The Link Stuff

• Salon remembers the 'gentlemanly gruffness' of Fred Ward (Tremors, The Right Stuff), who has passed away at 79. We will remember him best from Henry & June, Big Business, and Short Cuts. 
• IndieWire interesting report on how the streamers are all doing. It was a rough quarter given the expensive (to streamers and viewers) content wars but HBOMax is holding steady and AppleTV got an enormous boost from CODA's Best Picture Oscar win.
• Harvard Film Archives posters of queer movies over the decades from multiple countries

Character actor James Hong, Stephen King adaptations, a royal role for Christopher Walken, smoking hot silent film stars, and more after the jump...

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Linkers Dozen

three must reads
• Blood Knife "Everyone is beautiful and no one is horny." Excellent article about the weird symmetry of the perfection of the body and the desexualization of cinema
• Thrillist Chris Feil suggests Oscars clips for this year's acting nominees
• The Ringer "Robert Pattinson has been lying to you for years" investigating the actors self-mythologizing interviews

Sam Elliott mouths off, the cast of Oppenheimer, a restoration of Alligator, Stephen King's next book, and more after the jump...

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Linkshelf

• The Film Stage great interview with Kyle Buchanan on his book "Blood, Sweat and Chrome" which is about the making of Mad Max Fury Road
• TFE on Instagram I am also going to celebrate this book by devouring it between every deadline
• /Film Teaser for Under the Banner of Heaven starring Andrew Garfield who is messing with the Mormons again (see also Angels in America)
• Vanity Fair "The minions do the actual writing" a fascinating report on the composing industry in Hollywood and name composers as 'brand leaders' rather than actual composers

The Boogeyman cast, Britney Spears tell-all, a great role for Stephan James, an award for Guillermo del Toro and more after the jump...

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Horror Actressing: Marcia Gay Harden in "The Mist"

by Jason Adams

If you've ever been a big fan of a book that's been turned into a movie then you have probably known the eyebrow-singeing sensation of a book character getting cast by an actor that seems so correct, so perfect for the role, that it astonishes. Think of Alan Rickman playing Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films, or of Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter in the admittedly ill-fated Golden Compass movie -- these actors were already the faces you were picturing when you read the book, and seeing the movie get it right this way, it's always a buzz.

I both did and did not experience this sensation when Frank Darabont hired Marcia Gay Harden to play the character of Christian super-bitch Mrs. Carmody in his 2007 adaptation of my all-time favorite Stephen King story, The Mist.

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Horror Actressing: Rebecca Ferguson in "Doctor Sleep"

by Jason Adams

(As the year marches towards its conclusion we're using our weekly "Great Moments in Horror Actressing" series to take a look at the best of what the genre's given us in the past 12 months, actress-wise. Here's our latest fave 0f 2019.) It's an exciting time to watch Rebecca Ferguson on-screen -- you still get the feeling of discovery every time she shows up, like we haven't got an inkling still of what she's capable of tapping into. She's reminding me of Andrea Riseborough in that way...

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