Almost There: It’s time to vote! (Halloween edition)

by Cláudio Alves

It’s been a while since you, the readers, have decided what performance should be analyzed in the Almost There series. Since it’s October, let’s do a Halloween-themed poll to spice things up. While AMPAS is notoriously allergic to horror movies, some performances came close to an Oscar nomination, whether their movies were otherwise embraced or not. Here are ten examples, complete with the precursors they won, why I think they were close, and where you can find each flick. The contenders are…

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Julie Harris: The woman who dressed 007, Sherlock, and The Beatles

by Cláudio Alves

The word 'iconic' gets thrown around a lot these days. So much so that its essence has become diluted, nearly meaningless. Nonetheless, some people do deserve to be called iconic. Costume designer Julie Harris, who was born 100 years ago, is one of them. If not her, then her work deserves the moniker. From the 1940s until 1991, Harris helped define the look of British cinema and pop culture, dressing a myriad of international stars and idols, working for some of the greatest directors ever.

Her impact was particularly felt in the 1960s when - designing films like Darling, the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night and Help! - she defined mod fashion on the silver screen. Furthermore, Harris dressed such iconic characters as James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, and the Muppets. Her filmography's the stuff dreams are made of…

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Almost There: Anthony Hopkins in "The Lion in Winter"

by Cláudio Alves

As the Oscar nomination morning approaches, it seems certain that Anthony Hopkins is about to receive his sixth nod. Seeing as he's considered a wizened old thespian of stage and screen, it may be difficult to recall the days when he, like so many others, was a young actor. In 1968, Hopkins was nearing his 30th birthday when his second ever feature premiered. Thanks to that film, he got the first brush with film awards and might have even come close to an Oscar nomination. In Anthony Harvey's adaptation of James Goldman's The Lion in Winter, Hopkins plays Richard, future king of England, son of Henry II…

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The Furniture: Giulietta Masina's House of Spirits

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is a series on Production Design. 

This week we mark the centennial of actress Giulietta Masina, which I consider an opportunity to do something a little different. The Furniture, as you might expect, is rarely a column about performance. I spend a lot of time trying to get screenshots without any actors present at all. Production design often works in support of performance, or in parallel, but rarely are they what you might call intertwined.

In the films of Federico Fellini, Masina’s husband and collaborator, design often threatens to overwhelm or absorb performance. Actors become moving props in his most extravagant productions, rotating like carousel horses around a central figure or two. And these protagonists are often ciphers of style themselves, particularly when they’re played by Marcello Mastroianni.

Not so with 1965's Juliet of the Spirits. Masina is the well from which the entire production springs...

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Showbiz History: Annie Get Your Gun and What We Do in the Shadows

6 random things that happened on this day, February 12th, in showbiz history...

1949 Annie Gets Your Gun starring Ethel Merman closes on Broadway after a nearly three year run. The troubled film adaptation directed by George Sidney (a replacement for Busby Berkeley who was fired) and starring Betty Hutton (a replacement for Judy Garland who was fired) arrives the following year. 

1959 The Black Orchid starring Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn opens in theaters. Sophia Loren had won the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival the previous summer...

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