Quick Chat: Tom Mizer (Marvelous Mrs Maisel), Emmy Nominee!

by Nathaniel R

Moore (far left) and Mizer (far right) with cast members from The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

If you're a faithful reader of TFE you know that we're fans of the songwriting duo "Mizer & Moore" who wrote the songs for this season of Marvelous Mrs Maisel. Tom, the lyricist half of the duo, recently served on the panel of our Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1947 and then guest blogged for a day here at TFE to tell us about his Maisel experience and other movie musical interests. Naturally we were thrilled when he snagged his first Emmy nomination and called him right up...

NATHANIEL: Congratulations. I am doing a little happy dance for you in my chair as I type away about the Emmys. We've on this journey with you, at least in spirit (socially distanced!) for so long now. Are you shocked? thrilled? humbled? already exhausted by well wishers? 

TOM: Thank you so much! Sharing just a bit of this madness with you and your smart, supportive readers has been a thrill given I’ve been reading The Film Experience forever. It’s surreal to be on the “other side”...

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Babs as director

by Cláudio Alves

Barbra Streisand is a powerhouse in every sense of the word. Her long career has encompassed many facets of show business, from night club singer to Broadway sensation, from Oscar-winning actress to successful producer, and so on. Considering we've been discussing 1991 for the past couple of weeks, it seems appropriate to consider Streisand's legacy, not as a music or movie star, but as a director. That was the year that she released one of her dream projects, The Prince of Tides, which was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture. Streisand, however, was left out of the directing lineup despite an aggressive campaign and much publicity. The snub stung and robbed Streisand of the honor of becoming the second woman to be nominated for that award, after Lina Wertmüller in the 1970s. 

Still, while it's difficult not to see AMPAS' decision as a blatant rebuke of Streisand as a director, one has to wonder if she'd have deserved the nod. After all, 1991 had a stellar, and historic, Best Director lineup...

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Remembering Howard Ashman

by Cláudio Alves

On the morning of February 19th, 1992, the nominations for the 64th Academy Awards were announced. As always, the last category to be revealed was that of Best Picture and, just as Best Director lineup had done, it brought with it a historical event. Disney's Beauty and the Beast became the first animated feature to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, a momentous achievement that was applauded by the audience of journalists. It was the only Best Picture nominee to receive such jubilant cheer and it's easy to see why. While some had predicted the cartoon's glorious haul of nominations, the long-lasting prejudices of AMPAS against animation made its success seem impossible. Thankfully, even the Academy can get over itself from time to time, and honor truly deserving cinema. Beauty and the Beast is certainly deserving, being a masterpiece of American animation, as well as one of Disney's crown jewels.

Unfortunately, not everyone involved with its triumph was able to bask in the glory of the Oscar nominations. One of the men most responsible for the wonder of Beauty and the Beast was long gone by the time of the announcement…

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"Here We Go Again..." on this very day two years ago!

Awww, it's Meryl loving on Cher in Mexico City on this exact day (July 17th) two years back... 

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On the rise, fall, and general chaos of "Hamilton" as an Oscar contender.

by Nathaniel R

Hamilton won 11 Tony Awards in 2016. Now some fans want that same production to win Oscars, too.Have you been following the story on Hamilton as an Oscar contender? It has not been easy to follow! As you all know, the Academy Awards are in chaos this year due to COVID-19. In addition to pushing the ceremony back and changing the calendar of eligibility, they'd previously announced a bending of their "must play in theaters for a week" rules to allow for streaming films that only MEANT to play in theaters. That loophole was meant to close again after the COVID crisis was over but once you've made a loophole that big, it usually grows in size. Now suddenly everything wants to be an Oscar contender. Or at least fans of everything want their favourite thing to be one. It's yet another reminder of the cultural dominance of the Oscars (despite cries of "irrelevant!" each season) that it's considered the "top" award.

The Oscar rule change about streaming eligibility was meant to make up for movie theaters being closed for months on end but it was always going to be problematic. Exactly how will the Academy enforce a "meant to" clause?

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