Q&A: Actressexual Longings & Carol Gender-Flipped
Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 8:00PM 
It's another Q & A. Ask it and it shall be er... might be answered. When I started typing this week I couldn't stop and before I know it there were thousands and thousands of words. So that takes care of two Q&As .
Here's the first half of the mad scribblings typings then.
What is your favorite non-nominated performance from each of the five titans of the acting nominations? (Meryl Streep, Katharine Hepburn, Jack Nicholson, Bette Davis and Laurence Olivier) - SEAN
NATHANIEL: Oh this is a tough one since those people were Oscared for breathing. Okay. Let's take them in reverse order of preference as actors...
Sir Laurence Olivier. Weirdly I was just watching As You Like It (1936) just the other day. I wasn't all that impressed though he definitely had an easier time with the material and the medium than the other stagebound performers. I have seen several of his non-nominated films, mostly from when I was very young so I don't remember them well. Spartacus? Dracula? That Hamilton Woman? I have no idea. I'm not a Sir Larry person at all! I almost always prefer his co-stars even in his biggest hits.
Katharine Hepburn. Bringing Up Baby (1938) is such a comic jewel. Mid 30s to Early 40s is best with Hepburn.
Jack Nicholson. The Shining (1980). Sure he goes big but the nightmare requires that level of commitment to devilish abandon. He does supersized devilish abandon in Witches of Eastwick (1987) as well but in the latter case it's distracting since the women are already sparking so much. Take it down, Jack.
Bette Davis. I confess: I haven't seen all that many of her non-nominated performances. I don't think she's very good in Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte or her late camp work and not very memorable in Three on a Match. Hmmm. Maybe The Great Lie (1941)? But Mary Astor performs Grand Theft Movie in that one. What a knockout star turn.
Meryl Streep. Easy. The Hours (2002). "I seem to be... unravelling."
Who would you stake your life on being the successor to Streep, Hepburn and Davis? You may NOT choose 'I don't know' and you really will not die if you are wrong. -JESSICA C.
I would absolutely not stake my life on any answer even though you wish my answer was Jessica Chastain. Of today's performers the most likely seems to be Cate Blanchett. She's already high in the ranks, she is more amazing now than she's ever been (which is rare after that many noms) and she's still got at least a handful of leading lady years left. (We wish it weren't true but time and again we see that the roles start vanishing when actresses hit 50 no matter how great they are.) But Cate's frankly amazing bone structure means that she's going to age very well so it's easy to imagine her settling into the elderly stateswoman of ACTING when she's old like a regular Boss Dame even though she's Australian.
I know people keep saying it's going to be Jennifer Lawrence but I have some doubts that she''s always going to be this default Oscar popular. The easiest comparison for Jennifer Lawrence is Julia Roberts. People who weren't alive or weren't conscious of pop culture in the early 90s don't know this but it was INSANITY when Julia Roberts first burst from the head of Zeus as a full movie star. And we didn't even have social media back then to amplify the madness. It was insanity for about 5 years after which it settled down into another 5 years of immense but divisive popularity and then she just was a famous movie star with hits and misses just like all the other famous stars. And this is what I predict for Julia Roberts 2.0
If I could have my way --- and not just to piss the world off -- I would really love to see Anne Hathaway become a perennial BECAUSE I LOVE HER AND NO ONE CAN STOP ME FROM DOING SO.
Any old features from your site that you miss the most? I was thinking of this question because I kind of wish that you did a 20:15 for the best picture nominees. -KIN
I miss everything once I've been away for it for a good length of time. And the funny thing is that I was absolutely going to do a surprise 20:15 for all of them but my screener for Bridge of Spies doesn't work so my plan was thwarted because it was the first one I put in to start that post. As to your question I miss Best Pictures From the Outside In a lot. And I wish I could manage a Monologue every Monday but I'm only human.
If Carol had been filmed at the time the story goes (1950’s), which actresses of that time would you put in the roles of Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara ? Joan Crawford and Audrey Hepburn? And if you could change the gender of the protagonists who would you choose ? George Clooney and Channing Tatum? Brad Pitt and Ansel Elgort ? - Kimberly S
Rita & Eleanor - both photos from 1953
This is a lot of questions at once and also causing impure thoughts to flood my brain. I'm not sure that I can answer this but definitely not Crawford and Hepburn. Joan would eat Audrey alive and still be hungry for more starlet; a horrormance. I think my answer would be Rita Hayworth because a) the right age and b) glamour for days and c) underchallenged as an actor. For her sad shopgirl lover Eleanor Parker because a) brilliant and just getting started. For proof see Caged (1950).
As for who would play Carol & Therese Carl & Terence (haha), I want to say Brad Pitt because he is eternally hot and Alden Ehrenreich because he's fresh in the brain and so great in Hail, Caesar!. But why didn't you ask about men from the 1950s? Just to fuck with their closets, Cary Grant & Tab Hunter? The hotness squared. Or a grittier B movie version with, I dunno, Dana Andrews as Carl and RJ Wagner as Terry.
Important: This is how RJ looked in 1952 (Natalie Wood was 14 but supposedly already dreaming about marrying him)
Can't you just see him crying on a train because his rich tormented older lover dumped him to go back to his wife? (And now I will need some private time alone with myself.)
Is your pining for certain actresses (Moore, Bening, Pfeiffer) enhanced because they have been brilliant without the Oscars to show for them? I guess my real question is, do you appreciate them more because they have been overlooked or were overlooked for so long? - BEN
This is an interesting question and I was just going to say "No!" emphatically because I loved them before they repeatedly lost. And I love people deeply who've won Oscars. I love who I love regardless of whether any other voting body loves them. But maybe the answer is not that simple. I guess there is some sense of "closure" that happens with an Oscar win. Like, you can let them go in a tiny way because they were so honored. It was such a relief to see Julianne finally win and it will always be a miracle that Tilda Swinton won.
photo by Jeff Bridges
What movie prop would you like to own and why? Something famous like Rosebud, or something more obscure? - JAMES
The piano under Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys. Okay okay, something smaller and thus more practical for Manhattan living... Hmmm. Obviously if any magic items actually worked any of those.
Genuine curiosity: how did you come up with the term actressexual? Stroke of fabulous gay genius or is there a story behind it? - CARMEN
The story of that involves Nick Davis and is here.
Would a movie based on your life be called a comedy, drama, thriller, horror or some weird category in Netflix that strangely has 20 other similar titles? Who would play you in a movie and what is his motivation? - JAMES
I suppose you could get some Ensemble Dysfunctional Family Dramedy out of it since I have had a tight circle of friends for many years. But otherwise my life is supremely boring. I spend most of my time staring at screens (sometimes to be entertained, other times to write). So perhaps a contemplative slow paced art film with bizarrely comic interludes -- like that accordion scene in Holy Motors. But I really wish I could say pornographic musical comedy for genre.
As for who would play me -- sexy people are always cast to play real life schlumpy people and I DEMAND to be treated the same way. So maybe James McAvoy, who looks nothing like me, but he is underused, and great, and I love him with his head shaved.
Have you ever realised that from NATHANIEL ROGERS you sure can fit a lot of actresses first names in it,here's a few: Geena, Glenn, Natalie, Sean, Sarah, Angelina... -MARK
This makes me happy. I did not realize this. Except that there's no way to get "Tilda or "Michelle" or "Liz" or "Judy" or "Bette" or "Norma" or "Joan" or "Kate" or "Meryl" -- not even if you include my middle name ... why do you hate me? This makes me sad.
YOUR TURN. Which movie prop would you like? Favorite non-nominated performances from Jack, Bette, and Meryl? Carol recasting?
Ready and go...
Reader Comments (57)
Carmen for the win on favorite movie prop
LMAOCate Blanchett will not only be the successor to Hepburn, Streep and Davis but she has since achieved something the trio can only dream of - a vibrant stage career. She has also kicked ass in her director's repertoire. Even if she does get less number of Oscar noms than Streep, in my view she has way surpassed her in other aspects.
What a great column. My feeling always is that these women are not in competition but are all equally great. Each has done phenomenal work and to rise to the top means that they are or were exceptional.
I love the diverse male on male casting suggestions.
Some of the notes above too remind me how much I miss Jack Nicholson. Great actor.
Carl: Daniel Craig (runners-up: Jude Law, Jon Hamm, and Javier Bardem)
Terrance: Jack O'Connell (runners-up: Brady Corbet, Andrew Garfield, and Anton Yelchin)
Jack N. - I honestly believed that he would get nominated for Batman (BSActor). His portrayal is way better than Heath Ledger's.
Meryl - Deserved a BActress nomination for The Hours. She was more powerful than fake nose Nicole Kidman.
For Hepburn & Davis - I think that they both got deservedly nominated for what they were cited for. Kate - I'd almost select her in Sylvia Scarlett, but that was the same year as Alice Adams. I'd still would've given her a nod for Bringing Up Baby (and dump who, Fay Bainter/White Banners?) Davis - My head stills spins on what she did in In This Our Life - but that was the same year as Now, Voyager. I'd, possibly give her a BSActress nod for The Man Who Came to Dinner (and dump who, Sara Allgood/How Green Was My Valley?)
Regarding Carol - had it been made in the 50s - I'm sure that The Hays Office would've clamped on it and the 'real story' would've been diluted into somekind of 'complicated friendship' story. Thus, if it were some Ross Hunter production/Douglas Sirk directed film, they'd need to really code it to have a lot of messages fly over the censor's heads. Thus - I could almost picture Lizbeth Scott in the title role. Cate Blanchett, at times, gave me this vibe.
As for the Rooney role - I'd almost want to go while Barbara Bel Geddes.
Re: The Hours, every single actor is great in that film. Pure pleasure to watch.
Cate Blanchett will not only be the successor to Hepburn, Streep and Davis but she has since achieved something the trio can only dream of - a vibrant stage career. She has also kicked ass in her director's repertoire. Even if she does get less number of Oscar noms than Streep, in my view she has way surpassed her in other aspects.
- Vibrant is not tantamount to acclaimed. I would even argue that Hepburn had a vibrant and acclaimed stage career, especially in the latter part of her career. Has Blanchett done Broadway yet? I don't think so, and we all know it's the most brutal stage of them all.