Almost There: Emma Thompson in "Love Actually"

by Cláudio Alves

With the holiday season upon us, a festive Almost There entry feels appropriate. Love Actually, Richard Curtis' 2003 mosaic narrative full of Christmastime romance, is one of the few notable examples of holiday movies that vied for Oscar gold. With a cast like that, it's easy to see why. There's also the movie's commercial success and lasting popularity to consider. All that being said, it's with great sorrow that I confess myself a Grinch when it comes to this particular brand of Yuletide cheer. Between sexist tropes and tired romcom mechanisms, the movie comes off more like a lump of coal than a present.

Still, every cloud has a silver lining, and plenty of the movie's actors are up to some excellent work.  Emma Thompson, in particular, delivers one of the best performances of her career. As if acting a Bergman-esque marital drama against a backdrop of Christmas schmaltz, her supporting turn is as disarmingly funny as it is devastating…

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How Emma Got Her Groove Back

by Jason Adams

Oh thank the heavens, a leading role for Emma Thompson! It's been too long since we've seen one of those (does Late Night count? I never saw Late Night) and this one sounds like a doozy -- Dame Emma will be starring in a comedy titled Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, which will have her playing a recent widow who decides to spice up her life with all the things she missed during her long marriage, chiefly among them some high quality sexual intercourse. So she finds herself a "sex therapist" in the form of a young man in "his early twenties for a night of bliss." These are Variety's words, not mine -- I would be much, much more vulgar.

As I have no doubt Dame Emma would and perhaps hopefully will be! Her boozy bawdy real-world presence, the one we get to see on red carpets and talk shows, doesn't get utilized nearly often enough on-screen, so the thought of her starring in a proper sex comedy sounds like, well, a, dare I say, "night of bliss." The film will be directed by Austrailian director Sophie Hyde, who made Animals with Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat last year -- no word on other casting yet, but of course our minds turn to the young actor playing the sex worker. Who'd you like to see play opposite this grand Dame?

Tweetweek in the Park with George

We haven't done a tweet round up in so long! So here you go. Some showbiz-related tweets this month that amused us or made us think or were just too special in some way not to share. 

Damn I hope Kevin Bacon doesn't get Covid. That contact tracing would be insane..

— Stevie- the F and U are silent . (@StevieOakley) October 11, 2020

this is such a serve pic.twitter.com/pLWVl8dDTy

— Dan (@kingdeficit) October 14, 2020

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The Best Day on the Set of "Saving Mr Banks"

Costume Designer Daniel Orlandi is guest-blogging all day!

by Daniel Orlandi

I had been preparing for the high-pressure two days of shooting at DisneyLand for several months. There were about 800 extras including 250 kids that had to be costumed and the research had been surprising. People used to actually dress up for a day in the park back in 1962. We had everyone in colorful 1960s California finery. When dressing extras I like to give everyone a character — so no souvenirs or T shirts!  We found a website where people posted their old personal photos of Disneyland. That was invaluable.

We also had to dress the park employees. Recreating Disney’s 1960s walk-around characters proved even more challenging...

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What's the best Jane Austen movie adaptation?

by Cláudio Alves

Jane Austen is one of the most celebrated authors in the English language. Fittingly, many of her works have been adapted into films. This year, we got another Emma, which to many felt like an improvement upon the previous major adaptation of the novel, the one starring Gwyneth Paltrow and a desperately funny Toni Collette.

But which Austen cinematic adaptation is the best of them all?  For clarity's sake and a vague sense of fairness, modernized versions of the author's storylines were disqualified from this race for the title of best Jane Austen movie. So, don't expect Clueless to make an appearance despite its genius. Of course, even without Amy Heckerling's 90s teen classic, it was difficult to whittle down the list of films enough to name the three best... 

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