Debicki F.E.A.R.

Jose here. While watching The Man From U.N.C.L.E. yesterday and getting endless cinephile-boners from watching Elizabeth Debicki slink her way through the senseless plot - as she played the sexiest villain this side of Eartha Kitt as Catwoman - a pervading fear entered my mind: will Hollywood know what to do with her?

Combining the voice of la Blanchett, the statuesque-ness of Nicole and the effortless class of both Hepburns (although she's much more Kate than Audrey), Debicki might find spineless studio honchos not knowing what to do with her! Will they stick her to playing villains forever (she might've been a much more interesting Bond baddie than what hammy Christoph Waltz is doing in the Spectre trailers)? Will they stick her to playing icy sidekicks like she did in The Great Gatsby? If they saw what she was up to onstage in The Maids where she stole the show from both Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert (!!!), casting agents should be dreaming roles for her 24/7. However we know how these things usually turn out, and now I'm worried, we'll never see her again! *breathes into paper bag*

Dear readers, what movie-related fears invade your mind today?


Let Elizabeth whisk you away into dreamland as you come up with witty answers in the comments, we're all ears...

Happy Nicole Kidman Day !

Proposal: Since Australia (grew up there, family and friends) and the US (born in Honolulu, lives in Nashville) share the one and only Nicole Kidman with citizenship and residence, a national holiday won't do. We propose an International Nicole Kidman Day, each June 20th to mark the birthday of one of the big screen's bravest and best and most beautiful.

Herewith a few lists to mark the day...

SIGNATURE WORK
The roles with which she'll arguably always be most associated

1. Moulin Rouge! (2001) -which speaks to her bonafide movie-star charisma
2. The Hours (2002) -which boldly underlined her cool (divisive) persona and intelligence
3. To Die For (1995) -her breakthrough and which initially and ungenerously clung to her rapid rise as a star on another star's arm

BRAVEST PERFORMANCE

1. The Paperboy (2012) - the psychic sex, the skanky past her prime makeup, the death wish
2. Birth (2004) - "you're a little liar, aren't you?"
3. Dogville (2003) -Here are some chalk lines, hyper stylized dialogue, and precious tchotchkes. Action!

SEXIEST PERFORMANCE

1. Moulin Rouge! (2001)
2. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
3. Batman Forever (1995)
4. To Die For (1995)
5. The Paperboy (2012)

FUNNIEST PERFORMANCE

1. To Die For (1995)
2. Moulin Rouge! (2001)
3. Herself... on talk shows

MOST AWARDS LOVE

1. The Hours (2002) - Oscar & Globe & BAFTA & Silver Bear wins, SAG nom
2. Moulin Rouge! (2001) - Globe & MTV win, Oscar, SAG & AACTA noms
3. To Die For (1995) - Globe & BFCA win, BAFTA nom
4. Rabbit Hole (2010) - Oscar, Globe & SAG noms
5. The Paperboy (2012) - Globe & SAG & AACTA noms

IT'S ALL IN A NAME 

1. "Grace" 3 characters: The Others (1995), Dogville (2003), Grace of Monaco (2014)
2. "Isabel" 2 characters: Bewitched (2005) and Portrait of a Lady (1996)
3. "Julia" 2 characters: Wills & Burke (1985) and The Peacemaker (1997)

BIGGEST GLOBAL HITS
*Movies that were far far more successful overseas than in the US

1. The Golden Compass (2005) $372* 
2. Batman Forever (1995) $336
3. Paddington (2015) $259*
4. Just Go With It (2011) $214
5. Australia (2008) $211*
6. The Others (2001) $209
7. Moulin Rouge! (2001) $179*
8. Cold Mountain (2003) $173
9. Eyes Wide Shut (1999) $162* 
10. Days of Thunder (1990) $157 

MOST COMMON ONSCREEN PROFESSIONS

1. Actress - 4 roles: Grace of Monaco, Nine, Bewitched, Moulin Rouge!)
2. Writer - 4 roles: Margot at the Wedding, The Hours, Hemingway & Gelhorn, Genius)
3. Reluctant Sexworker (or thereabouts) - 3 roles: Moulin Rouge!'s whore, Birthday Girl's mail order bride, Far and Away's temporary burlesque dancer)
4. Psychiatrist - 2 roles: The Invasion, Batman Forever
5. Boss Lady Who Moonlights in Kidnapping - 2 roles: The Golden Compass, Paddington

MOST FREQUENT CO-STARS

1. Tom Cruise (Marriage + 3 films: Far and Away, Days of Thunder, Eyes Wide Shut)
2. Colin Firth (3 films: Before I Go To Sleep, The Railway Man, and the forthcoming Genius)
   [tied with] David Wenham (3 films: Australia, Moulin Rouge! and the forthcoming Lion) 
3. Jude Law (2 films: Cold Mountain, and the forthcoming Genius)
   [tied with] Ben Mendelsohn (2 films: Australia, Trespass), Daniel Craig (2 films: The Invasion, The Golden Compass), and Dianne Wiest (2 films: Practical Magic and Rabbit Hole)

WHAT WE'D LIKE TO GIVE HER FOR HER BIRTHDAY

1. More of whatever makes her happy
2. One more classic as beloved as Moulin Rouge! or as Oscar-honored as The Hours or as widely argued over / prestigey as Eyes Wide Shut or as audience-friendly as The Others (we're not picky/greedy... any of those will do)
3. A project to do with her bestie Naomi Watts. It's been since Flirting (1991) c'mon... 
4. A project to do with Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge!) or Stephen Dillane (The Hours) because MY GOD THE CHEMISTRY in both of those cases. Why hasn't she worked with either again? 

Naturally, in the comments you'll want to share your five favorite things about this goddess and what you'd give her for her birthday

The Toughest Emmy Quandary: Supporting Actress in a Drama Series?

We begin an Emmy FYC series tomorrow (Daily at Noon) since voting commences this month for nominations for the 67th Annual Emmy Awards. Emmy rules allow for 6 acting nominees per category. Though I shudder when any pundit suggests expanding lineups in any awards show -- it reduces the meaning if it's easy to get nominated -- if there were ever a convincing argument against honoring twice as many actors as usual, isn't it the 2015 Supporting Actress in a Drama Series field? 

THE FACTS
For the past three years the category has been almost exclusively dominated by five women. The 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons saw a nominated shortlist that always included Christine Baranski (5 nominations for The Good Wife, 7 previous nominations with 1 win), Christina Hendricks (Mad Men, 5 nominations), Maggie Smith (4 nominations and 2 wins for Downton Abbey, 4 previous nominations with another win) and Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad, 3 nominations and 2 wins). Joanna Froggatt (Downton Abbey, 2 nominations) was usually in the lineup as well leaving very little wiggle room for other fine actresses. Essentially voters had one free spot each year that they were then quite fickle with. All but one of these five women are still eligible (Breaking Bad is finally off the air) which begs the question of how Emmy will deal with so many new and valuable players from freshman series or players who've been coalescing fans and momentum towards nominations without quite breaking in for other series.

Unless Emmy is willing to ditch one of their four beloveds (and it better not be Hendricks who had such a great sendoff in Mad Men and has been robbed in the past) there's only room for two newbies or returning players and there are a couple dozen of them (at least) to consider after the jump...

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Best Limited or Cameo Role. The Women

In the imaginary awards ceremony we hold for the Film Bitch Awards each year (when: January through March; where: Nathaniel's brain and on this website) Missi Pyle as "Ellen Abbott" announces the nominees for the limited or cameo role categories. With three or four sharp scenes in Gone Girl she's too big for this category but she's good TV, you must agree. Getting the balance right for this category is tricky. Which roles are too big to fit? Many of the people who immediately popped to mind this year as "cameos" were really were more than that. Oprah Winfrey is great in that crucial opening expose about voter suppression in Selma but she also marches, gets arrested and her throughline doubles as the whole narrative arc of the movie, so we couldn't really include her. Lindsay Duncan in Birdman, was another close call, but we opted to include due to only two scenes even though she's the focus.

We take this seriously y'all. As proof look at all these fine actresses we were considering... 

Top left to right by row: Karin Myrenberg (Force Majeure), Charlotte Rampling (Young & Beautiful), Lesley Manville (Mr Turner); Jena Malone (Inherent Vice); Alison Pill (Snowpiercer); Lindsay Duncan (Birdman); Hong Chau (Inherent Vice); Sela Ward (Gone Girl); Anamaria Marinca (Fury); Menna Trusslar (Pride); Tilda Swinton (Grand Budapest Hotel); Annie Funke (A Most Violent Year); Uma Thurman (Nymphomaniac Vol. 1); Casey Rose Wilson (Gone Girl); Kathleen Rose Perkins (Gone Girl); Karina Fernandez (Pride)

And here are the nominees, wrapping up nominations in all categories for the 15th annual Film Bitch Awards. The nomination stats are at the bottom of the "best scenes" page if you're interested. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in all categories will be handed out this weekend.

Pretty Woman at 25: An Ode to Julia’s Laugh

Manuel here to share my love for Julia Roberts on the 25th anniversary of that 1990 blockbuster, the movie that netted the star her second consecutive Oscar nomination.

Roberts is the first movie star I ever obsessed over. She was my American sweetheart even though I was nowhere near America and didn’t quite understand what being a “sweetheart” meant. All I knew was that her laugh was infectious, her smile gargantuan and her charm inescapable. This was most (if not all) in part to Pretty Woman. I cannot recall where or how I got to watch the film that made her a megawatt star (I was barely 4 when it came out so I was obviously a late convert) but years of cable reruns made Julia a staple of what here at the TFE would dub my budding actressexuality.

She would later win me over completely with My Best Friend’s Wedding and Erin Brockovich (not to mention my probably unhealthy obsession with Mike Nichol’s Closer) but Julia’s Vivian Ward is a thing of beauty. Yes, it’s a movie star turn in that Roberts’s charm papers over the dark undertones of film and character alike, but she’s so damn watchable. And has been ever since.

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