Saturday
Oct222011
Ask Nathaniel...
Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 1:17PM 
It's that time again. Each week I choose 10-12 questions to answer. (No, I can't answer them all... I just choose the ones that spark an answer. Not everything does!) If you feel compelled to ask perhaps I'll feel compelled to answer? [Please note: This week there is a ban on Meryl Streep questions. She hogs this column as much as she hogs Oscar nominations ;) ]
Ask away!
Reader Comments (42)
Your vote for the most overrated "serious" actress?
Recast Nicole KIdman in a Jane Fonda part from the 60's to the 80's.
The Wettest County in the World - Hardy, LaBeouf, Chastain, Oldman, Pearce, Wasikowska plus some very respectable smaller actors all directed by the guy made the Propostion, and the release date is set for December...How come your not discussing this one or even low ranking it on any Oscar predictions? Besides maybe LaBeouf, the cast is pretty awesome, what's up Nat?
In your opinion, who are the three most iconic celebrities of all time? And what current actors or actresses would you cast as each of these celebrities in a biopic?
Hollywood consistently has reached back in its filmography to remake movies for contemporary audiences (Footloose as a recent example). What film do you believe deserves to be remade? Who should direct it, and how would you cast it? Or more specifically, films pre-late 60s often were compromised because of censorship and/or cultural restraints. What film in this time frame deserves to be remade for modern sensibilities?
Jodie Foster once said that if Robin Wright had wanted to, she could have been the best actress of her generation. What do you think?
If "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "Lost in Translation" had been released in different years, do you think Scarlett Johansson would be a two-time Academy Award nominee by now?
I'm only 18 and have grown up on Tim Burton films. I have seen all of them, and was gravely disappointed by his hackwork in Alice and Wonderland. I've lost faith in him. I trust your opinion best on these matters, so I'm just wondering; d'you think Dark Shadows will be the turn around he needs? Or should I just give up on the old coot :\?
Has there ever been a star as dynamic as Taylor Lautner? Will there ever be another?
Recently just watched GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES for the first time. It was such a fun movie! Got me thinking about Marilyn Monroe and how the Academy shunned her so many times. She's so underrated as an actress. I loved her in BUS STOP and SOME LIKE IT HOT. Would you have rewarded her with nominations, even yet, a win?
Do you think that Scarlett Johansson will be able to put her career back on track with her upcoming projects ("We Bought a Zoo", "Under the Skin" and "Can a Song Save Your Life?") and get the respect and recognition she had in 2003, 2004 and 2005 (when she got her four Golden Globe nods and some Oscar buzz)?
(If Scarlett were a two-time Oscar nominee her career would be so much better! She'd feel compelled to stick with indie. She doesn't belong to mainstream, to superhero movies or Michael Bay flicks)
And please answer Kent's question!
Favorite Hepburn and why. Katharine or Audrey?
Let's pretend "The Artist" leaves a lasting influence and a few more silent films get made. Who are three current actresses that could shine without being audible? (Assuming a comedy/melodrama type of story.)
What happened to the FilmBitch book that was coming out? As it still on the way? If not, would you post the old FilmBitch Awards, they were so much fun to revisit
Do you intend to have seen one day all Oscar-winning performances (all four acting categories)? If so, how many of those performances do you have yet to see? And are there any Oscar winning performances you're embarrassed to admit you haven't seen yet?
Are you planning on doing anything special to commemorate the 50th anniversaries of Splendor in the Grass and West Side Story (both milestones in Natalie Wood's career)? It just seems unnatural for you not to do so! lol
Is there a movie that you think would improve if it were a musical?
We talk a lot about women who aren't as employable as they once were, but what about the male aging lions we see less of? Of the old big-name stars (e.g. DeNiro, Hoffman, Pacino, O'Toole), who most deserves an meaty auteur role and the chance to roar again?
I've heard that Patricia Neal only won her Best Actress Oscar for "Hud" because it was a sympathy vote. Some have even said her role in the film was more of a supporting role and she shouldn't have been placed in the lead category. Who do you think should have won the 1963 Best Actress Oscar and why?
Tilda Swinton can totally act in a silent film... do you remember TIME's 14 actors acting... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2Zajvjm4LI
which country does not get the credit it deserves for its national cinema?
Choose THE BEST WOODY ALLEN MOVIE from each of his biggest muses - Dianne Wiest, Diane Keaton, Mia Farrow, Judy Davis, Anjelica Huston and Scarlett Johansson.
Do you have any 'comfort food' movies - movies you tend to rewatch when you are sick or feeling depressed?
Please answer steve and emmanuel's questions!
Let's pretend we're in a society that has progressed a bit more and Hollywood has decided that North Americans are finally ready for an Asian actor and actress to become big, to the level of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (though the Asian actor and actress need not be romantically involved in their personal lives). Who do you think the leading candidates would be? The actors can be from anywhere in the world, as long as they're actually of Asian descent.
Why do hard-working and intelligent artists (ie most of AMPAS members) make such lazy, shallow choices when it comes to voting for the Oscars? Their choices are more similar to those of the mostly uncultured and not very invested in the art of cinema viewers than to the critics and true cinephiles in general.
A lot of great or very good movies have "tacked on" endings designed to make audiences feel good. Let's call this the Suspicion Syndrome, although many other examples could be chosen.
I'm sure that, as a film lover, you experience some ambivalence about anything that compromises a film's integrity. My question is how do you address the Suspicion Syndrome? Do you treat a movie as if it was always intended to be the way it finally ended up? Do you mentally edit out the tacked-on ending and allow yourself to experience the might-have-been? Do you enjoy the feel-good effect, because after all, you feel good, and so celebrate it, ambivalence and all? Or what?
I'm sick of Leonardo DiCaprio being in movies where he has to be tense or INTENSE. What director or what genre would you put him in for a change of pace?
or
What is your favorite guilty pleasure movie?
I already fear this question might be asking for too much BUT I was recently watching Gosford Park a film I simply adore, but I have a strident love for Britons on cinema and someone remarked - jokingly - that I wouldn't love it if it weren't British. So, two questions dovetailed into one what's a good American film which admirably caprutes the grand ensemble feeling like Gosford Park where everyone is actually in the same room and not just in the same film like Crash or Traffic? And, The cast for that film is pretty expansive and all inclusive in terms of British talent, so who would choose to headline a 1930s American Murder Mystery masterpiece - who can exude the steely grace of KST which we still root for, or be the ingenue that MacDonald was or the glorious ham that Smith is?
The cast is huge, so that would be a task to recast but I'm particularly interested in you recasting the women. (I don't think I need to explain why.)
A couple of days ago, they played Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" on the radio.
It has caused me to think about film songs in general, and I'd like to ask you: what do you think is the reason so much fewer films use original compositions these days? And what are your favourite songs written specifically for films?
If you could see a sequel made to any three films, which ones?
Oh my God, I finally get to ask a question!!! I always seem to miss this post...
Anyway, here it is: Take your three favorite actresses from the "classic" era (let's say, for the sake of clarity, that the "classic" era is equivalent to the period between when film began and the collapse of the Hollywood studio system). Which actresses would you see as the modern-day equivalent of those actresses? I mean in terms of screen persona, choice of projects, etc. more than off-screen stuff.
In reading my own question, I've decided to change the rules a bit. Instead of your three favorite actresses, you can instead choose three OF your favorite actresses. I make this change because not everyone has someone who could be considered a modern-day equivalent.
And, of course, explain why you made the choices you made.
Pick three movie sets (of any decade) in which you would have liked to be. Choose your job in the set, and why?
Sure, 'Mommie Dearest' is the Faye Dunaway show. But what did you think of Diana Scarwid's performance? Are you or are you not one of her faaaaans?
How has "The Hours" and Nicole Kidman's performance aged for you? do you think now it was a deserved win?
Recent news stated that Sony has bought a right to produce Steve Jobs biography's movie. Suggest a director, actors and main story events for the film.
Having recently celebrated 'The Royal Tenenbaums''s 10th aniversary... may I ask you your opinion on it? And, on a more fun note, how would you recast it today (with actors within the same age/level of stardom as the original ones in their day, re-casting not accepted! :P)
Nat, are there any actors or actresses who are really "Box Office Poison" to you? That is, when you see their name in a cast list, you think "I don't want to see that because X is in it!"?
My own BOP list has Nicholas Cage and Adam Sandler on it...and if John C. Reilly isn't really, really good in "Carnage," he'll go on the list.
What does Drew Barrymore need to do to follow in the footsteps of her famous acting family and be, at the least, an Oscar nominee?