Showbiz History: Dev Rises, Emma Wins, Walken Dances
8 random things that happened on this day in showbiz history. Does this bring back any memories for you?
1616 Playwright William Shakespeare dies. 400+ years later his work is still constantly performed.
1928 Shirley Temple born in Santa Monica...
The singing / dancing / acting pint-sized performer will become the most popular child star of all time, the biggest box office draw for half of the 1930s, and a juvenile Oscar winner.
1953 Shane premieres in NYC. The family drama/western becomes an immediate classic and receives 6 Oscar nominations, eventually winning for Best Cinematography
1990 Dev Patel is born in London. He becomes a gangly star with Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and then surprises everyone by morphing into a hunky leading man by the time of Lion (2016). Next up the period comedy The Personal History of David Copperfield and the medieval fantasy/horror The Green Knight
1996 Ang Lee's beyond lovely adaptation of Sense & Sensibility won the BAFTAs for Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress. It lost all three races at the parallel Oscar ceremony. This was Kate Winslet's first major showbiz prize. She'd win two more BAFTAs after this (The Reader and Steve Jobs)
1999 Alexander Payne's best film (you heard me) Election opens in movie theaters with a brilliant leading turn from Reese Witherspoon. Audiences don't get into it but it will grow in esteem in a major way after the fact, becoming a modern classic.
2001 Fatboy Slim's single "Weapon of Choice" is released. The awesome music video stars Christopher Walken in full dancer mode
2016 Beyoncé's Lemonade premieres on HBO
2021 No movies are yet scheduled to open on this Friday despite so many 2020 movies being delayed until 2021. *sniffle*. We pray with all our might that movie theaters will be strong and healthy exactly a year from now
Reader Comments (26)
Oh, no! They used the same Elisabeth Shue Oscar clip. That is by far her worst scene.
I have disliked Walken ever since he has not had the balls to tell what really happened to Natalie Wood.
I just rewatched Sense and Sensibililty, and it is so, so good. Emma Thompson gives such a wonderful subtle performance.
Shue doesn't have any bad scenes in LLV.
Not the greatest fan of S&S in the world but it’s true that it’s beyond lovely and Ang Lee is a fab director. Glad they nominated Kidman for her revealing turn in To Die For (I would have vote for her)
Dev Patel, Emma Thompson, Reese Witherspoon, Christopher Walken, and Beyoncé? I’d gladly go to that dinner party.
I always forget how much I love Sense & Sensibility. Emma and Kate are perfection.
They totally used the same Sense and sensibility clips too. Lazy.
@rdf-It's probably because he doesn't know what the fuck happened. Stop being a fucking snowflake.
Sense & Sensibility is a great film and I'm shocked that Alan Rickman didn't get nominated for Best Supporting Actor as he was great in that film.
Emma Thompson accepted her screenplay award at one ceremony, and she read a "letter" that Bronte "wrote" about winning a screenplay award.
It was clever and funny, but I don't recall which ceremony it was. Anyone remember that?
forever1267- It was at the Golden Globe Awards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pun3jaMVJk
Forever1267
I’m not sure but I think it was 1996 golden globes
Emma’s speeches are always great and funny, love to see her winning something again
@the void99. you always have a crude... rude,,, response to everything.
I do not know the reference "snowflake". and I do not really care.
Can Emma Thompson ever give a bad speech ? Love her so much on and off screen, so glad to see Kidman nominated for To Die For but I do think Mirren took the spot that belonged to Sharon Stone for Casino. 1995 was such a thrilling year for leading actresses ; Stone, Shue, Kidman, Streep, Thompson, Bates, Mirren...the actual Oscar Winner (Sarandon) ranks 8th for me.
I agree with Nathaniel R, -Election was Alexander Payne's best film.
Just your daily (sporadic) reminder that Renée Zellweger is a two-time Academy Award winning Actress.
This is an example of the Peggy Sue (not this particular instance)/thevoid99 bias; writing comments that would get a personal rebuke in the comments by anybody else. Please don't prove hypocritical Nathaniel, I mean, we'll always come back until Claudio the star ascends to greener pastures, but still. Dude....
Nathaniel, I have rewatched Election twice since the nationwide lockdown and it holds up beautifully. I was particularly struck by Broderick's work on these rewatches. And if I am not mistaken didn't Winslet win SAG in early 1996 (in only its second year?)
And I miss the days when BAFTA didn't automatically fall in line with The Academy Awards like they do now. Also liked it when the ceremony was held after The Oscars. Finally, though I love Emma Thompson in Sense and Sensibility Elisabeth Shue was robbed for Leaving Las Vegas. That performance is an all-timer.
And what happend to elisabeth shue ? She gave The best performance in a year full of great performances and then disappeared !
Don't B. Deaf, you're not OK. In the mist of a worldwide catastrophe and here you are poisoning the waters. Get treatment.
amirfarhang -- i know! Shue's trajectory was so rough. I would have given her the Oscar that year.
michael r -- i need to watch it again. it's been years
dont b deaf -- i dont know thevoid99 anymore than i know you. you're both complete strangers to me. quit projecting and quit being insulting. Pro tip for your future: if you want something from someone, it's not a good idea to insult or belittle them while asking for it. That only works on insecure people who enjoy being gaslit.
rdf --sorry for the rudeness you encountered. it's best to just ignore it (though I'm afraid I set a bad example by not ignoring dont b deaf's rudeness).i wish people hadn't gotten so rude here in the comments section. I would blame it on the coronavirus craziness of everyone being cooped up but unfortunately it started a full year ago.
peggysue & mark -- i have to agree with Mark here. Elisabeth Shue has no bad scenes in LLV.
Mirko -i will eternally wonder how close Kidman got to a nomination this year. It was so crazy competitive. Especially in light of what had happened to just one yar before.
I would love to see a series like "whatever happened to" to try and explain someone like Elisabeth Shue. I almost feel she must have been Weinsteined or something. I admit she's not the most WOW actress, but with good direction she can really deliver. She reminds me of Madeleine Stowe in that regard. I mean how does Andie MacDowell have a more thriving career? And that's an honest question, I love all three actresses.
Love shue .... always baffles me when as an Oscar nominated actress she tends bar in hope springs ... such a nothing role ... she has greyhound coming up ... let’s hope it’s more substantial then supportive spouse
Shue was pretty good in a small role in the Seinfeld reunion season of Curb Your Enthusiasm from a few years back.
Also petty darn good in (another small role) in Deconstructing Harry.
I know this film bombed both critically and commercially, but if you find Palmetto it definitely deserves a watch for Shue's performance alone. Most reviewers felt she was miscast as the femme fatale (and thought Shue and her costar Gina Gershon should have switched roles) but I found her to be an absolute hoot.