Emmy Category Analysis: Period Costumes

by Cláudio Alves

Where is The Gilded Age with its cornucopia of tacky bustle gowns, a good portion of which are copied from fashion plates, museum pieces, and period portraits? Where are Gentleman Jack's precise visions of Romantic dress, queer aesthetics seen through a 19th-century lens? Where are the comedic stylizations of Our Flag Means Death or Julia's purviews of a television icon of days gone by? Where's the love for Schmigadoon!'s cavalcade of hot men in tight pants or Pachinko's cultural delineations rendered in a rainbow of beautiful textiles? 

Though the period category for the 2022 Emmys is the most solid of the three costume lineups (we previously discussed contemporary and fantasy fashions), many inspired period possibilities were ignored in favor of repeat contenders and curious flops...

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What's next for Pfeiffer?

by Nathaniel R

Michelle behind the scenes of her THR photoshoot (from her Instagram acct)

Though we've been obsessed with Michelle Pfeiffer for our whole lives we haven't had much occassion to revel in that love given her infrequent appearances on screens in the past two decadess. At last, with her kids in their 20s and her unisex fragrance line Henry Rose fully established and successful, she finally appears to be ready to act frequently again. French Exit (2020) was an excellent warm up to return to leading lady status and she's absolutely acing the great role of the influential Betty Ford in The First Lady (2022) and receiving 'best-in-show' raves for her work. We're crossing our fingers for an Emmy nod.

What's next?

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The First Lady, Ep. 1 - 'That White House'

by Eric Blume

Showtime's limited series The First Lady kicked off its premiere episode last week. It's a bit of a mixed bag out of the gate. The episode consists of several 10-minute-ish scenes covering each of our protagonists:  Michelle Obama (Viola Davis); Betty Ford (Michelle Pfeiffer); and Eleanor Roosevelt (Gillian Anderson).  A ticker on the bottom of the screen whisks us backward and forward between these women whose stories are about forty years apart from each other. 

There's not a great deal of grace in this back-and-forth execution, feeding us small glimpses of each lady in semi-satisfying increments that don't seem to have a meaningful connection between them outside of generic "I'm my own person" theme.  It's probably easiest to tackle these three stories independently, because episode one doesn't give us much of a linking thread or powerful throughline yet, and because there are pleasures to be had within the confines of this awkward setup...

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Touring 'The First Lady' Suites

By Abe Friedtanzer

Showtime’s new anthology series The First Lady debuted this past weekend. The series looks simultaneously at three First Ladies throughout history: Eleanor Roosevelt (Gillian Anderson) in the 1930s and 40s, Betty Ford (Michelle Pfeiffer) in the 1970s and Michelle Obama (Viola Davis) in the 2000s and 2010s. The Film Experience will be covering its run (more soon on invididual episodes). 

The network is rolling out a very specific type of red carpet to celebrate the series as it begins airing. Reporting for The Film Experience I was able to visit one of the First Lady Suites, which is a transformed presidential suite at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Los Angeles. This is also happening in New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C. This was quite the lavish and detailed visual experience.

I snapped a few photos to complement my written descriptions of the visit…

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Links: Eternals, First Ladies, and new Broadway Shows

• EW first photos from the miniseries The First Lady with Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford, Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt
• Awards Daily Kristen Stewart getting the Spotlight Best Actress treatment at Palm Springs this year
• Deadline Leonardo DiCaprio in final talks to play cult leader and mass murderer Jim Jones in a movie about the 1970s cult leader
• Variety Squid Game is getting a second season. Nobody will let any stories be!

Steve McQueen, Sutton Foster, Eternals and Spencer stuff, guns on set, and more after the jump...

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