Q&A: It's a zoo in here.

Saturday, April 16, 2016 at 11:27PM
NATHANIEL R in A Bug's Life, Babs, Beaches, Dirty Dancing, Gary Marshall, Gypsy, Montgomery Clift, Oscars (60s), cats, remakes, zoology

Hello! It's your host Nathaniel checking in from a screening frenzy. I'm at the Nashville International Film Festival briefly to serve on their New Directors jury but coming back to you, dear readers, on Monday night. Meanwhile here in New York, Jason and Manuel have already lept into Tribeca Film Festival reporting.

For this week's Q&A column I asked readers for a few animal questions since Monty, my baby boy and the world's first Oscar predicting cat (unfortunately he was never a very committed pundit), has been ill. While he's on the mend (hopefully) it's hard to pull my thoughts away from our four legged friends. Herewith 9 reader questions, some animal themed some not...

JAMES: Ever named a pet after an on-screen animal (or human)? 

My cat is named after Montgomery Clift and unfortunately the name suited him because he has been quite a moody thing from his teensiest days until now. He was found in the streets of the Bronx, as far as I know, as a tiny mewling mama-less thing and I got him way too young from the shelter. But even grumpy as he is, he is always right next to me no matter what room I'm in and every once in a while he looks at me like I'm Elizabeth Taylor and snuggles up and it's all worth it. 

(I was actually going to get a second cat years ago and name it Liz but for various reasons it didn't happen.)

HAAJEN: Which animal should be paired with Julianne Moore, Juliette Binoche and Jennifer Law in a movie?

What a weird freaking question that I love. It's like when Kidman's familiar was a monkey in The Golden Compass. So I'm going to say black panther for Julianne, seagulls for Juliette (I always picture her in the salty air near water -- is this a ghost image of Lovers on the Bridge (1990)?) I would also pay to see JLaw in the Clint role in a remake of Any Which Way You Can (1980) if only because I can't imagine the outcome of an absolute war to steal scenes between JLaw and an Orangutan. 

Naturally I have no photos to support this so please enjoy this photo of Idris Elba with a fake tiger.

It is extremely easy to enjoy. 

PEARL: What are your thoughts on Barbra Streisand and Barry Levinson embarking on yet another production of Gypsy for a start up studio? My spirit animal (fox) says they likely face a difficult and painful journey.

I see what you did there to stay with the theme and love it. I was going to write up this story anyway so let's talk about it!

First and foremost it is important to understand that Gypsy (1962) is not a traditional classic in that "don't remake this!" kind of pearl-clutching way. Yes, it will be nearly impossible to top Natalie Wood (❤︎) but the rest of that film could be improved upon. Consider that the 1962 movie arrived at the peak of the Oscars love affair for the film musical and it could only muster up 3 nominations (Cinematography, Costume Design, and the now defunct Music, Adaptation or Treatment) What's more Mama Rose (Rosalind Russell in that version) is to musical theater actresses what Hamlet is to male actors, THE role. As such it's impossible to be definitive because everyone will risk playing it before they die and everyone watching any performance of the character will be comparing it to previous performances they've seen and future performances they dream of that are only in their head for now.

People are already screaming that Streisand is too old to play Mama Rose  (one assumes she'd be at least 75 before the cameras started rolling since that's only a year away for Babs) and it's true that that's very old for the role. But here's what people griping aren't really registering: Mama Rose is almost always played by actresses that are too old for it, technically speaking. Mama Rose was actually in her late 20s to early 40s when the events of the real life story that the musical is based on took place, though she's generally played by actresses older than that which works for the show. The themes of missing your window, being too old to make a go at showbiz, and living vicariously through your children play a bit better with an older actor in the role.

How those themes can work while played by an instant superstar like Babs (world famous by the age of 26), who never missed her window and whose charisma was never in doubt, it's tough to say though one can imagine her nailing the comedy and aggression of the role. I'm torn: on the one hand I think it's really smart for Babs to attempt one last movie musical. But I wish it wasn't this one, mainly because having recently seen Imelda Staunton in the role and finding her unbeatable, I'll be wishing it was her Oscar vehicle.

EZ: OK Nathaniel, since this is an Animal themed Q&A, I am going to take you back to 1998 with this simple question: which film do you think is better, Antz or A Bugs Life?

Noooo. I do not like 1998. Bad film year. Don't wanna go back. As for those two films, since I didn't like the aesthetic of Antz, I have to go with A Bugs Life but I do think the fact that they're so different within sameness is a nice example with which to understand pitching to a specific audience. A Bug's Life is clearly pitched quite young where Antz is a little up in its head and more adolescent adult skewing? My point is it's not as sure on its feet even though it has the proper number of them.

A Bug's Life also has the advantage of an awesome side character (Heimlich) and one of the last good Kevin Spacey performances before his five years of awesomeness (1994-1999) got to his head, swelling it beyond human comprehension. Or something. What accounts for how annoying he's been ever since I do not know but that's my guess. (Free Advice: Never believe your own hype! Keep feeling like you've got something to prove.)

VOLVAGIA: Do you have a favourite Grim Reaper, regardless of medium? Mine's the one from Cartoon Network's The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, honestly.

The questions were so weird this week. I approve. I don't have a favorite grim reaper but I do find the image often amusing in cartoons. Nerd alert: I was really obsessed with Piers Anthony's "Incantations of Immortality" as a teenager and wanted On a Pale Horse to be a movie so badly. The main character kills Death and must then assume his grim reaping duties.

JOEL: Have you heard much word on the New Zealand documentary "TICKLED?" It's based on David Farrier's exploration of the world of competitive endurance tickling. I see it's making the rounds a lot of film festivals. Any chatter on this?

This is a horror film right? 
      - Sincerely, Despises-Being-Tickled.

IAN: What are your three favourite Emile Ardolino films, and do you think the late director will ever be remembered?

This question got me all...

I had no idea who he was even though I'd seen his entire narrative filmography (not a good sign for being remembered, sadly): Dirty Dancing, Chances Are, Three Men and a Little Lady, Sister Act, The Nutcracker, and Bette Midler's TV outing in Gypsy. The problem with directors who work in purely mainstream hit mode is that they have no "stamp" as it were so it feels like anybody might have directed the movies. That's not true of course but the auteur theory has its downsides, the most obvious of which is the devaluing of collaborative achievements as well as the more invisible filmmakers.

But reading a little bit more about him, it's a loss I didn't know about! He was openly gay and died of AIDS complications at only 50. He had a dance background, filmed Broadway plays, etcetera. He even won an Oscar for a documentary called He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin (1983) which is now on my "to watch" list so thanks for this question.  

Given the trajectory of pop culture, it seems certain he would have made a gay picture or a full feature musical. And who doesn't love Sister Act?

JOHN T: With Mother's Day soon to come out, do you have a favorite Garry Marshall movie?

I never expected to be asked this question, I'll tell you that. Though the director has a, shall we say, "reputation" among cine snobs, part of the reputation is just sexism because he has spent most of his time in the romcom genre. As I've said over and over genres cannot be assigned a quality. There have been brilliant films and terrible films made in every genre.  Not that Marshall's movies are brilliant. I'm just making a broader point. If you look back before his much derided all-star holiday romcom mosaics, the filmography has a lot more variety: star-making smash hits (Pretty Woman, Princess Diaries), really broad comedies (Overboard -- so many people love that one for some reason), weird "really this?" misfires (The Other Sister, Exit To Eden) and even a couple of more ambitious projects tonally  (Frankie & Johnny has lovely Pfeiffer moments and is much earthier than his other work, Georgia Rule doesn't 'work' but it has a lot of elements it's trying to hit).

But my favorite is not even a contest even though you're not supposed to love this movie either -- Jesus people are judgmental and sexist when it comes to "women's pictures"! -- is Beaches (1988). I was recently rewatching Spy and one of Melissa McCarthy's aliases is a mega Beaches fan and Melissa is embarrassed to wear this watch (pictured left). LOL.

I feel no such shame. We should probably talk about Beaches sometimes as I'd probably have a gajillion things to say and weirdly maybe we haven't discussed it ever? But why have we been talking about Barbara Hershey so much lately? Weird.

OKAY FINAL QUESTION...

STEVE: Which actor has the most Film Bitch Award wins/nominations?

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).