Q & A: Surprising Stars and How to Stop Category Fraud

Thanks to Pedro for suggesting we revive the "Ask Nathaniel - Q & A s". So many questions came in when I feared getting none. Let's start with Pedro since this was his idea.

Q: Of all people involved in moviemaking that you have interviewed or known, who surprised you the most and why? - Pedro

A: I wouldn't say I "know" very many people in the industry. Usually interviews are short and even if you meet the person multiple times it can be years inbetween conversations. So I'm not sure how to answer this one. As for "surprises" I will say that Jessica Chastain shocked me with a steel trap memory. I've met her three times and the third she went into detail about something we discussed the second time which was two years earlier. Mentally I was like "HOW?!?" as she talks to hundreds of journalists all year long...

Click to read more ...

Almost There: Angelina Jolie in "A Mighty Heart"

by Cláudio Alves

There are few true stars in contemporary Hollywood. Angelina Jolie is arguably one of them, part of a dying breed of movie mythology. Not that it means she's a prolific thespian. For that matter, it's pretty sad how the actress has started to evade our screens in recent years, headlining fewer and fewer projects as time goes by. That being said, Jolie is back in theaters right now, thanks to The Eternals, where she plays an immortal goddess-like figure. It's a delightfully obvious casting choice. In celebration of this occasion, we shall look back. Look back to a time when this Oscar-winning powerhouse was at the high of her visibility and popularity, but the Academy ignored her just the same. In 2007, Jolie seemed like a likely Best Actress nominee for Michael Winterbottom's A Mighty Heart…

Click to read more ...

Links: Eternals, First Ladies, and new Broadway Shows

• EW first photos from the miniseries The First Lady with Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford, Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt
• Awards Daily Kristen Stewart getting the Spotlight Best Actress treatment at Palm Springs this year
• Deadline Leonardo DiCaprio in final talks to play cult leader and mass murderer Jim Jones in a movie about the 1970s cult leader
• Variety Squid Game is getting a second season. Nobody will let any stories be!

Steve McQueen, Sutton Foster, Eternals and Spencer stuff, guns on set, and more after the jump...

Click to read more ...

C'mon C'mon is "...a gift"

The new trailer for C'Mon C'Mon is upon us and we were proud to see our own Jason Adams quoted from his typically brilliant review. The movie arrives on November 19th in time for Thanksgiving. We currently have predicted it for 3 Oscar nominations (Picture, Screenplay, Supporting Actor) which is either too much or too little. What'cha think? 

European Film Award nominations for 2021

by Nathaniel R

There's no true leader at the European Film Awards this year with three films (Titane, The Father, and Compartment No 6) tied for the most nominations but there is a leader if you look at individual nominations: Italian master Paolo Sorrentino is up for three prizes himself for Italy's Oscar submission The Hand of God (Film, Director, and Screenplay) so consider that a force going into the Oscar finalist selections. The European Film Awards also have juries that decide on craft awards like Cinematography, Production Design, and the like but they don't have traditional nominations so we won't know the winners for a while yet. 

The nomination list and commentary after the jump...

Click to read more ...