Best Actor: The Year of the Ham

As noted by the recently departed Alan Rickman on his BAFTA win for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves "Subtlety isn't everything." As far as Oscar is concerned, this year Best Actor was go big or go home. Take a look the leading men outside the bubble and you'll find mostly nuanced performances like those from Michael B. Jordan, Tom Courtenay, and Tom Hanks with their scenery unchewed. Rewarding more broad work has made this the Year of the Ham.

Some of the bigger choices have been more welcome than others in this field, so let's have some fun assessing the hammage:

Bryan Cranston - Trumbo
Clearly the most guilty of going big for its own sake, Cranston's nomination leaves quite a sour taste in your mouth. The performance feels built upon arched shoulders and mustaches, even if Cranston is a game actor admirably going along with the film's schlocky tone. It's not just the scenery getting chewed, but the script, the costumes, the camera, and poor Diane Lane. It's so hammy, he even shows us his hams in a prison scene.
Level of Ham: SPAM - some people like it? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Matt Damon - The Martian
Here's a role that actually calls upon the actor to be a ham. Matt Damon gets to use more of his natural charm than he has in anything outside of the Ocean's franchise and spends much of his performance breaking the fourth wall. He leans in on the nerd humor that's heavy on puns and dirty words, but thankfully never goes full broski. Everything lands, including his unexpected emotional moments, but this a performance playing right to the crowd. The visible hams are an obvious emaciated stunt double.
Level of Ham: Honey-Baked - generally pleasing to everyone

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Fantastic Beasts Behind the Scenes

Manuel here. We talked briefly a while ago about Eddie Redmayne's dapper outfit as Newt Scamander in JK Rowling's upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. We got a teaser shortly thereafter and now, we've gotten some behind the scenes footage of the Harry Potter spinoff that fleshes out a bit more about what we can expect from this franchise prequel.

The film follows Scamandar, a famed British Magizoologist who arrives in New York City in the 1920s with a suitcase full of fantastic beasts some of whom escape, putting the necessary plot into motion. Joining him are a pair of wizarding sisters (played by Katherine Waterstone and Alison Sudol) as well as a muggle (Dan Fogler, perhaps the most curious casting of them all) — together they must... well, it's unclear still. I'm guessing they'll have to wrangle the beasts back into the suitcase? We're still in teaser territory so maybe we shouldn't worry about that yet.

You can watch the entire video below but I've isolated four moments that caught my attention.

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Interview: Charming Eddie Strikes Again!

Remember that magical trip to London last month that I raved about? The agenda was actually interviews with The Danish Girl team and a few of those are coming up.

Director Tom Hooper's latest Oscar hopeful, about the unconventional marriage of artists Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) and Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe (Eddie Redmayne) opens in select cities today with a nationwide release in the near future. First up is the leading lady himself, Eddie Redmayne, who headlines as Lili, one of the first trans women to undergo sex reassignment surgery in the early 20th Century. Eddie Redmayne could well be up for the Best Actor Oscar again

I spoke to Eddie for Towleroad about gender fluidity, his tireless press rounds these past two years, and my two favorite scenes in the movie. Here's a snippet that I know TFE's awards fanatics will especially enjoy.

Your past few roles have been transformations -- The Theory of Everything to Jupiter Ascending to The Danish Girl -- so would you like to play a normal bloke at this point?

[Laughs] I am dreaming of one day just wearing a pair of jeans and a t shirt...

So you’ve already won a Tony and an Oscar…

Wow… Say it again! 

So are you going to record an album? Are you heading for the EGOT?

I’m recording an album tomorrow! [Laughs] Absolutely not. NO! I think Les Miz was quite enough for everyone. No, no, no aspirations for that.

Read the full interview at Towleroad

Eddie Redmayne and the Fantastic Beasts

Manuel here sharing the first look at Best Actor incumbent Eddie Redmayne in his first* blockbuster outing.

Yes, that's everyone's favorite ginger as Newt Scamander in the Harry Potter spinoff series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them which takes its title from one of the many textbooks Harry & co. used during their tenure at Hogwarts which J.K. Rowling actually released as a real book back in 2001, and if you've gotten this far and understood what all of those things mean, chances are you are the teensiest bit excited about plunging back into the world of wands and wizards. (And/or irritated at WB's shameless attempt at keeping the franchise alive).

And if you're wondering who's responsible for Redmayne's oh-so-dapper look  it's none other than the great Colleen Atwood. And if this is any indication, the film will at least be pretty to look at. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to shop around for a sapphire blue coat and brown wool suit.

*He'll surely want us to forget Jupiter Ascending.

List Mania! Frances McDormand and all the "Triple Crown" Icons

Since I'm on record as being annoyed that all anyone cares about is the EGOT and since Steve asked in the comments of the Emmy post-mortem about my preferred obsession (The Triple Crown of Acting) to date only 21 actors* have accomplished this, two of them within this very calendar year (Dame Helen Mirren and Frances McDormand). Of course this has become more commonplace than it used to be given that actors no longer feel like they should be solely a movie star, or solely a tv actor, or only a thespian of the stage. With more and more people willing to do all three, sometimes consistently, these ranks will likely swell in another 20 years.

Currently the rarified list of actors who've won The Tony, The Oscar and The Emmy for their acting reads like so...

Frances McDormand is your latest Triple Crown Winner. From Fargo (1996) to Good People (2011) to Olive Kitteridge (2014)

• Jack Albertson (Tony: 65, Oscar: 69, Emmy: 75)
• Anne Bancroft (Tony: 58, Oscar: 63, Emmy: 99)
• Ingrid Bergman (Oscar: 45, Tony: 47, Emmy: 60)
  Our Ingrid Bergman Centennial was fun wasn't it? You're welcome. Ingrid is the youngest performance to complete the trinity at age 45. 
• Shirley Booth (Tony: 49, Oscar: 53, Emmy: 62)
• Ellen Burstyn (Oscar: 75, Tony: 77, Emmy: 09)
• Melvyn Douglas (Tony: 60, Oscar: 64, Emmy: 68)
  Did you know that this Hud star was Illeanna Douglas's grandfather? I certainly didn't.
• Helen Hayes (Oscar: 32, Tony 47, Emmy: 53)
  (Though IMDb does not state what her Emmy was for so who knows if she's a special case or not)
• Jeremy Irons (Tony: 84, Oscar: 91, Emmy: 97)
• Frances McDormand (Oscar: 97, Tony: 11, Emmy: 15)
  The most recent inductee to this hall of fame. 
• Helen Mirren (Emmy: 96, Oscar: 07, Tony: 15)
  And yes she won all three for playing Queens named Elizabeth! Though she has multiple Emmys so she's won for other roles, too. 
• Thomas Mitchell (Oscar: 40, Tony: 53, Emmy: 53) 
• Rita Moreno (Oscar: 62, Tony: 75, Emmy: 77)
  The second youngest to the Triple. She was 46 when she completed it with the Emmy for The Muppet Show
• Al Pacino (Tony: 69, Oscar: 93, Emmy: 04)
• Christopher Plummer (Tony: 74, Emmy: 77, Oscar: 12)
• Vanessa Redgrave (Oscar: 78, Emmy: 81, Tony: 03)
• Jason Robards (Tony: 59, Oscar: 77, Emmy: 88)
• Geoffrey Rush (Oscar: 97, Emmy: 05, Tony: 09)
• Paul Scofield (Tony: 62, Oscar: 67, Emmy: 69)
  The youngest male actor to the Triple. He was 47 when he completed it with the Emmy for Male of the Species 
• Maggie Smith (Oscar: 70, Tony: 90, Emmy: 03)
• Maureen Stapleton (Tony: 51, Emmy: 68, Oscar: 82)
• Jessica Tandy (Tony: 78, Emmy: 88, Oscar: 90)

Weird Statistic
The Emmy, which seems like the easiest to win since they have so many damn categories, is actually won last by the majority of Triple Crowners. How about that? 

Eddie Redmayne is very young to have already won two of the big threeWho do you think will join the list next?
Of currently working stars Viola Davis, Cicely Tyson, Neil Patrick Harris, Ellen Barkin, Hugh Jackman and Bryan Cranston are just missing the Oscar which is obviously the hardest to win.

Overachiever Glenn Close has three Tonys and three Emmys but (sigh) zero Oscars. Kevin Spacey, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dame Judi Dench, Denzel Washington and Marcia Gay Harden are just missing the Emmy. The youngest immediate threats are Anne Hathaway and Eddie Redmayne: she is only 32 and just needs a Tony; he is only 33 and just needs an Emmy... though he isn't currently doing any TV so the Triple Crown will probably have to wait. 

And get this: Sally Field, Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange, Dianne Wiest and Jane Fonda who all have won multiple Oscars and multiple Emmys are all just missing the Tony though they've all worked the Broadway stage!

Depressing Three-Medium Stats: Sir Ian McKellen, a hugely lauded thespian has only won the Tony despite Oscar & Emmy nominations. The gifted Sarah Paulson who works all three mediums with regularity has not won any of the prizes and has only been Emmy-nominated. The Lovely Laura Linney, another regular three-medium threat has only won the Emmy despite multiple Tony and Oscar nominations. Marisa Tomei who works all three has only won the Oscar with no Tony or Emmy honors. Martha Plimptonwho does all three (though movies only occasionally) has only won the Emmy but has at least been nominated for multiple Tonys. Kathleen Turner who only occasionally does TV (unthinkably her work on Friends did not even win her a Guest Actress nomination) but used to be a huge movie star has been nominated for the Oscars and Grammys (once) and the Tonys (twice) but has yet to win any of the big showbiz awards beyond her two Golden Globes. Annette Bening has NONE of the top three prizes despite being nominated for all. The strange thing is that though she now regularly does stage work, she does not do it on Broadway. She could win a Tony if she came back!

* Special Cases: Notable superstars like Judy Garland (her Oscar was a non-competitive juvenile Oscar), Liza Minnelli (her Emmy was for a televised concert), Barbra Streisand (her Tony was a special award) and Whoopi Goldberg (her Emmy was not a Primetime Emmy which is all that people usually refer to when they talk about winning Emmys) won all three statues but they did not win them all in regular competitive categories or for performances exactly so they are special cases.