Steve Zahn – This Had Oscar Buzz

Hayden Christensen arrived seemingly out of nowhere to land the role of pre-Vader Anakin Skywalker, becoming one of Hollywood’s hottest stars overnight and largely untested as a screen presence. After a respected turn in Life As A House(see previous episode!), the Attack of the Clones reviews soured audiences on this brand new star. The very next year, he gave a terrific performance in Shattered Glass as journalist Stephen Glass who famously fabricated stories for The New Republic. But awards bodies overlooked Christensen’s work and instead nominated the rising Peter Sarsgaard as Glass’ pseudo-rival Chuck Lane.

This episode, we talk about the Entertainment Weekly It List that was Christensen’s first debut post-Star Wars casting and his return to the franchise. We also talk about director/writer Billy Ray, Sarsgaard’s near nomination here, and journalism movies that were successful with Oscar.

Topics also include working with fact checkers, college group watch television, and the 2003 Independent Spirit Awards.

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We’re doing something a little different this week and setting our sights on one specific Oscar category: Best Animated Feature. This episode, Kyle Amato joins us to talk about The Good Dinosaur, one of the few box office and critical disappointments in the history of Pixar. The story of a timid dinosaur and the human baby he meets on a quest for honor, The Good Dinosaur was plagued by story overhauls and creative disputes, resulting in a final film that follows too closely to Pixar’s formula for upbeat adventure. Critics were dismissive and Thanksgiving weekend moviegoers favored the final Hunger Games instalment instead, with the film ultimately becoming one of Pixar’s few entries to miss an Animated Feature nomination since the category began.

The Good Dinosaur’s biggest Oscar impact was nominated Sanjay’s Super Team as it’s pre-movie short. We talk about Pixar’s history of troubled productions and this film’s comparative failure in the year of Inside Out. We also discuss the Cars franchise as the accepted critical loser in the Pixar brand, Pixar’s unrelenting stronghold on the Animated Feature category, and the film’s stitched together elements of characters and plot elements.

Topics also include dropping hallucinogenics with a baby, our thoughts on Pixar’s 2021 release Luca, and the recent nominees in the Animated Short category.

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Tag: Steve Zahn

268 – Shattered Glass (with Richard Lawson!)

162 – The Good Dinosaur (with Kyle Amato)