The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
Last night I had the wildest dream (with spoilers). Baz Luhrmann had delivered a Moulin Rouge! remake with vampire characters set in the world of F Scott's Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby". No matter what happened to the characters -- whether they were shot, or run down by custom cars, or what have you -- they just kept getting back up good as new like genetically modified super soldiers or like, well, vampires.
One should never say that 'this = that', emphatically, with dreams since they're often inscrutable but the last three movies I watched were Kiss of the Damned, Iron Man Three and The Great Gatsby so perhaps this nightmare was inevitable.
When I woke up I knew it was only a dream... except for the part about Baz sucking Moulin Rouge!'s blood.
We're getting to know the Film Experience community. Today we're talking to Joey from Pittsburgh. He's currently performing in Godspell on stage. If you're in Pittsburgh there's two more shows this weekend.
When did you start reading The Film Experience?
Around the time that Far From Heaven was released in theaters. I was realizing that Julianne Moore was my favorite actress, so your blog was mecca when I was in college. I love the site because it doesn't just celebrate movies, but it helped me realize that movies can be bad with something great in them (and vice versa).
What's your earliest movie memory? JOEY: The earliest memory I have is when my Dad took me to go see Beauty and the Beast. I remember playing around outside, and he asked if I wanted to go. I didn't actually answer his question, because I got so excited and just got into the back seat of the car and buckled myself in. The music floored me, and I wanted all of the household objects in my house to come to life.
What's your moviegoing diet like in a year?
JOEY: I see more movies in theaters than I do on demand or RedBox. My dad and I would always go on Saturdays and see at least two (the day we saw Gangs of New York, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and Two Weeks Notice was a long day) When I worked at a movie theater, we had a competition to see who could see the most movies in the theater, and I was always the biggest bitch and killed everyone else. When I was really trying to see everything just to see everything I saw 191. It's calmed down considerably, but I will see anything.
What's the last movie you watched?
Stoker. I never want to have Park Chan-wook direct the story of my life, because it was just be so terrifying. It would be gorgeous and edited nicely, but it would scare the crap out of me. Also, I didn't realize how well Nicole Kidman was aging until I saw it. I kept leaning over to my friend and whispering compliments to her, "She's gorgeous...I love her hair...she's soooo beautiful..."
La Pfeiffer was so robbed in 2002Take an Oscar away from someone. Give it to someone else.
Can I give a nomination away instead? Take Queen Latifah's nomination from Chicago and give it to Michelle Pfeiffer for White Oleander. Pfeiffer was running circles around everyone else, and she could freeze me with that icy stare any day. I get stupidly angry over a lot of Oscar winners, so if I had to pick an actual winner, I would take away Jennifer Lawrence's and give it to Emmanuelle Riva. I mean...COME...ON!!!
I understand you love musicals and you're a singer/actor. What are your favorites or favorite roles.
Sweeney Todd because, well, it's Sweeney Todd. I've had the pleasure of playing both Tobias and, more recently, Anthony. It lead to two completely different experiences, and I treasure them both. I have three dream roles at the moment (they change every time my iPod changes). I want to be Gabe in Next to Normal, because that show DESTROYS me every time I listen to it. I need to hit the gym before I even consider auditioning for it. Gordo in A New Brain is something I have wanted to play for years, but no one ever does it. I also want to be Jamie in The Last Five Years someday. His songs are so great, but his last one (where you find out he was unfaithful) is my favorite because it shatters his likability right then and there. I can imagine that is just a treat for actors to play.
Godspell commercial with Joey in the cast / NPH doing Sweeney Todd's "Tobias" role in concert
When I was a theater student in college, I was always told I could a lot with my voice, but I am really short and I look like a child. It's a weird dynamic, I guess.
I also love The Wild Party. Both versions.
There should be a movie! The Wild Party (LaChiusa version) is the only imaginary movie I ever obsessed over directing even though I'm not a director. But I interrupted you. One more favorite?
Moulin Rouge! because I'm human and that movie makes me openly weep. I could be at the most professional event of my life and if someone says "Satine dies at the end" I would just ugly cry the entire way home.
In our ongoing 'get to know The Film Experience community' project, here's another Reader Spotlight. This time we're talking to Tony who grew up overseas and now lives in Texas. He sent me the nicest note once about the site that really cheered me up on a down day.
What's your first movie memory?
TONY: I spent my entire childhood watching Disney movies. It was literally everything I did when I wasn't in school. They were mostly dubbed in French so it was a little bit of a revelation to rediscover them in English when I grew up. But my very first movie memory that I can recall semi-vividly is watching The Beauty and the Beast with my cousins. I was so captivated that I had to move to a different row in the movie theatre to sit away from my cousins because they were distracting me so much.
I love it. A well behaved moviegoer from the start! When did you start reading The Film Experience?
TONY: When Nathaniel was drunk on Moulin Rouge! I must have found the site by trying to read everything related to the movie. That movie was and still is a dizzying experience. I was hooked on "Film Bitch" at the time. Checked the website every day. I was in Lebanon at the time. No one around me knew what I was talking about which made it all the better!
Three favorite actresses?
I have a very open mind about actresses. Almost any actress can win my heart with the right role. Nicole Kidman is my absolute favorite, though. Ironically my first memory of her is Batman Forever. I thought she was the perfect woman! Moulin Rouge! came and sealed the deal. I can't think of anyone else who combines the same amount of talent, style and courage. The choices she makes are quite admirable even when they don't pay off and auteurs are lucky to have her. Isabelle Huppert is another favorite of mine. Such a powerful presence. Her words always manage to cut through the screen. Third is probably Cate Blanchett. I miss her!
Take one Oscar away. Regift it.
I think the oscars are like a time capsule. It's always fun to go back and contemplate what the Academy chose to reward in a given year and for what reason. And for that I usually don't talk about stolen oscars. But if forced to choose I would take away The King's Speech's oscar and give it to The Social Network. I thought that was a bit embarassing. I mean the latter was clearly clearly the superior movie by any standard.
If you were in charge of Hollywood for a year...
I would greenlight all the cold political thrillers. Think Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Cerebral well acted well designed movies with great stories are my favorites. Also international movies. Like Babel but better.
Have you ever broken up with someone because of their taste in movies?
I don't know if I've broken up with someone because of their taste of movies yet but I definitely can see that happening! It's okay not to be a huge movie fan but it's not okay to be a huge fan of the wrong movies! I kid I kid BUT I can't promise that I won't secretly judge someone who declares The Life of David Gale one of their favorite movies (true story).
Have you heard that The Academy is going to honor the renaissance of the movie musical with tributes to Chicago, Dreamgirls and Les Miz during the ceremony on February 24th? I'm never been that big on amorphous "tributes" which usually come in the form of sloppy montages at the expense of time celebrating either specific grand careers (lifetime achievements) or actual nominees. And I can't quite see what the through line is between those three pictures (as opposed to any other modern musicals). But you know I love musicals. Still... this makes precious little sense to me, not when you have a decent current lineup of Original Song nominees you could focus on for once. And not when you're only focusing on three films, two of which had little to do with the musical genres resuscitation.
It's a Musical Diva Throwdown
Everyone knows (or should come to understand) that it was the one-two-three-four punch of Disney's resurrection (The Little Mermaid + Beauty & The Beast) + Dancer in the Dark + Moulin Rouge! + Hedwig and the Angry Inch from 1989-2001 that reopened the musical floodgates artistically and reminded everyone "ohmygod... look what this versatile genre can do!!!". Chicago (2002) then was the behemoth that came charging down that road that had been pre-paved for it by stronger films, despite how grandly entertaining it was, to claim the trophy for the whole genre.
At any rate the strangest exclusion from their planned tribute is surely Moulin Rouge! which had, if you'll recall, just as many nominations as both Les Miz and Dreamgirls (I guess 8 is the magic number for non-BP winning popular musicals), starred people who are still very much in the cultural conversation, and is already widely regarded as part of the new canon. That's something that none of the three films Oscar is planning to rehonor on the ceremony can quite claim... no, not even Chicago.
As if Nicole Kidman hadn't done enough for the mystique of elephants! Ten years ago in Moulin Rouge! (see previous posts) she famously lived, loved, and playfully sang on top of a giant bejewelled 'phant. Now she'll be interacting with the real thing on the silver screen. In early 2012 she'll be heading to Africa to film My Wild Life, a drama about the work of elephants advocate and conservationist Dame Daphne Sheldrick. Phillip Noyce (Salt, The Quiet American) will direct. Sheldrick's autobiography will be published in the spring and by this time next year (or thereabouts), if all goes according to plan, we'll see Nicole Kidman reenacting her adventures just in time fornext year's Oscar race.
We assume that the bulk of the film will take place between 1955 and 1976 when Sheldrick (who was in her 20s and 30s at the time) and her husband were the co-wardens of Kenya's Tsavo National Park. Sheldrick became an expert on rearing wild animals particularly elephants and rhinos. According to The Hollywood Reporter the film has been gestating for longer than elephants themselves do (22 months if you need to know) and in previous incarnations Julia Roberts and Kate Winslet were both interested in playing Sheldrick.
David and Daphe Sheldrick. No word yet on who will play David.I believe Sigourney Weaver was the last actress to get an animal husbandry biopic / Oscar nomination (Gorillas in the Mist, 1988)? It can't be too frequent an occurrence given that we don't see too many of those on the big screen. Even animal husbandry with super powers (Aquaman) never makes it to the big screen.
It occurs to me: the family Elephantidae must have secured good representation in Hollywood ten years back. Ever since Nicole & Ewan's "Elephant Love Medley" they've been getting bigger and bigger roles starting with key supporting parts in action movies (The Lord of the Rings and Ong Bank franchises). Lately they've taken to starring in documentaries (One Lucky Elephant - see previous post) and ampliying and romanticizing the charms of their leading ladies (Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love, Reese Witherspoon in Water For Elephants).
P.S. Here's a fun take on Moulin Rouge's "Elephant Love Medley" with the original songs dubbed in.
P.P.S. There really ought to have been a special Oscar for the song scoring / arranging / adaptation of Moulin Rouge!
Wednesday, May 8, 2013 at 10:01AM 
