Great Acceptance Speeches: Julianne Moore, "Still Alice"

We asked Team Experience to share their favourite Oscar acceptance speeches as we countdown to Hollywood's High Holy Night. Here's new contributor Eurocheese...

If you were a Julianne Moore fan in the 2000s and the 2010s, you had learned to live with disappointment. After four nominations years, ending on a double nomination for the one-two punch of her performances in Far from Heaven and The Hours (2002), her momentum suddenly stalled. Her Golden Globe nomination for A Single Man (2009) didn’t translate to an Oscar nod, and when Best Picture nominee The Kids Are All Right (2010) began to break out, it was clear co-stars Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo would be getting the lion's share of accolades. So why was an actress who had received so much acclaim coming up short?

There was was an inkling that she could still have a shot at major trophies when she received an Emmy for Game Change in 2012. Of course, as it often is with the Academy, it proved to be all about timing...

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Colette vs. Mary Magdalene

Here's Murtada speculating very early on the 2017 Oscar race.

There’s usually a real life person in the best actress lineup. It’s not as prevalent as it is in best actor - 4 this year. But we do have Joy Mangano (Jennifer Lawrence). Last year there were Jane Hawking (Felicity Jones) and Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon). Recently we got everyone from Philomena Lee (Judi Dench) to Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) and Edith Piaf (Marion Cotillard) and most famously The Queen (Helen Mirren) and her 80s nemesis Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep). Now we have two more possible candidates for the 2017 Oscar race as two interesting biopics were announced this week with two actresses well known to the Academy. French writer Colette (to be played by Keira Knightley) and Jesus disciple Mary Magdalene (Rooney Mara). 

Colette in 1920s

Colette is the more intriguing figure, at least to this non-believer. Born in 1873 she was a journalist, an actress, a mime and of course most famously the writer of the novel Gigi which became an Oscar winning film and a stage musical. Colette and her first husband Willy Gauthier-Villars, also a writer, were pivotal figures in the salons of the turn of the century Paris and collaborated on several novels. The rumour is that the writing was all Colette’s - shades of Big Eyes. Colette also had sexual and romantic relationships with women. And based on the people behind this film, we know they won’t shy away from telling that story.

The film is written by Wash Westmoreland and the late Richard Glatzer (Quinceañera, Still Alice), with Westmoreland directing. It will be produced by Christine Vachon and Elizabeth Karlsen who most recently produced Carol. With lukewarm reviews for her Broadway debut in Therese Requin and a small forgettable part in Everest being her only 2015 credits, this looks like a juicy part that Knightley can sink her teeth into and possibly get her career back on the upturn it was on with 2014’s double bill of Begin Again and The Imitation Game.

While I’m not into religious movies, actresses are my religion and after Carol I would follow Rooney Mara anywhere she wants to go. She’s choosing to collaborate with Garth Davis (Top of the Lake) to tell the story of Mary Magdalene. The actress - director combo is exciting especially when it’s noted that they have recently worked together on Lion (2016) - with Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel. They must have really enjoyed working together to choose to do it again so soon. Wonder who will be cast as Jesus? It’ll have to be someone fantastic if they are to replicate the explosive chemistry Mara had with her Carol co-star Cate Blanchett. This tweet says it best.

Hollywood Reporter: "Rooney Mara is in talks to play Mary Magdalene."
Me: "Jesus will NEVER love her like Carol did!"

— Heather Hogan (@hhoagie) February 3, 2016

Who would you like to see play opposite Knightley and Mara as Gauthier-Villars and Jesus?

Retro Sundance: 2006's Quinceañera

Dancin' Dan continues our classic Sundance celebration with a tenth anniversary of a film that should really have a bigger fan base.

Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland's Quinceañera is one of those films that is inextricable from the story of how it was made: The two moved to the Echo Park area of Los Angeles, a primarily working-class Latino neighborhood that was rapidly gentrifying. After being invited to their neighbor's fifteenth birthday party - a Latin American right of passage known as a quinceañera - they were amazed by the elaborate ceremony and thought it would make a great setting for a film. Later, when thinking about making a drama partially based on their experience as a white gay couple in a gentrifying neighborhood, the idea resurfaced. And the rest, as they say, is history: Quinceañera won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for dramatic feature.

Both of those awards make total sense after watching the film, which is a low-key crowd-pleaser that isn't afraid to tackle some big, complex issues head-on. Thankfully, the film isn't primarily about the white couple moving into the under-privileged area, but rather about Magdalena, a pregnant virgin, and her cousin Carlos, who is gay. Both have been thrown out of their homes for the seeming sins of their lives, and move in with their uncle (or tio) Tomas. The building where Tomas lives has recently been bought by a white gay couple, James and Gary, who move in and waste little time in starting up a ménage à trois with Carlos.

These three separate story threads - Magdalena's, Carlos's, and James & Gary's - combine to make Quinceañera not so much a coming-of-age story, but a coming-of-home story, looking at what makes us feel a sense of belonging both in life and in a specific place. And it's the film's sense of place that really makes the film resonate. The whole thing feels authentic, between the location shooting, the mostly non-professional (though quite talented) performers, and the cozy-looking living places. Everything has a lived-in feel that is more rare than it should be in films, and Glatzer and Westmoreland (who gave us Julianne Moore's Oscar-winning performance in Still Alice, just before Glatzer passed away) keep what little quirk there is grounded enough that it never grates.

This is a small film with a lot on its mind, and it stays true to its modest roots all the way through. It's a Feel-Good Movie that you really can feel good about.

Happy 10th Birthday, Quinceanera! Remind us to throw you a huge party in five years. You'll surely be just as wonderful as when you first premiered.

Richard Glatzer, Co-Director of Still Alice (1952-2015)

Wash Westmoreland & Richard Glatzer. I believe this photo is from around the time of The Fluffer (2001)

Just two minutes after the last post, coincidentally about Still Alice but meant to be a random amusement, I read that Richard Glatzer the co-writer and co-director had died. He had been struggling with ALS for the past few years. If you'll excuse me getting a little sentimental, I'd like to tell you my personal story about him as a way of working through my sadness today.

I can't recall the exact circumstances of our meeting but just after I had moved to New York City in 1999, we began to talk over e-mail. He was quite literally my first online friend who was actually working in movies and television around the time I was trying to launch The Film Experience. If I remember correctly our online friendship was prompted by an interview I had done with Jackie Beat, my all time favorite drag queen, for my print zine (before the website). She had worked with Richard on his first film, the underseen gay indie dramedy Grief (1993). More...

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