Yes, No, Maybe So: "Mirror Mirror"

We've never really imagined visually acclaimed director Tarsem Singh as the Evil Queen type but the release of the trailer to his next flick Mirror Mirror (included at the bottom of this post) so quickly on the heels of Rupert Sanders Snow White and the Huntsmen trailer (previously discussed) changes that immediately. Suddenly it's remarkably easy -- nay required! -- to imagine Tarsem all fussy, bejewelled and panicky with sweat in front of his own magic mirror when it declares Snow White and the Hunstman the fairest of all new Snow White projects. That's admittedly a small 50/50 type achievement, but still... 

Breathe deeply and put The Fall on loop in your home theater, Tarsem! Movie magic is temperamental even for the most skilled visual magicians.

But it's time for our Yes, No, Maybe So breakdown. As we do in this series, let's start positive...

YES...

• As in The Social Network, Armie Hammer seems more than perfectly cast as upper crust... in this case upper upper crust as in the royal family, as in Prince Charming.
• Birch trees are pretty and there seem to be a lot of them in this movie.
• Lily C... Ju... the se... the cos...vi... oh fuck it, let's move on. 

NO...

"Snap!" to quote Thor on Nurse Jacket. 'We don't say that anymore."

• Julia Roberts used to be so great at comedy. But it might just be true that if you rest, you rust.
• That "I believe I believe I believe in love" musical number is strangely off putting. Was it the smug way Snow White already thinks she's the fairest of them all with her dance move? Was it the Bollywood influence without really committing to Bollywood?
• Why does the whole thing look lower budget than even the cheeztacular Once Upon a Time on television?
• Why does the sound drop out for each Julia Roberts moment like an awkward silent laugh track?
• Being banished to the woods isn't very scary when the woods look like the soundstage adjacent to the soundstage you were just banished from.
• Why is Nathan Lane in this?
• Why did they release a trailer when the images aren't color corrected and they didn't even fix the green screen backdrop in the "you're not as pathetic as I thought" scene?
• Why is the dialogue so anachronistically modern?
• Why is Julia shouting all of her lines. Wouldn't the highlighting and underlining of 50% of each sentence be enough for a line delivery?
• "Snow White? Snow Who? Snow Way" 
• I think instead of Seven Dwarves they've given us Seven Jar Jar Binkses. *shudder*
• No, Julia... I don't think there's a happy ending coming your way here.
• "Say Hello to My Little Friend" ... seriously? SERIOUSLY?!? What is this Shrek only without animation and with hoarier lame pop culture jokes? 

MAYBE SO...

• If you're going to risk being laughed at, by all means wear swan dresses! Really go for it. Should your swan be pooping out your leading lady instead of casually draped around her a la Björk? WHY NOT!? Go for it Eiko Ishioka! Your cuckoo bravery is inspiring. We love you. 
• The Fall is awesome and maybe it looked like shit at some point during production? 

The atrocity in full is embedded below... Are you a No, No or Maybe No? Sound off in the comments.

Cast This! All Black "Steel Magnolias"

Everyone is doing it... why shouldn't we? I caught the news on Twitter where everyone I follow (but particularly Joe & Mark) were sounding off about who they'd like to see in the just announced remake of Steel Magnolias (for Lifetime) which will use an all black cast. Since blacktresses and the unfortunate dearth of roles for them are one of our pet topics here at The Film Experience we can't really let this one go without a discussion.

Clockwise from top left: Hannah (Annelle), Maclaine (Ouiser), Parton (Truvy), Field (M'Lynn), Dukakis (Clairee), and Roberts (Shelby)

The original film, a big hit in 1989 that has had an infinite DVD shelf life with the gays, gave Julia Roberts her first Oscar nomination. It was another Oscar vehicle at the time for Sally Field, a star-laden adaptation of a hit play that opened in November, but the only thing Oscar ended up noticing was Julia Roberts all fresh faced and quivering ginormous lips. At the time Sally Field loved to lay claim to discovering Julia though it was the nascent superstar's fourth film to hit theaters.  

She's mine!

Yes, I saw it in theaters. Shut up. I know my 80s movie stories are totally aging me. It can't be helped! This will happen to some of you when they start remaking 90s and 00s movies like Total Recall and  Spider-M (oh wait. damn). The cast at the time was NOT listed alphabetically but had to deal with old fashioned 'whose the biggest star right now?' billing so it went like so...

• SALLY FIELD as "M'Lynn" the no nonsense mom who worries herself sick over her reckless life-loving diabetic daughter 
• DOLLY PARTON as "Truvy" the big haired big hearted owner of the beauty shop where the cast continually congregates.
• SHIRLEY MACLAINE as "Ouiser" the mean spirited wealthy brunt of many of the jokes 
• DARYL HANNAH as "Annelle" the bumbling beauty shop apprentice and born again Christian. 'Her personal troubles will not interfere with her ability to do good hair.'
• OLYMPIA DUKAKIS as "Clairee" Ouiser's wise-cracking bestie, also rich, but infinitely better-tempered.
• ...and JULIA ROBERTS as "Shelby" a fragile young bride who is desperate to have a normal life

The cast (sans Dukakis) at the NYC premiere in November 1989

So which black actresses would you cast in these roles?
EXTRA POINTS to anyone who manages to recast Tom Skeritt's and Dylan McDermott's parts, too. [Psssst. Shamelessly name dropping alert: Dylan McDermott was at that Hugo screening on Monday night, just 8 seats away from me!]
DOUBLE EXTRA POINTS to anyone who manages to recast it without using Viola Davis or Octavia Spencer who, trust, aren't going to be hurting for offers post The Help.
TRIPLE EXTRA POINTS to anyone who can do it using Steel Magnolia's formula at the time (4 previous Oscar nominees or winners, 2 absolute legends, 1 current sex symbol de-glammed and 1 newbie who is clearly on her way to major stardom)

Go!

Snow White and the Seven Links

Pfangirl looks at all the upcoming fairy tale reinvisionings onscreen. 
EW has first look photos at Tarsem Singh's Snow White movie with Armie Hammer, Julia Roberts and Lily Collins in looks that Project Runway would most certainly declare "too costumey"

Evil Queen Roberts and Prince Charming Hammer 

Glee This is a poor quality video (but the best I could find) of Harry Shum Jr (♥) doing "Cool" from West Side Story. This past Tuesday's episode was the best in some time and Season 3 seems to be returning to less processed sounding music, and more small town big talent dreaminess which made the very first episodes so charming.
Thelma Adams prefers Michael Fassbender buttoned up (A Dangerous Method) to Michael Fassbender well hung (Shame). Fun piece. Um, not Fassy's, her blot post I mean!  

⇚ Look, J Edgar has a real poster. I like it even though I also find it hideous (I blame my Gemini nature). Anyway, I'm heading out the door this moment to buy tickets to NYFF's special surprise screening. I fear that this will be the movie since they love Clint Eastwood like I love, oh, Almodóvar at NYFF... (One of their most embarrassing moments ever was when they famously thought Changeling a worthy festival entry while refusing Rachel Getting Married in 2008. Sorry, to bring it up again.... BYGONES!) Anyway... I'm hoping it's one of the two Spielbergs or Dragon Tattoo -- something Christmasy to justify the cash to see it early. But if I just blew cash on any November release that I can see in less than a month for free, I will boo-hoo. 

Towleroad Jay Brannan does Adele's "Someone Like You". Love the song. Love Brannan. 
Movie|Line did you know that there's a documentary on The Swell Season. Fans of Once (2007) should take note.
The Insider have you seen this funny clip of Evan Rachel Wood expressing her hipster cred (reference to Requiem for a Dream soundtrack is A+ Evan) before going gaga for Justin Beiber. Delightful... even though, ewww. 

'Training Day' Flashback & Double Oscar Wins

Ten years ago tomorrow, the bad cop / good cop drama Training Day debuted in theaters. It was a relatively inauspicious debut (for our purposes) in that, though the film was an instant hit, Oscar fanatics weren't really breathlessly awaiting its debut like it was a 'prestige picture' per se. The film surprised and wound up with two nominations for its leading actors, one in lead (Denzel Washington) and one in supporting (Ethan Hawke) because that's how Oscar do.

All it took was a couple of awesome soundbites and a sense that Denzel Washington was peaking as a movie star with that loss for Malcolm X still a regularly discussed Academy embarrassment and *BOOM* Julia Roberts was all

I love my life!"

.... and it was Oscar Number Two for Denzel!

Were you watching? 

King Kong ain't got shit on him.

Oscar #2 let Denzel into the slim ranks of actors with two competitive gold men. Here's the complete list in the order it occurred (because I like to make things difficult for myself).

1. Luise Rainer (The Great Ziegfeld and The Good Earth 1936-1937) 
2. Bette Davis (Dangerous and Jezebel 1935-1938)
3. Walter Brennan (Come and Get It and Kentucky 1936-1938) *
4. Spencer Tracy (Captains Courageous and Boys Town 1937-1938)
5. Fredric March (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The Best Years of Our Lives 1931/32-1946)
6. Olivia deHavilland (To Each His Own and The Heiress 1946-1949)
7. Vivien Leigh (Gone With the Wind and Streetcar Named Desire 1939-1951)
8. Gary Cooper (Sergeant York and High Noon 1941-1952)
9. Anthony Quinn (Viva Zapata! and Lust for Life 1952-1956)
10. Ingrid Bergman (Gaslight and Anastasia 1944-1956) *
11. Peter Ustinov (Spartacus and Topkapi 1960-1964)
12. Shelley Winters (Diary of Anne Frank and A Patch of Blue 1959-1965)
13. Elizabeth Taylor (BUtterfield 8 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf 1960-1966) 
14. Katharine Hepburn (Morning Glory and Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? 1932/33-1967) *
15. Helen Hayes (The Sin of Madelon Claudet and  Airport 1931/32 -1970)
16. Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront and The Godfather 1954-1972)
17. Glenda Jackson (Women in Love and  A Touch of Class 1970-1973)
18. Jack Lemmon (Mister Roberts and Save the Tiger 1955-1973)
19. Jason Robards (All the President's Men and Julia 1976-1977)
20. Jane Fonda (Klute and Coming Home 1971-1978)
21. Maggie Smith (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and California Suite 1969-1978)
22. Melvyn Douglas (Hud and Being There 1963-1979)
23. Robert DeNiro (The Godfather Part II and Raging Bull 1974-1980)
24. Meryl Streep (Kramer vs. Kramer and Sophie's Choice 1979-1982)
25. Jack Nicholson (One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and Terms of Endearment 1975-1983) *
26. Sally Field (Norma Rae and Places in the Heart 1979-1984)
27. Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs. Kramer and Rainman 1979-1988)
28. Jodie Foster (The Accused and Silence of the Lambs 1988-1991)
29. Gene Hackman (The French Connection and Unforgiven 1971-1992)
30. Dianne Wiest (Hannah and Her Sisters and Bullets Over Broadway 1986-1994)
31. Jessica Lange (Tootsie and Blue Sky 1982-1994)
32. Tom Hanks (Philadelphia and Forrest Gump 1993-1994)
33. Michael Caine (Hannah and Her Sisters and Cider House Rules 1986-1999)
34. Kevin Spacey (Usual Suspects and American Beauty 1995-1999)
35. Denzel Washington (Glory and Training Day 1989-2001)
36. Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby 1999-2004)
37. Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot and There Will Be Blood 1989-2007)
38. Sean Penn (Mystic River and Milk 2003-2008)

* They won again after this for a total of 3 Oscars (except Hepburn the all time leader with 4 competitive acting wins)

The thing I find most interesting about seeing them all together like this is that it instantly reveals that if someone is going to win a second Oscar it usually happens quickly after the first... 3 to 6 years being common. (which immediately makes you wonder about people by the name of Helen Mirren, Marion Cotillard, Javier Bardem and Kate Winslet). The list also shows us that the late 1930s were just brutal for actresses whose names weren't Bette or Luise, that the 1970s were the most friendly towards previous winners and that 1938 and 1994 are strange anomalies, years in which three of the four Oscar winners had already won gold. It's only so long before we have a year with all four since there's a first time for everything.

Third time acting wins have only happened in 1940, 1968, 1974 & 1997

Only four people have ever won more than two acting Oscars and the last to join the club was Jack Nicholson in 1997 for As Good As It Gets. The universe assumes that Meryl Streep will be the fifth, but will she? Quite a few two-timers are still working.

Answer Me These Questions Three

1. Which three double winners did you find most deserving of both?
2. Which three would you immediately remove if you had a time machine?
3. Who do you think is joining the two-timer ranks next? 

Ryan Murphy's "Normal Heart"

Looks like it'll be television giant Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck, Glee) in the directing chair for the first film version of Larry Kramer's AIDS drama The Normal Heart. That righteously angry 80s play, which has long flummoxed would be adapters (most famously Barbra Streisand), was all the rage on Broadway this past season during its revival (I was less impressed than most but boy did the Tonys love it).

According to Playbill Murphy is planning on going with Mark Ruffalo in the lead role of Ned Weeks and wants his Eat Pray Love diva Julia Roberts in the awards-magnet supporting part of "Doctor Death". That part won Ellen Barkin the Tony and throat pains (we're guessing. It's very shouty!) but apparently not enough renewed career heat to get her an offer for the film version. Between this role and "Barbara" the eldest daughter in August: Osage County Julia seems to cornered the market on famously angry/exhausted stage-to-screen female roles. 

But before we scream "Oscars all around in February 2013!", it's wise to remember (always) that that stage-to-screen teleportation magic is an eternally difficult trick to master. Murphy is enjoying great success with Glee but both of his films thus far, Eat Pray Love (2010) or Running With Scissors (2006), have had mixed results critically and at the box office. One of the dangers of success is that artists get spread very thin and that could obviously be a problem here with Glee still going strong despite its own occasional  "spread to thin" feel.

on the set of Eat Pray Love

But we wish him good luck. He was once the president of a Meryl Streep fan club ferchrissakes. And though I couldn't find the copy that interview that Playbill is quoting he supposedly recently expressed regret that he had to turn down writing the Annie remake meant for Willow Smith, saying: 

So now she's got Emma Thompson who is 50 million times better than me. LOVE HER.

So, see? Murphy really loves actresses and musicals. The Film Experience officially has no choice but to root for him.