Dan Stevens – This Had Oscar Buzz

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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We’ve got another long anticipated episode this week! In 2019, Natalie Portman teamed up with Fargo creator Noah Hawley to bring to the screen a highly fictionalized account of a NASA astronaut who suffered a psychotic break and stalked her lover and co-worker across the country. The more salacious details (namely the urban legend diaper that she wore to prevent stopping her car) were ommitted and a ceaseless slew of aspect ratio shifts were added, resulting in a film that critics and audiences immediately dismissed.

But the film was dead on arrival not only because of its quality, it also released in the immediate takeover of Fox and Fox Searchlight by Disney’s acquisition. With little effort put behind the film, it was gone from theatres faster than jokes could be made about it. This episode, we talk discuss Portman’s boldness as a performer and look back at her previous episodes as she joins our 6 Timers Club! We also discuss Hawley’s flat approach to material, Jon Hamm’s lack of charisma in his movie roles, and Ellen Burstyn talking about “astronaut dick.”

Topics also include the 4DX Experience, the film’s late TIFF premiere burief at the end of the festival, and the still unawarded Saturn Awards.

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Tag: Dan Stevens

250 – Her Smell

151 – Lucy in the Sky