Welcome the Academy's Class of 2018!

Chris here. It's that time of year again for Oscar to welcome its new members into the fold. And the class of 2018 is the largest batch of inductees ever: 928, ahead of last year's previous record of 774. Among the names you will find last year's nominees like Daniel Kaluuya, Timothée Chalamet, and The Big Sick's creative duo Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, as well as beloved folks awaiting that first nomination like Melanie Lynskey, Sean Baker, and Ann Dowd.

These invitees (remember, some people do decline to join) show further attempt to diversify the ranks of the Academy across all categories. Should all accept, the Academy membership for women and people of color will both increase towards last year's goal to double both by 2020. One exciting stat is that 9 branches feature more female invitees than male, including actors, documentary, and producers.

The full list is after the jump, so do share the names you are most excited to see! Here's the cast of Big Little Lies adorably celebrating Zoë Kravitz's invitation to kick off the excitement (but there's tons more adorable well-wishing on The Academy's Twitter page):

The cast of #BigLittleLies welcomes the our newest member invitees —including @ZoeKravitz—to the Academy. #WeAreTheAcademy pic.twitter.com/qooOqsnyTk

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) June 25, 2018

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Links!

film/tv
• Towleroad - I am so not an Andy Cohen fan but this game 'uncomfortably close' that gets Andrew Rannells and Matt Bomer nose-to-nose is... well, I'm here for it. It's also nice to learn that they both made excellent choices in their favorite movie ever.
• i09 fun illustrated poster of 80s movies. I'd ask you to see how many you recognize but if you know the 80s you'll know them all because the films represented (save arguably one) are fairly pop culture famous
• IndieWire -the new super in Incredibles 2 is very Kristen Stewart-esque
• AV Club -apparently ABC is really trying to come up with a way to continue Roseanne without Roseanne!
• Deadline report on the filming of Avatar 2 and Avatar 3. Zoe Saldana has already wrapped her part and James Cameron brags that Kate Winslet can hold her breath underwater for seven minutes. Hmmm. Is that even possible for humans? Really?
• Mirror - very odd report on Catherine Zeta-Jones bragging about her fortune and beauty. File under 'if you got it, flaunt it' I guess?

all Supers all the time
• FSR Captain Marvel will use female Turkish composer Pinar Toprak for the score. That's quite a surprise since her filmography to date is quite obscure with mostly low profile documentaries and TV movies but congratulations! I've never seen the series Krypton, her highest profile gig. If you do, how do you like the music?

• Coming Soon - Wonder Woman's sequel is called Wonder Woman 1984 and there are a few new photos. Love the brighter costume. Annoyed that Steve Trevor is back. No one ever stays dead in comic book films!
• ComicBook.com - Kevin Smith got Marvel screenwriters to say how they'd fix the DC Extended Universe of movies. Sound simple advice but I can't imagine DC is happy about the conversation.
• /Film a bit of info on Patrick Wilson's villain in Aquaman and why he was cast

offscreen
• Damian Alexander - insightful cartoon about the way boys are trained to devalue female protagonists. I relate so much because I loved heroines from the start but knew instinctively that that was 'weird'.

Smackdown '70 Companion Podcast Pt 2: "Five Easy Pieces" and "The Landlord"

Smackdown in 3 Parts
• The Write-Ups
• Podcast Companion Part 1
And now the conclusion!...

Pt 2 (39 minutes)
On the second half of the Supporting Actress Smackdown podcast we discuss Hal Ashby's debut film The Landlord (1970) starring Beau Bridges and Lee Grant. We theorize about why it's not more famous and what would have happened with the great African-American actress Diana Sands if she hadn't died so soon after the movie. We also make some time for the Best Picture nominee Five Easy Pieces and its abundance of actressing, not just Karen Black! 

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Thanks again to the panelists: Mark Blankenship, Dan Callahan, Denise Grayson, Lena Houst, and Bobby Rivers . Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Pt Two: The Landlord and Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Cannes "82 Women" protest on behalf of female filmmakers

by Nathaniel R

82 women walked the red carpet today at Cannes protesting the lack of female filmmakers represented at the festival over the years. The number 82 is the number of films directed by women that have been in the main competition lineup since Cannes began 71 years ago (3 of which are this year). All the famous talented women from this year's jury led by Cate Blanchett were there along with the Godmother of the French New Wave,  recent Honorary Oscar recipient AND nominee Agnes Varda. Blanchett and Varda gave the speech in English and French which went like so:

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Months of Meryl: Death Becomes Her (1992)

John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep. 

 

 #19 —Madeline Ashton, a past-her-prime Hollywood actress who goes to great lengths to preserve her good looks.

MATTHEW: Meryl Streep and her good friend Goldie Hawn once came very close to riding off a cliff together. During the early 1990s, the pair had been in search of a dual-star vehicle to appear in and were initially in contention to play the titular roles in Thelma & Louise, along with one-time possibilities Jodie Foster, Frances McDormand, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Hawn and Streep actively courted Pathé Entertainment’s former C.E.O. Alan Ladd, Jr. for the parts and even tossed around ideas for a happier alternate ending. (Streep, who would have played Louise, wanted Thelma to live.) Eventually, Streep’s schedule got in the way, while Ladd deemed Hawn an iffy fit for the project, clearing the way for Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon to take on the most popular parts of their careers...

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