For this week's "Ask Nathaniel" party, I asked people to be inspired by the theater (Tony season is upon us) or by the science fiction genre. I promised 10 questions. 10 answers but that's too long. So here's part one of two: 4 questions today. 6 on Wednesday. here we go...
I started drawing myself as a Na'vi but got bored when I realized my lack of hair meant I couldn't ride dragons. Unfinished.STEVE: Do have fear that the million Avatar sequels that will happen will ruin the magic of the original for you?
NATHANIEL: I love Avatar but it will ruin itself. Technological breakthroughs rarely age well because there's always another technological breakthrough around the corner to make the previous one look antique. The exception is something like Star Wars because its success wasn't really about how "new" it looked. In fact, it was successful because it was so good at being an old thing (adventure serial) and using old techniques in improved new ways like models and matte paintings and whatnot. I think it's quite funny that the upgrades when they "fixed" the Star Wars trilogy later on actually made them seem less timeless. Computerized Jabba the Hut for example totally places you in the exact moment of when CGI looked like that. Puppet Jabba is forever.
Plus will those three Avatar sequels actually happen despite the current plans? James Cameron has only made two films in the past 20 years and he's already 60 years old. I realize he's planning to shoot them simultaneously but if he weren't he'd be wrap up a full Avatar quadrilogy in 2044 or so and then retire and/or die at 90.
JAMES: What witches do you think Meryl Streep was offered when she turned 40?
OMG I LOVE THIS QUESTION. I have ignorantly never questioned this despite the fact that Meryl Streep has been quoted about this a few times. [More...]
If Streep meant it literally we have to assume it was The Grand High Witch from The Witches (1990). Meryl Streep was 40 years old that year. But would we want to live in a world without Angelica Huston's performance: HELL, NO. If she meant it more figuratively, maybe Annie Wilkes in Misery (1990) which sparks the same don't rewrite history outrage for anyone who saw Bates's work. (If readers want to know why I sometimes would like to see other people in Streep's roles these examples are exactly why. When Streep wasn't getting all the roles other actresses also had ample opportunities to kill it -- and we still, also, had Streep so everyone won!)
Which other witchy characters do you think? ANY IDEAS, READERS? The early 90s were essentially the Streep backlash period so chances are she didn't have the literal "first pick" of all scripts the way she does now so it's tough to say. She had reigned over 80s cinema so thoroughly that the backlash was obvious. And people were downright nasty about her around the time she turned 40, partially because her movies were declining as box office draws and partially because she was so vocal about pay inequality in the movie industry (her reaction to Patty Arquette's Oscar speech was not the least bit surprising if you lived through 1990). I remember some magazines belittling her 'poor Meryl Streep with her millions.' She's so dependably bankable now that it's weird to remember that The Devil Wears Prada was her first true blockbuster in 20 years, the last one being 1985's Out of Africa).
But speaking of witches -- congrats to Meryl on winning her first MTV Award.
MR GOODBAR: Have you been able to accurately deem a movie an instant classic? If so, based on what were you able to make that assessment?
I don't believe in the term "instant classic" since a classic is something that has withstood the test of time, but the most I've ever felt that prophetic feeling in-the-moment was with Moulin Rouge! and Brokeback Mountain. I'll tell you one classic I DIDN'T see coming even though I loved it at the time: Mean Girls (2004). I thought it owed too much to Heathers (it does owe a lot - watch them back to back and be stunned) to stand up over the long haul. But boy did that movie hold up over the past ten years. No, it didn't just hold up, it grew. It's now far more widely beloved than any other 2004 picture (outside of arguably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) including Oscar's Best Picture nominees that year. It's worth noting that those Best Picture nominees were NOT unpopular (as people so often accuse BPs of being). In fact most of them made the equivalent of or more money than Mean Girls in initial release (Ray & Sideways were nearly as popular as Tina Fey's comedy... and The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby were bigger grossers still).
As to why? Maybe the classics give us some intangible we can't be without and that we know we can't really get anywhere else. But even that's not a failsafe test since Mean Girls is derivative and it's hardly the only one. Maybe movies that are resolutely themselves (like the two I mentioned above) provide a shortcut to our possessive "I discovered this treasure" mental synapses?
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Combining our themes!
FADHIL: Which sci-fi movie would you like adapted for the stage?
Obviously space operas, which are closer to fantasies than sci-fi wouldn't work so well (visual effects being hard to pull off) but science fiction and the stage are both ideal soil for allegorical work so I bet Solaris (1972/2002) would make a pretty great stage play. Primer and Moon could work on stage like gangbusters if you could figure out how to double your stars or stage them correctly. But for my answer I'm going to go with Contact (1997) which is undervalued and a great acting showcase. Make the first act your build up and after intermission, Dr Ellie Arroway's fantastic voyage becomes something like an abstract one woman show. I can see it now and I am loving it, crying, and hoping it wins all the Tonys.
Fadhil can choose the next banner theme since I'm tired of "stars as photographers"
Tomorrow we'll answer six more questions but now it's your turn to sound off on these ones. Which witches? And have you ever spotted a classic coming instantly?