Richard Linklater – This Had Oscar Buzz

As Cate Blanchett inches towards a possible third acting Oscar with this week’s Tár, we look back at the quickly forgotten Where’d You Go, Bernadette. Based on the praised novel by Maria Semple about an eccentric former architect’s disappearance, the film paired Blanchett with director Richard Linklater (and reunited her with actor Billy Crudup, playing her husband) and faced numerous delays from distributor Annapurna despite its pedigree. Linklater streamlined the novel’s techno-epistolary structure, resulting in a more straightforward film that lost much of the novel’s unique comic tone and character insights. Though Blanchett would earn a Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy nomination at the Globes, the film was already long forgotten at that point of the season.

This episode, Blanchett joins our Six Timers Club and we talk about the barrier of entry to third acting Oscar wins. We also look at Crudup’s filmography and his shockingly paltry lack of awards love, Linklater as a director hard to pin down to a career narrative, and Annapurna’s bumpy and brief road from production company to distributor.

Topics also include “prepandemic” as a concept, Broadway actors telling stories at benefits, and Tyra interviewing Beyoncé.

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While cinephiles celebrate the release of Mank this week, we’re looking back at a different Citizen Kane-adjacent awards hopeful: 2009′s Me and Orson Welles. The film stars Zac Efron as a young would-be actor who is plucked from the streets and cast in Welles’ landmark stage production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. With Christian McKay as the infamous creative force and Claire Danes as Efron’s love interest, the film has its charms despite its similarities to similar films.

Directed by Richard Linklater, the film’s unconventional semi-self-distributed release generated little fanfare despite major precursor mentions for McKay. This episode, we look at the underwhelming 2009 Supporting Actor race and Linklater’s filmography, including Dazed and Confused as a formative film education movie. We also celebrate Claire Danes’ seventh entry to THOB history, holding her place as our most discussed performer.

Topics also include Zoe Kazan as a quasi-manic-pixie-dream-ghost, the 90s evolution of middle-part butt hairstyles, and the impact of Welles’ Caesar production. Send us your Mailbag questions – now through Dec. 15!!

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Tag: Richard Linklater

213 – Where’d You Go, Bernadette

122 – Me And Orson Welles