Interview: Laura Wandel on working with child actors in Belgium's Oscar finalist 'Playground'

by Nathaniel R

This season's finalist list for the Best International Feature Film Oscar is a mixture of international icons (Farhadi! Sorrentino!), legends in the making (Hamaguchi! Trier!) and rising auteurs (everyone else). Four of the films are even directorial debuts. Imagine being shortlisted for the Oscar on your first movie! That's what's happened to Belgium's Laura Wandel.

The 37 year old filmmaker had been making short films since 2007. After her 2014 short Les corps éstrangers competed at Cannes, it was time to make the leap to features. The result, which was tabled for a time due to pandemic delays, was the moving bullying drama Playground about a brother and sister struggling in school. We were delighted to speak to Wandel shortly after her moving film made the finals...

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What If?: When Meryl Streep / Michelle Pfeiffer Almost Starred in "Evita"

by Gabriel Mayora

On Christmas day, twenty-five years ago, Evita (1996) premiered nationwide in theaters. The musical adaptation was helmed by Alan Parker and international superstar Madonna was its leading lady. For her divisive star turn, the actress was famously awarded a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy over Frances McDormand (Fargo), who went on to claim the Academy Award in the equivalent category a couple of months later. Yet, Madonna’s name was left out of the Academy’s Best Actress line-up, suggesting the casting and Madonna's pop stardom may have proven too controversial for the group. 

Much like Effie White, Fantine, and Velma Kelly, Eva Perón is the kind of role that appears destined to win awards sight unseen. What happened, then?

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"Wicked" Movie announces its Elphaba and Glinda casting! What about the other roles?

by Nathaniel R

After years of fan-casting and online speculation we finally know who will be following in Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth's footsteps in that Emerald City of stage and screen legend. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande will be taking on the iconic roles of Glinda and Elphaba in the big screen adaptation of Broadway behemoth Wicked which is, if you've been sleeping under a rock, about the witches before the events of The Wizard of Oz. The news was announced tonight by the film's director Jon M Chu. 

How are you feeling about this news? Well how am I feeling? Not even sure and I'll tell you why...

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Which of these '96 babies will be Oscar-nominated first? (or again)

by Nathaniel R

Since it's 25 days till Oscar, we thought we'd talk about Hollywood's brightests stars hitting their quarter century mark in 2021. The year 1996 has been a surprising "early bird" year with the Academy since not many 1990s vintages have produced Oscar nominees yet. People born in 1996 are turning 25 this year but already this vintage has somehow produced FIVE Oscar nominees: Maria Bakalova (nominated this year for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea), Florence Pugh (Little Women), and Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit). Do you think any of them will snag nomination #2 soon?

After the jump we've chosen the six actors "most likely to" follow them to Oscar glory. That said we know that Hollywood is always on the lookout for fresh faces and the next Oscar nominee born in 1996 could well be some unknown who hasn't even landed their first role yet. Who would you bank on from this list or the "alternates"? And what kind of a situation or role do you think it will take? 

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FYC: Best Ensemble

by Nathaniel R

SAG has a lot of choices for "Outstanding Cast" but will they choose well?

SAG and GLOBE and BFCA members are all voting right now or very soon for their nominations for the 2020 film year. This is as good a time as any then, to do FYCs that also serve as my own ballot in the first wave of the annual Film Bitch Awards. SAG and I don't often see eye to eye in terms of "Outstanding Cast". For my own "Ensemble" Award I tend to think of it as interplay and chemistry between actors. A  perfect ensemble has all performers operating on a high level and doing so together, so group scenes are far more important than a series of one-on-one encounters.

For instance, I wouldn't nominate Promising Young Woman for an Ensemble award even though it has a large talented cast because there's almost no group acting. Each scene is essentially Carey Mulligan versus  _____...

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