Jennifer Connelly – This Had Oscar Buzz

We’ve talked before about adaptations of Pulitzer Prize winners and films that had disastrous premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival, but perhaps none as disappointing as this week’s film. From one of the most lauded novels of the modern era, American Pastoral had the heaviest burden of expectations and stop-and-start production history. With a pedigreed cast of Ewan McGregor, Jennifer Connelly, and Dakota Fanning, the film was originally intended to be brought to the screen by Phillip Noyce, only to be replaced shortly before filming by none other than McGregor himself. Critics weren’t kind to McGregor’s directorial debut, and it died as soon as it world premiered at TIFF.

The film underwent a fast re-edit, but that didn’t help it from bombing when it opened in the same weekend as eventual Best Picture winner Moonlight, the film underwent a fast re-edit. This episode, we redicover the film’s poor attempt at adapting Phillip Roth, Jennifer Connelly’s post-Oscar career, and how using Buffalo Springfield in movies about the 1960s should no longer be allowed.

Topics also include a return to David Strathairn being hot, McGregor’s screen persona, and Fanning’s rise as a go-to child actor.

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For our first episode of the new year, we’re taking things back to the very This Had Oscar Buzz beginning. Back when this old podcast was just a single service Tumblr, the first THOB entry was 2007′s Reservation Road, a domestic drama starring Joaquin Phoenix and Jennifer Connelly as a family mourning the loss of a son in a hit-and-run and Mark Ruffalo as the assailant filled with guilt. The film dominated early predictions and went on to a dismal reception at the Toronto International Film Festival before barely opening in theatres.

This episode, we look back at Phoenix’s Best Actor campaign for Walk the Line and the I’m Still Here shenanigans that would begin the more definitive stage of his career. We also discuss Connelly’s post-Oscar career stuck in wife roles that underserve her abilities and director Terry George’s underwhelming filmography after the success of Hotel Rwanda.

Topics also include the goofy Hollywood Film Awards, Oscar’s love of stories about family tragedies, and Lifetime’s daytime talk show Attitudes.

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Tag: Jennifer Connelly

164 – American Pastoral

126 – Reservation Road