Maggie Gyllenhaal – This Had Oscar Buzz

222 – Away We Go

After winning Best Picture and Best Director for his zeitgeist-seizing debut feature American Beauty, Sam Mendes instantly became a director who generate awards chatter no matter the project. In 2009, he took a noticeable tonal downshift with Away We Go, a minor key comedy about a young pregnant couple on a road trip to decide where they want to grow their roots. Despite praise for Maya Rudolph’s performance as a soon-to-be mother still grieving the untimely death of her parents and John Krasinski opposite her as her jokester partner, the film didn’t succeed as summer counter-programming and mostly forgotten in the season to come.

This episode, we talk about the harsh reviews that found the film more judgmental than reflective and Rudolph’s understated and absorbing performance. We also talk about Alexi Murdoch’s soundtrack, possibly semi-autobiographical screenwriter marrieds Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, and the film’s bursting ensemble of fantastic character actors from Melanie Lynskey, Allison Janney, and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Topics also include this year’s New York Film Critics Circle award winners, Mendes’ pivot to Bond, and the lure of Montreal. Don’t forget to get submissions in for our upcoming mailbag episode!

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177 – Secretary

After a few minor roles in American indies, Maggie Gyllenhaal broke out in a big way with Sundance hit Secretary in 2002. The story of a young woman who copes with her mental health issues while entering a BDSM relationship with her boss (played by James Spader), Secretary was praised for its dark wit and daring, and immediately put Gyllenhaal on the map. But while she earned breakthrough prizes throughout the season, the film’s risque subject matter and a notoriously competitive Best Actress race kept Gyllenhaal out of Oscar contention.

This week, we discuss how the film holds up in terms of its handling of sensitiive subject matter and its place in the filmography of (surprise THOB heavy-hitter) Erin Cressida Wilson. We also discuss Gyllenhaal’s chances this season for her directorial debut The Lost Daughter, Spader’s run as an erotic psychodrama mainstay, and how the 2002 Best Actress race was shifted by contenders campaigning for multiple roles.

Topics also include the proposed Indecent Proposal remake, what we are programming at our imaginary repertory cinema, and the MTV Movie Awards Breakthrough Female Performance category.

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082 – Stranger Than Fiction (with Kevin Jacobsen)

This week we’re returning to a subject that never fails to summon Oscar buzz: comedic actors going dramatic. For this round, we welcome And The Runner Up Is host and writer for Gold Derby Kevin Jacobsen to discuss 2006′s Stranger Than Fiction. The high-concept seriocomedy starred Will Ferrell in his first major attempt at a dramatic role as Harold Crick, a man who hears a voice narrating his life and predicting his imminent demise. That voice belongs to an author played by Emma Thompson, with Harold being the subject of her next masterpiece.

But it wasn’t just Ferrell’s leap into drama that spelled Stranger Than Fiction’s Oscar potential. The film was directed by Marc Forster – already a rising Oscar commodity after directing Halle Berry to her win and following that up with Finding Neverland – with buzzed new screenwriter Zach Helm chasing the in-vogue absurdity of Charlie Kaufman. Despite good reviews, the film didn’t fully achieve the potential of its premise and was overshadowed by other counterprogramming options to Oscar’s brooding 2006.

This episode, we take a look back at the diminishing Oscar returns for Marc Forster and how Sacha Baron Cohen and Borat surprisingly stole this film’s thunder. Topics also include Amy Pascal at awards shows, films that made us look at film more critically, and canonical This Had Oscar Buzz superfan Don Gummer.

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001 – Mona Lisa Smile

Our first episode of This Had Oscar Buzz is about 2003’s Mona Lisa Smile, director Mike Newell’s Wellesley College period melodrama, starring Julia Roberts and all of the It Girls of the early Aughts. Come for the art history lesson, stay for the dashed awards hopes.

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