Tuesday's revisit to the essential and apparently sorely underseen Queen Margot and the comments thereafter had me thinking about favorite films from 1994. This website wasn't around back then of course (I think the internet was just in listserv mode at that point?) but I was already making lists. So what would I have nominated had our Film Bitch Awards been around back then? What would you have nominated had you had an Oscar ballot?
My choices for best (fluid as they are should rewatching ever occur) are after the jump...
Keep in mind that these are not official as the site did not exist and yours truly saw fewer movies back then than how we play things now. But my nominees went like so if I recall correctly. (All nominees listed in alpha order... no winners. An asterisk means they were also Oscar-nominated in that category.)
BEST PICTURE
Bullets Over Broadway
Heavenly Creatures
Pulp Fiction*
Reality Bites (i was very obsessed at the time, okay?)
Queen Margot
BEST DIRECTOR
Tim Burton, Ed Wood
Patrice Chereau, Queen Margot
Peter Jackson, Heavenly Creatures
Krzysztof Kieslowski, Three Colors: Red*
Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction*
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Bullets Over Broadway*
Heavenly Creatures*
Pulp Fiction*
Reality Bites
Three Colors: Red*
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Ed Wood
Nell
Quiz Show*
The Shawshank Redemption*
Vanya on 42nd Street
BEST ACTRESS
Judy Davis, The Ref
Jodie Foster, Nell*
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle
Juliette Lewis, Natural Born Killers
Winona Ryder, Reality Bites
A great great year for Best Actress though the Academy chose horribly nearly across the board since the greatness that year fell well outside of "traditional" Oscar bait if you will. My own top five goes out with apologies to so many more like Natalie Portman - The Professional, Linda Fiorentino - The Last Seduction, Meg Ryan - When a Man Loves a Woman, Kathleen Turner - Serial Mom, Toni Collette - Muriel's Wedding, Melanie Lynskey & Kate Winslet - Heavenly Creatures, Isabelle Adjani - Queen Margot, Jamie Lee Curtis - True Lies, Gong Li - To Live, Julianne Moore - Vanya on 42nd Street, etcetera etcetera etcetera... (Jessica Lange's second Oscar win for Blue Sky remains one of the weirdest in my lifetime - most of Oscar's best actress nominee field that year wouldn't even reach my top 20 from the field of contenders)
BEST ACTOR
Johnny Depp, Ed Wood
Hugh Grant, Four Weddings and a Funeral
Nigel Hawthorne, The Madness of King George*
Terence Stamp, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
John Travolta, Pulp Fiction*
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Virna Lisi, Queen Margot
Rosie Perez, It Could Happen To You
Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction*
Jennifer Tilly, Bullets Over Broadway*
Dianne Wiest, Bullets Over Broadway*
One of the most stacked years ever for that category. I could fill another 2 lists with worthy what-if Oscar candidates likeso: Glynis Johns - The Ref, Sarah Pierce - Heavenly Creatures, Kristin Scott Thomas - 4 Weddings and a Funeral, Tina Majorino - When a Man Loves a Woman, Rachel Griffiths - Muriel's Wedding, Janeane Garofalo - Reality Bites, Dominique Blanc - Queen Margot, Kirsten Dunst - Interview with the Vampire, Brooke Smith - Vanya on 42nd Street, and Sarah Jessica Parker - Ed Wood
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jean-Hugues Anglade, Queen Margot
Samuel L Jackson, Pulp Fiction*
Martin Landau, Ed Wood*
Paul Newman, The Hudsucker Proxy
Chazz Palminterri, Bullets Over Broadway*
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Heavenly Creatures, Alun Bollinger
Legends of the Fall, John Toll*
Natural Born Killers, Robert Richardson
Queen Margot, Philippe Rousselot
Three Colors: Red, Piotr Sobocinski*
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Lizzy Gardiner & Tim Chappel*
Bullets Over Broadway, Jeffrey Kurland*
Interview with the Vampire, Sandy Powell
Maverick, April Ferry*
Queen Margot, Moidele Bickel*
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Bullets Over Broadway, Santo Loquasto & Susan Bode*
Ed Wood, Tom Duffield
The Hudsucker Proxy, Dennis Gassner & Nancy Haigh
Interview with the Vampire, Dante Ferretti & Francesca Lo Schiavo*
Little Buddha, James Acheson
BEST FILM EDITING
Heavenly Creatures
Pulp Fiction*
Queen Margot
True Lies
Speed*
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Bullets Over Broadway
Ed Wood*
Interview with the Vampire
Queen Margot
VISUAL EFFECTS
Forrest Gump*
Interview with the Vampire
The Mask*
True Lies*
SONG
"Born Bad" (Juliette Lewis) - Natural Born Killers
"Circle of Life" - (Elton John, Tim Rice) The Lion King *
"Hakuna Matata" - (Elton John, Tim Rice) The Lion King *
"I'll Remember" -(Madonna, Patrick Leonard, Richard Page) With Honors
"Stay" (Lisa Loeb) Reality Bites -I know this technically wasn't written for the movie but it's awesome and the field of original songs that year was weak weak weak
ORIGINAL SCORE
Interview with the Vampire, Elliott Goldenthal*
Legends of the Fall, James Horner
Nell, Mark Isham
The Shawshank Redemption, Thomas Newman*
Wolf, Ennio Morricone
SOUND
Queen Margot
True Lies*
Speed*
Special Achievements
The striptease (Jamie Lee Curtis, True Lies)
The splits (Jean Claude Van Damme, Timecop)
Teasing (The Wolf teaser - so exciting at the time, trust. Even though people were disappointed when the movie rolled around)
Iconography on the gothic cheap (Everything, The Crow)
The bite (Tom Cruise & Brad Pitt, Interview with the Vampire)
musical number / comedy duo (Toni Collette & Rachel Griffiths in Muriel's Wedding)