Whoopi Goldberg – This Had Oscar Buzz

Michelle Pfeiffer is a favorite to discuss on This Had Oscar Buzz and this week we’re throwing it back to one of her late 1990s melodramas. In The Deep End of the Ocean, Pfeiffer starts as a mother whose young child goes missing. After years of traumatic aftermath, the child reappears in her family’s life, forcing the fractured family to reckon with the dysfunctional coping methods that have kept them afloat. Originally planned as a fall 1998 awards season release, reshoots pushed this one into 1999 and the movie bombed anyway.

This episode, we talk about how the film misfired by repelling the very audience it appealed to and Pfeiffer’s late 1990s output. We also talk about the assumed prestige that followed Oprah’s Book Club adaptations, director Ulu Grosbard, and Jonathan Jackson’s run on General Hospital.

Topics also include YoungStar Awards, high school reunions, and Oprah playing gay.

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All January we’ll be doing a series we call Patreon Selects with episodes chosen by members of our sponsor-level tier on Patreon (and they’ll be sharing their Oscar origin stories too)! First up is 1992’s megasmash musical comedy Sister Act! Originally designed as a showcase for Bette Midler, the film became a starring vehicle for Whoopi Goldberg hot off of her Oscar win for Ghost. With Whoopi as an on-the-run lounge singer who hides out in a convent and turns the church’s choir into a sensation, the film won the affection of audiences but not an Academy with a tricky relationship with comedy.

This episode, we talk about Whoopi’s career from theatre breakthrough to movie star to Oscar host. We also talk about Dame Maggie Smith’s two Oscar wins, the career of writer Paul Rudnick (who took his name off the film), and the divine Mary Wickes.

Topics also include Hook, Nuns Having Fun, and the MTV Movie Awards.

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Tag: Whoopi Goldberg

357 – The Deep End of the Ocean

270 – Sister Act (Patreon Selects)