Pfeiffer Leaves Her House!

It's so rare we have to report on it every time. Yesterday Michelle Pfeiffer was on the arm of her husband David E Kelley attending the 23rd Television Hall of Fame Inductee Gala. 

Kelley was one of a handful of new inductees. He's not the TV force he once was with hit after hit on the air but he's behind the new Robin Williams / Sarah Michelle Gellar sitcom "The Crazy Ones". It used to be more common to see Pfeiffer at the Emmys than the Oscars due to being his plus one now for 20 years.

Congratulations to David E. Kelley on this well deserved honor. But Mr. Kelley, now that your schedule is lighter than it once was, your daughter is 19 and your son turns 18 this summer, can you please convince Mrs. Kelley to go back to work? Seriously what does she do with all her time? I can't fathom it. 

Interview: Joanna Scanlan on 'The Invisible Woman' and Working with Icons

Photo via Beige PlusThere's a wonderful little moment in Notes on a Scandal (2006) in which a well meaning but unwelcome teacher by the name of Sue Hodge advises her fellow schoolteachers (played by Dami Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett), who are struggling with their students to "concern yourself with the gems". I'm shamelessly borrowing that line right now to talk about the British actress who utters it, because she is one.

Joanna Scanlan co-wrote and starred in the BBC series Getting On (now enjoying an American remake) and has played witches, nurses, schoolteachers, and more yet she's largely unknown to American audiences. She's got her best cinematic showcase yet in The Invisible Woman as Catherine Dickens, the neglected depressed wife of the famous writer Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes). Her husband may neglect her and the Oscar conversation did, too (despite its ostensible purpose being to, well, concern itself with the gems) so we're picking up their slack.

She's remarkable in the movie and though the title does not literally refer to her character, we like to think it has a double meaning. The movie business is not a meritocracy but it there's any justice Joanna Scanlan won't be an 'invisible woman' much longer but will be popping up in more roles worthy of her. I eagerly telephoned her to discuss her role in this Oscar nominated picture (Best Costume Design) and her nifty habit of acting opposite true icons like Dench, Fiennes, Pfeiffer, and Blanchett. 

Our conversation is after the jump...

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Scorsese's Women. Scorsese's Best.

There are times when Margot Robbie's beauty feels so glossy and airbrushed in The Wolf of Wall Street that she feels almost CGIed in. But, as previously mentioned, Robbie seems to have shaken off whatever dullness once clung to that considerable if generic Barbie Doll beauty. Her Naomi LaPaglia is a hungry performance. It's not just Jordan Belfort that'll be opening the wallet and offering her everything, but Hollywood proper. Expect her to be rumored for every role in her age bracket in 3...2...1...

Scorsese has a long history of vivid supporting women in his movies. And yet, the women in his movies trouble me. They often pop but that isn't necessarily a tough assignment for a beautiful woman to clear, especially when she's the sole woman in a sea of somewhat interchangeable men, the men often playing variations on the same type within their rigidly masculine conformist communities.

Which is to say that Scorsese's films are never about the woman even when they're inordinately feminine (The Age of Innocence). Perhaps Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is a glorious exception but couldn't it be argued that that fluke sprung from Scorsese's obsession with film genres (let's try a 'woman's picture' this time) more than anything else? [more...]

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Why Michelle Pfeiffer Probably Won't and Probably Shouldn't Do "American Horror Story"

I've mentioned this topic in the comments but enough people are interested that I should sound off in a more official capacity. Recently, given that most people know that Jessica Lange plans to depart after Season 4, Ryan Murphy has started dropping casting wishlists for future seasons of American Horror Story. He name-checked both Reese Witherspoon (errr...okay?) and Michelle Pfeiffer (duh!). Pfeiffer is, of course, the most logical choice with which to fill the imposing vacuum that will be Lange's absence as the anthology's resident grande dame guignol. Like Lange, she's a huge respected talent from the 80s (formative years for Murphy) who can really tear it up onscreen but who today's younger TV-watching legions might still feel a certain "discovery" mania about since she hasn't been properly utilized in years.

There's only three problems.

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Starring Angelina Jolie as... Michelle Pfeiffer?

Glenn here. Tell me I am not the only one who looked at this poster for Maleficent featuring Angelina Jolie clad entirely in deep, dark black and saw, rather, Michelle Pfeiffer. Every time I glance at the poster I see Pfeiffer, not Jolie. Is my mind playing tricks on me since, duh, I want Michelle Pfeiffer in everything? Or have they deliberately made Jolie look like her? Or am I just insane?

No matter who it stars, I'm excited to see Maleficent in cinemas in 2014. Are you? Nothing about Jolie's uber-diva pose on this poster is making me question the quality. If anything, it's giving the film a reputation within me that it can't possibly reach. In other words: I'm loving the poster. If nothing else at least Angie will look fabulous, and maybe Anne B. Sheppard will get a third Oscar nomination she (surprisingly?) didn't get for Inglourious Basterds. We're keeping an eye out!