069 – Ladies in Lavender (with Danita Steinberg)

A perfect example of an early, long-list Oscar prediction movie, 2005′s Ladies in Lavender arrived after multiple festivals to a successful arthouse run thanks to the presence of its Dame headliners Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. But despite coming in the era primed to reward this kind of women’s picture and both actresses in particular, the film ultimately was too early and too small (on top of being overshadowed by Dench’s Miramax picture Mrs. Henderson Presents later in the year) to make a major awards dent on the season.

This week, We Really Like Her podcast cohost Danita Steinberg joins us to talk about the aughts dominance of Dames Judi and Maggie, and their outsider potential for Supporting Actress nominations this year. Topics include the near miss Oscar potential of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, the 2005 Best Actress lineup, and Oscar resentments from costar Miriam Margoyles.

We also discuss the film’s shocking lack of the titular lavender and the one actor that Meryl Streep hating working with. And as you might expect, all roads lead back to The Hours.

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