Now that we’ve all had the chance to let last week’s Oscar nominations sink in, the general consensus of complaint (and that’s always what they boil down to) appears to have settled on the acting nominations — specifically, the rather shocking number of brilliant performances that were snubbed outright, against expectations. Tilda Swinton, for example, was presumed a shoo-in; same goes for Albert Brooks and, to a lesser degree, Charlize Theron and Kirsten Dunst. We won’t rehash everyone who got shafted; the point is, it happened, as it seems to every year. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has a long and storied history of shutting out great performances; after the jump, we’ve assembled ten iconic acting turns that we were stunned to discover weren’t even nominated for the Oscar.
Nicolas Roeg’s 1973 film Don’t Look Now is an intense and effective psychological thriller, acclaimed at the time of its release and only more respected with with each passing year. It has also been the topic of a long-standing controversy: a key sex sequence between stars Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie was rumored to be, well, not quite simulated.
At long last, we’ve got a credible source confirming the story: Peter Bart, the Variety editor and film commentator, was a Paramount executive during the film’s production, and claims in his new book, Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob, (and Sex), that he visited the set on the day that the scene in question was shot. While watching, he writes, “it was clear to me they were no longer simply acting: they were fucking on camera.” Sutherland has denied the writer’s claim, but if Bart is telling the truth, then Don’t Look Now would presumably mark the first occasion of unsimulated sexual intercourse in a mainstream motion picture. With that belated honor bestowed, let’s take a NSFW look at some of the other boundary-breaking sex scenes of cinema.
As we slopped through the slush and dirty snow in New York this morning, we longed for the days we spent just weeks ago at the art fairs and parties in Miami and Miami Beach. Looking back at our Miami Basel snapshots of art world players and celebs schmoozing on rooftops, at pool’s edge, and under palm trees, we shuffled through the selection to pull together a colorful mix. From Pharrell Williams and Craig Robins previewing Design Miami, Tilda Swinton sporting a Ryan McGinley-designed sweater at the Pringle of Scotland party and Isabella Rossellini receiving the “Key to the City” of Miami Beach to Nate Lowman and Jeffrey Deitch hanging out at the LCD Soundsystem concert and Paper’s Kim Hastreiter and David Hershkovits hosting Shepard Fairey at their Friends With You/Pharrell Williams party, the two cities pulsated with fun and culture.
Todd Haynes is one of our favorite filmmakers, and his first feature, Poison, just celebrated its 20-year anniversary. Although she isn’t in the film, as we read the Village Voice piece on it and reflected on Haynes’ career, we found our mind wandering to the wonderful work he’s done with Julianne Moore. And that got us thinking about how many gay male directors who we love have (or had) close relationships with an actress who starred in their films. After the jump, we look at eight such creative partnerships, from Haynes and Moore to Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick.
1. In case you missed it before, last night The Daily Show ran a rather timely (and possibly NSFW) clip of Isabella Rossellini as a bedbug from her educational Green Porno series. [via Vulture]
2. Angelina Jolie will make her debut as both a director and screenwriter for an upcoming romantic drama that’s set during the Bosnian war. [via Us]
3. Between books, film, and TV shows, vampires have brought in about $7 billion since the Twilight film franchise launched less than two years ago. [via THR]
4. Definite downgrade: Now that she is done playing Jackie Kennedy, Katie Holmes might sign on for the part of Adam Sandler’s wife in Jack and Jill — a Thanksgiving comedy where he’ll take on the roles of a twin brother and sister. [via MTV]
5. Preliminary research shows that people who buy e-readers — an estimated 11 million Americans by the end of September — tend to spend more time than ever reading. [via WSJ]
If you’re a reader, you know the dilemma. You may love to give and get books, but you’ve got at least a few friends or family members who just aren’t into what you’ve hand-picked and lovingly gift-wrapped for them. Never fear! We present our handy list of eye-candy books for even the toughest crowd.
As Isabella Rossellini prepares to launch the third installment of her Green Porno series for the Sundance Channel she talks to the Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy about her strangest fans. Her first short, which is all about squid, is currently up. [via WSJ]
