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NATHANIEL: Bonjour Jose. You're back on red carpet duty by popular request. I dared to post about the Met Gala without a conversation to go with it and I heard it from the readers.
JOSE: I'm moved but if they saw what I'm wearing now they wouldn't ask for me.
NATHANIEL: Always blame it on Laundry Day.
Before we begin proper can I just say that one thing I find exceptionally annoying about Cannes is when stars don't pose alone but only with groups. This seems to happen most with the Jury who are joined at the hip like they will be judged as a team in this maxi-challenge. And tonight Deneuve, the great lady of French cinema, stuck with her director Emmanuelle Bercot (whose opening night film Standing Tallhas received warm notices) and the cast despite a rather becoming two-looks-in-one dress.
JOSE: She wants others to bask in her light, maybe? I do love her double gown. Two Face in a couture Batman
NATHANIEL: Opening Night always brings out the A listers so we have some of Oscar's favorite gown-wearers to discuss after the jump Natalie, Naomi, Lupita, and Our Juli...
It's time to answer a dozen reader questions pulled from the last two "Ask Nathaniel" suggestion-box posts. Please to note that in the podcast this weekend, we answered a few already that were Ex Machina related and last night we teased you with an appetizer about the emotions of Inside Outand actors who best embody them.
Jumping right in...
BVR: Do you think audiences will ever flock to dramas again the way they used to years ago?
I hope so, all things being cyclical. It happens once in a while still. The Blind Side (2009) and American Sniper (2014) were both supersized hits in the way movie star dramas of the past have been when they've hit big. Unfortunately they both felt like anomalies and only that successful because they managed to get people who don't go to the movies into the movie theater. The problem today is obviously at least four-fold: TVs got larger, the amount of content exploded, theatrical windows shrunk, and the theaters, rather than stepping up their game to compete, actually made themselves less hospitable with smaller screens and tons of commercials.
Movie theater chains seem to be trying again but once you've lost a regular moviegoer, it's hard to restore their habit. What is next in terms of technological advances? Will we ever get fully three dimensional hologram-like movies you can walk around inside? And if we do, won't dramas be the favorite, rather than special effects pictures, for the 'choose your own proximity adventure' in terms of closeups of the actors? I imagine they'll be performed very much like straight plays for multiple cameras and since you're the one doing the editing, theater training will be important and superb acting could rise again to "favorite visual effect" dominance.
Or did our recent sci-fi week warp my brain too much? This wasn't the answer you were looking for.
BROOKESBOY: Who will be the next winner of a second Best Actress prize?
More Questions and Answers -- a lot more -- after the jump
Cannes is as high profile as film festivals get so your first starring role in a buzzy feature could really make waves. Consider... Karl Glusman. He's the male star of Gaspar Noé's Love, the already buzzy sex film that gets a special screening at Cannes. He has a few credits in shorts and several on stage, plus voice work in a Starship Troopers film but he's still an unknown quantity. 2015 will be his first year in the movies proper so it could well start with a bang.
...the collest actor I have ever met. He is daring, joyful and intelligent. He has love scenes throughout the whole movie. He is the ultimate 3D baby maker."
Deadline RIP character actress Elizabeth Wilson from stage, tv, and film (Roz in Nine to Five & Mrs Braddock inThe Graduate!) passed away at 94 Bryan Singer James McAvoy as Professor X finally going bald of X-Men: Apocalypse Towleroad Natalie Portman as Ruth Baader Ginsburg?! CHUD the ongoing drama of Jennifer Lawrence's paycheck for the upcoming Passengers, a sci-fi drama with Chris Pratt. She's not budging on her 20 million,which is double Pratt's salary though he's the lead. Will Sony cave to save face from all those wage disparity complaints after leaked emails? Boy Culture tells us about a new LGBT movie That's Not Us about three couples on a weekend getaway. Sounds good Empire Charlize Theron to star as a spy in The Coldest City, based on a graphic novel Pajiba highlights from the Alex Garland's Ex Machina AMA Antagony & Ecstasy another fine take on Ex Machina
Small Screen Coming Soon NBC picked up a series based on Steven Spielberg's Minority Report. I know it was probably impossible to top Samantha Morton's precog but the series will focus on a precog only a male precog zzzz. No offense Stark Sands who I've enjoyed in other things! /Film ... and that's not the only movie becoming a TV series. Next season will also give us serialized versions ofUncle Buck and Limitless
Cannes News Cannes Mother of the French New Wave Agnès Varda (Cleo from 5 to 7, Vagabond, The Gleaners and I)to receive an Honorary Palme D'Or. Yaaas. Film Doctor UK advice for filmmakers attending Cannes -- this is from last year but there are lots of practical thoughts that apply to any year, non filmmakers and other smaller festivals, too Guardian with Gaspar Noé's Love on the way a look back at the festival's history of erotic cinema Awards Daily Sasha geers up for Cannes but still seems hung up on last year's awards race dramas
Stage Playbill looks back at very tight Best Musical races from the past (West Side Story vs. The Music Man, etcetera) with Fun Home, Something Rotten, and An American in Paris battling it out on Tony supremacy this season Gold Derby Outer Critics Circle Awards. With Fun Home ineligible American in Paris snatches up trophies. Kristin Chenoweth prevails in the very tight Best Actress race (will Tony go for Chita, Cheno or Kelli O'Hara?)
Showtune to Go With American in Paris celebrating its Tony nominations, why not a little Gene Kelly to brighten your Monday? Here's Kelly doing "Tra La La." Hollywood never had a more cheekily charming male movie star, give or take Cary Grant.
Katey Rich rejoins Joe Reid and Nathaniel R to discuss Alex Garland's buzzy sci-fi artificial intelligence thriller Ex Machina, now A24's biggest box office hit. Amir Soltani, from Hello Cinema & TFE, guest stars.This podcast is filled with many spoilers about a surprising movie so please see the movie before listening, if you haven't made it to the theater yet.
Running Time - 43 Minutes 00:01 Intros, Randomness, Cannes project 06:00 Ex Machina - Misleading promos vs going in cold 11:22 [SPOILERS] - Mood versus Substance, sexual issues and slavery metaphor, Princess and Mad Scientist and Frankenstein Tropes, seduction and porn profiles. And we're split on the ending. [/SPOILERS] 29:45 What else we're excited about this summer 36:20 Reader Questions: Bald women, Oscar Isaac 41:50 Goodbyes
Please to enjoy and continue the conversation in the comments. You can listen at the bottom of this post or download from iTunes.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015 at 5:30PM 
A New Season of "Red Carpet Lineup" Begins...
