Showbiz History: France loves KStew, and infamous 'Chicago' trials, real and fictional

5 random things that happened on this day, February 20th, in showbiz history...

two Oscar-winning Roxies, Ginger Rogers & Renée Zellweger

1939 A shameful moment in US history: an American Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden. Footage from this event became the basis of the recently Oscar nominated doc short "A Night at the Garden". 

1942 The film Roxie Hart adapted from the play "Roxie" opens with Ginger Rogers playing the murderous showgirl. Roxie would go on to pop culture immortality with the long running musical adaptation of the play and its Oscar winning counterpart, called simply Chicago...

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César Nominations: Gay drama "Summer of 85" Leads

by Nathaniel R

Summer of '85

Oops. This headline is misleading due to a miscount. The nomination leader at the César's (i.e. the French oscars) is a film called Love Affair(s). But François Ozon's gay coming of age drama Summer of '85, which has a bit of an international profile given its festival run, is not far behind with an impressive 12 nods. Two of us, the lesbian drama and France's Oscar finalist (and Golden Globe nominee) this year, didn't fare as well, receiving only four nominations (two of which are in Best Actress). Because the Oscar calendars were so different than usual this year, none of these films will be eligible for Oscar submission next year from France (usually you get a lot of late year titles from home countries which are submitted the following year to the Oscars but that can't be the case next season due to the extended eligibility peeriod). Hopefully some of these titles will make their way to us here in the US soon.

The César Awards will be held on March 12th this year. If a film has a link it goes to our review or coverage of the film or filmmaker. Here are the nominations...

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Showbiz History: La Dolce Vita, La Haine, and the return of Willow

The Golden Globe nominations nominations are announced today so there's no time to gaze fondly back. And yet we're so OCD about doing this. Here are 5 things that happened on this day, February 3rd, in showbiz history...

1945 Walt Disney's The Three Caballeros opens in theaters 

1959 A plane crash kills three popular musicians Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and "the Big Bopper" J.P. Richardson. This tragedy became known as "the day the music died" due to the classic song "American Pie" by Don McLean...

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Oldies but Linkies

• Indiewire Waiting for Chris Nolan's Tenet -  Hollywood hopes summer can be saved
• Rick's Real Reel remembering Doris Day and Cary Grant in That Touch of Mink
• Slate fun short piece on the absurd thrill (in a vacuum) of the Ben Affleck / Ana de Armas romance as witness by paparazzi

Today's roundup continues after the jump and is a mix of new and old (i.e. past couple of weeks) stuff since we haven't hit you with a link in a bit: Robert Pattinson profiled, a rift at the César awards, Dear Evan Hansen couplings, Drama League nominations, Peabody Awards, RIPs and more...

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Cesar Winners: "Les Misérables" is tops... but now we're curious about "La Belle Epoque"

Yes yes, we were supposed to be taking the weekend off. But we forgot about the Césars held yeseterday in France. So...

Cast & Crew of "Les Miserables" at the Cesars

While Roman Polanski's "J'Accuse!" led the César nominations in the end it lost "Best Film" to France's Oscar nominated Les Misérables. Both films won multiple prizes. Curiously considering two prizes for Polanski himself, two films which center on the sexual abuse of kids (By the Grace of God and "M") also won Césars. The dramedy La Belle Epoque, starring longtime gallic icons Daniel Auteuil and Fanny Ardant, also made a strong showing with 3 wins. A complete list of winners, some stats, and the trailer to La Belle Epoque are after the jump...

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