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Entries in Woody Allen (110)

Monday
Oct242011

Q&A: Blondes & Brunettes, Silents & Sequels

Each week in the Q & A column I choose a couple handfuls of reader questions to answer. I don't intentionally choose with themes in mind but this week's column, in the requested vacuum of Streep-less questions -- she'd been hogging the column -- tilted straight toward blonde icons and beloved brunettes.

Aaron: If "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "Lost in Translation" had been released in different years, do you think Scarlett Johansson would be a two-time Academy Award nominee by now?

Fun question. I had to really ponder this. But my answer is no. Oscar fanatics love to debate "vote splitting" whenever someone has two meaty roles in the same category in a given year. The 2003 Oscar race was so weirdly splintered in Best Actress and the precursors just weren't showing herd mentality so right up until nomination morning it felt like virtually any combination of a shortlist that included frontrunners Theron and Keaton was possible. But Scarlett's Lost campaign had more problems than just The Girl With the Pearl Earring. Maybe Samantha Morton, in particular, would've been pushed aside for Scarlett had she only had one film. On the other hand, it was probably the combination of Scarlett's double-breakthrough that put her in the conversation to the degree that she was in it. But I don't believe that she'd have been a two time nominee regardless because the competition in 2004 felt so impenetrable; Moreno, Swank, Bening, Winslet and Staunton were always going to be the top five the following year. 

Scarlett on the Lost in Translation circuit: BAFTA, GLOBES, OSCAR

The most interesting thing about 2003 Best Actress, at least for Trivia Nerds, is how young it skewed historically. Even if you remove the novelty nomination for 13 year old Keisha Castle Hughes (Whale Rider) you might still have had a record breaking year since both Evan Rachel Wood (she was 16 during the Thirteen campaign) and Scarlett Johansson (who had just turned 20) could have also become Youngest Ever had they landed in the shortlist. Both were younger than Jennifer Lawrence from Winter's Bone even who is now the second youngest nominee ever in the category after Keisha. Don't you ♥ trivia!?

MrW: Do you intend to have seen one day all Oscar-winning performances (all four acting categories)? Are there any Oscar winning performances you're embarrassed to admit you haven't seen yet?

I would love to be able to someday claim this but I fear I'll die before that gargantuan task is completed. Naturally, I'm most worried about finishing the actress categories. The three movies I'm most embarrassed I haven't yet seen that sucked up plentiful acting attention / wins are My Left Foot, The Last Picture Show and, yes, The Godfather Part Two. I seriously have no idea why I keep putting the last one off. I even own it! 

Kent: Recently watched GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES for the first time. It was such a fun movie! Got me thinking about Marilyn Monroe and how the Academy shunned her so many times. She's so underrated as an actress. I loved her in BUS STOP and SOME LIKE IT HOT. Would you have rewarded her with nominations, even yet, a win?


True Story: I had this poster above of Marilyn Monroe from Bus Stop on my bedroom wall as a teenager -- yes the actressexuality started very early -- My mother saw it, shook her head  and sighed audibly. "Tell her to put some clothes on!" LOL. Different generations, you know.

Marilyn nominations, War of the Hepburns, and sequelitis after the jump.

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Thursday
Sep012011

Q&A: Young Directors, Male Actresses, Awesome Marisa

My apologies straightaway that this week's Q & A is so late. A particularly nasty bout of insomnia derailed me for over a day. I was without rail. Back on track now and the time has come to answer your questions, 10 of them at any rate.

BBats: What young director (3 or less films) are you most excited about seeing over the next decade?
Nathaniel: This is a great question but difficult because then you have to really stop and think about who made which pictures when and you have to set aside people you've been rooting for forever that will seemingly be 70 before they birth a third feature (I'm talking to you Jonathan Glazer and Kimberly Peirce). It'd be weird to say John Cameron Mitchell since he's been making great movies for a decade now but in fact he's only made three. Still it's hard to argue with that diverse, unique and cathartically vivid trio: Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), Shortbus (2006), and Rabbit Hole (2010). I would follow him anywhere though I might be shoving him from behind while doing so because he's too freaking slow. 

My list would have to include 34 year-old Cary Fukunaga who has made two features but already has a great sense of the camera's place in storytelling as well as a place's place in storytelling (Sin Nombre) if you get me. On top of that he's got a steady hand with strong actors (Jane Eyre). 

Cary Fukanaga, Xavier Dolan, and Steve McQueen

I'd also go with 22 year-old Xavier Dolan who sure can make pretty pictures (I Killed My Mother, Heartbeats) and can also act inside of them. His influences are super apparent but he's very young and it should be thrilling to watch that already glorious image-making while on the soundtrack a filmmaking voice find itself. I'm very curious as to how Andrea Arnold's career will develop. She already has an Oscar from that gritty compelling short film Wasp (2003) and Fish Tank was so special. Finally, there are two filmmakers who are about to unveil their sophomore feature after a startling debut: 37 year old Joachim Trier (will Oslo August 31st equal Reprise or prove too similar?) and 42 year-old Steve McQueen (will Shame top Hunger... but then how could it?) which means that my list is already up to five and your question was singular so I'll stop there. But the three names in bold are the ones I can't stop thinking about this year.

Roark: What's your favorite movie in your least favorite genre?
Nathaniel:  I'm not crazy about westerns but I love Howard Hawks's Red River (1948). I was going to say "horror" but then when I stop to recall how many I do love (Psycho, Carrie, Rosemary's Baby being the holy trinity) it becomes clear that I far prefer horror to westerns. 

Luke and Adrian: Best Post Oscar move for Natalie Portman?
Nathaniel: Laying low now that she's had her money-guzzling year. Wait it out until something challenging but different than Black Swan comes around. I'm guessing it would be a lot easier for her to find her next Closer than her next Black Swan so if I were her management team I'd be looking for a high profile prestige ensemble drama... or even a highly stylized but lighter something... She was terrific in Wes Anderson's Hotel Chevalier and the short treated her like a star. Directors who know how to frame her spectacular face and amp up her sexuality in deeper than surface ways tend to get the best rewards; too many Your Highnesses and Friends With Benefits and that Oscar win won't age well.

Evan: What three movies are you most looking forward to from the remainder of 2011?
Nathaniel: Shame for the McQueen/Fassbender reunion, The Skin I Live In for the Almodóvar/Banderas reunion, and I Don't Know How She Doe.... KIDDING! and  A Dangerous Method for the Cronenberg/Mortensen reunion. Look at me all Director/ACTOR things instead of actresses. Where am I? WHO AM I?

Mr W: And are you going to revive you reader spotlights any time soon?
Nathaniel: Yes. The new fall season of The Film Experience kicks off on September 13th and we'll also go back to honoring you... the collective you, I mean. Not that Mr. W isn't worth honoring :) 

Tom M: Which Male Actors (past and/or present) come closest to having careers/images/appeals like the actresses you love? (Not necessarily asking about your favorite actors but if there are any actors that trip your actressexual wire...if that makes any sense.)

my answer, plus Woody Allen and an ode to Marisa Tomei if you click-to-continue

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Tuesday
Aug302011

Curio: Woody's Women

Alexa here.  Matthew's question for today's Q&A ("Woody Allen has chosen a new, unexpected muse...Pick the actress") got me thinking about the special qualities of Woody's muses.  As noted in June's W, Woody surrounds himself (or his actor fascimilie) with fascinating, seductive, unnerving women. He told the magazine that "I have great adoration and lust and interest in all of the women in my films. It would thrill me to go out with all of them.”  Here are a few fan art celebrations of Woody with his dream dates.

 

Woody and Scarlett, hand painted on a t-shirt by ElenaDiNatale.


Woody's brain reflects on Scarlett, Mia, and Penelope. By Gabriel Moreno.

Click for more, including Annie...

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Monday
Aug152011

Q&A: Resurrections, Musicals and "Julianne Pfeiffer"

I feel like if I talk about the Oscars anymore than I already do I will slowly become one! Gold plating, lopped off head, ... the works. This week's question were extremely Oscar focused. In order to escape my immobile sword-holding genital-free fate, I'm not answering them just yet. I'm also not answering any "top ten" questions but feel free to go on giving me top ten list ideas ;) 

I'm suddenly realizing this Q&A series is like writing 10 blog posts at once. Which is... well, must rethink this series! So only non-Oscar focused questions today and then we'll just gag on naked gold men tomorrow and Wednesday, K? 

Here we go.

Luiserghio: If you could resurrect one classic director to direct a modern actress/actor?
Nathaniel:  My first thought was William Wyler for just about any actor or actress that needs a chance to really nail a top flight dramatic adult piece. Who has a better track record for directing actors to grand serious performances with nuance and depth? Nobody. But then Vincente Minnelli directing Anne Hathaway popped up and I'll go with that. Not because she wants to play Judy Garland and he's the expert but because he understands color and musical numbers and Hathaway would soar under both conditions. Plus she seems to have an 'Old Hollywood' soul as it were so she'd be perfect for any resurrection.

Mandy Patinkin, Eartha Kitt and Toni Collette in "The Wild Party"Robert G: If you could guarantee one stage musical from any time in history would be adapted to a film, what would it be?
Nathaniel: If you'd ask me this five years ago I would've said Sweeney Todd

This is such a tough question as there are so many great ones. Many stage musicals I love wouldn't transfer well like A Choru -- whoops! I regularly try and picture "The Light in the Piazza" and "Caroline, Or Change" as feature films. I think a masterpiece could be made from Sondheim's "Follies" but what director alive is both genius enough to handle the complexity of it and has enough industry muscle to demand that only extraordinarily gifted singing actors handle the vocally demanding songs? So maybe I should just say Michael John LaChiusa's "The Wild Party" because I am weirdly obsessed with it and because there's more room for error. By which I mean it's busy with noise and dancing and banter and that's easier for modern Hollywood to understand than pure singing musicals. If they made a mistake here and there they wouldn't destroy a masterwork and we'd still get an entertaining film. Please note: This guarantee wish comes with Toni Collette reprising her lead role as alcy showgirl "Queenie".

Queenie was a blonde and her age stood still and she danced twice a day in the
... vau-de-ville ♫ 

Sean C: Which of the four actors do you think has the biggest opportunity to drop the theatrical dramedy-ic ball in CARNAGE?

John, Jodie, Christoph and Kate checking out TFE's Oscar charts!

Nathaniel: Such a mean-spirited (or maybe just worried?) question. I'll give you my answer after the jump.

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Tuesday
Jul262011

Why, O Why, Don't I Love "Paris"?

Hallo folks! Ester here. You might remember me from such previous forays into Film Experience as my "Reader Spotlight" and my Two Stars, One Slot tribute piece, "Waif vs. Waif: Mia Wasikowska vs. Saoirse Ronan." Today I come to you with a feminist chip on my shoulder and a spark of rage in my eye, and my target is Woody Allen -- specifically his tepid time-travel fantasy, Midnight in Paris.

It's not surprising that Hollywood, the quintessential vehicle of nostalgia, is obsessed with landmarks. Jack Nicholson has only to get up in the morning and put his shoes on the right feet four shooting days out of five to get nominated for an Oscar, because Hollywood is just so gosh darn grateful an old-school movie star like him is still gracing films with his presence. Similarly, Woody Allen has only to make a movie that is not truly godawful terrible to make every film critic in the US sigh happily about how the maestro has done it again. 

Even then, by the way, he still makes several insufferable stabs at cinema for every Vicky Cristina Barcelona (or Scoop, which I actually kind of enjoyed).  

I understand the impulse to make ourselves hoarse praising the man. After all, we're talking about Woody Allen, auteur extraordinaire, Oscar-winner, redefiner of comedy, granddaddy to a thousand less-talented copy-cat narcissists. He's so prolific he probably doesn't even remember making one of my favorites of his films, the wistful and imaginative Purple Rose of Cairo. (Such small, delightful movies are often called "gems," which confuses me as gems come in all sizes; in fact, a woman I know recently received one that may weigh more than she does. But that's neither here nor there.)

Friends, a mediocrity is a mediocrity, whether it comes from Shakespeare or Dan Brown. Why do we insist on grading Woody Allen on a curve?

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