Live-Blog: Oscar Bound Actress Roundtable

We've been waiting for this full video of The Hollywood Reporter's Actress Roundtable for weeks (included at bottom of this post). Last year we had fun live-blogging / discussing it, so... "again!".

This year THR assembled from left to right in couch seating: best actress hopefuls Viola Davis, Charlize Theron, Glenn Close, Michelle Williams and best supporting actress hopefuls Octavia Spencer and Carey Mulligan. The directors (we're still waiting on their full video) were on stools. Is this a subconcious move on THR's part? Putting directors on pedestals and actresses on a (casting) couch where they have to worry about how they cross and uncross their bare legs? 

00:01 Damn, starting with a toughie, asking them about performances of their own they were disappointed in. Let's watch the actresses dodge the question! This one goes to Octavia who has the least amount of work to watch, career-wise. She doesn't. She actually sounds kind of grumpy.

02:30 Michelle Williams says she watches some of her work. Naturally she won't name names but implies that she doesn't watch it if she thinks it's not going to be good. Hmmm. When is Michelle not good? But claims she's never had a bad relationship with a character.

I like being directed. I like not being in charge.

And then a cute bit about finally learning to use her computer to research Marilyn. Apparently YouTube helped that performance along. It's not just for bad karaoke and funny cat videos!

06:00 Carey Mulligan describe her Shame character as "kind of a mess..." admits she didn't do much research beyond the very basics of why cutters hurt themselves. Says that self-destructiveness of characters does not bother her off the set.

No, no, no. It's nice. It's quite cathartic; have a good cry, have a good scream, then go home and go to bed.

We love this but it probably won't win her ballot points. Don't they want to think you suffered for it?

08:00 A question about back story as follow up. Of course. Why does everyone need to know everything about backstory all the time. This make-a me crazy. If Tim Burton had made Shame, there would have been a half hour long gothic flashback to describe exactly what happened to the Shame siblings when they were precocious but gloomy kids. Who needs it? You're supposed to engage with movies and interpret them... not have them happen at you like brick walls with cemented feeling.

Carey is so cute as she struggles with this question though. She also has a laugh when talking about how much she fears taking her clothes off to be "sexy". That said, she didn't have trouble with the nudity after absorbing the character -- Steve McQueen had her look at the photography of Francesca Woodman -- and understanding her as someone "who wants to be seen."

10:50 Charlize has a potty mouth.

 ...which makes Octavia laugh. In trying to recover from dropping the F bomb Charlize then says "oh shit. sorry." LOL.

Charlize's sexual education, Viola Davis's lips and Glenn Close's eyes after the jump

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Q&A: Ryan's Harem, a SMG Triplet, & Streep/Close Duet.

Because I am super late in this week's (er.. last week's Q&A column) I'm answering more questions than usual. So let's get right to it. 

Ed: After Michelle Williams and Evan Rachel Wood, which actress under 30 would you love to see Ryan Gosling falling in love in the big screen?

I've been joking with friends (offscreen) that Ryan Gosling has basically made it his goal to bang every hot future Oscar winner in Hollywood (onscreen): Rachel, Evan, Kiki, Michelle, Carey, Emma. He's the envy of every straight and/or actressexual moviegoer out there. So pretty soon he'll have to get around to ANNE HATHAWAY, right? I'd be interested to see what he'd be like paired with Andrea Riseborough, Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood), and... Oooh... totally random also small screen that needs to be bigger: Katee Sackhoff! She's 31 (Ryan's age) but she never gets good roles despite so much screen presence and I'm imagining that they'd completely burn holes in the celluloid if paired. (Unless they were shot digitally of course.)

Andrew K: I've seen you mention, in passing, that X actor should campaign in leading instead of supporting and although you're usually referring to the despicable nature of category fraud I'm curious as to whether or not you consider a Leading Oscar superior to a Supporting One.

I do not. And I don't think anyone else would either if it wasn't so often used as a demotion just to get a nomination or statue for the big stars. But the combination of egregious widely-accepted category fraud, the use of supporting statues to honor novelty acts or entire movies instead of performances (you all know what I'm talking about)  and the natural human tendency to think being a movie star (i.e. lead) is better than being a character actor (i.e. supporting) have only strengthened this belief that a supporting Oscar is an inferior prize. An Oscar is an Oscar if you ask me.

Julian: Christina Ricci, under-rated or over-rated? 

Depends on who you're talking to. I'd say early Christina is underrated and contemporary Christina is overrated. I mean it when I say she should have three Oscar nominations already: Addams Family Values (1993 -- not joking), The Ice Storm (1997) and The Opposite of Sex (1998). She's still totally watchable and charismatic but there's some missing ingredient lately. Black Snake Moan seemed like such an ideal opportunity to wow again but she didn't quite elevate it. In Pan Am she just seems like window dresssing. Adorable and pretty and funny window dressing yes... but not much more. It seems weird to hire her and then give all the good storylines to the lesser known actresses in that show? 

Daniel: What´s your favorite musical? And song in a musical?

My favorite musical is West Side Story which had its 50th anniversary this weekend and I was so stressed out I forgot to celebrate it godddddddamnit. I've long thought about doing a top ten favorite song performances in musicals but I'm not sure I'd ever be able to narrow it down. It depends on the mood...

favored songs, TV soaps, and a Streep/Close switcheroo after the jump.

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Yes, No, Maybe So: "Albert Nobbs"

It's our tradition here at the Film Experience to manage our expectations for new movies by forcing ourselves into yes, no, maybe so breakdowns of trailers. Since we're obviously a yes on Albert Nobbs  --"Glenn Close is not going to be ignored, Fan"-- for reasons of genesis, Oscar, LGBT loyalty, and its Glennderful nature and since we've talked about the movie enough without yet seeing it, let's do things differently. This Trailer begs for a different sort of compartmentalization. It's almost like a trailer in four acts. Is it purposefully channelling its own internal identity crisis?

They had personal trainers in 19th century? Aaron Johnson is comfortable naked...

It starts out like a frothy period comedy 0:01-0:41 (oh haha!. Remember how much you love Downton Abbey and Gosford Park?!)

Glenn isn't nearly as willing to take her clothes off!

...moves into identity crisis drama 0:42-1:12 (Mr. Albert Nobbs is actually a woman named 5 time Oscar nominee Glenn Close and Mr. Hubert Page is actually a woman named Oscar nominee Janet McTeer!)

Jane Eyre clearly thinks Rochester's a better kisser than Nobbs.

...and then tips over the edge into total chaos 1:13-2:09 like it's an uncomfortable mashup between a dreamy sentimental An American Tail style musical immigrant drama (Sinead O'Connor lullaby!) and Yentl style dramedy of convenient marriages turned totally inconvenient (!) 

... before settling into its rightful place as a For Your Consideration Oscar Ad 2:10-2:30 intended to win Glenn Close that Oscar she deserved back in 1982 (The World According to Garp), 1987 (Fatal Attraction) or 1988 (Dangerous Liaisons) or all three times depending on your point of view.

the full trailer...

How would you describe your desire to see it now?

poll by twiigs.com

How about its Oscar chances in multiple categories? 
I'm currently thinking...  

Yes - Actress (Close), Supporting Actress (McTeer)
Maybe So - a fighting longshot chance at  "Original Song", Costumes, Adapted Screenplay (this would be another way to honor Glenn Close if they're really feeling it since she co-wrote), and Art Direction.
No - Everything else. 

Spielberg Buried In Gold

Remember a couple of weeks ago when we noted how crowded the Lifetime Achievement field is getting already for 2011? Well, add another huge name to the list:  Steven Spielberg, who already has three Oscars, a Thalberg, 3 Golden Globes and a Cecil B DeMille, 4 Bafta honors of varying sorts, 2 NBR honors, an honorary Cesar, 11 Emmys of different types, 3 DGAs and a lifetime achievement, at least 1 award from every critics organization, and dozens upon dozens of other prizes will be adding to his trophy collection in January. He will be honored by the Producers Guild of America with the David O. Selznick award on Saturday January 21st, 2012 three days before the Oscar nominations are announced. (Just in case War Horse isn't Oscar worthy?)

This will be the 8th time Spielberg has been feted by the PGA. He's won 4 times competively and received 3 additional special honors from that guild. If you melt down all his statues to form one big one how big would it be? Bigger than a mechanical shark named Bruce that's for sure! Maybe even bigger than a T-Rex?

In other lifetime achievement style honors...
We forgot to mention that Glenn Close's first tribute of 2011 (we're betting more will follow) happened over Emmy weekend at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

She looks happy.

Little known fact: All gold plated statues contain gooey centers filled with endorphin rushes, chocolate, and melatonin.

TIFF: Ludivigne, Fassy and Glenn

Paolo again. Despite some minor screw-ups and nervous breakdowns, here I am to report on TIFF Day 4, which brought more polished kind of movies than the ones that I've seen in the past three days.

I saw Christopher Honore's Beloved as a recommendation by the TIFF Twitter account because I said that my two favourite movies were A Streetcar Named Desire and Do the Right Thing. Now I wonder what they would have said if I wrote that my top two are The Conformist and The Big Sleep.

Beloved begins with a sequence of a Roger Vivier boutique where its customers try out the heels that the shop sells. Different colours, skins, anything a girl wants. A young shop employee named Madeleine (Ludivigne Sagnier, recently interviewed right here) steals a pair and by wearing it she's mistaken for a prostitute. That's only one of the things that are difficult to swallow here, prostitution treated as something that Madeleine can get in and out of. Also incredulous is her daughter Vera (Chiara Mastroianni) turning a gay man (Paul Schenider) straight, the opposite of what happens in Honore's Love Songs where a straight man turns gay. Honore  tackles the fluidity of human sexuality in his films, as characters deal with being guilty of or the victims of infidelity. It's very open to, say, the Freudian nature of love where parents see their lovers within their children. Madeleine embodies that ambivalence and, since this is an Honore film, she occasionally sings these issues out.

The joke, of course, is that the adult version of Madeleine has to played by Mastroianni's real life mother, Catherine Deneuve and thus the younger Madeleine has to copy the older actress's younger self. The scenes set in 1964 make the comparison slightly unconvincing, but the non-linear film fast forwards into the late 70's to better results. It's scary how Sagnier nails Deneuve's essence, and it's not just the former's hair doing all the work. There's this snark that both have, this sexy cynicism that mirrors one with the other. Now if anyone can explain to me what the Prague Spring and 9/11 really have to do with these women's love lives...

Now there's my favourite movie forever this day, Steve McQueen's Shame. His previous work Hunger succeeds in making its audience marvel at his aesthetics in those film's first few minutes. Shame doesn't do this (at first) making the shots and the characters' actions within the frame more cyclical. It almost scares us into thinking that the movie will just be protagonist Brandon (Michael Fassbender) waking up and ignoring his sister Sissy's (Carey Mulligan) needy voice messages for a hundred or so minutes.

It's not until the entrance of the supporting cast that the film is humanized. Shame & Albert Nobbs after the jump.

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