Ask Nathaniel

We should do another Q&A. So ask away. I'll pick a handful or two to answer. 

(A reminder that Qs that require top ten lists or book-length answers will be ignored)  

Sundance Retro: 1990's "Longtime Companion"

Team Experience is looking back on past Sundance winners since we aren't attending this year. Here's Kyle Turner on an LGBT indie that took the Audience Award and proved so popular in release that it even snagged a Best Supporting Actor nomination (Bruce Davison) at the Oscars a year later.

an early scene in Longtime Companion

In the first fifteen minutes of Longtime Companion, the words “Did you see the article?” fall from around a dozen different characters’ mouths. It’s July 1981, when the New York Times published its piece titled “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals”, and the way news gets around is by press and by word of mouth. These characters, all gay men in their 20s and 30s, shrug it off, try to carry on with their lives. 

To them, this cancer is nebulous, unworthy of their time, and yet something that occupies their thoughts all the same. Thus, the film exists within a particular time, where information is dispersed differently, yet dismissed similarly.

Click to read more ...

FYC: Kristen Wiig as Alexanya Atoz

Manuel here. We all know it’s much too early to start drumming up 2016 Oscar talk (not that that’s stopping the folks at Sundance who are already championing Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea, a film we already had on our radars). But, then the Zoolander 2 team release this viral video and well, Wiig is making a great case for a Best Supporting Actress nomination.

And before you scoff at me, remember that a Justin Theroux-penned outrageous comedy character that borders on caricature has already heard its name called on Oscar nomination morning. Oscars—and kidding—aside, 2016 looks to be a big one for Wiig what with that other high profile action comedy that reteams her with Bridesmaids co-star Melissa McCarthy.

Podcast: Oscar's Diversity Initiative, PGA Win

Nathaniel, Katey, Joe and Nick, talk about this week's tumultuous Oscar season events and somehow Dolores Hart former actress/current nun, keeps popping up in conversation.

30 minutes 
00:01 PGA goes to The Big Short. Will SAG?
03:00 Hollywood & Racism
08:40 AMPAS new diversity plans
16:30 Oscar Stats, Prestige Math, and Future Oscar Races
22:20 12 Years a Slave (2013)
25:00 Who might lose their Oscar vote?

Related Reading For Context:
• Academy press release Diversity initiative
• PGA winners
• Birth of a Nation (2016) at Sundance
• Penelope Ann Miller's statement
• Mother Dolores Hart "From Hollywood to Holy Vows"

On the Next Podcast:
We all share our top ten lists! 

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes soon. 

Diversity & Hollywood

Box Office: Grandpa Debuts, Revenant Holds, Carol Falls

What did you see this weekend? Aside from three new films catering to three different audiences (adult comedy with Dirty Grandpa, horror with The Boy, YA sci-fi with The Fifth Wave) which grossed about the same this weekend, moviegoers stuck to the familiar. They were still enamored with Leo's bear fight and that galaxy far far away. Some people are still catching up with Oscar hopefuls as all the Best Picture nominees continued to do solid business or see new life (especially Room which had been fading to a whisper and now has finally lept into wide release adding another $1.4 million to its cumulative gross).

This could be a still from Neighbors really, outside the Abercrombie & Fitch store. How many movies will Zac Efron star in where the joke is how fit and sexy he is compared to his co-star?

Spotlight and Brooklyn, which didn't wait for Oscar love to expand were already word of mouth successes so their new energy is gravy for them. But as we discussed last weekend, the Best Picture snub has killed Carol's momentum and now it's losing theaters having never spread to even 800 (so if you haven't yet been, find it quick). The Danish Girl will also be dropping fast given its similar fate (decent nomination count, no Best Picture). That's the danger of resting your box office and release patterns on Oscar attention alone, if anything goes wrong, you collapse. Nevertheless Carol will love on forever as classics do and that's the best any movie can hope for really. A lot of classics were barely blips at the box office in their day.

BOX OFFICE WIDE
01 The Revenant $16 (cum. $119.1) Costumes, Production Design 
02 The Force Awakens $14.2 (cum. $879.2) Review, Podcast, BB-8
03 Ride Along 2 $12.9 (cum. $59.1)
04 Dirty Grandpa  $11.5 new
05 The Boy $11.2 new 

BOX OFFICE LIMITED
01 Ip Man 3 $.7 new 103 screens
02 Carol   $.6 (cum. $10.5) 692 screens Oscar Snub, Adapting Highsmith, First Impressions
03 The Danish Girl  $.5 (cum. $9.7) 794 screens Podcast, Screenplay
04 Anomalisa $.3 (cum $1.4) 143 screens Podcast, Review, Festival Capsule
05 45 Years  $.2 (cum $.7) 40 screens Capsule