Red Carpet Convo: Glamour Casual, Festival Orgy, Namesake Pets
Friday, September 9, 2011 at 10:21PM Nathaniel: It says "Jose is busy. You may be interrupting."
Jose: I'm lying about my status.
Nathaniel: Pants on fire! You are never too busy for fashion. This week's red carpet lineup is kind of scattershot. That's how I feel right now with four festivals seemingly happening simultaneously this week.
Jose: That we know of. Film festivals are the Starbucks of the movie world.
Nathaniel: One for every zip code.
Nathaniel: So...this first batch is a mix of Deauville (Kate Bosworth, Shirley Maclaine, Emma Stone), Venice (Keira Knightley) and a regular ol' boring premiere somewhere (Marion Cotillard).
Jose: I recognize the dress so it was NYC.
Nathaniel: See. I'm not even here I've already fled town mentally if not physically... yet.
Jose: I have always wondered how movie stars lose their baby fat so freaking fast. What has Marion been eating after petit Marcel was born?
Nathaniel: She's no longer eating for 2 but ½ ... actresses, you know.
Jose: Hopefully Guillaume is feeding the wee lad tons of baguettes and souffles but then again said baby isn't the face of Dior and Mommy is.
Nathaniel: Kate Bosworth eats for ⅕ so lets start with her.
Jose: lol. Remind me again, why is she famous for?
Nathaniel: I can't remember... OH the worst Lois Lane. And a surfer movie, I think.
Jose: Oh true. Also for bicolored eyes and for dating Alexander Skarsgård.
Nathaniel: If you have to live on next to nothing there are worse things to nibble on.
Jose: She's totally doing a Pam face. He should get her a gig on his show.
Nathaniel: I think this dress is kind of pretty but she is soooo tiny and the dress so delicate that it gives the impression that the tiniest gust of wind -- even something as little as the wind currents coming off another speeding luminary passing her on the red carpet -- would all but knock her over.
Jose: Kate is pretty but god am I bored trying to say something about her.
Nathaniel: So let's talk about Shirley Maclaine. She was there to be honored for her entire career. I think they showed the ballet epic The Turning Point (1977) of all things. This outfit looks appropriate glitzy and shiny and I love Shirley Maclean Beaty but how can she not afford a better wig?
Jose: lol. Blame her colorist? This totally reminds me of that Sex and the City episode when Samantha follows her ex BF in disguise wearing a wig from the Raquel Welch collection.
The Many (Great) Faces of Shirley Maclaine
Nathaniel: Jose, it needs to be asked. In the cable system of your mind, are Sex & The City repeats running on like 400 of the 1000 stations?
Jose: No, but Shirley and I both own the DVDs.
Nathaniel: Anyway, she looks really happy and she certainly deserves lifetime achievement plaudits. It's really a wonder to me that more young actresses don't hold her up as an icon. Her career was stellar, longlasting, and full of interesting movies and classic. And there are so many pixie types. But I guess none of them have a personality even remotely as large as hers. Which is maybe the problem. You can be merely elegant and fashionable and pretend you're the next Audrey Hepburn and people will go along with it for 5 minutes but to try Shirley Maclaine...
Jose: Amen. Anne Hathaway maybe when she grows up?
Nathaniel: So Emma Stone. Stunning again. This color is gahsome on her. But I have to say... I still don't have a bead on her personal style at all.
Jose: Her style is "Go with the greatest working designers and blow mortals' expectations every single time."
Nathaniel: Way to narrow it down.
Jose: Remember when I complained about Kate Winslet's structural obsession *fashion nerd alert*?
Nathaniel: Yes?
Jose: Well Emma is doing it right. She went with Roland Mouret, known the world over for his love of structure BUT he does structure with delicacy.
Nathaniel: I'm assuming "the world over" meaning "fashion nerd world"?
KEIRA, GWYNETH, "GLAMOUR CASUAL" and JOSE'S DOGGIE (!!!) AFTER THE JUMP.
Jose: Is there any other world, Nathaniel? Anyway her dress would work in almost any decade of the last 140 years which is saying a LOT.
Nathaniel: I sadly lack the appropriate fashion knowledge to describe the influences in Keira elegant dress for her A DANGEROUS METHOD premiere. I am bereft of such knowledge but it's a knockout.
Jose: This dress has got to be her best audition for Anna Karenina yet.
Nathaniel: IF YOU BUILD IT THEY... If Joe Wright builds it, she will come.
So why audition?
Jose: To calm down naysayers who complain about Keira in a corset movie.
Nathaniel: Well it is kind of weird. Isn't the point of corsets to make women skinnier? They look best on voluptuous women who become more hourglassy in them with impossibly tiny waists. But Keira looks amazing despite not being that type of body at all so my point, though true, is defeated.
Jose: She kept the accessories simple and let this Valentino shine on its own. It reminds me of those Disney Princesses who are always in fabulous big dresses and don't seem to have made an effort in putting them on.
Nathaniel: I have nothing to say about Marion Cotillard other than that I love open backs on dresses. Always a good way to sex it up while staying classy.
Jose: Love her farmer maid tresses, too. I think this is what Gwynnie was going for back in that awful 2002 Oscar dress. Chris Martin must have seen that dress and though 'i need to write some pretty music to make that girl happy again.'
Nathaniel: However the muse strikes you.
Okay in our final lineup I thought it might be fun to discuss the topic of...
Photocall versus Premiere.
Maria deMedeiros, Gwyneth Paltrow, Selma Blair (Venice Photos)
Jose: That's a fantastic angle that should make you feel proud of the sleeping fashionista in you.
Nathaniel: Thank you. For those who don't obsessively stalk follow celebrity-goings-on at festivals it goes like this: on the morning of the premiere there's generally a Photocall wherein the cast poses in Hollywood's version of Business Casual which we'll call Glamour Casual and talks to the press. And then in the evening they pull all out all the stops for something more Oscariffic. i.e. THE PREMIERE. I should have made this the entire angle and shown all the differences with the big stars but I thought of it at the last minute so you get Maria DeMedeiros (mostly because I'm always shocked and delighted when she pops up - remember Pulp Fiction and Henry & June?), Gwyneth Paltrow, and Selma Blair.
Jose: Maria's first dress makes you wonder shy Almodóvar isn't using her for something.
Nathaniel: Right? It's so retro-fun. A little camp. And the shoes. LLLLLLLlllllove. So she goes from that straight to Morticia goth mode for the premiere. And I think ideally the Photocall vs. Premiere should give you range... whereas some people don't even try at the photocalls (coughkatewinslet)
Jose: That lazy woman didn't even stay for Contagion's premiere so let's not mention her. She robbed me of the joy of seeing her in the same pic with Gwynnie.
Nathaniel: Do not get me started on Contagion Photo Ops. I'm still waiting to see DAMON, PALTROW and LAW alone in a photo promoting the movie so that I can fantasize that it's a sequel to The Talented Mr Ripley in which they all die of some virus you catch from having too much money and lolling about glamourously and amorously on beaches and villas in Tuscany.
Jose: I don't know if this is something you'd wanna declare in public, but I get the GOOP newsletter and yesterday we got her scrapbook form Venice where she even pointed out how much the city reminded her of Ripley. Maybe in the sequel Cate Blanchett, in full Hanna mode can hunt them done one by one.
Nathaniel: She already kinda knocked them off in Mr Ripley if you count Stealing the Whole Movie as Actor-Slaying which I kinda do.
Jose: Studio heads, if you're reading this, Nat and I would love to come work in your story development departments.
Nathaniel: That. I also hire out as a script doctor but my contract requires that you allow me to jettison the boring male characters or give them sex changes and personalities.
Jose: Mine requires that everyone int he film were amazing couture dresses.
Nathaniel: I don't think anyone is going to hire us.
Okay so my point on all three of these ladies was going to be that I like their Glamour Casual looks more than their big premiere looks. Gwynnie's orange (tangerine?) number is so flirty and stylish and effortless.
Jose: I had a feeling you wouldn't like it because it makes her seem like she's slouching. I see what you mean though and I'd have to agree as well. Does that mean you're a day person though? Cause Maria deMedeiros would look nuts if she wore that to a night premiere.
actual colors!Nathaniel: No, no. It just means that some people understand how to do glamour casual and some don't even try unless they're pulling out all the stops for a big premiere.
Jose: Gotcha.
Nathaniel: In Selma's case I love the day color on her (and the shoes are a perfect accessory). But I have to say this was one of the more challenging evening gowns to yank into one of these photoshopped lineups because it was actually difficult to tell where the dress was verus the red carpet. Very matchy-matchy. I bet the fans in the bleachers could only see her face, a floating head. CHESHIRE SELMA.
Jose: LMAO. Okay, I have to give to go give George Clooney (my dog) a bath now, I shall talk to you later.
Nathaniel: Wait. Is your dog really named George Clooney?
Jose: Yes.
Nathaniel: I love you.
Jose: lol. He only understands two syllables though so I call him Georgie.
Nathaniel: God, good thing his name isn't Viggo Mortensen.
Jose: LOL. But if cats go by the same rule yours is named after Montgomery Clift. So you just call him "Monty"? a perfect name.
Nathaniel: True. And no he doesn't come if I call "Montgomery"
Jose: He's like "you lost me at 'gomery"
Nathaniel: But then he's a cat though so he doesn't even come if I just scream Monty. I must see a photo of George Clooney now.
Jose: When you see his coloring you'll get the name.
Georgie (Jose's) and Monty (Nathaniel's).
Nathaniel: awwwwww. I do. I'm taking a matching Monty pic but he is suddenly weirdly terrified of the camera. I'm totally posting this.
Jose: That's fine. I have a Superman shirt on. Nothing can harm me.
Nathaniel: LOL. My shirt will offer no such protection. After this summer's movies, it has been demoted to shirt I only wear while doing laundry.
IF ANYONE READING HAS NAMED THEIR PET AFTER A MOVIE STAR, You must share in the comments. The more the merrier! Do you prefer Glamour Casual to Full Stop Glamour?
previously: VENICE and HUABAIAO Awards (Nat & Jose) * THE HELP and TEEN CHOICE (Nat & Jose & Kurt) * CRAZY STUPID LOVE, FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS (Nat & Jose & Guy) * BAFTA and Royals Events (Nat & Jose & Kurt), TONY AWARDS (Nat & Kurt & Guy), MTV Awards (Nat & Jose) and more
Reader Comments (12)
My dog was named after two fictional characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies: Davy Jones & Barbossa. Not movie stars but I thought I'd share anyway.
Gwyneth has the perfect sense of style, I think. I'm more interested in her acting but I'll get whatever she has to give me. (except for death by a virus)
My cat is called Nietzsche because I was pretentious 6 years ago. Now I'd name him Wittgenstein!
''But I guess none of them have a personality even remotely as large as hers. Which is maybe the problem. You can be merely elegant and fashionable and pretend you're the next Audrey Hepburn and people will go along with it for 5 minutes but to try Shirley Maclaine...''
This is such an interesting observation. Its also very true. The only current ''it girl'' with a strong and colorful personality that I can think of right now is Mila Kunis and maybe Emma Stone as well. All the others like Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Carey Mulligan, Elizabeth Olsen, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence are kinda beige, good and talented, but beige.
I used to have to goldfishes called Rita and Greta haha. Unfortunately they got poisoned when we had the place redecorated.
My family's terrier is named Greta after Garbo. She's very anti-social and if someone talks to her that she doesn't care for, she will turn her head away dramatically.
For a while I had two hamsters, Gary and Cooper. I miss them.
I used to have a fish named Bogey growing up.
I have cats named after Francois Truffaut, Gerard Depardieu and Celeste Holm. LOL.
No pets,
Kate Bosworth is a sad end product of the Hollywood machine.
CHESHIRE SELMA made me LOL.
Cate totally did steal Mr. Ripley from everyone else, didn't she? I haven't seen that movie in forever.
Love this convo, gentlemen. And how great to end it with the adorable pet feature. I'll keep my pooch within reach next time you invite me to talk red carpet. :-)
I guess I missed Kate Winslet's recent photocalls in Venice-- what do you mean she wasn't trying? Did she show up in a track suit?
And this week's best line goes to Jose's "Maybe in the sequel Cate Blanchett, in full Hanna mode can hunt them done one by one."
Excellent point of Shirley, Nat. It's as if she's completely drifted out of consciousness, which is weird because her career has spanned so many decades.