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?