Audio – Page 8 – This Had Oscar Buzz

183 – Margaret (with Patrick Vaill)

#TeamMargaret, your day is here! This week, we are joined by actor Patrick Vaill to discuss the contentious backstory and reemergence story that is Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret. Originally filmed in 2005, the film follows Anna Paquin as Lisa Cohen, a New York City teenager who witnesses a horrific accident and her search for restitution when she deems herself partly responsible. But Lonergan’s ambition with the film and its themes resulted in an arduous editing process, resulting in the ire of the film’s producer and Fox Searchlight. The years-long process led to lawsuits and the intervention of Martin Scorsese in the editing room, ultimately delivering a film that quietly snuck into a few theatres amidst contentiousness. Soon, a critical mass began to build along with change.org petitions and online outcry, and now Margaret is seen by some as one of the greatest films of the new century.

This episode, we discuss the various available versions of the film and Lonergan’s distillation of post-9/11 New York. We also unpack the brilliant central performance by Paquin, along with a stellar supporting cast of actresses including J. Smith-Cameron as Lisa’s actress mother, Jeannie Berlin as Lisa’s surprise confidante, and a one-scene-wonder Allison Janney (who joins our Six Timer’s Club).

Topics also include formative double features of The Apostle and Kundun, standing ovations for Andrea Martin, and what makes up J. Smith-Cameron’s “EGOT of television acting.”

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182 – State of Play

Adapted from the lauded UK miniseries of the same title, State of Play had a labored journey to the screen. Appearing on the 2006 Black List and originally intended as the screen reunion for Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, the American film adaptation weathered several delays, recastings, and creative setbacks, including the 2007 WGA strike. Once in production, the film mounted a cast that included Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, and Helen Mirren to unfold its political conspiracy in the attempted vein of All the President’s Men. All of this prestige put the film on awards prognosticators’ early predictions while it was still planned for a fall 2008 release, but it quickly cast aside those ambitions once in was punted one final time to a spring 2009 release.

This episode, we discuss Russell Crowe’s post-Oscar career of several Ridley Scott films and the phone-throwing incident that tainted his career. We also discuss Ben Affleck in the immediate afterglow of his directorial debut Gone Baby Gone, his immediate pivot to casting himself in his own movies, and director Kevin Macdonald’s pivot from documentarries to fiction films.

Topics also include watching the original miniseries on Netflix discs, snacks that are just chemicals, and The Eagle.

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Class of 2021

We finally have this year’s set of Oscar nominations, so that means it’s time for our Class of 2021 episode! This episode, we look back on the almost-was of the past awards season with films that received zero Oscar nominations, including in categories of Most Forgettable, Happiest Miss, and Saddest Snub. We also add a category for films we’re bummed we can’t discuss in future episodes, and you can guess what gets a mention there! And it all ends with picking the films we vow to cover first on the podcast, and a rundown of other films that were on the Oscar hunt at some point in the year. Topics also include saying farewell to Lady Gaga’s Oscar campaigning, the two categories that voted for the same five movies for the first time in over 50 years, and a Captain Planet lineup of Reba McEntires.

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181 – Leatherheads

This week, we are once again returning to the diminishing returns of George Clooney’s directorial career with 2008′s Leatherheads. The directing follow-up to his Oscar-nominated Good Night and Good Luck, this lighthearted film about the early days of American pro football stars Clooney as a player opposite Renée Zellweger as a journalist trying to break the story of a college football star (John Krasinski) who falsified the war hero story that made him famous. The film was received positively by critics and mildly by audiences, but was quickly forgotten as a hodgepodge of screwball comedy, sports crowdpleaser, and post-war drama.

In this episode, we look back at Clooney’s directorial attempt to follow in the footsteps of his collaborators and the 2005 Oscars where George Clooney earned three Oscar nominations, including winning in Best Supporting Actor for the forgotten Syriana. We also discuss Zellweger’s post-Oscar career fade, a what-if scenario for Clooney not winning for Syriana, and just how unsafe early football seems.

Topics also include the Zellweger movie we call “SOS backwards”, being blocked by LightsCameraJackson, and another round of Alter Egos.

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180 – Birth

We’re finally talking about one of our most requested films, Johnathan Glazer’s 2004 sophomore feature Birth. Starring Nicole Kidman as a woman grappling with a young boy’s assertion that he is her reincarnated dead husband, the film was initially controversial and critically maligned upon release, even with stunning work from composer Alexandre Desplat and cinematographer Harris Savides. Undoubtedly a complex and confounding film, it is perhaps most notorious for the unbroken close-up of Kidman’s face that wordlessly conveys her belief in the impossible. But in the near two decade since, Birth has been reassessed as a major achievement for Glazer, but is also seen by many as one of Kidman’s finest performances.

This episode, we discuss the film’s meaning and the controversy over the bathtub scene that overshadowed its release. We also talk about the underrated Anne Heche, Kidman’s chances to win a second Oscar this year for Being The Ricardos, and Kidman’s balancing between star roles and working with auteurs.

Topics also include Lauren Bacall lovingly calling Kidman “a beginner,” our 2004 Best Actress picks, and the upcoming 20th anniversary of The Hours.

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BONUS – Sundance, I Say

We’re bringing you a special bonus episode to recap our time with year’s edition of the Sundance Film Festival! We discuss some of the biggest prize winners from the US Dramatic Competition winner Nanny and the US Dramatic Audience Award winner Cha Cha Real Smooth, and other award recipients like Descendant, Dos Estaciones, and Fire of Love. We also discuss the films that might be pushed for Oscar in the year ahead (Good Luck to You Leo Grande and Living) and other personal festival highs (After Yang and Resurrection), lows (Sharp Stick and Call Jane), and everything in between!

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179 – On Chesil Beach

Saoirse Ronan came on strong at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival with two films that had the opposite experience: the immediately beloved Lady Bird and the misfire On Chesil Beach, which cratered after world premiering on the first day of the festival. The film reunited Ronan with Ian McEwan, the author of her Oscar-nominated breakthrough performan in Atonement, and cast her as a young woman in the mid-century who experiences a disastrous honeymoon with decades worth of emotional consequences. Also starring Billy Howle (who she would quickly reunite with for The Seagull) as her hot-tempered husband, the film received a very tepid response at the festival despite its pedigree and received a very quiet release the next spring.

This episode, we’re talking about Ronan’s increasingly prolific career and the performances that brought her Oscar nominations, including Atonement, which we will defend to the death. We also discuss the history of Bleecker Street films, their difficulty in securing Oscar nominations, and our favorites of their lineup.

Topics also include that one cello piece used in all of cinema, frustrations over the term “Oscar bait”, and Bebe Zahara Benet’s Jungle Kitty.

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178 – October Sky (with Esther Zuckerman)

Moving along from Maggie Gyllenhaal’s breakthrough last week, this week we are dis cussing her brother Jake’s! Senior Entertainment writer for Thrillist Esther Zuckerman joins us to talk about middle school classroom mainstay and union-agnostic true story, 1999′s October Sky. The film starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Homer Hickham Jr., as young West Virginian who bucked the pressure to join the mining industry to study rockets, leading to a career at NASA. With Laura Dern as his doting teacher and Chris Cooper as his gruff unsupportive father, the film was sold as a family film early in the year and gained some momentum before becoming ultimately forgotten by Oscar.

This episode, we look at Jake’s career evolutions from awkward love interest to older actresses to action to lovable weirdo and back to action star mode. We also discuss the career of director Joe Johnston, WGA nominees that were not nominated by the Academy, and Chris Cooper’s evolution from noteworthy character actor to noteworthy stern dad.

Topics also include, Universal’s 1999 awards slate and the Best Supporting Actor lineup that year, Peter Parker’s landlord, and Esther’s upcoming Oscar fashion history book Beyond the Best Dressed (Preorder HERE!).

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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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Mail Bag: Vol. 2

And we’re back with the conclusion of our mailbag! This time, we are talking about a few Oscar What Ifs: what new categories should Oscar adopt? what if a different actress had won Supporting Actress in 2005? what if there was a Best Actress season of Survivor? We also answer your questions about the podcast, including our ongoing cash bets against eachother, what episodes would be on our Known For, and whether its more fun/interesting to discuss bad or good movies. Topics also include the best and worst acting winners of this century, nominee reaction shots, and character descriptions of acting nominees on the telecast.

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