Dottie Gets Spanked to the inventive Superstar (the legally troubled Karen Carpenter bio with Barbie dolls) through to Oscar contending films like Far From Heaven and I'm Not There. His films never fail to excite the eyeballs, the intellect and hormones. Some people think he has trouble with the heart portion of entertainment, that his films are too heady, but to this complaint I say [insert expletive]. Even if that were true, better that problem than the far more common cinematic ailments of brainlessness, sexlessness and generic aesthetics.
NO I don't understand the casting of 23 year old Evan Rachel Wood as 34 year old Kate Winslet's nasty ungrateful daughter Veda at all. Aren't they too old and too young for their roles respectively, thus compounding the problem? Believable mother daughter chemistry won't be as important as usual since they're at odds, but still. Not sure I follow this. Plus, I've been aching for Evan Rachel Wood to get out of her bad girl rut. She has more range than this (or at least she once did).
MAYBE SO As much as I love Kate Winslet, performing in the shadow of Joan Crawford's signature role just seems so... foolhardy? It's one thing to star in an adaptation of a novel that's been adapted before. It's quite another to star in an adaptation of a novel that's been adapted before as an immortal and glamorous star's biggest hour.
I'm a yes given Kate + Todd + below the line players like DP Edward Lachman. Though I feel I should note that Todd's regular costume designer Sandy Powell did not work on this -- she told me her schedule conflicted when I interviewed her during the Young Victoria Oscar run.
My current plan: read the book in the next month or two so as not to be thinking of the gorgeous Michael Curtiz noir the whole way through.
Kate in her Emmy winning* role as Mildred Pierce.
You? Have you seen Joan Crawford's Oscar winning take on the Mildred Pierce role? If not, what are you waiting for?
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies. You remember it well, I'm sure. She was dragged from her bed to watch an intimately staged performance of the new play Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. As the play ended and the music soared, she walked right onto the Neverland set filled with fairies and crocodiles and pirates which had miraculously sprung up in her own living room. And she kept on walking right into her own spotlit afterlife. Well that was how it happened to Kate Winslet as Sylvia in Finding Neverland at least. They took some liberties with the timeline for the movie.
Davies was survived by her five sons, who had of course served as inspiration for Peter Pan. The author JM Barrie, a close family friend, all but adopted the boys after her death, as they'd lost their father three years prior to her passing.
So for today's Posterized, in tribute to the Davies boys and their mum, let's glance at the various film incarnations of the story of that boy who never grew up.
Peter Pan (1924) | Peter Pan (1953)
Hook (1991) | Peter Pan (2003) | Return to Neverland (2004)
Those are the only five "authorized" screen versions of which P.J. Hogan's 2003 version is the winner (not that the silent feature and the Disney movie don't have their moments. The less said about Hook the better.) The 2003 version is so undervalued, appropriately fantastical and is also (relatively) true to the 1911 novel Peter and Wendy which was expanded from the stage play and is how most human beings knew the myth until Disney got a hold of it of course.
The Lost Boys (1978) | Finding Neverland (2004) | Neverland (2003)
There are numerous unauthorized versions and reinterpretrations (the most recent of which, Neverland, I included above), lots of animated version from other countries as well as two films specifically about JM Barrie and his relationship to the Davies family which star Ian Holm and Johnny Depp respectively. I wasn't a fan of Finding Neverland (2004) but someone sure was; it won 7 Oscar nominations including Best Picture.
I haven't seen that Ian Holm production but I'd love to hear from anyone who did. I had no idea that existed and I find it very odd that that means that Sir Ian Holm has played not one but two famous authors who had much discussed relationships with other people's children. He also played Alice in Wonderland scribe Lewis Carroll in Dreamchild (1985) which is about Alice as an older woman remembering her youth and her friendship with the author. I guess Ian Holm has been cast as an eccentric writer more often than that even. He's also Bilbo Baggins and played strange scribes in Joe Gould's Secretand Naked Lunch. Funny how actors get in those weird casting grooves.
"I want to thank each of you for your generous support and I sincerely hope that you enjoy the blog post."
If you need someone to introduce something, you choose Angela Bassett. It's the only way to go. She will always e•nun•ci•ate for you. I lead off with Angela's intro to the concert which concludes Music of the Heart because this is the sort of film that is entirely about its heartwarming climax. In fact, when it comes to movie narratives, the Inspirational True Story is the subgenre that most begs a swift telling. Inspirational Stories are about inevitable triumphs. The audience knows it's coming so too much dilly-dallying is deadly.
Music of the Heart tells the story of Roberta Guaspari (Meryl Streep) who started a violin program in East Harlem. The program was forever endangered due to a lack of funding for arts education (same as it ever was), but it changed the lives of Roberta, her family, and thousands of students while it lasted.
<-- Streep with her screen son (Michael Angaro way back when!)
When we first meet Roberta she's angry and red eyed, tearing up photos and screaming out the window at movers. Her husband has recently left her and she's moving back in with her mother (Cloris Leachman). With the help of her pushy mom and an old school friend who always had the hots for her (Aidan Quinn) she crawls towards a new life. She wins a teaching job from an East Harlem principal (Angela Bassett) who's impressed by her talent and chutzpah. We spend the rest of the movie watching Roberta find her footing as a single mom, teacher, and Inspirational True Person.
Like The River Wild (previously discussed), the simplistic story is complicated by Streep's detailed characterization. We know when Roberta is worried, turned on, sad, relieved, amused or angry... and she's often angry though Streep is careful to delineate the varieties thereof. Streep's violin skills won attention during the film's release -- is there anything she can't do or pick up quickly should a role require it? -- but that's a technical aspect of the performance that's a necessity rather than an interesting character interpretation. The most intriguing element of her performance is undoubtedly the push and pull between her meek wifely persona and the iron willed single woman she's forcing herself to become. You can feel this especially in the arc of her relationship with Aidan Quinn. Though he's helping her move forward into her new persona, she often seems to be retreating in his presence, replaying her marriage as it were.
Though it's not often discussed when praising her work, Streep's always been particularly skilled at conveying external romantic arcs and the erotic internal (which will hopefully serve her well in Great Hope Springs). I don't mean this in a garish "I'm sexy!" way but in a grounded flesh and blood way. She can hit all the notes that any good actor can about sexual attraction but she also drops enough conflicting suggestions into her performances to keep you guessing about how much Character A likes being with, romantically loves and desires to have sex with Character B and how consistently or deeply she feels or has ever felt those things and whether those types of love are satisfyingly portioned out. If you stop to think about romances, isn't that far more truthful than merely portraying attraction or the lack of it.
"Whoa. Slow down here a minute. That's a little too much like getting married."
But it's strange to talk about how much she does or doesn't want to have sex with Aidan Quinn in Music of the Heart, because A) who wouldn't? and B) she's playing this romance while entirely buried in Wal-Mart's Old Maid line. Question for all: Is Roberta Streep's frumpiest character? You'd barely know she had breasts or hips underneath all those layers and heavy ankle length dresses. Roberta barely remembers that she has them either, given that her two sons are forced to play matchmaker in the second act.
About that second act. Music of the Heart is more enjoyable than its reputation suggests but it does lose considerable steam when it jumps forward ten years. There's a fun moment shortly before the movie's phantom intermission when Roberta conspiratorially teaches her students to make the audience wait for the final notes of a song. The promised moment of silence and release in the mini-concert is quite a satisfying finish. (There's even a slo-mo fadeout like the movie is ending!) Until, you realize, that was only the curtain on Act 1. You've now seen Roberta triumph over her past meek self, lazy students, disbelieving faculty, and her commitment-phobic boyfriend. Now, you'll watch her triumph all over again but on a larger scale.
Roberta's artful baiting , that "wait for it..." theatrical finish, only lasts a few beats. Craven's "wait for it" finish involves a whole second movie. Roberta teach her students discipline. Wes Craven, taking a rare step outside the horror genre for this true story, merely tests his audience's patience.
Music of the Heart is moving, yes. I teared up, I did. But what Inspirational True Story involving kids and learning isn't? Streep makes a valiant effort with Roberta, though, and her sensitive performance is the best and arguably only reason to see this inelegantly structured, awkwardly told story.
♫
As you may know, Music of the Heart netted Streep her 12th nomination. Some context now.
That honor tied Katharine Hepburn's nomination record and kept Jack Nicholson permanently at bay (the next time he was nominated, she was too). It took Hepburn 49 years to win 12 nominations. Streep did it in only 21. Hepburn is still the champ for Oscar wins with 4 competitive statues to her name. Streep's insane nomination record is working against her when it comes to actual wins. When you're nominated in more than 50% of the Oscar races in your working lifetime -- she has been -- what incentive do they have to give you yet more recognition in the form of a win?
for 1999 the nominees were
Annette Bening, American Beauty
Janet McTeer, Tumbleweeds
Julianne Moore, The End of the Affair
Meryl Streep, Music of the Heart
Hilary Swank, Boys Don't Cry*Nathaniel's vote*
Whatever one thinks of the merits of Streep's nominated performance, deserving or not, it was her most obvious "default" gong. My guess is it's the only competitive field in which she ran 5th in the final voting tallies.
Other 1999 women for context It was not a competitive Best Actress year. Though there was critical love for Reese Witherspoon (Election) anti-comedy bias and poor box office worked against her worthy hilarious performance as Tracey Flick. Cecilia Roth (All About My Mother) had a passionate but very small fanbase. Beyond that, it didn't seem like anyone was really competing: Michelle Pfeiffer (Deep End of the Ocean, The Story of Us) had a double dose of loud pre-release hype that didn't translate to actual buzz once the films underwhelmed, other Oscar-types like Jodie Foster (Anna and the King), Sigourney Weaver (A Map of the World) Susan Sarandon (Anywhere But Here), Kate Winslet (Holy Smoke!) and Kristin Scott Thomas (Random Hearts) failed to generate enthusiasm for one reason or five others. Meanwhile, Julia Roberts (Notting Hill, The Runaway Bride) ruled the box office and Franka Potente (Run Lola Run) made a frantic dash through the nation's arthouses.
Nathaniel's medals would divvy up like so...
Gold (Winslet. I still think Holy Smoke! is her best work)
Silver (Swank)
Bronze (Bening or Witherspoon?)
For the fifth nominee I'd go with either Moore, Potente or Roth. (I haven't seen McTeer's much lauded Tumbleweeds performance.)
Do you have strong feelings, warm or otherwise, towards Music of the Heart? Who would make your 1999 Best Actress list? *
New York dailies aren't exactly known for their subtlety.
This makes me feel bad for being somewhat glib yesterday. For all the cutesy in this headline -- "Kate Winslet jumps ships" -- it feels inaccurate. Kate has always been a lousy tabloid star in that she's famous for her talent and work first rather than any personal life drama or flamboyance. So I highly doubt this divorce will be catastrophic for anyone.
Unless they're implying that Kate's departure is an iceberg for Sam Mendes career.
it's sci-fi day! Though we won't restrict ourselves to other dimensions for this plus size roundup
PLAIN OL' DRAMA/COMEDY Against the Hype omg i ♥ this. Lust, Caution's crucial mahjong game's narrative impact decoded for us Westerners. The Awl converses about A Single Man Scott Brothers actresses and directors, a neat photogallery Go Fug Yourself misses Keira Knightley Sho'Nuff Lives lets it all out before the Oscars The Big Picture more controversies for The Hurt Locker. Weird that all of these things are happening / being aired after voting has finalized. You'd think those smear campaigns woulda hurried. my internet... is not having Mildred Pierce remake fourfourCrazy Heart in 3 sec/∞ BuzzSugar Kidman tries a romcoms again
GENRE 4EVAH VultureAvatar satire cut from Oscars? Well, if you remember James Cameron's freakout at a critic who didn't love Titanic you'll know he's very sensitive. The New Yorker the oft hilarious Anthony Lane on the rise of 3-D Boing Boing god bless futuristic technology. Have you heard Roger Ebert get an approximation of his voice back? i09 "Battle Angel Alita" plot details /FilmSpace Invaders movie in development. They're just paying for the title I guess. There isn't a story. Not one that I remember at least. But I was more a Robotron person in my quarter slotting days Loyal KNG like the new Prince of Persia trailer?
And god bless futuristic technology. Have you heard beloved critic Roger Ebert get an approximation of his voice back?
OSCAR PRESENTERS LIST Yes! Kathy Bates, Robert Downey Jr., Jake Gyllenhaal, Charlize Theron Duh, of course Queen Latifah, Barbra Streisand (if she gets to do best picture again... i'm going to scream. I love early Babs but spread the f***in wealth, Oscar), John Travolta (no wait, it'll be Travolta. Blargh), Sam Worthington Huh... but interesting Tom Ford, Keanu Reeves (I bet he presents Best Actress) Really? Jason Bateman, Gerard Butler I get it. But I feel nothing Bradley Cooper, Samuel L. Jackson, Tyler Perry, Chris Pine, Ryan Reynolds Again? When so many people never have Ben Stiller It's the Oscars EMMYs Steve Carell, Tina Fey Oscar is that old man who bought a red sports car and pierced one eartrying to look young Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron, Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart
<-- Though I've read on several sites that last year's winners Sean Penn, Kate Winslet and Penélope Cruz will appear, the list above is on the Oscars site. Does this mean they've chucked the tradition of previous opposite sex acting winners presenting. Sniffle. I loved that. Here I was hoping for a Winslet "I love my life" Jeff Bridges moment... given that she's already expressed immense love for that movie. I thought last year's acting presentation was just a short break from one of Oscar's oldest traditions.
Kate Winslet is a full fledged star whose name conjures up memories of great performances from one of the best lead actresses of her generation. But it really wasn't that long ago that she was still a "promising young British actress." It probably didn't take Kenneth Branagh a long time to figure that she was a natural fit for the role of Ophelia when he was making his Hamlet (my favorite Shakespeare adaptation ever). She already had Heavenly Creatures and Sense and Sensibility behind her, so perhaps "very promising" is the right set of adjectives to describe where she stood.
The role of Ophelia comes ready-made with a great scene (I'd say Oscar-clip but somehow The Academy didn't feel it necessary to recognize one of Kate's best performances). Act IV Scene 5 is iconic, and Kate plays crazy without ever seeming overcooked. But this isn't my favorite moment of her performance. Her best moment is in Act III Scene 1. When the most famous monologue in all of Shakespeare's plays has come to an end, the real fireworks between Hamlet and Ophelia begin. If, as the cliche states, "acting is re-acting" then Kate's reacting to Branagh's scenery chewing is nothing short of brilliant. What we're watching is a young woman's heart break right before our very eyes. In a career filled with great moments and in a movie filled with fine performances it stands out.
Iris doesn't really get mentioned much any more - I expect it'll be remembered in the footnotes of cinema for Jim Broadbent's Oscar win. But it also brought Kate Winslet her third Oscar nomination - her first since Titanic. It's probably the film that really made it clear that she would be one of the pre-eminent actresses of the 2000s. And it remains one of her finest, most overlooked performances.
The film intercuts between the deteriorating Iris Murdoch (Dame Judi Dench) and her husband's memories of her as a vibrant young intellectual who he fell in love with. Winslet moves between the effervescent passion with which Iris delivers all her philosophical reflections and her guarded, cautious approach to her actual life and work. But it'd be easy for Winslet to stick to simplistic characteristics as they are essentially all the film requires of her - it's John's memories, of course, and they could be played as uncomplicated remembrances. But Winslet gives the edge of slight condescension, hidden inadequacy, deep sensuality - and all the other things we see reflected in Dench's performance.
My main memory of the film is Winslet's squeals rising over the fade out of the previous scene where Iris has recieved the news about her condition - and then her younger self is carefreely spinning down a country road on a bicycle, a sad counterpoint to the older Iris' acceptance that her career, and her life, are ending. Or matching John's panic as he searches for Iris with more cycling and a yelled out discussion of Proteus. But as for her Oscar clip, that was probably either her soft, warm singing, or her confession of past lovers, delivered with a mix of defiance and tentative sadness. "You know more about me than anyone on earth... you are my world." It epitomizes what the film is about - what is, ultimately, a complex but dedicated love affair. And Kate delivers it beautifully.
how much I'd missed the acting clips during 2009's Oscar ceremony and also how differently do Europeans perceive greatness compared to people in our hemisphere.
When they got to Best Actress (in a mouthwatering lineup that included Penélope Cruz, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yolande Moreau, Katie Jarvis and of course Winslet) I was surprised to see that for Winslet's clip they picked my favorite scene in "The Reader".
The moment when Hanna enters a church, while on her biking holiday with Michael (David Kross) and sits on a bench while listening to a children's choir. That scene, for me, represents what made her performance so powerful. Hanna sits there, her face changes and we see her visibly moved to the point of tears. Winslet appears to be doing absolutely nothing, which might be the truth, because we realize that this isn't Winslet anymore.
The church scene embodies both aspects of Hanna and Winslet's performance. On one side the people who see her as a Nazi monster might think that she cries because she misses her youth, is envious of the little children who sing and might want to have them for lunch. Those who care to see beyond the Nazi tag, will see a woman that perhaps is watching beauty for the first time in her entire life. She has a secret-which I won't spoil for those who haven't seen it-that makes this scene all the more relevant when we discover it. Hanna is in experiencing an indescribable presence she never even imagined existed before. Can it be that through art she's experiencing God?
I found it a bit disappointing that in her lust for Oscar, Winslet reached a point where she didn't seem to care what performance she got it for and the media only concentrated on how much she wanted the damn thing. Because truth be told, in "The Reader" the actress, in all her delicately raw glory, becomes the writer (no offense to Bernhard Schlink and David Hare) of Hanna Schmitz.
I also wonder what clip of hers would Oscar have chosen.
While it may not be my very favourite Kate Winslet moment it was, for whatever reason, the one that immediately leaped into my mind when Nathaniel asked us to share. Perhaps it is residual Avatar love, but the Kate Winslet moment I wanted to highlight was the cold and watery goodbye between Winslet's Rose and Leonardo DiCaprio's Jack. By now I think the pendulum has swung back in Titanic's favour, especially with Avatar reminding everyone just what it is and was that James Cameron does so well so hopefully you guys don't try and bury me in the comments.
This scene in particular is not even the best in the film, but you have to admit that it's probably the moment that solidified Kate as a face that will be forever recognised around the world. Come to think of it, it's quite amazing to think that KATE WINSLET is the star of the highest grossing movie of all time, isn't it? The same woman who would go on to make Hideous Kinky, Holy Smoke!, Little Children, The Reader and Romance & Cigarettes.
I still think Titanic is a fantastic movie - I'd say it's better than Avatar, but is that pushing it? - and I still tear up with Winslet's Rose tries to call for help and she paddles towards that whistle and tries to hardest to get the rescue boats attention. I'm sure it's uncool to say so, but my heart goes on for Titanic and Kate Winslet in it.
One year ago today, Kate Winslet took home not one, but two Golden Globes. One reader -- perhaps in jest and I apologize that I can't remember who -- suggested that ever after January 11th should be an internationally celebrated Kate Winslet Day. I scribbled it in my calendar and here we are one year later, ready to sponsor the holiday.
We're setting aside the controversy that surrounded that double -- a lot of moviegoers weren't so enamored of the performances -- because we acknowledge that in the real world, awards are often based on the cumulative triumphs of their recipients. We're not saying that's right but if you're judging on cumulative triumphs, she deserves to have more trophies than hands.
I've asked my guest bloggers to detail their favorite moment within any particular Kate Winslet performance today but since no one chose Heavenly Creatures (1994) or Sense & Sensibility (1995) -- the films that made her -- or Holy Smoke! (my personal favorite Winslet turn) or Jude (a baity period turn that didn't get much Oscar traction. Too miserabilist perhaps?)...
...I figured we'd start with you. What's your favorite moment in any of those four performances? And do you sanction an International Kate Winslet Day? *
Jose here. Last night after watching Two Lovers (my review here)there was one plea I kept repeating in my mind: please Joaquin Phoenix don't stop acting.
A lot was said earlier during the year about his retirement from acting and foray into rapping (I'm still trying to erase from my mind that unfunny, awkward Ben Stiller stint from the Oscars in February). And while he's been one of the most consistently fine actors in recent years (despite of some of the film choices he's made) and has received two Academy Award nominations this decade, he's truly remained underrated in a way.
People are used to his affecting Method acting and his superb impersonating skills (I still think his Johnny Cash from Walk the Line was robbed of the Best Actor Oscar), but when it comes to the one performance of his I think is pure genius, it's none other than the Abbe de Coulmier in Philip Kaufman's Quills.
The movie is a treasure chest of underrated performances (not even Kate Winslet got enough recognition for this!) perhaps because all of them were overshadowed by the extraordinary Geoffrey Rush playing the Marquis de Sade.
But back to Joaquin, notice how he literally inhabits the madhouse of Charendon in the movie. His every move is filled with grace and quiet domination. He might not be liked by all the patients, but he belongs there more than they do and they respect him for that.
His character is forced to go through "typical" movie problems priests must endure (duty vs. lust, good vs. evil etc...) but Phoenix manages overall to be human. His scenes with Winslet (who plays the virginal, sexy chambermaid of his dreams) sizzle with erotically charged innocence (sounds like an oxymoron, but you have to see these two together to understand).
His hidden passion and angst evoke Natalie Wood's glorious performance in Splendor in the Grass. You know they're going through something terrible, you wish to help them, but they exert a power over you that inspires guilty pleasure. Phoenix was nominated for an Oscar that year for screaming and hating Russell Crowe in Gladiator, but it was the Abbe who showed us the actor's divine gift. *
Weirdest news of the week coming at'cha right now...
Kate Winslet, who we all thought would lie low for a bit after her Oscar win, is going to play "Mildred Pierce". Yes that Mildred Pierce! It's the restaurateur/mother/martyr role that won the immortal Joan Crawford her long coveted Oscar. HBO is expected to win the rights to the film which is, according to Variety, not a feature remake so much as a miniseries adaptation of the novel that the 1945 classic was based on.
But still...
What's infinitely better news than another classic being reworked? A classic being reinterpreted by the one and only Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven), that's what. If you they have to remake classic cinema --and they don't have to but never mind all that -- at least get someone with a true voice involved. Haynes has already made a mini masterpiece by riffing on the films of Douglas Sirk. He's adept at cinema on cinema or any kind of text on text for that matter. But will lightning strike twice? And for the small screen?
Joan Crawford could not be reached for comment but we hear she's pissed.
Streep at 60: More movie discussions to follow but today we're discussing Oscar competitive fields again (the winner links take you to their acceptance speech)
The Best Actress races of 1982 and 1983 hold special meaning for me as they were my inaugural Oscar years. On April 11th of 1983 I saw my first Oscar ceremony. My only point of reference for the glitzy tradition was that my parents and my older siblings didn't like it -- something about Star Wars being way better than Woody Allen??? --and even though my parents didn't take me to that many movies, I had somehow seen and liked 3 of the 5 Best Picture nominees (Gandhi and the two blockbusters Tootsie & E.T.) For the first two years of my Oscar watching I saw a total of ZERO Best Actress nominees. My how life has changed.
1982...
Julie Andrews, Victor/Victoria -this is the one I desperately wanted to see, being in love with both Mary Poppins and Maria Von Trapp. My parents refused to take me, muttering something about Julie Andrews appearing in a porno... I was very confused.
Other '82 female leads for context: Diane Keaton in Shoot the Moon, Teri Garr in One From the Heart, Carol Burnett in Annie, Dolly Parton in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Nathalie Baye in The Return of Martin Guerre and Michelle Pfeiffer in Grease 2
Streep Stats: With this win Meryl became the 4th actress to win an Oscar for a Nazi/Holocaust related drama. It didn't happen again until Winslet won this past February for The Reader. Meryl was not, at 33 then, the youngest actress to win a second Oscar. Luise Rainer still holds that title winning her second Oscar in 1938 when she was only 28. Even Jodie Foster couldn't top that (her Silence of the Lambs win came at 29 years of age).
Other '83 female leads for context: Arielle Dombasle in Pauline at the Beach, Mariel Hemingway in Star 80, Bonnie Bedelia in Heart Like a Wheel, Sigweavy in The Year of Living Dangerously, Susan Sarandon & Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger and Babs in Yentl.
Streep Stats: Despite being only 34 years old when her 5th nomination rolled around, Meryl doesn't hold the record for fastest to get there: Bette Davis held the record for 65 years (accomplishing it by the age of 33) until Kate Winslet took over earning her fifth nomination (Little Children) at 31. I'm guessing that record holds for as long as Bette's did.
Give or take Norma Shearer who is either tied for 3rd place or in 5th place depending on how you count her nominations
What are your ideal Oscar shortlists / wins in 1982 and 1983? If you haven't seen very many early 80s movies, which are you most eager to finally get to?
Vanity Fair briefly killed my enthusiasm for the "Hollywood project" when they nixed the traditional cover for 2009. But time heals most wounds and I have reanimated the project's corpse. 2004's cover had 13 already peaking actresses on it. How'd they follow it in 2005? With another batch of goddesses, 60% of whom had already graced their "Hollywood" cover. In the case of the C/Kates, it was now thrice. Was Vanity Fair running out of ideas? Given the idiosyncratic pool the covers regularly pulled from you'd think there were only 40 actresses in Hollywood... but then, it's probably all in who you know who represents you when it comes to face time here. It's definitely not only about the fame. Consider this: this cover series lasted from 1995 - 2008 and Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, Michelle Williams and Tilda Swinton never appeared on them (just four chronologically appropriate examples off the top of my head).
click to enlarge for maximum beauty
For reasons that only pop culture archives will be able to fully explain to future generations this cover was called "Not So Desperate Housewives". Only two of these actresses were even married at the time (the C/Kates) and only six kids had sprung from their enviable DNA (two kids each for Cate, Kate and Uma).
Uma Thurman, about to turn 35, had appeared on VF's very first Hollywood issue back in1995. Back then she was celebrating her deserved Oscar nom for Pulp Fiction. I like to think that her get up here, white shirt and black pants (the only one of the ladies eschewing a gown), was a nod to "Mia Wallace" in Pulp Fiction. It would make sense. Director Quentin Tarantino had just finished (momentarily) resuscitating her talent and fame with those thrilling Kill Bills and she was about to risk memories of that film with the John Travolta dance number in Be Cool. She had divorced Ethan Hawke in 2004 and the three films coming out (Prime, Be Cool and The Producers) were a nice range of drama, comedy and musical... on paper. Onscreen it didn't work out so well. More flops followed. Uma turns 40 in 2010, and she's undoubtedly looking for that third career wind. Next up: Motherhood, Percy Jackson and Eloise in Paris.
Cate Blanchett had just been won an Oscar (The Aviator) and was about to turn 36. Aside from the Oscar win, 2005 was quiet. Blanchett never stays quiet. The next four years would be jam packed full of Oscar bait and trips down the red carpet culminating in the two biggest non-Hobbity hits of her career (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). No films in 2009 (shocker!) but she'll be back in 2010 as Maid Marian in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood [see previous posts]
Kate Winslet was 29 years old, still Oscar-less and an old pro at the "Hollywood" covers. Uma & Cate are her superiors when it comes to behaving like models in photoshoots (think about it), but she wasn't letting them pull all the focus with her sleek über sexy look here. Her inarguable triumph in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) was about to prove very difficult to follow. Fascinating time capsule note: 2005 is the year wherein she guest starred on "Extras" as a foul mouthed narcissistic "Kate Winslet", bitching about having to do a Holocaust drama to win an Oscar.
Despite that hilariously written and performed prophecy, her next several films didn't truly catch on (The Holiday, Little Children, Romance & Cigarettes, Revolutionary Road and All the Kings Men). The happy ending punchline arrived earlier this year when she won her Oscar for the holocaust drama The Reader. Up next: Nothing. With Oscar in hand, I'm guessing she lays low for the next couple of years. She was never a ubiquitous celebrity to begin with.
Scarlett Johansson was just 20 and already a back to back Hollywood covergirl. She had skyrocketed in 2003 with the global success of Lost in Translation, the critical success of Girl with a Pearl Earring and her high profile relationship with another Young Hollywood star, Josh Hartnett. And though nothing in 2004 had added much to her mystique she had the lead in a would be summer blockbuster for 2005 (The Island, which flopped). No one at the time saw her Woody Allen's muse status coming, but Match Point (their first collaboration) was about to debut at Cannes and become the legendary director's biggest hit in over a decade. Cut to several Scarlett roles and three calendar years later: she's beloved as a celebrity, newlywed and spokesperson but who loves her as an actress, any more? Can she turn that around with her stint as The Black Widow in Iron Man 2 (see previous post)
<-- Rupert Everett, Claire Danes and Billy Crudup at the premiere of Stage Beauty in October 2004
Claire Danes, turning 26 appears to have been slain by ScarJo. And maybe she was. Hollywood only has room for a handful of young superstar blondes in any given time period, you know. Perhaps she's prone as sacrifice for Cate, Kate and Uma none of whom have ceded much space for up and comers, holding onto big fame with that iron grip combo of talent, beauty and the favor of important filmmakers. Or maybe Mary-Louise Parker had snuck in to lay her down? It had only been a year since the gossip machine had ground and spit Claire Danes and Billy Crudup out for splitting with their partners -- in Billy's case, the several months pregnant Parker.
Which is all along way of saying that her cover girl status was slightly puzzling. Despite Danes' absolutely stellar start in television's My So Called Life and a promising initial silver screen transfer (Little Women and Romeo + Juliet), the movie career never really worked out. Her career had slipped in the late 90s and the Aughts brought nothing but a string of well performed but small supporting roles (The Hours, Igby Goes Down) or lead parts that didn't do much for her (Terminator 3, Stage Beauty). This trend continued after this cover, too: The Family Stone, Stardust, Evening and Shopgirl haven't provided breakthroughs. Up next: Temple Grandin in which she plays an autistic scientist. Should she try headlining a TV series again?
Rosario Dawson about to turn 26, had been on the cover before and had just caused a mini-fuss with her scene stealing nudity and feral performance in Alexander (2004). Vanity Fair's cover indicated a good sized year for her and it was: Sin City and Rent "I wanna go ouu--uuuuuttt, tonight" both premiered.
Zhang Ziyi newly 26, had enjoyed a high international profile since her breakthrough in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, five years earlier. The preceding months had been very good to her with three well received successful imports: 2046 (her best performance if you ask me), Hero and House of Flying Daggers. But she was undoubtedly on this cover because everyone in the world seemed to be anxiously awaiting Memoirs of a Geisha, then only a blockbuster book and not yet a disappointing movie. She was making lists like People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful, she was a frequent object of lust in men's magazines. Once the Memoirs craze ended, things went quiet, though one can still spot her on red carpets or in paparazzi shots with venture capitalist boyfriend Vivi Nevo. Is an international comeback going to happen? She's only 30. Next up: Sophie's Revenge and possibly the romantic drama Waiting which would reunite her with her Daggers co-star, Takeshi Kaneshiro, her only co-star to ever challenge her for "prettiest person in this movie" contests.
Kerry Washington, 28, had just appeared in the Oscar nominated biopic Ray and was still dating actor David Moscow (pictured together right, Jan. 2005) Many people, including yours truly, were pulling for major stardom for Kerry. She's still high profile and highly castable (young, beautiful, talented, speaks multiple languages including very handy ones for the cinema: French and Spanish) and yet the cinema can't seem to figure it out. 2005 brought only bit parts in Mr & Mrs. Smith and Fantastic Four. When will Hollywood ever figure out big careers for the top black actresses? It seems hopelessly beyond Tinseltown's capabilities. Things are still about the same for Kerry. She'll give a great performance (The Last King of Scotland, Dead Girl) and it's like it didn't happen at all in the larger scheme of the star hierarchies. It's so frustrating. Will her new projects turn the tide? Next up: A Thousand Words with Eddie Murphy and a possibly plum possibly Oscar-bait supporting role in Mother and Child starring Annette Bening.
Kate Bosworth, 22, was fresh off the underrated romantic comedy Win a Date With Tad Hamilton! and the flop biopic Beyond the Sea starring Kevin Spacey. She was very high profile in the celebrity-watching sector as Orland Bloom's girlfriend and Hollywood seemed to have faith in her. She was soon given the Lois Lane role in Superman Returns (unfortunate casting, that). Her film career has long since been smaller than her celebrity and she hasn't actually been making many movies. Next up: The Warrior's Way.
Sienna Miller, at 23 was, like Kate Bosworth, far more famous than her filmography would imply. She was Jude Law's new fiancé -- they had just made Alfie (Oct 2004, left)-- and he was at the peak of his celebrity. A few months after this Hollywood cover they broke off the engagement and their on and off again relationship has provided tabloid fodder for years now. She followed Alfie by romancing Heath Ledger in Casanova. She's been working a lot ever since (Factory Girl, Stardust, The Edge of Love, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh) but it looks doubtful that her movie career will ever equal her celebrity. Or not. Maybe she's just the right role away from more legitimate stardom? Next up: playing "The Baroness" in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
PLEASE NOTE: If you'd like to read more about any of these stars, click the names in the labels section below.
* median age: 27. Blanchett was the eldest, Scarlett the baby. noticeably absent: Who else was topical 'round mid 2004 to mid 2005? Let's see... Monica Bellucci (international profile raised with The Matrix films and The Passion of the Christ), Jennifer Garner (transferring to movies with 13 Going on 30 and Electra), Eva Mendes (had 4 movies coming out including Hitch), Lindsay Lohan (Mean Girls) and maybe Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) collective Oscar stats before cover: 7 noms / 1 win (all by the front cover girls. Blanchett won for The Aviator) collective Oscar stats after cover: 5 nominations / 1 win (3 for Cate, 2 for Kate) fame levels in 2009, according to famousr, from most to least: Uma Thurman, Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett, Kate Bosworth, Claire Danes, Sienna Miller, Rosario Dawson and Kerry Washington. Not listed in famousr for some bizarre reason:Kate Winslet & Zhang Ziyi. previous episodes:1995 ,1996, 1997,1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003and 2004. *
"Streep @ 60" Previous Nominations Discussed
2008. 
2009.
Other women for context
Posts
