Lukewarm Off Presses: James Dean, Christopher Guest, Bryan Cranston
Wednesday, August 19, 2015 at 9:30AM Three stories we're late mentioning but so what? Always eager to hear your thoughts...
Trumbo
Still no trailer but there's now a poster for Trumbo, the Hollywood blacklist drama starring Bryan Cranston and Helen Mirren (as gossip icon Hedda Hopper). Cranston could be looking at the Triple Crown if he's Best Actor nominated since he already has the Tony and the Emmy. Will Oscar go wild for this? A word of caution for those predicting at home: People were going on and on about how much Hollywood loves movies about itself when Birdman won the Oscar last season but it's not entirely true. They sometimes nominate movies about movies but they don't tend to be the big winners. And Hollywood blacklist dramas are an infrequent subcategory unto themselves: Career (1959) won a few tech nominations but nothing in the top categories; The Way We Were (1973) only won for music and didn't even make the Best Picture lineup which it absolutely deserved to be in; Guilty by Suspicion (1991) with Robert De Niro and The Bening and The Majestic (2001) starring Jim Carrey were both entirely ignored; Good Night and Good Luck (2005) was popular with voters for nominations but lost each of its categories.
Mascots
It's been nine freaking years since Christopher Guest's last mockumentary For Your Consideration (2006) which was, unfortunately his weakest comedy. But he's finally making something new! The movie will be for Netflix and it's about what it sounds like it's about. No cast announced yet but I think we can safely guess at least a handful of players. I NEED to see Parker Posey and Catherine O'Hara in big furry costumes, okay? I need it like I need oxygen.
<-- The "Life" of James Dean
Bring Your Own "Yes No Maybe So" in the comments. James Dean has had biopics before but this one comes from Anton Corbijn who I think we should allow made a very fine music biopic on Ian Curtis of Joy Division called Control (2007). This ground, however, is amply covered previously -- except for its macro focus on a photoshoot the moment before Dean was famous. The film, which looks depressingly actress free from the trailer, stars Robert Pattinson, Ben Kingsley, the ubiquitous Joel Edgerton and Dane DeHaan as James Dean.
Ready? Go...
Reader Comments (20)
If I were casting backup for a yet-untested leading man, Helen Mirren and Diane Lane wouldn't make my list. Lately Mirren has become queen of the true story movie for adults that goes nowhere with critics or buzz (Hitchcock, The Hundred-Foot Journey, The Woman In Gold). Diane Lane has her share of those, too, and I love her to death.
The only thing that gives me hope for this movie is Jay Roach. But even he's wildly inconsistent (to put it kindly) outside a couple of TV movies.
This poster looks like the beginning of a brief, muted golf clap. Which describes 90 percent of the work that most of its cast has done. If you want to announce BRYAN CRANSTON IS A MOVIE STAR you get Tilda.
Bite your tongue!! Diane Lane is glorious!! :)
I love Diane Lane. Jodie Foster has said that Robin Wright "could have been the greatest actress of her generation if she wanted it" and I've always gotten the same vibes from D-Lane. Maybe she needs a Claire Underwood to sink her teeth into. Either way, she's kind of like prestige poison.
There is a trailer for Trumbo: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n0dZ_2ICpJE
It's made me want to see the movie (hey, Kirk Douglas at your door!), but is it Oscar bait? I can't tell. The trailer is keeping it fun, so it's hard to tell how meaty it will be.
If Dane DeHaan looks like James Dean, then I want a young Alain Delon playing me in my biopic.
I'm still going to see this James Dean film though. The American and Most Wanted Man were both in the top 10 of their respective years for me, so I'll watch literally anything Corbijn wants to do.
This Control mention remind me how much I love Samantha Morton. She was SO GOOD in that movie. I miss her so much!
I remember when The Artist was up for Best Picture, there were a lot of pundits saying that it couldn't win because Oscar rarely honors movies about Hollywood. Since then, 3 of 4 winners have been about Hollywood (if we count Hollywood adjacent Argo). I wouldn't count Trumbo out because of Oscar's past indifference to the blacklist. It's at the top of my list at the moment
Andy: I'm still tracking Trumbo in some capacity, but that trailer looked aesthetically flat and a little too broadly comic. My top 15 (right now):
1. Inside Out
2. Joy
3. Concussion
4. Mad Max: Fury Road
5. The Hateful Eight
6. Straight Outta Compton
7. The Dressmaker
8. Xmas
9. The Martian
10. By the Sea
11. In the Heart of the Sea
12. The Program
13. The Revenant
14. Snowden
15. Grandma
I find it weird that all the descriptions of Trumbo say he's blacklisted for his political beliefs. In the movies I've seen by him, I was impressed by his fiery humanism. It seems diminishing to describe fighting for human rights, fairness, an appreciation of goodness and kindness in human beings, as just ... "political".
The Corbijn film is a big yes based on his track record so far. DeHaan and Pattinson seem well cast, and it looks gorgeous, so it has that going for it too. The trailer feels a bit generic, though - I hope (and trust) that he found something deeper to explore in the material.
Trumbo looks like a TV movie. It's going to take very very good reviews to drag me into a theater.
Very happy that Guest is making a new movie. For Your Consideration missed the mark somewhat, but his HBO series Family Tree was a delightful return to form.
I wonder if the "Mascots" topic (and online budget) might warrant a younger cast? Or maybe it's a more expansive world than the title suggests - coaches, managers, choreographers, etc.
DeHaan killed it in Kill Your Darlings and Pattinson completely (and surprisingly) won me over in The Rover, so I'm YES on the Dean film.
This from Liz Smith's column a couple of years ago...it would make a fun scene in the Dalton Trumbo drama: Five years later, Trumbo wrote the script of the Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton movie "The Sandpiper." Hedda Hopper, a year away from her death, attended. When Trumbo's name appeared on screen she began to audibly complain. Miss Taylor turned in her seat and said, "Hedda, why don't you just shut the fuck up?"
Trumbo trailer came out awhile ago
I'm getting "Hitchcock" vibes off of "Trumbo."
Chris James: I didn't WANT to go there as a specific comparison, but pretty much.
Sorry but if you are going to cast an actor to play James Dean you better find someone who can at least has a bit of charisma...
I think that is a stunning poster for Trumbo, actually.