Best Supporting Actress – This Had Oscar Buzz

279 – Nope

With another Oscar ceremony coming to a close, it’s time to crack the seal on the Class of 2022 movies and we couldn’t wait to talk about Jordan Peele’s Nope! Priming audiences for a big summer alien invasion film, Peele also delivered a film with a lot on its mind about society’s relationship to witnessing and capturing violent spectacle, the film industry’s history of disregard for Black artists, and how we package our own traumas. With a terrific ensemble led by Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as siblings who discover an unexplainable phenomena in the skies, Nope is perhaps 2022’s biggest head-scratcher among films not recognized by the Academy.

This episode, we talk about the 2022 box office dynamic that unfairly tainted Nope as a box office disappointment and its many, rich avenues for narrative interpretation. We also talk about Kaluuya’s underrated performance, Palmer’s contrasting performance that was campaigned in supporting, and what makes the movie a monster movie vs. an alien movie.

Topics also include Gordy going off, Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography, and breakthrough star Jean Jacket.

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276 – Spanglish

This week, we are talking about one of the biggest THOB titles that we haven’t yet discussed: 2004’s Spanglish. James L. Brooks returned nearly a decade after his Oscar success with As Good As It Gets with this story of two disparate families thrust together: an immigrant single mother and the rich Los Angeles family she works for. With Adam Sandler headlining one year after earning his first bout of buzz for Punch-Drunk Love, this looked to be a chance for the Academy to honor him as a serious performer within the Academy-beloved Brooksian seriocomic glow. But the movie… has some issues!

This episode, we talk about Cloris Leachman’s stellar boozy performance and Téa Leoni’s work tried to wrangle an impossible character. We also discuss Paz Vega as the film’s attempted breakthrough performance to American audiences, Brooks’ Oscar history, and the many mystery middle names in Hollywood.

Topics also include Mitski fans, the film’s cringe-inducing sex scene, and the history of the Tristar logo.

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272 – 8 Women (Patreon Selects)

Our Patreon Selects series continues with another dive into French cinema! In 2002, director Francois Ozon delivered an actress bonanza with 8 Women, an homage of Douglas Sirk and Alfred Hitchcock that’s also a musical and also murder mystery and also a celebration of the biggest French actresses of the moment. Set at Christmas, its titular ensemble tries to discover who among them has killed the family patriarch. Despite a solid run for France in the aughts with their Oscars submissions, Ozon’s treacly affair did not make it to the Oscar ball.

This episode, we talk about Ozon’s filmography and France’s current difficulties nabbing an International Feature Oscar despite their stature in the race. We also talk about the career of Chris’ fave Isabelle Huppert, the film as Harold They’re Lesbians core, and our thoughts on The Taste of Things‘ chances this year.

Topics also include Frances Fisher’s new cause celebre, Streep/Short dating rumors, and Madarin Oriental “I’m a fan” commercials.

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265 – Brideshead Revisited

We all know that Oscar fawns over costume dramas of literary adaptations… or so we tell ourselves when forming predictions and one with a whiff of prestige arrives. In 2008, director Julian Jerrold delivered a new adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited with an up-and-coming young cast paired with Dame Emma Thompson as the devoutly religious Lady Marchmain. With Matthew Goode as the social climber Charles Ryder and Ben Whishaw and Hayley Atwell as the siblings he romances, the queer-inflected drama earned modest reviews and box office, with Thompson an outsider Supporting Actress contender through the season.

This episode, Thompson joins our six timers club and we discuss our love for the then-emerging Whishaw. We also look back at Goode’s career including the misbegotten Watchmen film, Atwell’s career outside of Marvel, and the surprising amount of time that has passed since Thompson’s last nomination.

Topics also include Brideshead riff Saltburn, pneumonia terminology, and 2008 queer cinema.

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259 – Ammonite (with Christina Tucker!)

After Francis Lee’s celebrated queer debut God’s Own Country, the director leveled up with another gay romance Ammonite, this time with Oscar-pedigreed stars. Kate Winslet stars as 19th century paleontologist Mary Anning opposite Saoirse Ronan as Charlotte Murchison; the two develop a seaside romance of opposites between the gruff Anning and the unfulfilled Murchison. But Lee’s follow-up, (originally selected for Cannes) had the unlucky fortune to come out in 2020 amidst a climate unfriendly to a romance more reserved and quiet than expected.

This episode, we talk about the film’s unceremonious world premiere at the COVID-impacted Toronto International Film Festival and the film’s theatrical run. We also discuss 2017 comparison’s between God’s Own Country and Call Me By Your Name, Winslet’s performance on Mare of Easttown, and the minor controversy over the real woman’s unknown sexuality.

Topics also include Sam Levinson’s (hypothetical!) dungeon, emotional metaphor animals, and “Harold, they’re lesbians!”

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252 – Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool

Ahead of this season’s Nyad, we are looking back at the Oscar history of Annette Bening and 2017’s Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool. One year after missing out on a nomination for 20th Century Women, Bening returned with this film, starring as actress Gloria Grahame . Told from the perspective of actor Peter Turner (played by Jamie Bell), the film tells a love story between Turner and the Oscar winner during her final days. The film received a mild festival response and limited release during New Years, with Bening and Bell getting BAFTA nominations, but no such love from Oscar.

This episode, we talk about Bening’s four previous Oscar nominations and her notorious dual losses to Hilary Swank. We also discuss actresses who have played Oscar winners, Grahame’s Oscar win for The Bad and the Beautiful, and that other Sony Pictures Classics film from 2017 that took its time to expand.

Topics also include Bell’s leading man charisma, Bening’s potential for Nyad, and the many PG-13 f*cks of The American President.

Don’t forget to sign up for This Had Oscar Buzz: Turbulent Brilliance over at patreon.com/thishadoscarbuzz!!

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250 – Her Smell

We’ve come up on another anniversary episode of This Had Oscar Buzz, and we’ve got another favorite that long-time listeners have heard us praise before: 2019’s Her Smell. Debuting on at TIFF 2018, the Alex Ross Perry film is a daring and ambitious take on the riot grrrls of the early 1990s. Starring Elisabeth Moss as Becky Something, an addict egomaniac who brings her own downfall, the film audaciously immerses us in Becky’s destruction (and later climb out of it) in ways that are exhausting and rewarding. Earning stratospheric praise for Moss by even the film’s most frustrated viewers, the film was cursed to a microrelease and stayed an Oscar outsider despite vocal critical support.

This episode, we talk about the audacity of both Perry’s film and Moss’ performance. We also get into the depressing state of independent distribution, Perry’s open comments regarding its release and support for Moss’ performance, and the Gotham Awards.

Topics also include the film’s fake album covers, our appreciation for difficult characters, and our superlatives for the past year of the podcast.

But perhaps most exciting is two bits of news right at the top: our new theme music by Taylor Cole and our newly launched Patreon!! Please consider subscribing and joining us for This Had Oscar Buzz: Turbulent Brilliance over at patreon.com/thishadoscarbuzz!!

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216 – Snowden

Welcome all our new CIA listeners, because this week we are talking about 2016′s Snowden. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as controversial whistleblower Edward Snowden, the film follows Snowden’s journey through exposing the surveillance state and his exile to Russia, all while maintaining his relationship with girlfriend Lindsay Mills (played by Shailene Woodley). With Oliver Stone at the helm and Laura Poitras’ Snowden doc Citizenfour having recently earned the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, the film arrived with high expectations that it immediately disappointed when this bland biopic debuted at TIFF.

This episode, Joe gives us a recap of his New York Film Festival experience this year before we dive into Stone’s misfire. We also talk about Oscar winners that have played Oscar winners, Gordon-Levitt’s distracting baritone while playing Snowden, Peter Gabriel’s film awards history, and Stone’s fall from the height of his cultural significance in the 1980s and 1990s.

Topics also include TIFF premieres that open to general audiences during the festival, the 2011 Best Supporting Actress race that Woodley narrowly missed, and Chris’ ongoing journey with Survivor.

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212 – The Bling Ring (with George Civeris)

StaightioLab cohost and Gawker editor George Civeris returns to us this episode, and we’re going to Paris’. In 2013, Sofia Coppola delivered another tale of disaffected youth, this time ripped from gossip column headlines with The Bling Ring. With a post-Harry Potter Emma Watson at the center, the film follows several Los Angeles celeb-obsessed teens who famously got busted for breaking into the homes of tabloid staples like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. Already demoted to Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section (after Marie Antoinette was notoriously booed in competition), the film was one of the director’s most harshly received films for its depiction of teen misguidedness.

This episode, we talk about our varying opinions on Watson’s performance and our picks for the weakest films in Coppola’s oeuvre. We also talk about comparisons to another film from A24′s first year, the film’s atypical portrayal of the gay teen experience, and the film’s precisely-timed soundtrack.

Topics also include how mid-aughts celeb culture has evolved to today, Secret Celebrity Drag Race, and another round of Alter Egos.

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211 – Mermaids

We’ve got a personal favorite coming to you today starring one of our most beloved icons! After winning her Best Actress Oscar for Moonstruck, Cher then conquered the world with the album Heart of Stone, and didn’t return to the cinema until 1990′s Mermaids. With Cher as a mother of two rebuking societal expectations, the film also starred the recently Oscar nominated Bob Hoskins, Christina Ricci in her debut, and the ascendant Winona Ryder. A female-led comedy about mothers and daughters, the film earned a Golden Globe nomination for Ryder, but ultimately missed out on Oscar while being released between two Best Picture winners from the dying Orion Pictures.

This episode, we talk about the film’s fraught beginnings with several replaced directors with differing tonal visions for the film and Ryder’s fast rise as prestige actress. We also talk about odd 1990 Golden Globe choices including Ghost and Green Card, life lessons learned too early from formative cinema, and Richard Benjamin’s directorial career.

Topics also include Cher joining TikTok, marshmallow snacks, and Bob Hoskins being hot.

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