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?
Before we begin, a hearty congrats to Mad Men team for their third Emmy. Confetti thrown.
Episode 4.6 "Waldorf Stories" In this episode, Don and Roger continue their downward spirals (it seems to be the long arc plot of Season 4) drinking way too much and imbibing too much awards show adulation (Don wins a Clio) or nostalgia (Roger continually reminisces). Meanwhile Peggy and Peter are on the rise, choosing pragmatism and hard work over their individual personal discomfort. The older characters tripping themselves up and the younger characters changing and rising is definitely the long arc of Season 4.
The only character chatting up the movies this week was Roger Sterling (John Slattery).
Roger: Charlie Chaplin was very lonely. That Tramp -- too much of a sad sack. Laurel and Hardy - they're much better. Except Hardy was so mean to Laurel. I hated that.
Why am I talking about silent movies?
Caroline (his secretary, taking dictation): I suppose as part of the chapter on your childhood?
Roger: That part of my book is getting bigger and bigger. Why is that?
Oh Roger. Who exactly is the sad clown? Clue: It's not Chaplin though he was that, yes.
That Roger is talking about 1920s movies and wonders why aloud, is one clue that he's having difficulty focusing on work or even the present tense aka 1965. The flashback heavy nature of the episode, in which we suddenly realize that Joan & Roger go way way back (intriguing -- was she even working in the office yet?), is the other.
Best Moment Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) strips off her clothes in a hotel room as challenge to her sexist faux-nudist co-worker. "I can work like this. Let's get liberated."
Finally, you have to love the choreography of the finale, which threads Don & Peggy's storylines together and also has a movie joke. Don lost his advertising award during his very own Lost Weekend. Here's his resigned banter with his secretary Miss Blankenship (Randee Heller, yes, that's The Karate Kid's mom).
Draper: Call the Pen and Pencil and see if someone found my award. Blankenship: What's the category? Draper: Best Actress.
Ha! Don hates her so much.
But the staging is as funny as the joke.
Draper actually enters the office (blink and you'll miss him) during Peggy's story punchline in which she mocks her co-worker after their nude encounter (she's talking about a "little" change in the ad) but her hand gesture and the eyeline from art director Rizzo to her implicates Don Draper. He keeps getting emasculating this season.
Best Actress. Heh.
Other References in this Episode (TV) Peyton Place, The Flintstones (Celebrities) The Pope, Red Skelton (Literature) A Tale of Two Cities, Noah's Ark, Playboy (Politics) The Daisy Ad, The Klu Klux Klan, The Temperance Movement
Of Note Show creator Matthew Weiner on why his actors come up empty at the Emmys. This was recorded before Sunday night's awards in which all of the actors lost again.
Further reading For diehard Mad Men fans who can't read enough.
Shitty First Drafts "Why Betty Draper Matters" This is a smart read about housewives in the 1960s. I'm within the small minority who is fascinated (even when appalled) by the former Mrs. Don Draper so I heartily approve.
Tom & Lorenzo The cast on the cover of Rolling Stone.
Rolling Stone a beauteous on set photo gallery from Rolling Stone.
Fast Company actors as spokespersons for brands blurs MM's boundaries
Antenna "You're Not Going to Kill This Account" on actual and revisionist history alike.
Scanners "...From Twin Peaks" a must read for David Lynch fans.
TV Guide Sal will be coming back to the show in some way (!) Cameo or otherwise?
Norsk Film Institute Mad Men at the Movies gets its own screening series in Norway. Unfortunately I am not thanked, involved, or flown over for it. Jeg gråter.
Behold: The Poster for Burlesque. I think the marketing department deserves kudos for managing to pay homage to both of their leading ladies simultaneously in a way that's flattering to both. Although the hot pink "they airbrushed my face" quality won't be a sale for everyone.
Linques MTV Whoa! Darren Aronofsky originally conceived of Black Swan and The Wrestler as a single film. Now I'm even more intrigued. Hollywood Crush Bradley Cooper and Ryan Reynolds as action co-stars? Media to swoon. In Contention Isabella Rossellini to head Berlinale jury Stale PopcornGypsy 83. I never hear anyone talking about this movie so I had to link up. Way too underseen for something so heartfelt. MNPP Good morning. Hey, I love bookshelves, too. They scream "I am what I am." Serious Film "Pulled from the Wreckage" Fine acting in terrible films Cinematical freaks out over the amount of stunts in Mad Max: Fury Road Awards Daily on the current cynicism and the Oscar race. Movies Kick Ass picks his favorite Emmy dresses. Christina Hendricks was probably mine. But I'm a sucker for attention grabbing cleavage ... and lavender come to think of it... and redheads (come to keep thinking of it). Triple success.
Go Fug Yourself on Diana Agron's (Glee) Little Women look on the red carpet. PopWrap first official image of Kristen Bell in Burlesque. They think she'll be the most quoted character. Geekscape asks "What if The Expendables had an all female cast?" Answer: Nathaniel would've seen it twice already. (P.S. A female version is so not a bad idea.)
And finally The Awl asks a question that's really been haunting me lately "Why is American selfishness so widespread now?" It's been a disheartening summer -- lack of empathy everywhere. I think you can even see this in reviews of movie dramas. People just have no time or patience for other people's heartache.
OK that's too depressing to end with.
How about By Ken Levine's (who knows from television) Emmy recap:
You realize of course that you watch a lot more television than the people who made these decisions? If it weren't for screener DVD's, many Academy members would still be voting for HILL STREET BLUES.
Ha. Good one.The only reason they're lazier than Oscar voters is they can be. Movies tend to be, like, ineligible after their debut year.
6:30 So Kevin McHale of Glee was very nearly the first person "E!" has talked to that I remotely cared about. He's wearing a yellow bowtie -- I almost typed yellow boytoy -- Weird. I blame Madonna.
Glee Boys.
Kevin named Sally Field as his celebrity crush (!) and Brothers & Sisters as his favorite show. I hope he was conveniently forgetting this past season because it blew.
Moments before Ryan Seacrest was actually wishing Emmys on the Jersey Shore cast. I am so embarrassed for everyone. E! should have rechristened themselves S! for Shameless or Stoopid long long ago. But at least they changed their red carpet people and got rid of the silver haired pancaked makeup person.
6:40 Claire Danes looking gorgeous with relaxed hair and shimmery gown. A Truth: I sometimes wonder what Angela Chase would think of Claire Danes. It's not that I get fantasy and reality confused so much as I just tend to prefer fantasy. Danes claims the only critic she worried about for this movie was Temple Grandin herself. Danes always strikes me as so fragile with all the tics and flinching that I imagine that bad reviews ACTUALLY hurt her, like cause blistering or some such.
6:45 Eva Longoria. That rumor she was going to play the Wasp in The Avengers was one of the darkest moments of my summer.
6:50 Jon Hamm (Mad Men) named Tatum O'Neal as his first celebrity crush because of Bad News Bears. That's so cute. She was one of mine, too. Only it was because of Little Darlingswhich scandalized me as a kid. Scandalized! But there's definitely a connection between being scandalized by someone and crushing on them, don't you think?
7:00 Ryan Murphy is wearing a blue tux and blue sunglasses. And he actually seems a little blue (mood not porny). Maybe he's less excitable in real life than he as a TV god. Because Nip/Tuck and Glee are nothing if not excitable.
7:01 January Jones is going to play Emma Frost "The White Queen" in X-Men: First Class which I think is kind of a brilliant casting decision. I understand the internet thinks otherwise but the internet is craycray
7:03 I'm not kidding you that this is what the E! cameramen did intermittently throughout Christina Hendrick's interview. Again: S!
or maybe E! is correct: E! for Exploitative. P.S. I love those Mad Men barbie dolls. I don't have Joan though. Just the Drapers.
7:12 Bill & Sookie (Anna Paquin) are now married. It's true. And yet they still have to answer constants nudity and sex questions on the red carpet. They're talking about their Rolling Stone photoshoot and how they covered each other's bit. One of the weird annual joys of awards season is watching Bill (I forgot his name. Deal) get embarrassed while talking about the sex scenes and use hand motions to describe body parts. Last year he used his hands, cupped, to demonstrate his butt pumping technique on the show. I kid you not.
Classy! But True Blood is A grade B trash and that's why we love it.
7:34 I'm so bored right now. I was all excited for about 41 minutes. But there are too many TV stars I don't care about. Like Juliana Marguiles. I have this fear that The Middlebrow Wife is going to win lots of awards tonight. It seems so Emmys.
7:52 Julie Bowen just said that her favorite shows on television are 30 Rock which she deemed an "old school" choice (... um, it's only been on for like four years. It's not like Law & F'in Order) and Project Runway her guilty pleasure. Meanwhile the reporter appeared to be headed to Las Vegas right after the show. A cut-out at your waist?
7:59 Billy Bush is TERRIBLE at his job. He really is. He's like "The Emmys" like that's as interesting as a message from their sponsors.
8:03 Opening skit. Glee themed. Gee, I wonder who will win tonight. Was that really Jon Hamm's voice just now? It's fun to see Dr Drew reunited with Liz Lemon but otherwise that number was atrocious. There were lots of pauses for laughter with no laugh track and (presumably) no one laughing.NEXT DAY NOTE: I'm reading around that net that people mostly loved this opening. Hmmm. The dangers of live blogging and divided attention?
So the straight man playing the gay man in the gayest category ever won. But he is truly hilarious on that show. "I ate the sun!"
8:20 txtcritic explaining The Bing Bang Theory to my clueless BFF "it's about three nerds that live together." That sounds unmissable! Modern Family takes another award for Best Writing in Comedy. Well deserved.
Thanks the cast, her agent, "my lord and creator Ryan Murphy" (ha!) her wife. and then a "God Bless"
She's so talented but I feel a bit bad for Krakowski who had her best season ever I think. Is she having a "rage stroke" right now?
8:35 Ryan Murphy wins Best Comedy Director Glee. He says the show is about the value of arts education. My friend (who watches Glee every week) "That sounds so interesting. I'd love to watch that show. What show is he talking about?" Ha! Something tells me that Glee has peaked. Even fans are mocking it tonight.
I should note that somewhere in there was a skit with the Modern Family cast that actually had a good 3D joke featuring Sofia Vergara's boobs. I feel certain that the entire camera crew of E! television guffawed.
In her acceptance speech she says "I'm not funny." Ha. Well, that's true. But your supporting cast sure is. And Edie is marvelous on that show, don't you think? And even better: very little like her Sopranos self. That's range.
8:51 Top Chef wins Best Reality Series. I had no idea that Padme was this divisive but my friends all started arguing about her. There was only pure hate and big love. Nothing inbetween. Weird.
8:55 They keep showing Oprah commercials. We're laughing because we've decided that "Steadman" is the best fake boyfriend name since "George Glass."
9:00 Chris Meloni. I just had to turn the air conditioner back on.
9:02 Best Writing Drama for Mad Men. This is the lamest live blog ever. I apologize. The Emmys are somehow sucking the life out of me. Maybe it's because the awards have not been embarrassing. And the acceptance speeches have been very standard so far. And the hosting not inspired. So... uh... APOLOGIES.
9:04 Supporting Actor NomineesAaron Paul, Breaking Bad | Martin Short, Damages | Terry O'Quinn, Lost | Michael Emerson, Lost | John Slattery, Mad Men | Andre Braugher, Men of a Certain AgeAnd the winner is...Aaron Paul. I guess I need to watch this show. Aaron Paul looks like the tiniest person alive. A pocket Emmy winner.
9:10 Supporting Actress Nominees Sharon Gless, Burn Notice | Rose Byrne, Damages | Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife | Christine Baranski, The Good Wife | Christina Hendricks, Mad Men | Elisabeth Moss, Mad MenAnd the winner is...Archie Panjabi. I like her but it's not OK that Christina Hendricks lost when she doesn't even get nominated for each season. But Mad Men doesn't have much luck winning acting prizes, does it.
9:15 Lead ActorBryan Cranston, Breaking Bad | Michael C Hall, Dexter | Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights | Hugh Laurie, House | Matthew Fox, Lost | Jon Hamm, Mad Men And the winner is Bryan Cranston for the third time. Poor everyone else. This is actually why I've never been into the Emmys. It's like making your bed in the morning. There's always deja vu.
Beautiful gracious speech from Cranston, though. If there's a takeaway from the evening it's that we're all supposed to be watching Breaking Bad. I feel left out.
9:24 Jimmy Fallon just isn't funny. I think that's the problem. He's doing a musical In Memoriam to shows that went off the air. The lyrics were mildly amusing for the 24 spot. But otherwise I'm lost. And he's doing Lost "I didn't understand it, but I tried."
9:25 My best friend on Glee"If Glee loses, it will follow the storyline of the show. And thus, will only serve the show." Hee.
9:30 I forgot to mention that Dexter won Direction of a Drama. I feel like I am seran wrapped to a table right now and the Academy of Television is a serial killer ready to do me in. I'm so over this.
This will not help to free me up from the seran wrap.
I'll say come on, come on, come on, come on, yeah take it! Take another little piece of my heart now, baby. (break a..)
9:36 I swear Jimmy Fallon is hosting this show from his basement. It's so 12 year old boy "funny" rather than funny.
9:40 The Tonys just won something. My friend thinks that awards shows should be ineligible to win prizes at other awards shows. Listen, I love Broadway but seeing a Broadway show will not change your life. And as my friend Ed says "It'll change your bank account."
9:53 Ricky Gervais is SO funny. "Bucky Gunts" for the win.
9:55 I may actually expire before this show is over.
10:08 Julia Ormond just won Supporting Actress for a TV Movie Temple Grandin. They spelled her name wrong "Julia Ormand" and then she couldn't remember Catherine O'Hara's last name? A joke? I'm very confused right now. Earlier today I forgot the word to "balcony" I am terrified that I have Aphasia. Or at least I am terrified that awards shows have it.
10:16 Temple Grandin won another. Is that about a disease? I shouldn't joke about Aphasia. But I really did forget the word for balcony earlier. WTF?
10:17 Jewel is doing In Memoriam? But without an intro. I remember HER but I can't remember "balcony"
10:20 These In Memoriams are always so sad. Sniffle.
10:23 We're now eating Iceland skyr... it's a little mealy or chalky or something. Do not like. Sorry Iceland.
10:24 I have lost the thread.
10:26 Some time ago George Clooney won a humanitarian prize. He really is a great person. But my apartment -- I have a couple friends over -- we're now experimenting with cuisine and discussing the Scissor Sisters. I tried!
Look how A-MAZ-ING this photo is that my BFF took? The light is emanating from Jake Shears chest. It's not the first time. Light is also absorbed there. The light in my eyeballs.
10:30 Oh all right. If I must. Back to the Emmys.
Lead Actress NomineesJoan Allen, Georgia O'Keefe | Judi Dench, Return to Cranford | Maggie Smith, Capturing Mary | Claire Danes, Temple Grandin | Hope Davis, That Special RelationshipAnd the winner is... Claire Danes.
Her acceptance speech was fun. I would quote it for you now but I lost the thread. I'll have to backtrack. But she was cute and, it's like, something Angela Chase would've said if she'd become, like, a tv star. For reals.
10:38 Lead Actor NomineesJeff Bridges, A Dog Year | Ian McKellen, The Prisoner | Al Pacino, You Don't Know Jack | Dennis Quaid, That Special Relationship | Michael Sheen, That Special RelationshipAnd the winner is...Al Pacino. I hate his hair so much.
BTW Latisse is probably loving how many opportunities Claire Danes has had to blink and coo at the camera tonight. Those lashes sure are lovely!
10:40 Yes, please wrap it up Pacino.
10:41 OMG. He is STILL talking? They would drown anyone else out with orchestra music.
Except maybe Betty White.
10:42 I am beyond TIME. I am now going to share a screencap that happened before Al Pacino won. Because I cannot be contained by time or by my own time stamping. F*** you 10:42 I am 10:36 or something. Take it. You'll take it and you'll like it.
MmmmmSkarsgård.
10:46 I feel like if you add up all the times Tom Hanks has been on awards stages accepting prizes -- best miniseries -- you would equal my life. Or at least up until say high school graduation. He's logged years up there is what I'm saying.
10:50 So Claire Danes was just called "bottomlessly talented" does this mean her bottom is without talent? She'll always have her eyelashes.
LAST TWO AWARDS. YEEHAW.
Defending New York City champs 30Rock and Mad Men, both of which have won for every season aired (thus far), defend their titles. Will they repeat for their 4th and 3rd respective seasons? We'll find out in seconds.
DramaBreaking Bad | Dexter | The Good Wife | Lost | Mad Men | True BloodAnd the winner is...MAD MEN. Yes! Best show on TV. You know my feelings about it. January Jones is wearing a dress made of a blue chinese new year dragon. Shell breasts. How cute was that little exchanged look between the Drapers on stage?
ComedyCurbYour Enthusiasm | Glee | Modern Family | Nurse Jackie | The Office | 30 Rock And the winner is...[nailbiter] Modern Family! Great great show. Yay. Deserved. So consistent and so beautifully executed and just, well, funny. And the award is called "Best Comedy"
10:59 Okay wow. So the awards went to fairly deserving things but Jimmy Fallon was terrible. I'm out.
The clear winner of the night is... (I think we all know).... Claire Danes. How soon does HBO offer her her own series?
11:54 OK. I really must sleep now but I just wanted to remind Sofía Vergara of her commitments.
...Oscar winner Francis Ford Coppola who will receive the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for producing, iconoclast and French new wave legend Jean-Luc Godard (I'm guessing he won't show) and two Emmy winners, actor Eli Wallach and film historian/preservationist Kevin Brownlow.
Perhaps no one is receiving the Jean Hersholt Huminatarian Award this year and all three of those men are just the standard "Honorary Oscar"? Pity that the reports aren't specific on this detail. Brownlow is the name I wasn't familiar with. His career is a mixture of television work, film history, restoration work and documentaries.
...unfortunately you won't get to hear these accomplished men giving speeches about their life's work and the cinema. Again.
The Academy is still operating on that "Keep the old folks away from the stage! Get Miley Cyrus" edict from god knows when. Never mind that The Mileys (i.e. all celebrities who have no real business being at the Oscars because they have precious little to do with the art and glamour of either current movies or legendary ones) didn't turn the Oscar ratings around. The positive spin is that these presentations at the Governor's Awards on November 13th will be more like Oscar nights of old, parties to celebrity peers without those pesky commercial breaks, and merciless 45 second time limits on speeches. But honestly, if they're going to keep making the town's legends celebrate off camera as if they've expired -- what is this Logan's Run? -- they should at least let them collectively present Best Picture each year. Or something. Lord knows Oscar needs a new thinktank when it comes to Best Picture presentations. I mean, even after I gave them a detailed and sound argument that they have no imagination in this realm -- I even helped them with household name suggestions! -- they ignored me and went with Tom Hanks. Again.
I mean just once, Academy, try a legendary Actress. It's been 20 years since you let an Actress do it on her own (Barbra Streisand) and that was even an actress who you've let do it again since with a man. Why are you so stuck and repetitive? And if you're that stuck and you simply must pull from your list of "people who've done it before," pony up and ship Olivia de Havilland over from France for a real shocker.
My longwinded point is this: It better be an actress this year, since you went with all men for your honorary prizes. Here's a helpful reminder of living actresses -- some of them Oscar winners -- who have not presented Best Picture and who the general public would recognize.
That's what's called "scratching the surface" You're welcome.
I could totally go on. Especially if you were willing to consider people who the public would recognize after a few seconds of "oh, yeah, right her. She's important!" *
I've neglected to mention that Our Miss Anne Hathaway is now an EMMY winner. (The Emmys have so many hundreds of categories, that they have to start weeks before the actual show in passing them out.) Next step: Oscar... or maybe Tony? (she did get bang up reviews for her theater gig in Twelfth Night, too) Yay! She won the prize for her Simpsons voicework in the episode "Once Upon a Time in Springfield."
Voicework for The Simpsons is always a good idea for actors.
You get paid.
It's probably fun.
It's a pop culture merit badge. Many celebrities have have had the honor -- everyone from La Pfeiffer through George Takei to Don Cheadle -- but you're still in a cool club.
But... you don't actually win Emmys for it. That can't be a reason to do it. While the principle Simpsons cast (Yeardley Smith, Julie Cavner, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellanata, Hank Azaria) has won several Emmy awards, Hathaway is only the third non-series regular to win or even be nominated. The first was Jackie Mason who guested on three episodes as Rabbi Krustofski. Kelsey Grammar, who has "appeared" in 13 episodes won later. Maybe they changed the rules and this won't be so unlikely in the future I don't know -- it's so hard to keep track of Emmy rules and there hundreds of categories.
<--- Red Carpet Break. To your left is Kristin Chenoweth & Kathy Griffin doing Charlie's Angels on the red carpet. They're such hams. I don't watch Life on the D List that often -- finding KG funny but quite wearying in repetition -- but the recent episode that Cheno appeared in was hilar', especially when they went all Singin' in the Rain moment with Kathy "singing" with Cheno's voice.
Some Early Prizes Guest Actress Comedy Betty White SNL We knew that was coming but she did not attend. Strange. Guest Actress Drama Ann-Margret Law & Order: SVU Was she a victim, a perp, a witness? Doesn't matter. She's Ann-Margret! (pictured further down the page) Guest Actor Comedy Neil Patrick Harris, Glee He finally has his Emmy, two of them actually since he also won as part of the Tony ceremony team. Congrats NPH. Now have those babies with Burtka and take that well deserved break. Just don't stay away too long.
Guest Actor Drama John Lithgow Dexter. I haven't seen this particular season yet but it's about to arrive for my viewing. Lithgow is practically magnetized when it comes to awards statues so it's a little weird that he couldn't manage the Oscars. I think if he went back to movies full time, it'd be a done deal. He has 4 Emmys, 2 Golden Globes and 2 Tonys. No joke. Host, Reality Series Jeff Probst, Survivor. Are people still watching that. Sheesh. Expiration dates, people! Casting Comedy Series Modern Family Casting Drama SeriesMad Men Both casting awards are well deserved, don't you think... especially Modern Family in its first season. Mad Men only had to find key new players and guest stars.
A couple more notes...
Wendy? Yes, Lisa. Is the water ready? Yes, Lisa. Shall We Begin? Yes, Lisa
Wendy and Lisa, pictured above to the right, won for scoring Nurse Jackie. They have a different type of career since those 80s Prince paisley rock days but it's still celebrated, so good on them. Nurse Jackie is such a strongly conceived show up to and including those opening credits and the music. I still think it's pilot episode is one of the most perfectly constructed pilots television has ever seen. It's fun to see Wendy holding a golden trophy. Now, can Wendy's wife Lisa Cholodenko (a different Lisa mind you) repeat that trick at the Oscars for The Kids Are All Right?
RANT! And finally because the Emmys always find some way to piss me off, it should be known that The Tudors bested Mad Men in the field of costume design. This means that Joan Bergin now has three Emmys for her four seasons of eligible work on The Tudors thus far and the absolute genius of Janie Bryant, Mad Men's costume designer, is still zero for three (though she won previously for Deadwood). Bryant goes home statueless each year of Mad Men despite delivering complex ultra-specific character costuming work with evolving period details that has also affected actual fashion trends in the outside world it's so smartly executed. Blasphemy!
See, Royalty Porn is the simplest statue-winning trick at the Emmys, too. It's not just the Oscars that will always give you a prize for dressing Queens.
...or undressing them in the case of Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. *
Though the headline may come as a shock, it's true... and not unprecedented.
I'm not sure what today's teen and 20somethings know of Joan Collins if anything. Her sister Jackie, the romance novelist, seems to have stayed in the spotlight a bit more this past decade. But anyone who lived through the 80s just heard the opening theme of Dynastytrumpetingin their head. Ms. Collins was a 20something starlet of the 50s who migrated to television, peaking as a 50something with a Golden Globe win as bitchtastic icon "Alexis Carrington Colby" and the series becoming the #1 TV show in the land shortly afterwards. Alexis terrorized the feebler entities (i.e. everyone) on that soap for eight years. She was nominated at the Globes six consecutive times. Emmy voters didn't like the powerhouse serial as much, giving Collins and the show only won chance at the Actress and Series statue (needless to say they lost).
Now in 2010, Collins has won her first acting prize in ages. The New York International Film Festival (this city has so many mini festivals I can't keep track) screened a creepy comedic short called Fetish (2010) in which Collins plays a faded star in conflict with a talk show host (played by Charles Casillo who also wrote the screenplay). The audience was apparently wowed by her deglammed nuanced portrait.
From the set of Fetish, photo by Kelvin Dale.
Now, you can't win Oscars for performances in short films, but the short itself is playing Oscar qualifying festivals so maybe you'll hear more of it later in the year? I'm reading conflicting reports but it's on the long-short side, if you will, coming in somewhere between 25-30 minutes.
I hadn't thought of Collins in a good while until earlier this year when I began reading Star. She's a major figure in the early parts of that Warren Beatty bio. Yes, she was his lover. "Who wasn't?" you shout snarkily in unison. But listen. There are lovers and then there are LOVERS. And Collins was the latter sort, and a crucial figure in foisting the young and impossibly pretty Warren Beatty upon the world in 1961. So crucial, in fact, that she shows up in the very first paragraph of the first chapter of that book.
But I wander...
I hope to catch up with this Fetish film soon. Congratulates to "The Bitch" herself, who, at 77, could maybe somehow possibly if-she-wants-to drift back into the pop culture atmosphere again. Who knows?
If you'll allow me a train of thought digression, this news reminded me of a passage in Quentin Crisp's amazing book How To Go the Movies (1984) . I'm quoting a big chunk but it's too wonderful not to. Crisp is discussing the fall of the studio system (and the unfortunate rise of television). Joan is name checked.
"..in fact it provided a stable atmosphere in which an actress could perfect her skills with at least some assurance that they would be used. Her studio would carry her through at least one flop, and by the time her contract was well under way, she had usually acquired her own secretary, her own makeup artist --in some cases, her own camera man. In other words, a leading lady became a kind of queen bee attended by five or six drones who had no other function than to enhance her assets and conceal her defects. No wonder so many of them became permanent stars. What keeps a woman young and beautiful is not repeated surgery but perpetual praise. They were eternal mistresses of their public. In deference to the art directors of their films, they changed their costumes occassionally, but only as ballerinas wear tights and tutus to remind us that they are first and foremost classical dancers but, if spoken to nicely, will don a turban to show that for the moment they are the playthings of cruel Turks. A movie star never deprived her public of the thrill of instant recognition at her first appearance on the screen.
This happy predictability no longer prevails. Now, every new picture is a desperate gamble, deafeningly publicized, with its mounting costs broadcast like news of a forest fire. If a film fails, even though its star may have been judged by the critics to have been the only good thing in it, when her name is mentioned, some movie mogul will growl, "Isn't that the broad that costs us thirty-four million dollars?" In these circumstances, actresses have decided to be different people in different roles; they have taken to acting -- a desperate measure indeed.
Though television has wrought all this havoc in Hollywood, it is no real substitute for the movies. It has its star; it has Miss Collins, who remains through all vicissitude of plot the last of the "vamps." If she ever appeared on any screen, large or small, as a nice home girl, the world would come to an abrupt and ignominious end."
From what we hear of Fetish, she is less cartoonishly vampy than before, but still not exactly a sweet wallflower. The world will keep spinning... for now. *
<---- A photo from the premiere of Going the Distance that I saw at I Need My Fix. Is this pose, caught foregrounded against a rainbow subtle "Box Office" halo, some sort of sign from god that this Justin Long / Drew Barrymore romcom is going to be huge? Hmmmm. Drew is so impossible not to love but I'm hoping that one day she gets and nails a movie role as good as her Grey Gardens outing. Her movie roles are always so samey-samey and GG sure let her stretch her wings beautifully. Won't one of our A list directors give her a real big screen opportunity? The Barrymore dynasty hasn't been in the Oscar mix since, what, 1944?
Slant Magazine sizes up the Emmy rosters with should and could wins. Great read, dependably bitchy. But I must say that I think Christina Hendricks deserves the Supporting Actress win over Elisabeth Moss for Mad Men. Moss has such rich material constantly and does a tremendous job. But Hendricks is just constantly elevating the shit out of what, in lesser hands, could be one of the show's most surface characters. P.S. I don't get the hate for 30 Rock... Sure it's increasingly uneven. But it's still goddamn funny in its best moments. The Wrap Christina Hendrick still models for friends? So cool. TowleroadThe Switch, Fela, celebrity forgiveness chart and more. MNPPThe Fog or The Mist? It's a question of the utmost importance. Condensation forever! Dark Eye Socket a follow up to that "what do you look for in a movie?" question we were just chatting about.
And reader Patrick sent me this image of Catherine Deneuve from François Ozon's new film Potiche which will play at Venice (god, I wish I was going to the Venice Festival. This AND Black Swan?) with this amusing note "trying to to be the new Sue Sylvester..." ha.
I'd don a track suit to hang with Catherine Deneuve any day any time any where. But especially in Venice. Wouldn't you?
Stale Popcorn Glenn surveys the 19 eligible films for the Australian Oscars. I Need My Fix Jane Lynch gets a wax figure. Glee has now officially taken over the world. Watch it take over the Emmys next. Hot Blog in depth Sissy Spacek interview. Goes all the way back to the early years.
I didn't work until I was 20. I just looked like I was 13.
HKMDB Daily Stills from the Chinese remake of What Women Want with superstars Gong Li & Andy Lau Towleroad Jennifer Aniston as Barbra Streisand? People...
Scanners looks at how the reviews of Salt deal with Angelina Jolie's super-sized star persona Box Office Mojo some release date shifts for Disney and two cancellations. Is the Beauty & The Beast 3D death another sign that 3D is over? If so, YAY! B&tB is perfect as is thankyouverymuch. His Eyes Were Watching MoviesVolver collects another fan. I honestly think that movie will continue to do so until it's regarded as one of Almodóvar's very best. Because it so is. That Obscure Object old paparazzi photos sometimes freak me out. This is the Thelma & Louise stars: Susan, Geena and Brad. Ah, sweet bird of 1991 youth. Empire when I read the capsule header or this article about Dolphin Tale starring Ashley Judd, Harry Connick Jr and Morgan Freeman -- that cast! -- I actually thought I had clicked on the wrong link and gone back to an article from the 1990s. True story, I did. Low Resolution Have you read Joe's entertaining & thought provoking personal Emmy ballots? You should.
must read contemporary post of the day Op-Ed Maureen Dowd and Sam Wasson, the author of that Breakfast at Tiffany's book discuss the sorry wrist-slitting state of the romantic comedy. They name names. Wonderful discussion. I just may read it again and buy Wasson's book.
must read retrospective post of the day Nick's Flick Picks reviews James Cameron's The Abyss (1989). As per usual his insights are totally invigorating. He always makes me want to see movies again. You can miss so much. I love this bit on Ed Harris
Harris, whose charisma, gaze, and body were like a periodic table of virile emotion during this period in his career, is tremendously moving throughout this key sequence, and really throughout the movie.
"A periodic table of virile emotion"...god, what a gorgeous distillation of Ed Harris. When is his honorary Oscar coming (since the real thing seems ever out of reach)?
<--- USA Today Zoinks. It's the first official pics of Natalie Portman in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. ♥ Journalistic Skepticism Luke reviews the entire 1990s in Best Actress. I'd do this myself if I didn't have 141 other ongoing movie projects to worry about. I'm overscheduled, I am. [Sigh] The Big Picture M. Night Shyamalan thinks that the cynical view of his career (that his movies are getting worse and worse) will be "eradicated" by history. Even more alarming: he says he would kill himself if he thought his movies were getting worse. Oh M. Night. Self awareness and self critique is necessary to growth as an artist. If you think you're incapable of bad work, you're bound to do bad work. Some Came Running Ellen Page is an early riser. Towleroad I'm incredibly disappointed in writer/director Don Roos (The Opposite of Sex, Happy Endings) and his comments on gay actors playing straight "distracting." He wins some points by using straights playing gays as his prime examples of this off-sexuality distraction (I mean, if you're going to be stupid about what acting is, be stupid in both directions! Thanks) but his own words are so hypocritical since he always has gay characters in his movies and always hires straight actors to play them. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies and the gay community is certainly proof of that in the movie business. Lazy Circle on The Atlantic's piece on celebrity scandal, tougher on women (like Lindsay Lohan) than men (Mel Gibson). I can't get behind any piece (The Atlantic's) that calls Elizabeth Taylor a joke, though. La Liz is legendary. Those who laugh at her have very little understanding of her epic wing in Hollywood's mansion. I Need My Fix shares a Goop item, a heartfelt piece from Bryce Dallas Howard on post-partum depression Serious Film Come back Charlie Kauffman
off cinema I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing on event television and a real life event. A must read. Playbill Barack Obama's tribute to Broadway. Love the Mel Brooks quote that musicals "blow the dust off your soul." Backstage|Blogstage Maybe the all things Mad Men fever has finally jumped the shark... or at least driven over someone's foot with a lawnmower. Of of my favorite recurring bit players has posed for Playboy recreating old 60s pinups. Movie|Line Have you been reading the Emmy Spotlight here? It's fun. I had totally forgotten about that Gossip Girl themed 30 Rock episode. When I die I want to leave something in my will for Jane Krakowski because she's given me so much raucous laughter in my life.
daily Inception freakout EW's Owen Gleiberman says he doesn't "get" Inception. And then proceeds to describe it in thorough detail indicating that he totally got it but just didn't like it very much. Yet his constant "I didn't get it" apologetic refrains invite everyone -- sometimes literally -- to disregard his points. Who does Owen Gleiberman think he is? A Democratic politician. Find your backbone! FourFour Rich (who hated the movie) has a conversation with a friend (who loved it). It's all very interesting but even Rich, who is totz brilliant, falls for the "didn't get it" hedging, before saying lots of smart things indicating that he got it.
I still sorta like the movie (I initially gave it a B and this intermittently glowing review) but the things I did dislike about it such as the entire character of Ariadne (Ellen Page), the literal mindedness of a dream movie, and the direction/editing of some of the action sequences keep bothering me and the things I liked about it (the 'man as builder' vertical aesthetic, the team dynamic, the zero gravity bits, the f/x, the Tom Hardy) aren't totally compensating.
My point is this: I'm glad that someone made a movie that is inspiring this much discussion but I will yet be driven mad by the dynamic of weird hyperbole vs. embarassed apologies embedded in seemingly all Inception conversations. I am sending Nolan my next therapy bill.
Finally Have you tried this "35 Movies in 2 Minutes" short? It's whimsic-hypnotic but I have to admit I didn't even get half of them on the first run through. Try it.
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).
Kate in her Emmy winning* role as Mildred Pierce.
