Introducing the Smackdown Panel for '86
Monday, August 16, 2021 at 3:54PM On Thursday August 26th, the next Supporting Actress Smackdown and its companion podcast arrive, with a discussion of the 1986 Oscars and the Supporting Actress nominees. You know what that means. For maximum enjoyment (re)watch Best Picture nominees A Room With a View, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Children of a Lesser God as well as The Color of Money and Crimes of the Heart and send in your votes by Tuesday, August 24th. Let's meet your fellow panelists, shall we?
JONATHAN DIAZ
Jonathan Diaz is a civil rights attorney, writer, and longtime TFE reader originally from Miami, Florida, and now based in Washington, DC. He is legal counsel for voting rights at Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and previously worked as a legal fellow at the National Hispanic Media Coalition He is also a frequent analyst and commenter on election and legal issues in the media, including for Univision, the Miami Herald, the New York Times, and CNN, where he was an election law analyst during the 2020 presidential election cycle. His writing on film and the Oscars has appeared at Bright Wall/Dark Room, Rough Cut Cinema (where he is a regular contributor), and wherever he can sneak it in on the CLC website. [Twitter | Letterboxd]
ROB KIRBY
Rob Kirby is a cartoonist and writer currently living in St Paul, MN. His books include Curbside Boys, The Book of Boy Trouble, the Ignatz-winning QU33R, and The Shirley Jackson Project: Comics Inspired by Her Life and Work. He is currently nearing completion of Marry Me a Little, a graphic memoir about getting (gay) married in middle age. He also writes reviews for Publishers Weekly and The Comics Journal. Fun Fact: he won the Oscar pool of 2014 with a perfect score. [Twitter | Instagram | Letterboxd]
LYNN LEE
Lynn is a government lawyer who spends most of her time outside work obsessing over arts and pop culture of all kinds. Her first love, though, will always be movies, thanks to parents who raised her on an eclectic diet of Ingmar Bergman, talky French films, 1960s musicals, Star Wars, and Spielberg blockbusters. You can find her occasional musings on movies and TV on her blog and right here at TFE. [Lynn's Articles]
CLAUDIO ALVES
Cláudio is a Portuguese film critic as well as a set and costume designer for the stage. He's worked in several small productions and is currently designing a show inspired by Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides. The Lisbon Sisters is a Mário Coelho creation and opens next month in Lisbon. Claudio also writes regularly for The Film Experience, Photogénie, and the Portuguese entertainment website Magazine.HD. Formerly, he's written for the streaming service Filmin, the Portuguese blog for Sundance TV, and participated in the Young Critics' Workshop at Film Fest Ghent 2017. He's openly gay, a fashion history geek with a passion for cinema, and the proud owner of a feline angel by the name of Maggie The Cat. [Twitter | Letterboxd | Claudio's articles]
HOSTED BY...
NATHANIEL ROGERS
Nathaniel is the creator and owner of The Film Experience. He is a member of Gurus of Gold, Critics Choice Awards, and the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and a longtime Oscar pundit here at TFE. His writing has also appeared at other publications including Vanity Fair, Vulture, Slate, Towleroad, and Tribeca Film.
If you are a working actor, a renowned critic, film historian, a novelist, a comedian, or an arts professional of some kind, chances are good that he has meant to invite you to a Smackdown panel, or would have if he happened to know you were obsessed with actresses. [Twitter | Contact | Instagram]
Jonathan Diaz, Rob Kirby, Smackdown
Reader Comments (20)
Roy reminds me of Paul Thomas Anderson.
Great panel. Looking forward to it!
I would let Rob marry me a little...
Two lawyers on one smackdown! Hope everyone enjoys our chat as much as I did.
Why are Jonathan Diaz and I not BFFs? We have the same job, we live in the same city, we read the same internet stuff, we love movies. We're destined for BFF-ness!
Claudio tá solteiro? ;-)
I'm sure these panelists will all be great, but I am especially looking forward to Rob Kirby!! I've been a fan of his graphic novels for years (even longer than I've been following TFE, if that's possible) and am excited to hear his thoughts on supporting actressology!!! It's so weird when worlds collide.
I had no idea that Claudio was a costume and set designer for the stage and now I'm absolutelly obsessed/amazed by that and he obviously has to write about his upcoming project.
Jonathan reminds me of someone I dreamed about. I'd marry him a lot.
Jonathan, what an attractive man, Nathaniel looks like something out of a dream - I think I will listen / read this!
Time to step up your headshot game Nathaniel. Or you could have one spot on each Smackdown reserved for someone not super attractive! Most of us mere mortals would be the booger amongst this bunch so don't fret!!!!
What a great panel. Really looking forward to reading everyone's comments.
A bunch of cuties!
Claudio certainly has bedroom eyes in his picture. Now I know what it would look like if he ran into me IRL and wanted to take me to bed. (Fans self.)
Very interested to see who comes in 2nd place this time around since there’s absolutely no way Dianne Wiest is losing this.
@Edwin. Assuming Dianne Wiest comes in first, Maggie Smith better come in second. That's two of the best Supporting Actress performances of all time. Yeah, I said it.
Letterboxd is a site where you can type ratings (½ star to 5 stars)/reviews of films. It seems more popular than IMDb.com which requires editors' review approvals and maybe Letterboxd does not - I'm not sure. I estimated the review count by multiplying each page of about 13 listings by the number of reviewer's pages. I clicked the “Letterboxd” link for the three gentlemen. Mr. Kirby has no activity. Mr. Diaz has about 300 ratings/reviews, very brief, less than 20 words, some with a dose of humor. For instance on his review for “Friday the 13th” (1980), penned on Friday 8/13/2021, rating is 1 ½ stars, the review is just “Today's the day.” Mr. Alves has about 500 reviews! very thorough, just wondered how he finds the time; well-done.
@Erik: I have scores and scores of reviews on letterboxd. These days, in OCD-like fashion, I write down at least a few thoughts down on every single movie I watch (and I watch a lot of 'em). I find this to be a good exercise. Try this link if you are at all interested: https://letterboxd.com/astrorob
Also: thanks to the folks above who said sweet things, esp SFOTroy. Being on the Smackdown panel with these smart, lovely people was a wonderful experience. I stan for Nathaniel and TFE.
Two lawyers walk into a smackdown...both walk out. ;)
Echoing Jonathan and Rob - it was a delight, and everyone on the panel was delightful. Hope TFE readers/listeners enjoy our conversation as much as we did!
Rob, I am interested. The above link did not work but yours does, almost 800 reviews! Thank you.