Dominic Cooper – This Had Oscar Buzz

We wanted to take this week’s episode to tribute the recently departed Dame Maggie Smith and finally take a look at one of her final awards contenders, 2015’s The Lady in the Van. Reprising the role she played on the stage, Smith stars as the titular lady, who lives in a van that just so happens to take up residence near the home of playwright Alan Bennett. Alex Jennings stars as Bennett, and the film examines both his evolving relationship with his neighbor and, in metatextual ways, Bennett’s conflicted feelings about telling her story.

This episode, we talk about Dame Maggie Smith’s late career resurgence and she joins our Six Timers Club! We also talk about the film’s cameo lineup from the cast of The History Boys, tributes posted after Smith’s passing, and our first Halloween watches of this season.

Topics also include director Nicholas Hytner, 2015 Best Actress, and Philo-mania.

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The cementing of Cillian Murphy as a major actor has been a long time in the making, possibly coming to fruition this weekend with the release of Oppenheimer. Audiences likely most know the actor for his starring role in Peaky Blinders, but his cinematic arrival began in the early 2000s with films like 28 Days Later. However, 2005 gave us a Cillian Murphy three-peat with Batman Begins, Red Eye, and this week’s film Breakfast on Pluto. With Murphy starring as a transwoman reconciling her family history in Ireland and Britain during the 1960s and 1970s, the Neil Jordan film ran the fall festival gamut and earned strong notices for Murphy (if not the film). But Murphy faced a stacked 2005 Best Actor lineup and this smaller queer film was left in the cold.

This episode, we talk about the film’s relationship to Jordan’s Oscar success The Crying Game and the director’s wide-ranging filmography. We also talk about Murphy’s career ascent as somewhere between character actor and leading man, the film’s dated presentation of queerness, and Murphy’s Golden Globe nomination.

Topics also include our Barbenheimer plans, The Borgias, and hating David Zaslav.

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Tag: Dominic Cooper

311 – The Lady in the Van

247 – Breakfast on Pluto