The Face They Deserve: Actresses Who Let Themselves Age Naturally

Posted on November 26, 2012 at 3:54 pm

The Globe and Mail has a great tribute to Dame Judi Dench, who appears as M in “Skyfall.”

There was Judi Dench in her seventh outing as M, James Bond’s boss, the head of MI6, looking like a woman who has spent nearly eight decades on the planet, drinking a bit of scotch and worrying about saving her country from giggly blond megalomaniacs. You may be offended by my use of the word “old,” but only if you equate age with unsightliness, which I don’t. I’m not sure Dame Judi has ever been more beautiful, and that may be because she does not look like a peeled, hardboiled egg or a waxed chipmunk, as so many older actresses do these days. There are pouches at her eyes and her jowls, a fine web of lines near her mouth. She is 77, and we have forgotten what 77 should look like. She looks old, and she looks gorgeous. These two things are not incompatible. In her memoir, And Furthermore, Ms. Dench keeps a diary of her trip to the Oscars in 1998, when she had a best-actress nomination for playing Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown. The diary is titled “Countdown to the Oscars, Or Will I Be the Only Unlifted Face in Hollywood?”

Bravo to Dame Judi and those very, very few brave souls who forego Botox and plastic surgery to show us the beauty of faces that reflect the full lives lived by those behind them –and the full range of expressions of the characters they play. She looks more beautiful every year.

One Role: Two Actors

Posted on May 27, 2012 at 8:00 am

The Daily Beast was inspired by Josh Brolin’s spot on performance as the 1969-era version of the character played by Tommy Lee Jones in “Men in Black 3” to create a gallery of movies with two actors playing younger and older versions of the same character. The most acclaimed are Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando as Don Corleone in the first and second Godfather movies. I liked Ewan McGregor in Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy but was never convinced he was the same character played by Alec Guiness in The Original Trilogy. The one who comes closest to Brolin’s feat in replicating the older actor’s vocal patterns and movement was Rob Lowe, who nailed the young Robert Wagner in Goldmember.

It’s a cheat, but my favorite example is Peter O’Toole, who played the same historical character, the British King Henry II in 1964’s Becket and The Lion in Winter.

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Slate Analyzes Oscar Acceptance Speeches

Posted on February 24, 2012 at 11:32 pm

The dresses and the acceptance speeches are often more hotly debated than the awards on Oscar night. Everyone remembers Sally Fields’ famous, “You like me!” speech and Cuba Gooding, Jr.’s impetuous, “I love you!” Jack Palance did one-handed push-ups. Adrian Brody saw one of the most beautiful woman in history read his name and it was easy to understand why he could not resist the temptation to sweep Halle Berry into his arms for a passionate kiss. Julia Roberts told the conductor he’d better not start waving his baton to start the music because she had more to say. Roberto Benigni climbed over the chairs on his way to the stage. Louise Fletcher (Best Actress, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) memorably used American Sign Language for her thank yous because her parents are deaf. When Tom Hanks thanked his high school drama teacher in his acceptance speech for playing a gay lawyer in “Philadelphia,” he appeared to out him as well (Hanks had called for permission). That inspired the Kevin Kline movie “In and Out.”

Clark Gable (Best Actor, “It Happened One Night”) gave the shortest speech, just “Thank you.” Greer Garson (Best Actress, “Mrs. Miniver) gave the longest speech. While it is sometimes reported as having lasted over an hour, in reality, according to the official historian of the awards, it was just seven minutes. But it was after 1 am and it probably seemed longer. Garson was a good sport. The following year, as a presenter, she got up to the podium and said, “As I was saying….”

What’s your guess about who gets thanked the most often? Parents? Drama coach? Director? Agent? Slate has done a comprehensive analysis of the past decade of Oscar acceptance speeches and it is a lot of fun. I wonder why God is thanked so much more frequently at the Grammys and MTV awards than the Oscars.

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Audition Online for the ‘Christmas Story’ Musical

Posted on August 18, 2011 at 5:28 pm

Ralphie will be not only waiting for his Little Orphan Annie decoder ring and hoping for a Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle but also singing and dancing in a new musical production based on the classic movie (which was based on Jean Shepherd’s stories about his childhood). Co-producer Peter Billingsly, the original Ralphie, is now looking for kids to star in the show’s five-city tour over the holiday season. You can audition online via LetItCast. The audition will not be made public — the only people who will see it are the creative team doing the casting.

If you are interested, here’s what you do:

1.     Record a video of yourself singing a brief song that is rhythmic and that shows your voice, high notes, and personality. A classic Broadway or a holiday song is suggested and it should be no more than 90 seconds.

2.     Get a recent digital picture or headshot of yourself and your resume. (If you don’t have a resume, just prepare a brief paragraph about yourself in a Word Document.)

3.     Go to www.AChristmasStoryTheMusical/casting and follow the link to register with the online casting site, LetItCast®, and follow their instructions to submit your video, photo, and information.

Casting directors are seeking to fill the iconic lead role of Ralphie and his troupe of friends and classmates, including: Randy, Flick, Schwartz, Scut Farcus, Grover Dill, Mary Beth, and Esther Jane. They are looking for children, between 8 – 13 who are extraordinary actors, singers, and dancers. The production seeks young actors of all ethnicities who are 4’ 11” and shorter. (Boys, your voice should not have changed yet.)

Break a leg!

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MVPs of the Month: Ty Burrell and Juliette Lewis

Posted on November 8, 2010 at 3:59 pm

Ty Burrell is everywhere these days. He is Phil on the beloved television series “Modern Family,” brilliantly updating the classic “Honey, I’m Home!” sitcom dad as a guy who may be clueless and corny and overly sensitive but who adores his family and whose deep connection to his wife (oh, that re-wedding and those anniversary gifts!) and to technology (the iPad episode!) are always endearing. He’s in two huge studio films this month as well. In “Morning Glory” he plays the host of the country’s worst morning show, superficially wholesome but under the surface kind of twisted. And look for him in an important scene in “Fair Game,” at a dinner party taking on Sean Penn as Joe Wilson. Both are far from his genial Phil Dunphy character and show you that Burrell has a lot more to show us.
Juliette Lewis was a child actress whose assured but vulnerable performance as a teenager in the remake of “Cape Fear” got her nominated for an Oscar. She has raised some eyebrows on-screen (“Kalifornia,” “Natural Born Killers”) and off-screen (high school drop-out who legally emancipated from her parents at age 14, drug rehab). More recently, she has been pursing a singing career, but she is back this fall with two performances as damaged but very different women (another good example is her small role in “Catch and Release”). In “Conviction” we see her in two pivotal scenes separated by 18 years as a witness who changes her story. In “Due Date,” she provides one of the film’s few highlights as a blissful pot dealer. In both she takes small parts and shows such specificity and such understanding of and affection for her characters that we cannot help but be drawn to them. She’s next scheduled for “Hangover 2.” Can’t wait.

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