Thursday, January 14, 2016

Reaction to nominations and Streep to hold masterclass

It's nomination morning so of course I made sure to watch the announcement live.  We all know that Meryl wasn't in contention, but so much of this blog surrounds her status as an almost perennial nominee.  As usual, I'm mostly interested in the acting nominations, but I'll throw out a few thoughts on other categories as well.

Lead acting nominations were super predictable, with all ten nominees unsurprising.  The most glaring snub to me was Iris Elba being left off the supporting actor category.  Most sources I examined had him at least in their top three for his role in Beasts of No Nation.   With his absence, all twenty acting nominees are white.  Not great.

I was wondering if Alicia Vikander was going to get in for Ex Machina, but it turns out that category fraud won out, and she was nominated in supporting for The Danish Girl instead.  A reasonable consolation I suppose considering her performance in the latter absolutely could've made the top five in lead.  I'm glad Rachel McAdams made it in.  Although not a flashy role, I enjoyed her in Spotlight.

My only real surprise in non-acting categories was that Todd Haynes was left off the director list for Carol.  Lenny Abrahamson for Room was the more unexpected nomination in that group, but well-deserved.  Props to Inside Out for landing an original screenplay nod.  The full list of nominees can easily be found here.

In Meryl related news, the Hollywood Reporter revealed this morning that she will conduct a masterclass in Berlin on February 14.  Streep will be in town to serve as the jury president at the 66th annual Berlin International Film Festival, which runs February 13-18.  I guess I don't really have much to add to this announcement.  Not being super familiar with what Meryl's role will actually be as jury president, I'm anxious to see what her thoughts, comments and feedback are for the festival's talent.  It'll be nice to see her in some action.


13 comments:

  1. Very pleased Rampling for a nomination, I thought she was down and out this year. Todd Haynes is a superb Director - he deserves a lot of credit for Carol..

    Speaking of 45 Years, I did think it would have been an interesting vehicle for Meryl. I hope one day she will source a great script and make an indie masterpiece for us..

    Disappointed Fonda missed out due to the category frauds going on, as did Mirren. I'm sure she in particular was strongly predicted to get in but oh well, she could have played that Trumbo role in her sleep.

    I guess it's too much to hope Florence could get a early screening at the festival. Ideally they will take it to Venice if it opens in the fourth quarter - plenty of time to make it perfect!

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    1. Agreed on Rampling. I haven't seen 45 Years yet so not sure if I would agree about it being something I'd like Meryl in. My first thought on your comment is that Meryl seems a bit young for the role, or at least looks a little young for the role. I doubt she'd admit it, but I think she takes care to preserve herself as best as possible to play roles as young as possibly believable. Almost anyone can play older when you're over 50...much more difficult to convince us you're in your late 40's or early 50's. But yes, I would love Meryl to be in an independent gem.

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  2. It's an absorbing film, very well made...

    Maybe Meryl would be up for 35 years? haha

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  3. I would love to see Meryl in a 45 years-esque role...she would nail it. Also, it'll be a return to a more nuanced performance that she was so capable of delivering way before August/Doubt/Woods large than life roles. I'm hoping she will announce a new movie at the upcoming Berlin festival.

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    1. I'm hoping The Good House could be that film.

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    2. Slightly off topic but do you remember that disagreement Meryl had with John Patrick Shanley about one piece of dialogue he wanted kept in and she wanted to lose (from Doubt), any ideas what it was?

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    3. I only remember a disagreement on the way her scene with Viola Davis was filmed. The director wanted them to stay tense and static, and she didn't agree and insisted that the whole scene should be recorded when they were walking and with big shots of their looks and facial expressions.

      Hugo

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    4. I agree with Hugo. The only thing I remember hearing is that Meryl was irritated that during the talk with Viola's character that SHanley had suggested they stop and sit on benches. Meryl thought it silly that during a heated discussion/moment in the film that they would sit down.

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  4. Really enjoyed reading through your blog. I was wondering if there have been any Meryl performances that you feel were underrated. I was shocked to see that she wasn't Oscar nominated for The Hours or even the Manchurian candidate.

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    1. CJames already mentioned this, but I've covered both those films in my 'snubs' section: http://www.wordonthestreep.com/search/label/Snubs

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  5. Look under the snubs section on the menu bar, there have been some good discussions led by Jeff on this topic. What's your opinion?

    I will look out the interview if I can, I know it was a disagreement over one line of dialogue that supposedly would have made it easier to find the Priest guilty/innocent. Meryl said she protested to the point of not doing any promo for the movie (she said laughingly) that's how I recall..

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