The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
Six is the number of the day so here are six different stats involving that number for distraction & fun.
1. BlacKkKlansman is the only movie this year with exactly six nominations. The other movies this decade with with exactly that number of nominations: Darkest Hour, Phantom Thread, Manchester by the Sea, Lion*, Hacksaw Ridge, Bridge of Spies, Spotlight, Carol*, Boyhood, American Sniper, Captain Philllips*, Nebraska*, Dallas Buyers Club, War Horse*, Moneyball*, and 127 Hours*. I was hoping to discover that one of those titles had EXACTLY the same category nominations as BlacKkKlansman but none did. Titles with an asterisk lost all their nominations but the bulk of the six-time nominees won at least 1 Oscar which is good news for Spike Lee's Adapted Screenplay bid for BlacKkKlansman, the category its most likely to win in this coming Sunday.
2. Carol is the only six-time nominee in the past decade not to score a Best Picture nomination...
Richard E Grant's timing was impeccable during my own journey into cinephilia. I was in the process of falling madly deeply in love with movies when he made his debut in the cult classic With Nail and I (1987) and as I became more invested in not just movie stars but the crucial contributions of character actors to rich movies, he was everyone in so many movies I loved: Henry & June (1990), L.A. Story (1991), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), The Age of Innocence (1993). I bought his first book "With Nails: The Film Diaries of Richard E Grant" in hardcover right when it was published and later bought it again in paperback. I bring up this chronological personal fandom so that'll you'll understand that I was surely as visibly thrilled to sit down with Richard E Grant as he has appeared to be for the entirety of this awards season. We're both giddy about the Oscar nomination for his incredible performance as the slippery but loveable Jack Hock in Can You Ever Forgive Me?
But we began by discussing the book. I'd read it too often to begin anywhere else...
[The interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
One of the funniest film books you'll ever read. A must-have for fans of 1990s cinemaNATHANIEL R: Do you still do film diaries or did you do it only for your book 'With Nails: The Film Diaries of Richard E Grant"?
RICHARD E GRANT: I've kept diaries since I was 11 years old, since I saw my mother shagging my father’s best friend on the front seat of a car, by accident. I tried religion, got no reply, couldn’t tell my friends, certainly couldn’t tell my parents what I’d seen, so I kept a diary to keep sane, and it has kept me relatively sane all these years. I was on the ill-fated Ready to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter) movie for Robert Altman, and a newspaper in England asked me if I would write a diary, so I did, and they published it...
We've decided to extend our 'kissing' appreciation series past Valentine's. Not that you were asking but we're having fun and it's a sexy break inbetween Oscar madness. Here's Eric Blume...
In director Alfonso Cuarón's 2001 mini-masterpiece Y Tu Mama Tambien, lifelong friends Julio (Gael García Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna) spend much of the movie talking about girls and sex. And when they begin a road trip with older, sexy Luisa (Maribel Verdu), most of their focus is on her, her body, and the idea of getting her into bed. Which makes the climax (yep, I said it) of the film so incredibly surprising: at the end of their journey, they finally consummate their adventure in one of the cinema's best threesomes...
Thank you for all the votes for this weeks Supporting Actress Smackdown for the 91st Oscars - so many ballots for us to sift through with opinions so varied which is just how it should be and how we like it (if you forgot, we'll accept them today as well but they're due by midnight!) Due to behind the scenes technical stuff we'll be posting the Smackdown Monday night, but it's time to meet the panel. We cheekily asked them for their pics in the three chopping-block craft categories but then the Academy reversed course. We're sharing their votes anyway, because shouldn't you always know who people are rooting for in cinematography, editing, and makeup? We think so!
Picture: BlacKkKlansman Cinematography: A Star is Born Editing: BlacKkKlansman Makeup and Hair: Vice
Ginny O’Keefe was born and raised in Westchester, New York. She credits her love of film and television to her parents, since they let her watch pretty much whatever she wanted growing up. They also helped fuel her love of acting by frequently taking her and her two sisters into Manhattan to see Broadway shows. She graduated from Elon University in 2016, with a BFA in Acting and a minor in Communications. She now lives in Los Angeles working as an actress and hopes to write and produce her own films one day. Follow her on Instagram.
Picture: The Favourite Cinematography: Cold War Editing: The Favourite Makeup and Hair: Mary Queen of Scots
Robin Write is the Editor-in-Chief of Filmotomy, a movie site that promotes the likes of female filmmakers, independent film, world cinema, documentaries etc. He's been writing, thinking, breathing, watching movies for as long as he can remembe and still feeds the addiction that is the Oscar race for near-30 years - a truly hard habit to break.
Picture: The Favourite Cinematography: Cold War Editing: BlacKkKlansman Makeup and Hair: Border
Nathaniel R has been running The Film Experience since the first seacreature grew legs and walked ashore in prehistoric times. He was there when Wings won best picture of 1928. Kidding... but he does love Wings and he's been loving the Oscars for far too long!
Picture: The Favourite / Black Panther Cinematography: A Star is Born Editing: The Favourite / BlacKkKlansman Makeup: Border
Chris Feil writes regularly at The Film Experience (including his column on movie music called Soundtracking) and lives in Columbus, OH. He cohosts the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast and has also been published at Vice, Paste, and Decider. You can easily beetlejuice him into your conversations by talking about soundtracks, RuPaul's Drag Race, and WALL•E. He is remembering to notice the collateral beauty around him.
Picture: BlacKkKlansman Cinematography: A Star is Born Editing: The Favourite Makeup and Hair: Border
You know Murtada from his writing on TFE and as the co-host of our podcast. However one thing you might not know is that recently he recorded his first video interview; with rising playwright Jordan E Cooper whose play AIN'T NO “MO starts at The Public Theater on March 12th.
Monday, February 18, 2019 at 10:03AM 
