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.)
News broke this morning that the Oscar ceremony will have two hosts this year. That's only happened twice in the 21st century, but it wasn't always James Franco / Anne Hathaway disastrous...
Alec Baldwin & Steve Martin hosted in The Hurt Locker's year
We can assume the announcement of two means they're already negotiating with a pair. It's not like Oscar to go for sloppy seconds and the last time they did (Neil Patrick Harris) it was a bomb. So don't expect the Golden Globe wonders Amy Poehler & Tina Fey. They'd be excellent but it would be shocking. Here are the previous Oscar ceremonies that used two hosts -- this isn't new as much as the internet is like "whoa, TWO!" this morning -- but it is relatively uncommon in modern Academy Award ceremonies. There have been twelve ceremonies with three to six hosts but let's ignore them because that's a lot of names to type. 11 of the 87 ceremonies have had 2 hosts.
Pre-Televised Ceremonies with 2 hosts 1st Oscars - Douglas Fairbanks & William C deMille (Wings) 5th Oscars - Lionel Barrymore & Conrad Nagel (Grand Hotel) 17th Oscars - Bob Hope & John Cromwell (Going My Way) 18th Oscars - Bob Hope & Jimmy Stewart (The Lost Weekend) 20th Oscars - Agnes Moorehead & Dick Powell (Gentleman's Agreement)
Televised Ceremonies with 2 hosts In the early days they had a side ceremony in NY so the two host system came in handy 25th Oscars - Bob Hope & Conrad Nagel (The Greatest Show on Earth) 26th Oscars - Donald O'Connor & Fredric March (From Here to Eternity) 27th Oscars - Bob Hope & Thelma Ritter (On the Waterfront) 29th Oscars - Jerry Lewis & Celeste Holm (Around the World in 80 Days)
The Opening of the 27th with Bob Hope in LA and Thelma Ritter in NYC From the mid 50s to the mid 00s it was either group hosting or just one host
82nd Oscars -Steve Martin & Alec Baldwin (The Hurt Locker) 83rd Oscars - James Franco & Anne Hathaway (The King's Speech)
Which twosome are you hoping for? Here are some other ideas... with absolutely no attention paid to what's actually plausible. Vote for your favorite!
Stuff has the cutest story ever: Stunt doubles from Mad Max Fury Road fell in love on set (while punching each other in the face and so on)! I swear to god Fury Road is like a gift that keeps on giving. Have you seen it yet?
Bryce Dallas Howard still hasn't quite convinced people she isn't Jessica Chastain. So she's trying it in musical form in this cute video. But they really do look alike -- it's the coloring plus the chins.
Deadline Hugh Jackman and Rooney Mara will co-star in Collateral Damage. Plot details are scarce but Jackman is an ad executive trying to overcome a personal tragedy. They better not be romantically paired! There are plenty of actresses in his age range (mid 40s) who he'd be great onscreen with.
Today's Must Read #1 - Awards Fallout Entertainment Weekly Mark Harris wonders why the Tony Awards are so afraid to be the Tony Awards. Even if you don't follow the Tonys this is worth a read in the way it echoes what we're always saying here at The Film Experience about the odd choices Oscar producers make. It's as if every awards show is terrified of really thinking about its core audience and serving them and accepting that nothing is for everyone anymore. (It was different when there were only three channels but that hasn't been the case in a very very long time and many institutions have had trouble with that paradigm shift and they're constantly all "maybe [insert teenage/early 20something star] will bring in new viewers by reading from a teleprompter about something their fans aren't interested in!?!?")
Today's Must Read #2 - Mia Wasikowska Film Comment Nick Davis interviews Mia Wasikowska! Nick even mentions Streep's Jane Eyre shout-out at the Globes but I liked this exchange on costuming best (just a small sample)...
As an actor, do you like being in dialogue with people like the cinematographer and the costumer, or do you prefer responding to creative choices they’ve made independently?
I do like collaborating, but I also feel I’ve been working with such wonderful people that there’s nothing I could even add to what they’ve already imagined. As much as possible, we still find ways to feed off each other, but really, across the board, everyone on these films I’ve been doing has just been incredible. Costumes, especially, are so important, especially on a project like "Madame Bovary". Every color was so representative of Emma’s place in her journey...
..Enquiring minds are dying to know if you got to keep your gloves from "Maps to the Stars".
That’s so funny! I didn’t! I should have. They’re so stingy, they never let us keep any of the costumes. But for sure, those gloves were completely great.
Exit Video #1 Swiftie Spoof The hilarious Jeffery Self & Drew Droege ("Chloe"!) & Robert Michael Morris ("The Comeback") and more co-star in this spoof of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" (recently discussed right here due to its movie trailer riffings) called "Sad Studs" that's also an activist reminder of FDA's obnoxious anti-gay policies.
Exit Video #2 Showtune to Go Judy Garland would have turned 93 today if she had lived to be a very old lady. Not that she would have still been working -- not every actor has the stamina to work into their 90s like Christopher Lee & Betty White (both born the same year as Judy) -- but oh what glorious entertainments the world was robbed of when we lost her. "The World's Greatest Entertainer" and also one of the best movie stars the cinema ever had.
They're playing Ta-tlee-a-ti, Ta-tlee-a-ti, with Shostakovich, Ta-tlee-a-ti, Ta-tlee-a-ti, Mozart and Bach, Ta-tlee-a-ti, Ta-tlee-a-ti, and they don't know which, 'Cause anything can happen when they start to rock
That was... a week, wasn't it? I mean to post this yesterday oops. It began with the Oscars and then Madonna falling backwards downstairs onstage (I was so mad at the internet for only posting the fall and not the kickass performance that surely followed... why pretend failure when the story is actually a triumph of professionalism?) I skipped the whole white/gold blue/black dress debate online because every image seemed to be color manipulated (I saw both) so i didn't understand the fuss. Something happened with llamas that I missed. Anyway, some tweets I enjoyed this week...
Still Alice is going to outgross Foxcatcher and Whiplash domestically. Doubt it ends the staleness of the 'nobody's seen it' jokes.
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It's okay boys. Not everyone can go home with an Oscar.*
OSCAR RECAP COVERAGE The Arrivals - Dakota Johnson, Rosamund Pike, The Streep The Live Blog - Flu-ridden spontaneous responses Best & Worst Moments - the Team speaks out Birdman Post-Mortem - reflections on the Best Picture win Readers Choice - who TFE's audience was rooting for. Sorry! Nathaniel's Ballot - Nathaniel's 2014 favorites for comparison's sake Title Cards - how beautiful was this year's art for each category? Oscar Stages - how did this year's compare to past set designs? Oscar Charts - updated. To be replaced with new predictive ones starting in April! Best Oscar Tweets - from gaga gloves to great sex
COMING IN MARCH: "We Can't Wait" 2015's Most Exciting Movies, Cinderella (2015), The return of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" with The Sound of Music (Tomorrow! Are you ready?), The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Chappie, and looks back at Paris is Burning,Pretty Woman, and the films of Ida Lupino.
* last chance to post a photo of Channing Tatum in a singlet - had to take it.
Nick, Katey, Joe and Nathaniel reunite for the podcast season finale. The topic is the Oscars and these are our last words on this year's. The conversation includes but is not limited to:
• Neil Patrick Harris strong opening but then... • Our choices for MVP from the audience • Musical numbers - good but too many? • Who should host next time? • Power Trio: Canonero, Lubezki & Desplat • Obsessing over Julianne Moore's speech • Eddie Redmayne's glee • Nick's John Travolta prediction • Which of the nominees will be nominated again quickest?
And of course we play our favorite game of suggesting pairings of actors and directors.
Juli is a little embarrassed at our obsessing on her
Please to enjoy and continue the conversation in the comments. You can listen at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015 at 11:12AM 
Alec Baldwin & Steve Martin hosted in The Hurt Locker's year
