Q&A: Hitting the Wall, Moving to France, Dreaming of Sofia
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 9:01AM You asked so I'm answering. Not all the weekly questions of course. If I did that I'd be typing for a whole week with only your questions to guide me. I've selected a dozen questions to answer and here they are.
Tyler: Do you think Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet give good performances in Titanic?
Nathaniel: Hmmm. Define "good". I didn't expect this question to give me pause but it did. I'll try to keep this short. I adore Titanic (1997) and not ironically. I have a certain level of teary devotion to instantly iconic performances like those, to movie-movie performances that maybe aren't nuanced or perfect but serve their movie in a seismic way. I think of Leo's floppy bangs or Kate's fiery curled tresses and I go all mushy inside and have a sudden desire to draw hearts all over notebook folders with a ball point pen. *Ahem*. So, I love Leo & Kate in Titanic, especially as a unit, but I think they both have kind of rough moments in it. (Seriously. That was the best take?). Still, if I'm on the ship and in charge of divvying up the lifeboats, Leo & Kate get one first. Women and children can fend for themselves. " Ladies Movie stars first!"
Kin: Pick a country to live in besides America, but base your reasons only on movies.
Nathaniel: France, bien sûr. Do I even need to explain? It's the birthplace of cinema and the auteur theory, the Eiffel Tower is key to a million famous movie scenes, the French New Wave still fascinates, and the list goes on. Also they have Deneuve so this win be landslide.
Matthew: How do you feel about acclaimed actresses who seemingly play themselves or variations of the same character in every film? I'm thinking of, in particular, Mary-Louise Parker and Zooey Deschanel, among other actresses whose overall versatility leaves something to be desired. Do you think they are deserving of accolades for their overall body of works when compared to say an actress like Kate Winslet or Julianne Moore.
Nathaniel: Many of the most beloved actors of all time did just this, particularly before The Method took over. Cary Grant is genius but always Cary Grant. Mae West wouldn't be Mae West if she wasn't Mae West. And so on. So as long as we like that core person they're playing and they're versatile enough to spin it or smear it or mess with it in small ways a little from role to role, we're good. That said, Mary Louise Parker needs to get the hell off of Weeds. WHAT IS SHE STILL DOING THAT SHOW FOR? She's calcifying. That is way too long to play the same character when said character is already so close to who you've always played.
SoSueMe: Which actors have hit a wall creatively and have pretty much shown us all that they can do?
Nathaniel: Ding. Ding. Ding. Other than Mary Louise Parker. I am pretty sure that Johnny Depp has misplaced his entire once-prodigious well of creativity and is on perma-auto-pilot for the past six years.
I worry a little bit about Leonardo DiCaprio, too. I'm willing to be proven wrong in J. Edgar but I absolutely don't believe that directors challenge or control him enough. He's so talented but I think his career has been too easy for him. If you never have to struggle -- and his struggling ended abruptly when he was only 23 -- don't you lose the hunger that leads people to ravenously attack their role as if this is the one, the best chance to prove their gift? His performances feel too samey and not just because of the furrowed brow and The Dead Wives Club. But when he's "on" he's really something (see The Departed, key passages in The Aviator and ⅔ of his pre Titanic output.)
Manuel: IF Winona Ryder was not burned out at the time and did The Godfather III, do you think the movie would have been better with her?
my answers and the Question(s) of the week after the jump
Nathaniel: I'll get back to you on this one. Paramount sent me the new Blu-ray recently so we're planning to make a big Italian dinner and watch all three back-to-back.
John T What one hit wonder acting nominee -preferably over twenty years since their flash in the pan nomination- do you wish would pull a Richard Farnsworth and score a comeback nomination?
Nathaniel: I had to do some research to answer this one. Since we're talking pre 1991 it's specific and can't include Catherine Deneuve (tragically only nominated once for Indochine). Since I regularly pretend that Kathleen Turner has four Oscar nominations and two wins, I'm skipping her. So here's my answer: Valerie Perrine of Lenny (1974) fame... I loved her as Lex Luthor's girlfriend when I was a kid, her backstory was so interesting (what other Oscar nominee started as a Vegas showgirl?) and because she had such a memorable bimbo look. Why hasn't Quentin Tarantino rediscovered her?
The other one that occurred to me was Genevieve Bujold who hasn't been nominated since Anne of a Thousand Days (1969) but who did really interesting work in the 80s (Choose Me, Dead Ringers). If you want the male answer to this question, maybe Klaus Maria Brandauer from Out of Africa and all those Hungarian Oscar nominees of the 80s.
Jose: What is your reading on the Marion Cotillard love meter from 1 to 10?
Nathaniel: Am I assuming "1" means least amount of love but still warm feelings, as if said meter could only measure positivity? If so, "2". On the other hand if "1" means hate, "10" total fanboy devotion and "5" is somewhere in the exact middle, than I'm a "6". I enjoy but feel no special affinity for her unlike, by my calculations, 96.2% of the world's population. I blame La Vie En Rose which I h-a-t-e-d and which convinced everyone else to build lifelong shrines to her. Mostly I have liked her in things but rare is the time that I don't watch her and think "it would have been nice if ____________ had had a crack at this role."
But I have this incompatibility problem with Hollywood. See, I hate looking at the same faces all the time -- here's the incompatible fine point -- yet I love looking at the same face annually or semi-annually but not constantly for decades on end (may Cotillard work until she's 99!). Hollywood is the exact opposite. They like looking at the same face constantly for about 4 or 5 years and then they discard it and look for a new one.
I like Carey Mulligan a lot but I already know this is going to be a problem for me with her by, say, 2013 given the way Hollywood wants her to be in everything. It's like that P¡nk song "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)".
Go away. Give me a chance to miss you.
Say goodbye. It'll make me want to kiss you. ♪
Michael C: Knock one film off the AFI Top 100 Funniest Films and replace it with another.
Nathaniel: I rarely find those Robin Williams comedies very funny so you can remove either of them (Good Morning Vietnam or Mrs Doubtfire). The list does not include any of my teen girl trinity (Bring It On, Heathers , or Mean Girls). It includes neither the funniest post-70s Woody Allen (Bullets Over Broadway) nor the best Lubitsch I've seen (Trouble In Paradise). But my answer is Christopher Guest's Waiting For Guffman which makes me laugh more than any movie outside of [insert any of several 1930s screwball comedies here].
Robert: Which of the cast members of Modern Family do you think has the best chance of going on to win an Oscar?
Nathaniel: Sarah Hyland because by the time the show sends her off to college and she has time to switch to movies, she'll be in her late 20s which is exactly the right time for pretty girls to win Oscars. I'm kidding but in all seriousness: what a weird question. I don't see Oscars in any of their futures but I do see another Emmy for Eric Stonestreet if he pulls off this Fatty Arbuckle biopic project The Day the Laughter Stopped. My favorites on the show are totally Ty Burr and Julie Bowen, who are hilarious separately but perfect together.
Beau: When I get to New York in November, can we have coffee and see a show and be great, big bitches together? :)
Nathaniel: Your treat? Then yes :)
QUESTION(S) OF THE WEEK
Tough ones that I'd love your take on! Let's use the wisdom of crowds
Iggy: Pedro Almodóvar has an international project in English. Which three American/British actresses do you think fit most into his world?
Nathaniel: I want to say Christina Hendricks because Pedro appreciates voluptuous beauty, Anjelica Huston because he understands sly deadpan performers and non-traditional faces and Carla Gugino because uh... well, I just think people don't know how to use her here in the States but she's so... ripe. Pedro to the rescue!
But honestly, he is so smart about actresses that I'm sure any number of women might blossom under his direction... particularly women who are funny, women who are a little "off" and women who are women and not girlish pleasure models for men.
Pedro, King of Actresses | Sofia, Queen of Mood
Ed: What kind of project do you think Sofia Coppola should take next? Would you cast any of her previous movies' stars (Scarlett, Kirsten or Elle)?
Nathaniel: I would absolutely love for Sofia to do a horror film. I know that sounds strange since i'm not a big horror fan but she is so talented with conveying ineffable moods through imagery and the faces of her actors that I'd love for her to drop the autobiographical ennui pieces and let that psychological acuity curdle a little. I'm speaking more of psychological horror. Why shouldn't she make her own Repulsion? I think all of her films to date are good films but... speaking of hitting a wall. I can't imagine what there is left for her to say within these tiny confines she's established for her stories (Marie Antoinette being the glorious exception... so of course people had issues with it.)
Oh and I would totally cast Kirsten Dunst who is the most talented of those three actresses (With Elle time will tell) and has the perfect hazy/dream face for Sofia's favored concerns.
What would you have Sofia do next?
Who do you imagine would go well with Pedro?
Reader Comments (36)
That paired photo of Pedro and Sofia nearly gave me a hard-on and I can't even tell you why, except something about the visual pleasure of the compositions, the profiles, etc - beautiful to look at and yet untraditionally so. And I can't imagine bettering your answers to those questions.
I had never seen the AFI list of "100 funniest films" - who gets to decide what "funniest" is? That's a terribly subjective criteria. Laugh out loud funny? Warm feelings and a smile in the heart funny? I couldn't believe that Mrs Doubtfire is on their and not any of your choices. Have these people never seen Trouble in Paradise?
I'll second you on Valerie Perrine; I've never seen Lenny but I remember Superman back in the day, and the moment where she explains to him why she kissed him before rescuing him a wonderfully poignant one, and perhaps the only moment in that film that sticks with me umpteen years later.
I'd like to add Terri Garr to that list of people I'd love to see making a comeback. I know she has MS, but I'd love to see her in the hands of a director willing to explore the layers of her talent in drama and comedy. Come to think of it, Pedro might be just the fellow for the job, as few directors are so skilled at weaving drama and comedy together.
I love Marion Cotillard! Surprised you didn't care for La Vie en Rose!
The thing about her is she manages to have this old school movie star radiance a lot of actresses who are her contemporaries lack. I love looking at her. And she somehow manages to not seem oddly cast in a lot of the English language films she's been in. I also feel she's been very good in just about everything I've seen her in--she was the saving grace of NINE (despite the fact her character's best song was cut out of the movie and replaced with a sub-standard number). She was mysterious and sexy in Inception and and heartbreaking and charming in Midnight in Paris. I can't wait to see what she does next.
Pedro and Anjelica is a drum I continue to beat whenever I think about where she belongs in the movies these days. As far as American actresses who don't look quite like Anjel -- for my money it's Dianne Wiest, Diane Keaton, Michelle (I kiss you because you're cute), Sigourney and Evelyn Couch.
Marion Cotillard is an exceptional actress, whether she's working in English or French. You missed the boat on her big time. Too bad for you.
Remy -- i pilot my own ship. We each have actresses we're more drawn to than others.
Alejandro -- Nine is my personal favorite of Marion's performances. Loved her in that. I'd never previously even liked "My Husband Makes Movies" before her and it suddenly became THE key and most moving song within the musical. Still irritated hat Cruz got the nomination instead of her from Nine.
I would love to see Coppola doing some horror too, but in the line of "Black Swan" - a sexual-horror-thriller - and all her previous movies' stars would fit a certain of character: Dunst a more mature/dramatic character, Scarlett a more sexual/femme fatale one and Elle as a teen discovering her sexuality (just wondering about the cast!)
It would be very interesting seeing Sofia doing a breathtaking horror/thriller movie
OMG I love the idea of Christina Hendricks working with Pedro. As far as other actors go, I've always wondered what he could do with Angelina Jolie. I think they could make magic if it was a Raimunda in Volver type role.
I also wonder when Pedro will get another male muse like Banderas in the 80s/90s. Are there American actors that would fit his style?
And yes please to the Sofia horror film
Hee! Again! Almodóvar must have such a long list of actresses that have said in public they want to work with him, that I think it's a bit masochistic on his side announcing he has an international project going on. Unless he has already made his choices. I thnk at leat he should make room for a good supporting plum role for Jane Fonda, she bought the rights to do Women on the Verge so long ago, it'd be just fair.
Re. Marion Cotillard. I think the problem is Hollywood doesn't know what to do with her or with any other foreign actor/actress who's not a native English speaker (see any other French actress or Cruz & Bardem). If Hollywood tends to typecast actors, add a language barrier and you'll be playing the violent latino drug dealer (i.e. Jordi Mollá. the 3rd one in Jamón, Jamón) or the mysterious and not very talkative woman (Cotillard, Binoche) or the opposite, the screaming and intendedly funny latina (Hayek, Cruz, Sofïa Vergara...) Take Cruz & Bardem for instance, after their Oscars and their hotness (indiviually and as a couple) they should be in every project à la Mulligan or Fassbender but they aren't native English speakers, so ....Or Cotillard, he won an Oscar carrying a whole movie, as a leading actress. Isn't there any project where she could be the lead or co-lead?
I'd recommend Sofia Coppola to do the next Batman reboot (yes, you know there'll be another one even if the one going on now isn't over yet). Batman is the superhero of mood, right? And the franchise has made wonders for Nolan, so it could work with her. She'd only have to learn to shoot action scenes...
Finally, I've noticed reading the comments and this series in particular that there's always the recurrent topic of actresses challenging themselves, getting out of their comfort area or getting rid of their public persona to get lost in the character. But we hardly require that from directors. If a director goes from one genre to another, switches from comedy to action to period drama etc, he's seen as more of a craftsman (?) than an auteur. So, in the end we value repetition and sticking to their comfort area in the auteurs, but not in the actors. Why? I mean, I like variety in an actor, but also in a director. Wouldn''t you want to see Almodóvar doing a musical? Or Eastwood making a women's movie? Wouldn't be Transformers directed by Sofia Coppola a far more interesting movie? Why is it so unusual to see someone like Branagh directing Thor?
Too many questions, and a too long comment which adds to my "I won't shut up" as of late. So, I'll try to keep silence for a while so that I can be more mysterious :)
I'm a huge fan of Marion Cotillard. I actually saw her in A Beautiful Year before I saw La Vie En Rose and I just thought she was radiant. Of course I actually didn't like La Vie En Rose (though I didn't HATE IT as much as you did), but oddly enough I was rooting for her to win the Oscars that year. I think iggy hits it right in the head though, Hollywood has no idea what to do with her.
Love some of your answers. Sofia with a Polanski-style horror film: brilliant. But what she needs internally is a break from her own bubble of privilege. Pauline Kael actually liked her in Godfather III, but the lesson Sofia didn't take away from that experience was to be careful about anything that smacks of Coppola privilege, like a movie about bored Hollywood types in a Hollywood hotel. It may have been a good movie, but OF COURSE people will stay away. Especially since she already did a masterly mood piece set in a hotel. By the way, the juxtaposition of her with Almodóvar was great but confusing. It took me about a minute to figure out that Sofia wasn't Rossy de Palma!
I think I'm going to have the rest of my Coppola-brand puttanesca pasta sauce for dinner tonight.
Just wanted to let you know i LOVE reading these Q&As!
And Pedro already has 3 english speaking actresses he wants to work with, Helen Mirren and both the C/Kates, here's a link with him talking about them:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/mirren-almodovars-wish-list-104157136.html
Love that you chosed Valerie Perrine! She's so good in Lenny. Honey Bruce always reminds me of Shue's Sera...
Turner speaks perfect spanish. I know the movie is supposed to be in English but it can't hurt.
I'd like to see Pedro do something with Alison Brie, because I find her hilariously funny in absolutely everything she's done, and I can see her straddling that line between camp humour and real emotion very well. Otherwise, maybe Elisabeth Shue?
Almodovar directing Cate Blanchett, Marion Cotillard, or Kate Winslet would be amazing. All three of them together? Even better. The possibilities are endless! Viva Pedro!
Thanks Nathaniel! I think my favorites are Burrell and Bowen too - especially Bowen. She is so funny and avoids falling into that "straight man" role that she could have. She's also really moving at times.
As for who should work with Pedro...how about Lizzy Caplan? Her wry sense of humor would be perfect for him. Perhaps Pedro would be able to even stretch Mary-Louise Parker? If he took advantage of her droll and feisty sensibilities (resources that have been dried up through Weeds) but skewed it in the way only he could it would be a nice refresher for her.
Don't hate on "Weeds" if you don't watch the show. Mary-Louise Parker is as great now as she was in season 1. It's criminal that she doesn't have an Emmy for this role.
Tim Y -- i have definitely seen enough WEEDS to judge. But it kept becoming diminishing returns so i finally dumped it from my viewing schedule.
john -- thank you. i always wonder if any series we attempt is worth it so nice to get feedback.
iggy, that is actually a great question and one I hadn't thought of before. I wonder what Nat will say about it if he chimes in, but the way I see it, we like to see directors with a personality and we like to see that personality come across in the way they make movies. We like to recognize Martin Scorsese or the Coen Brothers or Pedro Almodóvar or Sofia Coppola when we see one of their films, and maybe it has something to do with the fact that we don't see the directors, while we do see the actors, so it's easier to want to see an actor stretch him/herself, while with a director, we want to recognize the director because we can't see him or her until the credits roll. That's just what I'm thinking right now. For me, one of my favorite directors is Curtis Hanson, and that's because he's made four films that seem alomost nothing alike. One of them is L.A. Confidential, which is one of my all-time favorite films, and the other three are Wonder Boys, 8 Mile and In Her Shoes (now look at these films and tell me they look like they were directed by the same person). One could also say that Steven Spielberg is very versatile (I see very few similarities between E.T. and Saving Private Ryan for example), although not as much as Curtis Hanson. And I would argue that Sidney Lumet was also very versatile, as he was a director that led the script shine more than his director, and also Sidney Pollack. These are all directors that were constantly challenging themselves (Pollack made Tootsie, as well as Out of Africa and They Shoot Horses Don't They? and Three Days of the Condor, very different films).
So much Deneuve love in your post makes me happy. I wish more of her earlier French language movies would become available in the US. Le sigh.
I think you should write a series deicated to Pedro and actresses of the world. He can do anything -- the only people I wouldn't want him working with is Lohan and Swank because I personally hate them. He has said his favorite American actress is Streep!
Marion is a 10 for me. And I can't believe you didn't like La Vie en Rose! Such a beautiful, emotional movie and her performance is my favorite performance of the decade (and Clooney agrees with me so you know I'm right).
I want Cher back at the Oscars!
I didn't like La Vie en Rose at all and I still consider Cotillard has an undeserved Oscar. But somehow she started to grow on me the last couple of years. I'm rooting for her to get a really great part, but I mean really great, maybe work with an Almodovar or Polanski or something, and then we should see what she's capable of.
Oops...she's not a one-hit wonder...but still ...it's CHER!
Sofia should explore all genres...I want to see her versatility.
Random question about Ms. Coppola: Any articles written about how she portrays women in Somewhere?
Well...iggy...Sofia Coppola on the third "Batman film series" is not who I'd want at all. We've already recently seen a masterful take on the closer to "realistic" Batman villains (over-burnt Two-Face notwithstanding), but I'd want the next take on Batman to lean on the more "fanciful" villains and I can't see Sofia Coppola wanting to do a movie about Clayface, Mr. Freeze or Poison Ivy.
Though, iggy, if the studio agreed to an expanded take on Mad Love (The Harley Quinn origin story), I don't think Sofia Coppola would have to learn to do an action scene.
Well, I think Mary-Louise Parker is great on "Weeds." She can stay there as long as she wants. It'll be more material there than Hollywood offers to her, beileve that. She's at that "certain age." She'll probably go back to Broadway when the show ends, and since I'll never get to NYC, I'll enjoy her work from my TV for as long as I can.
Yes, psychological horror would be a good way for Sofia to go. I can easily see her drifting into Wes Anderson or Woody Allen territory, so if she has a secret sense of humor that would be good for her as well. Going to Europe was the best thing that happened to Woody in years. Sofia needs to find her own inner Europe (and no, a hotel in Japan does not count).
When I think of Pedro I think of fiery actresses who talk a mile a minute, who might be funny or might be crazy or a control freak all at the same time. Barbra perhaps?
PS love Marion in La Vie En Rose, hate Ty Burrell in Modern Family, so yes, to each his own taste. ;-)
I am already completly over Carey Mulligan. Too much of anything is never a good thing. I am already bored! Waaay too overhyped and overexposed waaaaay too soon.
Sofia would be great behind a horror film. Just imagine how she would play with color and avoid those cliched blue hues that make me want to run screaming out the theater like a mad person. There would be character development and nuance and a memorable score. It'd be like a less violent and more biting Dario Argento, only (hopefully) less rape-driven. I also think she'd make a great musical. She knows how music impacts mood and isn't afraid to push scenes into stylistic extremes for effect. What else do you need (other than actual singers) for a good movie musical?
As for Almodovar, I think he'd love to have Patti Lupone work for him on a film. He's part of why she got to star in Women on the Verge... on Broadway. Christina Hendricks is a good match. I could also see him going for someone like Angela Bettis. I think he likes smart and quirky actresses that can change moods like they're controlled by a TV remote and she can do that with ease.
I HATE Vicky Cristina Barcelona with a passion. I honestly loathe it. And part of my hate is because of how the movie portrays Bardem and Cruz's characters. Those are not real, flashed, layered, living and breathing human beings. They are cultural charicatures. They are ethnic stereotypes. They are redections. walking talking cliches.
Oh, she's latin/spanish/iberian, therefor she must be sexy and super crazy and histerical and loud and shout and shoot and fight and cry and be sexually liberated. Oh he is latin/spanish/iberian, so he must be a hungry, passionate and conceited latin lover. Oh wait, they are both latin/spanish/iberian, so they obviously cant hold a normal civilized conversation. They mus always shout at each other, scream at each other, slap each other and then kiss each other passionatly, after all, those latins are very hot blooded and short tempered, arent they??? that's how they relate to one another on a daily basis.
Makes me wanna puke!
What would you have Sofia do next?
I can see Sofia doing some horror too, Nathaniel!
I would love to see her doing a sexual-horror-thriller like Pedro mentioned above. She has the ability of creating scenarios that explode feelings and meanings even when her characters have no lines, so I can see her doing something really scary without people screaming all the time!
Who do you imagine would go well with Pedro?
Well, why not Sofia Coppola's previous movies' stars? It would be nice to see them playing sisters... Kirsten, Scarlett and Elle: daughters of Sofia Coppola/the Coppola sisters! Seeing how Almodovar would direct them together would be really interesting!
In regards to DiCaprio, I so want him to do a comedy and just get out of his straight jacket for a change. I think one of the funniest things I've seen is a little clip where he demonstrates what it was like to audition as a child actor on one of those Actor's Roundtables for the oscars. It really surprised me how he suddenly became this entirely different person. His usual persona changed completely and everybody around him was laughing. It was an inspired moment of goofiness. And, yeah, Nathaniel, you're right that he hasn't had to struggle enough, but I also think once you achieve that big star status with all that it implies, you can get too careful about what you're doing.
I'm a big Cotillard fan, even though I thought La Vie En Rose was a big ole mess of a movie.
Christina Hendricks and Almodovar MUST happen.
I was largely indifferent to La Vie en Rose but I love her so much, because she's been on this roll where most of her costars have been somewhat lacking/uneven and she just easily outshines them all, especially her male costars(Public Enemies, Nine, Midnight in Paris).