Q&A: Oscar Ceremonies, Sex Work, and... The Warlocks of Eastwick?
Wednesday, December 30, 2015 at 8:02PM 
Soon, we'll be buried in an avalanche of awards news again so tonight a brief respite from the current Oscar race. It's Q&A time. Here are eight reader questions I chose to answer. I skipped anything on Category Fraud because I feel so exhausted by that fight ("though undeterred in my moral superiority!" he says arms akimbo and chin up, like a superhero with cape billowing behind him, sworn to upheld 'the Awards Way') and I might have to freak out all over again on nomination morning so let's ignore it for now.
MDA: What 2015 release that you were looking forward to watching disappointed you the most?
NATHANIEL: It feels stranger to answer with a film I liked, especially one that's already getting a critical rethink by way of surprise top ten placements but maybe Magic Mike XXL? While I admire its super cajzh vibe and its focus on female pleasure, I'm puzzled as to why they went more demure with the sequel when they kept promising it would be more stripperific i.e. what everyone expected from Soderbergh's first brilliant film (which you'll remember was a Bronze medalist for Best Picture right here.)
Another big disappointment was Sisters. It's totally funny don't get me wrong. But that's all it is. It's strange that we know that Tina Fey can write brilliant comic masterworks (30 Rock, Mean Girls) but keeps wasting her star power and comic gift on propping up other people's wildly underwritten cliché-filled scripts. I'm beginning to wonder is she even wants to make another comedy classic? Perhaps she's fine coasting until retirement. But it's hard to not wonder what could be if she'd only apply herself again.
EZ: I hereby grant you special powers to go back in time and attend an Academy Awards Ceremony of your choosing. Which year do you choose and why?
NATHANIEL: This question sounds nice until you realize the genie has only granted you one wish instead of three. So stingy!
Retro Oscar Races, Domnhall Gleeson, Bridget Jones's Baby, and more after the jump...
NATHANIEL: I will have to embrace my inner child and go to 1961 Oscars when West Side Story swept. I wasn't alive but a ton of glam stars I love were there, West Side Story is my favorite and Rita Moreno and George Chakiris were probably fun to hang with that night and Natalie Wood & Warren Beatty are quite possibly the prettiest Oscar night couple of all time.
IAN: Domhnall Gleeson is in The Force Awakens, Brooklyn, Ex Machina, and The Revenant this year, but nobody's talking about him. What triggers conversation the way it did Vikander?
NATHANIEL: Having a vagina helps. I'm actually serious. Hear me out though gross generalities lie ahead. Yes, Hollywood can be a sexist hellhole but one of the advantages that grants actresses, albeit it a very short window of advantage, is that Hollywood really really cares about them when they're the new "it" girl. 'It' never lasts of course (a new 'it' girl is only a year or two away) but if you have undeniable talent and can prove it quickly enough (as Vikander has) and luck into big hits (which she hasn't yet) you can build yourself a strong enough foundation for a career that will be hard to kill later on. And then 20-25 years later you might still be working as one of those beautiful older women who are too fabulous for people to ignore even though the gross ageism of Hollywood has already killed the careers of their less lucky contemporaries.
Male stars are rarely glommed on to with anything like that same immediacy. Their fame tends to build over a handful of years until people realize "oh, I've always loved him!" which usually happens in their 30s. (Note what's happening to 36 yr old Oscar Isaac right now. An earlier example is Brad Pitt. Quite famous by 28 but he wasn't a superstar until he was 32). After which they work forever and no one complains when they get old.
In the case of Domnhall vs Alicia there's also the non-insignificant fact that he only had one leading role this year where she had three and he wasn't the single standout performance in any of his pictures and she was the standout in half of hers -- so I gave her a Body of Work Gold Medal this year.
JONN: With all the 70's/80's nostalgia reboots going on (Star Wars, Mad Max, Rocky, Vacation, Ghostbusters...) what other property would make your younger self most happy to revisit? I realize original stories are the most desirable but there seems to be no end in sight to Hollywood remakes.
NATHANIEL: This seems as good a time as any to point people back to an article from this summer in which we investigated sexism in franchise revivals. There we listed a ton of golden properties from the 80s that were female focused (and very successful) but Hollywood ignores them to revisit all the boy stuff. I don't need any of these to be remade (preferring original stories) but since Hollywood definitely loves to regurgitate...
Why hasn't there been a film about those half devil boys?
But if we're talking reboots as stealth remakes (a la The Force Awakens) that could have great parts for men while bringing the original cast back there is absolutely no better option from the 80s than The Witches of Eastwick (1987). Reunite Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon (both still completely gorgeous), convince Jack Nicholson and Cher to come out of acting retirement for cameos ... and rejigger the plot so it's about the now adult boys (they'd be in their late 20s now), a ginger, a brunette, and a blonde at the perfect age to cast a trio of rising male stars ready to franchise it up! If the film was any good at all it'd be a massive hit -- the original was the tenth biggest hit of 1987 just below Lethal Weapon and just above Dirty Dancing and Predator (all of which got franchised).
GEORGE: I know you turned on her, but is there any part of you that misses Renée Zellweger?
Gotta say, I'm pretty excited about Bridget Jones's Baby. I miss her!
NATHANIEL: I never lost affection for the Zeéeeee of Jerry Macguire, Bridget Jones and Nurse Betty. She was just subsumed by another more famous increasingly fussy and then downright hard-to-watch version of the same woman. But I'll be super happy for her if this Bridget Jones 3 thing works out since that's her signature character and she was so deserving of that particular Oscar nomination. I really have meant to post something to say so, so here we are.
Good luck Zeéeeee
JOHN: What do you think of Fernanda Montenegro's performance in Central Station?
NATHANIEL: I wanted Montenegro to win that year and I think she's hugely moving in it. My gold medal that year would have gone to Ally Sheedy in High Art, though, but she had to settle for a Spirit Award the day before the Oscars. Though it always pains the internet to hear, I think Gwyneth Paltrow was the second best of the Academy's shortlist and her Shakespeare in Love work is a luminous and nuanced example of a true star turn. I've always though Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth (both goes at her actually) were overrated (I'd have her at 5 or 6 in 1998... i use to waffle between her and Christina Ricci in The Opposite of Sex for the fifth slot though I haven't seen either film in years). I've since been converted to full Blanchett fandom, but I truly believe I came around at the right time as opposed to getting it wrong at first. Haha. Yes that's self flattering but her performances back me up. Blue Jasmine (2013) and Carol (2015) are her two finest roles and I don't think it's an accident that they're two of her most recent!
MARSHA: Who are your favorite male and female hookers on screen? Do you worry about the politics of prostitution in movies -- e.g., it's more or less exploitative in film than in real life, prostitution is romanticized, etc.
NATHANIEL: I don't worry about this at all because I believe that prostitution should be legal and Hollywood constantly romanticizes things that are 1000% more evil than prostitution like being an assassin or a serial killer or a gangster. I don't see how prostitution is different than any other job as long as the person doing the job is of legal age and has chosen it of their own free will. Only a tiny percentage of people in the world have jobs that everyone else would envy that fully satisfy and pay them well. There are plenty of jobs in the world that would suit one person but not another, or that one person would find demeaning or drudgery but someone else would actually totally enjoy.
My favorite recent sex-worker in a movie (though she doesn't like the term "prostitute") is Helen Hunt's therapist in The Sessions. I had never before been a fan of her acting but I thought she understood that character's emotions and politics and intellectual life so thoroughly. I loved how boldly sex-positive that movie was and I'll admit I felt a little ashamed watching it because I'd never even thought about the sexual needs of disabled people before.
All that said I do remember being worried for young women everywhere when one of my friend's little 10 or 11 year old sister announced to us that she wanted to be a hooker after watching Pretty Woman on cable in the 90s. True story!
LADYEDITH: There are always think pieces on Love Actually at this time of year. So, do you watch this at X-Mas time? Do you have a favourite character? (Besides Emma Thompson). Your opinion on this "classic" with the great cast.
NATHANIEL: I've never actually seen it. *ducks*
On that embarrassing mic' drop, I'm out. Your turn. Favorite hookers onscreen? Best Actress of 1998? Most Disappointing of 2015? Have at it in the comments.
Reader Comments (38)
I usually adore Lady Edith's taste, but with regards to Love, Actually?
You're missing NOTHING.
A poor film in 2003, especially dated and appalling now.
And Emma Thompson is the best part of a generally atrocious cast (all great actors struggling with an atrocious script).
The undue BAFTA attention upon its release troubles me even now.
For the record, I LOVE NOTTING HILL. So weird.
Steve Jobs was my biggest disappointment of the year. It was too much of a distraction that Fassbender looked nothing like Jobs and they didn't even TRY to help the resemblance (also seth rogen never aged as wozniak..are you serious?) i know that shouldn't be enough for the film to account as a disappointment but it really was for me. especially with the recent overload of jobs movies and media content, and the fact that fassbender's performance itself wasn't very captivating or believable.
Recently saw "Eastwick" for the first time and thought it was a shambles. Part of me admires it for being so non-mainstream and erratic while still finding an audience, but it was alllll over the place. Felt like a good hour of connecting material was left on the cutting room floor, including actual character development.
Dave S -- it was a very troubled production -- the author of the book was NOT a fan of the changes they made and the actresses were unhappy about role switching and so on.
Wood and Beatty now that is what movie stars are suppose to look like
Regarding Zellweger and Best Actress 1998, I thought she deserved a nomination over Streep for "One True Thing." She has much trickier terrain to navigate in that movie, and I thought she nailed that character. Her one truly great dramatic performance.
To get a GREAT look at how sweet Natalie Wood was in the mid-sixties, PLEASE go to youtube and view "Roddy McDowall's home movies." There are so many, and hopefully they will become a documentary soon.
What a treat to see so many glamorous people relaxed and being themselves at his beach house!
Hmm.... Okay
1. 45 Years - amazing performances, but the script really was too slender. I do want to revisit it, though.
2. 1976, to see people's reactions when they realize that Taxi Driver, All the President's Men, Network and Bound for Glory all lost to Rocky.
3. I think in Dohmnall's specific case he reads a lot more blandly too. I quite like him. He's done ace work in Black Mirror, Anna Karenina and I've had a soft spot for him ever since he asked if he had to wear a tux to get into the Tony Awards.
4. Hmmm.... can you imagine a contemporary Do the Right Thing?
5. Because Blanchett really has done terrific work since Elizabeth, it's very easy to underrate her work, but she gives just a massive star performance. My second choice was Emily Watson. Third was Meryl Streep.
6. I definitely get a little disappointed at how Hollywood romanticizes prostitution simply because much of it still reads shallowly.
7. It's okay.
Thanks to Nick Davis and now you, I am sure that my heavily maligned 17-year belief that Gwyneth-in-SIL > Cate-in-Elizabeth has been confirmed. Bless you both.
You should see Love Actually, but more importantly, you should rewatch The Opposite of Sex as soon as possible.
Thanks for answering my question Nathaniel, and I apologise for my stinginess :)
If I could go back in time and attend an Oscars ceremony in would be the '98 one. There was so much happening! The Kazan tribute/protest. Benigni running around. Mariah, Whitney, Celine and Steven Tyler belting out tunes. Geena Davis and her red carpet pre-show. Whoopi's African Queen skit. Cate Blanchett's kinda see-through dress. Gwyneth's ill-fitting pink dress. Sigh.
Your Pretty Woman story is hilarious.
Honestly high class prostitution doesn't bother me. It is the street corner stuff with abusive pimps which would make me vote against any legislation legalizing it across the land.
Besides does anyone want to encourage people to become sex workers. Nobody every tells a directionless teenager don't worry some day you can use your cock instead of your brain to get further in life.
My own POV is that sex work is dangerous because it's illegal -- if it were recognized as legitimate work, it could enjoy worker protections and be less susceptible to dishonest and abusive johns and pimps. Hollywood doesn't usually portray things this way -- or maybe I haven't seen enough prostitution-themed movies.
My mom watches Love, Actually every year at Xmastime, but I never can watch more than 10 or 15 minutes of it. I keep meaning to though.
I've always said Paltrow deserved it, and in my book she's even better than Montenegro
Nat: Actually, Vikander had FOUR leading roles that hit America in 2015. Ex Machina, Testament of Youth, The Danish Girl and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
I would not say nobody is talking about Gleeson. He is getting some buzz. Though maybe not as much as he should be.
I would want to attend the Oscars where Joan Fontaine won for Suspicion. I could watch Olivia's cold stare as Joan waltzes past her to accept the Best Actress award without even acknowledging her. And then I would try to make peace between them because, you know, 'tis the season and all!
Good call on Helen Hunt in The Sessions. Andreas Herder in The Blue Hour is my fave prostitute on screen. An 80s gay classic with quiet work from Herder.
I think you are spot on about Blanchett in the Elizabeths (but not Paltrow ... she's super suspect). Blanchett's too scenery-chewy, which is hard to do when you're in a movie with Geoffrey freakin' Rush. Oy vey.
/3rtful -- what Marsha said. The only reason you still criminal abuse like that is because it's illegal. Once you legalize things it takes out the criminal aspects and people can protect themselves because an abusive pimp would be the one breaking laws, not the prostitute who's just trying to earn a living.
it's the same reason there is so much hellish crime due to drugs. It's because they're illegal and you can't regulate them that the criminals flourish and everyone else suffers.
eurocheese -- what are you implying about the Opposite of Sex?
Arkaan -- a contemporary do the right thing. Lordy what a powderkeg. Just like it was then. P.S. I'm so in love with CHI-RAQ. It's like Spike Lee got his mojo back.
jaragon -- YES!
The other day I cracked my mixed feelings about Helen Hunt. She's an interesting actress to watch *think* but not a very good actress to watch *feel*. It's what makes her work in As Good As It Gets seem so maudlin and hammy compared to her work in The Sessions, which gives her a lot of work to do in her head, as you mentioned.
For some reason I thought of Diane Lane's train scene in Unfaithful—a sequence that requires her to think and feel simultaneously at 60 miles per hour, and map the connections between her thoughts and feelings from second to second. Most actresses would be up for the emotional challenge but not the mental calisthenics (so it'd read "flat") whereas I think Hunt would nail the complex thinking but not the feeling (so it'd read "sterile").
Getting intricate thoughts to cross your face is rarer than you'd think. That's why I admire Hunt's intelligence onscreen.
Nathaniel - thank you for answering my question, and I'm sure you will watch it someday.
Kermit - I am chuffed that you usually like my taste in movies. (blushes a little)
Let me clarify, I don't consider "Love Actually" to be a great movie, but it is a great photo album. I disregard the plot and simply sit back and enjoy seeing some of my favourite British thespians.. (Most women do not mind seeing a wet Colin Firth, a dancing Hugh Grant, a very young and perfect Keira Knightley, and a brave Emma Thompson.)
You've saved yourself two hours of eye rolling by omitting Love Actually from your viewing history. It's honestly not a bad movie, but for all of the fandom it receives -- not to mention the caliber of the cast -- I anticipated far above what I received when my best friend forced me to watch it years ago.
"Reunite Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon (both still completely gorgeous), convince [..] Cher to come out of acting retirement"
meow
1998: i'd dump meryl for christina ricci but fernanda gets my vote
favourite hooker onscreen: jon voight - midnight cowboy
IMO, Montenegro IS w/o doubt the best actress o 1998. I used to be v upset that Queen Cate lost the Oscar to America's Sweetheart of the moment, but after watching Central Station, I was crying bucket at the ending....
My top 5 in 1998 will be:
1) Fernanda Montenegro
2) Cate B
3) Christina Ricci
4) Ally Sheedy
5) Renee Z (yes, her not Meryl) for One True Thing
I just rewatched As Good as It Gets and it is even better on a second watch. Helen Hunt deserves that Oscar. She is so soulful and adorable.
- I've never had a problem with the Paltrow victory. Luminous is exactly the right word to describe that performance. Hated her choice of dress for the ceremony, though. So unflattering.
- 2015 at the movies was a disappointment on the whole, but it's not over yet. ;-)
- Jude Law as Gigolo Joe just popped into my head.
- Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetle---
par -- NOOOooo i didn't mean it like that. i love Cher. and naturally she looks exactly the same still since she is (ahem) "preserved". it's just that she and Jack don't act anymore.
If I could go back into the Oscars way back machine, I'd trek one year earlier to see Elizabeth Taylor come back from her deathbed at 29 to receive her first Oscar for "BUtterfield 8." Love seeing the stills from that evening of EVERYONE rubbernecking to get a gander at ET.
Speaking of movie hookers, Taylor's performance as bad girl who wants to be good Gloria Wandrous often gets dismissed along with "BUtterfield 8" as bad. The movie is an unintentional lesson on movie morality in the last days of the studio era. But without Liz' defiant zing, it would have zip entertainment value.
Regarding "The Witches of Eastwick": Have there ever been any positive stories from the actors' experience in this film? Alpha males George Miller and Jon Peters basically ran roughshod over the women, with Jack stepping in as peacemaker, from what I've read.
I know there are tons of social/political issues that come with portraying prostitution on screen, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a soft spot for many of the movies about that world. Honesty, where would we be without Satine (Nicole Kidman) in Moulin Rouge! and Severine (Catherine Deneuve) in Belle de Jour.
I'm totally down for the Warlocks of Eastwick being a thing, but I'm not sure the original is that beloved by enough people. They've already tried to make it a TV show on two separate occasions and neither one worked out so maybe it's not as popular of a title as us actressexuals want to believe.
Rick Gould-re Taylor, you gotta listen to Karina Longworth's podcast series You Must Remember This. There's a great episode all about ET and that Oscar night.
Volvagia-Thanks for bringing up Man from UNCLE. Such a fun movie and she looked so fabulous in it.
Also, I'm a Paltrow supporter for 1998, Montenegro #2. I adored SIL (I also adore Love, Actually, so there!) and did not like Elizabeth. And I would have picked Zellweger over Streep for a nom in that film.
Fair warning: if you like Gwyneth Paltrow or if you dislike coarse language, you may want to skip this post! ;)
Gwyneth Paltrow's Best Actress win was a disaster. There are no redeeming qualities about it. None! Every single other actress nominated delivers a better performance. It ranks dead last of the Best Actress wins of the 1990s, even worse than Helen Hunt and that turkey of a movie that got Jessica Lange her second statue. It ranks very close to last among all Best Actress wins in nearly 90 yers of Oscar history (Mary Pickford's Coquette is atrociously unbeatable and shall remain at the very bottom of the list forever).
To rub salt in the wound, Paltrow happened to beat both Cate Blanchett and Fernanda Montenegro. The latter, an acting giant in a subdued and layered performance. The former, a rising acting powerhouse delivering a barnburner of a portrayal of one of the most iconic women who has ever lived.
It is even worse than 2012, when, in similar circumstances, Jennifer Lawrence got away the Best Actress Oscar for shaking her ass in tight pants to the camera over a heartbreaking performance by a foreign acting legend (Emannuele Riva in Amour) and an acting tour de force by a rising talent (Jessica Chastain in ZD30, the deserving winner). At least J-Law is a bonifide superstar, has Winter's Bone to show for, and is one hell of a hot chick. I can get her appeal on a basic, primitive level. I'd fuck the shit out of that girl if I had the chance and I can totally get the red blooded steak eaters boiling up and voting for the babe they wanna bang. Gwyneth Paltrow doesn't even have the sex appeal, not with her nasal voice, her cricket limbs, her smarmy attitude. Her win is not only bad taste in Art, it is also bad taste in women!
And, of course, never to be underestimated, Cate Blanchett marched on to become the very best actress of Australia and one of the finest of the world with Carol, Blue Jasmine, I'm Not There, Notes on a Scandal, Veronica Guerrin, The Aviator, The Lord of the Rings and so many other cinematic achievements under her belt as to constantly remind the Academy just how much better she was, is and forever will be. THE WORLD IS ROUND, PEOPLE!!!
And because Cate is love and puts me in a good and forgiving mood, I must say, in Paltrow's defense, that her win was not the worst choice of the 1998 Oscars. That, of course, will always be Roberto Benigni taking Best Actor over Ian McKellen.
/rant over
"3rtful -- what Marsha said. The only reason you still criminal abuse like that is because it's illegal. Once you legalize things it takes out the criminal aspects and people can protect themselves because an abusive pimp would be the one breaking laws, not the prostitute who's just trying to earn a living."
I don't think prostitutes should be arrested but full legalization of prostitution has not turned out as well as many hoped in the countries that have done it.
thefilmjunkie -- perhaps because they were bad? I know it's popular to love on tv without reservations these days but tv has a problem no one ever discusses, at least network tv does: the casting is often so anodyne as to be utterly useless. everyone kinda looks the same on so many shows... this is particularly true of the young women who, and i hope people will forgive me for saything this, all look like wanna be playmates, rather than interesting women. And y'all know how much i love women but so often i am like "why was this woman cast in this?" something i rarely say about movies. casting directors there seem a lot more willing to cast by talent (yes the women are still beautiful, but rarely generically "pretty")
all that said i'm not really talking about the witches of east wick remakes (i didn't see them as sarandon/cher/pfeiffer is too sacred a trinity for me) but tv -- and supernaturally-flavored tv especially!
Best is a strange word to describe it, but the most moving and effective hooker performance onscreen for me is, hands down, Elisabeth Shue in Leaving Las Vegas. That movie taught me more about the harsh realities of sex workers than any other, minus the histrionics or romanticized aspects of other films. How did she not win the Oscar again?!
On the subject of 1998, Gwyneth Paltrow absolutely deserved that Oscar (among that lineup). I'm not a huge fan of her in general, but she was the Alicia Vikander of that year and gave an inspired and wonderfully executed performance. (Incidentally, the "bad taste in art"/"bad taste in women" charge above may be the most patently gross comment made about her.)
The Academy Awards in 1951 must've been a scene!
Nathaniel, what Holly Hunter performance (I assume it is Holly Hunter in the photo) made it to your 1998 Best list?
That would be Living Out Loud, Travis.
The Witches Of Eastwick, for all its faults, is such a fun movie - and the actors are amazing - such star wattage!!!
I'd watch Witches Of Eastwick any day of the week, instead of the endlessly overrated Mad Max: Fury Road.
I love Gwyneth Paltrow - but only from 1995-2003.
I would love to see a witches sequel -- in fact, Updike wrote a sequel (The Widows of Eastwick) in 2008 all about the scandalous sixty-somethings whose tricks have merely morphed with age. It would be perfect for those three women, especially Cher. I keep meaning to read that novel.
My own favorite cinematic hookers are Giulietta Masina in Nights of Cabiria and River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho. The latter is about the desperation of its protagonists (even if the pimps are mostly nonexistent and the johns mostly comical), while the former infuses its story with a bittersweet quality that probably does romanticize the profession to a degree. But it's still a perfect movie.
I wouldn't be that harsh towards Paltrow, but yeah she was the least deserving of all the nominees. She was the 'IT' girl with the Hollywood connections and the Weinstein juggernaut backing. It was always going to be difficult to see how an accomplished veteran actress in a foreign language film or a fine Australian stage actress delivering a powerful performance ever winning over the Hollywood 'IT' girl who can put on a British accent. Back then being an attractive Hollywood actress who can put on a British accent (or any accent) meant you had Oscar worthy talent. I remember one magazine/newspaper describing Cate Blanchett as having a horsey face or, to be more diplomatic, 'an actor's face', compared to Ms Paltrow's prettiness. My, how the world has changed since people now refer to Ms Blanchett as glamorous, etheral, luminous and a goddess!