The Lady of the Link
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 5:41PM Off Oscar. Should You Need a Break
Boy Culture attends Madonna's royal premiere here in NYC for W.E.
David Bordwell "a guide to the perplexed" for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Stale Popcorn We need to talk about "Katniss". Good question: What is it with archery these days?
THR Two Beauty and the Beast related projects coming. Because in Hollywood there always must be double dipping on the limited idea pool.
Okay. Back to Oscar. Stop Slacking!
Tom and Lorenzo on Jennifer Lawrence's unfortunate morning as the nominee announcer.
Ultra Culture on the best typography among the Best Pic Nominees. Love this.
Towleroad "Hot Movie Moment" from one of my favorite Best Pictures Wings (1927) the first one!
Indiewire The Oscars are moving to electronic voting in 2013. Cue: thousands of articles about whether or not This. Changes. Things. Oscarologists are so excitable.
In Contention looks at the Art Direction category
Examiner plays an "Oscar Replacement" game for the nominations
Carpetbagger on Glenn Close and her makeup and wig team for Albert Nobbs
MNPP A rarity: JA sounding off on the Oscars. Yay. He's one of the only blogging voices we love that have virtually no interest in them. (No interest in the Oscars? I know. I know. Difficult to comprehend.)
Finally... a sad goodbye to British actor Nicol Williamson (1936-2012), my very first "Merlin" (though I've lost track of how many actors I've seen as the sorcerer since).
Mirren and Williamson owning Excalibur (1981)
Daily MUBI has the roundups of obits for the Excalibur (1981) actor. My most vivid memories of that film, aside from the Lancelot nudity (gasp) was the Merlin/Morgana Le Fay rapport. I was way too young to know that Helen Mirren and Williamson had... history.
Reader Comments (9)
It's your blog but it saddens me to see a "farewell" to Nicol Williamson and not a word on the passing of Theodoros Angelopoulos.
The first, and so far only, Macbeth adaptation I've seen was the one where Nicol Williamson starred.
By the way, he was born in 1936, not 1938 ;)
When I think of Nicol Williamson, I think of The Seven Percent Solution (please tell me I'm right on that title). He was probably my first Sherlock Holmes.
So how is it Nicol Williamson died six weeks ago, but the world's only hearing about it now?
Also, I'd like to hear how Paul Rudnick and Evan Handler are taking the news of his death. (This is an obscure reference, but those who get it will find it funny.)
I can still remember getting Excalibur from the library on VHS and having a surprising viewing when I was 10.
Also, thanks for sharing my link Nathaniel!
That David Bordwell article! As if I needed further encouragement to obsess over Tinker Tailor. That film has layers like a parfait. (I'm still a bit sad it missed out on Art Direction. Did voters not see that rusty can of Ajax on the windowsill? So many perfect details.)
And I think The Descendants would get my typography nod, the woodcarved look and the hibiscus evoke Hawaii and show they put some thought into the design (unlike some other titles... ahem The Help).
Excalibur was one of my first Arthurian films too. Saw it when I was a kid, and I remember being surprised by the Lancelot nudity as well.
RIP, Nicol.
BTW Nathaniel, what *was* the history between Mirren and Williamson? The usual dating of co-stars? Flings flung and then done whilst filming?
@Blinking Cursor - If I remember it correctly, they were together before the filming and the direstor cast them for these roles because of the animosity between them after their break-up.
Nat, thanks a million for the link to that fantastic David Bordwell piece!
One of the most obvious things I could see changing the way the Academy votes on films would be to extend the deadline for voting by 30 to 60 days, allowing more time to marianate on some of the films and to consider ones they would;ve missed. Didn't the Oscars used to be held in April?