Q&A: Anderson's Playthings, Genius Toons, Scream Queens, and "Making Of" Dramas
Wednesday, October 14, 2015 at 9:31PM Have you missed the Q&A series? I have so it's back. You asked questions so I chose two handfuls to answer. Let's just get right to it.
Andrew: What actors would you like to see Wes Anderson work with in the future?
As you all know, directors who reuse actors delight our particular cinephilia. There's something that's wonderfully fantasy sandbox about it. Like you're inside that auteurs head when they're playing and these are their favorite toys. So I hope Anderson keeps reusing his regulars but especially I hope he reunites with Anjelica Huston (who seems to have been replaced by Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton). Three actors he's only used once were total surprise revelations within his diorama world: Gene Hackman & Gwyneth Paltrow (Royal Tenenbaums) and Ralph Fiennes (Grand Budapest Hotel) so more surprises like that would be welcome. Therefore I am naming eight actors that I either can totally picture within his worlds or can't picture at all: Donald Sutherland, Christina Ricci, Jake & Maggie Gyllenhaal (together!), Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Shannon, and finally Viggo Mortensen and Nicole Kidman simply because they're both impossible to imagine!
Lyn: In the last six months, what is the moment you've had in a cinema that has left you the most exhilarated / surprised / excited?
the answer and nine more questions after the jump...
Let us pause for a moment to take in the absolute gorgeousity of the new poster for Carol.
SWOON. Swoon until you can't swoon no more. You have no idea how much I long to see a Double Best Actress nomination again.
*sniffle* I am so sad about impending category fraud.
Oh the question. Um... The entirety of Carol but especially Cate Blanchett's extremely deliberate editorial body language. Most of Mad Max Fury Road, but definitely that moment when they ride into that impossibly hellish sandstorm tableau. The last half hour of The Witch had me completely paralyzed at TIFF. Seeing Tangerine for the second time with my two best friends many months after Sundance and hearing them laugh throughout as much as I laughed at Sundance. I knew they'd love it but you know when you cherish something and you want people you cherish to feel the same?
Hmmm, what else? Oh, to be honest probably the birth of The Vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron. I went to that Marvel Marathon with my bestie and we were so tired from all the movies and the sameness and so on but that was the single moment in the new film that was most magical for me and turned me into an awestruck little boy reading comics which is I guess what I'm always hoping for with superhero pictures.
I'm suddenly sad to realize I haven't been going to many revivals this year. Must correct that.
Volvagia: Odds on Marvel Studios pulling a 6-10 nomination eventually?
Eh. I'm on record as predicting that the superhero bubble will burst before people think it will -- I mean I'd argue that the genre has already peaked (you can't get more audience-popular than The Dark Knight (2008) and The Avengers (2012) and oversaturation will burst any bubble. Now every TV network has superhero shows in development or already on the air. And I was on record about the bubble bursting before Age of Ultron premiered and people started grumbling about "maybe we're a little tired of this?" I don't think Marvel is auteur friendly enough to end up with a Dark Knight situation to be frank. The current state of affairs suggests that they would never be hands off enough to let a director make a stand alone triumph that got Oscar voters excited.
Bhuray: What are your 5 favourite animated TV shows of all time? And what is your favourite episode from each of them?
This is a hard unexpected question. Even though I can still sing the theme songs of several animated shows from my childhood I am not one of those people who is super nostalgic for childhood entertainments and they all sort of run together in my head. Specific characters, for example, obsess me more than whole shows and that's been true from childhood until today. If Looney Tunes had a Pepe Le Pew or Speedy Gonzalez episode, I was all about that! I love Marge Simpson and Bart sometimes, too. I love a few Smurfs but not The Smurfs. I love certain characters in just about every superhero show but never the whole show. One show I remember being really into when I was tiny was something called Battle of the Planets and I went through a huge South Park phase (didn't everyone?).
But these three I have more affection for than any others and are the only animated series that I have ever felt I had to see every single episode of for fear of missing something that was made with the sole purpose of delighting on every level. They are...
• Archer (2010-). "Swiss Miss" because I hurt from laughing?
• Bob's Burgers (2011-) "Bad Tina"... because of 'erotic friend fiction'
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998-2005) "Bubblevicious"
(Those were just the three episodes that came to mind. These answers are non-binding.)
Evan: If AMPAS put you in charge of the foreign language category, what changes would you implement?
People complain about this category too much. Imagine how hard it would be to actually make the rules that are so easy to complain about! You have to have rules. I think in the past five years the nominations and wins have proven that the many tiny changes they made have really improved things and the Academy deserves a round of applause.
[pause for applause]
The only change I would implement is that in addition to each country getting one representative film to submit that any foreign film that played during the calendar year in regular US theaters, would also be eligible in this category even if it was not submitted by its own country. One film per country helps equalize the field for countries without major cinemas but it also has the problem of not really representing the year since you know French, Chinese, and Indian films for example are fairly well represented in the marketplace and that maybe ought to be reflected at the Oscars.
Craver: what do you think of SCREAM QUEENS? I love its stupidly hilarious thrill and Niecy Nash is suprisingly the MVP so far, but JLC hasn't got any great showdown I think.
1000% agree that Niecy Nash is the MVP. Not that the bar is high -- I've watched every episode (for reasons) but I think it's garbage. But Nash is just fantastically funny in it with her reams of expositional sleuthing dialogue. In fact I'd go so far to say that she's Emmy nomination worthy though nothing else on the show has any right to even know what the Emmys are let alone be in the conversation.
Steve: How can Grace and Frankie be improved in its second season?
Dump the ex-husbands except for cameos. Many problems solved!
Andrew: Which film would you like to see a film about 'the making of said' film?
I am such a sucker (theoretically) for this largely barren subgenre of movies about movies. Wasn't someone going to make a movie about the filming of the Monroe-Gable-Clift classic The Misfits (1961)? That would be a-ma-zing. I'm such a sucker for this genre that I can't imagine not being interested in just about any film that was the subject. Hell, I'd probably love watching a making of Braveheart and I hate that movie. But, hmmm.
on the set of "The Misfits"
For fun I will add these movies because I imagine the making of would offer plenty of tasty scenes: Steel Magnolias (1989) or Witches of Eastwick (1987) because both had DRAMA and SHENANIGANS with their actresses vs director wars; Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) because of Bette vs Joan, duh; One From the Heart (1981) because the movie is so weird and there are characters (Francis Ford Coppola! Teri Garr!! Tom Waits!!!) and because it was such a studio-killing bomb; The Women (1939) why Hollywood ever wanted to remake that one instead of doing a making-of is such a disappointment; An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) mostly because the stars apparently hated each other but they have great chemistry in it and because we're all still Searching for Debra Winger, aren't we?
And I would happily give up a nut for a TV miniseries narrative version of Mark Harris's "Pictures at a Revolution" because the drama from all those sets was jaw-dropping to read. If I have to pick one of those 1967 movies to get its own making of movie than I choose Doctor Dolittle because those stories are insane and outrageous + unruly animals.
I could be here all day with this question: Cleopatra, Dancer in the Dark, Xanadu, Eyes Wide Shut, Titanic, anything Hitchcock, and The Revenant (haha).
Drew: Are they're any classic Hollywood actors or actresses you have a bit of a blind spot too?
There are plenty! Over the years I've fixed many blindspots slowly. I know I need to work on seeing more Susan Hayward, Gena Rowlands, Jeanne Moreau (who is sensational in Bay of Angels but she left me cold in Jules et Jim - I know I know. That is not how 99.9% of people throughout time have reacted), Kay Francis, and Fredric March (who I really love so far).
Fredric March in the Royal Family of Broadway (1930)
Kay Francis is amazing in Trouble in Paradise (1932) but I haven't seen much else.
You didn't ask about directors but I have a huge blind spot in Jean-Luc Godard (I've been resistant because I'm not naturally drawn to him). I have always loved masters like Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Vittorio de Sica and Federico Fellini but the truth is they were all prolific and I have key titles left to investigate from each of them. Generally speaking, I could be far more informed on Pre-Code, Noir, and Westerns than I am. The problem with the last of those three is that I don't really care. (sigh)
Patrick: What recent Criterion Collection films have you recently purchased?
Hmmm. Haven't purchased many movies lately. The last three were Robert Altman's Nashville, James Ivory's A Room With a View and Agnes Varda's Cleo From 5 to 7 (which are all three perfect movies, people. Y'hear?)
Cash: Name the 10 best child performances in movie history.
I don't do top tens for the Q&A series. Top tens need their whole own posts. And I think I've written a list of best child star performances before I think?
Regardless everyone's lists are soon out of date when Jacob Tremblay arrives in Room this weekend! For serious. What a performance! I know I've shared my love for Victoire Thivisol in the French grief drama Ponette (1996) before which was released in the states in 1997. True story: she absolutely wrecked me and before The Film Experience was a thing she was my silver medalist in Best Actress that year just behind Helena Bonham Carter in Wings of the Dove. And a performance I often think of as an example of great child performances that no one ever talks about and that admittedly I barely remember but was impressed when I saw it on VHS in the late 80s was Nicholas Gledhill in Careful He Might Hear You (1983)
YOUR TURN.
What are your favorite child performances? animated series? Which making of movie would you love to see?
Reader Comments (44)
I'd have to go for Jamie Bell in "Billy Elliot." Nat made me think of how male child actors are seldom nominated in the lead category, and I feel that rang true in 2000. Jamie Bell should have been nominated...he even won the BAFTA. Major Oscar blunder. Geoffrey Rush in "Quills" is such a poor choice. And he most likely took Jamie Bell's slot. (Crowe, Hanks, Bardem and Harris were all worthy).
I would say Scream Queens is Golden Globe-worthy for Emma and Niecy, and maybe Jaime.
Bia -- eeek. I think Emma is straight up terrible on it.
Andrew: What actors would you like to see Wes Anderson work with in the future?
Michelle Pfeiffer -- Because his whimsical sensibility will prove too safe for her to say no to.
Cameron Diaz -- Because she was not out of place in Being John Malkovich.
Sigourney Weaver -- To reunite with Bill Murray outside of Ghostbusters.
S Epatha Merkerson -- She was on Pee-wee's Playhouse she can do Wes Anderson.
Kathy Bates -- Because it would cause pa-pa-permanent damage.
Danny Glover -- Because he is undervalued for his contribution to Tenenbaums.
Jeanne Moreau is great in La Notte. You should totally check that one out next!
I'm back and forth on Emma in Scream Queens. I don't think she's terrible, I just think there's too much of her on the show.
Confused because I think Nicole would be AMAZING in a Wes Anderson movie.
That picture of Anjelica is perfection. Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Micheal C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, Amy Schumer, Alexander Skaarsgard, and Amy Poehler in the same Wes Anderson film.
Most of your choices for making a movie about the making-of movies are delicious. Baby Jane and The Misfits especially! Something from the Golden Age in general would provide such interesting material.
And you're totally right about the FLF category, it's as good as we're gonna get right now. The automatically-eligible-if-played-during-calendar-year asterisk would be a fabulous addition and make more practical sense when you're looking at a full representative film year.
I'm getting to a point where I need Wes Anderson to make a predominately female-driven film, just once. Anjelica, Frances, Gwyneth, Tilda and your suggestion of Ricci, Kidman and Female Gyllenhaal and I'll add Gabourey Sidibe, Catherine O'Hara and Eva Green. Set it in, oh I dunno, a female commune in the mid '70s. Or remake 8 Women. Done.
Same on Varda's Cleo From 5 to 7. I rewatched it for the first time in a long while recently and was memorized, especially the last third. That closing shot!
Fredrich March is amazing, and he is not discussed enough among film lovers, especially for someone with two Oscars!
Thanks for answering two of my questions! I feel very spoilt! Love your answers especially about the making of The Misfits! That soundsa amazing.
I'm also surprised you dont think Kidman would work in a Wes film! She was actually lined up for Blanchett's role in Life Aquatic after Paltrow passed, a role I think she would kill. Otherwise great choices. Love the Sutherland mention!
You've got some great movies to look forward to while you become more familiar with those five phenomenal classic performers.
Make sure to catch The Lusty Men and Deadline at Dawn from Susan Hayward's filmography and you haven't lived until you've seen Kay Francis in In Name Only, bonus there she co-stars with Carole Lombard and Cary Grant, she'll knock your socks off.
Nat's post plus Patryk's comment have me hankering for a Wes Anderson movie starring Jamie Bell. I'll echo what Patryk said above about Bell being perfection in Billy Elliot, and I'll add that although he's appeared in other films I don't think any of them have given him much of an opportunity to shine. Ideally, this Anderson-Bell movie would also involve dancing.
Andrew - OMG I totally forgot Goop passed on Life Aquatic for whatever reason. Scheduling seemed like the main suspect but she should've made it a priority, I would've loved to have seen her reunited with Anderson -- Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow could've waited, Goop!
Seems Kidman dropped out, after being cast, to do Birth if you add the timing right. God help her conscious if she chose to do The Stepford Wives or The Interpreter before working with Wes Anderson for the first time.
Also, Julianne was interested in the role as well and I'd love to see her in one of his now. She doesn't do kooky enough but The Big Lebowski and Cookie's Fortune are good indicators of more.
I don't know if you saw last night's "Scream Queens", but I thought it was the funniest yet. Niecy is always stealing it, but Billie Lourd's dry delivery really fits the tone of the show.
Favorite child performance: Lindsay Lohan in "The Parent Trap". Now I'm sad.
Animated series: Batman: The Animated Series STILL holds up. I bought one of the volumes on DVD but misplaced it (as I often do). I bought a book called "Batman: Animated" at Barnes & Noble that covers everything about that show, including producer friction, casting decisions, and behind-the-scenes drama. It also explains the fights with FOX censors and the character re-designs. Brilliant!
I'd love to see a behind-the-scenes film of "Scream". Did anyone know it would be such a big hit? Were Neve and Courtney nervous about switching to film from movies? Did Drew Barrymore regret turning down the Sidney role? At one point did Courtney and David start fucking? There's a lot of there there.
Child actor performance: Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense and AI. It makes me quite sad that he really doesn't have a career anymore. Must he really wait like Jackie Earle Haley and resurface in his 40s? (although Jackie's case was more extreme of course. And he actually kind of stop having a career as well.)
Making of: Adaptation., as a sequel to Adaptation. But you know, even more meta.
Seconded on Kidman, who'd I'd love to see in a Wes Anderson movie. Maybe Jennifer Ehle or Sarah Paulson, who have been knocking it out of the park in small parts for years, but whom rarely get leads and both of whom I'd be interested to see in more comedic vehicles. And I'd like to see Anderson reunite with Olivia Williams, who's star was on the ascendant when he cast her in Rushmore, but has so much depth to her beyond that.
I would love to see a movie about the making of Elephant walk. The exteriors being filmed in Ceylan when suddenly Vivien Leigh suffered a mental breakdown during her adulterous affair with Peter Finch. It would be a showcase for any great actress, like Cate Blanchet or Rachel Weisz, right?
Best child performances:
There are so many. I'll mention just a few that come to mind.
Ana Torrent in Carlos Saura's Cría cuervos.
Bailee Madison in Brothers.
Tina Majorino in When a Man Loves a Woman.
Andrey Khalimon in Kolya.
Kristy McNichol in Only When I Laugh.
(Though extremely melodramatic and old-fashioned) Ricky Schroder in The Champ.
Scott Jacoby in Baxter!
To be continued...
I must say I find Fredric March quite sexy in that picture.
jakey: It mostly does. The only thing I'd say is that I'm not fully on board with that show's version of the Batgirl origin. It's not Batman & Robin level intellectually offensive (why even TRY to evoke Barbara Gordon at all if you don't want to commit to the wealth fascism undercutting that is her main benefit to the Batman mythos?), but I'd honestly say that The Batman's Season 3 premiere two-parter hit far, FAR closer to the mark. (Do those episodes have issues? Yes: Underage Ivy. Yeah, it's pretty creepy.)
I would love to see a behind-the-scenes film of Funny Girl or the Streisand version of A Star Is Born. I am not a Streisand fan, but the anecdotes of her film work are so fascinating!
Ryan Murphy, on the other hand, is so boring.
Kay Francis in Trouble in Paradise is stunning.
Favorite Child Performance: Peggy Ann Garner in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Would have given her the Oscar over Crawford.
I've always been partial to Henry Thomas in ET. I'm surprised the while he's worked since then, he's never really had another big role.
Peter -- ooh. I just rented that. literally. i've never seen it.
I think Emma is terrific in SQ, definitely the best I've ever seen her (not saying much). But in addition to Nash, Glen Powell is also hilarious as Chad Rowell. In my opinion, he is the show's secret weapon.
I'm in the minority that enjoyed Abigail Bresling in Little Miss Sunshine. She was great. The whole cast was.
Best animated TV series for me is still Cowboy Bebop. It was everything in the mix: mainly Sci-Fi, with great humor, a tragic lovestory, a lot of (gangster) thriller/drama and with an excellent Alien style episode (Toys in the Attic). I just love the characters. They bring it all together. And the soundtrack is a masterpiece.
Child performances: Tatum (Paper Moon), Saoirse (Atonement), Jack Wild (Oliver!), Diane Lane (A Little Romance).
Animated series: I adored DuckTales as a kid. Does it hold up in adulthood? I have no idea.
Making-of movie: Tootsie.
I almost said the n-word. How dare everyone ignore my brilliant Wes Anderson cast list. I didn't just list names I gave valid reasons for choosing them. Everyone likes to randomly toss names for an auteur without considering whether or not they make a good fit.
Jeanne Moreau is among my actress-goddesses. Jules et Jim, La notte, Les liaisons dangereuses (now that's a Merteuil!), Eva, Ascenseur pour l'échafaud, Le journal d'une femme de chambre, La mariée était en noir and and and...
Yes, that F. March pic is hot.
cash-- ooh. TOOTSIE. what a great idea for our imaginary franchise of making ofs :) we've got them scheduled through 2032 now. Eat it, Marvel Studios.
You're going to have a blast with Kay Francis. She made those clotheshorse type of movies, with ridiculous love plots, cheating, murder, that kind of stuff, and then charmingly lisped her way through them. One-Way Passage with William Powell (dir. Tay Garnett) is something you should just buy on DVD now.
A bigger question that I probably should have asked instead of my Marvel question (save this one for your next Q&A): Since comic book related movies are so big, why has there been not a SINGLE comic book related biopic?
Volvagia -- what about American Splendor? (And Crumb, though that's a documentary not a biopic.)
Evan Rachel Wood in Thirteen (my personal most painful Oscar snub), and Jamie Bell in Billy Elliott. Quvenzhane deserves props for Beats of the Southern Wild because that movie is so beautiful and wouldn't have been as good without her, or a child as talented as her.
Faith: American Splendor was both 1. Already a comic and 2. Not enough about the industry to fully count as a salve to my big question mark. As for Crumb, you already hit that nail on the head. The things I'd want more are "The Creation of Image", "The Death of Mark Gruenwald", "What Caused the Clone Saga", "How did Vasquez get a Kids Show".
Suzanne- there is a great You Must Remember This podcast about Streisand's making of A Star is Born. That would make a good film!
I've always wanted to see a movie about the making of METROPOLIS just so it can be named METROPOLIS NOW.
Kudos on the CAREFUL, HE MIGHT HERE YOU reference. Incredible film, that.
"In fact I'd go so far to say that she's Emmy nomination worthy though nothing else on the show has any right to even know what the Emmys are let alone be in the conversation."
The costume design. MY GAWD, THE COSTUME DESIGN. The budget on Scream Queens is ridiculous given the soundtrack, those costumes and sets. But the costume design is win-worthy. So specific, character-oriented, eclectic and down right delicious contemporary work with flight of wonderful fancy (the wives of assassinated presidents halloween costumes!) I am on record as admitting I find the show ridiculously delightful. High-pitched parody and I giggle constantly throughout. This week's episode featured Silence of the Lambs, The Shining and Exorcist III references!
Glenn, that scene with the First Lady costumes had me LAUGHING OUT LOUD. "Fine. If we include wives of almost-assassinated Presidents, you can be Bess Truman but you have to be wasted the entire time, or alleged Hollywood mattress Nancy Reagan." "Dibs on Nancy." The show is tonally all over the place but Roberts and Lourd seem to know exactly what they're doing (as do Nash and Michele).
What are your favorite child performances? animated series? Which making of movie would you love to see?
Just because I saw it recently - Nicholas Hoult is just fantastic in About a Boy. I'll be so glad when he's finally a leading man.
Any animated series set in fantastical lands always gets me. The Smurfs, Dungeons and Dragons, the Gummi Bears - all of these had amazing worlds to explore in my imagination. Confession: I love to watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic for this same reason. I want to go to Equestria!
Cleopatra is a great choice. I can't believe someone hasn't already tried that.
Fredric March - hell yes.
Thanks for answering my question, Nathaniel. I agree that a lot of the changes in the category have been successful and that the submission portion of the race is probably the part that needs the most changes at this point. I don't know that that branch could handle seeing every FL film that gets released in the States, but I would love to see a selection committee that combs through the films not submitted by their home country and revives the obvious snubs. This year, that'd be things like Victoria.
I think of this category like the U.S. Congress. It's currently like the Senate; every polity gets a little representation when I'd like it to be somewhere between a mix of the Senate and the House of Representatives, which is based on proportionality.
Evan -- oh, yeah. I don't think that committee could come through everything released the way it's currently set up. But there could be a dedicated committee that nominates as general membership does from what gets released and you add their selections to the 6 and 3 from the other committees. Maybe you end with a finalist list that's 12 long instead. I dunno. But it always seems weird to me to narrow from 9 to 5. finalists list should not be so ruthless. like "most of you will win but some of you will lose!" ;) it's like that time there was 4 finalists for one of the three wide categories. That was brutally mean.
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