Four more reader questions to kick off the weekend. Wheeee. As ever, I'd love to hear your answers to these questions thrown my way.
MATT ST CLAIR: Is there an unseen awards contender this year that you are hoping doesn't fail?
NATHANIEL: My "please let this be successful" hopes reside with Blade Runner 2049 (because the original's reputation being tarnished would be such a pity), The Greatest Showman (because musicals MUST continue to thrive) and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (because it's infinitely annoying that Annette Bening doesn't have an Oscar yet and didn't even get nominated for such gorgeous work in 20th Century Women). While we're well- wishing please let Wonderstruck, How to Talk to Girls at Parties, and The Florida Project could be bigger hits than usual for Todd Haynes, John Cameron Mitchell, and Sean Baker, since they're three of our most distinctive American auteurs. I could go on but I'll stop as no genie grants unlimited wishes.
CATBASKETS: I've been thinking a lot about straight actors getting their starts or big breaks playing gay roles--Hugh Grant in Maurice, Guy Pierce in Priscilla, DDL in Beautiful Launderette, Charlie Hunnam in Queer as Folk, Eddie Redmayne in Savage Grace, etc. etc. Do you think this was/is a major rite of passage for actors? Do you think this will slow down now that there's more awareness/active demand for gay actors to play these roles?
On one hand there is more pressure now to cast "authentically" but on the other hand that pressure is not exerted when it comes to sexual orientation. That particular conversation has been almost entirely focused on race, disability, and gender identity.
I don't actually want there to be a world where straights can't play gays and vice versa (it's an actors job to become characters different from themselves) and I outright cherish half of those performances you've mentioned. But, that said, a little balance in casting would be wonderful. Or, at the very least, a little more praise for gay actors who do get cast in gay roles and excel in them.
No exaggeration: "Titus Andromeddon" is one of the greatest comic creations of the past 25 years
How, for example, does Titus Burgess not have an Emmy for his bonafide genius on Kimmy Schmidt when far lesser performances by straight or then-closeted actors playing flamboyant characters have won!?! Why does no one want to credit the amazing soulfulness of Jonathan Groff's work on Looking? How on earth did Ian McKellen lose the Oscar for Gods and Monsters? Out gay actors almost never win awards for playing gay characters, even the ones lucky enough to get nominated. It's abundantly evident that there is just no knee jerk desire to honor gay actors in the way there is to praise straight actors pretending to be gay which is a complicated form of unacknowledged homophobia, full stop.
Yes I'm still bitter about the Oscar fiasco of 1997 in which the Academy had an absolutely worthy, widely seen, and celebrated gay-playing-gay option right in front of them (Rupert Everett in My Best Friend's Wedding) and instead honored the significantly less worthy straight-playing-gay option instead (Gregg Kinnear in As Good As It Gets)
EUROCHEESE: What was your favorite decade of Actress winners, and will the Teens be in the running?
NATHANIEL: This is a tough question as the Academy has a habit of being all 'one for you, one for me' with only half the winners being awesome. Every single decade has a major "HUH?" moment. Sadly the Teens already don't qualify (I might have felt differently had Isabelle Huppert managed the upset in February even though I liked Emma Stone's work a lot) unless there are 3 consecutive Blue Jasmine level winners coming up which... well, what are the chances?) But all told, it's a toss up for me between the 1960s or the 1970s. Most of the winners for 20 years straight there were pretty great even if some of them weren't the single best from their nominated sisterhoods.
| Which is the Greatest Decade for Best Actress winners? | |
| 1 9 6 0 s | 1 9 7 0 s |
 |
 |
| 60 LIZ TAYLOR, BUtterfield 8 |
70 GLENDA JACKSON, Women in Love |
| Yes, Maclaine should've won but Liz is way more fab here than people claim | I think I was too young to get this performance when I first saw it. |
| 61 SOPHIA LOREN, Two Women | 71 JANE FONDA, Klute |
| My ♥︎ belongs to Natalie but Sophia is ravishing | Fonda's greatest. And that's saying a helluva lot |
| 62 ANNE BANCROFT, The Miracle Worker |
72 LIZA MINNELLI, Cabaret |
| Great but Bette's Baby Jane is a true miracle | Divinely decadent |
| 63 PATRICIA NEAL, Hud | 73 GLENDA JACKSON, A Touch of Class |
| Perfection in such a singular way | 100% a Streisand voter this year |
| 64 JULIE ANDREWS, Mary Poppins |
74 ELLEN BURSTYN, Alice Doesn't Live Here... |
| Practically Perfect in every way | Such an amazing shortlist that year |
| 65 JULIE CHRISTIE, Darling | 75 LOUISE FLETCHER, Cuckoo's... |
| Sensational but I *might* have handed Andrews two in a row | Iconic but overrated. My vote to madwoman Adjani hands down |
| 66 LIZ TAYLOR, Who's Afraid of... |
76 FAYE DUNAWAY, Network |
| Stupendous. Liz & Dick forever | Head says Dunaway. Heart says Spacek. TIE! |
| 67 KATHARINE HEPBURN, Guess Who's... |
77 DIANE KEATON, Annie Hall |
| "WTF?" choice of the 60s as the least of an astonishing shortlist | Can she have two '77 Oscars though since Mr Goodbar was also that year? |
| 68 [TIE] STREISAND, Funny Girl AND HEPBURN, Lion in Winter |
78 JANE FONDA, Coming Home |
| "Hello Gorgeous!" Babs giving all time great debut | Fonda's work is lovely but Geraldine Page in Interiors is A+ indelible |
| 69 MAGGIE SMITH, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie | 79 SALLY FIELD, Norma Rae |
| LOVE... but *maybe* would've voted Fonda | F*** the haters. Field is a fine actor |
What's your favorite decade for Best Actress winners?
CASH: What do you think is most important in labeling an actor as great? Is it the ability to successfully navigate different mediums? Is it producing credible works across multiple genres? Is it the ability to disappear into divergent roles? Or is it enough to offer just a few small but iconic roles/performances that really resonate?
NATHANIEL: Such difficult questions this time, guys. I like it. Torture me! Everytime I was going to choose one of these in your astute multiple choices, I thought of an exception to the rule, or got distracted by brilliant examples arguing for the next choice instead. We must admit that there is no correct answer and what constitutes greatness can differ tremendously based on the actor themselves. Some actors would actually be less great if they disappeared into characters; I have no desire or need to not see Cary Grant when I'm watching a Cary Grant performance. So Grant is Grant, thank god, but it doesn't work for every movie star. Tom Cruise is an example of a superstar who is far more fascinating when he lets the character have friction with his persona (Magnolia, Born on the Fourth of July) and you can see both character and actor simultaneously. I'd argue that just maybe Jimmy Stewart is the same way. Actors who have tremendous ease at genre hopping are neat but it doesn't make Meryl Streep any less great that she doesn't feel adept at thriller acting (or at least didn't back when she made Still of Night) and Daniel Day-Lewis is all wrong for musicals but just because he didn't work in Nine doesn't negate his often genius work in dramas.
YOUR TURN READERS. Sound off on these intriguing topics, won't you?