Kathleen Turner Checks Out "The King's Speech"

Look it's Kathleen Turner attending a screening of The King's Speech. (The woman to her right is Jean Doumanian who produced many of Woody Allen's 90s pictures)

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Kathleen has one of the most famous speaking voices in the entirety of cinematic history. How could she possibly relate to the king's predicament?

I kid. Perhaps she loved it. How much would you love to see Ms. Turner's Oscar ballot?

I liked The King's Speech (though the "best of year" kudos puzzle) but if there were ever a biopic called The Kathleen's Speech which was all about Ms. Turner's husky pipes and how she developed her amazing line deliveries, I would totally campaign for it to win every award.

A Midwestern 80s Moment: Kathleen, Meryl, Terri, Lesley

I'm sure it was because I lived in Michigan in the 1980s and that's when John Hughes movies were always in theaters but it seemed (to young me) that the Midwest was Hollywood-Hot back then. So this one goes out to all the Midwestern readers and to four fine actresses who are often associated with the 1980s though one of them has clearly transcended our puny mortal concepts of time.

So we'll start with her...

Indiana
If you're a Meryl Streep fan -- and who isn't? -- and you live anywhere near Indiana University you should know that there's a free "evening with Meryl" at the college next month. (Why Indiana? Her husband Don Gummer studied there in the 60s). Free tickets for the public are available on November 3rd in the morning (for the Nov 12th event). I'm sure the lines will be long to snag one but Meryl will be discussing her career with IU alumnus Jane Pauley and there's even a Q&A afterwards.

Missouri
Cinema St. Louis just honored Kathleen Turner with a lifetime achievement award on Sunday and We Are Movie Geeks was there to tell you about it. Can any Missouri-located readers answer me this: Does the Cinema St. Louis always have such good taste? Kathleen is in Missouri with her new play "High" which co-stars Broadway great Michael Berresse (Tony nominee, Kiss Me Kate). Kathleen was born in Missouri sowhile she's in town, why not throw an event in her honor?

Inset: in St. Louis for her lifetime achievement prize, Oct 2010.
Main: at the AFI Michael Douglas night (with CZJ) in June 2009.

I love Kathleen nearly as much as Roger loved Jessica Rabbit so I mean this with the utmost fondness, but she just so doesn't care about things that celebrities are supposed to care about. Note that she wore the EXACT SAME OUTFIT to this event that she wore to the AFI Michael Douglas event. Oh, Kathleen. You're just not even trying to be "showbiz". It's all about the art of the theater for Kathleen now which I'm not knocking. Her "Martha" in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was one of the greatest performances my eyes have ever witnessed and my ears have ever heard.

Michigan & Illinois
Teri just wanted to say "Hey."

Upon discovering that she didn't have her own label at TFE she let out a torrential stream of the brown word that we haven't heard since her multiple "sh**" freakouts in Tootsie ! No one speaks of Teri Garr anymore but I've always respected her as one of the only Hollywood types to publicly bitch about Category Fraud at the Oscars. You'd bitch about it too (at least in private) if you thought you could have won if the co-lead of your movie weren't competing in your category.

The dearly departed blog StinkyLulu once did a smackdown about the 1982 Best Supporting Actress race. Oscar went with Jessica Lange but Teri was hilarious in that movie and the Smackdown made it a tie. Still, my imaginary retrospective Oscar vote will always belong to Lesley Ann Warren in Victor/Victoria.

(Chicago) Illinois
Pookieeee. hhmwwhhmmiiiII'mhorneeeeeeeeeeey"



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Okay, now back to 2010.
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The Devils (1971)

Yesterday I took in the Ken Russell film The Devils (1971) at the Walter Reade. It's part of RussellMania which goes on for a few more days still. We don't really have gonzo English language filmmakers like Russell any more, or if we do, they don't get any attention. Everything is so safe. Even the "daring" stuff. The Devils is one of his hardest films to find (not available on DVD and everytime it's going to be, it suddenly isn't.) I figured images would be hard to come by so in order to prevent me from doing something foolish and illegal with my cel phone, my friend Ed offered to draw me stills for posting purposes. You have to admit, he captures Vanessa Redgrave's EXACT likeness in character as a filthy minded hunchback nun.


Uncanny isn't it?

I had expected the film to be more camp and less serious, but it's actually quite a sober historical epic, a true story from the 17th century which kicks off with the political maneuvering of royals and cardinals in France, and then gets more regional, zeroing in on the fortified town of Loudun and the religious posturing of clergy and civilians alike. There's politics, personal power plays, organized religion as a petri dish of corruptions, both political and personal. Faux exorcisms, the plague, corrupt legal systems, and sexual misconduct beset the characters until it all comes crashing down including, literally, Loudun's white brick city walls (designed by Derek Jarman!) All that plus erotic and visual abandon because it's...

1. a Ken Russell film.
2. from the least prudish decade of English language cinema and
   
3. about a nun Sister Jeanne (a ballsy performance by Vanessa Redgrave) who desperately wants to get biblical with that lion of Loudun, Father Grandier (played by Russel muse Oliver Reed)

It's totally worth seeing if you get a chance. One of my friends went a few nights ago and sat two rows behind Vanessa Redgrave herself. (He reported that she cackled offscreen at her nusto cackling onscreen. How great is that?) Though it's less graphic than I'd been anticipating -- some of the scariest bits involving torture mercifully take place just offscreen -- it's hardly free of disturbing moments.

The original poster from 1971 "Not for everyone!" -- can you imagine a movie today proudly proclaiming its elitism?and intended DVD art for a release that didn't happen [photo src].

Though he's still working (supposedly there's a new version of Moll Flanders coming) the early seventies were arguably the peak Russell years. His 1970 release Women in Love won multiple Oscar nods (including a Best Actress trophy for Glenda Jackson) and other prizes and he followed that up in 1971 with not one but two films (The Devils, The Boyfriend) which went on to win him the National Board of Review for Best Director. Despite random scattered honors, success or infamy for later films like Tommy (1975), Crimes of Passion (1984) or The Lair of the White Worm (1988) he was only "awardable" in the 70s and even then he was never anything like an Oscar bait figure.

It's funny, really. He loves biographical epics as much as any AMPAS member ever has -- he made several -- but he loves them too perversely and too specifically; you can't mistake his films for someone else's.

The current RussellMania fest only covers his 60s & 70s work which is a shame because I was really hoping to watch Kathleen Turner don that platinum blonde China Blue wig and do unspeakable things that no A list actresses is ever supposed to do onscreen.

Have you ever seen a Ken Russell film? Do you think there's any director currently pushing the boundaries of "taste" that's also doing work worth celebrating nowadays?
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Can Jennifer Lawrence Become the Second Youngest Best Actress Nominee?

I was writing up my little filmbytes column for popbytes and decided to spotlight Jennifer Lawrence as a rising star.

<-- This particular still freaks me out. Doesn't Jennifer look just like the Zeéeee there?

I'm very curious as to whether or not tiny Roadside Attractions can push Winter's Bone towards Oscar as relentlessly as "Ree Dolly*" pursues her missing film dad. Jennifer is the film's best Oscar bet but perhaps it could go further than just Best Actress? For a gritty rural drama that doesn't exactly coddle its audience, I was surprised to learn recently that the movie has already grossed $3 million in a month's time. That's impressive. That means people, and not just critics, like it. When both civilians and critics like things, AMPAS voters often figure they might ought to watch it.

But how's this for a statistic? If Jennifer Lawrence, who is currently 19, does secure a robust campaign and then a Best Actress nomination in January, she'll be the second youngest nominee ever in that category. The youngest was 4 year old Victoire Thivisol for Ponette and... GODDAMNIT. She wasn't nominated! Okay what I meant to type was that the youngest was Evan Rachel Wood for thirt ... SHUT UP. Allow me my Oscar fantasies. No, the youngest nominee is Keisha Castle Hughes for Whale Rider.

It breaks down like so...


Youngest Best Actress Nominees

1. Keisha Castle Hughes, Whale Rider (13 going on 14)
2. Isabelle Adjani, The Story of Adele H (20 and 2/3rds)
3. Keira Knightley, Pride & Prejudice (almost 21)
4. Ellen Page, Juno (practically 21)
5. Marlee Matlin, Children of a Lesser God (21 and some change)
   

Isn't it interesting that most of the youngest nominees are from the past decade? The only winner among these women girls was Ms. Matlin who performed Grand Theft Oscar on my beloved Kathleen Turner (see this ancient post) and Sigourney Weaver, both still Oscarless, for which I can never forgive her.

The nail-biting tragedy of March 30th, 1987 illustrated.

The rest of the youngest ladies lost their Oscar races. It's hard to win when people know you haven't truly "paid your dues" yet.

*In addition to being one of the youngest nominees ever, "Ree Dolly" would join the ranks of most memorable character monikers nominated, too.

25th Anniversary: Prizzi's Honor(s) and the 1985 Best Picture Race

Every once in a while (i.e. constantly) I'll pick up the classic Inside Oscar to double check an awards factoid. Sometimes I like to hold actual books in my hands rather than play search engines like a piano. So retro! I was looking at 1985 recently -- any '85 babies reading? Happy quarter-century mark -- for Kurosawa's section of that foreign film article. The Best Picture nominees for 85 were The Color Purple, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Out of Africa, Prizzi's Honor and Witness.

"What the hell, Charley, the calendar takes care of everything"

I'd venture to say that from that particular vintage John Huston's Prizzi's Honor is the least discussed now, so I thought I'd give it a spin to celebrate its anniversary on this very day.

Given the overall 1985 nomination field (the Picture nominees hogged 42 nominations all told) it's tough to imagine that any film came close to breaking up that party o' five. But it's always fun to conjecture about 6th place. Perhaps it was actually Kurosawa's Ran (four nominations, though foreign films rarely make that top competition) but maybe it was the surprise Oscar favorite Runaway Train (which showed up in three key categories). It certainly wasn't the critical pet of the year Brazil (too weird for AMPAS) or Woody Allen's miniature masterpiece The Purple Rose of Cairo, shamefully recognized only in Screenplay. It's possible that neither of those classics would have even made a ten wide Best Picture field though perhaps Back to the Future would've, since it was a big enough hit to break into the screenplay field despite being much sillier than Oscar allows.

But I digress.

Aside from the gay arthouse smash Spider Woman, Prizzi's Honor is the most atypical of the nominees. To start with it's a comedy, which automatically makes you the odd man out in any lineup.

"Do I ice her? Do I marry her? Which one of these?"

The film follows the confusion and misadventures of hitman Charley Partanna (Jack Nicholson, winning his 8th nomination) and the troubles that erupt from his dim trust in untrustworthy women: the thieving hitwoman Irene Walker (Kathleen Turner, the preeminent Shady 80s Lady) and his former girl Maerose (Anjelica Huston, Nicholson's real life partner at the time) who both have complicated histories with the Prizzi family that Charley serves. Since it's a comedy and quite eccentric at that, it's tough to imagine Oscar responding had it not come from such a legendary auteur (Huston was 80 by the time the ceremony rolled around and this would be his fourth Best Picture nominee).

I mean it's a strange movie, at once both expansive (multiple characters, multiple cities, and plentiful plot turns) and intimate (most of its spark comes from the nuances of its romances, both sexual and familial) and nearly always arrhythmic. Though the screenplay is whip smart and packed with clever flourishes and exchanges, it's also strangely dull and the pacing is just bizarre. Sometimes there are long passages where nothing is happening (the opening sequence at a mafia wedding goes on for quite some time offering up much less plot and characterization than the time would allow for) and then there'll be too much information all at once in short snappy scenes: Wait, who iced who? who's on whose payroll? What's a pieceman? Who stole whose money and they're hiding it how exactly? So the strangest among its plentiful Oscar nominations might actually be Directing and Editing.

That said, my single favorite beat in the movie is expertly timed, with the direction and editing (and star performers of course) coming together in quite a satisfying manner: I love the abrupt dissolve from the seemingly eternal static shot of Irene & Charley's foolhardy declarations of love (on their first date, mind) to the athletic perpetual motion shot of a marathon f*** in progress, scored with comic bombast. If you're thinking "but dissolves aren't abrupt," well, the beauty is that this one is.

Jack feigns stupidity with comic panache throughout the film and one recurring joke about his sexual shyness works superbly. Kathleen exudes confidence and sex (what else is new) but neither are 'best in show'. The movie is owned by the scandalous Prizzi daughter (Anjelica Huston) and her grandfather, the don (William Hickey) both of whom received Oscar nominations. Anjelica won giving her father the unique distinction of having directed both his father (Walter Huston, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) and daughter to Oscar wins in his lifetime. Hickey and Huston are both doing heightened, funny, weirdly unnerving turns that mix well with the movie's ambitious comic tone. Still, in keeping with the slippery oddness of the whole enterprise, their one scene together doesn't really pop the way it probably ought to.

Prizzi's Weirdness.

"My gift to you is not only the pictures, but also what they mean."

Despite any reservations one may have about its honored place in the annals of 80s Oscar history, it's maddening that it got such a shabby DVD transfer. This is part of the filmography of one of cinema's most enduring directors. Show a little respect, studios. I'm wondering if there's a good DVD release that did the film justice and I just got the weak one? Anyone know?

Also: Have you seen all of the 1985 Best Picture nominees? Which one gets your vote?
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Waiting For Cannes Info...

The official Cannes lineup is announced tomorrow. [UPDATE: Here it is!] I bring this up a day early because occasionally while attempting to organize my hard drive (so many folders, so much disarray) I find rather inexplicable photos... Behold!

The Best/Weirdest Cannes Photo Buried On Nathaniel's Hard Drive

Quentin Tarantino affectionately attacks Kathleen Turner while Tilda Swinton, amused, seems to be conversing telepathically with the camera man.

I'd kill for a transcript of all Cannes jury deliberations, ever. So many crazy fabulous people, and such random groupings of the same each and every year. Oh, to be there in the heart of it all each May. This year's jury king is Tim Burton. Juliette Binoche is the light-painting official poster girl.


Important Names for this Year's Fest

• Tim Burton, Jury President (Competition)
  Burton's Jury is composed of: Giovanni Mezzorgiorno (actress, Italy), Kate Beckinsale (actress, UK), Emmanuel Carrere (screenwriter, France), Benicio del Toro (actor, Puerto Rico), Victor Erice (director, Spain) and Shekhar Kapur (director, India). update: Some websites reported that Gael Garcia Bernal (actor/director/international-hottie) was on this jury but he's heading another jury instead.
  
• Claire Denis, Jury President (Un Certain Regard)
• Gael García Bernal, Jury President (Camera D'Or... which honors first time filmmakers)
  
• Atom Egoyan, Jury President (Cinefondation)
  Egoyan's jury is composed of: Emmanuelle Devos (actress/goddess, France), Dinara Droukarova (actress, Russia), Carlos Diegues (director, Brazil) and Marc Recha (director, Spain)
  
• Agnes Varda (to be honored with the Life Achievement Award)
  

That's May. That's next month -- would that I could be there -- but right now it's still April and I'm off to the Nashville Film Festival to do my own jurying. I'll undoubtedly spot a few celebrities (country music division)... only I won't know who they are thereby negating the excitement of it. While I'm away the We Can't Wait countdown continues and I'll try to pipe in with a couple of Nashville nuggets.
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"Nobody's going to keep me from working in this town!"

Every once in a while I miss Kathleen Turner so much I could spit. I don't even care that my infrequent posts about her fall on mostly deaf ears. Her superstardom was shortlived but she remains one of my all time favorites.

I accidentally ended up watching that old Steve Martin silliness The Man With Two Brains (1983) the other day and I marvelled first at how funny it still was (I think I had assumed it was more sketch funny than movie-length funny but I was laughing throughout) and then how it accidentally foretold the entire Kathleen Turner Story when the Kathleen Turner Story had only barely begun. The Man With Two Brains was just her second feature, a comic twist if you will of her debut in Body Heat.

In this comedy she is introduced as a murderous femme fatale (Body Heat. Check). She's barely been introduced when she's hospitalized (Kathleen's health troubles have plagued her career). She sells SEX with capital letters and laughs about it (Entire First Half of Career. Check). She gleefully commits acts of violence (Serial Mom. Check). She horrifies her lover by trying to feed him something he loves. (The War of the Roses. Check). She upsets her husband by exploiting her body (Crimes of Passion fallout. Check). She makes a weird reference to her balls (Friends cameo. Check) She gets wet and muddy when Steve Martin kicks her out of his house "Into the mud, scum queen!" (Romancing the Stone, Undercover Blues, VI Warshawski. Check!) She is maddeningly difficult (Entire Career. or so some people have said. Check).

And then she gets fat.

"I never told him I was a compulsive eater."

I love her so much and I wish someone would give her a role worthy of her gifts again. I'm still pulling for the Mattie Fae Akin role in August: Osage County should they ever film it. From "Matty" (Body Heat) to "Mattie"... what a brilliant final plot twist that would be.

CONTEST WINNER! (And Oscarless Greats)

One of television's best annual traditions, Turner Classic Movies "31 Days of Oscar" (now showing!) sponsored a fine contest for us. I was able to choose 5 DVDs to give away to one lucky reader. I chose five films that Oscar sorta loved (multiple nominations) but couldn't settle down with (major losses) and I asked all contestants to write a note about the Oscarless situation that bugs them most. The winner and runners up were drawn randomly.

• 5 DVD PACK: Double Indemnity (1944), A Star is Born (1954), The Umbrellas of Cherbourgh (1964), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) and They Shoot Horses Don't They (1969)

And the Winner is...
SAM in Texas. Even if I hadn't drawn randomly, I would have had Sam's back on his favorite "snub" choice. Here's what he has to say...

My great Oscar snub is also my favorite actress: Kathleen Turner. Only one nomination? Really? Hilary Swank has two Oscars and Kathleen Turner only has one nomination? I'd like to see Swank tackle Peggy Sue and Romancing the Stone and Prizzi's Honor and make them all hits. If I were the Oscar God, I would have nominated Kathleen for Body Heat, a film that almost turned me straight (thank God for William Hurt's nakedness). If she can make a gay like me want her, she's a brilliant actress.

The Runners Up...
who'll receive an Oscar party pack from Turner Classic Movies are DAVID in North Carolina and CHRISTINE in Massachussets. They both picked two of Oscar's most frequently nominated but never winning players.

David says:

There are many celebrities that should have won an Oscar, but actor that comes to mind is (Sir) Richard Burton. Not only was he such an amazing talent, a ferociously brilliant actor, but also the fact that he was one half of the most famous couple in the world, or at least the 60's, while he was married to the great Elizabeth Taylor, cemented his status as one of Hollywood's biggest/greatest leading men. His iconic performances in such film classics as "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold", "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?", "Night Of The Iguana", and "The Longest Day" still linger on in the mind.

Christine picks the woman who shares Deborah Kerr's Oscar record for an actress (6 noms / 0 wins). (Yes, there were women who had it worse than Glenn Close and Julianne Moore)

It's probably too obvious, but I'm going to go with Thelma Ritter as an Oscar nominee who should have won at least once. Her line delivery alone ought to have clenched it for a lot of her films ("What a story! Everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end!"). In addition, she was one of the last great old-school character actors, and it would have been nice to see her win for all of the Edward Everett Horton's and Iris Adrian's of the world.

I want to thank everyone who entered. It was great fun to read your entries and certainly provided food for thought. How is it that some people just can't get lucky with Oscar?

Here's a few fun bits from other contest entries. I didn't include any Julianne Moore quotes but you are correct in guessing that she was the most popular answer to this "i hate that they've never won!" query. Give or take Alfred Hitchock.

Robert on cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki

He utilized only natural light with a constantly moving camera for a period epic, and not only were the results not a disaster, The New World ended up arguably the most beautiful film of 2005.

Joseph on Joan Allen (another popular answer to this question)

an Oscar for her heartbreaking turn as the resilient Elizabeth Proctor (The Crucible) would've been really nice...And might I add that she's also kind of awesome in Death Race!

Sean on cinematographer Roger Deakins

I even watch The Man Who Wasn't There on mute!

Erica on Peter O'Toole

Lawrence of Arabia, for crissakes. Oh, sure, he has an honorary one, but those are basically Hollywood's silent excuse, both acknowledging that 'you probably deserved it more than anyone else of any year ever, but now you're too old, so please enjoy this montage of better days'.

Before There Were Websites... (Pt 1)

...there were scrapbooks!

My parents are moving, abandoning my childhood home, and I spent my holiday going through old boxes in storage. It's hard to part with any of these secret keys to unlock my childhood. There's heaps and heaps of homemade comic books featuring my own superhero creations which I shan't share (because they were never optioned for movies... not because they are totally embarrassing. Uh, yeah. Not because of that). Plus lots and lots of drawings of various X-Men, Madonna, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker.

Many photo scrapbooks were uncovered including "MOVIES OF THE EIGHTIES"

front cover: Raging Bull (I hadn't seen it. I just knew it was
"important" somehow), E.T. and Aliens

Turns out The Film Experience was no fluke. I was always writing about movies... but when I was in junior high and high school, the writing was in list-making form and smelled like rubber cement instead of Apple computer.

inside covers: Silkwood , Crimes of Passion, Terms of Endearment

The front and back covers are completely mainstream / boy friendly, and yet the inside jackets are so actressexual. It's as if my love for actresses was still reasonably contained, with Meryl Streep and Kathleen Turner whispering to me in pupa stage.

I was absolutely obsessed with the unseen-by-me Crimes of Passion (MPAA ratings scandal!) though I'm not sure I ever asked myself why... Kathleen Turner was enough cover for and emblem of any prurient reason.

back cover: the infamous gold bikini, Return of the Jedi

Somewhere -- I cannot find it! -- there is a half-formed MOVIES OF THE NINETIES scrapbook which I began in college... but abandoned once the glorious internet took over my life and made scrapbooks actual items of nostalgia rather than just containers for the same.

Part 2 coming soon. some random funny clippings from the book.
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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!

Hamlet is a Tragedy No More...

...for it brings Jude Law to the New York stage. Yes!

---> "Yes you will see Hamlet for the 17th time*, Nathaniel. By royal decree!"

Every year I vow to be done with Shakespeare but the movie stars keep roping me back in. You know my feelings here. To sum up: there are 1000s of brilliant old plays by 100s of great playwrights; we are rarely presented with anything but 37 by 1. Even here in NYC. Yes we occasionally get a revival by someone whose name doesn't rhyme with Schmakeschmeare. But more often than not it's Romeo & Juliet or Twelfth Night and Hamlet above all else.

In fact I just saw Hamlet for the 16th time last year with Michael Stuhlbarg as the Prince of Denmark. (Stuhlbarg is a well regarded stage actor but he's getting his first substantial shot at a movie career as the lead in the next Coen Bros picture, A Serious Man). I have yet to see Anne Hathaway in Twelfth Night in the Park but I shall. I've heard only fine things and she's co-starring with three of Broadway's best: Audra McDonald (somebody cancel Private Practice so she'll be able to do more musicals again, please), Julie White (Shia's mom in Transformers, sigh) and Raúl Esparza, he of the can't-win-a-TONY-even-though-i'm-usually-better-than-my-competition problem.

But back to the man at hand.

Kathleen Turner and Jude Law (TONY nominee) as
incestuous mother & son in Indiscretions (1995)

Starting in September, Jude Law will be working the boards as the troubled Dane. He's already done so to great acclaim across the Atlantic. He'll force me to endure my umpteenth Hamlet. I am so very tired of Prince Hamlet but I have yet to tire of Sir** David Jude Law. And he hasn't been on the Broadway stage since before he was a celebrity, so it'll be an event. Last time he caused quite a ruckus taking a bath for Kathleen Turner live on stage eight times a week, long before he did the same for Matt Damon in The Talented Mr Ripley, igniting his movie stardom.

* I haven't really seen Hamlet 16 times. But it feels like it.
** He isn't knighted yet but you know he will be. Give him another 20 years.

Streep Noms, #6 (1985)

A Note: I will be returning to reviewing Streep movies soon but for now let's return to discussing Streep's competitive Oscar fields. I'll try to wrap up the 80s pictures very soon. I knew this month would be Streep heavy I had no idea how mired down in the 80s nostalgia we'd get. See also: Farrah & Michael Jackson.

1985
Six Oscar nominations is a lot for anyone but what is perhaps even more impressive / serendipitous about Meryl Streep's 1985 accomplishment is that Out of Africa, a big hit and Oscar champ, was her third Best Picture winner in seven years. That's quite rare. She would go on to lose Best Actress to Geraldine Page who was, at that time, the most nominated performer (8) never to have won the golden boy (Peter O'Toole now holds the record since he lost on his 8th nomination). Page died a scant 15 months later at 62 years of age. She is one of only five women in the history of the Oscars to have won this prize after the age of 60, the most recent being Helen Mirren in The Queen. I've been meaning to write about Ms. Page for two years now. Really must get to that soon.


To this day I have never seen Geraldine Page's Oscar winning performance though my best friend considers it one of the most moving he's ever seen. I think Page is spectacularly good in Sweet Bird of Youth and Interiors and terrible in Summer and Smoke (her three other Best Leading Actress nominations) so I'm curious. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. At the time I wanted Meryl to win. Now, my heart unquestionably belongs to Mia Farrow in The Purple Rose of Cairo for 85's gold medal.

1985
the nominees were...

• Anne Bancroft, Agnes of God
• Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple (Globe winner)
  
• Jessica Lange, Sweet Dreams
• Geraldine Page, The Trip to Bountiful (watch her win)
  
• Meryl Streep, Out of Africa

More '85 Ladies for context: There were many snubs since it was a rich year for leading ladies but only two snubs if you go by media attention and awards traction. Kathleen Turner won the comedy Globe for Best Picture nominee Prizzi's Honor but went on to experience her third high profile Oscar snub in the first five meteoric years of her career (the Academy never loved her though audiences instantly did). The other snub was Cher in Mask, which prompted her famous confrontational quip at the actual ceremony

As you can see, I did receive my Academy handbook on how to dress like a serious actress

But snubs are often blessings in disguise. The Mask diss probably helped Cher win for Moonstruck in 1987 (we'll get to 1987 next week).

1985 also featured Norma Aleandro in The Official Story (a foreign hit and she was the NYFCC winner), Coral Browne in Dreamchild (zero awards traction but a fine turn), Kelly McGillis in Witness and the following comedy Globe nominees: Mia Farrow in The Purple Rose of Cairo, Glenn Close in Maxie, Rosanna Arquette in Desperately Seeking Susan and Sally Field in Murphy's Romance.

Tom Baxter: We'll live on love. We'll have to make some concessions, but so what? We'll have each other
Cecilia: That's movie talk.

What's your ideal Oscar lineup in 1985? Were you born yet?

Streep Nom #3, 1981

Streep at 60: Let's talk each Streep nomination and its competition.

Meryl Streep won the BAFTA, Golden Globe and the LAFCA prize for her two part role in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) but she lost the Oscar anyway. The nominees were:

• Katharine Hepburn, On Golden Pond
• Diane Keaton, Reds
• Marsha Mason, Only When I Laugh
  
• Susan Sarandon, Atlantic City
  
• Meryl Streep, The French Lieutenant's Woman

<-- Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep in September, 1981 when The French Lieutenant's Woman opened.

On Golden Pond made Katharine Hepburn a four-time Oscar winner. She's still far out in front of everyone in the acting Oscar derby save Jack Nicholson who has three and could conceivably join her. He is 72 and still works far more often than Hepburn was working in her 70s when she won this.

The snubbed in '81? Sissy Spacek in Raggedy Man and Sally Field in Absence of Malice were Globe Drama nominees and Bernadette Peters was the Musical/Comedy Globe winner for Pennies From Heaven. update: And then there's Kathleen Turner in Body Heat who I am deeply ashamed I forgot when originally typing this, since she's probably be my winner for the year. What was up with awards bodies neglecting her? What's your ideal lineup in 1981 and who do you think deserved the win?

May Flowers, Kathleen Turner

May Flowers, weeknights @ 11:00


Kathleen Turner as Joan Wilder. She's a hopeless... no, a hopeful romantic. What a slam dunk star turn that was. And how galling that Romancing the Stone didn't net her an Oscar nomination. It was deglam and glam in one package. Plus it was super fun and Oscar should remember to have fun more often. Fun movies sometimes have more staying power than dutiful prestige pics. Not all the time but why eliminate them because they aren't serious? Screwball comedies were as far from serious as it gets and Oscar didn't hate those.

The Oscar Nominees that year were four previous winners and one breakthrough performer (Judy Davis)

• Judy Davis, A Passage to India
• Sally Field, Places in the Heart (winner)
  
• Jessica Lange, Country
• Vanessa Redgrave, The Bostonians
  
• Sissy Spacek, The River

<-- Kathleen as "China Blue" also in 1984. She wasn't a dainty feminine thing, don't let the rose fool you.

If I had been giving out my awards back then, the Best Actress list would not have been 60% farm wives. My list might have read like so...

• Judy Davis, A Passage to India
• Mia Farrow, Broadway Danny Rose
  
• Sally Field, Places in the Heart
  
• Kathleen Turner, Romancing the Stone (and Crimes of Passion)
• Lesley Ann Warren, Choose Me
  
  umm... one caveat. I never saw The Bostonians... but back in 1984 when I was a wee boy I was very obsessed with Daryl Hannah in Splash and Elisabeth Shue in Karate Kid so I had no time for Vanessa Redgrave!
  

Basically, Mia Farrow excepted, no movie star had as much right to bitch about the Academy's choices as Kathleen Turner did in the 1980s. Those two just couldn't catch a break with AMPAS. I don't know who they pissed off but it was someone important and vengeful. Turner couldn't even catch a break with TONY voters after her gobsmacking "Martha" in Edward Albee's immortal Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (pictured backstage below)


In case you missed it and you are Turner-simpatico (more people should be) you should listen to my interview with Bill Irwin from last year's Rachel Getting Married. I kept making him talk about Kathleen. I couldn't help myself!

NOTE: For the next 24 hours for no particular reason whatsoever I'm going to be celebrating 1984 --an impromptu 25th anniversary celebration. Join me. Party like it's 1984. Coming up: The Top 10 of 1984 and a look back @ Terminator.

For now feel free to discuss Oscar's 1984 Best Actress choices and yours. You know you want to.
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Where My Heart Lies. And Yours?

Nathaniel's 20 all time favorite actresses (in no particular order and if you ask me on another day...)

Audrey, Kate, Vivien, Ingrid, Natalie, Jane, Bette, Meryl,
Kathleen, Julie, Diane, La Liz, Norma, Carole, Michelle,
Judy, Julianne, Catherine, Julie and Joan

Because sometimes you need to be reminded.

P.S. 1 my apologies to Marilyn Monroe who I did forget (and whom I prefer to, say, Audrey Hepburn) and about 20 others I love nearly as much as these 20 including the much maligned Ms. Kidman and everyone's favorite Georgia Peach --no, not Julia, HOLLY! ...

P.S. 2 Let's have a meme of all time actress love. Post them just like so --no explanation and no ranking necessary

P.S. 3 I've linked up as they came in but I really must stop updating this post now.

P.S. 4 if you need something more accurate about my love please see the earlier post Top 100 of All Time OR the Top 100 of the Aughts which is about 3 years old now and which I will revise in late 2009 to reflect the last 4 years of cinema.

JA's list. Sissy, Samantha, Sigourney oh my.
J.D.'s list. Annie, Knightley, Linney, Ziyi...
El Gringo's list is specifically meant to provoke me. He steals away an adolescent crush (Elisabeth Shue) and my current imaginary gf (Marisa Tomei). He must be stopped!
Nick's list (and I didn't even tag him. Show off) Tilda up top
Peter's list. Lovely photos and my Natalie is there
Glenn's list down under. Toni. Nicole. Michelle. Lily...
Flickhead's list. Deneuve. Kidman. Wood. Weld. yummy
Jeremy's list. Though he cheated and left out the "all time" part ;) It's post 70s only
Ivan's list is fascinating: Holm, Remick, Trevor, Grahame
Celinejulie's list. Very different than the rest
Ed's list. Dalle, Seberg, Schygulla, Thurman...
Sheila's list. Adjani, Kahn, O'Hara, Monroe...
Rick's list. Cheung, Colbert, Pfeiffer, Dunaway. Mmmm
Dave's list: Marlene. Mia. Miranda.
Tony's list has Fonda (Bridget!???), Abril (si!) and more
Bob's list: Masina, Moreau, Testud, Gyllenhaal
Cinebeat's list cheats with 23 ~Three of them have to go!!! But which?
Jonathan opts for only character actresses. StinkyLulu would be proud
Dame Jame's has Marie Dressler & Thelma Ritter. I love this
Darren goes all mysterious with only pics. Can you name all 20?
J.C. goes classic Hollywood. My Norma is there!
Kotto honors performances rather than actresses
StinkyLulu narrows the 20 down even further turning it into a history of his smackdowns
Laura's list: Loretta, Ginger, Irene
Jason cheats too. It's just top 20 of rightnow
Tim's list reflects on all of these lists
Wendymoon commits heresy. Says she likes actors better!

Help -- the meme has totally evolved! Soon it will walk on two hind legs and learn how to make fire

And... if you would like to read more on any of the actresses above chase their labels below.
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