The Very Best of Toni Collette
Thursday, November 1, 2018 at 5:29PM by Nathaniel R
A very happy birthday to Toni Collette today. We discussed this once on the blog a year or two ago but let's update our list of favorite Collette performances on her birthday since she was absolutely slaying the multiplex this past summer in the demonic horror flick Hereditary. She's currently up for a Gotham award for Best Actress for that role.
She's also starring in the new Netflix series Wanderlust about a married couple trying an open marriage though I haven't yet watched it (it's on the queue). My list of Toni's best work goes like so. Yours?
12 LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (BAFTA nomination, SAG ensemble nomination)
Warm, worried, winning.
11 IN HER SHOES
Not everything about this works but she's wonderful in it...
10 ABOUT A BOY (BAFTA nomination, BSFC win)
Delightful oil & water chemistry with Hugh Grant in this charmer.
09 GLASSLAND
Searing portrait of alcoholism and a woman who has given up
08 MURIEL'S WEDDING (Globe nomination)
The film that made her a star, zeroing in on that impish unicorn charisma. "You're terrible, Muriel!"
07 UNITED STATES OF TARA (Emmy & Globe wins, SAG nomination)
Split personality disorder has never been so, uh, fun.
06 JAPANESE STORY
Underseen but impressive work.
05 THE HOURS (BSFC win, SAG ensemble nomination)
One of the best movie cameos ever. She's giving so much in such a little scene.
04 THE SIXTH SENSE (Oscar nomination)
Surely her most beloved role... and with good reason.
03 WILD PARTY (Tony nomination)
If only they'd made a movie adaptation of this stage musical.
02 HEREDITARY (Gotham nomination)
The Oscar nomination might be a long shot for this harrowing funny scary complicated out-there work, but we're still dreaming that deserves got something to do with it.
01 VELVET GOLDMINE
One of her most prismatic creations, and perfectly attuned to Todd Haynes dreamy glam rock opus with its glittery decadent surface, and troubling multiple undertows.
Reader Comments (36)
One of my favorites! For me she deserves to be named more often alongside the trio of Kidman, Blanchett and Winslet as one of the best in her age group working right now. It's so sad Hollywood never really knew what to do with her but whenever she gets the chance she runs away with it.
I've also gotten the chance to meet her twice (totally by chance both times) and is oh so lovely in person as well. I brought up how much I loved her work in Japanese Story and she seemed genuinely surprised to hear that movie brought up.
Inspired #1 choice! I would still go with Hereditary but her ability to shine in big, dominant lead and tiny cameos shows how wonderful she is to us when she's on screen.
Number 1 IMO is Japanese Story. Beautiful work.
I've never even heard of Glassland! But I've seen the rest of these (well, only listened to The Wild Party). She looks so much like Judy G. in that Velvet Goldmine photo and she can sing circles around any other star in Hollywood. Why isn't Toni the one doing the Judy Garland movie?
Yeah, my vote for #1 goes to JAPANESE STORY too (I was prepared with the manufactured rage, assuming it wasn't going to make your top 12. :-) )
Ans the thing is that there are a whole bunch of underseen Australian roles that would easily fit into this list as well - SPOTSWOOD, LILIAN'S STORY, THE BOYS, THE BLACK BALLOON. MENTAL. If you can track them down in territories outside of Australia,, they're all well worth a watch for fans (MENTAL is apparently on Starz in the USA, and SPOTSWOOD (aka THE EFFICIENCY EXPERT for international release) may be on YouTube and GooglePlay. The others may be harder to track down, and might need DVD importation).
Very fun read. With Hereditary, if I ran the world she'd be on her fifth nod. The female cast of The Hours plays like a greatest hits record of the last 20 years of actressing (OK, except for Richardson). Kidman, Moore, Streep, Janney, Danes, Collette and even a tiny cameo from Martindale. Just crazy.
Nathaniel, has Toni ever got gold or silver at the Film Bitch Awards?
eurocheese, what are you saying RE: Richardson!?
Have you seen 'Dance with a Stranger' and 'Spider'? The latter of those films to my mind one of the best female acting performance of the 2000s and the best supporting turn of 2002.
(PS SPOTSWOOD also has young Ben Mendelsohn and Russell Crowe.)
It's all great work, but for degree of difficulty alone I'd have to put US of Tara at #1.
She just joined Jamie Lee Curtis,LaKeith Stanfield and Daniel Craig in a Whodunnit.
I heard it rumored that Rob Marshall wanted her for the Zellwegger role in Chicago. I wonder how her career woukd have turned out differentky if he had been allowed to cast her.
Ooh, I've seen 10 of these - everything except WILD PARTY and UNITED STATES OF TARA. One of my favourites.
I do hope critics are able to bring her work in HEREDITARY to the forefront of the Actress conversation this year.
@eurocheese - do you mean Richardson in The Hours or Richardson in general?! Because talk about one of our undersung acting titans—AbFab, The Crying Game, Enchanted April, Spider, last year's Stronger, etc. (And I think she's pretty terrific in The Hours, too.)
Anyway, Collette is so-o-o underrated. Fell in love with her, of course, in Muriel's Wedding ("Wait. Let her finish her Orgasm."), but she continues to deliver, year after year. She's indeed fantastic in A Japanese Story, Hereditary and The Sixth Sense, but perhaps what I admire most is her incredibly warm, lived-in chemistry with everyone in the United States of Tara, for example, and seemingly *all* of her co-stars, namely:
- Bryan Brown (Dirty Deeds)
- Cameron Diaz (In Her Shoes)
- Drew Barrymore *and* Dominic Cooper (Miss You Already)
- Ewan McGregor (Velvet Goldmine)
- Greg Kinnear (Little Miss Sunshine *and* Dinner With Friends)
- Gwyneth Paltrow (Emma)
- Nicholas Hoult (About A Boy)
- Julianne Moore (The Hours)
- Nia Vardalos (Connie & Carla)
What a rock star. Happy b-day!
I think she is a far better actress than Kidman or Winslet ... and as good as Blanchett
P.S. Both Collette and Jamie Lee Curtis are in Rain Johnson's new murder mystery, Knives Out. Can't wait for them to share (hopefully) the screen.
@Dusty - According to reports (at least at the time), she couldn't do Chicago because of scheduling conflicts with The Wild Party on Broadway. Now, that could be complete bullshit, but it does seem plausible. (Of course once Zellweger hit it big with Bridget Jones' Diary, there was no way Harvey Weinstein would let Collette do it over her, regardless of Collette's obviously better vocal abilities which would've elevated the project altogether.)
I kinda love her in Clockwatchers.
Loved In Her Shoes with its trio of fabulous actresses : Collette, Diaz (her best performance imo), and MacLaine. I was so moved by that film.
Us in the UK have just been treated to her in a BBC drama Wanderlust, written by Nick Payne who wrote Constellations for Sally Hawkins here but Ruth Wilson and Jake Gyllenhaal on Broadway. Toni was wonderful.
I had a lengthy discussion about this today before realizing it was her birthday!
Top 5, I’d go:
1. JAPANESE STORY
2. MURIEL’S WEDDING
3. VELVET GOLDMINE
4. IN HER SHOES
5. THE HOURS
I really like In Her Shoes as well. She is also excellent in Changing Lanes as Ben Affleck's work pal. Both of those movies are very underrated early '00s films.
Wanderlust is on Netflix here in the US. Was considering giving it a go.
I agree with everything that has been said about Toni Collette's acting abilities. I just want to give a shout out to "About a Boy". She plays a recovering suicidal mom, which sounds dreadful but she makes that character funny, endearing and touchingly real. It's one of my favourite Hugh Grant performances as well. What a career moment she is having this year.
Am I the only one who adores her in "The Way, Way Back?" She is so moving in that film as a mother slowly realizing how much she's been ignoring her son's needs.
#1: muriel’s wedding. FACT
[maybe it’s an australian thing but it’s the iconic role she’ll be remembered for]
Omgg Velvet Goldmine is my favorite Toni, too. Wish there was a good piece of writing on it out there somewhere.
lol the Richardson mention - I was just saying she hasn't had an incredible last 20 years like the others. No shade on her, but I think her strongest period was the 90s. She was great in The Hours as well though.
Glad to read so much love for Japanese Story here which happens to be my favorite Toni Collette film as well. That, and her truly memorable cameo in The Hours, the psychedelia of Velvet Goldmine and the under-discussed Hotel Splendide with Daniel Craig and the late great Katrin Cartlidge, are essential Toni Collette.
But I also like to mention her marvelousness in underseen performances like Shaft and a rare turn as a bitchy wife in last year's Madame with Rossy de Palma. She's always a delight to see in ensemble pieces like Emma, Clockwatchers, and Hector and the Search for Happiness. Love her version of "Don't dream it's over" in the closing credits of Cosi. If you haven't checked out her pop-rock album "Beautiful Awkward Pictures", it's crazy how her voice adapts to the indie rock setting and format. Her band is called Toni Collette and the Finish and a catchy tune like "Look Up" should be in the pop charts.
I read that she was pissed with Mandy Patinkin's manic behavior during the run of "The Wild Party" on Broadway. I was surprised once at a bat mitzvah I went to which featured Queenie's big number "Welcome to my Party" performed by a string quartet. I was half-expecting Toni as Queenie to pop out and disrupt the semi-classical version and sing it rousingly as it should be performed.
Since when is Kidman as great as Blanchett and Winslet. Gosh.
I believe it was scheduling conflicts that meant she couldn’t do Bridget Jones’ Diary, and it was Weinstein that wouldn’t let her do Chicago.
So her career and Zellweger’s could both have been very different.
I love her in The Way, Way Back, too. She's always a welcome presence, even in roles that give her almost nothing to do (Enough Said jumps to mind).
I love the naturalism of her work and i will always gonna prefer "low" profile actresses like her or Judy Davis instead of movie stars like Blanchett and Kidman. Over-exposition is just not my thing.
My favorite performances are:
1 Japanese Story
2 The Sixth Sense
3 The Hours
4 Velvet Goldmine
5 Little Miss Sunshine
I've long said that hers is THE best performance in The Hours, and I'll keep putting out my idea of her taking on Madame Rose in Gypsy until it finally takes hold.
i like her a lot! she does a lot with little!
I still wanna that kate winslet and her do a movie together (some roundtable at the past, kate mencionated that idea)
i was thinking yesterday, and my favorite actresses right now would be:
vanessa redgrave - liv ullman - charlotte rampling - judi dench - maggie smith - julie andrews
glenn close - sigourney weaver - michelle pfeiffer - angela bassett - gong li
kate winslet - tilda swinton - toni collette - olivia colman - marion cotillard
carey mulligan - emma stone - lupita nyong'o - elisabeth moss - christina hendricks
all the almodóvar ladies
1. I'm dyyying for her to play Diana in a Next to Normal movie adaptation. D-Y-I-N-G. Thank you for including The Wild Party on here.
2. Her screaming, "GET OUT OF MY LIFE!" to Cameron Diaz in In Her Shoes is one of my favorite movie moments of hers.
I love this article and wholeheartedly agree with your list (if not the order... Muriel anywhere but number one is a crime). So many wonderful films on this list & love the mentions of Clockwatchers which I think. I a great film ( Colette, Parker Posey & Lisa Kudrow? A film by actressexuals for actressexuals). I also love Towelhead. Why did Summer Bishil not become huge?