Parties: Overheard at Guild / Oscar Functions
Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 8:31PM I thought for fun I'd collect several bits from conversations to share with y'all. A couple of the following bits were said directly to me, some were part of group conversations, some were merely overheard at screenings or events. All are anonymous and shall remain so of course but are fun for awards geeks and movie fanatics to think about. I am not a fiction writer so these are all actual quotes (or paraphrasals, rather, since I don't walk around with a tape recorder.) One thing that's important to remember but easy to forget about the Oscars is that the 6000+ voting members are individuals with individual taste. They are no monolithic unit though the world likes to imagine them sharing one gold plated borg-mind.
While mostly it is fun to talk with voters, one discouraging thing you quickly realize is true that I'd personally always hoped was false is this: many of the voters wait until right about now to start watching the movies. A lot of conversational roads have abrupt dead ends like "I haven't seen that yet but it's on the stack!" In short: they don't go to the movies as often as movie fanatics. Or, as one actress told me recently, "I see a lot of movies but I see them either long before they're in cinemas or long after." It made a lot of sense to me once I stopped to consider the inside mechanics of this Business we call Show.
On to the (silent) sound bytes on My Week With Marilyn, Moneyball, The Artist, Young Adult and more.
On the two warring Best Actress impersonations this year.
man: Michelle Williams was just channeling Marilyn Monroe, wasn't she? Amazing.
woman: Oh, I disagree. Look up any Marilyn clip on YouTube. [Reverently] Did you see Meryl's?
man: Yes. To me... [Pause] To me she's just a brilliant technician."
Moneyball
man: Brad Pitt was great. So funny and so much soul.
other man: That's all Aaron Sorkin!
The Iron Lady
I couldn't wait for it be over!"
The Artist
[in response to others gushing] Sure, I liked it. It's very well made. But it's just a confection."
The Help [conversation about Viola]
I'll probably nominate her."
The Help [conversation about Octavia]
She's totally going to win."
Shame
I couldn't get past all that fucking and sucking at first. But people kept saying to me but look at the pain in their eyes. And I've been thinking about it."
Young Adult
I don't think she took it deep enough. She stayed on one level."
Drive
older man: I loved that.
older woman: [makes grimacing face]
younger woman: Me too."
A shrugged response to "What's your favorite?"
I still like Rise of the Planet of the Apes best."
Reader Comments (18)
Brad Pitt was good but if wins and its for Moneyball, that would be odd.. It's not even in his top 5 performances, its not even his best performance this year.
Nathaniel, you did not post something bitter about Leonardo, for change. Maybe somebody was prasing his performance in J. Edgar and you just chose not.
OMG, the Leo trolling on this site has become ridiculous.
I agree with Katie, Nathaniel. I think it's very likely that you are constantly thinking of ways to not post content that would interest your readers, attract interest, or spark debate. Especially about actors who have given many performances you like or even love, even if they've been frustrating lately.
These morsels of hearsay are fun. I always liked that feature in EW (do they still do it?) where anonymous AMPAS voters talked about their ballots, or in the year-end issue where people non-anonymously stated some of their favorite stuff.
The comment about Shame confirms that the film's explicit nature has and will always be it's uphill battle. I loved reading these because it proves that members of the Academy are not these uber liberal, elitist artistes that oftentimes we (wrongly) think they are. They like popular films just like the rest of America (hence the good words about The Help & Rise of the Planet of the Apes). On another note, I'm sad for whoever said Charlize "didn't take it deep enough." I'm starting to feel like she may just miss the cut since many may not be able to see past the fact that she's playing a "bitch," which is a shame.
And on The Iron Lady ("I couldn't wait for it to be over")...YIKES! When will you be able to post your review, Nathaniel? Is it embargoed in America? From little snippets you've said, it sounds like you were not too hot on the film but Meryl sort of rises above the material (like she always does)?
aaron -- i don't think it opens until the 31st. This year is RIDICULOUS with the late entries.
nick -- that's right. i don't want anyone to be interested in anything ;)
Aww @ the Charlize comment. I haven't seen it yet, but she's an amazing actress, I'm sure she did a fantastic job.
I feel like Charlize Theron is going to be THE ACTRESS soon. She's gorgeous, has amazing talent and range and capability and everyone genuinely seems to really like her and she has really fantastic crossover appeal.
Like I'm just crazy about Charlize right now tbh.
^ I couldn't agree more. :D I've recently become so in love with Charlize.
What do people say about Tree of Life?
Wow Nathaniel. This was a very interesting read! Did you hear about In The Land of Blood and Honey, Albert Nodds and The Tree of Life?
Very interesting to read.
The notion that most of the Academy Members aren't elitist artists and they just like popular films scares me. Then what's the point?
PS Will you write something about Bernadette in Follies? Please do!
LOL some of these are gold. The one about Shame is probably the most interesting to me.
That Iron Lady reaction needs to be on their poster as a blurb. I can just see it now -- Nate, a possible photo-shopped entry in the near future? :D
I honestly never saw Young Adult as a big year-end contender so I'm not surprised by that reaction. It just looks like a well-made studio comedy with a fun lead performance and when are *those* ever taken seriously by Oscar -- unless they're monster success stories, right?
I can't be the only who scrolled down too fast and thought this:
I don't think she took it deep enough. referred to Shame, and had my eyeballs about to pop out.
Your random Academy members seem to have in common they're quite demanding: The Artist just confection, Meryl just a technician, Pitt's performance is Sorkin to thank for, Theron's performance superficial, Williams's Marilyn not accurate. Wow!
Sometimes it is downright frightening to hear voters' thoughts. The sentiments I used to read in ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY'S annual Oscar predictions issue would send me into a tailspin. In one edition a director revealed that he felt Catherine Zeta-Jones was fantastic in "Chicago" but didn't vote for her because he didn't believe she had "arrived" yet as an actress. A few years later another voter disclosed that he thought Meryl Streep was wonderful in "The Devil Wears Prada" yet cast his ballot for Helen Mirren because he refused to honor her work for such a trifle of a film.
I'm not surprised by your recounts, Nate.
I love these bits but I'm gonna criticise a couple of them:
"Michelle Williams was just channeling Marilyn Monroe, wasn't she? Amazing."
Do people still use these phrases? Yawn.
"I couldn't get past all that fucking and sucking at first. But people kept saying to me but look at the pain in their eyes. And I've been thinking about it."
Yes, sometimes it's hard to think about what a film is trying to convey when there are sex scenes....
LOVE these inseider-y tidbits - thanks for sharing, Nathaniel! Although, I have a question: Was that Young Adult quote about Charlize's performance or Diablo Cody's script?
And I have to say, I kind of agree with Rise of the Planet of the Apes guy. I mean, it's not my #1 or anything (that would be Tree of Life, EASY), but it's still onoe of my absolute favorites of the year, which completely surprises me - I was practically dragged to it kicking and screaming by my sci-fi loving man.
Nat I'd love to see this as a continuing series throughout the season (if that's possible), since you're privvy to conversations that the rest of us don't get to hear. (And you do a great job of picking out the morsels of conversation.) These comments - and your own "they [voters] don't go to the movies as often as movie fanatics" - really explains a LOT about who is nominated and who wins, year in and year out.
The Artist may be a confection... but give me an expertly made truffle over a simply adequate entree any day.
And Young Adult is certainly not a "studio comedy". It bucks all those conventions gleefully.