Thankful for... Deborah Lipp
Wednesday, November 24, 2021 at 12:39AM 
This year for our "thankful for" column we're mixing it up a bit and interviewing our team to share our gratitude for them. I first met DEBORAH LIPP through a mutual obsession with Mad Men. I'm proud to call her a friend and had the pleasure of attending her wedding several years back.
Deborah has a busy life (new books out!) so we dont see her around these parts much but she began popping in on occasion way back in 2012. As a James Bond fan she's written about her 007 favourite 007 films (and lots of other Bond posts). She's also wondered if Notorious is Hitchcock's only feminist film and since she loves romoms she's sung the praises of several here including Kissing Jessica Stein, Moonstruck, and and Four Weddings and a Funeral. She most recently popped in to review the final Daniel Craig Bond film No Time To Die.
Our short interview follows...
When did you first fall in love with the movies?
When I was about 14 I saw To Have and Have Not on TV. Lauren Bacall not only made me a movie lover, but I assert to this day that she turned me gay.
Which current director do you feel truly grateful for?
I am grateful for Pedro Almodovar's color palette.
Tis this season to be thankful. What wouldn't you have wanted to live without this past year?
The Good Place -- binged it in early 2020 (pre-pandemic) then binged it again this year. Thank God for television that is both hilarious and kind-hearted.
RuPaul's Drag Race -- We've deep-dived drag. We watched 12 seasons of Drag Race plus All-Stars and also saw "Drive and Drag Saves 2021." Drag saves us.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire -- Seen in January of 2021; I cannot go back to a life lived without the image of Marianne nude in front of the fire.
Vaccines and boosters -- fuck you, Covid.
Cats -- I have not survived by movies alone. I have survived with a cat in my lap.
No Time to Die -- I have complicated feelings about this movie. But I also waited SIX FREAKING YEARS for a new James Bond movie, and it fills my heart that, at last, I have one.
Jon Batiste, "I Need You" -- "In this world with a lot of problems/All we need is a little loving" -- oh yeah!
Pick your favourites, Deborah
If you were to magically win an Oscar, who would you thank in your acceptance speech?
Professor Spouse because otherwise she'd never let me live it down.
You're throwing a Thanksgiving dinner feast. You can invite 5 movie characters. Go!
1) James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) -- he's a fussy eater but he makes a mean cocktail
2) Sully Sullivan (John Goodman) from Monsters, Inc.
3) Loretta Castorini (Cher) from Moonstruck
4) Judy Stein (Tovah Feldshuh) from Kissing Jessica Stein
5) Charles (Hugh Grant) from Four Weddings and a Funeral
You can follow Deborah Lipp on Instagram and Twitter and you should also check out her books. She has a new one out on wiccan spells as well as a new edition of her "Ultimate James Bond Fan Book".
Reader Comments (4)
Huh, I think that Lauren Bacall in To Have And Have Not also confirmed to me that I was gay. I didn't feel it, er, down below, but I was suckerpunched in the heart and head. I realized that going through life looking and acting like Lauren Bacall was the only way to go.
PS maybe the most undersung movie debut ever?
I'm always up for praise of Lauren Bacall in noirs, and I love that Judy Stein is one of Deborah's 5.
Love the format for these posts. Pondering my 5 guests at Thanksgiving dinner. Loretta is a good one.
Love all the love for Lauren Bacall, her spectacular debut specifically.
I have to say, I'm very thankful for all your writing, especially the MAD MEN and Bond coverage. Regarding the first one, it's great to explore the thoughts of another fan. However, with Bond, it's a bit different. While I don't have a significant connection to the character or the franchise, reading your perspective on it is fascinating, mind-opening in some ways. It's always amazing to learn to love some piece of art through another person's affection for it.