Links: Andorra, Amelie, Billy & Jon. Plus Hayao Miyazaki Again?

The Kinsey Report looks back at the troubled history of early 80s sensation Gene Anthony Ray (aka "Leroy" from Fame)
Variety Director Fred Schepisi (Six Degrees of Separation, Roxanne, Plenty) is lining up an all star cast for his new dramatic thriller Andorra: Vanessa Redgrave, Guy Pearce, Toni Collette, Clive Owen and more. Can he regain some of his 80s/90s heat? None of his films have had much impact in the last 20 or so years
/Film Lin-Manuel Miranda is working on a secret Disney project with Zootopia's director. Guess he liked that Moana experience

 

Towleroad an interview with Martha Plimpton on The Real O'Neals and becoming a new gay icon  
Metro Michael Shannon is not afraid to speak his mind on the current political climate. Also he has a bajillion movies coming out 
AV Club why Moana will be named Oceania in Italy
AV Club Beauty & The Beast (1991) remains Disney's best modern movie
Pajiba Carrie Fisher & Harrison Ford were totally doing it on the set of Star Wars in 1976 
Coming Soon Robert Heinlein's classic Stranger in a Strange Land is being adapted to series on the Syfy network
LAist Multi-hyphenate talent Rob Reiner, like Michael Shannon, is not holding his tongue about our new US nightmare 

Stage
Theater Mania Philippa Soo of Hamilton fame takes on Audrey Tatou's famous role in the musicalization of movie favorite Amelie beginning in LA next month before a Broadway transfer. If you're in LA let us know how it is, won't you?!
Playbill Molly Ringwald is back on stage, taking on Shirley Maclaine's role in a stage version of Terms of Endearment. It opens tonight. 
Playbill If you've never seen Sweeney Todd on stage you have another chance early next year at the Barrow Street theater. The British cast of a new production is transferring over but when they leave in early April, Norm Lewis and Carolee Carmello (both of whom have sensational vocal instruments) will replace them. I guess we've got to see it twice!

Today's Watch: A new "Billy on the Street"
Would you have a threesome with Billy and Jon Hamm?  

The Only Magically Great News in Weeks
Hayao Miyazaki wants to come out of retirement for one last film.  The 75 year old director has pitched a feature (sprung from a short Boro the Caterpillar) that he wants made by 2020.

Honorary Oscars - The Acceptance Speeches

The General Election really threw off coverage here but we're back on our feet (if a bit wobbly) and we hope you are, too! The annual Governor's Awards where the Honorary Oscars are handed out were held this past weekend with basically everyone in attendance. Here are the four honorees giving their very sweet speeches from the event. They're so moved as well they should be by this historica honor.

Enjoy if you haven't yet seen them...

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Judy by the Numbers: "There's No Business Like Show Business"

Anne Marie has been chronicling Judy Garland's career chronologically through musical numbers...

Sometimes, surprises happen. And sometimes those surprises are planted. I'm referring in this case to both the reappearance of Episode 9 on this series, and the "unplanned" appearance of Ethel Merman on the already-iconic show guest-starring Barbra Streisand. Though Merman's big reveal was first suggested as a way to placate both the surprise guest and her not-so-gracious host. Judy may have originally balked at the idea of her Tea for Two guest skipping the tea for some titanic trilling, but when the producers roped Barbra into the skit as well, it went from a battle of egos to a mammoth moment in musical history.

The Show: The Judy Garland Show Episode 9
The Songwriters: Various, arranged by Mel Torme
The Cast: Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, The Smothers Brothers, surprise guest Ethel Merman directed by Norman Jewison

The Story: So, here's the thing. I've never been a great lover of Ethel Merman. I understand her importance in the musical canon, and some of the shows written for her rank in my Top 5 Favorite Musicals, but the Hostess with the Mostest tends to leave me cold. But even I am swayed by the sheer power of seeing the three greatest American Belting Broads belting out a song together. It's not even a passing of the torch as the Judy/Liza sketch had been. Instead, this feels very much like three old pros - well, two old pros and one new pro - sizing each other up, celebrating what they see, and cooperating. Though Merman would return later for a proper guest spot, nothing would capture the weird wonder of this trio scene. It's improvised, it's lively, and it's unlike anything else on The Judy Garland Show.

Today in Showbiz History: Oklahoma!, Martha & Missy, JLaw's Ascendance

On this day in history as it relates to showbiz...

1873 WC Handy famous musician is born in Alabama. The first credited use of his music in a movie was in the original Scarface (1932). That same song "St Louis Blues" is his most popular with Hollywood and has been used in dozens of movies since including The Aviator and The Great Gatbsy recently.  But Blue Jasmine got all feisty and went with "Aunt Hagar's Blues" instead.
1889 Playwright George S Kaufman is born. He wins two Pulitzers and his work has been adapted to films many times including classics like You Can't Take It With You, Dinner at Eight, The Man Who Came to Dinner and Stage Door.
1907 Oklahoma becomes the 46th State...

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On Ruth Negga's emotional power in "Loving"

by Murtada

Ruth Negga gives Loving its heart and soul. From the very first frame, director Jeff Nichols relies on her expressive face to tell the story of Mildred and Richard Loving, the mixed race couple at the center of 1967 Supreme Court ruling that changed anti-miscegenation laws. The Lovings paved the way for generations of mixed race families. Nichols starts with Negga, his camera moving into a close up. A silent moment as we take in her big-eyed, made-for-cinema face. Then the line “I’’m pregnant” and we're swept right into this couple’s story. No need for us to see how they met and fell in love. Negga tells us the whole story with her face and delivery of that line.

Throughout the film, which puts the court cases to the periphery, it’s Negga's face that continues to tell the story...

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