Introducing... The Supporting Actress Nominees of 1989

It's just a few days until the Smackdown of 1989. Have you voted yet? You've met our panel, now let's meet the Supporting Actress nominees we'll be discussing as they're introduced in their movies. If you hadn't yet seen the movie would you be expecting an Oscar nomination from their first scene? What do the scenes telegraph to the audience?

1 minute in Meet "Mrs Brown" (Brenda Fricker in My Left Foot)
We see Christy Brown's mother before we see Christy Brown (Daniel Day Lewis)... unless you count his eponymous appendage. But it's merely during the credit sequence so we only glean that she's the mum and that they're going somewhere special since she checks herself in the mirror. It doesn't take long to understand her importance. At the end of the first full scene we see a painting Christy made of her with a slow zoom that dissolves into flashback in a maternity ward - a mighty clue that she's absolutely central to the movie. 

A pink-loving bride and three more real characters after the jump

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Stage Door: Bullets Over Broadway

It's Tony season which means mucho theatergoing. Particularly if you've missed everything this year as I have. My first stop after that Estelle Parsons-free trip to The Velocity of Autumn was Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway and, if you can believe my luck, I got an understudy again. This time, though, it wasn't a big deal. Though the role was major ("Olive", the gangster's moll and terrible actress) I wasn't familiar with the actress playing her to begin with. And though the 1994 film won three deserved acting nominations this musical comedy's only nominated cast member is Nick Cordero who plays Cheech, the mob henchman who shows unexpected flair for dramaturgy.

Memories of the movie and pros & cons of the stage version after the jump...

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Thoughts I Had... Staring at the Poster for "Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical"

Glenn here. Remember when The Film Experience asked what "fictional art you want to experience"? The Broadway show from Woody Allen's 1994 classic Bullets Over Broadway was a definite favourite. The new stage adaptation directed by Susan Stroman will likely be the closest we will ever get, so I guess we should take a look at the new poster (or, at least, new to me).

•  Hopefully this is a bigger success for Stroman than the recently opened - and now recently closing - stage adaptation of Big Fish. Stroman also directed the immensely popular The Producers so this period is certainly in her wheelhouse.
• How much do you reckon the budgetary figure for "neon signs" is going to be on this production?
• I was unaware that Woody Allen himself was in charge of writing the adaptation. It should come as no surprise, however, that the music will not be original. That's a big shame I think since the Helen Sinclair (Dianne Wiest) and Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly) characters could especially have some fun original tunes written for them, don't you think?
• Purists will certainly like the use of songs from the "American Songbook" (a horrifying term) I am sure, especially the light of The Great Gatsby.
• I actually really like the poster. It's colourful and vibrant, plus bonus points for not alerting anybody to the fact that Zach Braff stars in the John Cusack role (image below via Braff's Twitter feed).

• As natural as it feels for Bullets Over Broadway to make the leap to the stage, I actually think other Allen titles could work just as well, if not better. They could certainly do some interesting things with The Purple Rose of Cairo (an actual cinema screen on stage that its cast walk in and out of? actors dressed and made up in black and white while everyone else is in color? use of the audience as part of the set?), and Melinda & Melinda could actually prove a fascinating tour de force for the right actor in the right adaptation. I would also be awfully surprised if nobody's figuring out how to make Midnight in Paris work since its rotating sets and eras would likely prove popular and brand recognised.
• If it's a hit, will we get a film adaptation? Who would possibly want to come up against Woody Allen in the comparison game? Stroman didn't fare too well in the screen adaptation of The Producers (I am a fan, though) so I doubt she would return to that well. Any suggestions? Speak up in the comments!

Monologue: Dianne Wiest x 2 in "Rabbit Hole"

As awards season gets into full swing The Film Experience will grow more Oscar focused by the week. I'm nowhere near as adept at prognostication as Nathaniel, but I reckoned it was as good a time as any to resuscitate one of our key features, the Monday Monologues. To make up for its absence, you get two quickies.

I was re-watching a few episodes of In Treatment last weekend and remembered how much I love Dianne Wiest. I’m sure you do, too. In a career of illustrious turns (including her duo Oscar wins) I’m turning my attention to one a little less feted, the supporting role of "Nat" in Rabbit Hole.

Rabbit Hole remains one of the most interesting curios in recent Oscar history. [more]

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Familiar Faces: Woody Allen's Cast Hierarchy

Several Woody Allen's ago we began a very short lived series called "Familiar Faces" in which I surveyed repeat usages of the same actors in a director's ouevre. The series was short lived because my god do you know how long each post took? Nevertheless, I'd love to revive it if I've ever afforded the budget or time and I thought with Blue Jasmine, Woody Allen's 43rd complete directorial feature, rocking it at the box office the time was ripe to revisit and republish with a few minor adjustments. If you see a half point trust that it's from Play It Again Sam which Woody wrote and starred in but did not direct or New York Stories which he directed only one segment of. One of the key factors in why I don't think Woody Allen films are as strong as they used to be is his weird shift from loyal employer to fickle star-gazer. Nowadways its rare for an actor to return to his filmography. 

Will Cate follow in other muse footsteps or is Blue Jasmine a one-off?

Take Blue Jasmine for example. The only performers with a previous Woody under his belt are Alec Baldwin who had the "pleasure" of playing an ill-defined role in To Rome With Love and (a long time ago) a small role in Alice and Ginger herself Sally Hawkins who previously appeared in Cassandra's Dream

Herewith my findings... from Mia through the Dian(n)es and on to the Scarletts 

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