3 Days Until Handsome Bludgeoning...
Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 10:44PM Oscar is an octogenarian so you know he's heard everything. He's been reviled, exalted, and called all sorts of things other than "Oscar" over the years. My favorite name-calling recently was from Daniel Day-Lewis. At the 80th Oscars in February 2008, he called our shiny man the "the handsomest bludgeon in town".
Remember that?
That's the closest I'll ever come to getting a knighthood so thank you. My deepest thanks to the members of the Academy for whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town. I'm looking at this gorgeous thing you've given me and I'm thinking back to the first devilish whisper of an idea that came to him and everything since.
Mad Beautiful-Headed P.T.It seems to me that this sprang like a golden sapling out of the mad beautiful head of Paul Thomas Anderson.
I wish my son and my partner H W Plainveiw were up here with me, the mighty Dylan Frazier. So many people to thank. One amongst them would be Mrs Plainview down there, the enchantingly optimistic, openminded and beautiful rebecca miller.
I hope that all of those to whom I owe and to whom feel the deepest gratitude will forgive me if I say just simply 'Thank you, Paul.'I've been thinking a lot about fathers and sons in the course of this. I'd like to accept this in the memory of my grandfather Michael Balkan, my father Cecil Day Lewis and my three find boys Gabriel Ronan and Kashel. Thank you very much indeed, thank you.
This is not Dylan Frazier. HW Plainview had to put on a few years first.
Only an actor as great as Daniel Day-Lewis could make you forget that they're actually elegant and erudite and endearing in person. When he's onscreen in There Will Be Blood, glowering and strategizing his heart pumping out only oily greed it's impossible to imagine that they're the same person.
When do you think we'll see a performance that massive winning Best Actor again? Don't say "the next Paul Thomas Anderson picture!" because then I'll have to remember that it's Phillip Seymour Hoffman who's starring in it. When do you think we'll start seeing production stills from The Master? Even with PSH leading I want. Gimme.
Reader Comments (18)
I have such high hopes for The Master. I hope Amy Adams has a juicy role.
Don't you know better than to ask a question about The Master seeking logical answers?
All I can think of is: *$#@!%& new PTA movie in the foreseeable future!
Laura Dern's presence in The Master (for me) is the bigger deal.
Wait, you don't like PSH? Why?
My knee-jerk bet is to say Daniel Day-Lewis again, in Spielberg's "Lincoln". But of course we all know it will be Sacha Baron Cohen in "The Dictator". They can't prevent him from Benigni-ing through his acceptance speech.
Please, stop living in denial. You can't stop PSH from winning his second Oscar, and you know, I'm sure he'll be deserving.
Nicely put and thank you for reminding me about PTA's The Master.
I still rate Boogie Nights as the best film of the 90s, and with PSH, Amy Adams and the subject material, the mouth just waters for this film. In prospect the best film of that year.
Is "The Master" and "Lincoln" coming out in the same year? Yikes. Those are your next "massive" best actor Oscar wins. One or the other or both.
cal -- who is living in denial? Trust that if I could stop certain people from winning second Oscars I already would have. Y'all know who i mean. I am powerless to save the world -- and by extension the Oscars -- from itself ;)
alex -- i thought everyone knew this about me? I think PSH is terrific in Capote and Magnolia but most of the time I think he's the definition of a blustery over-actor, with only two primary modes: shouting and turning red or schlumping with self pity. Ugh, I just find him very hard to watch. He's anti-charismatic to me which makes his casting in that particular role really odd to me. But what'cha gonna do? I have never not loved a PT Anderson film so I'm hoping for the best.
Come on, we've been reading you for years. You said a lot of nice things about PSH in The Savages and even in Doubt, and I haven't read a single bad word about him in his latest movies. The last PSH performence that you seemed to hate was Charlie Wilson's War, I think.
I think it's time to reconsider these accusation, don't you think? Get over Flawless, man!
But Flawless was A NIGHTMARE.
i still get cold sweats
oh and also I just got tired of complaining about him. I thought he was ok in both Moneyball and The Ides of March -- he has definitely toned it down a smidgeon lately -- but I'd be a liar if i claimed that I didn't wish for a different actor during his scenes.
Nathaniel, I see where you are coming from with PSH, I don't quite agree though. For me, he was so effortlessly good in his early films that it became easy to take him for granted. And also, yeah you start to notice his mannerisms. He was annoyingly schlubby in Synechdoche. In Ides of March he just seemed to be on autopilot. The thing is thought, it is incredibly hard to act naturally on film (so different to theatre) and he appears to be able to switch it on. Maybe he just needs a bit more creative casting? And a PTA starring role to boot.
While I'm also in Nathaniel's boat for PSH (I really don't get the thrill of him in Capote-the only thing I've really liked of his was The Savages), I'm thinking that not only will he be headed toward a second Oscar this year, he'll likely be taking home a Tony Award for Death of a Salesman (which I have my tickets for!).
Yeah, I understand perfectly. He's been GOOD in a few things (Magnolia, Almost Famous, Mary & Max), but never really great or close to "best of the year" personally.
Holy moly, I can now forgive Nathaniel for his Descendants hate because I absolutely and utterly cannot stand Philip Seymour Hoffman. There is not a movie I've seen him in where he hasn't made my skin crawl with his hammy overacting. He's so bad to me that I'd rather watch wooden actors like Kim Basinger or Andie MacDowell than him. I remember watching Almost Famous and just about had to turn it off because of him. Woo hoo!
Oh and I knew he was going to win his Oscar over Heath Ledger and I was pre-pissed about it for days. Ugh those Oscars all the way around.
Funny short story about the Oscars: R.I.P. Oscar – A Hollywood Satire by Andie Heid
(includes: The Oscar Games, Movie Star Wars, Catwoman Rises, Battle of the Snow Whites, The Twilight Saga continues…)
I loved DDL in My Left Foot, The Last of the Mohigans and The Age of Innocence but his performance in There Will Be Blood was one of his hammiest. One of my least favorite Oscar winning performances.