#The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Theater

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

A Surprise Blockbuster in Brazil Stokes Oscar Hopes, and a Reckoning

Decades after her mother missed out on an Oscar, Brazil’s Fernanda Torres may have a chance to win a golden statuette with a role in a film that has set off deep soul-searching.

Fernanda Torres still remembers the day her mother, Brazil’s grande dame of film, came within reach of cinema’s most coveted prize: an Oscar.

“It had great symbolism for Brazil,” Ms. Torres, an acclaimed actress herself, said in an interview. “I mean, Brazil produced something like her, you know?” she added. “It was very beautiful.”

A quarter-century ago, Fernanda Montenegro, now 95, made history when she became the first Brazilian actress to be nominated for an Academy Award. She lost to Gwyneth Paltrow, and Brazil never got over what it considered a snub.

Now, Ms. Torres, 59, is attracting chatter in Hollywood that could put her in line to win the elusive golden statuette for a role that has ignited cinematic fever — and a national reckoning — in Latin America’s largest country.

Millions of viewers are packing theaters to watch “I’m Still Here,” a quiet drama starring Ms. Torres about a family torn apart by a military junta that ruled Brazil, by fear and force, for over two decades.

This past week, the movie was nominated for a Golden Globe for best foreign language film, and Ms. Torres was nominated in the lead actress category, bolstering Oscar hopes.

Though the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which oversees the Oscars, will not reveal its nominations until January, “I’m Still Here” is Brazil’s official entry in the international feature film category.

At home, the movie has struck a nerve in a nation that suffered through the brutal dictatorship from 1964 to 1985.

Continue reading.

[thetyger]

the academy of motion picture arts and sciences are not an intellectual people, to put it mildly.

i know i've said the oscars are fake and dumb, and i stand by that, but as a certified Movie Watcher i wanted to put all my opinions on the 2025 nominees* into a list.

(*caveat to this is i'm seeing i'm still here tomorrow, seed of the sacred fig next week, and likely all the shorts at once when the compliations are in theaters, but i wanted to give my day-of opinions while the iron's hot! i'll update the list after i see them if i remember.)

best picture

should win: anora, conclave, nickel boys

won’t win, probably shouldn’t win, but it would be funny if they did: dune 2, the substance

not my pick but i won’t be mad if they win: the brutalist, wicked, i'm still here

i will blow up the academy: emilia pérez, a complete unknown

directing

should win: sean baker

won’t be mad if they win: brady corbet

not really sure why they’re here but ok: coralie fargeat, james mangold

kill yourself, frenchman: jacques audiard

actor in a leading role

really should win: colman domingo

cool if they win: adrien brody, ralph fiennes

questionable win: timothée chalamet, sebastian stan

actress in a leading role

should win: mikey madison

cool if they win: fernanda torres

questionable win: cynthia erivo, demi moore

good for representation i guess but highly questionable win: karla sofía gascón

actor in a supporting role

actually i’m kinda fine with all of these.

actress in a supporting role

i can’t believe i’m saying this, but should actually win: ariana grande

fine if they win: everyone else

writing (adapted screenplay)

should win: conclave

okay if they win: sing sing, nickel boys

should not have been nominated: a complete unknown, emilia pérez

writing (original screenplay)

should win: anora, the substance

fine if they win: a real pain

the good part was definitely not the screenplay: the brutalist, september 5

animated feature film

should win, i truly don’t care if i haven’t seen the others: flow

it was fine: memoir of a snail, wallace & gromit: vengeance most fowl

haven’t seen: the wild robot

refuse to see: inside out 2

cinematography

should win: the brutalist

cool if they win: nosferatu

fine if they win: dune 2, emilia pérez

haven’t seen: maria

costume design

should win: nosferatu

fine if they win: wicked, conclave, gladiator ii

why are you here: a complete unknown 

film editing

should win on principle even though i don’t think any of these have particularly standout editing: anora, conclave, the brutalist

should lose on principle: emilia pérez

editing was actually not great: wicked

makeup and hairstyling

should win: the substance

cool if they win: a different man, wicked 

fine if they win: emilia pérez, nosferatu

music (original score)

should win: the brutalist

whatever: conclave

original score????? huh?????: wicked

should be beaten with hammers: emilia pérez 

haven’t seen: the wild robot 

music (original song)

i love this movie and don’t remember this song being there at all, which says something: like a bird

actively bad music: el mal, mi camino

haven’t seen: the journey, never too late

international feature film

cool if they win: flow

should probably actually win: the girl with the needle

predictable but okay if they win: i'm still here

questionable win: the seed of the sacred fig

should not win: emilia pérez 

production design

should win: the brutalist

cool if they win: dune 2, conclave, nosferatu, wicked

sound

fine with all of these.

visual effects

should win: kingdom of the planet of the apes

i can’t believe i’m saying this, but am kinda cool with the win: better man

whatever: dune 2, wicked, alien: romulus

THE MORAL OF THIS STORY IS: where the fuck was challengers

[scarletwitchie2]

2024 - Angelina Jolie attended a special screening of Maria for members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood, popularly known as the Oscars, on Sunday night, November 3, which took place at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California.

[film-classics]

Bette Davis - The First Lady of the American Screen

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (born in Lowell, Massachusetts on April 5, 1908) was an American actress who is one of the most prominent of the 20th century, making her "The First Lady of the American Screen."

Coming from an English family, Davis got a part as a chorus girl and made her Broadway debut in 1929 after graduating from Cushing Academy. One year later, moved to Hollywood to test for Universal. She got a contract, but her first films were unsuccessful.

She joined Warner Bros. in 1932 and had her breakthrough in Of Human Bondage (1934). Even after losing a legal case to cancel her contract, she became a celebrated leading lady. A period of decline in the 1940s was redeemed with her role in All About Eve (1950), often cited as her best. Her final years were marred by ill health, but she continued acting until shortly before her death from breast cancer in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France at 81.

Legacy:

Won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice: Dangerous (1936) and Jezebel (1939)

Was the 1st person to have 10 Oscar nominations for acting and set a record for the most consecutive with five

Nominated for three Golden Globe Best Actress: 1951, 1962, and 1963, and the Primetime Emmy Award in 1979 and nominated in 1980 and 1983

Nominated for the 1959 BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress

Won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 1937 Venice Film Festival

Won the National Board of Review Best Acting twice in 1939 and 1942

Won the Photoplay Awards - Best Performances of the Month in Jul 1939 and Dec 1950 and the 1963 Most Popular Female Star

Listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America’s top-10 box office draws in 1939 to 1941 and 1944

Co-founded the Hollywood Canteen in 1941

Elected as 1st female president of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1941

Won Best Actress for at the 1945 Picturegoer Awards

Awarded a Meritorious Civilian Service Award in 1946 and a Distinguished Civilian Service Medal by the Defense Department in 1983

Won the Golden Apple Award for Most Cooperative Actress in 1941 and 1963 and Life Achievement Award in 1983

Won Best Actress at Cannes Film Festival, New York Film Critics Circle, and Nastro d'Argento for All About Eve (1951)

Honored with a block in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in 1950

Won the Golden Laurel for Top Female Dramatic Performance for Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)

Received the Craft of Cinema Award at the 1969 San Francisco International Film Festival and a special 20th Anniversary Award for All About Eve at the 1973 Sarah Siddons Awards

Gifted personal memorabilia to form the Bette Davis Collection at the Boston University since 1968

Co-wrote 2 autobiographies: The Lonely Life (1962) and This 'n That (1987)

Appeared in John Springer's "Legendary Ladies" series at The Town Hall in 1973

Presented the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 1974 Golden Globe Awards

Won the 1976 Saturn Award Best Supporting Actress

Is the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 1977

Received the 1980 Outstanding Mother of the Year Award from Woman's Day, the 1982 Award of Excellence from the Film Advisory Board, the Golden Reel Award from the National Film Society Artistry in Cinema, the Rudolph Valentino Award for Actress of the Year in 1982, the 1983 Charles Chaplin Award by UCLA Film and Television Archive, and the 1983 Women in Film Crystal Award

Received Life Achievement Awards from American Theater Arts in 1982, Boston Theater District in 1983, Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1986, and American Cinema Awards in 1989

Featured in songs, including Kim Carnes' Grammy-winning "Bette Davis Eyes" (1981)

Won the Golden Nymph at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival for A Piano for Mrs. Cimino (1982)

Awarded an Honorary César, appointed commander of Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1986, and granted a Fellowship by the British Film Institute and a Legion of Honour at Deauville Film Festival in 1987

Was the recipient of the 1987 Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award

Granted the 1988 Merit of Achievement by the Campione d'Italia and the 1989 Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival

Has had a memorial plaque in her birth home in Lowell since 1988

Honored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center Gala Tribute in 1989

Featured in the 1989 book Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud, the basis for the 2017 show Feud: Bette and Joan

Ranked #15 in Empire’s Top 100 Movie Stars in 1997; #10 in Entertainment Weekly’s 100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in 1998; #110 on VH1's "200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons of All Time" in 2003; #25 in Premiere's 50 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in 2005 and #5 in 100 Greatest Performances of All Time in 2006 for All About Eve (1950)

Has the Bette Davis Foundation established in her honor in 1997 to award scholarships at Boston University

Named the 5th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema in 1999 by the American Film Institute

Inducted in the Online Film and Television Association Hall of Fame in 1999

Chosen in Variety magazine's 100 Icons of the Century in 2005

Honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month for April 2008 and November 2019

Became the 14th star honored by US Postal Service's Legends of Hollywood stamp series in 2008

Has 2 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: 6225 Hollywood Blvd for motion picture and 6233 Hollywood Blvd for TV

[inthemarginalized]

I work to stay alive.

-Bette Davis (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989)

She was an actress in film, television and theater and was the first woman president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 

[weclassybouquetfun]

We're in Emmys season and we are also in the final season of TED LASSO and I can not discern whether the cast is stomping for their final season or for Emmy consideration. Surely a bit from column A and column B.

Well, they have until June 26 to get 'er done (shout out to Larry the Cable Guy). Apple TV+ is touting their mustachioed prize pony TED LASSO out for special events.

May 1st they kick off Apple TV+'s THINK APPLE TV+ FYC installation with a fan event. The event features a panel moderated by their pal Yvette Nicole Brown (Community). Expected to be there are Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, Brett Goldstein, Juno Temple, Phil Dunster, Jeremy Swift, Kola Bokinni, Cristo Fernández, Billy Harris and James Lance.

There will also be a trivia game hosted by comedian Ryan Budds and will feature Charlie Hiscock (Will), Stephen Manas (Richard) and Moe Jeudy-Lamour (Thierry/Van Damme).

Kola will be back there the next day as part of a panel hosted by Essence Magazine alongside SHRINKING's Jessica Williams.

Saturday will be a panel about Costume and Production Design to TED LASSO's production and art designer Paul Cripps will be there with Costumer Jacky Levy.

Cast your eyes to the end of May, specifically May 30th, where the cast and creatives of the show will be celebrating the finale with the Paley Center for Media at the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences Theater.

As the announcement says, "Participants are subject to change." Standard language, but it really came home to people when NONE of the cast members listed for the YELLOWSTONE PaleyFest panel attended.

They weren't filming, others said the cast were sitting out in solidarity with Kevin Costner who is in a contract dispute with creator Taylor Sheridan. I don't know what happened with all of that, but Wes Bentley and Gil Birmingham did attend Deadline Contenders weeks later.

Brett was on hand for the SHRINKING panel.

*I finally got my TED LASSO biscuits that day. It was a good day.

[lanewscompany]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences showered little-seen movies rooted in progressive politics with nominations for the 97th Oscars on Thursday.“Emilia Pérez,” a musical exploration of trans identity, and “The Brutalist,” a three-and-a-half-hour study of immigrant trauma and antisemitism, emerged as films to beat by securing nominations in most of the major categories, including best picture and best director. “Emilia Pérez,” a Netflix entry, received 13 nominations in total, the most of any film.“The Brutalist,” a low-budget movie from A24 that arrives in theaters nationwide on Friday, received 10 nominations. One blockbuster, “Wicked,” with its messages about the dangers of authoritarianism and the power of resistance, also did well with voters. It garnered 10 nominations, but failed to crack the important directing and screenplay categories.While the acting races have taken clearer shape over the past month, the best picture contest remains unusually wide open. Unlike last year, when “Oppenheimer” cemented its front-runner status almost immediately and never looked back, multiple films remain in the hunt for Hollywood’s top prize this time around.The nominees for best picture included “Conclave,” a Vatican thriller that explores identity politics; “The Substance,” a feminist manifesto in the form of a body horror flick; “Nickel Boys,” a historical drama set at a racist reform school in 1960s Florida; “Anora,” a Cinderella story about a sex worker who impulsively marries the hard-partying son of a Russian oligarch; “I’m Still Here,” a Brazilian drama about family life and political oppression; and the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown.”The big-budget studio movies “Wicked” and “Dune: Part Two” filled out the category. The academy expanded the best picture field to 10 in 2022; it previously had a sliding number with as few as five slots. The academy positioned the changes as part of an expanded focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist”), Timothée Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”) and Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”) were nominated for best actor, as expected. Sebastian Stan drew the wild-card spot for his performance as an unsavory, early-career Donald Trump in “The Apprentice.”Demi Moore (“The Substance”) has been the favorite to win best actress since she delivered a poignant acceptance speech about Hollywood pigeonholing at the Golden Globes this month. Academy voters waved her through to the nomination stage while also giving best actress nods to Cynthia Erivo (“Wicked”), Mikey Madison (“Anora”), Fernanda Torres (“I’m Still Here”) and Karla Sofía Gascón (“Emilia Pérez”). Gascón became the first openly trans actress to receive an Oscar nomination.Kieran Culkin, fresh off winning a Golden Globe for his performance in the dramedy “A Real Pain,” received a nomination for best supporting actor. Filling out the category were Yura Borisov (“Anora”), Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”), Edward Norton (“A Complete Unknown”) and Jeremy Strong (“The Apprentice”).For supporting actress, Oscar voters handed nominations to the favorites Zoe Saldaña (“Emilia Pérez”) and Ariana Grande (“Wicked”), both of whom played lead roles but decided to run as secondary candidates. Joining them were Isabella Rossellini (“Conclave”), Monica Barbaro (“A Complete Unknown”) and Felicity Jones (“The Brutalist”).A majority of the acting nominees — 13 out of 20 — were first-time academy honorees, perhaps underscoring the organization’s effort over the past decade to make its voting ranks less dominated by older white men. The academy now has roughly 10,000 voting members, up from about 6,700 in 2017.In the director category, the academy nominated the favorites Sean Baker (“Anora”), Brady Corbet (“The Brutalist”) and Jacques Audiard (“Emilia Pérez”). Rounding out the category were James Mangold (“A Complete Unknown”) and the French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat (“The Substance”). Prominent omissions included Edward Berger (“Conclave”) and Jon M. Chu (“Wicked”).Fargeat becomes the 10th woman to be nominated in the best director category in the academy’s 97-year history. Only three have won: Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”) in 2022, Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) in 2021 and Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”) in 2009.The nominees for original screenplay include the favorites “Anora,” “The Brutalist” and “A Real Pain.” The remaining two slots went to “The Substance” and “September 5.”Adapted screenplay nods went to “Conclave,” “Emilia Pérez,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Nickel Boys” and “Sing Sing.”Netflix is having a banner week, announcing on Tuesday that it crossed 300 million subscribers and walking away Thursday morning with 16 nominations, the most of any distributor. Thirteen nods for “Emilia Pérez” alone makes the irreverent musical the streaming service’s most-nominated film in its history. (“Emilia Pérez,” a musical presented in Spanish, also became the most-nominated non-English language film in Oscar history. The previous record-holders were “Roma” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” with 10 each.)“Emilia Pérez” was an acquisition for Netflix out of last year’s Cannes Film Festival and has been on an awards tear ever since. Previously, Netflix’s most nominated film was 2018’s “Roma,” which garnered 10 nominations. The company’s most winning film is Berger’s 2022 drama “All Quiet on the Western Front,” which won four Oscars, including best international feature film and best cinematography.The streaming giant has amassed 23 trophies since 2016, when it landed its first with the documentary short “The White Helmets.” It has also scored two best director wins: Campion for “The Power of the Dog” and Alfonso Cuarón for “Roma.” It has yet to land the highly coveted best picture prize.The nominations were announced at the academy’s Beverly Hills, Calif., headquarters in an early-morning ceremony hosted by Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott. The ceremony will be held on March 2.In their quest to find a host who will generate buzz but not blow up in their faces, Academy Awards organizers traded a current late-night comedian (Jimmy Kimmel) for a former one: Conan O’Brien. Since he has never hosted the Oscars before, O’Brien will presumably bring a freshness to the show, which can come off as old-fashioned at best and out-of-touch at worst. At the same time, he is a safe choice — a seasoned pro whose comedic style has been honed over decades and who has successfully hosted other award shows, including the Emmys.The recent wildfires in Los Angeles County, which have destroyed at least 10,000 homes, had prompted the academy to delay the nominations announcement. Amid the devastation, questions about the ceremony have circulated in Hollywood. Should it be turned into a fund-raising telethon? Or scrapped altogether?Academy officials rejected both of those notions, saying in a letter to members on Wednesday that “honoring the unifying spirit and creative synergy of moviemaking” remained their primary focus for the ceremony. Still, the show will “acknowledge those who fought so bravely against the wildfires.” Perhaps to add a sense of solemnity, the show will also “move away from live performances” of nominated songs.A toned-down Oscars would mark a reversal from recent years, when the academy sought to dial up the razzle-dazzle as part of a frantic effort to attract more viewers. ABC’s telecast of the most recent ceremony attracted about 20 million viewers, a four-year high. Double that number tuned in as recently as 2014, however.To make the Oscars more relevant to young people, the academy agreed in December to stream the ceremony online (on Hulu) for the first time. ABC, which like Hulu is owned by Disney, remains the academy’s broadcast partner.

[metacriticc-news]

Rachel Sennott and Bowen Yang

Rachel Sennott and Bowen Yang will announce the nominations for the 97th Annual Academy Awards. The announcement will take place beginning at 5:30 a.m. PT on Thursday in a live presentation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The two actor-writer-comedians will announce nominees in all 24 Oscar categories. The announcement will also be live-streamed…

[whileiamdying]

A Surprise Blockbuster in Brazil Stokes Oscar Hopes, and a Reckoning

Decades after her mother missed out on an Oscar, Brazil’s Fernanda Torres may have a chance to win a golden statuette with a role in a film that has set off deep soul-searching.

Fernanda Torres, 59, and her mother, Fernanda Montenegro, 95, at Ms. Torres’s home in Rio de Janeiro.

By Ana Ionova Photographs by María Magdalena Arréllaga Reporting from Rio de Janeiro

Fernanda Torres still remembers the day her mother, Brazil’s grande dame of film, came within reach of cinema’s most coveted prize: an Oscar.

“It had great symbolism for Brazil,” Ms. Torres, an acclaimed actress herself, said in an interview. “I mean, Brazil produced something like her, you know?” she added. “It was very beautiful.”

A quarter-century ago, Fernanda Montenegro, now 95, made history when she became the first Brazilian actress to be nominated for an Academy Award. She lost to Gwyneth Paltrow, and Brazil never got over what it considered a snub.

Now, Ms. Torres, 59, is attracting chatter in Hollywood that could put her in line to win the elusive golden statuette for a role that has ignited cinematic fever — and a national reckoning — in Latin America’s largest country.

Millions of viewers are packing theaters to watch “I’m Still Here,” a quiet drama starring Ms. Torres about a family torn apart by a military junta that ruled Brazil, by fear and force, for over two decades.

This past week, the movie was nominated for a Golden Globe for best foreign language film, and Ms. Torres was nominated in the lead actress category, bolstering Oscar hopes.

Though the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which oversees the Oscars, will not reveal its nominations until January, “I’m Still Here” is Brazil’s official entry in the international feature film category.

At home, the movie has struck a nerve in a nation that suffered through the brutal dictatorship from 1964 to 1985.

Ms. Torres in a scene from “I’m Still Here.” The movie depicts a family living under Brazil’s military dictatorship.

Set in Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, “I’m Still Here” tells the story of Eunice Paiva and her five children, whose lives are upended when the family patriarch, Rubens Paiva, a former congressman played by Selton Mello, disappears at the hands of the military government.

By telling this family’s story, the film tackles a “piece of Brazilian history” that is being forgotten, said Walter Salles, the movie’s director and one of the nation’s most prolific filmmakers. “The personal story of the Paiva family is the collective story of a country.”

The film has quickly become a national treasure, breaking box office records and eclipsing usual crowd-pleasers like “Wicked” and “Gladiator 2.”

Since the release of “I’m Still Here” in early November, more than 2.5 million Brazilians have seen it in theaters, and it has grossed more than six times the amount made by last year’s most-watched Brazilian film.

In a troubling twist, the movie was being widely shown in Brazil just as the police revealed new details about a plot to stage a coup and keep the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, a defender of the military dictatorship, in power after he lost the 2022 election.

Against this backdrop, the film’s themes have gained an urgent new meaning, said Marcelo Rubens Paiva, whose book about his family inspired the movie.

“The timing was, unfortunately, perfect,” he said, “because it showed this story isn’t just in our past.”

The home in Rio de Janeiro where “I’m Still Here” was filmed. A military junta’s repressive rule lasted for more than two decades.

Human rights groups estimate that hundreds of people were disappeared and some 20,000 were tortured during the dictatorship. But, unlike Chile or Argentina, where many crimes committed there under military dictatorships have been tried and punished, Brazil has not pursued accountability for its military’s atrocities.

In recent years, what many had seen as the distant past began to creep into the present. Mr. Bolsonaro, a retired army captain, spoke frequently in nostalgic terms about the dictatorship, awarded thousands of government jobs to soldiers and dismantled a panel investigating crimes committed during the military’s rule.

Movies and other forms of cultural works were frequent targets of censorship during the dictatorship, which considered them political foes. Now, films like “I’m Still Here” can serve as “instruments against forgetting,” Mr. Salles said. “Cinema reconstructs memory.”

And the film has surely ignited Brazil’s collective memory. In classrooms and newspaper pages, heated debates are unfolding over the legacy of the dictatorship. On social media, stories of suffering at the hands of the military government have gone viral, drawing millions of views.

On a recent rainy weekday, as moviegoers packed a Rio de Janeiro theater, it was clear that “I’m Still Here” had cast a wide spell. Groups of teenagers, fathers and sons and older couples were all clutching tickets.

Some snapped selfies in front of the movie’s poster. Others took deep breaths before stepping into the theater’s darkness.

Inside, the crowd gasped at the sounds of the torture of political prisoners; teared up when Eunice, played by Ms. Torres, defiantly smiled for a newspaper photo, unwavering in the face of tragedy; and stifled sobs when Ms. Montenegro made a silent appearance in the closing scenes, as an older Eunice whose memories were fading.

The film echoed a familiar past for many. “It shows everything we lived through,” said Dr. Eneida Glória Mendes, 73, who grew up in a military family during the dictatorship.

Dr. Mendes, who has watched the film twice, remembers ripping up letters she received from friends who criticized the regime so that her father would not see them. Anyone sending or receiving such correspondence could have been detained.

“We were not free,” she said. “Even a silly criticism could lead to arrest.”

For younger Brazilians, the film offered a glimpse into a reality they had heard about only at school. “For my generation, there’s this thirst to know more,” said Sara Chaves, 25, an aspiring actress.

Sara Chaves outside a theater showing “I’m Still Here” in Rio de Janeiro. Referring to the military dictatorship, she said, “There’s this thirst to know more.”

“I’m Still Here” has also captivated audiences and critics abroad. When it premiered in Venice this year, it won an award for best screenplay and drew a thundering applause that lasted 10 minutes.

So when the academy shared an image on social media of Ms. Torres at a Hollywood industry gala last month, Brazilians went wild. “Give her the award already!” said one of the more than 820,000 comments on Instagram.

If she is nominated in the best actress category, Ms. Torres would be following a remarkably similar path to her mother, who was nominated in 1999 for her role as a letter writer for illiterate people in “Central Station,” a Brazilian classic also directed by Mr. Salles.

“There was this feeling in the country that she was deeply wronged,” said Isabela Boscov, a Brazilian cinema critic who has been reviewing films for three decades.

“I’m Still Here” is widely expected to receive a nomination in the international film category, according to Hollywood insiders, but Ms. Torres’s chances are more uncertain.

Sony Pictures Classics, the studio distributing “I’m Still Here” globally, which launched the successful best actress nomination bid for Ms. Montenegro, is making a concerted push for Ms. Torres. Yet she may face tough odds this year in a crowded field that includes names like Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman.

To Ms. Torres, an Oscar nomination “would be a big victory” in itself, but she is not getting her hopes up. “It would be an incredible story if I got there, following my mother,” she said. “Now, winning — I consider it impossible.”

Since the first Oscars ceremony in 1929, only two actresses have won awards for leading roles in foreign-language films.

On a recent Sunday afternoon at Ms. Torres’s home, she sat across from her mother, reminiscing about art and family and other films the two have made together.

“This is also a legacy of life, of a profession,” Ms. Montenegro said, gesturing toward her daughter, then herself.

In 1999, Ms. Montenegro became the first Brazilian actress to be nominated for an Oscar, for her role in “Central Station.”

After a career spanning more than seven decades, Ms. Montenegro is still acting in films and onstage. But her movements are slower, her eyesight is weakening and she rests more.

Sharing a character with her daughter, in a film that has inspired awe and soul-searching across Brazil, has carried personal symbolism, too. “It’s a really special moment,” Ms. Montenegro said.

After a final lipstick check in the mirror, the two actresses faced a camera for a photograph for this article. They moved their faces close together, their cheeks nearly touching. Like Eunice Paiva, in the movie both are in, they prefer to smile.

“My mother is still alive; all is well with her,” Ms. Torres explained. “I’m happy.”

“By chance, I’m still here,” Ms. Montenegro replied. Ms. Torres chimed in: “We’re still here.”

After a career spanning more than seven decades, Ms. Montenegro is still acting in films and onstage. But her movements are slower, her eyesight is weakening and she rests more.

Sharing a character with her daughter, in a film that has inspired awe and soul-searching across Brazil, has carried personal symbolism, too. “It’s a really special moment,” Ms. Montenegro said.

After a final lipstick check in the mirror, the two actresses faced a camera for a photograph for this article. They moved their faces close together, their cheeks nearly touching. Like Eunice Paiva, in the movie both are in, they prefer to smile.

“My mother is still alive; all is well with her,” Ms. Torres explained. “I’m happy.”

“By chance, I’m still here,” Ms. Montenegro replied. Ms. Torres chimed in: “We’re still here.”

Kyle Buchanan contributed reporting from Los Angeles. Lis Moriconi contributed research. A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 15, 2024, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Brazil’s Oscar Contender Strikes a Nerve.

[lboogie1906]

Daniel Lebern Glover (July 22, 1946) is an actor, producer, and political activist. He has received numerous accolades including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the NAACP’s President’s Award, as well as nominations for five Emmy Awards and four Grammy Awards.

He made his film acting debut in Escape from Alcatraz (1979). He is known for his lead role as Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film series. Other notable films include Places in the Heart (1984), The Color Purple (1985), Witness (1985), To Sleep with Anger (1990), Grand Canyon (1991), Bopha! (1993), Angels in the Outfield (1994), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Dreamgirls(2006), Shooter (2007), 2012 (2009), Death at a Funeral (2010), Beyond the Lights (2014), Sorry to Bother You (2018), and The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019).

He is known for his work in television, receiving four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his roles as Nelson Mandela in Mandela (1987), Joshua Deets in Lonesome Dove (1989), Philip Marlowe in Fallen Angels (1995), and Will Walker in Freedom Song(2000). He had recurring roles in Hill Street Blues, ER, and Brothers & Sisters.

Glover is also an active supporter of various political causes. He is a member of the TransAfrica Forum and the Center for Economic and Policy Research. He was awarded the Cuban National Medal of Friendship by the Cuban Council of State.

He was born in San Francisco to postal workers Carrie (née Hunley) and James Glover.

He attended San Francisco State University (SFSU) but did not graduate. SFSU awarded him the Presidential Medal of San Francisco State University. He trained at the Black Actors’ Workshop of the American Conservatory Theater.

He married Asake Bomani (1975-2022) and they have a daughter. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[harvardwang]

伊萊恩·梅

美國女演員

伊萊恩·梅（英語：Elaine May，1932年4月21日—），女，美國演員、導演、編劇。曾獲得托尼獎最佳話劇女主角。

家庭：女兒珍妮·伯林。

參考資料

簡介

出生資訊： 1932 年 4 月 21 日（92歲），美國賓夕凡尼亞費城

專輯： An Evening With Mike Nichols And Elaine May

子女： 珍妮·伯林

父母： 艾達·伯林、 傑克·伯林

配偶： 大衛·L·魯賓芬 (結婚於 1964 年–1982 年)、 薛爾登・哈尼克 (結婚於 1962 年–1963 年)， …

Elaine May

American screenwriter, film director, actress, and comedian (born 1932)

Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American comedian, filmmaker, playwright, and actress. She first gained fame in the 1950s for her improvisational comedy routines with Mike Nichols, before transitioning her career regularly breaking the mold as a writer and director of several critically acclaimed films. She has received numerous awards, including a BAFTA Award, a Grammy Award, and a Tony Award. She was honored with the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013, and an Honorary Academy Award in 2022.

Quick Facts Born, Other names ...

In 1955, May moved to Chicago and became a founding member of the Compass Players, an improvisational theater group. She began working alongside Nichols and in 1957, they both quit the group to form their own stage act, Nichols and May. In New York, they performed nightly in clubs in Greenwich Village alongside Joan Rivers and Woody Allen, as well as on the Broadway stage. They also made regular appearances on television and radio broadcasts. They released multiple comedy albums and received four Grammy Award nominations, winning Best Comedy Album for An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May in 1962. Their collaboration was covered in the PBS documentary Nichols and May: Take Two (1996).

May infrequently acted in films, including Luv, Enter Laughing (both 1967), California Suite (1978), and Small Time Crooks (2000). She became the first female director with a Hollywood deal since Ida Lupino when she directed the 1971 black screwball comedy A New Leaf. Experimenting with genres, she directed the dark romantic comedy The Heartbreak Kid (1972), the gangster film Mikey and Nicky (1976), and adventure comedy Ishtar (1987). May later earned acclaim writing the screenplays for Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait (1978), and Mike Nichols' The Birdcage (1996) and Primary Colors (1998). Heaven Can Wait and Primary Colors each earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, while the latter won her the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

May returned to acting in Woody Allen's Amazon Prime series Crisis in Six Scenes (2016) and on Broadway in the revival of the Kenneth Lonergan play The Waverly Gallery (2018) the later of which earned her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. The win made May the second-oldest performer behind Lois Smith to win a Tony Award for acting. In 2022, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences gave May an Honorary Academy Award for her "bold, uncompromising approach to filmmaking, as a writer, director, and actress".

Early years and personal life

Elaine Iva Berlin was born on April 21, 1932, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Jewish parents, theater director and actor Jack Berlin and actress Ida (Aaron) Berlin.: 39  As a child, May performed with her father in his traveling Yiddish theater company, which he took around the country. Her stage debut on the road was at the age of three, and she eventually played the character of a generic little boy named Benny.

Because the troupe toured extensively, May had been in over 50 schools by the time she was ten, having spent as little as a few weeks enrolled at any one time. May said she hated school and would spend her free time at home reading fairy tales and mythology.: 331  Her father died when she was 11 years old, and then she and her mother moved to Los Angeles, where May later enrolled in Hollywood High School. She dropped out when she was fourteen years old. Two years later, at the age of sixteen, she married Marvin May, an engineer and toy inventor. They had one child, Jeannie Berlin (born 1949), who became an actress and screenwriter. The couple divorced in 1960, and she married lyricist Sheldon Harnick in 1962; they divorced a year later. In 1964, May married her psychoanalyst, David L. Rubinfine; they remained married until his death in 1982.: 332 

May's longtime companion was director Stanley Donen, from 1999 until his death in 2019. Donen said he proposed marriage "about 172 times".

Career

1950–1957: Stage career and Compass players

After her marriage to Marvin May, she studied acting. She also held odd jobs during that period, such as a roof salesman, and tried to enroll in college. She learned, however, that colleges in California required a high school diploma to apply, which she did not have.: 39  After finding out that the University of Chicago was one of the few colleges that would accept students without diplomas, she set out with seven dollars and hitchhiked to Chicago.

Soon after moving to Chicago in 1950, May began informally taking classes at the university by auditing, sitting in without enrolling. She nevertheless sometimes engaged in discussions with instructors and once started a huge fight after saying that Socrates' apology was a political move. Mike Nichols, who was then an actor in the school's theatrical group, remembers her coming to his philosophy class, making "outrageous" comments, and leaving.: 324  They learned about each other from friends, eventually being introduced after one of his stage shows. The director, Paul Sills, brought May to Nichols and said, "Mike, I want you to meet the only other person on the campus of the University of Chicago who’s as hostile as you are: Elaine May." Six weeks later, they bumped into each other at a train station in Chicago and soon began spending time together over the following weeks as "dead-broke theatre junkies.": 324f 

In 1955, May joined a new, off-campus improvisational theater group in Chicago, The Compass Players, becoming one of its charter members. The group was founded by Sills and David Shepherd. Nichols later joined the group, wherein he resumed his friendship with May. At first he was unable to improvise well on stage, but with inspiration from May, they began developing improvised comedy sketches together.: 333  Nichols remembered this period:

From then on it became mostly pleasure because of Elaine's generosity. The fact of Elaine—her presence—kept me going. She was the only one who had faith in me. I loved it... We had a similar sense of humor and irony... When I was with her I became something more than I had been before.: 333 

Actress Geraldine Page recalled they worked together with great efficiency, "like a juggernaut.": 336  Thanks in part to Nichols and May, the Compass Players became an enormously popular satirical comedy troupe. They helped the group devise new stage techniques to adapt the freedom they had during the workshop.: 16 

May, Nichols and Dorothy Loudon, 1959

May became prominent as a member of the Compass's acting group, a quality others in the group observed. Bobbi Gordon, an actor, remembers that she was often the center of attention: "The first time I met her was at Compass... Elaine was this grande dame of letters. With people sitting around her feet, staring up at her, open-mouthed in awe, waiting for 'The Word'.": 330f  A similar impression struck Compass actor Bob Smith:

May would hold court, discussing her days as a child actor in the Yiddish theater, as men hung on her every word. Every guy who knew her was in love with her. You'd have been stupid not to have been.: 329 

As an integral member of their group, May was open to giving novices a chance, including the hiring of a black actor and generally making the group "more democratic". And by observing her high level of performance creativity, everyone's work was improved. "She was the strongest woman I ever met," adds Compass actor Nancy Ponder.: 330 

In giving all her attention to acting, however, she neglected her home life. Fellow actress Barbara Harris recalled that May lived in a cellar with only one piece of furniture, a ping-pong table. "She wore basic beatnik black and, like her film characters, was a brilliant disheveled klutz.": 330 

Group actor Omar Shapli was "struck by her piercing, dark-eyed, sultry stare. It was really unnerving", he says. Nichols remembers that "everybody wanted Elaine, and the people who got her couldn't keep her." Theater critic John Lahr agrees, noting that "her juicy good looks were a particularly disconcerting contrast to her sharp tongue.": 329 

"Elaine was too formidable, one of the most intelligent, beautiful, and witty women I had ever met. I hoped I would never see her again."

Richard Burton: 331 

May's sense of humor, including what she found funny about everyday life, was different from others' in the group. Novelist Herbert Gold, who dated May, says that "she treated everything funny that men take seriously... She was never serious. Her life was a narrative.": 329  Another ex-boyfriend, James Sacks, says that "Elaine had a genuine beautiful madness." Nevertheless, states Gold, "she was very cute, a lot like Debra Winger, just a pretty Jewish girl.": 329 

May was considered highly intelligent. "She's about fifty percent more brilliant than she needs to be," says actor Eugene Troobnick. Those outside their theater group sometimes noticed that same quality. British actor Richard Burton, who was married to Elizabeth Taylor at the time, agreed with that impression after he first met May while he was starring in Camelot on Broadway.: 331 

1957–1961: Nichols and May comedy team

Nichols and May, 1960

Nichols was personally asked to leave the Compass Players in 1957 because he and May became too good, which threw the company off balance, noted club manager Jay Landsman. Nichols was told he had too much talent.: 338  Nichols then left the group in 1957, with May quitting with him. They next formed their own stand-up comedy team, Nichols and May. After contacting some agents in New York, they were asked to audition for Jack Rollins, who would later become Woody Allen's manager and executive producer. Rollins said he was stunned by how good their act was:

Their work was so startling, so new, as fresh as could be. I was stunned by how really good they were, actually as impressed by their acting technique as by their comedy... They were totally adventurous and totally innocent, in a certain sense. That's why it was accepted. They would uncover little dark niches that you felt but had never expressed... I'd never seen this technique before. I thought, My God, these are two people writing hilarious comedy on their feet!: 340 

By 1960, they made their Broadway debut with An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May, which later won a Grammy. After performing their act a number of years in New York's various clubs, and then on Broadway, with most of the shows sold out, Nichols could not believe their success:

We were winging it, making it up as we went along. It never even crossed our minds that it had any value beyond the moment. It was great to study and learn and work there. We were stunned when we got to New York... Never for a moment did we consider that we would do this for a living. It was just a handy way to make some money until we grew up.: 333 

His feelings were shared by May, who was also taken aback by their success, especially having some real income after living in near-poverty. She told a Newsweek interviewer, "When we came to New York, we were practically barefoot. And I still can't get used to walking in high heels.": 343 

The uniqueness of their act made them an immediate success in New York. Their style became the "next big thing" in live comedy. Charles H. Joffe, their producer, remembers that sometimes the line to their show went around the block. That partly explains why Milton Berle, a major television comedy star, tried three times without success to see their act.: 341  Critic Lawrence Christon recalls his first impression after seeing their act: "You just knew it was a defining moment. They caught the urban tempo, like Woody Allen did.": 343  They performed nightly at mostly sold-out shows, in addition to making TV program and commercial appearances and radio broadcasts.: 346  Their relatively brief time together as comedy stars led New York talk show host Dick Cavett to call their act "one of the comic meteors in the sky". Woody Allen said, "the two of them came along and elevated comedy to a brand-new level".

Technique

Theater program from 1961

Among the qualities of their act, which according to one writer made them a rarity, was that they used both "snob and mob appeal", which gave them a wide audience. Nachman explains that they presented a new kind of comedy team, unlike previous comedy duos which had an intelligent member alongside a much less intelligent one, as with Laurel and Hardy, Fibber McGee and Molly, Burns and Allen, Abbott and Costello, and Martin and Lewis.: 322 

What differentiated their style was the fact that their stage performance created "scenes," a method very unlike the styles of other acting teams. Nor did they rely on fixed gender or comic roles, but instead adapted their own character to fit a sketch idea they came up with. They chose real-life subjects, often from their own life, which were made into satirical and funny vignettes.: 322 

This was accomplished by using subtle joke references which they correctly expected their audiences to recognize, whether through clichés or character types. They thereby indirectly poked fun at the new intellectual culture which they saw growing around them. They felt that young Americans were taking themselves too seriously, which became the subject of much of their satire.: 321 

Nichols structured the material for their skits, and May came up with most of their ideas. Improvisation became a fairly simple art for them, as they portrayed the urban couple's "Age of Anxiety" in their sketches, and did so on their feet. According to May, it was simple: "It's nothing more than quickly creating a situation between two people and throwing up some kind of problem for one of them."

Nichols noted that after coming up with a sketch idea, they would perform it soon after with little extra rehearsal or writing it down. One example he remembered was inspired simply from a phone call from his mother. I called Elaine and I said, "I've got a really good piece for us tonight." They created a six-minute-long, mostly improvised, "mother and son" sketch, which they performed later that night.: 335 

May helped remove the stereotype of women's roles on stage. Producer David Shepherd notes that she accomplished that partly by not choosing traditional 1950s female roles for her characters, which were often housewives or women working at menial jobs. Instead, she often played the character of a sophisticated woman, such as a doctor, a psychiatrist, or an employer.: 337  Shepherd notes that "Elaine broke through the psychological restrictions of playing comedy as a woman.": 322 

May and Nichols had different attitudes toward their improvisations, however. Where Nichols always needed to know where a sketch was going and what its ultimate point would be, May preferred exploring ideas as the scene progressed. May says that even when they repeated their improvisations, it was not rote but came from re-creating her original impulse. Such improvisational techniques allowed her to make slight changes during a performance. Although May had a wider improvisational range than Nichols, he was generally the one to shape the pieces and steer them to their end. For their recordings, he also made the decision of what to delete.: 323 

Team break-up

Nichols and May

Audiences were still discovering May and Nichols in 1961, four years after they arrived. However, at the height of their fame, they decided to discontinue their act that year and took their careers in different directions: Nichols became a leading Broadway stage and film director; May became primarily a screenwriter and playwright, with some acting and directing. Among the reasons they decided to call it quits was that keeping their act fresh was becoming more difficult. Nichols explained:

Several things happened. One was that I, more than Elaine, became more and more afraid of our improvisational material. She was always brave. We never wrote a skit, we just sort of outlined it: I'll try to make you, or we'll fight—whatever it was. We found ourselves doing the same material over and over, especially in our Broadway show. This took a great toll on Elaine.: 349 

"Nichols and May are perhaps the most ardently missed of all the satirical comedians of their era. When Nichols and May split up, they left no imitators, no descendants, no blueprints or footprints to follow. No one could touch them."

Author Gerald Nachman: 319 

Nichols said that for him personally the breakup was "cataclysmic", and he went into a state of depression: "I didn't know what I was or who I was." It was not until 1996, thirty-five years later, that they would work together again as a team, when she wrote the screenplay and he directed The Birdcage. It "was like coming home, like getting a piece of yourself back that you thought you'd lost," he said.: 353  He adds that May had been very important to him from the moment he first saw her,: 325  adding that for her "improv was innate," and few people have that gift.: 359 

Director Arthur Penn said of their sudden breakup, "They set the standard and then they had to move on.": 351  To New York talk show host Dick Cavett, "They were one of the comic meteors in the sky.": 348 

They reunited for a Madison Square Garden benefit for George McGovern for President in June, 1972. The event, titled "Together Again for McGovern," also featured two musical groups that had recently broken up, Simon and Garfunkel and Peter, Paul and Mary, as well as singer Dionne Warwick.[citation needed]

1962–1969: Playwright and actor

May has also acted in comedy films, including Enter Laughing (1967), directed by Carl Reiner, and Luv (1967), costarring Peter Falk and Jack Lemmon. The latter film was not well received by critics, although Lemmon said he enjoyed working alongside May: "She's the finest actress I've ever worked with," he said. "And I've never expressed an opinion about a leading lady before... I think Elaine is touched with genius. She approaches a scene like a director and a writer." Film scholar Gwendolyn Audrey Foster notes that May is drawn to material that borders on dry Yiddish humor. As such, it has not always been well received at the box office. Her style of humor, in writing or acting, often has more to do with traditional Yiddish theater than traditional Hollywood cinema.

Following the break-up, May wrote several plays. Her greatest success was the one-act Adaptation (1969). Other stage plays she has written include Not Enough Rope, Mr Gogol and Mr Preen, Hotline (which was performed off-Broadway in 1995 as part of the anthology play Death Defying Acts), After the Night and the Music, Power Plays, Taller Than A Dwarf, The Way of All Fish, and Adult Entertainment. In 1969, she directed the off-Broadway production of Adaptation/Next.

1970–1999: Career as a writer and director

May made her film writing and directing debut in 1971 with A New Leaf, a black comedy based on a short story which she read in an Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine called The Green Heart which the author Jack Ritchie would later retitle A New Leaf. The unconventional romance with Walter Matthau as a Manhattan bachelor faced with bankruptcy, also starred May herself as the awkward botanist-heiress, Henrietta Lowell, who Matthau cynically woos and marries to salvage an extravagant lifestyle. Director May originally submitted a 180-minute work to Paramount, but the studio cut it back by nearly 80 minutes for release. The film has since become a cult classic. Vincent Canby cited the two-reelers of the 1930s and Depression-era screwball comedies when he called it "a beautifully and gently cockeyed movie that recalls at least two different traditions of American film comedy... The entire project is touched by a fine and knowing madness." May received a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of the shy botanist in the project from which she fought studio exec Robert Evans, unsuccessfully, to have her name removed.

Lead actors John Cassavetes (left) and Peter Falk (right) in 1971

May quickly followed her debut film with 1972's The Heartbreak Kid. She limited her role to directing, using a screenplay by Neil Simon, based on a story by Bruce Jay Friedman. The film starred Charles Grodin, Cybill Shepherd, Eddie Albert, and May's own daughter, Jeannie Berlin. It was a major critical success, and holds a 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In 2000, it was listed at No. 91 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs list. May followed the two comedies by writing and directing the gangster film Mikey and Nicky, starring Peter Falk and John Cassavetes. Budgeted at $1.8 million and scheduled for a summer 1975 release, the film cost $4.3 million and was not released until December 1976. [citation needed] May ended up in a legal battle with Paramount Pictures over post-production costs, at one point hiding reels of the film in her husband's friend's Connecticut garage and later suing the company for $8 million for breach of contract. May worked with Julian Schlossberg to get the rights to the film and released a director's cut in 1980. In 2019, May worked with The Criterion Collection to create the newest director's cut. The film has gained appreciation by many critics and audiences in recent years.

In Herbert Ross's California Suite (1978), written by Neil Simon, she was reunited with A New Leaf co-star Walter Matthau, playing his wife Millie. In addition to writing three of the films she directed, May received an Oscar nomination for updating the 1941 film Here Comes Mr. Jordan as Heaven Can Wait (1978). May reunited with Nichols for a stage production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in New Haven in 1980. She contributed (uncredited) to the screenplay for the 1982 megahit Tootsie, notably the scenes involving the character played by Bill Murray.

Warren Beatty worked with May on the comedy Ishtar (1987), starring Beatty and Dustin Hoffman. Largely shot on location in Morocco, the production was beset by creative differences among the principals and had cost overruns. Long before the picture was ready for release, the troubled production had become the subject of numerous press stories, including a long cover article in New York magazine. Some of the opposition to the film came from David Puttnam, the studio head, making Ishtar a prime example of studio suicide. The advance publicity was largely negative and, despite some positive reviews from the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, the film was a box office disaster. The film Ishtar has been positively re-evaluated in the 21st century by multiple publications including the Los Angeles Times, Slate, Indiewire, and The Dissolve. Richard Brody of The New Yorker called Ishtar a "wrongly maligned masterwork" and raved, "There's a level of invention, a depth of reflection, and a tangle of emotions in Ishtar which are reached by few films and few filmmakers."

May acted in the film In the Spirit (1990), in which she played a "shopaholic stripped of consumer power"; Robert Pardi has described her portrayal as a "study of fraying equanimity [that] is a classic comic tour de force." She also contributed to the screenplay for the drama Dangerous Minds (1995). May reunited with her former comic partner, Mike Nichols, for the 1996 film The Birdcage, an American adaptation of the classic French farce La Cage aux Folles. Their film relocated the story from France to South Beach, Miami. It was a major box office hit. May received her second Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay when she again worked with Nichols on the 1998 film Primary Colors.

2000–present: Return to acting and Broadway

She appeared in Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks (2000) where she played the character May Sloane, which Allen named after May when he wrote it, and with May being his first choice for the part. For her acting, she won the National Society of Film Critics award for Best Supporting Actress. Allen spoke of her as a genius, and of his ease of working with her: "She shows up on time, she knows her lines, she can ad-lib creatively, and is willing to. If you don't want her to, she won't. She's a dream. She puts herself in your hands. She's a genius, and I don't use that word casually." Nearly 15 years later, Allen ended up casting her to play his wife, Kay Munsinger, in his Amazon limited series, Crisis in Six Scenes, which was released in 2016.

In 2002, Stanley Donen directed her musical play Adult Entertainment with Jeannie Berlin and Danny Aiello at Variety Arts Theater in Manhattan. May wrote the one-act play George is Dead, which starred Marlo Thomas and was performed on Broadway from late 2011 into 2012 as part of the anthology play Relatively Speaking along with two other plays by Woody Allen and Joel Coen, directed by John Turturro. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times praised May's entry describing it as "a delicious study in the bliss of narcissism". David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter concurred describing George is Dead as the "Strongest entry". Before he died in 2019, Donen was reported to be in pre-production for a new film, begun December 2013, to be co-written with May and produced by Nichols. A table reading of the script for potential investors included such actors as Christopher Walken, Charles Grodin, Ron Rifkin, and Jeannie Berlin.

When May's lifelong collaborator Nichols died in 2014, May stepped up to poignantly direct the 2016 TV documentary Mike Nichols: American Masters. That same year, she returned to acting, her first role since 2000, starring alongside her friend Woody Allen in his series Crisis in Six Scenes on Amazon Prime, Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter praised their chemistry together writing, "The best episodes are the last two, when Crisis in Six Scenes becomes a full-blown farce and we get to see Allen and May playing accidental aging radicals, shuffling around Brooklyn".

In 2018, aged 86, May returned to Broadway after 60 years in a Lila Neugebauer-directed revival of Kenneth Lonergan's play The Waverly Gallery opposite Lucas Hedges, Joan Allen, and Michael Cera. The play ran at the John Golden Theatre, the same theatre where Nichols and May had started out almost 60 years earlier. May received rapturous reviews for her performance as the gregarious, dementia-ridden elderly gallery owner Gladys Green, with many critics remarking that she was giving one of the most extraordinary performances they had ever seen onstage. The show received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play, while May herself won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance. She became the second oldest performer to win a Tony Award for acting. In 2021 she portrayed Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the Paramount+ series The Good Fight.

In 2019, it was announced that May is set to direct her first narrative feature in over 30 years. Little is known about the project other than its title, Crackpot, and that it is set to star Dakota Johnson, who announced the project at the 2019 Governors Awards. In 2024, Johnson stated that the film is still in development and she serves as the film's producer and star with May still set to direct.

Filmography

Film

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Television

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Theatre

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Discography

Improvisations to Music (1958) Mercury ASIN B000W0V9BW

An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May (1960) Mercury ASIN B000W06CCS

Mike Nichols & Elaine May Examine Doctors (1961) Mercury MG 20680/SR 60680 ASIN B000W0AGDY

In Retrospect (1962) Polygram, compilation, re-released as compact disc in 1996 ASIN B000001EKT

Influence and legacy

Nichols and May created a new "Age of Irony" for comedy, which showed actors arguing contemporary banalities as a key part of their routine. That style of comedy was picked up and further developed by later comics such as Steve Martin, Bill Murray, and David Letterman.: 323  According to Martin, Nichols and May were among the first to satirize relationships. The word "relationship," notes Martin, was first used in the early sixties: "It was the first time I ever heard it satirized.": 323  He recalls that soon after discovering their recorded acts, he went to sleep each night listening to them. "They influenced us all and changed the face of comedy.": 324 

In Vanity Fair, Woody Allen declared, "Individually, each one is a genius, and when they worked together, the sum was even greater than the combination of the parts—the two of them came along and elevated comedy to a brand-new level."

Lily Tomlin was also affected by their routines and considers May to be her inspiration as a comedian: "There was nothing like Elaine May, with her voice, her timing, and her attitude," says Tomlin.: 43  "The nuances of the characterizations and the cultured types that they were doing completely appealed to me. They were the first people I saw doing smart, hip character pieces. My brother and I used to keep their 'Improvisations to Music' on the turntable twenty-four hours a day.": 324 

In an interview with Pitchfork Magazine, standup comedian John Mulaney described Mike Nichols & Elaine May Examine Doctors (1961) as one of his favorite comedy albums of all time. Mulaney stated, "I got this album for Christmas when I was in junior high. The last track, 'Nichols and May at Work,' is an outtake from recording the album, they were just improvising dialog in a studio. They’re trying to do a piece where a son goes to his mother and says that he wants to become a registered nurse. It’s something you just have to experience, because two people that funny laughing that hard is really, really, really funny. I think it might be the happiest thing ever recorded."

Filmmaker and film historian Peter Bogdanovich covered Elaine's filmography in his book Movie of the Week (1999). Bogdanovich praised all of her films and concluded with "Long live Elaine! Would that she could act and direct again in pictures. In 1998 I saw her perform off-Broadway in a couple of one-act plays she wrote (Power Plays), and her performances matched the comic genius of the writing." Other admirers of May's work include comedian Patton Oswalt, and directors Ben and Josh Safdie who both detailed their admiration for her and her work, in particular her film Mikey and Nicky (1976) through The Criterion Channel.

May's work as a director has been given a closer look in recent years with David Hudson, a writer for The Criterion Collection declaring her as a "criminally underappreciated moviemaker". In 2017 the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle created an award in her name given "to a deserving person or film that brings awareness to women’s issues".

May's life and career will be profiled in the biography Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius written by Carrie Courogen, which is set to be released in June 2024 published by Macmillan Publishers.

Awards and honors

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Elaine May

May receiving the Medal of Arts award from President Obama, July 13, 2013

For her acting, her accolades include a nomination for a Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a musical or comedy for A New Leaf (1971), and winning the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Small Time Crooks (2000).

May was awarded the National Medal of Arts for her lifetime contributions to American comedy by President Barack Obama, in a ceremony in the White House on July 10, 2013. She was awarded for her "groundbreaking wit and a keen understanding of how humor can illuminate our lives, Ms. May has evoked untold joy, challenged expectations, and elevated spirits across our Nation."

In January 2016, the Writers Guild of America-West announced that May would receive its 2016 Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement at the Writers Guild of America Award ceremony in Los Angeles on February 13.

On June 9, 2019, May won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as Gladys in the Broadway revival of Kenneth Lonergan's The Waverly Gallery. She also received a Drama League Award nomination and won a Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play. That same year, May's film A New Leaf was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

In 2021, she was chosen to receive the Honorary Academy Award by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, receiving the award for her "bold, uncompromising approach to filmmaking, as a writer, director and actress". She was honored at the annual Governors Awards alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Liv Ullman, and Danny Glover on March 25, 2022. Bill Murray presented her with the award crediting her with "saving his life on multiple occasions professionally".

References

Further reading

External links

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Mike Nichols

American film and theatre director (1931–2014)

Jeannie Berlin

American actress and screenwriter

Julian Schlossberg

American film producer

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[lenbryant]

Oscar a Go-Go on Metro

(NYTimes) The Actor Who Rides the Subway to the Oscars

Ed Begley Jr. has made a tradition of taking public transportation to the Academy Awards. And, like many commuters, he wears sensible shoes.

Ed Begley Jr. could be described as Hollywood royalty: The actor is a son of another actor, Ed Begley, who won a best supporting actor Oscar in 1963.

But the younger Mr. Begley, a longtime member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the Oscars, commuted to this year’s ceremony like a plebeian by taking the Los Angeles Metro. His trip was filmed by his daughter Hayden Begley, who later shared the video on TikTok, where it has since received more than six million views.

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As Mr. Begley, 74, who has spent much of his career promotingenvironmentalism, talks to the camera about his fondness for public transit while riding the bus, he shows off two pins on the lapel of his dark suit jacket. One pin was shaped like an Oscar statuette and came from the Academy, where he served on the board of governors for 15 years. He said that the other pin, which had a capital M, was his “Metro pin for being a rider since 1962.”

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“I’m not a slave to fashion as you probably noticed,” said Mr. Begley, who recently published a memoir about his relationship with his father, who died in 1970, and his life and career in Hollywood.

Door to door, the trip from the Begleys’ home in Los Angeles to the Dolby Theater took an hour, partly because subway station closures resulted in about a half-mile of walking — and also because Mr. Begley spent time posing for pictures with fans and fellow commuters, his daughter said in an interview with The Times.

Ms. Begley, an actor, also works for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a job she started during the recent actors’ union strike. But she was not filming her father’s commute on behalf of the agency; she shared the video from her personal TikTok account.

Taking public transportation to the Oscars has become a sort of tradition for Mr. Begley and his daughter. They used it to get to the event in 2023, a trip she also filmed and shared on social media, as well as to others in prior years. A few days before the first ceremony they attended, Mr. Begley said, he walked into his daughter’s room and asked her if she wanted to make a statement. When she said that she did, he told her, “OK, we’re going to take the subway to the Oscars.”

Over the years, Mr. Begley’s commutes to the awards show have also involved bicycles and electric vehicles, like a Bradley car he and his friend Annette Bening took to the ceremony in 1991. “As a woman in a dress,” he said, “you’ve got to be a yoga master to get out of the car in a dignified manner.”

Bicycles and public transit, he added, are some of his favorite cost-effective and environmentally friendly ways to get around.

“I never feel that I’m wasting my time taking the bus or the subway somewhere because I bring my script with me or do Jumble or Wordle,” Mr. Begley said. “I do the L.A. Times and New York Times Crossword every day.”

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