European Film Awards: "Anatomy of a Fall" Sweeps!

by Cláudio Alves

Photo by Sebastian Gabsch | © European Film Awards

The European Film Academy loves itself a sweep, and this year did nothing to disprove their inclination. At the same time it keeps winning critics honors stateside, Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall took home four prizes, adding to the trophy it already earned for editing. Sandra Hüller even defeated herself since she was also nominated for The Zone of Interest, a first in EFA history. In her speech, the actress asked her audience to imagine peace in these troubled times while her director joked that making the film was a test on her relationship with partner and co-screenwriter Arthur Harari. The ceremony took place in Berlin this year, presided by Agnieszka Holland and host Britta Steffenhagen. 

Discover the complete list of honorees after the jump…

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Earliest years with all living nominees!

by Nathaniel R

1971 BEST ACTRESS (50 years ago) is the furthest back you can go to get a category (any category) where all the nomines are still alive: Julie Christie, Jane Fonda, Glenda Jackson, Vanessa Redgrave, and Janet Suzman

Loyal readers know we are always irritated that the Academy cares more about imaginary audiences than the one they have so we're thinking of the awesomeness of Hollywood and Oscar history today (since they won't). You've seen our lists of the "oldest living screen stars"  and the "oldest living Oscar nominees" but we're aware Oscar is never going to do anything cool like a "family album" again, a great moment from the broadcast.  BUT THEY SHOULD. If the Academy leaned back into tradition rather than pretend it didn't exist, they could harness more respect and enthusiasm again. Institutions become institutions for a reason. Institutions aren't "cool" by nature since they're like giant time-worn machines that you're parents and grandparents know even better than you but they do command respect if they believe in themselves. The Academy shouldn't be doing 'we're just like you!' Gen Z cosplay but merely flex their own hard-won nearly century old brand.

So here's something a little different: A list of the furthest back you can go in each Oscar category and still have a year where all the nominees still walk among us. Imagine if Oscar invited or celebrated even two or three of them (which is nothing really!) to honor their past. It would be so fun...

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Almost There: Glenda Jackson in "Mary, Queen of Scots"

by Cláudio Alves

Eva Husson's Mothering Sunday arrives in American theaters in February. If you are in the UK, you can already stream or rent the movie online. This period drama marks the return of Glenda Jackson to the big-screen after years in Parliament and brief stints on stage. So it seems logical to celebrate this tremendous thespian now, who remains one of the strangest Oscar favorites in Academy history. I've written about her 1970 victory for Women in Love before, but Jackson's career is vaster than the fruitful collaboration with Ken Russell. For instance, on TV, she played the definitive dramatization of Elizabeth I in the BBC's 1971 miniseries Elizabeth R and won two Emmys for her efforts. Concurrently, the actress also played the 16th-century monarch on film.

Charles Jarrott's Mary, Queen of Scots saw her consider the role in a less historical context, performing the Virgin Queen in romanticized opposition to Vanessa Redgrave in the part of her doomed Scottish cousin…

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1987: Vanessa Redgrave in "Prick Up Your Ears"

Each month before the Smackdown, Nick Taylor looks at alternates to Oscar's ballot...

As Cláudio wrote sometime last year (that's how long ago Sunday was, right?), the 1987 Supporting Actress vintage boasts a truly unique set of contenders. Their specific careers, overall narratives, and individual performances and the films they were in could hardly have been more different. Add in the fact that all five were one-and-done nominees and the whole list takes on a genuinely ephemeral, one-of-a-kind quality, even if three of them have the same first name.

The presence of brand names just for A-list star power, would, in most years, dilute this quality. Still, it’s strange to see some of Oscar’s favorite names on the outside looking in during 1987. Top theorists have speculated for decades how Anjelica Huston failed to get cited for her sad, moving performance in The Dead. And what about Vanessa Redgrave in Prick Up Your Ears, who won NYFCC and was the only Golden Globe nominee who didn’t translate to Oscar’s ballot...

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Beauty Break: The Celebrity Portraits of Victor Skrebneski (1929-2020)

by Nathaniel R

One of the most celebrated fashion and celebrity photographers of the 1960s-1980s, Victor Skrebneski, has passed away at the age of 92.  Above you'll see a self portrait and next to it one of his most iconic images, Vanessa Redgrave shot in 1967.

Skrebneski's heyday was a smidgeon before our pop-cultural awareness dawned (we grew up during the heyday of celebrity photographers like Herb Ritts, David LaChapelle, and Annie Liebovitz), but we knew Skrebneski's images before we ever learned his name. He did amazing portraits of Bette Davis, Dolph Lundgren, David Bowie, Diana Ross, Kathleen Turner and more. His black and white work was often extremely sexy and there are a few NSFW images after the jump. He shot movie stars masterfully, you must agree...

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