Reader Spotlight: Morgan in New Zealand

We're getting to know The Film Experience community one-by-one. Today we're talking to Morgan Borthwick from New Zealand. We've never been but it's on our brains due to Jane Campion's stunning miniseries "Top of the Lake". Here's Morgan.

Hi, Morgan. Do you love Jane Campion? (Please note: There is only one correct answer to this question)

MORGAN: Of course! She understands film is as much art as it is storytelling and I could rhapsodise all day about her many gifts.  As a director, I love what she does with her actresses, particularly Barbara Hershey who is beyond superlatives in Portrait of a Lady, Abby Cornish in Bright Star and Elizabeth Moss in Top of the Lake, making me forget Peggy of Mad Men ever existed. She should have two best director nominations by now at least, but that's a gripe for another time about the academy and their "we've nominated you once, we don't need to do it again" mantra when it comes to women. See also: Kathryn Bigelow, but I digress!

Since you're from New Zealand, how annoyed do you get when people ask you about The Lord of the Rings tourist destinations?

MORGAN: Ha-ha, I should have known this question would pop up! I get super annoyed to be very honest, because although being a Kiwi (slang for New Zealander) and loving Peter Jackson, as law in NZ basically dictates, we're not just about that when it comes to films! Be excited about Peter and Frodo and bloody Gollum but we're the country that gave you Jane Campion, Anna Paquin, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Karl Urban, Temuera Morrison, Niki Caro, Sam Neale, Andrew Adamson, The River Queen, Heavenly Creatures, Boy, 2 Cars 1 Night,  Jane Campion, Emily Barclay, In My Father's Den, The World's Fastest Indian... and Jane Campion. If you haven't heard/seen these people or films, I encourage you to look them up! This is my moment to advertise the beauty and depth of the film industry in New Zealand - it is so much more than hobbits and elves. Next time, ask to see where The Piano was filmed or where the murder in Heavenly Creatures took place.

When did you start reading The Film Experience?

I started reading in 2006, aged 15! I was disappointed that Jennifer Hudson seemed to be winning everything when I thought Rinko Kikuchi and Adriana Barrazza in Babel deserved so much more for taking their parts and going beyond what the cliched script expected. But it wasn't until 2007 and the clusterf*ck that was BSA (my favourite category) that I became a regular, addicted reader and since then I check this site at least daily and get v upset when away/unable to. To me, its your passion that makes it so worthwhile, even if we disagree on the Zeéeeee!

Three Favorite Actresses?

Maggie Smith: The woman does her schtick for sure, she's got her stock characters but I'll never get tired of her doing the Maggie and every time I think she's just sleepwalking, i remember The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Othello and Capturing Mary and I remember the woman is one of the greats, despite her recent spate of snooty old dowagers (which are still so entertaining).

Nicole Kidman, of course. i caught her as an 8 year old in Eyes Wide Shut - it was in the video player, and I have been obsessed with her ever since. Through the ups and the downs, she's never apologised, never backed down and is the most fearless of them all. Truly, the Paperboy's snub this year brought tears to my eyes.

Then I don't know, Meryl, Michelle (Pfeiffer & Williams - yes) Kate and Cate all have honorary places along with Alfre and Tilda but third would have to be...

Anjelica Huston for so many things but her performance in 50/50 spoke to me like nothing else has in film for a while. She's so underrated, so rarely seen but that striking presence makes you wish she did even more and you can see why her three sons in the Darjeeling Limited were so hung up on her! Plus #theGriftersforever! 

Please don't hate me readers, there's so many more, but these would be the three whose films I endeavour to see with all my power. 

What was the last movie you watched before this interview?

Bachelorette finally last night! Brilliant, truly. Everything that Girls wants to be. Dark, funny, sad and Isla Fisher gets best in show in my opinion, her scenes in the pool really sold me on her talents as an actress.

Which recent movie would you like to live inside of? 

Can I say a movie that hasn't been released? Wouldn't we all love to live inside Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby? I mean, c'mon, that is a world waiting to be explored. And also, being a university student, I'd love to live in the world of Pitch Perfect because all they seem to do is sing, I swear, I wish my university life was that relaxed. Oh and I want Fat Amy as my new second best friend. After Jennifer Lawrence, of course. (as a friend, not an oscar winner, yes, I said it.)

previous reader spotlights

Reader Spotlight: Ferdi

This is Ferdi!

Editors' Note: It's Reader Appreciation Month -- which we'll extend into April since I've been slow to get going. We haven't interviewed readers in two years but here were the previously awesome boys and girls  (I shouldn't say "previously"... I'm sure they're all still awesome. Reading TFE makes you a smarter, funnier, hotter person - Scientific Fact!). New Reader Spotlights coming at you daily for two weeks before the series goes weekly! Hope you enjoy - Nathaniel 

Hi, Ferdi! what's your first movie memory?

FERDI: My first movie memory is in the very early 80's, a re-edition of 101 Dalmatians during the Easter Holidays. I went to the theatre with my parents. I don't think I understood very much of the plot, I was three or four, but I was absolutely thrilled and blown away by Cruella De Vil.

Who chould have known that was the beginning of my fascination with villains, dark ladies, stardom and powerful female characters?

When did you start reading The Film Experience?

FERDI: Back in 2002, I was eager to find everything I could on the web about Far From Heaven, The Hours and my increasing obsession with Julianne Moore and unending love for La Pfeiffer. And I found the best place where I could feed them, I suppose. I just stopped and said: "Oh my God, there's someone else on earth who loves them as much as (or even more than) me!". I'm a faithful reader since then.

Three Favorite Directors? Go!

FERDI: Very tough question. Ask me tomorrow and I will give you different names. But for now I must say: Jane Campion, for her unique feminine eye, the psychological depth of her characters and the mastery in combining form and content like only the greatest director can do; David Cronenberg for his poetics about bodily mutations and his spellbinding variations on horror and melodrama; And Stephen Frears, as my guilty pleasure. I just LOVE how he manages to bring out of his actresses their absolute best -- Glenn Close in Dangerous Liasons and Anjelica Huston in The Grifters are two of my personal heroines.

Campion, Cronenberg, and Frears

(Ok you just ask me three names, but if they were five I would have added Martin Scorsese and Todd Haynes.)

I love those answers but since you're Italian, aren't you obligated to say Federico Fellini?

FERDI: Of course I love the classics of Fellini and most of all Visconti, but I didn't grow up watching their movies. When I was a child I used to watch Alfred Hitchcock movies with my father. Then I began to go back to Italian cinema at University but even there I preferred to study Orson Welles and Billy Wilder more than De Sica or Antonioni. I don't think it's a kind of refusal of my inner roots... It's all about personal taste and building cultural references and dreaming and finding your own way to escape. And I found it in the American cinema.

Speaking of Hollywood then, final question. Take one Oscar away from someone, give it to someone else.

FERDI: I know I will sound unoriginal but it's the Halle Berry win for Monster's Ball. That year I would give it to Nicole Kidman for Moulin Rouge so that Julianne Moore can win the following year.

Previous Readers...

Holly Hunter on HuffPo Live

We've been waiting for twenty-years for Holly Hunter to return to Jane Campion's camera and it's finally happened. The Piano Oscar winner co-stars in Top of the Lake (2013) a miniseries that stars Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men).

She was interviewed on HuffPost Live today and though they ran out of time just as the question & answer period with the assembled writers began, I did win the luck of the draw with the first question... I wanted to know what she attributes that incredible psychic connection with co-stars to. She had it in The Piano without the use of dialogue and it was there in every breath and gesture of thirteen.

The interview is after the jump. 

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Sundance: Campion Takes On The Miniseries

Michael C. here. Just as I was calming down over the too-good-to-be-true Before Midnight buzz, news of the Sundance premiere of Jane Campion's Top of the Lake hit me and now I run the risk of anticipation overload. The Inside Llewyn Davis trailer didn't help either. 

Campion's six-hour miniseries premiered to strong reviews at the film festival this week on its way to a March run on the Sundance Channel. With Fincher’s House of Cards set to drop on Netflix February 1st  that makes two of our most important directors in as many months abandoning theaters in favor of the small screen. No longer is major Hollywood talent helming a miniseries limited to Mike Nichols Broadway adaptations and Tom Hanks indulging his twin obsessions of NASA and World War II. For now though, any lengthy trend pieces take a back seat to the headline that Top of the Lake sounds amazing. A must-see, especially for Campion fans. 

Perfect Oscar Happenings: when all three women of The Piano won OscarsIf the director reuniting with her The Piano star Holly Hunter isn't enough to get you excited she is also returning to film in her native New Zealand. Furthermore, the story of a detective returning home to investigate the disappearance of a child offers Elisabeth Moss the substantial leading role she richly deserves after being an ensemble MVP in everything from Mad Men to West Wing to a recent cameo in On the Road. Campion has a knack for getting career best work out of actresses, so this sounds like a very promising move for Moss. Peter Mullan, the fearsome star of Tyrannosaur, is also on hand.

We will see if the blurring of the lines between big screen and small turns out to be one of the overriding narratives of the film year. Whatever the case, between Campion and Fincher I expect that come year’s end many film critics will be trying to justify wedging a miniseries onto their top 10 lists.

Tues Top Ten: Me Blogger, You Janes.

Today is the anniversary of the first day of Lady Jane Grey's infamous reign as the Queen of England. "Infamous why?" you ask. On account of its length, see. Her days as Queen numbered only nine.

They made a movie of the short event in 1985 (Lady Jane) which is all but forgotten today. Maybe it shouldn't be since it starred baby faced rising stars Cary Elwes and the now resurgent Helena Bonham Carter. HBC quickly became the go-to actress of choice for directors who wanted a porcelain dress up doll for their costume pictures. And by directors I mean the great James Ivory.

So herewith a top ten top nine list in Lady Jane's and Helena's honor...

TOP NINE BEST "JANES"

With apologies to four time Oscar nominee Jane Alexander, Susan Sarandon's delightful Jane Spofford, Jane Lynch (before Glee), Fun with Dick and Jane, and Demi Moore's G.I. Jane, Thomas Jane, and Jane Goodall. I'm sure I forgot someone wonderful but that's what the comments are for.

09 Jane Wyman
I didn't really understand Wyman until I finally saw Magnificent Obsession (1954) in which she can't see. I highly recommend that you don't remind blind to it because what a good picture that is.

Judy Bernly: What did you call this again?
Violet Newstead: Mowie Wowie!
Judy: Well, I love it.
Violet: Primo. 

08 "Mary Jane"
Or as Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton like to call it "Maui Wowie." Recently while watching a terrible 80s movie, (not 9 to 5 which is great) The Boyfriend and I were discussing which drugs make good movies and which ruin them. And Mary Jane is clearly the winner. Case evidence: Robert Altman's filmography. In the 80s Hollywood was on cocaine and it shows. Not in a good way!

Seven more classic "Janes" after the jump!

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