Keira Knightley – This Had Oscar Buzz

300 – Collateral Beauty

We’ve hit another year of the podcast, arriving at our milestone 300th episode! No better way to celebrate that by finally revisiting one of the past decades most notorious bombs, 2016’s Collateral Beauty. Starring Will Smith as a grieving father, this all-star cast includes Edward Norton, Michael Peña, and Kate Winslet as his three friend who devise a plan to… oust Smith from their advertising firm by… hiring three struggling actors (Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, and Jacob Latimore) to… portray the concepts of Death, Love, and Time that he has been writing letters to, and make him appear mentally unstable. Yeah, this one goes some places!

This episode, we talk about how the film’s imbalance with magical realism makes it more deranged. We also talk about Smith’s Oscar-chasing dramatic roles pre-slap, Ann Dowd as a felony committing private investigator, and the previous talent attached to this buzzy but ill-begotten project.

Topics also include Winslet joining our 6 Timers Club, Rogue One, and our Best Of ballots for the last year of the show!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

264 – Everest (with Katey Rich!)

Following Thanksgiving tradition, Katey Rich returns to This Had Oscar Buzz to discussant film with indistinguishable white male actors, and this year we have chosen 2015’s Everest. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur and featuring a massive cast led by Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, and Jake Gyllenhaal, the film follows the true story of a disastrous trip up Mount Everest that left almost an entire crew dead. The prestigious cast and the film’s placement opening the Venice Film Festival led some prognosticators to suspect the film could be an Oscar player, but it ended up a straightforward disaster film that American audiences mostly dismissed.

This episode, we discuss how the film struggles to portray the reasons someone would want to climb Everest and Joe delivers his most hoot-worthy game yet. We also discuss Gyllenhaal’s recent questionable output, Elizabeth Debicki explaining things, and directors we confuse for Kormákur.

Topics also include mountain madness, author Jon Krakauer, and “wife on phone.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

168 – Never Let Me Go (with Tara Ariano)

This episode, Extra Hot Great co-host Tara Ariano returns to us to talk about another much-requested film, 2010′s Never Let Me Go. An adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s incredibly lauded science fiction novel, the film stars a post-nomination Carey Mulligan opposite Keira Knightley and breakthrough Andrew Garfield as clones raised for the sole purpose of harvesting their organs for the regular people of society. The film was the sophomore feature of Mark Romanek and adapted by Alex Garland, and met a cold to mixed reaction on the festival circuit before quickly exiting theatres and the awards race.

The film still has its ardent fans (including a few of us on mic), but also fell victim to Fox Searchlight’s shifting awards possibilities in its muscular slate of films that year. We look back at Romanek’s reception in comparison to another music video director’s sci-fi-adjacent Oscar film, certain fall festivals going in and out of favor as perceived Oscar launch pads, Rachel Portman’s original score, and Mulligan’s roles between nominations.

Topics also include Andrea Riseborough facial blindness, “Gay or Just Nice to Me”, and Bad Art Friend.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

108 – A Dangerous Method

If you look at many of the bizarre and not-safe-for-work fascinations embedded in the filmography of David Cronenberg, it might be surprising that the auteur’s work ever made it close to Oscar conversations. But this week, we’re looking at one of his films that did: 2011′s Freud and Jung horny costume drama A Dangerous Method. Starring Michael Fassbender as Jung and frequent Cronenberg star Viggo Mortensen as Freud, the film looks at the relationship between the two foundational psychologists and the women caught between their ideologies, Sabina Spielrein – played by Keira Knightley, in a divisively received performance.

The film also played a major part in Fassbender’s 2011 omnipresence, though Shame would be his closest Oscar contender of his many films this year. But it was the director’s then-increasing favor with Oscar that set most early predictions’ sights on this film. This episode, we take a close look at the Cronenberg resume and all of its fascinating perversions.

Topics also include 2011 Supporting Actress, Knightley’s relationship to costume dramas, and how A History of Violence came close to a deeper embrace by Oscar.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS