Interview: Sally Hawkins on Cate Blanchett, Woody Allen, and Godzilla

One of the most delightful surprises of the season was the Golden Globe Supporting Actress nomination for Sally Hawkins in Woody Allen's latest hit Blue Jasmine. While Cate Blanchett rages through the movie like a force of nature as Jasmine (née Jeanette) and has won dozens of prizes, Hawkins has the less showy but difficult task of keeping the movie grounded and the mood breezy while navigating her screen sister's stormiest weathers. Blue Jasmine, which comes to DVD and BluRay on January 21st, is yet another reminder, that Hawkins is one of the stealth MVPs of current cinema.

Sally and I had spoken once before (at length) during the Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) press tour and getting reacquainted was unusually good fun; I've rarely laughed so much during an interview. To give you a sense of the easy rapport and how delightful Sally is in person, I've included a little audio segment of my favorite bit of our conversation, when we were talking about her key directors: Woody Allen (2 films together) or Mike Leigh (3 films together) again. 

Nathaniel: So anyway… Blue Jasmine. When I first saw it I thought ‘this is good’ But then it just wouldn't leave my head. So it’s moved up in my estimation.

SALLY HAWKINS: Those films that sit and resonate with you, that you keep thinking about, are really interesting.

Do you experience that when you're reading a script? Or is that something you don’t discover until you’re on set. Like ‘oh, this one is going to be good.’ [more...]

Click to read more ...

Team Experience Top Tens. The Stories They Tell...

I, Nathaniel, am still in the process of cramming screeners into my bloodshot eyeballs (I know that's not the best way to do it but that's what happens each year at this exact time). Next weekend, at the very latest, I'll deliver my own top ten list. Until then, I thought it might be fun to see what our magic elves were into this year. A few of the regulars opted out, since they like quite a lot more time to mull things over or they're too busy with their classic hollywood obsessions (you are going to LOVE what Anne Marie has cooking for 2014). But Jose, Amir, Glenn, Tim and Michael and an unexpected guest perservered and their lists are here for your perusal and rental queue consideration. 

Click to read more ...

Team FYC: "Blue Jasmine" for Costume Design

In the FYC series, we're spotlighting our favorite fringe contenders. Here's abstew on Blue Jasmine's threads.

When it comes to the Oscar for Best Costume Design, the Academy's aesthetic seems rather limited. They go one of two ways: Period Piece or Fantasy. Having a tendency to confuse 'Best' with 'Most' the eventual winner is often whichever is that year's most elaborate or over-the-top design (Alice in Wonderland, really?!). Contemporary set films with well-thought-out clothes that define the character tend to get overlooked in the Season End Gold Rush. Breakfast at Tiffany's, Pretty Woman, and Clueless are all victims of this crime against fashion. So, hopefully when the nominations are announced on January 16th, Cate Blanchett's inevitable Best Actress nomination for Blue Jasmine will be joined by a nomination for Suzy Benzinger's meticulously designed costumes for the Woody Allen film.

As a Park Avenue socialite, Jasmine French's life is defined by labels. Not just the one's society has placed on her - wife, mother, sister - but, more importantly, the one's that matter most to her, Designer labels - Chanel, Fendi, Louis Vuitton (Blanchett's pronunciation of the French fashion house is perfect in its pretension). In the first shot we see of her, sitting in First Class in her Chanel jacket, crisp white shirt, and strands of pearls, we immediately know who this woman is before she's even said a word. The Upper East side theater I saw the film in (next to Bloomingdale's, of course) was populated with woman all wearing a variation of the uniform. So, it makes sense that when Jasmine's world unravels after the downfall of her corrupt husband, the labels are all she has to cling to. Upon meeting her sister Ginger's boyfriend Chili and his friend, she clutches that highest of all status symbols, the Hermès Birkin bag, as if her life depends on it. Without it she'd be just as low-class as they are.

And yet, as the film progresses, you begin to see something a woman in her position would never be caught doing in public - repeating outfits. There's that Chanel jacket again paired with a different shirt.  Jasmine's fall from grace has forced her to be thrifty, mixing and matching clothes like a regular person. And she's soon confronted with something she thought she'd never have to wear in her life: hospital scrubs at a dentist office. (Her sister Ginger's job as a grocery store checkout girl, requires her to wear a similarly hideous smock.) The juxtaposition of how different the two are is clearly illustrated by the women's clothes. Ginger, all short denim skirts and platform espadrilles, is everything Jasmine has spent her whole life avoiding. Benzinger expresses so much about these character's through what they're wearing. The costumes are more than just clothes, but an essential element of the storytelling.

some previous FYCs... Mud | Stories We Tell | In a World... | Short Term 12 | The Great Gatsby |  Nebraska | Lawrence Anyways | World War Z | The World's End | The Conjuring | Aint Them Bodies Saints 

Blue Days... To Come

1 Day until... Today Blue Caprice competes for two Gotham Film Awards 
1 Day until... NYFCC, the oldest film critics organization (not to be confused with NYFCO, a much newer upstart) kicks off critics prize season and we get our first clue as to whether Cate Blanchett's Blue Jasmine is a steamroller (Dec 3rd)
2 Days until... NBR announces kicking off the not-critics-but-we-also-give-prizes prize season (Dec 4th)
5 Days until... Blue is the Warmest Color wins (?) the European Film Awards (Dec 7th)
6 Days until... Adele Exarchopoulus wins Best Actress at LAFCA for Blue is the Warmest Color. What? They always go foreign at LAFCA in that category (Dec 8th)
10 Days until... The Golden Globes make like Blue Balls... but how Blue? Nominations for Blue Jasmine are a given but Warmest Color could win nods, too. (Dec 12th)

All of this  might make our Oscar Chart Updates - currently in progress look instantly out of date

41 Days until... Cate wins the Golden Globe (Jan 12th)
45 Days until... until Blue Jasmine is nominated for [HOW MANY?] Oscars and Cate wins the Best Actress "Critics Choice" Awards (Jan 16th) 
47 Days until... Cate Blanchett wins SAG (Jan 18th) 
50 Days until... until Blue Jasmine hits DVD/Blu-Ray (Jan 21st)
60 Days until... Blue is the Warmest Color wins [HOW MANY?] César nominations in Paris (Jan 31st) 
89 Days until... all three Blue titles compete for Spirit Awards in Santa Monica (March 1st)
90 Days until... Cate Blanchett wins her second Oscar (March 2nd) 

Gravitational Link

The Hollywood Reporter Woody Allen pulls Blue Jasmine from its India release due to anti-smoking laws. Don't tell Woody how his films have to be shown. He gets riled up. See also: Manhattan's (lack of) history on television.
Vulture one of our all time favorite DPs Emmanuel Lubezki looks at scenes from 5 of his beauties: The Tree of Life, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Children of Men and Gravity
Cinema Blend Katey on SNL's 50 Shades of Grey audition skit
San Francisco Chronicle how to spot a future classic? interesting article.
The Wrap on the huge amount of documentaries that Oscar voters will have to mull over
Vulture Patton Oswalt reveals his crushes from the Whedonverse. This is so cute
Playbill NYC and Brooklyn residents take note: sing-along screening of Little Shop of Horrors coming up with Rick Moranis 

TV
Pajiba You MUST see this accidental crass move from Disney via Once Upon a Time's spinoff (ugh. one bad show spawns another that will sure attempt to out-ugly Eyesore in Wonderland)
E! Online congratulations to Dot-Marie Jones (Glee) who got engaged to her girlfriend over the weekend. At Disneyland. [Inappropriate Side-Note Given The Happy Times Congratulation: Dot-Marie Jones, like Joan Cusack on Shameless, has competed for "Guest Actress" at the Emmys in three consecutive years. These are series regular roles. Emmy's "Guest" category has, like Oscar's "Supporting" category, gone from being a great idea to a "what is this for?" prize due to the constant fraudulent nominations. Stop the madness!]

I love this photo from behind the scenes of Gravity

Gravitational Pull
The Dissolve a spoiler-laden discussion between two critics on the movie of the moment 
Slate "Gravity is going to be a camp classic"  - this post is so prophetic! 
Vulture fact-checking Gravity with an astronaut. What if you vomit in your spacesuit? 
Deadline on the film's very impressive record-breaking box office