Interview: Ann Dowd on "Compliance" and Oscar Buzz

Ann Dowd loves the word "delicious". She describes her children this way and actors she admires, too ("Annette Bening! She's delicious and such a good actress"). And what word could possibly be a better fit to fully convey the joy of this moment in her career?

When the tiny indie Compliance debuted to surprisingly robust critical conversation this past August, Ann Dowd won the kind of reviews that Oscar dreams are made of... even from critics who didn't like the film. Her superbly layered work as "Sandra", the prickly overwhelmed fast food manager at the center of the ethically disturbing drama lingers in the memory. Proof of that is a recent well deserved nomination at the Spirit Awards. I spoke to her a few hours after the announcement of her biggest prize yet, The Best Supporting Actress Award from the National Board of Review.

NATHANIEL: Congratulations on winning the NBR Prize!

ANN DOWD: Thank you so much. I have to say I'm beside myself. Really happy.

Have you seen Ann Dowd's riveting work in Compliance yet?

NATHANIEL: Does all of this attention feel like "It's about time!"?

[Oscar buzz, Freaks and Geeks, and red carpet panic after the jump...]

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Ask Nathaniel

I haven't done a Q&A in so long. And since I must hunker down and transcribe a bajillion interviews for y'all, I turn it over to you to inspire me with questions to answer inbetween the interviews so that we don't have to change the title of the blog to The Interview Experience. You know I strive for variety.

I apologize for my molasses pace this December. 2012 has long since turned into a personal nightmare cinematic experiment in recreating Steven Soderbergh's Contagion over and over again. This morning I had to turn down a breakfast with Ben Affleck so as to rescue him from my flu germs. Congratulate me on my altruism! 

Okay... time for your questions. Ready. Set. Go...

Women Who Lie To Themselves™ Box Set

Geraldine Page in "Interiors"Years ago I took a weekend writing retreat to visit my great friend Nick (who you know and love as the man behind Nick's Flick Picks) and while discussing Julianne Moore in Safe and that weirdly specific mini Jodie Foster genre of Women Trapped in Small Spaces (planes, panic rooms... closets) we agreed that our mutual favorite kind of movie was not Dramas, Comedies, Musicals, or Horror but the rarely discussed Women Who Lie To Themselves™  subgenre -- we had to name it but it is so a genre!

You've seen multiple movies from this collection even if you didn't know it existed. In these awesome films, the female protagonist spends more time conversing with her own self delusion than with any actual co-star. The musical anthem of this celluloid sisterhood is Sally Bowles "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret (1972) and the patron saint is surely Eve from Woody Allen's Interiors (1978) who spends the entire film telling herself and everyone who will listen that her husband who left decades ago still loves her and is coming right back. Geraldine Page is absolutely brilliant in the role and if you haven't seen it you're only lying to yourself about your life being complete.

Recently on twitter Yaseen asked Nick and I for a "Women Who Lie To Themselves Box Set" which Nick than promptly retitled because Nick is brilliant.

The box set will include:

• Birth (2004)
• Far From Heaven (2002)
• Three Women (1977)
• Safe (1995)
• Black Swan (2010)
• Cries and Whispers (1972)
• Notes on a Scandal (2006)
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)
• The Story of Adele H (1975)
• The Earrings of Madame de... (1953)
• audio commentary on every film by Rosanna Arquette and the cast of Searching For Debra Winger (2002)
• ...and seven copies of Interiors (1978), one for each lie you regularly tell yourself.

 Would you like to pre-order a copy?

The Pre Precursor Playbook

NEW PODCAST
Just before the first wave of real precursors (NYFCC & NBR) the gang got together with conflicted feelings over a number of topics. Including but not limited to:

• Matthew McConaughey's selfsploitation
• Life of Pi's visual splendor and mundane framing device
• Silver Linings Playbook's odd Oscar trajectories
• A Q & A with Barbra Streisand for The Guilt Trip
• Mixed podcast response to Anna Karenina
• Supporting Actor Locks and speculation
• Optimism and Pessimism in Punditry
• Supporting Actress longshots

Thank you once again to Nathaniel's frequent podcast guests: Katey (Cinema Blend), Nick (Nick's Flick Picks) and Joe (Film.com). You can download the podcast on iTunes or listen right here at the bottom of the post. But, as always, the podcast isn't complete without your feelings. Join in the discussion in the comments.

Silver Linings Precursor Playbook

The Modern Bias in Best Cinematography.

Jose here. When the New York Film Critics began announcing their awards yesterday the biggest shock, for me, came early on as they decided to award Greig Fraser with Best Cinematography for Zero Dark Thirty. Don't get me wrong. I have absolutely nothing against Mr. Fraser and up to that moment I hadn't even seen the movie (I did later and ZOMG!). Anyway, what surprised me the most is that a contemporary movie had been recognized for an award that usually goes to period or fantasy movies. It's as if awards bodies don't feel that modern life is "pretty" enough to give it a photographic award. 

Yet the fact that people assume that "best" cinematography instantly means "prettiest" cinematography might be the greatest mistake in a category whose winners sometimes defy all logic...

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