Top Ten Reasons I Should've Bought that "Baker Boys" Photograph When I Had The Chance
Tuesday, October 14, 2014 at 10:34AM Today the new season of TFE begins! We're celebrating with an all top ten list day. Every few hours, a new and highly random top ten list to kick off the Fall Movie Season (our favorite time of year!). Let's start with something that's been haunting me because I forgot to post about the 25th anniversary of The Fabulous Baker Boys yesterday, one of my all time favorite films. A long time ago in a New York City that still felt like a galaxy far far away (I was a recent transplant... 1999/2000?) I attended a Jeff Bridges photography show. He's really a very good photographer and takes photos on the sets of his movies. I stared and stared at this enormous black & white photograph of Michelle Pfeiffer that Bridges had taken.
This photo is so magnificent in person
My bank account was humiliation in numeric form though I don't remember how much the giant beauty cost.
TOP TEN REASONS I SHOULD'VE BOUGHT THAT FABULOUS BAKER BOYS ON SET PHOTOGRAPH OF MICHELLE PFEIFFER ANYWAY...
10. However $$$, it would have long since paid for itself in number of looks / pleasure derived.
09. Though there were several things that contributed to my cinephilia and actressexuality, many of which have been oft-referenced at The Film Experience (among them: Streep & Turner & Woody in theaters, a neighborhood revival house, Hitchcock on VHS and old Natalie Wood films on the TV, etcetera) Michelle Pfeiffer on the piano top was the final nail in my 'normal person' coffin. I would never again not be obsessive about these things
08. If I (inexplicably) couldn't have a reunion of Bridges & Pfeiffer onscreen, it least it would have been on the wall sandwiching me with Baker Boys mania when the pair were reunited on my television in 2010.
07. The picture would have looked even bigger in my impossibly small training-wheels Manhattan apartment
06. Jail time served from robberies to afford it, would have only brought me closer to the best of her Bad Girls: Elvira Hancock, Lamia, Velma and Catwoman, but especially icy predator convict Ingrid Magnusson (White Oleander, which should have won Pfeiffer her second or third Oscar but who's counting?)
05. Though the frames edges were sharp and glass is hard, perhaps it would have emotionally cushioned the blow of the recent discovery that Michelle Pfeiffer recently turned down ANOTHER Oscariffic role -- Lisa Genova, the author of Still Alice discusses its journey to film and the handful of A list actresses that turned it down, starting around 5:45 mark.
Dr. Lisa Genova Part 7 Being Present is the Best Thing You Can Do for Someone with Alzheimer's and Yourself from Bill Slater on Vimeo.
(Turning down Thelma & Louise and Silence of the Lambs and now Still Alice which might well give another long Oscar-denied actress the gold? Painful... although it probably wouldn't have gotten anywhere near Oscar with Brett Rattner attached so maybe it was smart for all those A and B+ listers to say no)
04. For a reminder of that movies insanely great cinematography. How Michael Ballhaus lost the Oscar I shall never understand.
03. Because black and white goes with everything.
02. Because this Bridges photo above was not available for purchase. I love it so much because it challenges all of my feelings and perceptions of La Pfeiffer and renders her thoroughly human... in a perfect Not Susie Diamond way.
01 For further vindication: Ain't nobody would ever spent thousands of dollars to get a framed photo of Jessica Tandy on the set of Driving Miss Daisy. Truth bomb.
Reader Comments (6)
white oleander should have been her oscar win - campaign or not!
not even a nomination - wtf?
The #1. I'm dying.
HAHA to this entire post. I will never understand why Michelle continues to turn down interesting roles. I guess she just prefers to stay home and hang out with David E. Kelley.
White Oleander and Scarface are my favorite performances of hers. Cheri is pretty up there as well.
Nat--I think there is a Hurrell of MP available. He took some more of his glamour shots in the 80s and I believe she is one of the subjects. The hair is terrible, but then so was just about everyone's. You should be able to pick it for a a couple of thou.
With a lot of great award-winning roles turned by famous actresses, it's always good to remember that sometimes it's a matter of the right role for the right actress at the right time. While it's been such a long time that we've seen Pfeiffer in the awards-game, I'm glad she's still acting in recent years. Her performances in "Cheri" "People Like Us" and "White Oleander" show us she's still capable of showing the brilliance of her earlier work, and perhaps it's just a matter of some up & coming director casting her in the role of her lifetime.
I want to have one of these image as badly as you want, too!