Here's a top ten stream of thought quickie for you. Let's just say it's in honor of Olivia Wilde who has been bouncing around in my head since that Boogie Nights live read last week and who won the StarMeter award from the IMDb last night. Congratulations on being so eminently, um, searchable, Livvy.
Olivia Wilde in Rush
I have to admit I don't quite get her appeal but Congratulations! Her career is white-hot right now (Rush is playing at TIFF and winningly surprisingly strong reviews) and she's engaged to Jason Sudeikis. Without further ado, off the top of my head and just for fun...
The Ten Greatest "Olivia"s
10 Olivia Pope on Scandal
I don't watch Scandal (forgive) and the one episode I did see was atrocious and made me wonder what everyone is smoking when they praise it (blasphemy?) but I've been rooting for Kerry Washington since the very beginning of her film career (Our Song, holla!) and don't really wish to jump ship despite a few stumbles. Plus, she's up for an Emmy in this year's small screen Best Actress competition for this role, which is really quite historic if you check, television wise. If you love Scandal PLEASE explain why in the comments. [TFE's Interview]
09 Olivia Hussey
Romeo & Juliet need, desperately need, to be played by very young actors to maximize the authenticity and resonance of their tragedy. But it wasn't until Franco Zeffirelli's gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous 1968 adaptation that people finally understood this en masse. I am on record as complaining about the constant revivals of Shakespeare on stage and in the movies. But Romeo & Juliet I especially don't understand any more at least in movie form. [more...]
Leonard Whiting & Olivia Hussey Young Lover Adorableness
Consider: we already have a perfect classicist version (the one Hussey stars in so beautifully) and a perfect stylized auteur version (Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet) so what is there left to add cinematically? I'm talking to you, people. What'cha got that Hussey & Danes didn't have, Hailee?
08 Olivia Munn
I still can't get over what sly things she suggested / accomplished in Magic Mike, in a role that many actresses would have been ablank in. I wish she'd be done with The Newsroom (annoying!) so we could see what else she could do on the big screen.
07 Olivia Colman
I can't vouch for her comedic skills though we hear that they're quite. But damn was she stellar in that devastating performance in Tyrannosaur. She nearly made the sometimes unwatchable brutality unmissable as a film experience. The Iron Lady didn't exist but for to give Meryl Streep another Oscar but even so... she was good in that thankless role, too. [TFE Interview]
06 "Olivia" from Twelfth Night
More Shakespeare! What is happening?
05 Emily Olivia Leah Blunt
I didn't know that was her full name. Love her if not quite as much as we keep hoping to love her post Prada. Bring on the great roles. Time is a-wastin'.
04 Olivia Williams
Some actresses sneaks up on you. Some actresses get sexier and more talented with age. Both things are true of Olivia Williams. I didn't think much of her for years and then suddenly in her 40s she was delivering one stellar gripping performance after another on TV (the MVP of Dollhouse) and the big screen (The Ghost Writer for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress here at TFE). Even when her part is largely sidelined (Anna Karenina) she makes the most of it.
03 "Olive Snook" in Pushing Daisies
According to Wikipedia which never gets anything wrong, Olive is actually basically sorta the exact same name as Olivia and since no screen character, big or small, in the past five years has more musically, comically, quirkily or persistently endeared themselves to awesome people (i.e. fans of Pushing Daisies) than this sweet and salty pie-shop worker I couldn't leave her off. Kristen Chenoweth is perfect as Olive and one of the happiest awards show moments of my life -- no exaggeration -- is when she won her surprise Emmy for Best Supporting Actress for the departed and much-missed series. Well deserved.
02 Olivia Newton-John
Sandy, can't you see
I'm in misery?
You made a start, now we're apart
There's nothing left for meLove has flown all alone
I sit and wonder why, oh?
Why you left me, oh Sandy
Listen, according to my childhood she is number one for always hopelessly devoted ever but since this is a film blog first and foremost, I have to give a "a little more love" to... well, you must have guessed by now...
01 Olivia de Havilland
Who else?
YOUR TURN. If I forgot your favorite Olivia I trust you'll let me know. Who is she?