Ryan Murphy's "Normal Heart"

Looks like it'll be television giant Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck, Glee) in the directing chair for the first film version of Larry Kramer's AIDS drama The Normal Heart. That righteously angry 80s play, which has long flummoxed would be adapters (most famously Barbra Streisand), was all the rage on Broadway this past season during its revival (I was less impressed than most but boy did the Tonys love it).

According to Playbill Murphy is planning on going with Mark Ruffalo in the lead role of Ned Weeks and wants his Eat Pray Love diva Julia Roberts in the awards-magnet supporting part of "Doctor Death". That part won Ellen Barkin the Tony and throat pains (we're guessing. It's very shouty!) but apparently not enough renewed career heat to get her an offer for the film version. Between this role and "Barbara" the eldest daughter in August: Osage County Julia seems to cornered the market on famously angry/exhausted stage-to-screen female roles. 

But before we scream "Oscars all around in February 2013!", it's wise to remember (always) that that stage-to-screen teleportation magic is an eternally difficult trick to master. Murphy is enjoying great success with Glee but both of his films thus far, Eat Pray Love (2010) or Running With Scissors (2006), have had mixed results critically and at the box office. One of the dangers of success is that artists get spread very thin and that could obviously be a problem here with Glee still going strong despite its own occasional  "spread to thin" feel.

on the set of Eat Pray Love

But we wish him good luck. He was once the president of a Meryl Streep fan club ferchrissakes. And though I couldn't find the copy that interview that Playbill is quoting he supposedly recently expressed regret that he had to turn down writing the Annie remake meant for Willow Smith, saying: 

So now she's got Emma Thompson who is 50 million times better than me. LOVE HER.

So, see? Murphy really loves actresses and musicals. The Film Experience officially has no choice but to root for him. 

10 Years Ago Right About This Very Second...

... Oscar night was wrapping up for the films of 2000. The lady whose smile devoured the world was loving her life.

Did you watch on that night? Were you into the Oscars yet? How is that particular race holding up for you.?  It broke down like so among the "Big 8"

• Picture: Gladiator
• Director: Steven Soderbergh, Traffic
• Actress: Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich
• Actor: Russell Crowe, Gladiator
• Supporting Actress: Marcia Gay Harden, Pollock
• Supporting Actor: Benicio Del Toro, Traffic
• Original Screenplay: Cameron Crowe, Almost Famous
• Adapted Screenplay: Stephen Gaghan, Traffic

It was a spread the wealth night. Honestly, I'd forgotten that Almost Famous won Original Screenplay since it missed the Best Picture slot that many expected it to nab. You can blame the Weinsteins and the late entry Chocolat for that, I suppose. The other wins I remembered. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon won 4 Oscars but I still think it got the shaft (among their nominees) and should've taken Best Picture with ease. And I still maintain that Erin Brockovich was the keeper from Soderbergh's double dip.

And remember this? Winona Ryder sure loved musicians back in the day (in more than one way).

Thoughts? Jump back a decade, won't'cha.

Yes, No, Maybe So: "Larry Crowne"

This isn't a trailer but let's make an exception for two of the most recognizable faces on the planet.

Do we want to see Tom Hanks & Julia Roberts round two in Larry Crowne? The clip starts at about the one minute mark.

yes... well Julia is singing Gilbert & Sullivan in the clip. Plus, there aren't enough romantic comedies about adults and by adults I mean adults with functioning brain cells.

no...

maybe so... Tom is trying his damndest to sell it and admitting how awkward it is to sell your wares... though maybe he's pushing that a little too hard. It's not like you can be as cool as you wanna be by pretending not to be cool. It's too transparent. But I liked That Thing You Do! kinda, didn't you? I dunno. Both Julia and Tom both have similar weaknesses as massive stars go: the charm offensive. They have to walk a very fine line between barely selling it and letting their natural charisma do the work, barely selling it to the point that they just look like lazy/overconfident about their charisma which doesn't work, and overselling it because of the charm offensive.

It must be complicated to be a superstar.

Let the Leogend Grow!

You have to see this. Melissa Leo serving up ACTING on All My Children. Soap acting is the best because it's so unpolished and raw, like celebrities working without a net (aka stylist) on the red carpet, or anyone who isn't an Oscar-winner acting in a Clint Eastwood movie. One take realness!

Perhaps this has already made the rounds I do not know. I hate being sick! I'm conscious enough at this moment -- and only this moment -- to know that it arrived in my inbox before I passed out and my friends were making funnies about it none of which I could remember to steal for jokes here. (I recall that they were Julia Roberts based since Nick says that Julia auditioned for this role, which is too rich a detail to forgot. How he knows this I can't say but that boy knows everything.) One thing I will be stealing though is Dorian's title in the comments for our new Best Supporting Actress: "Leogend"

About That Best Actress Oscar Curse...

I've noticed a raft of articles popping up about the infamous Best Actress Oscar curse which states that your marriage will fall apart if you win Best Actress.

Recent Oscar-Winning Divorcees

This is undoubtedly on the brain because of the whole Sandra Bullock Brouhaha last year (and because people have run out of things to talk about Oscar-wise?). ABC says scientists have proven it statistically and one of said scientists offers up this unscientific theory.

Winning an Oscar can be construed as a big jump in professional status that an actor or actress has in their world and in the eyes of the broader audience… The general social norm kind of requires a man to have higher professional and economic status over the wife. So whenever that social norm is violated, both husband and wife may feel discomfort.

We do still live in a patriarchal society so this is probably true. It would be especially true for men or women who buy into the patriarchy without having questioned its value system thoroughly (most people don't). This problem of separate status might just be acerbated by Hollywood itself which knows from hierarchies. Who's hot, who's not, etcetera. Star actors undoubtedly have egos.

But here's another happier detail they didn't think to look at. What of the women who win only after they shed their troubled relationships? Perhaps break-ups prompt creative renewal.

Jane Wyman won her Oscar for Johnny Belinda shortly just after dumping Ronald Reagan. Nicole Kidman won her first nomination (Moulin Rouge!) and then her first win (The Hours) back-to-back in the year that followed her high-profile split with Tom Cruise. That's just the two I can think of off the top of my head but I'd be willing to bet that there's more. Julia Roberts and Benjamin Bratt's break-up was already brewing before she won for Erin Brockovich. Julia's case could theoretically be part of the aforementioned curse or part of this bizarre blessing in disguise; lose a handsome man, get a naked gold one to replace him.

As for actresses who married or will marry their man after they've already achieved major star status (I'm thinking of Amy Adams actor man and Natalie Portman's acclaimed ballet star fiance in this year's Oscar race), I don't think they should worry too much. These men have undoubtedly already evolved or acclimated themselves to their "societal-norm" breaking coupledom.

Then you have women who crossover these categories, defying it. Emma Thompson's marriage to frequent collaborator Kenneth Branagh ended two years after her Oscar win but her relationship with Greg Wise (her Sense & Sensibility co-star) didn't suffer when she won her second Oscar.

His & Hers BAFTAs (Spring 1993); Emma's Oscars (March 1993 and March 1996)

And where does marriage-crazy two-time Oscar winner Elizabeth Taylor fit into all of this?

If you have the answers or just theories to these wedded bliss / wedded miss questions, have at it in the comments.