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.)
Did you know that without Natalie Wood, the seminal gay play and subsequent film The Boys in the Band (1970) might never have existed? 1970 is our year of the month but the story began much earlier when Natalie met the playwright Mart Crowley on the set of Splendor in the Grass (1961). He was working as an assistant to Elia Kazan but Natalie immediately snatched him up for herself, taking him along for her West Side Story ride...
Chris here. Plenty of folks may be ho-hum about this year's Tony nominations and the past season in general, but the good news is that we have major Broadway events just ahead - namely the long awaited stage adaptation of Baz Luhrman's masterpiece Moulin Rouge!
Lucky folks in Boston will get to see its pre-Broadway tryout next month, but theatre lovers elsewhere just got the first sampling of what awaits us on stage.
An opulent music video of star Aaron Tveit singing the musical's signature ballad "Come What May" has arrived. While I'm not a much of a fan of Tveit's voice (sorry!), the video does quite a bit to assuage any doubts that the stage would be cheapening Luhrman's decadence and luxouriousness. Guys, the smoke and paper/rose set dressing and plushy simplicity is simply gorgeous!
Now all that awaits is a glimpse of Karen Olivo filling the very large shoes of Nicole Kidman as grand courtesan Satine - but we're fine with the wait if it makes her arrival half as iconic as Kidman's emergence onscreen. Theatre fans know what an event Olivo's eventual Broadway return will be (for the unawares: post West Side Story Tony win, Olivo left the profession and since has returned via regional theatre and the Chicago production of Hamilton). For now, we await the sparkling diamond. What do you think of Tveit's take?
This week, Jorge goes into the stables to talk a murderous teenage girl rampage.
Films come from many sources - novels, comic books, video games. The stage has been one of the largest pools of not only source material for the screen, but also of playwrights that eventually make the jump to Hollywood.
Thoroughbreds was conceived and thought of as a play. It tells the story of two teenage girls (one without empathy; the other one with too much) plotting the murder of one of their abusive stepfathers. As the project evolved, writer-director Cory Finley realized it would be better told as a film. However, its stage roots are still very much present in the text.
Let’s take a look at a particularly theatrical moment, a monologue in which one of the girls recalls her actions, and in doing so puts forward her entire character...
John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep.
#18 —Julia, a quality human being awaiting her judgment in the afterlife.
JOHN: Defending Your Life, Albert Brooks’ 1991 purgatory comedy, actually contains two movies. One involves Brooks’ Daniel Miller dying in a car accident, arriving in the leisurely Judgment City, and having his entire life reviewed in a trial that will determine whether he is reincarnated as a different person or sent to a higher dimension. The other, shorter film lodged inside Brooks’ painfully vain lark is about the absolute perfection of Meryl Streep. Guess which one is more enjoyable...
The next Supporting Actress Smackdown arrives on Mothers Day (of all days), May 13th. But before we get to that blessed actress-fixated event, it's time to meet this month's panel. We'll skip my introduction (Nathaniel) as the host because (hopefully) you know me already but if you don't, here I am.
We have an entire first-time Smackdowners group this month. So without further ado, let's get to know the five of them after the jump...
Friday, May 4, 2018 at 1:29PM 
Natalie and the Boys
