Kevin Kline – This Had Oscar Buzz

204 – A Prairie Home Companion (with Clay Keller)

An episode long teased has finally arrived. Screen Drafts co-host (and proud Minnesotan) Clay Keller joins us to discuss the final film from beloved auteur Robert Altman, 2006′s A Prairie Home Companion. Based on and set within the eponymous radio show, the film follows the backstage goings-on during the show’s fictionalized final live recording, with a sprawling cast of Altman regulars and newbies including Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Maya Rudolph, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, Lindsay Lohan, and Virginia Madsen as an angel of death. Altman would pass the November after its release, but sadly did not receive posthumous recognition for the film due to its somewhat divided reception.

This episode, we’re discussing the dual summer roles for Streep between this and The Devil Wears Prada, and we’re celebrating our tenth Streep episode! We also discuss Lohan’s turmoil at the time, Paul Thomas Anderson as a contractually obligated backup director, and Clay brings us stories from his experience as an extra on the set of the film.

Topics also include the Streep/Tomlin tribute to Altman at the previous ceremony, bad jokes, and a Screen Drafts-style ranking of the film’s best performances.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

152 – De-Lovely

Birds do it, bees do it; let’s do it, let’s talk De-Lovely! Reuniting Kevin Kline with his Life As A House director Irwin Winkler, the film casts Kline as the legendary songwriter Cole Porter. Also starring Ashley Judd as his devoted wife Linda, De-Lovely caught attention for its depiction of the Porters’ marriage amid his open homosexuality and also for casting a smorgasbord of adult contemporary musicians to sing the Cole Porter songbook. But the film received middling reviews despite its soundtrack success and met the end of its awards road with Globe nominations for Kline and Judd.

This episode, we discuss how De-Lovely meets all of the boring mechanics of the musical biopic genre, and compare it to another 2004 prestige film’s depiction of a marriage with gay polyamory (and another 2004 musical biopic that is even worse). We also get into the stops and starts of MGM studios over the past few decades, the trajectory of recent Bond themes, and which of the film’s musical numbers we enjoy most.

Topics also include the Lilith Fair, the Grammy soundtrack prize, and the AARP Movies for Grownups Best Time Capsule prize.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

123 – Life As A House (with LaToya Ferguson)

This week, we’re looking back at Oscar buzz molded from the success of American Beauty and the (new) hope of an incoming mega-franchise star: 2001′s Life As A House. Writer and podcaster LaToya Ferguson joins us to talk about the film that stars Kevin Kline as a dying man building a dream house with his estranged troubled son, played by Hayden Christensen. The film stayed long in season thanks to precursor attention for Christensen, recently announced as the next Anakin Skywalker – but Oscar wasn’t quite so eager to herald him as the next big thing before seeing his Darth Vader.

Much more unwell than you remember it, Life As A House features a slew of no-boundaries behaviors that we unpack including shower intrusions, milfs, toilets next to kitchen sinks, and going postal at the office. But this episode finds us in nostalgia mode as we look back at Entertainment Weekly’s It List, pre-movie trailer reels on VHS, and the WB’s “Oh What A Night” promo.

Topics also include the 2001 Supporting Actor race, Fred Durst’s directorial oeuvre, and “Anatomy 101 with Professor D’Angelo.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

041 – The Ice Storm

Hello Charles! This week, we talk about a real headscratcher: how did Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm get no Oscar nominations? Debuting at the Cannes Film Festival and Lee’s follow-up to his first Oscar success Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm is perhaps even more critically beloved than when it debuted in 1997. But this was also the year of every other movie chasing Titanic’s shadow.

The film had several potential points of entry into the Oscar race – Adapted Screenplay, its authentic period design, and especially Sigourney Weaver as a near nominee in Supporting Actress. But we discuss some of why it was shut out, whether it was the fallout for small movies caught in Titanic’s wave or fledgling indie distributor Fox Searchlight focusing its energy on The Full Monty. Topics also include BAFTA’s emerging days as an Oscar forecaster, the Oscar field that surrounded that incomparable front runner, and the injustice of Joan Allen’s Oscar narrative.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

032 – Ricki and the Flash

After a string of August (yes, early buzzed) hits, Meryl Streep collaborated with two Oscar-winning names that sent Oscar obsessives to get lost in their rock and roll: director Jonathan Demme and screenwriter Diablo Cody. 2015′s Ricki and the Flash didn’t set the box office on fire and a very competitive Best Actress year possibly kept it out of the conversation, but that doesn’t mean the film doesn’t reveal why we once had such high hopes for it. The film isn’t as much of a harmonious fit as we originally expected for this trio, but they do give us something uplifting that deserved more of a shot than Oscar gave it.

This week we look at the gifts of Diablo Cody, Ricki’s parallels to his recent (foolishly underloved by Oscar) masterpiece Rachel Getting Married, and the major flub of 2015′s Best Original Song nominees and eventual winner “The Writing’s On The Wall”. Just as Ricki gives and takes with her family, we rewrite history to take some of Meryl’s Oscar nominations away to give them to some of her underrated performances.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS