Beauty Break: Carol Spier & Cronenberg

by Cláudio Alves

As far as I'm concerned, EXISTENZ has Oscar-worthy production design.

Over the years, David Cronenberg has unleashed unimaginable visions onto the big screen, stretching the limits of body horror along the way. In the week the underrated eXistenZ celebrates its 25th anniversary, I was reminded of one name that should be nearly as recognized as that of the Canadian director. After all, Cronenbergian wouldn't be the same without the contributions of Carol Spier, his hard-working production designer whose mind has birthed such sights as Videodrome's flesh-like walls and the ruined tomorrow in Crimes of the Future. This year, the duo's new collaboration, The Shrouds, will premiere at Cannes in the official competition. Maybe Spier could even take the festival's Technical Grand Prize. It'd be a nice change of pace since, despite her genius, the artist has rarely been recognized by awards voters.

With all this in mind, let's recall some of Carol Spier's greatest creations for Cronenberg's nightmare cinema. Here are ten highlights from their shared filmography and where to watch them…

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11th Annual Team Experience Award - WINNERS

From the team…

The team is just as obsessed with Lydia Tár as she is of herself.
Preferential balloting can do crazy things. It was neck and neck over the course of five rounds, with different films taking the lead at different moments. In the end, TÁR prevailed in the Best Picture race. Overall, the team of Film Experience writers decided to spread the wealth, rather than give Lydia Tár all the awards under the sun. In fact, this year’s Best Picture winner only won two other categories - Best Actress (tied) and Best Original Screenplay. Everything Everywhere All At Once also won three awards - Director, Supporting Actor and Film Editing.

Check out the rest of the winners after the jump...

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Oscar Volley: Best Makeup... or is it "Best Prosthetics"?

Team Experience will be discussing each Oscar category as we head into the precursors. Here's Nathaniel and Elisa to discuss Makeup... 

Colin Farrell and... Colin Farrell?

NATHANIEL: Elisa, let's start with a question: Do you think this category should be split into two: Best Makeup Effects AND Best Makeup and Hairstyling? As it stands now, the latter never gets a fair shake. If you do incredible things with glamour and character design but don't offer anything in the prosthetic department, chances are slim to none that you'll be nominated!

For example I think it's pretty clear that Elvis, The Batman, and The Whale will be competitive primarily because they each bury one key character in prosthetics until they're almost unrecognizable. But why? It always feels a bit like showing off. Why hire a famous actor to play a role if you don't actually want their famous face? This bugs me most in the case of The Batman but it might be because I relish looking at Colin Farrell's face... and if you're going to deny me that, don't promise me Colin 'Feckin' Farrell...

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Tweetweek, Rattle and Roll

Fun or thoughtful showbiz tweets curated for you since Social Media is too (understandably) depressing of late given the collapse of Democracy. But on that note, before we begin, two iconic women meeting this exact unsettling evil moment in time.

GET READY, GAYS. YOU’RE NEXT.

— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) June 24, 2022

pic.twitter.com/Kt4wYKanUG

— Lee Grant (@TheLeeGrant) June 24, 2022

More after the jump including Evan Rachel Wood, My Best Friend's Wedding, Barbie, Crimes of the Future, and Baz-driven Elvis Mania...

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a short Tweetweek distraction

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The final dance in Dirty Dancing, but they’re dancing to The Muppet Show theme tune. pic.twitter.com/ldfjmm5JoQ

— Amanda (@Pandamoanimum) May 17, 2022

Social media has been hellish lately in tune with a country that's rapidly falling apart. So we haven't been as active for sanity reasons though we share the outrage. So for this tweet roundup, happy/funny showbiz stuff only as a silly diversion to brighten your morning as the week begins anew. More after the jump obviously...

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