Melissa McCarthy – This Had Oscar Buzz

Pfor this week’s episode, we’ve invited The Film Experience creator and Michelle Pfeiffer superpfan Nathaniel Rogers back to discuss one of our listeners most requested films, 2002′s White Oleander. Based on the beloved novel by Janet Fitch, the film stars Allison Lohman as the teenage Astrid, who is plunged into the foster care system after her manipulative artist mother Ingrid (a phenomenal Pfeiffer) kills her boyfriend and is sent to prison. The film suffers from moving too briskly between Astrid’s foster homes (with Robin Wright and Renée Zellweger cast as various mothers) and met poor anemic reviews that left the film and Pfeiffer’s work forgotten in a backloaded awards season.

This week, we talk about the 2002 Supporting Actress race including who we think placed fifth in the nominations and the performance Nathaniel thinks derailed her chances. We also look at Oprah’s Book Club, Pfeiffer’s reticence with doing press, and personal Oscar grudges over Pfeiffer’s best work.

Topics also include Melissa McCarthy as an EMT, Robin Wright pronouncing the word “virus”, and Sheryl Crow’s The Globe Sessions (which, yeah, Chris misremembers instead of C’Mon C’Mon).

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Nao-May comes to a close this week with St. Vincent, the 2014 film that starred Bill Murray as an old codger who learns to love while caring for a not-quite-precocious preteen. The dramedy targeted that elusive follow-up nomination for Murray after losing out for Lost in Translation a decade prior, not to mention holding promise for a dramatic turn from Melissa McCarthy. But it is perhaps most remembered by awards hounds for Watts’s surprise SAG nomination as a pregnant Russian immigrant sex worker.

This week, we look at Naomi’s successful 2014 (that also included starring in Best Picture winner Birdman), her career post-St. Vincent, and what we imagine lies ahead for her career. We take another final look at Watts as a committed performer to sometimes unfortunate material, as evidenced by this film and… oof, The Book of Henry.

Topics also include the film’s rainsoaked TIFF premiere, embarrassing interviews on morning shows, and (once again) Jaden Mein Leiberher Martell.

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Tag: Melissa McCarthy

136 – White Oleander (with Nathaniel Rogers)

095 – St. Vincent (Naomi Watts – Part Four)