Academy Awards analysis (2002)

Jeeze it's been almost two years since I've posted in this tag.  There has simply been too much other Meryl news since then with four film releases and multiple rumored projects. We return to this section to cover a year which saw what many thought would be Meryl's return to the Oscar stage.  This was probably the closest Meryl came to winning the Academy Award since 1982' Sophie's Choice, with the trophy ultimately going to Catherine Zeta-Jones for Chicago.  With Streep's 13th overall nom, she had surpassed the great Katharine Hepburn for most-nominated actress.

Coincidentally, it was during this awards season that I became an über fan of Meryl.  During winter break of my first year of grad school, I holed up and watched like fifteen Streep films in one weekend.  The buzz around her work in both Adaptation and The Hours was a little more special that year because Meryl hadn't been in a feature film at this point for three years. Perhaps the performances, both directed by what some would call "auteur" directors, made her seem somewhat fresh in their eyes.  Few had seen Streep in such a challenging, nuanced role as that of a reimagined take on author Susan Orlean.

Early predictions saw Meryl as the favorite, but Zeta-Jones, bolstered by the enormous box office success of Chicago, slowly began snapping at her heels.  As Zeta-Jones was in the lead category for Musical/Comedy at the Globes, Meryl ended up taking her first win there in twenty years.  An apparent category mix up at the SAGs left her off the nomination list for both of her films, but she eventually made the top five for Supporting Actress at the Oscars, her first in that category since Kramer vs Kramer.  

The full list in her category that is as follows:

Kathy Bates (About Schmidt)
Queen Latifah (Chicago)
Julianne Moore (The Hours)
Meryl Streep (Adaptation)
Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago)



I saw Chicago in the the theater four or five times (once actually in the city of Chicago ha) so was thrilled for Catherine, even if I thought Meryl was clearly the best that year.  By the time the ceremony rolled around, which some thought may not happen because the United States's invasion of Iraq had happened just a few days prior, it was pretty much expected that Zeta-Jones would take the prize.   Alas, the event (sans the typical red carpet hullabaloo) went on as planned and Meryl had now lost nine consecutive times at the Academy Awards.  

Grab bag

The post title refers to the fact that I'll be briefly touching on a handful of random topics.  The first is that last night Joe and I were pleased to be invited to our friend Annie's place for dinner and Meryl.  She selected Adaptation.  We all thoroughly enjoyed it of course, along with the delicious roasted chicken apple crisp!  Thanks again, Annie.  Joe astutely observed how Meryl in particular had the difficult task of portraying a real person (Susan Orlean) for the first half of the movie and has to completely switch gears and then portray someone who really has no connection to the original character's motivations and typical behavior (hope I didn't butcher that, babe).  I commented that it was likely good practice for what would be her upcoming participation in Angels in America, where she took on the task of four different character depictions.

In other news, tickets for the Twin Cities Film Fest's showing of August: Osage County go on sale tomorrow.  It's showing Saturday, October 26.  I'll be out of town that weekend, but if anyone is in the area and gets a chance to attend, report back!

Lastly, I saw an article today which claimed to show a "first look" at Johnny Depp as the Wolf in Into the Woods.  As you can see from the photo below, I'm guessing he's not actually in costume.  The second pic shows Jack's "beanstalk."  Filming is currently underway in and around London.

Film review: "Adaptation" (2002)

It has been far too long since my last review.  And since there's a brief lacunae in Meryl project updates this week, I thought it would be a great time to review one of Meryl's finest performances, that of author Susan Orlean in 2002's Adaptation.  I saw this film in the theater right around the time I became a huge Meryl fan.  For reasons unknown to me, I didn't see it again until about two years ago with Joe.  The film happens to be one of his favorites.  He had to "remind" me about some of the plot details that diverge when the film's script is taken over by Donald, the fictional twin brother to real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman.

Directed by Spike Jonze, the story follows Charlie as he attempts to adapt Orlean's book The Orchid Thief into a screenplay.  Kaufman in real life had great trouble adapting the book and ended up creating a screenplay that included himself and his struggles.  He invented a twin brother (Donald) for his character, also a screenwriter, but the antithesis of Charlie's artistic approach to film writing.   The first half of the film is sort of meant to be what Charlie's storyline would look like onscreen, with the latter half more through the view of Donald, as he takes over for his brother when Charlie's writer's block becomes too much.

We therefore see Meryl (Orlean) at the beginning of the film in more of a professional character, as she follows eccentric horticulturalist John Laroche, getting info for her story on him and his arrest for alleged orchid poaching.  The fascinating moments in Meryl's acting come when, satirically, she portrays Orlean falling in love with Laroche and snorting drugs that were harvested from orchids to provide hallucinogenic effects.  See below.



Fabulous. I think believably playing drunk, high or crazy has got to be one of the most challenging prospects in acting.  It could so easily come off as goofy or distractingly over the top.  Here, Meryl plays it subtly and brilliantly.  The story progressively gets more typically thriller-like, again a satire on actual events demonstrated by writer Charlie Kaufman's fictional brother turning the story into a more formulaic Hollywood money-maker.

The Hours was released around the same time as this film. I consider 2002 as the year that sort of started Meryl's turn as a box office draw.  Her work in these two films, followed by HBO's Angels in America, The Devils Wears Prada and Mamma Mia! solidified her position as a heavyweight in the unlikely decade of her 50's.

Meryl of course was nominated for an Academy Award for Actress in a Supporting Role for her role as Orlean.  Catherine Zeta-Jones took home the award for her work in Chicago.  Despite how much I loved Chicago and Zeta-Jones in it, Meryl was robbed that year for Oscar.  It was such an amazing depiction and negotiation of a complex character and story.  She settled for a Golden Globe.  Chris Cooper won the supporting Oscar for portraying Laroche and in his acceptance speech said working with Meryl was like "making great jazz."