Emmy FYC: Eva Green and Christian Camargo, "Penny Dreadful"

Team Experience shares their dream Emmy nominations. Consider it an FYC as nomination ballots are out...

by Dancin' Dan

Showtime's now cancelled gothic horror show Penny Dreadful has never been one to receive much awards love, even when it should have been (has there been a better villain on any television show in recent memory than Helen McCrory's Evelyn Poole in the show's second season?). Part of this had to do with timing: Airing always began around June, near the time the Emmy nominations for the previous season were voted on, meaning that by the next nominating period, it was long forgotten. The other part is the nature of the show itself. Emmy has rarely favored genre shows, much less ones as bloody and occasionally over-the-top as this.

Sadly this has meant that the series's leading lady, Eva Green, has been ignored despite giving the most committed, most fearless, and best performance on television...

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Beauty vs Beast: All You Need Is Lovers

Jason from MNPP here with this week's "Beauty vs Beast," which is falling square on Nicole Kidman Eve - the actress, perhaps you know her work, is turning the big Five-Oh tomorrow, and I heard if you put a cube of ice below your pillow tonight she might visit you while you sleep! I kid, don't come as me, Kidmaniacs - I adore her every bit as much as you all do. Which is problematic for this series - where could I possibly find someone to challenge her? I mean there's... no... I couldn't... could I? I am sorry, folks, but this is the only choice. Who else might beat her but the one whose heart beats so big and free...

PREVIOUSLY It appears that none of you learned anything from Rosemary's Baby, and you're all perfectly willing to fall prey to a pretty face covering up a treachorous heart - you gave Guy (John Cassavettes) the win with 56% of your vote over Roman (Sidney Blackmer), and while I'll admit they're both bad choices I really find Guy the most despicable so I can't agree with y'all. He deserves that loogie he gets! Or as Nick T put it:

"I'm sitting by this bag of garbage at work and like. It's less charismatic, sure, but also less morally repugnant, so it's got the edge. Still, I don't think Roman's creepiness is given its due since his wife is way more fun to watch. I'll give him my first born as tribute. It only seems fair."

Emmy FYC: Judith Light, "Transparent"

by Chris Feil

Most of the awards talk over Transparent’s three seasons has orbited around Jeffrey Tambor’s genius work at its center. This past season was its best acted among the entire ensemble, with emotionally raw complexity from Jay Duplass and Amy Landecker that also deserves Emmy’s attention. But the most rewarding powerhouse performance this time was Judith Light as fraught matriarch Shelly. Many months ago, she became my favorite performance of the TV year and remained so ever since.

The third season brought Shelly closer to the forefront, detailing further the abuse she suffered as a child and her quickly developing romance with the increasingly suspect Buzzy (Richard Masur). When Buzzy’s manipulations come to light and her family continually shrugs off her abrasive attempts at connection, we see not only her mounting disappointments but a growing ability to stand on her own two feet. It’s how Light makes her knees wobble as she does so that makes the season arc so moving. She's a brand!

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The Furniture: Decorating for a Lost Generation in "Frantz"

"The Furniture" is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail. Here's Daniel Walber on Frantz, newly available on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Sometimes gimmicks work. François Ozon’s Frantz is built up from single stylistic convention, flipped on its head. It’s a black and white drama of Europe in the wake of World War One, but its flashbacks are in color. It’s quite striking, a remarkable collaboration between cinematographer Pascal Marti, production designer Michel Barthélemy and art director Susanne Abel. Even the soggy trenches are more vibrant than the sober landscape of the Armistice.

Frantz begins in 1919, in the small German town of Quedlinburg. Anna (Paula Beer) mourns her fiancé, Frantz, taken from her by the war. She lives with his parents, Hans (Ernst Stötzner) and Magda Hoffmeister (Marie Gruber). Their gloomy lives are shaken by the arrival of a Frenchman, the hesitant Adrien Rivoire (Pierre Niney).

Anna and Magda assume that he must be a friend of Frantz’s from before the war, and invite him into their home...

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"Frozen" Gets a Cast for the Stage

Full casting for Broadway hopeful Frozen has been announced. The names have been trickling out for months but now it's all official. The out of town tryouts begin in August in Denver (so if you live there, do report back!). It's quite a high profile gig for all of the cast members none of whom have been Tony nominated and many of whom are in early stages of their careers.

This image, headshots for the two leads Caissie Levy and Patti Murin, is going around and though accidental I couldn't help but giggle a little. Do they share a hairdresser and colorist? Hopefully the differences in the stage sisters will be easy to read via acting and costuming. It's going to be weird to have it on Broadway where Wicked, which Frozen rips off so liberally from, is a Broadway mainstay. We'll see. One assumes Disney will add songs by already EGOTed team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez to the second half or that's going to be one lopsided stage musical with all the songs sung before intermission! [More on the cast after the jump.]

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