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Keira Knightley is The Duchess

Allow me to preface this assessment of The Duchess (Paramount Vantage, 9/19, trailer)—which I saw last Friday—by noting that I, as a straight male, am not "supposed" to like it, let alone see it in the first place. And now allow me to explain why I did...

The Duchess, which is only the second film by the writer-director Saul Dibb, is without a doubt one of the finest films I've seen at this year's Toronto Film Festival. It can perhaps best be described as everything that Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006) strove to be but no amount of hip music could make it—a star vehicle; a fashion photoshoot-come-to-life (right on the heels of another from this year, Sex and the City); and a celebration of the strength of women. My hunch is that women of all ages will strongly embrace it; that Academy members will strongly consider nominating it for Best Art Direction (Michael Carlin) and Best Actress (thanks to another fine performance in a period piece by Pride & Prejudice and Atonement star Keira Knightley, whose great beauty far too often causes reviewers to overlook her tremendous talent); and that it will almost certainly win Michael O'Connor the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.

[NOTE: Some minor spoilers follow.] The eponymous character in the film, Georgiana Spencer (Knightley), was the most famous woman in late 18th century England. At the age of 16, unbeknownst to her, her opportunistic mother arranged for her to marry the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes) and assume responsibility for producing him an heir. The Duke, who is introverted and cold to everyone, including his wife, makes it clear from their first night together that he regards her as nothing more than a means to achieve that end. When her first two pregnancies bear females, however, he becomes increasingly cruel and unfaithful to her, causing a deep rift in their relationship. He orders her, "Give me a son, and until then stay here and do as I say," and thus she finds herself "imprisoned in my own house." What makes it all the more shocking is that the Duke, as another character gossips, "must be the only man in England not in love with his wife!"

The Duke is missing a sensitivity-chip, not unlike Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, the film version of which also starred Knightley; the difference is that Darcy eventually finds one. The Duke is incredibly insensitive to his wife's feelings and needs, as perhaps best illustrated in a scene at their breakfast table, at which he sits far at the opposite end from her. A baby is ushered in, the Duke casually acknowledges to the Duchess that it is a child whom he has fathered out of wedlock, and he tells her that he expects her to raise it. ("It will be good practice," he mutters.) The umistakable symbolism of the distance between them in this dark, quiet scene must be an ode to a similar scene in another film that focuses on a domineering husband growing apart from his wife—that, of course, is Citizen Kane (1941).

Orson Welles and Ruth Warrick in Citizen Kane

For women of the Duchess' era, mental and physical maltreatment of the sort practiced by the Duke was not uncommon; to independently go forward and make something of oneself in spite of it, however, certainly was, and that is precisely what she does. A few examples...

• She involves herself in politics, speaking out against proponents of "freedom in moderation" and quietly advocating for women's suffrage... all the while retaining her good humor ("You politicians know nothing about fashion!").
• She understands publicity ("I have many faults, not least among them the ability to draw attention") anduses it to campaign for opposition party leader Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper of The History Boys), her childhood crush and future lover. [Incidentally, the hopeful and optimistic Grey reminds me of Obama (he even says, "Change is upon us!") while the dour and cynical Duke reminds me of McCain (he says of the much younger Grey, "He is a dreamer, like yourself. You both dream of a world that doesn't exist and never will"). It's as if she's married to McCain but in love with Obama!]
• She is in touch with her sexuality, experiencing an awakening of sexual pleasure fueled by her female friend, unmet by her husband, and satisfied by her lover. It demonstrates to her that a woman need not just go through the motions when it comes to sex or, for that matter, life, in general—that both can offer something more.
• And, above all, she's stylish! Known around town as the "Empress of Fashion," one speaker introduces her by saying "What we see her wearing tonight, I look forward to seeing you wear tomorrow!" (And even if Knightley and screenwriter Amanda Foreman don't like them, comparisons between Georgiana Spencer, after she became the Duchess of Devonshire, and her great-great-great-great aunt Diana Spencer, after she became the Princess of Wales, are completely understandable and appropriate. Both women were born into normal families, married into royalty at a young age, endured largely unhappy marriages for the sake of their children, became activists and fashion icons, and died far too young.)
  

Generally speaking, men don't understand women when it comes to clothes. We hate being dragged along for shopping sprees, we hate the idea of attending a fashion show, and most of us wouldn't spend more than a minute or two gussying ourselves up were it not necessary to do so to attract women. Therefore, it is not surprising to hear the Duke ask the Duchess, "Why must women's clothes be so damn complicated?!" It is enlightening, however, to hear her thoughtful response, especially considering the time period in which the story is set: "I suppose it's just our way of expressing ourselves. You [men] have so many ways of expressing yourselves, whereas we must make do with our hats and dresses." Indeed, for a woman as trapped (literally and figuratively) as the Duchess, clothes are a small outlet, and for even us hardened men it is hard not to be impressed with her stunning assortment of them. Indeed, numerous scenes in the film look like Vanity Fair photoshoots come-to-life (e.g. when the Duchess is given instructions for how to deliver her illegitimate child).

The saddest part about the film is watching the Duchess struggle to navigate the uncharted territory towards progress that she eventually walks. Upon catching the Duke philandering with her best friend under her own roof, she exasperatedly asks him not "What is wrong with you?!" but "What is wrong with me?!" Her own mother blames her for her husband's infidelities. This was the cultural zeitgeist, or spirit of the age, and it is tragic to look back upon. "You don't have to please others all the time," her lover chides her, to which she responds, "It's what I've been brought up to do—it's hard to unlearn."

When that lessons finally sinks in, and she learns to love herself, the Duchess feels inevitable regret ("I fear I've done some things in life too late and others too early"), but also discovers newfound courage. As she prepares to leave her husband, he warns her, "This will be the mistake of your life!" to which she responds, "No, I made that many years ago." Oh. snap. But when he thrusts their children into the mix by threatening to keep them from her forever, she is forced to reconsider, for she, like most mothers, values them above even herself. I won't give away her decision, but needless to say either option—to return or not to return—would come with great pain and sacrifice.

The film reminds me a great deal of the better melodramatic women's weepies and sumptuous period costume dramas of Hollyood's Golden Age. This is the sort of project that Douglas Sirk would have wanted to direct (think Written on the Wind, or better yet Imitation of Life) and feisty Bette Davis would have been assigned to star in (remember her role—and red dress—in Jezebel?), probably opposite, say, Laurence Olivier as the cold Duke and Robert Taylor as the forbidden lover.

The film treats the Duke far more fairly than he ever treated the Duchess, showing flickers of humanity beneath his cold attitude—teaching his lover's boys about guns; awkwardly admitting his own ineptitude at expressing himself; and looking out a window at children playing while speaking his final, revealing lines in the film: "How wonderful to be that free." It acknowledges that this was a far different place and time than the one we know today—the Duchess' best friend's husband beat her and stole her children, but as she tells the Duchess "the law is on his side." But it rightfully celebrates a woman who was generations ahead of her time and who hoped for better.

Even if the Duchess was unable to achieve her dreams in her own lifetime, she put on a brave face, the requisite stiff upper lip,  and fought onward. History says she left a few cracks in that "glass ceiling" for women that has been invoked frequently, of late. For that reason, it seems fitting that The Duchess, which celebrates the courage and strenght of women, should be released now, in 2008—it's the 88th anniversary of women's suffrage in the America, and it's the year that Hillary almost became the first female presidential nominee, and Sarah Palin, for better or worse, could become the first female vice president. Things are far from perfect or equal for women, but they are getting better every day, and as modern women ponder their options of what they'd like to do and where they'd like to go, a movie like The Duchess will remind them of how far they've come, and serve as a reminder of how far they can go.

Denzel Washington plays a '70s drug lord in early Best Pic favorite American Gangster.
(photo source: ConcreteLoop.com)

Awards Chatter

• It’s way too early to make a serious prediction of who’s out front for Best Picture, but my sense at the moment is that it may be a three-way race between Atonement (Focus), American Gangster (Universal), and Charlie Wilson’s War (Universal). Take this with a grain of salt, since prognosticators had crowned Cold Mountain, Munich, and Dreamgirls as frontrunners at this point in years past—but keep in mind that while the aforementioned films did not win, they still went on to play major roles in the race. I am hearing marvelous things about both Atonement and Gangster (not much yet on Charlie), and my early impression is that we might see a Picture-Director split (a la ‘00, ‘02, ‘05, etc.), since Atonement has more of a Best Picture pedigree, but Gangster is directed by the revered Ridley Scott, who has been around forever (started in the ‘60s), is getting up there (he’ll turn 70 in November), and has never been honored (he was the victim of the aforementioned ‘00 split), and will therefore engender more affection (see Scorsese in ’06) than the lesser-known helmer of Atonement, Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice). We’ll see.
• I can’t say for sure until I see the film in Toronto in early September, but my gut—based primarily on a very well-done trailer and the way WB seems to be handling the film—is that Michael Clayton, which stars George Clooney as a lawyer dragged into scandal, is actually a lot better than people realize, and will be in serious play for a Best Picture nomination.
• I’m being told that the magnitude of Reese Witherspoon’s role in Rendition as a grief-stricken wife of an alleged terrorist has been greatly overemphasized in advance publicity for the film, including the film’s trailer. It is certainly understandable that New Line would want to capitalize on Witherspoon’s box-office power, but awards watchers should guarded about her prospects as a serious candidate for Best Actress. In other words, she may be more Blanchett-in-Babel than Witherspoon-in-Walk the Line. (Supposedly, the film itself is more of the commercial than awards sort, anyway.)
• Joaquin Phoenix fans have to be feeling good about his prospects. After struggling for years to emerge from his bad-boy rep and the shadow of late brother River, he made great strides with his awards-worthy perf in Walk the Line in 2005. Now, he is being heavily touted for a Best Actor nomination for Reservation Road, and if he does indeed make the cut, he could very possibly benefit from being the category's only nominee without an Oscar—likely competition includes past winners Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Tommy Lee Jones. The only other anticipated contenders without Oscars are Johnny Depp and James McAvoy. (Note: The impossible-to-dislike Keira Knightley and Laura Linney may find themselves in a similar situation in the Best Actress field for their performances in Atonement and The Savages, respectively.)
• Harvey Weinstein is revving his engines, and while he no longer has the resources of Miramax to work with, you can be sure his hunger for Oscar (which is directly responsible for the ’98 win of Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan) has not evaporated since his founding of The Weinstein Company with baby bro Bob. Therefore, when Harvey talks, I listen, and he is now on record with the following statement pertaining to TWC’s Bob Dylan bio-pic I’m Not There: “I may be jumping the gun, but if Cate Blanchett doesn’t get nominated, I’ll shoot myself.” (I have been independently projecting a Supporting Actress nomination for Cate the Great for some time now.) Aside from Woody Allen’s Cassandra’s Dream and the mid-season release Sicko in the Documentary category, Harvey’s got nothing else to focus on, so this is a strong indication of where he will be investing his considerable energy and resources this awards season.
• I keep hearing from various sources about two films to keep an eye on as sleeper contenders in major categories: The first is Love in the Time of Cholera (New Line), which is adapted from a novel, depicts a love-triangle in South America at the turn of the 20^th century, and apparently features a particularly impressive performance from Giovanna Mezzogiorno as the woman caught in-between Javier Bardem and Benjamin Bratt. The second is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Miramax), a French film that I’m told is in the same vein as Life Is Beautiful—it is the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the former editor of Elle magazine, who suffered a stroke in 1995 that left everything but his brain and his left eye paralyzed, and who managed to write his touching memoirs using only those two functions. (I’m hearing that Max von Sydow, the great veteran of so many Ingmar Bergman classics, will get a Supporting Actor push for his performance as the afflicted man’s elderly father.)
• To me, the category that is proving the hardest to get a read on is Supporting Actress. At the moment, with all things being relatively equal and based on a little buzz, I think one has to give the edge to the respected and versatile veteran Jennifer Jason Leigh (Margot at the Wedding), who has never before earned so much as a nomination, and is way overdue for some attention. That said, I’m hearing very mixed things about the film itself, and so she may be on shaky ground—in which case who steps into the frontrunner slot? The category’s recent winner Cate Blanchett (I’m Not There), who will in all likelihood be contending for Best Actress; Abbie Cornish (The Golden Age), who will have to contend with the dominating presence of lead Blanchett; past winner Mira Sorvino (Reservation Road), who many associate most with her dumb blonde in Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion and regard as an Oscar fluke; perhaps Evan Rachel Wood for playing the younger version of Uma Thurman in In Bloom; or any number of other options. The good news: the field is usually won by youngish, attractive women. The bad news: that pretty much describes all of them.

News and Notes

• I’m so happy that people discovered Superbad, which far exceeded expectations and opened "Supergood," in the words of every cutesy writer out there, to $33 million. Since seeing the film at a screening in late July, I was so excited for my friends to see it that I really built it up a lot, and then got a bit worried that I might have overhyped it. It turned out I had nothing to worry about, since they, like most people, thought it was absolutely hilarious. In this case, success couldn’t have happened to a nicer group of guys than Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who proved to be really nice guys when we sat down for an interview on July 25^th—that chat will be a nice time capsule, because these guys’ lives will not be the same after this. (I have to admit I feel a little sorry for director Greg Mottola, whose name has been virtually ignored in favor of the actors, co-writer Seth Rogen, and producer Judd Apatow. In the industry, however, the film’s tremendous success is starting to pay dividends: he has been given a greenlight to direct Adventureland, a semi-autobiographical comedy set in the 1980s about a recent college graduate who, after his father is suddenly terminated from his job, is forced to abandon his elaborate plans for a trip to Europe and instead take up work at a local amusement park.)
• If Superbad was a big winner at the box-office, The Invasion was a big loser. Most of us saw this coming a mile away: the fourth re-make of a beloved classic in fifty-five years that required multiple re-writes and directors? Additionally, it confirms that any past box-office success of its leads, Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, can probably be more attributed to their vehicles—hardcore dramas and James Bond—far more than themselves. (This has to worry New Line, which has $150 million on the line for the December release The Golden Compass, which stars—you guessed it—Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, and which also had its director replaced after production had already begun.)
• True movie buffs will appreciate the following: Over the past week, I interviewed two legendary Academy Award winners for my ongoing book project addressing the history of the movies. Louise Fletcher won the Best Actress Oscar for her haunting performance as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975, while Cliff Robertson took home the Best Actor Oscar for his heartbreaking turn as a man briefly given a reprieve from his mentally retarded condition thanks to a science experiment in Charly (1968). Both have worked relatively little since their big nights—Fletcher has been irreparably typecast as a villain, while Robertson exposed studio corruption as part of “Hollywoodgate” in the 1970s and has, for the most part, been a persona-non-grata ever since (with his small part as Peter Parker’s grandfather in the Spider-Man films being a notable exception).

Suggested Reading

• Judd Apatow may be the man with a seemingly magic touch at the moment, and I’m certainly one of his biggest proponents. That said, I share Anne Thompson’s trepidations about his next film, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, which will star the undeniably talented, Oscar-nominated actor John C. Reilly in a spoof of musical bio-pics like Walk the Line and Ray. I have yet to really buy Reilly in an all-out comedic role—he’s fine when he plays things down in movies like Boogie Nights, but I don’t think he clicks when he tries to be funny in things like A Prairie Home Companion and Talladega Nights. That said, he has the endorsements of Judd Apatow and Will Ferrell, so who the hell am I?
• You may remember that, back in April, I was lucky enough to attend the first screening anywhere of S.O.P.: Standard Operating Procedure, an upcoming documentary about Abu Ghraib by the great Errol Morris. If that piqued your interest, be sure to check out “Will the Real Hooded Man Please Stand Up,” a fascinating piece Morris has written for the New York Times web site.
• Poor Tom Cruise just can’t catch a break, huh?

Screening Room

• An Unmarried Woman (1978), starring a young and attractive Jill Clayburgh, was a feminist groundbreaker when it came out and earned Oscar nominations for Picture, Director, and Actress, but it does not hold up particularly well today. Clayburgh, her daughter, her friends, and—to a somewhat lesser extent—her lover (Alan Bates) are all a bit grating. To me, the most invigorating part of the film is its soundtrack (especially “I’m Yours” and “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing”), which was incorporated into the film well.
• A friend forced me to sit down and finally watch Contact (1997) for the first time. While it revolves around an interesting enough plot, it is overlong (153 minutes) and oversentimental, and seems to be the usually solid director Robert Zemeckis’ attempt to catch up with contemporaries Spielberg and Lucas in the science-fiction realm. Jodie Foster, in the lead, is good at playing the tough girl but very unconvincing at playing romantic scenes with a young Matthew McConaughey.
• Over the course of several nights spread out over a few weeks this summer, another friend—a fellow film history guy—and I sat down and watched Kevin Brownlow and David Gil’s 10-part mini-series Hollywood (1980)—narrated by James Mason—which chronicles the silent era of film and features rare on-camera interviews with the likes of Mary Astor, Louise Brooks, Yakima Canutt, Jackie Coogan, Janet Gaynor, Lillian Gish, Colleen Moore, Hal Roach, Gloria Swanson, and King Vidor. While the film leaves a lot to be desired technically, it is a wonderful appreciation of the bygone era made well before it occurred to almost anyone else that it was worth chronicling.
• Finally, just channel-surfing recently, I came across two movies that I had enjoyed when they were first released in 1993, and did not want to turn off once I started watching them today: Dave (1993)—directed by Ivan Reitman, Jason’s dad—stars Kevin Kline as the President of the United States and as the average joe who poses as him. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) features Robin Williams near the top of his commercial appeal as a divorced husband who goes so far as to pose as an elderly nanny in order to be with his kids. (It only occurs to me now that they share this impostor theme.)

Shout-Outs

• Kudos are in order for Jason Kohn, the young director of the documentary Manda Bala, which won Best Documentary at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, began unfolding this past weekend on just one screen, and did enough business to place behind only Superbad and Rush Hour 3 in per-screen-average box-office intake. Back in March, I had a chance to attend an early screening of the film and then chat about it with Kohn--who sorta physically resembles a young Spielberg--over dinner with a few others. I'm very interested to see what he'll do next.
• I also want to pass along congratulations to Collin Pelton, a young actor-screenwriter friend in Los Angeles who this week completed his first original screenplay, Subconsciously, which I plan to read soon.
• My buddy Harley Yanoff, a Boston-based actor who earlier this year shot some scenes with Kevin Spacey for the upcoming film 21, recently had the opportunity to be directed by Denzel Washington in Boston, where the Oscar winner shot some scenes for his soon-to-be-released film The Great Debaters, which also stars Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, and--you can't make this stuff up--a young actor named Denzel Whitaker. Recent Weinstein Company press materials indicate that the film may be in theaters this December, although I see it probably getting pushed to 2008 to avoid any conflict with Washington’s performance in American Gangster.
• And, finally, a shout-out to Andrew Percy, an old friend and fellow movie lover, who is celebrating a milestone birthday this week.

Coming Soon...

• I am at work now on a piece related to 3:10 to Yuma (LionsGate)—which opens nationwide on September 7 opposite Shoot ‘Em Up—based on my interview last month with its supporting stars Peter Fonda and Ben Foster.
• For my book project, I have scheduled interviews over the coming weeks with: Oscar nominated actress Sally Kellerman (M*A*S*H); controversial Oscar winning screenwriter Budd Schulberg (On the Waterfront); and perhaps most controversial of all, Aurora Snow, the adult film star, who has agreed to discuss that often-ignored genre, which cannot be swept under the rug when discussing film history.
• Lastly, I have confirmed that I will be in Toronto for the Toronto Film Festival from Friday, September 7 through Sunday, September 10. I am currently in the process of scheduling a number of screenings and interviews, some of which will be videoed and placed on the site as part of an effort to make it more interactive. (It will be a lot of fun to catch up with my great friends Jamie Metrick and Sam Jonas, two native Canadians who may also step up and help out with some of the cameraman duties as an act of not only friendship, but true patriotism.)

• This coming weekend (5/18-20), Shrek the Third opens nationwide, but I have never been able to get myself excited about the franchise--there is a new Shrek drinking game, however, that has been brought to my attention... The following weekend (5/25-27), Captain Jack is back when Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End hits theaters. (I'll be checking it out on Monday and post early reaction for those interested.) Arguably the most anticipated release of the summer, and quite possibly the one that will prove the biggest blockbuster, this third installment in the action-adventure franchise re-teams producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Gore Verbinsky, and lead actors Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, and Orlando Bloom. It follows The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), for which Depp earned a surprise Best Actor nomination, and Dead Man's Chest (2006), which featured great visual effects with the Bill Nighy character, but was otherwise over-long, under-structured, and markedly worse than the first. Hopefully this third installment marks a return to form, but I'm a little concerned, because chunks of it were shot at the same time as the last movie to cut costs. Regardless, from what I can gauge, Bloom and Knightley seem to be hitting the pavement hard promoting the film everywhere, but Depp has been noticeably absent. True enough, his daughter was recently very sick, but that has been dealt with, but Disney has a lot riding on this movie, so it does come as something of a surprise. For some perspective: The first movie had a $46.6 million opening weekend and finished at $305.4 million domestically and $652.1 million internationally. The second movie had a $135.6 million opening weekend and finished at $423 million domestically and $1.1 billion worldwide. So what's the likely ceiling for the third? Can it top Spider-Man 3's $148 million opening weekend from earlier this month? I haven't seen tracking statistics, but my guess is yes. With more kids out of school, better word-of-mouth, a sexier leading lady, and a major role for Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards (upon whom Depp largely based his character's look and mannerisms), I'll predict, for the heck of it, a $154 million opening weekend.
• A big thank you to my friends at Turner Classic Movies, who were kind enough to send along a copy of Brando, their brand new documentary about Marlon Brando, the man who redefined the profession of acting. The network aired the program--and many of the actor's referenced films--earlier this month, earning a rave review from the New York Times (subscription required), which made it all the more disappointing for me to have to miss it due to a scheduling conflict. Now, I look forward to popping in the DVD to try to better understand this complicated man through snippets of his own work from over the years and interviews with a diverse group of fellow actors--Eli Wallach, Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, etc.--who discuss what it was like to work with and learn from him. From my own interviews with actors over the years, I have come to appreciate the profound impact Brando had on fellow actors and his profession--there really was pre-Brando acting and post-Brando acting--and it is about time that someone broke this down for people.
• Congratulations to Natalya Trifanova, an old family friend and gifted filmmaker, who is the associate producer of Wide Awake, an experimental documentary about director-producer-writer-editor Alan Berliner's lifelong battle with insomnia that will screen at the Film Society of Lincoln Center on Saturday night and then make its primetime debut on HBO next Wednesday at 8pm.
• Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11), everyone's favorite fat liberal Canadian, will be back in theaters with his latest documentary, Sicko (out this June), which addresses the manifold problems of the American health care system. Moore has already stirred up controversy--and well-timed attention for his movie--by traveling with sick patients to Cuba and, in effect, glorifying the health care system under dictator and longtime American adversary Fidel Castro. Moore granted Time magazine an exclusive sneak-peak at the film and interview about it, answering their questions and insisting that Sicko should appeal equally to red-state and blue-state Americans, since we all share the same problems when it comes to our health and how our country responds to them, or fails to.
• Not all celebrities are assholes, but those who are generally prove it in such a big way that they earn a bad reputation for the rest of the crowd. Case in point: Mark Wahlberg and his entourage, among others, at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. (This piece also gives a sense of the immense cost of bringing a movie, not to mention its talent, to Cannes--I'm appalled by the costs of bringing them to a small film festival, but you'll be appalled when you hear what it takes at the world's biggest.)
• Although the focus of this site is film, we keep a watchful eye on Broadway, because many productions from the Great White Way end up as Hollywood movies--especially vehicles for lead actors. Going into Tony nominations this week, the big question was which of an extraordinary number of lead actor performances would make the cut--the results are in, and Frank Langella (as Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon), Christopher Plummer (as a surrogate of Clarence Darrow in Inherit the Wind), and Liev Schreiber (as a radio talkshow host in Talk Radio) all earned spots for Lead Actor, but Bill Nighy (The Vertical Hour) was bounced from the category in favor of Boyd Gaines (Journey's End) and Brian F. O'Byrne (The Coast of Utopia). As far as female leads, Vanessa Redgrave (as Joan Didion in The Year of Magical Thinking) seems to be the favorite over the apparently immortal Angela Lansbury (Deuce), Julie White (The Little Dog Laughed), Swoosie Kurtz (Heartbreak House), and Eve Best (opposite snubbed Kevin Spacey in A Moon for the Misbegotten).
• Taking a cue from David Poland over at The Hot Blog, I thought I'd share some of the unusual Google searches that have led people to this site, according to our internal software. Hint, people--next time you decide to look for information about Bob Barker being a male prostitute, or other matters of comparable importance, put quotes around the search so that you find sites that actually address the matter, not sites that simply have used all four of those words. Or, better yet, don't--that way, we'll see searches as funny (and odd) as these:
  • Lana Wood transsexual
  • pictures of grandpas having sex with their granddaughters
  • sex in Japan
  • Benicio Del Toro smoking
  • Keisha Castle Hughes paparazzi
  • Meryl Streep hand gestures are annoying
    
  • hitchhiker brokeback
  • Tupac went to Juilliard
  • Kenneth Pinyan video clip
  • Bob Barker male prostitute