Damien and Emma in Venice, Fall 2016Happy birthday to Damien Chazelle, who turns 32 today! He's already an Oscar nominee for writing Whiplash (2014) and he will easily boost his tally this coming Tuesday when he may well nab two nominations for writing and directing La La Land. If he wins Best Director he'll become the youngest person to ever win, beating a record set way back in 1931 by Norman Taurog for Skippy... who was 32½ when he won.
If you aren't dancing for joy at La La Land's success (and you should be... an original musical heading towards a blockbuster gross is great for the future of the genre!) here are other people and things you can celebrate today. Celebrate something since life isn't worth living otherwise in this brink of the apocalypse world.
Other Things To Celebrate...
1809 Edgar Allan Poe is born in Boston and life was harsh from the get go - before he was two he was an orphan but his tales of the macabre will live forever in print and in their film and TV adaptations
1839 Post impressionist giant Paul Cezanne is born in France. The recent French film Cezanne et moi (2013) is about his friendship with writer Emile Zola
Biopic Suggestions and Golden Globe memories after the jump...
We deserve another biopic of this famous possibly lavender marriage
1897 Natacha Rambova was born on this day in Salt Lake City and her life would definitely make for a juicy biopic subject: she was a dancer, a costume designer, and a set designer (who helped bring Art Deco to Hollywood) and there were rumors of bisexuality, affairs with famous Russian dancer, and of course a fateful marriage to the silent screen superstar Rudolph Valentino that ended in tragedy. In Ken Russell's biopic Valentino (1977) she is played by Michelle Phillips
1913 ...And speaking of Valentino. Antony Dexter, who played him in the 1951 biopic was born in Nebraska on this same day. He later went on to co-star in Thoroughly Modern Millie
1921 Patricia Highsmith, famous crime novelist, was born on this day. We've already discussed how much we need a biopic. If you're in NYC the Metrograph is running a series on films based on her work right at this very moment
1923 All in the Family's Jean Stapleton
1930 Happy 87th birthday to Hitchcock blonde Tippi Hedren of The Birds and Marnie and living with lions and birthing Melanie Griffith and grandmothering Dakota Johnson fame was born on this very day in Minnesota. She's one of our oldest living movie stars
1932 Richard Lester who directed the best Superman movie (that'd be Superman II) was born. Unfortunately he also directed a terrible Superman movie (that'd be Superman III)
1937 Howard Hughes sets a speed record flying from Los Angeles to New York. Leonardo in pilot gear and tuxes in the 30s were the fun part of The Aviator remember? Before all the crazy hit.
1942 Michael Crawford who starred in hit 60s movies like Hello Dolly! and the Palme d'Or winner The Knack or How to Get It and later Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, born in England
1943 Janis Joplin began her short but legendary life on this day in Texas. Do you think we'll ever get that Joplin biopic they keep promising? The real one, not the thinly veiled one (a la The Rose or 30 Rock's "Jacki Jormp-Jomp) Jormp")
1946 Dolly Parton arrives in Tennessee to a tobacco farmer and his wife. She will become one of the most successful singer/actor/songwriters of all time... and is also a really awesome human being.
1954 Cindy Sherman. Another artist who needs a biopic. But an experimental one surely.
1961 Paul McCrane born. He'll later play gay Montgomery in the game-changing Fame (1980), and co-star on ER many years later.
1966 Sweet Charity premieres on Broadway. It makes the transfer to the big screen fairly quickly and this is important because it put Bob Fosse, one of the all time great directors (yes he only made five movies but have you seen them? Jesus that man was gifted), behind the camera for the first time.
1967 Wonderful Pedro Almodovar regular Javier Cámara (Talk to Her, Bad Education, I'm So Excited) born in Spain
1972 Drea de Matteo of Sopranos fame.
Mickey Sumner and Greta Gerwig in the fantastic Frances Ha
1984 Mickey Sumner becomes the firstborn of showbiz power couple Sting and Trudie Styler. Sumner was quite good in Frances Ha (2012) and she has several movies coming up including Battle of the Sexes with Emma Stone
1990 Monster movie Tremors opens in movie theaters and later becomes such a cult favorite that it gets a TV series adaptation
1991 At the Golden Globes Dances with Wolves and Green Card take the best picture trophies. Kathy Bates (Misery), Jeremy Irons (Reversal of Fortune), and Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost) rev up for their future Oscar wins but Bruce Davison (Longtime Companion) doesn't go on to repeat his win at the Oscars
1992 Logan Lerman, one of the best young actors going, born in Beverly Hills.
1993 Spanish hearthrob actor Jesús Castro born. He was Goya nominated for his film debut in 2014 with El Niño (and his other film that year Marshland was also a hit). But since those two hits he's only done television
Jesús Castro
1997 The English Patient and Evita takes the Best Picture trophies at the Golden Globes. In a still controversial moment, Madonna beats Frances McDormand for Best Actress.
2001 The Pledge starring Jack Nicholson, Aaron Eckhart and Helen Mirren opens in theaters. It's one of those rare adult dramas to open in January and NOT attempt a qualifying release for Oscar dreams the month before.
2003 The Hours and Chicago take the Best Picture prizes at the 60th annual Golden Globes, a rare year where female led pictures were tops in both categories.
2013 Lance Armstrong admits to doping in all seven of his Tour de France victories, turning into the villain of his own story. Ben Foster later plays him in the ill fated movie The Program.