My Udo My Udo What Have Ye Done

JA from MNPP here. Have you read this phenomenally odd and delightful interview with the actor Udo Kier at The AV Club? Odd and delightful are the two words I'd always use whenever mentioning Mr. Kier, but he really brings it this time around.

Over at MNPP  I picked out my fifteen favorite quotes from the interview, but I'm so oddly delighted in this chat's wake I've got to just keep on thinking about Udo, and what better way to do that then to mercilessly pick apart the work he's done over the years with a completely frivolous list. He's worked so much in such a vast array of projects that there are dozens of his performances that I've missed (I don't know how this is possible but it appears I've never seen any of the films he's done with Fassbinder, for example), but out of the many I have seen here are my five favorite performances of his.

5 Favorites



Lee Meyers, My Son My Son What Have Ye Done - I don't think it's often that Udo gets picked to play a straight man to somebody else's nuttery, but when stacked up against a way out there Michael Shannon it's not only possible, it's enthralling.

NSFW image after the jump





Hans, My Own Private Idaho - I think he sums it up best: "Amazing to have sex with Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix!"

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Count Dracula, Andy Warhol's Dracula - It's hard choosing between his Dracula and his Dr. Frankenstein in the previous year's (superior) Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, but his sickly Drac casts an enfeebledly hypnotic spell I can't quite shake.


Aage Krüger / Little Brother, The Kingdom - You haven't truly lived until you've seen Udo's face emerge from the vital space of a birthing mother.

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Franz Hess, Grindhouse's fake trailer for "Werewolf Women of the SS" - Sure I could've picked something from his other classier works, like all the stuff he's done with Von Trier (he's Lars' most commonly used actor, ya know), but I think this one about sums it all up in a nice tight insane bow.

Runner-up: He played a character named "Wolfgang Herzog" on an episode of Nash Bridges. I haven't seen it, I don't need to see it, without knowing it demands a place upon this list.
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Six Actresses Walk Into a Room...

The Hollywood Reporter is proclaiming that "Awards Season Begins Now" but the cover is freaking me out. Did Nancy Meyers direct it? It's so beige.

Do Amy Adams, Nicole Kidman, Hilary Swank and Natalie Portman all suddenly have the same hairstylist & colorist these days? They're interchangeable. And with women that special, that's a big no-no. Kidman's styling bugs me the most. It's so Blair on Facts of Life.

Am I right?

"I've got another one of my brilliant ideas."

Even craycray HBC looks like she's been stripped of her actual wardrobe in some coordinated Bossy Stylist intervention -- guarantee you she's never worn that before -- "You must be on trend, Helena. Muted colors this Oscar season! Think: Vanilla!"

But I'm intrigued by her fessing up about her working relationship with Tim Burton

I did do a film with him before I slept with him, and it's very different. We went through a really bad time on Sweeney Todd. ... I didn't get one compliment (from Burton). He really had this whole thing, like he didn't want to seem as if he was favoring me. So he'd go in the opposite direction. And Tim and Johnny, they have their lovely relationship, you know, they get on so well. So that was a difficult one. ... I really didn't think he'd ever want to work with me again. On Alice, I said there were going to be rules. ... I listed the Ten Commandments of how to work together.

I'd like to know what those Ten Commandments are. But I'm guessing she doesn't get into it in front of 5 other actresses.

Meanwhile, back to that cover -- this post is a runaway train (of thought) bear with me! -- notice that The Bening is propping herself up by her chin, biding her time, knowing they'll photoshop her in later.

I suppose it's possible that they were all in the room together, but I'm guessing it was more like Skype. The photo sure doesn't look like it's all one photo, does it?

Come to think of, I'm waiting for the day when some famous magazine or celebrity photographer refuses to do any more shoots where you have to photoshop busy people together later on. This didn't used to happen of course. Part of the jam-packed celebrity schedule used to include making time to be photographed with other celebrities. There's just something so dehumanizing about the photoshop mash-ups. I do them for humor but I hate it when they're presented to me like a photo I should believe in. (At least those Vanity Fair covers do a good job of tricking you about it... and you know that at least sections of it involve actual stars, draped about each other in real time.)

I miss stars being photographed together in the flesh where they can totally feed off each other's energy. Like...

Michelle Pfeiffer & Jessica Lange in 1997 (one of my favorite celebrity photos of all time even if their movie wasn't good.)  Or how about Keanu Reeves & River Phoenix in 1991?

Of course this still happens now but almost exclusively with only two people. Larger groups? Forget it.

Currently paparazzi photography is so much more exciting than actual portraiture. I mean, would any magazine ever be able to schedule The Town cast to be photographed in a room together at the same time and capture this much interpersonal energy...

Isn't that a sweet pic? I think it's my favorite movie premiere shot from 2010. I've looked at it so many times since September.

But back to The Hollywood Reporter to wrap up. I haven't seen the mag yet but I'm loving some of the quotes I'm reading like this exchange between Swankster & Adams

On losing roles 
Swank: There was a script I fell in love with back in August that was sent to me...I went in and I didn't get it.
Bening: Who did?
Swank: Do you really want to know?
Bening: Amy, you got it, didn't you?
(Laughter)
Swank (to Adams): Did you read it? Did you like it?
Adams: I'm not getting into this! (Thunderous laughter)
Swank: Amy got the role! Amy will be playing the role that I wanted! (Laughs)
Adams: Let me just say, I'm not doing it. We don't normally talk about this!

Hee. I've never liked Swank more than reading that exchange. And I've never felt better about The Bening's winning chances in February than I did while "hearing" her tease Swank and Adams on this topic.

MORE ON THE WHOLE HOUR LONG VIDEO HERE.

I'm suddenly very excited for awards season. Maybe it did begin just now?

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Helena Bonham-Carter Annette Bening

Flashback: Best of the 90s. (Pt 1)

Remember when I shared those 80s scrapbook pages on "Before Websites Pt 1 and Pt 2"?

Well inbetween scrapbooking two decades back and the total new digital world of the Aughts, there was the long transitional period of the 1990s. Remember when the internet was just text (Anyone? Anyone?). The last two issues of my 90s zine (that pre-website relic mentioned in the Julianne Moore interview) were published in 2000.

<-- "90s character collage" Oil on canvas. I'm confused why I included The Phantom Menace because I hated the movie. I think I wanted something "up to the minute" Ha!

I had just moved to NYC and was in the process of chucking Quark for Dreamweaver. The first version of the site was already up and rapidly taking over my life so I'm not sure why I was trying to do both web & print. It was transitional hedging maybe. Plus html was way confusing at first before apps starting doing all the coding for you. Different era.

Interior "Ten Best" pages --- >

I thought I'd share these ancient lists on "Best of the 90s" for fun. I can't really stand by half the choices now 10 years later but can you stand by all your choices from Spring 2000?

Best Supporting Actor
[Top Ten Chronological Order, Winner in Red. Original text with the names listed. The very first one surprises me like you don't even know but we'll get to that in a minute.]

• Tommy Lee Jones, JFK (1991)
  Tommy back when he was exciting to watch onscreen.
  
• Michael Lerner, Barton Fink (1991)
  The funniest supporting turn of the decade
  
• Leonardo DiCaprio, What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
  The breaking point of Hollywood's It Boy.
  
• Ralph Fiennes, Schindlers List (1993)
  Astoundingly frightening American debut.

Leonardo DiCaprio (Gilbert Grape) & Ed Harris (The Truman Show)

• Samuel L Jackson, Pulp Fiction (1994)
  Much celebrated bible quoting hitman. Great.
  
• Martin Landau, Ed Wood (1994)
  Great character actor doing comic justice to a legend.
  
• Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects (1995)
  Kevin's much lauded Keyzer Soze role.
  
• William H Macy, Fargo (1996)
  Almost as great as McDormand. High praise.
• Rupert Everett, My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
  Wasn't even nominated. What?!?!
  
• Ed Harris, The Truman Show (1998)
  Terrific work from the ever magnetic actor.

That's what I said then. As you can see I wasn't yet a frothing at the mouth "Category Fraud!" crusader since there's at least two "leads" in there. In fact, for '99 I chose Haley Joel Osment (ru: Jude Law) who is obviously the lead of The Sixth Sense and in my runners up I list Rupert Graves in Where Angels Fear to Tread and how is that anything but the lead role? The weirdest nominee in this best of decade top ten is Tommy Lee Jones. I barely remember that performance -- I think he had white hair and that there was some rabidly anti-gay tone to his scenes? -- and what I do remember I don't like. I'm so confused that it's listed but that's what the pages say. The other thing that sticks out at me is that I was apparently on a first name basis with Kevin Spacey (unhh....) and I excluded Burt Reynolds in Boogie Nights (very odd).

So yeah, I'm not happy with this list at all. I'd probably only keep half of it. But I'd need to watch a few movies again.

Best Supporting Actress
[Top Ten Chronological Order, Winner in Red. Original text with the names listed]

Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear) & Patricia Clarkson (High Art)

• Annette Bening, The Grifters (1990)
  As the delicious decadent Myra Langtree she was radiant.
• Uma Thurman, Henry & June (1990)
  Seduced Henry, Anaïs and the world as June Miller.
• Juliette Lewis, Cape Fear (1991)
  At just 18, stole the show from Lange, Nolte and DeNiro.
• Judy Davis, Husbands and Wives (1992)
  Gave Allen's neurosis a whole new energy level.
• Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction (1994)
  The hip film's central female role. Uma nailed it.
• Dianne Wiest, Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
  Dianne is always a treat. Against type, she soared.
• Joan Allen, The Crucible (1996)
  Breathtaking. One of the great screen presences.
• Julianne Moore, Boogie Nights (1997)
  Should've won the Oscar. What were they thinking?
• Christina Ricci, The Ice Storm (1997)
  Smart sad work. Confirmed her best-of-generation status.
• Patricia Clarkson, High Art (1998)
  How did this marvelous turn go so unnoticed?

That's what I said then. Obviously Catherine Keener would've made the list for Being John Malkovich had I waited a year to compile this. (I'm always so hesistant about brand new movies. A weird tic. And apparently I did the same thing here declaring 1999 movies ineligible for these top tens. Weirdness.) But nothing much surprises me about these supporting actresses. Love them all and the next ten would be almost as wondrous.

Best Actor
[Top Ten Chronological Order, Winner in Red. Original text with the names listed. I've recreated the illustration here just because I thought it was funny and I remember being super angry that Anthony Hopkins started going hammy and/or phoning it in starting about the mid 90s.


I no longer have any strong feelings about him. The quality dropoff was so severe that even know 15 years later I see his name in casting items and I feel nothing more than "Why'd they go with him? Laziness in thinking about their options?". Like, what was he doing in The Wolf Man? I feel like you give that same part to some hungry actor his age who never got inundated with huge offers and they're going to reward you with something special even if the movie bites. I don't mean to sound cruel about Sir Hopkins and I did name him Best Lead Actor of the Decade and that's saying something. He'll always have 1991-1993 when every performance was an event!]

• Anthony Hopkins, Silence of the Lambs (1991)
  Perhaps overcelebrated but it's a juicy star turn.
• River Phoenix, My Own Private Idaho (1991)
  A transformation that made him an icon.
• Denzel Washington, Malcolm X (1992)
  Should have easily bagged him the Oscar.
• Daniel Day-Lewis, In the Name of the Father (1993)
  Does anyone else miss this guy? Great actor.
• Anthony Hopkins, Remains of the Day (1993)
  Unquestionably fine. Does repression like no one else.
• Nicolas Cage, Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
  His last great performance before big budgets beckoned.
• Sean Penn, Dead Man Walking (1995)
  Completely believeable difficult turn as a repentant killer.
• Ian Holm, The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
  A performance as complex as the film. That's high praise.
• Ian McKellen, Gods and Monsters (1998)
  Should have won the Oscar. What were they thinking?
• Edward Norton, American History X (1998)
  Fierce work that confirmed his best-of-generation status.

That's what I said then. And said rather repetitively, too. I used some of those exact same lines for Best Supporting Actress. Where was my editor? Oh, yeah. That was me. Elsewhere in the magazine I proclaim Kevin Spacey in American Beauty Best Actor of 1999 and now I would definitely rewrite history to pretend that I chose Jim Broadbent in Topsy Turvy (who I at least nominated. Yay, me). I had also forgotten that DDL made so few movies in the 90s (only 5) despite becoming a big star with the first of those (The Last of the Mohicans). And then he made even less in the Aughts (4) ! Does this mean we can only expect 3 movies from him from 2010-2019? And if so, does one of them really have to be a Sherlock Holmes sequel since he works so infrequently?

I'm also a bit surprised that I didn't give the top prize to River Phoenix as I was quite obsessed with My Own Private Idaho in the 90s. River Phoenix would've turned 40 last week. One has to wonder what would be different in the movies had he lived. Which star would never have risen up instead. Which roles we're familiar with would he have ended up playing?

I'm disappointed looking back that I didn't list Christopher Guest whose "Corky St. Clair" in Waiting for Guffman is arguably the finest comedic character creation of the 1990s. He should've made the list.

River Phoenix (My Own Private Idaho) & Christopher Guest (Waiting For Guffman)

You know what to do in the comments. Your lists please... and how have they changed over the past ten years. What did you love or hate then that you've changed your mind about now? And let's say you were born in the late 80s or in the 1990s. Which of these movies have you always meant to see but just haven't got around to yet?

p.s. If you're new to the blog and want to see more recent "best ofs" you can check out Best of the Aughts or my awards for 2009.
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