THR Actress Roundtable - Part 1
Thursday, November 22, 2012 at 9:46AM 
Live Blogged via Tape Delay! Woot
I've embedded the whole hour at the bottom of this post. Please to enjoy.
00:01 Photoshoots. We begin with a lot of hand to throat or chest or hair gesturing. And... pose! This year's models in order of first solo shot in the montage: Marion Cotillard, Sally Field, Naomi Watts, and Amy Adams, Anne Hathaway and Helen Hunt . Weirdly Rachel Weisz does not get a solo shot. Don't they negotiate every second of these things: "AGENT!!!"
00:38 One thing that's immediately clear about this latest edition of the Hollywood Reporter Actress Roundtable -- now one of the best Oscar traditions -- is that they're upping their game. The camera work is more expressive, and the spacious well designed interior with white couches is less corporate bland than I remember and more conducive to the group therapy session that follows. Psssh, it is so group therapy!. I mean they start with a question about fear and move straight into rock bottom trauma of careers the "should I give up?" moment before the big break.
00:43 Helen Hunt's "I'm thinking about the question" face is hilarious. PONDERING in all caps. [Lots more after the jump.]
01:21 Well, look at this. Naomi Watts is aware that we sometimes find her "too intense". On her auditions before Mulholland Dr
Too this. Too that. Not enough of this. Not enough of that. I was so afraid. Diluting myself into absolutely nothing. Too intense. Too shy. Too everything. I just didn't know who I was anymore."
Sounds like an ideal life long rehearsal for Betty/Diane, yes?
04:50 Amy reveals she cut out a magazine article about Naomi before she was cast in Junebug and put it in her journal to give her faith. I tried to capture Naomi's Moved/Embarrassed face in the screencap above which is Too Intense/Too Shy but enough of this and that!
7:23 Do we attract what we fear? Anne Hathaway makes a joke about her past...
That would explain some relationships."
Anne then does my favorite thing. She stops waiting for the moderator and asks a question herself of Rachel Weisz eliciting and awesome story about her performance art days at 19 and gets the room laughing.
It's true I have avant garde roots. I've sold out steadily since then."
09:07 Anne tells a story about auditioning for Fantine. Turns out her mother was one of the original understudies. It's here where I noticed that Anne is wearing green nail polish and further making me wish she wanted to do a Liza Minnelli biopic ("Divine Decadence!") instead of yet another Judy Garland one... not that that movie seems to be happening anymore.
11:08 I wondered how long it would take to bring up Helen Hunt's nudity and here it is. Very smart answers from Helen.
13:36 Helen brings up something I am obsessed with when it comes to actors and that I never hear anybody talk about. And it's this: When you have a character that people talk about a lot in the movie before your intro, how do you live up that in your first scene? Better come up with something.
16:00 Marion Cotillard speaks. It only took fifteen minutes. The question is about if a role every changed the way you viewed your life. Her answer involved a transition period after La Vie En Rose when she felt the need to start fresh and "clean up" her relationship. Cynics would say this is a really fancy way of rationalizing dumping pre-fame friends/relationships once global fame hits.
Amy imitating an obnoxious threatening paparazzo
18:35 Amy Adams reveals her temper. It's a peak into her real personality that doesn't really show in her movies but for maybe The Fighter and that one scene in The Master (ahem). She's furious that paparazzi are taking photos of her daughter. Why is this allowed? (Her daughter not being the public figure). The room gets very lively with discussions of how do you raise kids, how do you have a family day if dozens of cameras are chasing you. Anne is concerned and wants to move somewhere "off the grid" -- it's the second time in the conversation she brings up wanting a baby an--- Noooooooooo. ANNE, No. Don't leave us in your prime!
23:00 Sally Field makes me really glad that this roundtable has actresses of a certain age "My age is more certain than yours" -HEE! She talks about how different fame was when she was young. Fame hit in 1964 so she's going on 50 years of celebrity. Interestingly she talks about arranged dates for fan magazines with actors she hated. Makes me desperate to know who? who?
Eventually this leads into a lengthy discussion of when you should say "no" to things and Anne says she said no to arriving at the Princess Diaries 2 premiere in a carriage. Off Topic: but physiognomically speaking, could Anne & Helen BE ANY MORE DIFFERENT? If you were drawing them Anne would be made of circles all round giant eyes, full lips, and soft curves and with Helen you'd adjust to thin straight lines everywhere.
31:09 I've been so wrapped up in Sally Field's stories that I forgot to type! Great 1960s fame stories including flying across the Coconut Grove at the 2nd Annual Golden Globes (because of her role in The Flying Nun) into John Wayne to present an award. She refused to wear the habit because she was so miserable being typecast as a sitcom cutie so the bit made no sense and it was just 'porky little Sally Field flying in a pink dress my mother made'.
What's your favorite part of this roundtable?
What do you think of sex surrogacy? How soon do you think Anne will leave us to be a full time mom? Would you fly across the stage of the Golden Globes in a nurse's habit? Sound off in the comments.
Reader Comments (36)
I liked seeing adams feistiness,annes niceness and that she is quite boring,the fight in field for lincoln and for day lewis testing with her,seeing how movie starish naomi watts is and how beaiutiful,hunt seems to have freshened herself up and seemed butch to me and wiesz why wa sshe there she has no role in contention and to me she is v poor at picking good roles.
Please tell me Weisz is there for that marvel named The Deep Blue Sea.
I
L O V E
R A C H E L
W E I S Z
I can't think about nobody else
My favorite parts were when Helen Hunt rebels and asks the reporters if they would ask the men the same questions and Sally Field's story and how she got the role of Mary.
Also...Amy Adams seems to be so angry and kinda sad inside. She behaved the same way during her last actress roundtable.
Note: Only Anne, Helen and Sally talk about their potential Oscar nominee roles, if I'm not mistaken.
I just when love it when Marion Cotillard boldly states that money is unimportant. I wonder why she does all these Dior commercials. Art, no doubt.
Helen Hunt was the MVP, for sure. By far the most articulate, though I enjoyed listening to Sally, Naomi, and Rachel as well.
Amy Adams should never be invited to this ever again. She has only given one good performance (Junebug), and has no charisma whatsoever.
Anne Hathaway continues to come off as very disingenuous.
Anne's a character actress (quirky looks, wide range, authentic personality). This isn't her prime but the period when men dictate her opportunities to lead studio backed dreck. If she decides to have a baby she'll be better off than the pretty girls who don't do supporting — the Oscar should be hers — and she certainly could garner plenty of nominations in that category — like Blanchett and Maggie Smith. In Hathaway's case it's not the inscription but the hardware that counts. (See Dianne Wiest or Zeta-Jones "You Can't Take Her Oscar Away).
I learn to appreciate all the actresses in these round table discussions. Their journeys humanize them into root worthy causes — and you want the women to band together to get each other better material. I love that Amy wants her co-star from Junebug to have something awesome to do. We need that.
The lineup for this roundtable was a dream. Too much awesomeness for one room.
Hope Meryl never has to do one of these...what is the point? To see them all try to outshine each other with anecdotes on way to Oscar glory???
Jamie -- what is the point? It's fun to see the way they interact -- even them NOT reacting to each other can be interesting. I love trying to suss out who knows each other, who likes each other and who is like "what the hell am i doing here. why didn't i say no?"
I don't think they tried to outshine one another. They were a very down to earth group
Shouldn't Jennifer Lawrence be there instead of Rachel Weisz? THR clearly selects its roundtable based on Oscar buzz so, hmm...
I love these roundtables. The best remains the one from two years ago with Annette, Nic and Helena ... that was fun.
I agree that Helen was most articulate... loved the way she explained how she saw the sessions. Sally kinda wants to talk and talk - but at least she's self aware. The Lincoln story I heard before but it's a good one.
I love Anne but her public persona is sometimes grating. She's always fawning and apologizing. Most false moment is - i'm sorry that happened to Mila. If she wants to win she better start working on some funny warm acceptance speeches and interview banter for the next few months. She is also I think aware of that problem as evidenced by her comment about "tendency to pollyanna".
No more Amy please. She's been in 3 of these in last four years.
It was nice to see Naomi. Love that she knows that she's seen as very dramatic and intense. The reaction from interviewer about Mulholland Falls is what prompts to think she will get nominated this year. There is jus so much goodwill towards her for that performance. I know I love her from it and so do a lot of friends.
Marion's story about the desert movie is the kind I'd like to hear more of.
"Shouldn't Jennifer Lawrence be there instead of Rachel Weisz? THR clearly selects its roundtable based on Oscar buzz so, hmm..."
There is Oscar buzz for Rachel Weisz for her performance in "The Deep Blue Sea"
Murtada: I've fallen into a bit of a Naomi trap, where I'm never excited enough to hear about her new projects. But I will NEVER not love her, and that's due to her performance in Mullholland (and also Huckabees). Same thing goes for Scarlett Johansson, and the Ghost World/Lost in Translation perfs. Some performances earn eternal gratitude/free-passes-for-life from me.
The thing I love about these every year, particularly with the women, is the fact that I always love them as a cohesive group. It's where the true actressexual side comes out in me-in real life I seek out movies starring Marion Cotillard and Amy Adams, but not necessarily Helen Hunt or Sally Field, and yet when they pitch that female Hangover at the end, I am convinced these are the only seven to do it, and how much fun would that be, and I get excited about my respective film memories of each of these seven women. If you spend as much time with actors onscreen as I (and I suspect most of the readers here) do, you sort of forget about all of the film memories you have, and these Hollywood Reporter videos (my favorite recent Oscar tradition) are brilliant reminders of that.
I do agree with Helen, though, I wish there was more about the women and their process, and as much as the Hollywood Reporter's denied it, there is definitely a slight sexism in their questions compared to the men's.
Mike in Canada - I hear you. I'm kinda dreading The Impossible - that trailer is so manipulative. Don't know if I want to slog through a couple of hours of that. But I will because of Naomi.
Even though I don't think she will be nominated, Rachel Weisz was amazing in "The Deep Blue Sea".
I like these actresses, but I thought Amy Adams really veered the discussion off topic with all the hate of the paparazzi which I can appreciate why she is upset but really I want to hear these actresses discuss their process as Helen said. I didn't really get much from Amy about her acting in this. As for the comment about Marion doing those Dior ads, hey if you were given a chance to do them wouldn't you for all the cash, doesn't mean she is not a real artist :)
Marion looks bored / uncomfortable through all of this.
I just love how happy Weisz is; you could tell everyone really responded to her well.
Hunt and Field were exquisite.
Sally Field really made this pop, she reminds me of Annette Being during the best one of these a couple years ago. This wasn't bad, but I would've preferred a different combo. The men's one was just dreadful and annoying. So dull, no one wanted to open up.
I LIVE for these every season! It would've been great if Keira Knightley could've been included, but the group of women they assembled was awesome anyway. It was especially great to see Weisz there because I thought she was brilliant in The Deep Blue Sea. I'd love to know your thoughts on that film, Nat.
Out of curiosity, what movie is Cotillard talking about? It shouldn't be too hard to corner down-anyone know?
I absolutely loved this. This has become one of my favorite Oscar traditions over the past couple of years, particularly because I love seeing how the actresses interact with each other and how we get a glimpse of their personalities outside of the big screen. I just love Sally Field; undoubtedly the veteran of the group and the mother figure and her long story about garnering the Mary Lincoln role was exquisite and I've watched it like three times. And she still has such a great sense of humor.
Loved Helen Hunt and thought she was easily the most articulate out of the group. Good for her for calling out the moderator on the slight sexist edge the questions were taking.
Naomi Watts is a sweetheart and I didn't realize how shy she was. Loved how she was smiling throughout Field's stories.
Rachel Weisz is hilarious and it's so great to see someone who I thought was so stoic and beautiful really have an endearing, goofy side. The same for Marion Cotillard--girl has a wicked sense of humor. I was cracking up during her desert story. I think she's getting better with her English but you can still tell she's a little reticent.
Anne just seems so rehearsed for me. Nice, girl but blahhhhhh.
I never understand why they keep on inviting Amy Adams back for these things. She really annoyed me on this one, continuously arguing about the paparazzi (I'm sorry they took a picture of your child, but why continue to talk about it when this is supposed to be a film forum discussion?). Even with the roundtable a couple of years ago with Annette and Nicole, Adams never seems to want to be there and she just seems totally disinterested (unless you talk about the paparazzi I guess). Weird.
@rami : I am not judging Cotillard for grabbing the cash, I'm just pointing out how easy it is for extremely wealthy celebrities to state that money is unimportant.
@John T : The movie Cotillard is talking about is Le Dernier Vol (The Last Flight).
MArion Cotillard could talk about her epic love/hatred relation with french paparazzis
I lived in that building when they filmed mulholland drive while Stephen lived there
Jennifer Lawrence would've been a welcome addition to this bunch.
I like most of these actresses (not Adams) and I do aknowledge there are problems even in their lives (especially if they're over 40) but, really, I don't care about your problem with the paparazzi. Your kid will go to whichever college it wants.
Interesting talk, overall.
Has Naomi Watts always had a british(?) lilt to her voice? All the hollywood aussie actresses seem to lose their accent. not Nicole though.
Julien ok sorry I misunderstood, I just love Marion so much I get so protective of her :)
Naomi was sick, I can feel that in her voice. :(
Here's Anne all in circles. It's a Stanley Chow drawing: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me9duewLyG1qa9acvo1_r1_1280.jpg
Except for Wadjda (Waad Mohamed) all the women mentioned in indiewire's article are on every pundit's list. Yes not top tier / locks but not surprising either.
Where's Elizabeth Debicki who single handedly brought The Great Gatsby to life.