Jessie Buckley and Eddie Redmayne win Olivier Awards

by Nathaniel R

Jessie Buckley & Eddie Redmayne at the Olivier Awards yesterday

On Sunday across the pond the West End's Olivier Awards were held at the Royal Albert Hall. Since Broadway and the West End are on different schedules despite cross pollination you can sometimes get clues as to what future shows might be big at the Tony Awards and which Broadway shows have transferred well to London. Regarding the latter, London got two high profile Broadway transfers this season, the 2011 Sutton Foster led revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes and the 2019 musical adapation of Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! both of which won multiple Tony Awards in their seasons. In stark contrast, they took only one prize each at the Oliviers. Disney's Frozen also lept across the pond but, just as it had in NYC, it received a few courtesy nominations but no wins.

The big Olivier winners were a new play based on the book/movie Life of Pi using actor operated puppets for the animals and yet another revival of Kander & Ebb's eternally thrilling Cabaret...

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What's next for this season's Oscar nominated actresses?

by Nathaniel R

Promotional image from The Good Nurse © Netflix

We already looked at what's next for 2021's most celebrated directors and actors so let's turn our attention to the actresses (our favourite topic on the regular). Whatever will they do for encores? Let's start with the winners...

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Who was best dressed? Supporting Actress Edition

Our Best Supporting Actress obsesssion manifests itself in our longest running series, the Smackdown. But we've already covered this season's battle. Kirsten Dunst won the Smackdown but it was Ariana DeBose who took the Oscar as expected? (Wasn't her speech beautiful?) Now who gets your vote for Best Supporting Actress Best Dressed? You know you want to vote! Comments welcome, too. Why'd you choose which gown? 

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Smackdown '21: Ariana, Aunjanue, Jessie, Judi, and Kirsten

Welcome back to the Supporting Actress Smackdown. Each month we pick an Oscar vintage to explore through the lens of actressing at the edges. This episode, kicking off a new season takes us back to... well, not back at all but to the current Oscar race which will be decided, officially, on March 27th. 

THE NOMINEES  Dame Judi Dench returns for an incredible 8th nomination while the rest of the field are first timers whether they're near the beginning of their film career (triple threat Ariana DeBose and dramatic powerhouse Jessie Buckley), deep inside it (character actress extraordinare Aunjanue Ellis) or, long past overdue for their first "shrimp" (movie star Kirsten Dunst).

THE PANELISTS: Here to talk about these five performances are (in alpha order) critics Rebecca Alter (Vulture), Cláudio Alves (The Film Experience) Sophia Ciminello (Oscar Wild), Ryan McQuade (Awards Watch / In Session Film),  and your host Nathaniel R.

 SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST  

LET'S BEGIN...

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"Introducing" The film debuts of your Best Supporting Actresses

by Nathaniel R

Aunjanue Ellis in her film debut, "Girls Town"

In the glitz and glamour of awards season it can be hard to remember that today's most celebrated performers were once just starry eyed hopefuls trying to land a movie role. For this four-part series, a look back at the films that launched each of our acting nominees, some more auspiciously than others. Because acting is a three medium art form (stage, tv, screen) we're sticking to their first feature film role to make it easier. Some of the nominees had acting gigs before landing their first film. We'll take them in chronological order of their debuts and share a screen shot of the very first credited moment on film.

We begin with Supporting Actress which we'll be discussing at length on the Smackdown this weekend. But first a look back at their very first roles...

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