Three Quick Notes / Roles

Cara Seymour has taken over TFE for a day - Editor

Three film stills and the first thing that came to mind...

Adaptation (2002) as "Amelia Kavan"
I still cannot believe I was sitting there with the glorious Nick Cage being directed by Spike Jonze who is literally an Angel.

Hotel Rwanda (2004) as "Pat Archer"
I was blessed to work on this movie. I don't think I have words to describe it.  

American Psycho (2000) as "Christie"
This was filmed in the meat packing district when it still smelled of meat.
(more on this movie) 

Podcast: Reader Questions & Short Term 12

For today's super-casz edition of the Podcast it's just Nathaniel & Nick gabbing. We argue about Short Term 12's schematic screenplay and individual character arcs (Nathaniel loved it all / Nick did not) and how the movie reflects what we look for in movies. After that discussion it's off to reader questions involving directors & their muses, the art of movie titling (not the credit sequences, the actual titles), and opinion-shifting from past Oscar seasons.

You'll have to listen to find out how Gravity, American Beauty, Vera Farmiga, and Spike Jonze's Adaptation fit into it all. You can do so here at the bottom of the post or download it on iTunes. Join in the conversation in the comments once you've listened.

Short Term Podcast

Burning Questions: Fictional Art You Want to Experience?

Michael C. here to share another question for your collective answer. Every film that portrays creative people at work faces the same conundrum. In order to tell the story of an artist at work the movie has to depict the product of their labor and making that convincing can require just as much effort to as making the film itself. If you can make a painting that is believable as the work of a master than maybe you should just do that and skip the film altogether? You know what I mean?

"uh oh... we just lost the family audience"

There are various methods with which films skirt this issue. The simplest solution is to show nothing and simply have the characters talk about the brilliance (or lack thereof) of the work in question. We never do hear a passage from Grady Tripp’s acclaimed "Arsonist's Daughter" in Wonder Boys (2000), just as we never witness any of the actual stage performances from All About Eve (1951). Then there are those films which give just enough of a taste of the work without doing the heavy lifting. In the great All That Jazz (1979), for example, we see enough of Joe Gideon’s erotic work-in-progress to know why it’s an investor’s nightmare without ever learning much more about it.

In rare cases, films do such a good job suggesting a work of art that you leave the theater disappointed that the work doesn’t exist in reality. Here are three examples of fictional works of art from movies that I would happily shell out the cash for should they magically appear at multiplexes, book stores or on the Great White Way… [more]

Click to read more ...

Take Three: Chris Cooper

Craig here with this week’s Take Three. Today: Chris Cooper

Take One: Adaptation. (2002)
Cooper was up against a quartet of big names in the 2003 Best Supporting Actor Oscar race: Christopher Walken (Catch Me if You Can), Ed Harris (The Hours), John C. Reilly (Chicago) and Paul Newman (Road to Perdition). As the then least weighty name, his nomination didn’t necessarily guarantee success. But, conversely, his fifteen prior award wins and a further 5 nominations for the role spoke volumes. He emerged victorious, yet, inexplicably, Adaptation remains his only nod to date.

Spike Jonze’s very meta, self-referencing Adaptation was unique and playful in equal measure. It mulled over plenty of original ideas with its life-fiction overlap. Cooper, as orchid thief John Laroche, a real-life figure, stole the film away from actors as lively as Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep and Tilda Swinton. He played the wry humour and the tragedy of Laroche with equal skill. The event that haunts him (the death of his wife in a car accident) has plot repercussions that Cooper almost invisibly folds into his performance. He uses Laroche’s dry, off-kilter amiability as a subtle yet defining trait. And in the driving scenes featuring with Streep he can be glimpsed looking cautiously for each road turn, knowing danger can arrive out of anywhere, any day. Such moments reveal how immersed Cooper is in the role. But, further than that, he navigates the increasingly bizarre and intentionally conventional plot swerve into thriller territory with ease. It’s a cranky, clever piece of acting both oddly knowing and incredibly moving.

Thanks to his Oscar win here, his career since has been a plethora of top-drawer performances, not least his largely under-appreciated role in Take Two’s film...

Click to read more ...

Readers' Ranking: Streep's Oscar Noms, #5-1

We started this blogging experiment by asking readers to rank all the Streep Oscar Nominated performances they'd seen. Then we shared reader stories of how you first discovered Streep. I tabulated all the results, weighting the ballots so the readers who had seen the most films counted for more. Now we've reached the tippity top of Streep performances!  For what it's worth, the top six (including Kramer Vs. Kramer) were the clear winners of your collective hierarchy and numbers two through four were closely bunched together in your estimation, each threatening to take spot #2 with each new ballot that arrived, though eventually they settled into their current positions. 

STREEP'S OSCAR-NOMINATED PERFORMANCES RANKED 
According to Film Experience Readers  (We didn't include The Iron Lady since it's brand new)

16-11
Music of Heart, Ironweed, One True Thing, French Lt's Woman, Deer Hunter, Doubt
10-6
Julie & Julia, Out of Africa, Postcards, Cry in the Dark, Kramer vs Kramer

05. Adaptation (2002)
Role & Balloting: Streep's terrifically clever performance as a heightened version of Susan Orlean, the real life writer who wrote the non-fiction book The Orchid Thief that Nicolas Cage's fictional screenwriter (and Charlie Kaufman stand-in) tries to adapt into a movie in this twisty comedy [whew], is the one many fans point to as "this is what she needs to do more of!" This role was in first place on only 3% of ballots, less than any of the other films in the top six, but it was on nearly every ballot (widely seen) and usually in the upper half.

Who Won the Oscar: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago
Other Nominees in Guesstimate Order of AMPAS Love: Meryl (Adaptation), Julianne Moore (The Hours), Kathy Bates (About Schmidt) and Queen Latifah (Chicago)
The Dread Sixth Place Finish?:  It was Michelle Pfeiffer, SAG nominee, on the outside looking in for White Oleander. I still blame the Golden Globes for that one as they stalled her momentum by fawning over a miscast and dull Cameron Diaz for Gangs of New York. 

Reader Notes and Four More Greats after the jump...

Click to read more ...