In Contention

Tag: Emma Thompson

  • Emma vs. Audrey

    British papers have probably made more of Emma Thompson’s recent dismissal of Audrey Hepburn than her slightly flip comments warranted, but it has prompted an interesting amount of side-taking over the merits of one of Old Hollywood’s most beloved (or so we thought) icons. If you’re new to this story, Thompson’s jabs at Hepburn were made with specific reference to her performance in “My Fair Lady,” for which Thompson herself is scripting the upcoming big-screen remake:

    [T]here needs to be a new version. I’m not hugely fond of the film. I find Audrey Hepburn fantastically twee. Twee is whimsy without wit. It’s mimsy-mumsy sweetness without any kind of bite. And that’s not for me. She can’t sing and she can’t really act, I’m afraid. I’m sure she was a delightful woman – and perhaps if I had known her I would have enjoyed her acting more, but I don’t and I didn’t, so that’s all there is to it, really.

    It was Cecil Beaton’s designs and Rex Harrison that gave it its extraordinary quality. I don’t do Audrey Hepburn. I think that she’s a guy thing… It’s high time that the extraordinary role of Eliza was reinterpreted, because it’s a very fantastic part for a woman.

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  • Mulligan set for ‘My Fair Lady’

    Between Carey Mulligan and Mia Wasikowska, it seems the industry has no need for other 20-something actresses — they’ll divvy up all the plum parts between them.

    Days after Mulligan’s name was connected to the English-language remake of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” comes the news that she’s to play Eliza Doolittle in the long-mooted remake of “My Fair Lady.”

    Almost two years ago, it was announced that a new version of the 1964 Best Picture winner was in the works, with Keira Knightley and director Joe Wright in the frame. Some games of musical chairs have apparently been played since then — John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love”) in now in the director’s chair, while Emma Thompson is on script duty.

    At last night’s premiere for the “Nanny McPhee” sequel, Thompson confirmed that Mulligan — with whom she co-starred, of course, in “An Education” — is on board, adding that she “would love” Hugh Grant to fill Rex Harrison’s Oscar-winning shoes as Professor Henry Higgins.

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  • OFF THE CARPET: Looking at the supporting ladies

    Vera Farmiga in Up in the AirA few weeks ago in this space I took a dedicated look at the lead actress category.  With little in the way of actual development (this season is curiously divided on the timeline as we’ve got maybe another month before more major titles begin screening), I figured it would be a good idea to keep things going on that front and take a look at the supporting actress race.

    It’s a little difficult to ignore the fact that Mo’Nique stands way out ahead of the pack in this race for her work in “Precious.” Unless her reported behind-the-scenes drama-queen tactics somehow poison the cause, she should be holding a statue in four months’ time.  She is fierce and focused in a monstrous role and when viewers get over the initial “she had this in her?” shock, they’ll also see it for the expert piece of acting that it is.

    Mo’Nique is joined in her film, however, by what I’d call an awards-worthy turn from Mariah Carey.  The singer-turned-actress has been lurking in Mo’Nique’s shadow throughout the film’s publicity and festival tour this year, and she also lost something of a diva battle with Mary J. Blige to have a featured track in the film.  The poor girl can’t catch a break here, but I think she deserves a look from voters and, perhaps, even prognosticators.

    A few weeks ago I mentioned in an episode of Oscar Talk that “Up in the Air” star Vera Farmiga would be pushed as a lead actress.  Some things have changed.

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  • The Great Performances: 1995

    (from left) Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep in The Bridges of Madison CountyBased on some of the comments I received last week regarding my article on great acting, I took the suggestion of a young lady and am kicking off a series of articles, one per week, that will explore the best performances ofeach year, beginning today with 1995.  So let’s go back and work our way towards 2008 and discover the great film performances we know about, and maybe a few we do not.

    The Academy did a pretty fine job in 1995 when it came to the acting nominees.  Sure there was some shock when John Travolta was snubbed for his superb work in “Get Shorty,” and those hoping for a three-peat with Tom Hanks missed it when the actor was not nominated for his solid work in “Apollo 13.” I personally would like to have seen Clint Eastwood nominated for his wonderful work in “The Bridges of Madison County,” but there are just five slots open, and so many fine pieces of acting.

    One could also argue for Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, both excellent in David Fincher’s “Seven,” or Bruce Willis, who was nobly brilliant in “Twelve Monkeys,” and perhaps even Jack Nicholson in “The Crossing Guard.”

    Nobody could argue with Nicolas Cage in “Leaving Las Vegas,” Sean Penn in “Dead Man Walking” or Anthony Hopkins for “Nixon” as Best Actor nominees.  And frankly I believe Penn gave the best performance of the year, one for the ages in fact. However, Richard Dreyfuss in “Mr. Holland’s Opus?” Seriously?  I love Dreyfuss and I think he’s even been short-changed in the past, but come one.  He does fine work and it’s not his fault the script asks him to be mushy and sentimental, but I have struggled with his nomination over Hanks, Travolta and Eastwood for many years.

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  • Great performers at their best

    Tom Cruise in MagnoliaAfter spending some time this summer watching some excellent films on DVD, I was inspired to write this piece about the great actors’ (living, with one exception) greatest performances.

    Narrowing it down to one each (brutal, believe me), I think have come up with a list of actors, young and old, that represents some of the finest talent working in film over the last 40 years, and selected the performance I believe each will be remembered for. This is obviously a subjective endeavor, so if you feel different, tell us why.

    Let’s dive in…

    Jack Nicholson
    Jack is not often given the credit for being the brilliant actor he is because we far too often expect him to be “just Jack.” But when he puts his actor’s hat on there simply may not be a greater actor in film history. For me he was never better than he was as Randall Patrick McMurphy in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” which is a breathtaking piece of work. Watch him when he’s not speaking and see the emotion he packs into this astonishing piece of acting.

    Meryl Streep
    There is no question here for me. As concentration camp survivor Sophie in “Sophie’s Choice,” Streep gave not only her best performance, but the single finest performance ever given by a woman, in my view. That terrifying silent scream paralyzes the viewer with heartache and dare I say, shame. Sophie may have survived the camp, but she walks through her life more dead than alive because her soul was left behind and somehow Streep conveys that to the audience.

    Robert Duvall
    This is a tough call because Duvall was so good in “Apocalypse Now,” but I think his best work was in “The Apostle” as a preacher challenged by his own flaws and forced to atone for his sins. A volcanic performance in which Duvall never seems to stop moving or speaking.

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  • Mulligan makes her move

    Don’t say I didn’t give you the heads-up on this one. Looking over the Sundance lineup last month, I singled out Lone Scherfig’s “An Education” as a title about which I was particularly excited — not least because it stars Carey Mulligan, a lovely young Brit for whom I’ve been predicting big things for some time.

    Well, once in a blue moon, I’m right.

    “An Education,” a 1960s-set coming-of-age drama penned by Nick Hornby, recently bowed at Sundance, and while the notices for the film itself are warm, the real buzz centers on 23 year-old Mulligan. A star, it appears, is born. Jeff Wells was first out the gate, and it’s fair to say that he’s besotted with both star and film — which he reckons we may still be talking about this time next year:

    The best film of the Sundance Film Festival, a finely tuned and deeply engaging film by regular popcorn-watching standards, an award-calibre drama that will definitely be in contention at the end of the year, and a movie that has launched a genuine movie star in an old-fashioned and yet very new-fashioned sense — 23 year-old Carey Mulligan. I know that special old-soul-mixed-with-youthful-effervescence quality that you see in very few actors and actresses over the years, and trust me, Mulligan has it.

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  • “Did you like the work? Buy the ticket!”

    This isn’t exactly new, but I just stumbled across this video, one of a series from the Hollywood Reporter’s actress Oscar roundtable last month. THR has had several such sessions this season, but I really liked the chemistry and empathy between these five wonderful women — Michelle Williams, Taraji P. Henson, Emma Thompson, Amy Adams and Sally Hawkins.

    Henson is especially garrulous and charming; I particularly love her matter-of-fact approach to the frequent silliness of awards season, which is what they discuss in the video below.

    Meanwhile, after the cut, check out Henson and fellow ingenue Hawkins chatting about their respective experiences on “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Happy-Go-Lucky.” Could there be two sweeter people on the awards circuit this year?

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  • BAFTA predictions

    The BAFTA nominations drop tomorrow, and while I hardly covered myself in glory with my foreign film Oscar forecast yesterday, I’m going to wade into the murky waters of prediction once more.

    On the one hand, it’s a fool’s errand trying to predict the BAFTA nods, as they can frequently be the most perverse and contrarian awards voters of the lot. On the other, they make the task a little easier for us pundits by releasing 15-strong longlists in each category ahead of the voting.

    As I wrote back in November, the BAFTAs can be inconsistently parochial in their voting, frequently handing multiple nods to middlebrow homegrown product, while simultaneously sidelining the most acclaimed British films of the year. A look at this year’s longlists confirms that trend, as relatively mediocre Brit flicks like “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas,” “Mamma Mia!” and “The Duchess” all received multiple mentions, while critical darlings “Hunger” and “Happy-Go-Lucky” landed in a paltry three categories each — Best Film not among them.

    The BAFTA voters’ provincialism is most shamefully evident in the Best Supporting Actress longlist, which features such bizarre inclusions as Judi Dench for “Quantum of Solace” and Rebecca Hall for her arm-candy role in “Frost/Nixon.” As for the Best Adapted Screenplay citation for “Mamma Mia!,” well, the less said the better. Of course, it’s a mistake to read too much into these lists. The idle frequency with which certain titles pop up — “Frost/Nixon” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” lead with 14 mentions each, but more surprisingly, a lightweight contender like “Burn After Reading” managed a staggering 11 — suggests the voters weren’t thinking too hard either.

    Which films will fare best tomorrow is another matter — it’s not uncommon for a film to feature strongly in the longlists only to go MIA on nomination morning. Below the cut are my best guesses, together with some thoughts on the top categories.

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  • 12/27 Oscarweb Round-up

    Emma Thompson• Lou Lumenick thinks “Revolutionary Road” might be too grim to resonate this Oscar season. [Lumenick on Film]

    • Tom O’Neil chats with “Last Chance Harvey” star Emma Thompson. [Gold Derby]

    • Todd Leopold wraps up the year in a meandering piece that touches on Heath Ledger, Sarah Palin and…Niels Bohr. [CNN]

    • Steve Weintraub sits down with “Wrestler” star Mickey Rourke, thankfully puts a leash on his itchy “exclusive” trigger finger. [Collider]

    • The 50 films that defined the year, across the pond. [Empire]

    • “Anyone Who Doesn’t Choose This As The Best Movie of the Year is Just Being a Jerk” [Premiere]

    • Dave White wonders why we love movie Nazis. [MSNBC]

    • Andrew O’Hehir talks to Ari Folman about the “bad acid trip” of “Waltz with Bashir.” [Beyond the Multiplex]

  • INTERVIEW: Dustin Hoffman

    Dustin HoffmanHe doesn’t seem like Dustin Hoffman for some reason.  He sounds like Dustin Hoffman.  He looks like him.  But there aren’t really any traces of his decades-long assemblage of characters.  And he’s got an approachability that seems somehow uncommon for a star of his stature.

    But there he is, piecing together a sandwich with arugula, veggie cheese, spicy mustard and wheat bread as he recalls his first major interview with Studs Terkel over 40 years ago.  Terkel has passed recently, which brought the topic to the fore.

    “It was Chicago, right after ‘The Graduate,’” Hoffman says.  “I went into his office and he had floor-to-ceiling books and everything, you know.  The office looked like him.  He turns the tape recorder on and it was an intricate and intensive interview that probably went on for over two hours.  We shook hands and he said, ‘Let me just check’ — and the tape didn’t work.  It had been blanked for some reason.  So he says, ‘You wouldn’t mind doing it again?”

    So it was that we kicked off our own two-hour conversation, one steering in and out of his legendary career, briefly touching on the particulars of his latest film, “Last Chance Harvey” (now playing in limited release and for which Hoffman received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor), but mostly wandering from this mundane particular to that.

    He has a fondness for iron furniture, a number of antiques peppering his Brentwood offices.  A large Italian “Midnight Cowboy” poster hangs in the lobby, but I’m caught off guard by the food and drink spread in the hallway as we move into his personal office.  The dainty dishes and cutlery seem to clash with the casual air of the actor before me.

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  • With love from me to you

    I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed Variety’s recent series of articles in which prominent actors champion some of their personal favourite performances of 2008, including many of the most discussed contenders of the season. It’s a simple idea, but executed with real thought and sincerity.

    The pieces are interesting not just because of the more empathetic perspective a fellow actor can offer on a colleague’s craft, but also because the selections and combinations are so varied and frequently unexpected.

    It’s not exactly surprising that an indie queen like Catherine Keener should love Michelle Williams’ exquisite portrayal in “Wendy and Lucy,” but Andy Garcia isn’t the first person I’d think of to celebrate the work of yesterday’s interviewee, Elsa Zylberstein, in “I’ve Loved You So Long.” I particularly liked Garcia’s piece because he understands just what a collaborative effort a performance can sometimes be:

    It is not about the big scenes. It’s about the whole personality and how it is orchestrated. Kristin Scott Thomas is the protagonist, but Kristin’s and Elsa’s performances are joined at the hip. On the page, Elsa’s subtext may not appear as dramatic an issue as the subtext Kristin has, but there’s a great delicacy with which Elsa invites us to understand her character’s troubles and insecurities and how they relate to Kristin’s character. It is the overall crafting of the performance that is so beautiful to watch.

    In turn, Kristin Scott Thomas is profiled by Scarlett Johansson, the younger actor evidently inspired by the elder. Reversing the generation gap, Dustin Hoffman is awestruck by Melissa Leo’s fearless turn in “Frozen River.” Meanwhile, James McAvoy’s take on Anne Hathaway shows the same respect and affection for a contemporary as Blythe Danner’s valentine to Richard Jenkins.

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  • Looking for comedy in the awards world

    Over at his OscarWatch column, Dave Karger recently asked a question that has been bothering me for some time regarding this year’s awards race.

    Namely, how the hell are the Golden Globes going to fill out the ballot in the Comedy/Musical races?

    Best Actress looks solid enough. So far, we have two clear-cut frontrunners — Sally Hawkins and Anne Hathaway — in the Actress category, though I wonder if they will wind up placing Hathaway in the drama field, where I think she belongs. Meryl Streep will inevitably get cited for “Mamma Mia!” and I feel confident that Emma Thompson will grab a deserved nomination for “Last Chance Harvey.”

    Karger thinks Sarah Jessica Parker could round out the list, though I might look at Beyonce Knowles in “Cadillac Records” (much as the thought of her playing Etta James upsets me) or Rachel Weisz in “The Brothers Bloom” as alternative filler nominees. (The Globes don’t mind elevating supporting roles when there’s a paucity of contenders, though Weisz is a legitimate lead, in my opinion.)

    It’s the Best Actor category that’s really problematic. From what I can see, Dustin Hoffman has this in the bag for his endearing autumnal turn in “Last Chance Harvey” — not just because it’s a lovely performance, but because I can barely think of any competition for him. With the news that Josh Brolin has (rightly, I think) been denied comedic classification for “W.,” Karger thinks the other nominees might pan out like so:

    I’d also make the case for Paul Rudd, who anchors the current hit Role Models with his signature deadpan delivery, and Ghost Town‘s Ricky Gervais, who was brilliant in a sophisticated comedy that nobody saw. The HFPA could go the more obvious route with Get Smart‘s Steve Carell or Hancock‘s Will Smith, but here’s hoping they’ll think out of the box and recognize another understated humorist: Michael Cera from Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. We can dream, right?

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  • REVIEW: “Last Chance Harvey” (***)

    Overture Films\' Last Chance HarveyRemember “Falling in Love?” I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t. A modest join-the-dots 1984 romantic drama charting the will-they-won’t-they courtship between two married New York commuters, it should never have gone beyond the dimensions of a TV screen…

    …but for the fact that the two commuters happened to be played by Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep. So sensitively crafted were their performances, and so effortless and infectious their chemistry, that they alone made the film worthwhile.

    Watching “Last Chance Harvey,” the sophomore feature from British writer-director Joel Hopkins, I couldn’t help but be reminded of “Falling in Love.” The comparison isn’t entirely fair — “Harvey” is a bit smarter and more acutely observed — but both films are essentially slender, undemanding constructions designed principally to showcase two great actors riffing off each other.

    In the case of “Harvey,” the actors in question are the appealing September-December duo of Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, and the pairing proves immediately irresistible.

    The contrivances of Hopkins’ screenplay and his prosaic filmmaking approach are of little consequence once it emerges that this is a star vehicle, plain and simple. On those terms, it’s a bull’s-eye, one that is bound to register strongly with an audience starved of relationship stories concerning anyone over the age of 40.

    Following their spring release “The Visitor,” a similarly low-key, mature-audience-skewing success, new outfit Overture Films is cunningly slipping “Last Chance Harvey” into theaters in late December, in the hope of awards success for the stars. Given the strength of the performances and the film’s winning charm, it’s a move that could well pay off.

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  • ‘Last Chance Harvey’ added to AFI Fest line-up

    Overture is getting serious about this film’s Oscar prospects.  Here’s the press release, in part:

    The director, [Joel] Hopkins, as well as [Dustin] Hoffman and [Emma] Thompson, are confirmed to attend.
    “AFI holds a standard of excellence for all things film and beyond.  We are honored that LAST CHANCE HARVEY was chosen for the festival this year.  It’s a film that Overture is proud to share with audiences worldwide and we’re delighted AFI will be its premiere destination”, commented Overture Films’ CEO Chris McGurk.

    “We consider ourselves very fortunate to have the opportunity to add LAST CHANCE HARVEY as a Centerpiece Screening. This is a classic romantic film with two of the most beloved stars, Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, who make a wonderful screen pairing. We held a few places in our schedule just in case a film like this would become available after we had locked our programming and in this particular case our strategy paid off very well,” said AFI FEST Artistic Director, Rose Kuo.

  • ‘Harvey’ on the radar

    Some of our keen-eyed readers may have noticed my review on these pages of the Dustin Hoffman-Emma Thompson starrer, “Last Chance Harvey,” earlier today. The film, another feather in the cap for hard-working new outfit Overture Films, is due for a late December release, just in time for viable awards consideration.

    We’ve temporarily taken the review down for practical reasons, but it will be re-posted soon enough. For now, I’m at liberty to tell you that it’s a charming, understated sleeper whose full-wattage star power makes it a genuine prospect in the acting categories. Assuming the film opts for the comedy/musical route at the Golden Globes, Hoffman and Thompson seem virtual shoo-ins for nominations, while Hoffman could really make a run in the Oscar race for Best Actor — this is his most substantial, endearing portrayal in some time.

    We’ll have more on the film soon. Keep an eye out.

  • REVIEW: “Stranger Than Fiction” (****)

    Columbia Pictures\' Stranger Than FictionMarc Forster’s “Stranger Than Fiction” really ought to be referred to as Zach Helm’s “Stranger Than Fiction.”  While the “Finding Neverland” helmer does a sensational job conveying the brilliant and elaborate story to the screen, it is evident throughout that the writer’s intentions are being taken care of.

    And thank God for that, because Helm’s creation is ultimately one of the most potent, meaningful and literarily astute pieces of screenwriting in the medium.

    It might seem obvious that comparisons to Charlie Kaufman are in store for Helm and the resulting film.  It is true that the screenwriter reaches for certain human and social truths via his creatively unorthodox approach, much like Kaufman has done in his most recognizable work.

    But Helm also tackles his themes in a paradoxically accessible manner that can speak to larger numbers and to even larger truths.  With this debut feature, Helm has truly hit a grand slam.

    In the film, Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) is an unspectacular IRS agent who lives each and every day by the book.  He isn’t the sort to color outside the lines, if you follow.  The world makes sense to him broken into a strict regimen inside his mind, a regimen that is so second nature it is almost appealing.  He counts steps, brushes his teeth with a consistent amount of strokes each morning and keeps track of every second to spare via his handy wristwatch alarm.

    These peculiarities are hammered home through the educated, cheeky narration of some omniscient presence, and it seems like another simple tale of a man and his wholesome life.  That is, until Harold becomes cognizant of the narration.

    As it turns out, Harold is the main character in the latest novel from author Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson), whose voice provides the narration he hears day in and day out.  Harold isn’t aware of this, of course.  He just thinks he is losing his mind.

    The effect is merely annoying and diversionary for him to start, but Harold really begins to get nervous when the voice makes a passing comment on the foreshadowing of his “imminent death.”

    In disarray, Harold seeks out the advice of a literary scholar, Dr. Jules Hibert (Dustin Hoffman).  Dr. Hibert takes up the task of distinguishing what sort of story Harold is experiencing.  Is it a comedy or is it a tragedy?  Is he a specific figment of literary history or someone else?  Is there a specific author behind the tale?  Is Harold merely crazy?

    Will Ferrell in Stranger Than FictionMeanwhile, Harold has been given the task of auditing a feisty bohemian baker, Ana (Maggie Gyllenhaal).  Discontent with “the man” and certainly not afraid to speak her mind, Ana is, if anything, Harold’s polar opposite: hip, tattooed, free-spirited and boisterous.

    He is, of course, immediately taken by her.  And maybe he could do something about it if that pesky voice would just leave him alone.  Or maybe hearing his seemingly aimless existence play out through mundane narration is the swift kick in the rear he needed to start living his life the way he wants to.

    For much of the narrative, “Stranger Than Fiction” is about just that.  It is about coloring OUTSIDE the lines and living life as you – not your schedule – see fit.

    When Harold meets Ana, he begins to find this perspective.  And when he finally decides to do all the things he wanted to do in his life, “I want you” is all he can say to her that conveys what he really feels.  It is a brief and ironic moment that cleverly speaks to the sexes’ tendency to play games through courtship.

    Who has time for such things – especially when your “imminent death” is upon you?

    All of this is told parallel to Eiffel’s story.  Suffering a terrible case of writer’s block and having been assigned an assistant, Penny (Queen Latifah), by her publisher, Eiffel can’t seem to figure out the best way to kill Harold Crick.

    She spends her days imagining automobile accidents and visiting hospital emergency wards, desperate for that spark of creativity that will ignite her novel’s conclusion.

    Eiffel is famous for killing people in her books, you see.  More specifically, she is famous for killing people she has created as noble, admirable individuals you’d hate to see go.  But perhaps the time has come for her to start doing things out of her typical order as well.

    And that’s when “Stranger Than Fiction” treads breathtaking territory.  What Helm’s screenplay does that takes it up a level in brilliance is present a third act that makes the film about something else entirely – something that almost flies in the face of the first two thirds of the story.

    Emma Thompson in Stranger Than FictionIt took two viewings to really grasp the importance of that shift in theme, and when it landed, it certainly had an impact.  In that final act, the film becomes a story about living for others as much as for yourself.

    Modest Christian symbolism, intended or otherwise, may or may not click with viewers (Eiffel sticks out as a deity capable of bestowing mercy on those who live unselfish lives), but regardless, Helm pieces together a story much denser than it would appear at an initial glance.  Such is the mark of artistry that is welcome and rare.

    The performances across the board are outstanding.  Will Ferrell presents Harold Crick as his finest portrayal to date, as fittingly awkward as he can be moving.  Maggie Gyllenhaal exudes a sexiness and charisma that plays fantastically off of Ferrell’s quirky charms.

    Dustin Hoffman seems born for the role of the dry-witted Dr. Hibert, and Emma Thompson’s hermitic author is at once peculiar and inspiring.  Queen Latifah, though in something of a throwaway role, somehow still feels like the perfect choice for Penny.

    Marc Forster, meanwhile, deserves a lot of credit for diversifying his directorial choices.  He seems to be gravitating toward stories that have a certain warm center, which can be appealing or annoying (depending on the viewer).

    Helm’s screenplay is the most accomplished the director has worked with thus far, and he does a flawless job of putting the script on the screen without fuss and without unnecessary trademark.

    “Stranger Than Fiction” will be about a number of different things for a number of different people.  For some it will be about living life to the fullest.  For others it will be about trusting your instincts and going after what you desire.

    For me, it is about recognizing the importance of the little things we encounter, day in and day out, that go toward creating the huge puzzle we spend most of our days trying to decipher.  Life really is what happens when you’re making other plans.