Hello everyone!
Nathaniel, eternally cat-sittingWe haven't done a Q & A in so long so let's jump right in. In order to actually do these more often I'll answer just five or six questions at once. Hopefully this will stir up more focused comment parties, too!
PAR: Julianne Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Annette Bening enter the thunderdome. Only one leaves. Who? - par
A: LOL! I hope you aren't being cruel and just making me sacrifice two of my all time favorites at the altar of, well, my Pfavorite. But if we're talking about cage matches in post-apocalypse desert landscapes my answer is The Bening. Moore would break down into crying jags in no time, becoming too vulnerable. Pfeiffer would seem like easy prey put up a very spirited and scary pfight but you know that The Bening is all wile and steel and surprise maneuvers. How else did she conquer Hollywood and Warren Beatty and continue to become even more incredible as an actress the older she got despite being brilliant right out of the gate?
STEVE G: What film out of Cannes 2018, that wasn't previously on your radar, are you most excited to see?
COLD WAR is shot in the same format as the Oscar winning IDA
Christophe Honore's "Sorry Angel" has been a long wait!
Honestly there were so few things on my radar before Cannes other than the new Farhadi. Of the films that emerged and got people excited I'm 100% excited for Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War now that I know it's a romantic musical of sorts. I'm also very pleased to see the return of Christophe Honore with the gay drama Sorry Angel (starring Stranger by the Lake's Pierre deladonchamp) and Lee Changdong with Burning, the latter of which got sensational reviews. It's been a long time since both directors have made something and they're both so distinctive.
I also really want to see Kazakhstani Sergey's Dvortsevoy's Ayka which won Best Actress. I didn't quite love his debut film Tulpan but it definitely stuck with me over the years which is a good sign. I'm also curious about Border from Sweden and Diamantino from Poland because they sound so bizarre.
JAMES FROM AMES: Who is your favorite journeyman actor/actress that you wish were more famous?
A: How much time do you have? How many names can I list because even 100 wouldn't do it! The four actors who you've seen do guest-blog stints on The Film Experience (Missi Pyle, David Dastmalchian, Ann Dowd, Cara Seymour) all fall into this category which is why I pursued them! They should all be more famous and be fighting off offers. Dowd and Dastmalchian are obviously in demand right now (YAY!) but for the life of me I can't understand why Pyle doesn't get higher profile comedy gigs or why Seymour isn't in a ton of things.
Hmmm? Who else. Here's ten more names off the top of my head that I'm always like "come on, give them bigger beefier roles!": Dominic Rains (he'd be a pet cause if I was a casting director -- why isn't he getting famous? Come on now! He's got everything the movies need), Kimberly Elise (the subject of another question but sorry I have no answer for that as I don't have a single clue why she works so infrequently being so brilliant), Rosemarie DeWitt, Saîd Taghmaoui, Julianne Nicholson, Andrea Riseborough, Paddy Considine, Gabriel Luna, Jennifer Ehle... and what's going on with Olivia Williams? I feel like I haven't seen her in forever!
SONJA: What's your favorite animal Horror movie?
Masuka the cat
Is there more than one? I mean, The Birds (1963)! I remember being freaked out watching Food of the Gods (1976) on TV as a kid though. Who let me watch that? I will gladly take more suggestions as to things to watch but bear in mind that I don't much like horror movies unless they are super critically acclaimed.
I would like to change my answer by changing your question: what is your favorite animal character in a horror movie. And then my answer is the cat in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014).
Kerry Butler is currently playing three roles in "Mean Girls"Q: Since it is Tony Season. Which Broadway leading lady did you think would have crossed over into Hollywood Stardom by now but hasn't? - Christopher
I really thought that might happen for Kerry Butler who has great comic timing and beauty but even on Broadway she doesn't get as much attention as she should! I hear she's even underused in Mean Girls despite getting all the adult female roles. I was pleased to see her pop up (albeit iit in teensy tiny roles in new festival movies: The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Mapplethorpe). Movie stardom seems to remain out of reach for Broadway stars for some weird reason but TV, thankfully, is an increasingly viable option. The wider world has FINALLY discovered the joy of Sutton Foster via Bunheads and Younger. But mostly I'm totally frustrated with this problem.
Not that I want song and dance stars to leave Broadway but crossing over allows you more financial freedom and also longevity (see: Bernadette Peters, Sutton Foster, Kristin Chenoweth, etcetera) as long as you don't just abandon the stage. I used to obsess over Raul Esparza but once he got his TV procedurals he gave up all the singing which made me love him to begin with! I'm currently frustrated that Megan Hilty has not exploded in fame post Smash. Audra McDonald should obviously be one of the biggest stars in the universe across all medium. Not just a Tony magnet. I wish Tony nominee Stephanie J Block would get some wider attention. She played a mom with a gay son on TV's Rise but even though that was a musical we didn't get to hear her sing on it. Every day I expect Condola Rashad (Phylicia's daughter) to crossover in some larger way to film and TV (she's done some of both but she's playing leads / getting nominations on stage). Jessie Mueller is another "when will this happen?" option. She had a good but teensy role in Steven Spielberg's The Paper as that wedding guest reporter who got them in trouble. And of course Mueller's voice is magnificent.
You didn't ask about men but I'd love Tony Yazbeck (who just won a very deserved "Chita Rivera Award" for his dancing genius), Andy Karl, and Steven Pasquale to all be more famous just so I could gaze upon them constantly. Even better if someone would hire them to sing and dance onscreen.
3RTFUL: When an actor is allowed to co-design their character's costumes, can you tell just by looking?
I feel like this must be a trick question and you must have something very specific in mind. No, I cannot tell, though I'm sure costume design is slightly more collaborative than some of the other arts. Designers generally want to know how an actor feels in a costume and they obviously do fittings with the actors. Plus actors want the costumes to inform their character. I LOVED discovering that the Hello Kitty shirt in Young Adult was Charlize Theron's idea! I mean that insight into Mavis alone should have netted her the Oscar nomination she was so wrongfully denied for 2011!
That's all for the moment but I'll answer more questions soon. SOUND OFF on these topics in the comments won't you? Who do you think should be more famous? Any animal horror films you love? Which Cannes titles are you chomping at the bit for?