082 – Stranger Than Fiction (with Kevin Jacobsen)

This week we’re returning to a subject that never fails to summon Oscar buzz: comedic actors going dramatic. For this round, we welcome And The Runner Up Is host and writer for Gold Derby Kevin Jacobsen to discuss 2006′s Stranger Than Fiction. The high-concept seriocomedy starred Will Ferrell in his first major attempt at a dramatic role as Harold Crick, a man who hears a voice narrating his life and predicting his imminent demise. That voice belongs to an author played by Emma Thompson, with Harold being the subject of her next masterpiece.

But it wasn’t just Ferrell’s leap into drama that spelled Stranger Than Fiction’s Oscar potential. The film was directed by Marc Forster – already a rising Oscar commodity after directing Halle Berry to her win and following that up with Finding Neverland – with buzzed new screenwriter Zach Helm chasing the in-vogue absurdity of Charlie Kaufman. Despite good reviews, the film didn’t fully achieve the potential of its premise and was overshadowed by other counterprogramming options to Oscar’s brooding 2006.

This episode, we take a look back at the diminishing Oscar returns for Marc Forster and how Sacha Baron Cohen and Borat surprisingly stole this film’s thunder. Topics also include Amy Pascal at awards shows, films that made us look at film more critically, and canonical This Had Oscar Buzz superfan Don Gummer.

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