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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Beauty Break: Vanessa Redgrave, Bewitching in Any Season

"If ever I would leave you,
How could it be in springtime?
Knowing how in Spring I'm bewitched by you so?
Oh, no, not in springtime!


Summer...


Winter...


Or Fall!


No, never could I leave you at all!"

Lynn Redgrave (1943-2010)

Very sad news today. The Redgrave acting dynasty has lost another famous and beloved member. Lynn Redgrave was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002 (shortly after this photo to the left was taken). She succumbed yesterday at the age of 67 after a valiant seven year battle. The New York Times featured an amazing photojournal of her treatment process awhile back, photographed intimately by her daughter Annabel Clark in 2003 which you can still see here. Beautiful work.

Our hearts go out to Redgrave family.

Vanessa Redgrave, the eldest sister of the famous family is still with us (thank God) and still churning out amazing work...But Vanessa, one of the great actors of all time, has had a wrenching couple of years losing both siblings (Corin, Lynn & Vanessa's brother died just one month ago) and her daughter who died tragically fourteen months ago.

Though they only shared the big screen once, the sisters were close. They rose to fame with near synchronicity. Lynn will forever be known for Georgy Girl (1966) for which she was Oscar-nominated. Appropriately enough, given the family name, she shared that "first nomination" experience with her elder sister who was also honored with her first nod that year for Morgan.

Lynn Redgrave in 1966

In a joint npr interview in 2005 in which the sisters display plenty of respect and affection for each other, they discussed that breakthrough year.

Reporter: Was it hard to be in competition with each other in that way?
Vanessa: Not at all.
Lynn: It was lovely. I remember we kept being asked because the last set of sisters had reportedly -- which was Joan Fontaine and Olivia deHavilland -- been a little at odds with each other... Of course it makes a better press story for sisters to be jealous and hate each other. Just not true. We were -- we really couldn't believe that we were both going to the Oscars with our mum!

Young movie buffs will probably know Lynn best for her frequently indelible supporting performances in pictures like Gods & Monsters (1998, she was Oscar nominated) and Kinsey (2004). She never stopped working, even after her diagnosis. In te latter film she had just a short cameo but proved so moving in her closeup monologue that there was "nomination worthy!" rumblings at the time.

Vanessa and Lynn sisters offscreen and on for The White Countess (2005) --->

The last film I personally remember seeing Lynn in was Merchant/Ivory's The White Countess (2005) which starred three members of the family: Vanessa, Lynn and Natasha. The film is sadly becoming one of those properties that accidentally eulogizes several things at once; it's a gorgeous multiple swansong. It turned out to be both Ishmael Merchant's last film and Natasha's last leading role in a feature. It was also, as it turns out, the first and last movie collaboration between Vanessa and Lynn.

Rest in peace, Georgy Girl.

Uncanny Birthday Suits

Celebrating cinematic folk, born on this day 11/23. Get out your kazoos.

Franco, Maxwell and Harpo. Half of the fun of building these posts
is these completely nonsensical groupings!

1859 Billy the Kid, outlaw. I've always thought it a mystery as to exactly why people routinely idolize characters whom they would never want to meet in real life. Murderers, criminals, thieves, (especially gangsters)... they all get the silver screen pedestal treatment. Billy has been portrayed dozens of times and Val Kilmer, Emilio Estevez, Kris Kristofferson, Buster Crabbe and Paul Newman have all done the job.
1888 Harpo Marx I'm embarrassed to say this but I can never remember which Marx Bros is which. When I watch 30s comedies, I almost always select a screwball romance.
1892 Erté artist over whom wee Nathaniel obsessed, wanting a whole animated movie to spring forth from his theatrical illustrations of ladies in elaborate headdresses and fab gowns.
1913 Michael Gough, I know that people like Chris Nolan's Batman approach (a movie star in every role!) but to me, Gough will always be "Alfred Pennyworth". Take that Michael Caine!
1924 Anita Linda, award-winning Filipino actress
1941 Franco Nero, Mr. Vanessa Redgrave and sexy Sir Lancelot in Camelot (1967) "♪ ♫ If ever I would leave you..."

I absolutely love this, don't you? One of the dreamiest numbers ever

1944 Joe Eszterhas self assured writer of oft terrible but usually hugely entertaining and vulgar screenplays: Flashdance, The Jagged Edge, Showgirls and the Sharon Stone box set. How does he do it?
1944 James Toback writer and director, not always simultaneously. Films include: Bugsy, Tyson and a Robert Downey Jr double feature (Two Girls and a Guy, The Pick-Up Artist)
1948 Bruce Vilanch Emmy winner, Oscar joke writer, strange character
1959 Maxwell Caulfield, La Pfeiffer's 'Cooo-oooo-ooo-ool Rider'
1959 Dominique Dunne, young actress who was murdered the same year her career took off with several TV gigs and the smash hit Poltergeist (she was the teen daughter)
1966 Vincent Cassel Mr. Monica Bellucci. He's very busy between American supporting roles (Eastern Promises, Oceans 13, Black Swan) and French stardom (Public Enemy No. 1, Irreversible ...a bit more on that one here)
1970 Oded Fehr, Israeli actor. Busiest in American television but you'll occassionally spot him onscreen in films like The Mummy
1970 Danny Hoch, actor/monologuist
1992 Miley Cyrus, ubiquitous gazillionaire

Finally, today marks the kickoff a week long blog-a-thon in honor of the immortal Boris Karloff, who brought so many imaginative film characters and movie monsters to life. Today is the 122nd anniversary of his birth. What would horror cinema be "Karloff the Uncanny", the man who brought Frankenstein (1931) and the Mummy (1932) to life? Though he's best remembered for those films of the early 30s -- he made a ton of them -- his career spanned from silent short films all the way to 70s horror pictures and one particularly memorable voice gig. He's the star of the 1966 animated TV classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Streep at 60: Julia (1977)

Streep at 60: A Retrospective Series
This post is dedicated to Derek who has asked me to write about this movie for two years. What can I say, I'm slow.

Julia (1977) Directed by Fred Zinneman. Starring: Jane Fonda, Vanessa
Redgrave, Jason Robards and way down in the cast list... Meryl Streep

Imagine you're the casting director for a prestige piece about hotheaded playwright Lillian Hellman and her (fictional) friend Julia, a wealthy anti-fascist who puts her life on the line to save Jews in 193os Germany. Lillian, the chainsmoking Jewess, is described early in the film like so:

You're scrappy. You are the neighborhood bulldog except for your goddamn dream of being a cocker spaniel.

You have to have Meryl Streep for the role, don't you? Bulldog and cockerspaniel it is. We're talking about the cinema's most acclaimed chameleon. Or maybe you had Meryl in mind for the impassioned title character, whom the film repeatedly asks you to idolize. That'd work to.

But I've forgotten a crucial piece of information! It's 1976 when you're casting this and virtually no one outside of the NYC's theatrical community knows who 27 year-old Meryl Streep is. She was making her name as a powerhouse stage actress but mainstream stardom wasn't yet a reality. Julia was a prestige actress showcase and you go the only place you're likely to go in the mid 70s: to Faye Dunaway (it's a no) and then to Oscar winning superstar Jane Fonda (as Lillian) and three time nominee Vanessa Redgrave (as Julia).

No, Streep would begin her legendary film stardom in a character role, unheralded by worshipful narration or a careful spotlight. She would begin her film career in a crowd scene at Sardi's.

Meryl's celluloid arrival. She waves to the camera (i.e. Jane Fonda) and
begins applauding with the extras. P.S. She's not an extra.

There she is!

Sardi's it is. Streep the Star isn't on the wall yet but it's only a matter of time. The actress doesn't waste a second of her limited screentime. In a scene that's meant to be about Lillian's acclimation to her sudden fame (she'd just written The Children's Hour we presume? The film is not big on details) the restaurant is filled with strangers. Anne Marie (Streep) grabs Lillian straightaway and makes with the niceties, letting us and the author's more anonymous well wishers know that the two are "friends". Streep's Anne is starchly perturbed when the camera pans away from her stage right, taking Fonda's Lillian and thus the film with her.

One of cinema's most famous WASPY blondes began her film career as
a brunette in a movie about a famous Jew.

Fred Zinneman's direction dwells just enough on this disturbance of familiarity that one assumes that Anne Marie will return. She will.

The first forty minutes of Julia are an awkward mix of writer's drama, historical suspense and fictionalized biopic. We toggle between Lillian angrily typing, chain smoking and doubting her talent to flashbacks of her friendship with Julia to scenes of escalating violence and unrest in Europe. Lillian loses track of Julia when she disappears from a hospital bed after a mysterious surgery and when Lillian returns to America, her fame begins.

Once we've hit Sardi's the film begins to constrict into something more manageable and successful, a pre-war drama. But the messy Oscar-winning screenplay, adapted from Hellman's "memoirs" Pentimento, seems to have more on its mind than it can include. Case in point: Anne Marie.

Lillian makes time to see her before leaving for Moscow (she hopes to find Julia en route) and the scene is rich with bitchy subtext. Anne Marie casually slips in repeated digs at the political and the philanthropic. But Meryl, never one to leave a character with but one personality trait, also suggests that Anne Marie does actually care about both Lillian and Julia. She just doesn't understand them. And, here's the perceptive kicker: she really doesn't want to. After a hint of shared history and warmth, she exits the scene just as she enters it, underlining her political apathy.

Imagine Russia. My god, of all places.

There's another scene late in the film with Anne Marie's brother (John Glover) that seems to have a whole other film playing in it head. It's a film about the privileged classes and their sexual sophistication that stars... well, what do you know, Anne Marie herself. Her presence in Julia's narrative is never quite justified so there's the distinct sense that she's a much more pivotal character in the novel that they couldn't quite figure out how to include or omit.

At least the Anne Marie business is welcome color in the sometimes monotonous Lillian story, but there's really no excuse for the repetitive sequences featuring Hellman's life with Dashiell Hammett. Jason Robards inexplicably won the Oscar for playing the famous writer. It's not that the performance isn't good... it's that the character is largely irrelevant. There's a lot going on in the very uneven Julia but in the rare moments wherein the movie is allowed access to the elusive Julia herself, it's on a different level entirely.

Jane Fonda isn't utilized all that well as Lillian -- it's hard to dramatize writing and the film stumbles as so many others have in this department -- but in the case of Vanessa Redgrave, the casting reaped major rewards. We're not just talking about the gold statues they pass out in Hollywood. Consider the amount of star charisma and actorly confidence you would need to seize the screen when the dialogue describing you as you walk into frame is this ripely adoring:

There are women who reach a perfect time of life when the face will never again be as good, the body never as graceful, as powerful. It had happened that year to Julia.

Vanessa Redgrave was 40 when Julia arrived and though her powers to bewitch the camera have never exactly waned in the years since, it's easy to believe Lillian's awestruck voiceover proclamation. Today, Julia is best remembered as an pivotal moment in Vanessa Redgrave's filmography and that's a just legacy. She's its sole claim to greatness. Even an actor less gifted than Redgrave might have won gold in the title role: the movie fawns on the character and where movies fawn, awards often follow. But Redgrave continually elevates the movie that is so eager to put her on a pedestal. When it speaks of her beauty and grace she doesn't empty out her face as so many actors do when a movie requires them to become an abstract vessell for the audience. Instead, she lets a goofy sideways grin flash. When Jane Fonda works the traditional tears and drama in the film's climax, Redgrave refuses the sentiment of the scene repeatedly. Throughout the movie she seems a little wild eyed. Redgrave understands that it takes more than just Goodness to fling yourself into martyrdom the way Julia does. You need a bit of madness for that level of commitment.

Even in moments of affection, Julia has an agenda.
There's no time for sentiment.

Redgrave had reached the perfect time of stardom. The Oscar happened that year for Julia. Streep would have to wait. But not for long.

~

Julia neatly predicted Streep's future role as Oscar bait extraordinaire. For the first three consecutive years of her movie career she appeared in Best Picture nominees and winners: The Deer Hunter and Kramer Vs. Kramer won the top prize. Julia was the leader of its Oscar pack with 11 nominations though it lost to Woody Allen's Annie Hall. Julia is the sole Best Picture nominee of 1977 that feels like a traditional Oscar choice: it's big, important, historical, well meaning. But, as is so often the case, those qualities don't automatically equal scintillating cinema. It's arguably the weakest member of 1977's shortlist: Star Wars and Annie Hall are bonafide classics, The Goodbye Girl and The Turning Point have detractors but they have a certain respectable honesty about what they are (aggressive comedy and histrionic melodrama, respectively). But I'm being too hard on the film that gave Vanessa Redgrave an entrancing showcase and introduced moviegoers to Meryl Streep. It delivered spectacularly on those two counts.

Marisa vs. Miranda vs. Judy ~ 1992 Smackdown

I regret to inform that I had to bow out of StinkyLulu's Supporting Actress Smackdown for 1992. I haven't participated in a long time and I had really hoped to. 1992's women offer a wealth of Oscar discussables and tropes: the wisecracking dame, the old biddy, the longsuffering spouse, the maligned winner, the nominee who maybe isn't being thanked for the performance she's nominated for but for her entire year, the Woody Allen player, Oscar's perceived anglophilia versus its perceived nationalism.

The nominees were:

• Judy Davis, Husbands and Wives
• Joan Plowright, Enchanted April
• Vanessa Redgrave, Howards End
• Miranda Richardson, Damages
  
• Marisa Tomei, My Cousin Vinny
  

My vote would have gone to Judy Davis (Husbands and Wives) and by quite a large margin. To drive the point home further, she is roughly tied with Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights) for my favorite supporting actress performance of the 1990s altogether. Unless you count Michelle's Catwoman (Batman Returns) as supporting... and I'm never sure that you should. If I had a nominating ballot back in the day, these four women would have made it.

• Helena Bonham-Carter, Howards End
• Judy Davis, Husbands and Wives
• Miranda Richardson, The Crying Game (I'm not sure what it is about this performance that I find so spooky but she really puts me on edge. 1992 was such a peak year for Richardson: This film, Damage, Enchanted April, the BAFTA & Globe win, the Oscar nom. When will she get another chance like this? She was even better in Spider (2002) but no plum parts as of late)
  
• Marisa Tomei, My Cousin Vinny [new readers take note: she talked to me about this Oscar win on the first episode of the Film Experience Podcast]

Not sure about the fifth slot. I love Alfre Woodard in Passion Fish but it's kind of a dual lead film, isn't it? Who to put in slot five... Hmmm. Any suggestions?

Now get on outta here and enjoy Stinky's Smackdown!

P.S. Oscar prediction updates coming June 1st and 2nd. Sorry for the delay
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Natasha Richardson (1963-2009)

The family of actress Natasha Richardson (The White Countess) officially released the news earlier today. She was declared dead today at the age of 45. What seemed like a minor skiing accident on a practice trail in Quebec (she reportedly walked away from the fall, laughing) quickly morphed into a life ending tragedy. Head trauma and brain injuries are mysterious things and difficult to predict (here's an article with a neurologist theorizing on the matter).


This is a loss to everyone who enjoyed her work and of course especially tragic for her family, one of the most important film and stage families of the past century. Natasha's father, Oscar winning director Tony Richardson (Tom Jones) passed away in 1991 but her mother, the legendary Vanessa Redgrave is still vital and working. Natasha performed with Vanessa just two months ago here in New York City as mother in daughter in Stephen Sondheim's classic A Little Night Music. That will be an even more cherished memory now to any fans who attended. They also shared acting duties in Natasha's last film to be released in the US, Evening (2007). And in The White Countess (2005) she shared the screen impressively with both mother and aunt, Lynn Redgrave, a great rental choice should you want to enjoy her gift soon in this sad time. Natasha only shared the screen with her sister Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck) once. They were both little children when they appeared (uncredited) in their dad's film The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968).

Natasha is survived by her two sons and her husband Liam Neeson. The couple met on the set of a TV miniseries in 1984 and began dating while sharing the stage in Broadway's Anna Christie in the early 90s. They were married in 1994 just months before their only feature film together, Nell (pictured left) was released.

6 of the best online tributes
Alan Cumming "Tasha"
Nicks Flick Picks "Wasn't She Lovely?"
Some Came Running "uncommon beauty, intelligence and grace"
Stephanie Zacharek @ Salon "too good, and too unusual, for Hollywood to reckon with"
EW her key roles
Jew Eat Yet on the Redgrave acting dynasty

Finally, here is a look at Natasha in her TONY winning Cabaret performance in the amazing Broadway revival. She's doing one of the all time great show tunes... "Maybe This Time"

With talent like that, we all won for a time.

I haven't written about the Richardson/Redgrave/Neeson family as much as I probably should have given their plentiful contributions to the screen but I hope to do more retrospectives in the future. A look back at Schindler's List was already in the works (soon) and Liam was featured in one of this site's most popular pieces, 40 Favorite Actors of the Aughts published in early 2006. Retrospectives of the entire decade's best work and films begin this fall.

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Say a Prayer for Natasha Richardson

Update March 18th Natasha Richardson has officially passed away.

Reports are coming fast and furious and not all of them agree on details but the lovely Natasha Richardson was in a skiing accident Monday. Liam Neeson, her husband, left the set of his latest film to be with her [LA Times]. Natasha hasn't been onscreen a lot lately but she triumphed on stage in the revival of Cabaret on Broadway in the 90s (and Sally Bowles isn't an easy part to play, despite the numerous women who took turns filling her shoes when she moved on). Just a few years ago she was radiant and center stage in the underappreciated Merchant/Ivory picture The White Countess (pictured left) opposite Ralph Fiennes. Here's a great fansite.

Let's hope that some of the more ominous reports, some mentioning traumatic brain injuries and death, are incorrect. Official details from her family are expected to emerge soon.

Natasha and her mother, the legendary Vanessa Redgrave,
last March in London. [Photo source]

Update March 18th @ 2:56 Still no official word from her family according to the NY Times but many news sources are still proclaiming worst case scenarios such as "brain death" or "on life support". Here's an explanation of how these delayed brain injuries operate. Terrible terrible news.

Vanity Fair's Hollywood ~ Episode 7 (2001)

Missed other episodes? See: 1995 , 1996, 1997, 1998 , 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 to get you caught up.

After six years of spotlighting Young Hollywood's rising or just-risens, Vanity Fair surprised ever so slightly in 2001 by going "classic" cutting the true shock of it by including a few people who, whatever the size of future achievements, had no business being called "legends" back then [Though the title of this cover was actually "Master Class" -editor] Even Nicole Kidman, entering the year that would make her one, wasn't. She was just exiting her endentured period as Mrs. Tom Cruise. The cover (shot by Annie Leibovitz as always) ably conveys wealth and class but for its desire to throw moneyed starlets on the carpet. You know they sit on thrones at home.


Nicole Kidman, almost 34, had just announced her separation from Cruise. She was about to ascend, headlining two hits (The Others and Moulin Rouge!) and soon to be named "Oscar nominee", "Entertainer of the Year" and any other title you could think of. ("Box Office Poison" was a later appellative). Over the next two years her asking price would septuple and critical acclaim was rapturous. Like all superstars she's been a target for tearing down since. Up next: reteaming with the man other than Tom Cruise who is most responsible for augmenting her celebrity, director Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!) for the romantic epic Australia (see previous posts)

Catherine Deneuve, at 57, proved she still had it in her to thrill sophisticated audiences and cinephiles. In 2000 alone, just before this cover, she had five movies released stateside: the masterpiece Dancer in the Dark (she should've been Oscar-nominated), the eerily beautiful and controversial Pola X, the foreign language Oscar nominee Est-Ouest, and arthouse fare Time Regained and Place Vendome. Few movie stars are or were her equal. I love that they included her.

Meryl Streep, soon turning 52, was moments away from a golden rejuvenation of her already awesome career. Though she had never stopped working since blazing onto the screen in the late 70s, the 90s were an uneven time for her at best. When Entertainment Weekly compiled their famous 100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in the late 90s she ranked only #37. Surely this great second wind in her career will put her in top tens from here on out in history books. In the two years that followed this particular Vanity Fair cover Adaptation, The Hours and Angels in America placed her back on top as cream of the acting crop. Then The Devil Wears Prada (2006) introduced her to a whole new generation of fans.

Gwyneth Paltrow was 28 when this cover was shot. Her placement made sense then: the future seemed bright for Hollywood's princess, still hot from Shakespeare in Love's big success at the box office and on Oscar night in early 1999. Most people believe that she'll scramble her way back to acting prominence with the right role and movie and though her fame hasn't abated at all, few would argue that she's made the right film choices since winning the Oscar (Shallow Hal opened this year and that's just one example) or has even cared that much about her stardom since.

Cate Blanchett, turning 32, was working nonstop building her reputation with 6 movies in the two years preceding this cover and 4 opening directly after. She was still a few years away from becoming an Oscar regular. Is she a legend yet? Only time will tell but given the critical hoopla that greets her every move now, chances are good.

Kate Winslet was already a household name at 25. That's what happens when you star in the biggest movie of all time. She had two Oscar nominations under her belt (a record for someone so young) ...and the rest is history and should continue to be. It's thrilling to remember that she's only 32 years old. Streep was 32 when she was filming Sophie's Choice... and that was just the beginning of Meryl's cinematic dominance. Think of how much Winslet we all have to look forward to before we die! Wheeeeeeee

Vanessa Redgrave, was 64 and after a long and storied career that had netted her 6 Oscar nominations and 1 Oscar she was still doing simply genius work (I'm not alone in considering her appearance in television's If These Walls Could Talk 2 to be one of the great performances of the Aughts). Master class indeed.

Chlöe Sevigny, at 26, was the oddest selection for the cover but it was probably a nod to the hipster scene (of which Chlöe was already an icon) or the indie film generation. With Boys Don't Cry (1999) and her Oscar nomination for supporting actress she had garnered mainstream attention and had essentially dethroned Parker Posey as Queen of Indies. Strangely, considering the timing of this cover, this was the quietest time in her film career. She did not appear in any features that opened in the US for the next two years.

Sophia Loren, one of the cinema's most legendary beauties was 66 years-old. She had been a massive star in the 50s and 60s and the first woman to ever win the Best Actress Oscar for a foreign language performance (pre-dating Marion Cotillard's win by 4 decades) She was honored at film festivals in 2001 while promoting her first film in several years Francesca and Nunziata. She has a plum supporting role in the movie adaptation of Broadway's Nine opening late next year (if all goes according to plan) which will be her first American picture since Grumpier Old Men (1995) and her first musical since Man of La Mancha (1972).

Penélope Cruz, 27, was appearing on the Hollywood cover for a second year in a row (previous post). Her inclusion was perhaps another nod to international cinema although the young starlet was spending most of her time in Hollywood pictures by this point. Her international fame skyrocketed when she replaced Kidman on Cruise's arm and onscreen (in Vanilla Sky) this very year but it wasn't until 2006 and the Spanish language hit Volver that she began to be treated with great respect (Volver posts -I love that movie). Her acting ability had been questioned numerous times prior to that Almodóvar guided breakthrough. Next up: Vicky Christina Barcelona for Woody Allen.

median age: 41 ---a bit young for a "master class" cover, don'cha think?
collective Oscar noms before this cover: 26 nominations (Streep and Redgrave responsible for the lions share) and 5 Oscar statuettes had been won by these women before this shoot took place.
collective Oscar noms after this cover: They've won 12 more nominations and 2 Oscars (Kidman & Blanchett) in the seven years since this photograph was published.
fame levels in 2008, according to famousr, from most to least: I usually include Famousr scores in these roundups but they're useless once you start getting to actual legends. The names Vanessa Redgrave and Sophia Loren will still be remembered 100 years from now. But they'd easily be considered "less" famous than Penélope Cruz from internet scoring, which tends to skew young and "right now". I don't even wanna look at it to find out.
see also: 1995 ,1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
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Oscar's Best Actress Hierarchy. A Discussion

I'm psyching myself up for Fall pre-Oscar season. Join me. You know how it goes once September hits. The prestige movies arrive and virtually everything from trailers to talk shows to box office numbers work as viral "for your consideration" ads. The new banner up top, which I've broken into two for discussion purposes here, shows in descending order the women with the most "Best Actress" nominations. No supporting nominations were included in the totals. These are Oscar's favorite leading ladies ranked. And this, is (duh) my favorite category.


01. Katharine Hepburn -12 nominations (32/33, 35, 40, 42, 51, 55, 56, 59, 62, 67, 68, 81) look at that time span ~ just astounding isn't it?
02. Meryl Streep -11 nominations (81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 88, 90, 95, 98, 99, 06) the most modern woman on the list in terms of Oscar since she switches between supporting and lead nominations: that's very common now but it didn't use to be for big stars.
03. Bette Davis -10 nominations (35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 50, 52, 62)
04. Greer Garson -7 nominations (39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 60) She's the least well known today but see any of her performances and understand why Oscar fell hard. A charm machine.


05. (Tie ~6 lead noms each... in chronological order)
Norma Shearer (yay! 29/30, 30/31, 34, 36, 38) One could argue that she's only had 5 noms since she was nominated for two different performances in one year --before they changed the rules on that. But why quibble? Norma needs -- nay deserves your love
Ingrid Bergman (43, 44, 45, 48, 56, 78)
Deborah Kerr (49, 53, 56, 57, 58, 60) the most nominated female lead to have never won the naked shiny man... though Peter O'Toole has her beat overall in the male counterpart category
Jane Fonda (69, 71, 77, 78, 79, 86)
Sissy Spacek (76, 80, 82, 84, 86, 01)

The last time there was a significant change in the field was when Spacek joined, expanding Oscar's top eight women to a top nine once In the Bedroom (2001) hit, ending her 15 year Oscar drought. How long until someone forces a true top ten?


10. (eight-way tie with 5 lead nominations each)
The next group (5 lead noms) is bigger and includes actresses who've passed away (Susan Hayward, Anne Bancroft, Audrey Hepburn) and one retired giant (La Liz!) so let's just talk about the ones that are still living and working in films and who, thus, still have a chance at increasing their legends:

Shirley Maclaine (58, 60, 63, 77, 83)
Ellen Burstyn (73, 74, 78, 80, 00)
Jessica Lange (82, 84, 85, 89, 94)
Susan Sarandon (81, 91, 92, 94, 95)

Almost all of them have been working strictly in ensembles in recent years. Can they find their own In the Bedroom?

18. (fourteen-way tie: 4 lead noms each)
Just below them in the Oscar horse race are many who've passed on (Barbara Stanwyck, Irene Dunne, Greta Garbo, Janet Gaynor, Rosalind Russell) five retired winners (Jennifer Jones, Jane Wyman, Olivia DeHavilland, Joanne Woodward, Glenda Jackson) and one who has moved to TV guest work (Marsha Mason)...

Three working legends are also in this tier. How many more rungs up the ladder can Judi Dench (97, 01, 05, 06), Diane Keaton (77, 81, 96, 03) or Vanessa Redgrave (66, 68, 72, 84) climb? Or is it supporting roles from here on out?

Oscar's 80th birthday is just six months away ~ What happens to the Best Actress field in Oscar's octogenarian years? Must we wait until Kate Winslet is in her 40s for a real shakeup of the rank? You want to share your theories about the future of this hierarchy in the comments. You know you do.

Thanks to ~Little Golden Guy for a great database. Related stuff ~This year's Best Actress Race (updates soon) or click any of the labels below for more on these cinema greats...

Great Performers, NY Times Division

The New York Times Sunday Magazine has their annual portfolio of celebrity portraits up. These aren't the stunningly odd creations of last year's batch --there was a lot of writing on faces in that one. There's less of an element of surprise in the photos (fairly traditional portraiture, sometimes even dully so) so the surprise comes in their choice of subjects: Vin Diesel (Find Me Guilty), Abbie Cornish (Sommersault), and Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine) alongside kudo fixtures like Helen Mirren (The Queen) and Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed). At least they chose the right film for Leo, even if their taste elsewhere is questionable. Ivana Bacquero (Pan's Labyrinth) is unarguably a photogenic child but a great actress? Like Audrey Tatou in Amélie, she's a beautiful face around which the film's true strength, the visuals, orbit. But calling it a "great" performance. That's stretching it till it snaps.


If you click on that link above and hit the slideshow you can see all the photos but I've included my three favorite portraits here: Annette Bening all simple elegance with her trademark twinkle, Ryan Gosling looking old school dapper, and Rinko Kikuchi reminding me of a Björk video or CD cover or something... or maybe an old photo of Vanessa Redgrave? Bet you didn't expect to hear those two names compared. But, ahhh, that's the associative triumph of weird ass collections like this one.

tags: Annette Bening, Ryan Gosling, Helen Mirren, Leonardo DiCaprio,movies, portraits, photography, cinema, New York Times

We Can't Wait #4 Evening

In this new film from acclaimed cinematographer Lajos Koltai, Vanessa Redgrave plays a dying woman who spends a lot of time flashing back to her youth when she looked exactly like Claire Danes. Imagine that. Her daughters struggle to accept their mom's mortality whilst having their own dramas. Evening's cast also includes Meryl Streep and her daughter (!) as the younger version of her, Patrick Wilson, Hugh Dancy, Glenn Close, Toni Collette and Natasha Richardson. I could say more but they had me at the cast. I don't even care if it's bad.

Lulu: Indeed. And that it comes complete with a Patrick Wilson/Hugh Dancy chaser? Well, this is just like crack for actressexuals. Not that I'm compulsive that way.

Gabriel: All about the cast. How can this possibly fail? The deck is stacked so high...

Joe: The cast, of course, is phenomenal, but I’ll be the first to take up the mantle of Michael Cunningham, who has adapted the screenplay from Susan Minot’s novel. Cunningham wrote The Hours (book, not screenplay) and A Home At the End of the World (book and screenplay). The Hours made the better movie, while A Home was an absolute mess as a movie, though the book was heartbreakingly wonderful. Hopefully we can chalk the latter up to first time screenwriting jitters, because the talent that’s been assembled here...it would be criminal to waste it.

Question for my fellow round-tablers: who’s got the prettier face, Claire Danes or Hugh Dancy?


JA: Oh come on, I like Claire Danes a lot, but Dancy's so much prettier then her. He's also probably the only one of the two who's made out with Cunningham. Allegedly.

Amazing cast + Cunningham = so there.

previously on "we can't wait"
#5 Lust, Caution, #6 I'm Not There, #7 Margot at the Wedding, #8 moved to 2008, #9 The Golden Compass,#10 Grindhouse, #11 Bug, #12, Sunshine, #13 Southland Tales, #14 300, #15 Hot Fuzz, #16 Stardust, #17 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, #18 Spider-Man 3, #19 Rendition, #20 The Bourne Ultimatum
Intro -films that didn't make the list

tags: Claire Danes, Hugh Dancy, Michael Cunningham, movies, evening, actress, Meryl Streep, Patrick Wilson,Toni Collette, Vanessa Redgrave