#he should have been nominated for an emmy twice and won best supporting actor for black

[philologique]

one underrated firstkhao moment slash testament to the power of gun atthaphan is that 30-second clip from like early 2022 where a fan asks khaotung if he's watched not me and he's like "i have" and first stands there visibly beaming with his mask on like 😷. then they ask khaotung who he liked most in not me and with ZERO hesitation he says "p'gun!"

[wearevillaneve]

Killing Eve Gets Shut-Out the Emmy’s (but is that a reason to be happy?)

One of the wild things about being a part of the Killing Eve fandom is it NEVER gets boring.  The last episode aired over three months ago, but fresh new drama and beef and controversy swirls around like a spritz of La Villanelle. This particular one was interesting to me because of the passion inflamed and the players involved. 

Shit. Got.  Real.

One one side there is V-for-Villanelle, a splendid (and underappreciated writer) whom is a passionate defender of both the third season of Killing Eve and its head writer, Suzanne Heathcote.  On the other is villanelle_bridge, whom I follow as well, but don’t know at all (In full disclosure V-for-Villanelle is a frequent beta reader/editor for most of my Ao3 works and I, for hers  I consider her a friend and an ally).

villanelle_bridge’s position that the show’s eight Emmy nominations and no wins was something it had coming due to Heathcote dropping the ball is a bit harsh, but not entirely wrong.  Now Season 3 isn’t my favorite, but any success it has is shared from the top down, not the bottom up.

If Heathcote deserves credit for what she got right, she deserves blame for what she got wrong.  To be sure, villanelle_bridge was far from alone in thinkingght KES3 got exactly what it had coming.  

Exactly nothing.

V-for-Villanelle sharply disagreed and owes no explanation to anyone for taking  villanelle_bridge to task for dragging the show, but it applies to villanelle_bridge, as well.   No explanations and no apologies expected or needed. This is what the phrase, “I said what I said” means.  

For my part, V-for-Villanelle brought up a few thought-provoking points I want to delve further into.  Her remarks are in italics.      

Did Suzanne Heathcote rescue Killing Eve from a creative slump or did she deepen it?

All this fandom has done is blame and attack Suzanne for perceived failures, now the latest example being the 2020 Emmys. Personally, I think Suzzanne is brilliant and she rejuvenated a show  that was in a very bad place after Season 2. Besides that Suzanne Heathcote is an incredibly accomplished writer and showrunner (along with the cast, crew, producers, and co writers). Trust me, she knows what she’s doing.

That’s a pretty declarative remark but it is based upon...what?  Suzanne Heathcote was a producer and writer on the fourth season of a Walking Dead spin-off,  Fear the Walking Dead, that wasn’t very good, See and a short film. As a writer and/or producer, Heathcote’s only nominated TV work is for Killing Eve.

We know how that turned out for her.  

What is this rejuvenation Heathcote supposedly accomplished?   I am on record as being one of the harshest of the harsh when it comes to how much I detested how insufferably awful Eve became in the second season.   It takes a lot to make a murderer of multiple women, men and children worth cheering for more than the supposed “hero”, but Eve was such a miserable bitch to even an extra-soft Villanelle, that by the time they got to the ruins, more than a few fans were happy to see her get shot.

Eve became undeserving of our sympathy after committing multiple self-destructive acts of betrayal, selfishness, bad judgment and worse decisions, but it wasn’t a betrayal of her character.  Eve was moving headlong into the Dark Side and the process was unpleasant to watch, but justifiable to move her where she had to go.  

 There were too many scenes of Villanelle being threatened and throttled by misogynist men like Julian and Raymond who choked her out not once, but twice.  Yet her emotional evolution from the cocky smart-ass who boasted how amazing she was to the heartsick, but still highly dangerous assassin she became also felt naturalistic.  We saw the steps Villanelle took and the pain she experienced waking up to her long dormant humanity.

Fennell dropped The Twelve from their position of looming threat for a decidedly less interesting pair of villains.   The Ghost gave Eve a new killer to chase after for a few episodes (and several moments of Eve’s viciousness when she warned the Ghost to come quietly or get shot in the head and then enlisted Villanelle to extract information from the silent assassin in what likely included some physical torture). 

Aaron Peel was another misogynist, albeit a richer and a more controlling one, but as a threat he was quickly dismissed by Villanelle as if Fennell had simply lost interest in him.

When Phoebe Waller-Bridge departed the show in 2019,  she tapped the veteran actress/writer/producer Fennell to carry on where she left off and from the perspective of critics and audiences as calculated by Rotten Tomatoes, PWB was going to be a tough act to follow and it was, but not that tough.

Fennell began the second season minutes after the shocking twist ending where Villanelle flees after being stabbed by an angry and treacherous Eve.  Whatever creative cliff KE went over with the Ghost and Aaron Peel plotlines, it didn’t signal a huge fall of the premiere season.

Dropping four points with notoriously hard-to-please professional critics and only two with fickle audiences is not a reason to push the panic button.  Losing six points overall from Killing Eve Season 1 is no reason to not pop the champagne.

Season 3 debuted with a seemingly arbitrary six-month fast-forward with zero explanation of what Villanelle and Eve had done all that time.  The show dropped an ugly 12 points with critics who yawned with ”been-there-bored-with-that” disinterest and eight points with audiences.  Meaning between Fennell and Heathcote, Killing Eve dropped 20 points between the two groups and 26 points since the PWB glory days.

Those are not impressive numbers to support a description of Heathcote as “an incredibly accomplished writer and showrunner.”   To the contrary, any BBCAmerica executive who notices Killing Eve fared well under Fennell, but  cratered under Heathcote would insist she be replaced as the showrunner if the one-and-done mandate laid down by Waller-Bridge wasn’t being followed.

The ruins are not where Fennell left the show for Heathcote to rescue as the numbers from Rotten Tomatoes illustrate it was under her guidance that the bloom began to fade from Killing Eve’s roses of success.

What Happened to All the Winning?

We’re here due to a snarky response to Killing Eve getting curb-stomped at the 2020 Emmy’s.  Whether or not what villanelle_bridge said rude or simply sarcastic rests in the eye of the beholder, and V-for-Villanelle clearly sees it as rude.  That’s her prerogative, but we all should know by now that award shows aren’t important and what they really mean are bragging rights and some perks in somebody’s contact kicking in.

The British Academy of Film and Television Awards (BAFTA), the Emmy’s, Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) are the Big Four for television talent to receive recognition as they play dress up and smile pretty as they walk the red carpet in designer duds.  In three seasons, Killing Eve has enjoyed a slew of nominations for its producers, actors and technicians.  

The big difference is under Waller-Bridge and Fennell many of those nominations translated into actual wins.   No more.  With Heathcote in charge KE was blanked at the BAFTA’s and erased from the Emmy’s, despite being up for eight nominations.   With the minor exception of Jodie Comer winning a second Best Actress from the TV Choice Awards, her show’s third season has received the Willy Wonka treatment from its peers.

If numbers matter, Suzanne Heathcote shrunk the approval of Killing Eve with both audiences and critics and received a chilly receptions from the entertainment establishment despite the award-bait “Are You From Pinner” episode.  Emphasizing the White co-lead and supporting characters as its Asian lead recedes in the background was a choice and as the lead writer/showrunner, Suzanne Heathcote was in position to reap the benefits had it worked.

It didn’t, and Heathcote’s bad calls have led to a split in the fandom, complaints from its lead actress about a lack of racial diversity in front and behind the camera, and an embarrassing shut-out at the major awards shows.   If that isn’t dismal failure, it can’t be characterized as a raging success.

KE is running out of gas and is nearly on fumes.  Season 2 was no prize, but Season 3 literally has won no prizes.

[jmsa1287]

The Oscar Oracle: You’re Either In or You’re Out

Not much of the Oscar races have changed in the last week. “Jojo Rabbit” winning the People’s Choice Award at TIFF is the most notable thing that will happen for awhile. And while the big three early fall festivals, (TIFF, Telluride and Venice) are good bellwether to help us figure out what will get nominated they also serve as a way to help us figure out what is out of the running.

Most notably that came with “The Goldfinch,” John Crowley’s “Brooklyn” followup and an adaptation to an extremely popular 2013 book. After being dragged by critics just days ahead of its wide release, the film was a huge, huge flop making just $2.6 million over its opening weekend, putting the last nail in its coffin.

On the brighter side of things, “Hustlers” did great business but likely not good enough to secure it a Best Picture nomination. That success still helps Jennifer Lopez lock down a Best Supporting Actress nod if her campaign is smart enough to run her in that category and not in lead. Another hit last week was “Downton Abbey,” which should surprise no one. Will it get a Best Pic nom? No way.

But things are looking a bit bright for Maggie Smith, who has been nominated six times and won twice for Best Actress (“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”) and Best Supporting Actress (“California Suite). The last time she earned a nomination was back in 2001 for “Gosford Park.” The problem here is that Smith doesn’t give a shit. She’s been nominated for four Emmys for her “Downton Abbey” role, winning twice, but didn’t campaign and in some years didn’t even show up to the ceremony. Smith could have her third Oscar if she wanted it but it’s unlikely she’ll play the game. It’s an uncharacteristically weak year for Best Supporting Actress (and Best Actress) so there’s a chance she can coast and sneak in there.

James Gray’s poetic space journey “Ad Astra” starring Brad Pitt also did well at the box office but not well enough to get in the race for Best Picture. Gray’s movies have notoriously been ignored by the Academy and it looks like it’ll happen again this year. (I believe Amazon screwed up in 2017 releasing “The Lost City of Z” so early in the year.) Still, Pitt is out there doing press for the film, reminding everyone he’s here! Though he said he’s not campaigning for an Oscar, that’s a total crock. Being in two big movies only helps his chances and he remains the frontrunner for Best Supporting Actor for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”

On the horizon: “Judy” opens this week. Renee Zellweger’s turn as the late and great Judy Garland still stands as the frontrunner in the Best Actress race and she’s sure to have the Golden Globe locked down. Also opening in limited release is Steven Soderbergh’s second film of 2019, “The Laundromat,” which did not get the best reviews out of Venice and TIFF. But you can’t underestimate the power of Meryl Streep! And even if she doesn’t earn an Oscar nom here, there’s still “Little Women.” “The Laundromat” comes to Netflix next month where the majority of audience will view the film but it’s likely not Soderbergh’s year despite his play at a more commercial film.  

That’s it for now! Next week audiences get to see Joaquin Phoenix in the controversial “Joker,” which won the top prize at Venice, Pedro Almodovar’s much lauded “Pain and Glory” (with a buzzy turn by Antonio Banderas) and TV creator Noah Hawley’s “Lucy in the Sky,” starring Natalie Portman as an astronaut on the verge. “Lucy,” however, can be one of those films we no longer have to consider, along with Portman, as it was one of the worst reviewed films to come out of TIFF. Also, in the coming days, the New York Film Festical will take place where the world will finally get to see Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” so look out for that!

Below are my guesses of the biggest Oscar categories; don’t expect much change!

Best Picture

1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

2. Jojo Rabbit

3. Marriage Story

4. The Irishman

5. Ford vs. Ferrari

6. Joker

7. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

8. Parasite

9. Little Women

10. The Farewell

Best Director

1. Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

2. Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit)

3. Martin Scorsese (The Irishman)

4. Noah Bumbach (Marriage Story)

5. Bong Joon-Ho (Parasite)

Best Actor

1. Adam Driver (Marriage Story)

2. Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

3. Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)

4. Robert Di Niro (The Irishman)

5.  Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory)

Best Actress

1. Renee Zellweger (Judy)

2. Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story)

3. Awkwafina (The Farewell)

4. Lupita Nyongo’o (Us)

5. Saoirse Ronan (Little Women)

Best Supporting Actor

1. Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

2. Tom Hanks (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)

3. Al Pacino (The Irishman)

4. Anthony Hopkins (The Two Popes)

5. Gary Oldman (The Laundromat)

Best Supporting Actress

1. Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers)

2. Laura Dern (Marriage Story)

3. Margot Robbie (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

4. Annette Bening (The Report)

5. Meryl Streep (Little Women)

[blackkudos]

Dennis Haysbert

Dennis Dexter Haysbert (born June 2, 1954) is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his appearances in commercials for Allstate Insurance. He is also known for portraying baseball player Pedro Cerrano in the Major League film trilogy, Secret Service Agent Tim Collin in the 1997 political thriller film Absolute Power, and Sergeant Major Jonas Blane on the drama series The Unit. He is also known for playing U.S. Senator (later President) David Palmer on the first 5 seasons of 24 and has appeared in the films Love Field, Heat and Far from Heaven. As of late autumn 2016, Haysbert co-stars in the science fiction series Incorporated.

Personal life

Haysbert was born in San Mateo, California, the son of Gladys (née Minor), a homemaker and house cleaner, and Charles Whitney Haysbert, Sr., a deputy sheriff and airline security guard. He is the eighth of nine children, having two sisters and six brothers. His parents were from Louisiana. Haysbert was raised Baptist.

Haysbert graduated from San Mateo High School in 1972. After high school, being 6 ft 5 in tall, he was offered athletic scholarships but instead chose to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Haysbert is a twice divorced father of two. He announced in April 2009 that he was starting a TV, film, and documentary production company. His first project was to be a documentary for HBO about an up-and-coming boxer. During the 2010 California elections, Haysbert supported Democratic Senatorial incumbent Barbara Boxer by appearing with her at campaign events, as well as recording radio commercials.

Career

Television

Haysbert has been acting in film and television since 1978, starting with a guest role in The White Shadow. His television guest starring roles include Lou Grant, Growing Pains, Laverne & Shirley, The A-Team, Night Court, Dallas, The Incredible Hulk, Magnum, P.I., Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and Duckman. In 1993, he had a featured role in Return to Lonesome Dove as outlaw Cherokee Jack Jackson. In 1999, Haysbert starred with Eric Close in Now and Again, which was cancelled after its first season.

In 2001, Haysbert became best known when he was cast in 24 as U.S. Senator David Palmer, who served as America's first African American President (in the context of the show) during the second and third seasons. He also returned as a guest star in the last six episodes of season 4 and the first episode of season 5. He was nominated for a Golden Globe and for a Golden Satellite Award in 2002 for this role. Haysbert stated in an interview for the show that the three men he admires most—Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Colin Powell—collectively embody his idea of what a President should be. Haysbert believes that his playing of David Palmer on 24 helped Barack Obama—whom Haysbert supported—to win the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

Haysbert was the first actor to portray DC Comics character Kilowog, a member of the Green Lantern Corps, in a medium outside of comics. He provided the voice of Kilowog on various episodes of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. On March 4, 2006, Haysbert guest starred on the Saturday Night Live episode hosted by Natalie Portman as the host of a live action/animated TV Funhouse cartoon called "Belated Black History Moment". In his role, Haysbert paid homage to fictional short-lived Saturday morning cartoons featuring black characters, such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo in Outer Space. He also portrayed Nelson Mandela in Goodbye Bafana (also released under the name The Color of Freedom). Haysbert portrayed the lead character Jonas Blane in the CBS action-drama The Unit. He hosted and narrated the Military History Channel presentation of Secrets of Pearl Harbor, which documented his scuba dives with a film team on World War II-era Japanese and American warships in the Pacific Theater. In March 2013, Haysbert narrated the documentary The World According to Dick Cheney on the Showtime television channel. In 2015, Haysbert played Detective John Almond in Backstrom.

In November 2016, Haysbert began his co-starring role in the nightmarish world of 2074 Milwaukee in Incorporated. The planet is in post-climate-change hell, and civilization is now ruled by a handful of super-corporations, not governments. They dole out precious resources to the lucky few and ultra-rich in the comfortable "green zones," leaving the rest to eke out a horrific living out on the fringes in the dystopian "red zones." British Emmy® Award-winning actress Julia Ormond plays beautiful but iron-fisted and, when she deems necessary, sadistic, Elizabeth Krauss, the head of Spiga BioTech, the largest of these corporations. Haysbert plays Julian, cast against type for American TV audiences as the tough, ruthless Spiga security head whose job it is to squeeze every possible bit of info out of any suspected mole, assassin, or mere malcontent - regardless of true guilt or innocence. The early word on this 10-episode first season has drawn critical praise. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are co-executive producers on the series, which was shot in British Columbia, Canada, and airs on Showcase in Canada and Syfy in the U.S.

Film

In 1989, Haysbert made his first major role as Pedro Cerrano, a voodoo-practicing Cuban refugee baseball player, in Major League. Haysbert followed that up with a role in 1990's Navy SEALs, which also starred Charlie Sheen and Michael Biehn, before moving on to another baseball movie, Mr. Baseball with Tom Selleck. In 1991, he also starred in K-9000, where he played a police officer named Nick Sanrio. In 1992, he co-starred with Michelle Pfeiffer in Love Field, a film about a series of events occurring contemporaneously with the assassination and funeral of President John F. Kennedy. In 1994, Haysbert reprised his role as Cerrano in Major League II. This was followed by low-key appearances in Waiting to Exhale, Heat, and Absolute Power. In 1998, Haysbert made another appearance as Cerrano in Major League: Back to the Minors. In 1999, Haysbert played a police detective in three different films: The Minus Man, The Thirteenth Floor, and Random Hearts. In 2000, Haysbert played the role of Zeke McCall in Love & Basketball.

In 2002, Haysbert played the role of gardener Raymond Deagan in Far From Heaven. He won three awards (Satellite Award, Black Reel Award, and Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award) for Best Supporting Actor for that role. In 2005, he had a supporting role in Sam Mendes's film, Jarhead. In 2007, Haysbert returned to the big screen to portray Nelson Mandela in Goodbye Bafana and an FBI agent in Breach. In 2012, he voiced General Hologram in Wreck-It Ralph and served as an official judge for the Noor Iranian Film Festival. He replaced the deceased Michael Clark Duncan as Manute in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014). In 2014, Haysbert played the role of Dean Fairbanks in Dear White People and Dead Rising: Watchtower.

Commercials

Haysbert is the official spokesman for the Allstate Insurance Company. His commercials typically end with one of the two Allstate Corporation official slogans, either "Are you in good hands?" or "That's Allstate's stand." More recently however his commercials have combined the two with "That's Allstate's stand. Are you in good hands?". He has also appeared in Spanish-language commercials with the line "Con Allstate, Estás En Buenas Manos." (With Allstate, you're in good hands.) In 2009–2010, Allstate used the Neil Sedaka song "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" in television commercials to promote Allstate's car insurance. Breaking up is hard to do, the ads averred, unless one has an Allstate agent to undertake the deed for the customer (switching from another insurer to Allstate). The viewer learned that "breaking up is easy to do" as reassured on the screen by Haysbert. In his role as spokesman for Allstate, Haysbert officiated the coin toss prior to the 2007 Sugar Bowl between LSU and Notre Dame.

In 2008, Haysbert was featured in national television ads to raise public awareness about lending discrimination. The ads were commissioned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. In one of these ads, Haysbert warns consumers about lenders' targeting minorities for inferior loan products.

For the 2006 college football season, Haysbert did voice work for ticket sales promotions for Brigham Young University. He did it as a favor to his younger brother Adam, who played wide receiver at BYU in the early 1980s.

Haysbert also voices the Military Channel's commercials with their official slogan: "The Military Channel. Go Behind the Lines."

Video games

Haysbert has also done voice work for various video games, such as Irving Lambert in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, the narrator in Call of Duty: Finest Hour and David Palmer in 24: The Game.

Theater

In June 2010, Haysbert joined the cast of David Mamet's Race on Broadway as character Henry Brown, performing alongside actors Eddie Izzard, Richard Thomas and Afton Williamson. The play ran until August 21, 2010.

Wikipedia

[grumpyandgorgeous]

Today’s the day: it’s Emmy longlist day.

If you have followed me for awhile, you know I always do this; this year I thought I’d link back to my previous write-ups and realized there were eight previous posts for me to link back to. Eight! This is my ninth time doing this. I am just as surprised as you are. Here they all are, if you are interested. And here we go!

We start this year with Voice-Over Performance in animation, and Bojack Horseman breaks in with its first ever nomination, for Kristen Schaal as Sarah Lynn. I would be pleased if she took this--I just like Kristen Schaal--but honestly, this category is an enigma. Some years it seems to be about a celebrity guesting on the Simpsons, sometimes its about a nuanced performance in a long-running animated series, and sometimes it about the breadth instead of the depth by nominating a performance who just does a lot of characters on one show. There's some of all of that this year (if we're counting Kevin Kline's nomination for Bob's Burgers, which we so are). I don't know who will win this.

Likewise, I am not sure of what to root for in Animated Program, as the episode of Archer is just the premiere (which is fine, but not great) and the Bob's Burgers and Simpsons episodes are pretty week. Kind of nice to see Elena of Avalor get a nomination though, right?

I tend to not focus heavily on the casting categories when I haven't seen a majority of the nominees, but the Casting for Limited Series has to go to Big Little Lies, right? Even the children are excellent, just amazing. I'll be offended if this doesn't win. I understand how Fargo could win it... but it shouldn't.

A nice surprise in Choreography--Mandy Moore (not that Mandy Moore) gets nominated twice, but once for Dancing With the Stars, and once for So You Think You Can Dance. I don't think I've seen that before!

Heading back to Big Little Lies, I don't know how much of a chance it has in a lot of the technical categories, but I would be pleased if it saw wins for Cinematography, Contemporary Costumes, Single-Camera Picture Editing... the list goes on. (I think Handmaid's Tale probably has Period/Fantasy Costumes sewn up, ha.) I forget how much I liked the show until I think back on these aspects of it and remember, Oh wait, it was really very good. I would love for this to carry over to Directing too, but I am surprised as how strong The Night Of has come on in the technical categories, not because I doubt its merit, but because it wasn't really the buzziest thing on HBO this year. There must have been some heavy HBO campaigning, because I saw it turn up on a number of critics' lists to expect nominations, but I am still a little surprised.

In lieu of any Queen Sugar nominations, I would be pleased to see Ava DuVernay win a directing award for 13th.

Main Title Design! I was so excited for this and to be honest, the nominees are a little disappointing. The opening for Feud: Bette and Joan was in my mind the frontrunner heading in, and that hasn't changed in the slightest. The problem here is that three of these are the exact same set of titles. I actually quite liked the American Gods theme when I first started watching it, but then I saw the Crown... they're the same title design. So is Stranger Things, but at least it has the benefit of the image that it it focuses on in very tiny amounts on a black background being typography. Honestly, go watch them. These are all the same titles. It's amazing. Westworld's theme is nice, but Bette and Joan's is something special. I hope it wins. (This is possibly the one place I want it to win.)

Did you know Lifetime had mad a movie version of Suite Francaise? I did not either, but it got a nomination for Original Dramatic Score for a limited series or movie.

Original Music and Lyrics is weird. I don't really get the Mickey Mouse short nomination (although you should totally go watch it because there's a real Ren and Stimpy vibe to it which I never would have expected), and I'm not into the Lemonade homage from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, so that leaves us with the songs from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, SNL, and 13th, all of which I think have a reasonable shot. The Crazy Ex-Girlfriend song grows on you as it goes along, but "Last Christmas" and "Letter to the Free" both feel a lot more relevant and political. I could see this one going either way. SNL might win on a wave of SNL wins, but there are a surprising number of technical nominations for 13th that lead me to believe there's some real industry support for the doc and this could win from that. It's an interesting category.

I'm not so good at discussing the intracacies of music, so the Original Main Title Theme Music is a difficult category for me to assess. However, in my opinion anyway, I would rule out the themes to Victoria and The Good Fight right off the bat, and i would through Genius in there too were it not composed by Hans Zimmer, and so for that reason we can't rule it out. Stranger Things I think is the leader here, because it manages to be iconic and retro all at once. The Feud music is also nice, but I am actually very fond of the Westworld music, even if in the key changes it kind of reminds me of the Carnivale theme. (Miss you always, Carnivale.) Still, I think Stranger Things is almost a lock on this one.

Finally, the acting categories.

Lead Actor in a Comedy is basically all the same faces, plus Donald Glover.  It's the only one of these shows I watch, and he is wonderful in it, but I  feel its more likely he'll be taking awards for his work behind the camera. Jeffrey Tambor could take this again, but with Transparent not taking a series nom for the first time, it might be on its way out. Anthony Anderson then? I thought he would have won this already, to be perfectly honest. Who knows how this will go.

Lead Actor in a Drama is equally mystifying. Several of the actors in this category are overdue--Matthew Rhys, Bob Odenkirk--and some shouldn't be here at all--Liev Schreiber, Kevin Spacey, Milo Ventimiglia--and then we have Anthony Hopkins, who is legendary but maybe not for Westworld, and Sterling K. Brown. This Is Us broke a lot of ground this year, so I would not be shocked by Sterling K. Brown winning, but network dramas are always going to have a hard time going up against the prestige nominees on cable. This is one to watch.

Every time I think Sherlock is the worst its ever been, it wins awards in America, so I think Benedict Cumberbatch is a solid choice to win Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. Should this go to Ewan McGregor for going all Tatiana Maslany? Probably. But honestly i have no stakes in this race. Just not Cumberbatch.

So both the leads of Grace and Frankie got nominations for Lead Actress in a Comedy, which I think means they will cancel each other out. There are a couple familiar names here (I keep waiting for Tracee Ellis Ross' moment but I fear it's not coming), and a new face in Pamela Adlon, which between that and her TCA achievement lead me to think she's a frontrunner here. But... Allison Janney has moved herself up to Lead from Supporting, and it is very hard to place bets against a prior winner, even if it wasn't for this specifically. So who knows? Here's a fun fact though: if Janney wins this category, she will have Emmys for Supporting Actress in a Drama, Lead Actress in a Drama, Guest Actress in a Drama, Supporting Actress in a Comedy, and Lead Actress in a Comedy. All she'll have left is a Guest Comedy Actress and the Limited Series awards! I don't know if this will be some kind of a record for sheer breadth of acting categories, but it would be fun for someone to find out.

But hey, can we talk about how for yet another year, there's nothing for Catherine O'Hara killing it on Schitt's Creek? Seriously, she is just straight-up nailing it on a weekly basis. David and Alexis are the heart of the show--and a good amount of the humor, yes--but Moira is just an eccentric actress delight. Robbed yet again. And if not Catherine O'Hara, why not her SCTV co-star Andrea Martin, so much fun all decked out in Chico's looks on Great News? She's the best part of the show, and I'd much rather see them here than Grace and Frankie.

Lead Actress in a Drama--I've heard zero buzz for How to Get Away With Murder this year, but she was a previous winner, and there is some recenty history of repeat winners in this category. I thought the Americans was going to win some acting trophies last year, but nothing came of it... and I wouldn't put it past the Television Academy to give an award to a show just as the critics have said it had a weaker season. So who knows, if the episode really sells Keri Russell, or Matthew Rhys back in Lead Actor, I could see it. The same goes for the perennially-nominated Robin Wright. My heart wants to give this to Elisabeth Moss though. This is Hulu's breakthrough year so this could be the winner.

Ooooooooooooof, the category that has been the heaviest now for two straight years. I have seen a LOT of awards prognosticators say this is Jessica Lange's, which shocked me, because I would have absolutely said it is Nicole Kidman's, because she was breathtaking, and Feud was only OK. But the problem here is that Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon could split the Feud vote, and Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon could split the Big Little Lies vote, and then where are we? Felicity Huffman for American Crime, or Carrie Coon for Fargo. I wouldn't mind either of these, necessarily--all the women nominated here are very talented--but this is a Big Little Lies award if there is any justice in this world. And Nicole Kidman, unlike Julia Roberts when she got that Normal Heart nom a few years ago, is not so snobby as to talk down about the Emmys while she's at the damn Emmys, so she's definitely a winner that TV could get behind even though she's primarily a film actress. I mean god, she went to the Stanley Cup playoffs and wore a jersey and everything. SHE'S OF THE PEOPLE NOW. Give this to Nicole, please.

Also, many apologies to Lauren Graham, totally shut out for the Gilmore Girls revival. One day you'll get something, Lorelei.

Supporting Actor in a Comedy is so many repeat nominees and winners, but if Alec Baldwin doesn't win this, it will be an actual honest to goodness upset. Who else has a chance? It doesn't matter if you don't like the Trump impression (which I don't, for the record). It was the buzziest comedy performance of the year. The president got angry about all of it. He's gonna win.

I don't know anything about Supporting Actor in a Drama except that I have been rooting for Jonathan Banks for like, many years now, on two different shows, so I would be very happy to see him win.

Supporting Actor in a Limited Series... I haven't seen The Night Of. I kind of figure it's going to go to The Night Of. But Alexander Skarsgard is very good at being very awful and having two faces? It feels almost cruel to reward him for being a good abusive husband but he's a very good abusive husband. I also enjoyed Alfred Molina's performance in Feud, so who knows where this is going.

As much as it pains me to say it, I think Anna Chlumsky has fallen out of her possible winning window for Veep, so I don't think it is ever going to happen at this point. But there rest of the faces for Supporting Actress in a Comedy are good ones. I think you have to give it to Kate McKinnon for just wearing so many hats this year, but I love Kathryn Hahn in absolutely everything she does, and Leslie Jones feels just as deserving as any cast member of SNL. And while I am not a huge Vanessa Bayer fan, I'd be happy for her to win just for that damn Totino's ad. No bad wins here.

Uzo Aduba hasn't won for Supporting Actress since Orange is the New Black switched to drama, right? I don't know if any women of the Handmaid's Tale are going to break through this one when they don't have quite the role recognition here as the other nominees. Millie Bobby Brown could win, as crazy as that sounds, considering that the cast won the SAG. Chrissy Metz is the name I am seeing from a lot of prognosticators. And Thandie Newton--well, how can you root against Thandie Newton. I'm going to give this to Millie Bobby Brown for now, but I am keeping my eyes on Chrissy Metz.

Regina King has now won the Emmy for Supporting Actress in a Limited Series for two years running, and I am not about to root against her for a third trophy, even if this year was the least buzzed about season of American Crime, and it was subsequently canceled. She's going to have strong competition--watch out for Laura Dern, I think--but she's had strong competition before. I liked Jackie Hoffman a lot in Feud, but i don't really think either of the Feud roles really hold a candle to the rest of the nominees here. Could be interesting on Emmy night but, once again, I am rooting for Regina King.

There is something a little insulting about the only nominees for a show called Girls being random male guest stars, right? A little bit? No offense to Riz Ahmed or anything. I don't love Girls by any measure, but it's a little weird. I would give this one to Tom Hanks because of David S Pumpkins but hey, who knows how these things work anymore. I certainly don't. Guest Actor in a Comedy--some host of SNL, a guy on Girls, or Hugh Laurie on Veep. I think Dave Chappelle killed his chances when he said to give Trump a chance, but it was a big deal for him to be on SNL, so I wouldn't necessarily discount that. If I had to nominate an SNL host here though, it really should have been Chris Pine. Boy was totally ignored.

I think Carrie Fisher has the sentimental vote for Guest Actress in a Comedy, but Melissa McCarthy honestly was much better as Sean Spicer than Alec Baldwin ever was as Trump. The thing working against her is she submitted her own episode, and it was arguably her weakest appearance.

Honestly, the best thing for the guest categories is Nightcap, the underseen heir to 30 Rock on Pop!, the channel that replaced the TV Guide Channel. Ali Wentworth knows a lot of people and they all seem game to come on and skewer their image in the most embarrassing way possible. There were a number of standouts in season one, but Gwyneth Paltrow as a kleptomaniac who doesn't eat "that goop shit" and who apparently goes around negotiating guys down to handjobs from blowjobs was my personal favorite, but really so many celebs were great. Debra Messing also should be really gunning for a nomination for this for next year with the episode that just aired this week. idk, I'm a fan.

I'm all in for Alexis Bledel for Handmaid's Tale as I frequently hear that she's a person's favorite part, but I don't know if that's likely. Ann Dowd is here after being a nominee in supporting actressi in a limited series, so maybe she has a real shot at one of them. And you can't rule out Barb, because the academy is just as dumb as the rest of America for nominating an extremely minor character who barely appears for an Emmy.

I know Ben Schwartz already has an Emmy that he shares with Dan Harmon for writing that "Recession Oscars" opening theme where Hugh Jackman said he hadn't seen the Reader , but if he can win outright for the Earliest Show, I am fine with that. Same for Lauren Lapkus, easily the highlight of Pete Holmes' Crashing, which is pretty weak overall.

I can't be the only one rooting for Martha and Snoop for reality hosts for their dinner party show, right?

Outstanding Comedy Series: the same old names, plus Atlanta. I'll root for Atlanta or black-ish. Veep had a very weak year and Silicon Valley was dreadful. This category needs some refreshment.

Outstanding Drama Series went the opposite direction: two repeat nominees in Better Call Saul and House of Cards, but five new faces in first season shows The Crown, Handmaid's Tale, Stranger Things, This is Us, and Westworld. Again, the SAG for best cast went to Stranger Things, so I would not be surprised at it coming through here too, even though it is not at all the type of drama the Emmys typically go for. I would think it comes down to Stranger Things or This Is Us, both of which got heavily nominated all over, but especially in acting.

Fargo did better in nominations than I think anyone expected it to, so it can't be entirely ruled out for Outstanding Limited Series. I want this to be for Big Little Lies, but female-centric domestic series don't have a good history here--I think this show was excellent in all facets, but its recognition really came down to the fact it has movie stars in it and a high-profile team behind it. I don't know if that's going to carry over to a win here, even if it absolutely should. The Night Of has done very well in nominations, and the subject matter is far more up the Television Academy's alley. Also, this category tends to be a good one for Ryan Murphy, so a Feud win isn't out of the quetion either. I am hoping level-headedness prevails and we get a Big Little Lies win. But I also know exactly why that won't happen.

Outstanding Television Movie will probably go to Sherlock because it wins at its worst, but I think it's very promising that Black Mirror got nominated here for San Junipero, the one episode everyone loved this year. The lack of nominations overall for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, despite the attachment to Oprah's name, does not bode well for it. The Wizard of Lies has a healthy little group of nominations and this is Weighty Serious Stuff which the voters tend to go for, so that's my dark horse here.

A number of the nominees in Variety Talk had kind of breakthrough moments in the era of Trump. John Oliver won this last year and were it not for all these Trump-reactions, I'd give him an easy repeat. And that could still happen! He could be the new Daily Show. The voters are notoriously lazy--after all, we saw Modern Family get nominated again this year for Best Comedy and it is 2017. If I had to tip it away from him though, I would say this is Stephen Colbert's or Jimmy Kimmel's to lose. Jimmy got nominated elsewhere and made headlines for the stuff with his son; Colbert really turned it around and put Jimmy Fallon out of contention in both nominations and the ratings and that could be rewarded. I'll be interested to see where this goes.

Best Friends Whenever, also known as My Beloved Show About the Gay Teens, was never going to get a kid's programming nomination, but why did Girl Meets World get one for its worst season? Ughhhhhhhhhhhh.

I said several years ago we need a teen category for the MTV shows and Degrassi, and I still believe that. Several years ago they consolidated the informational children's into the scripted kid's stuff and that was a mistake--we should have like three or four kids categories, not one. If I ever get to be on the board, I will be address this, you better believe me. There are children who can vote, I am sure, and I want their opinions.

Very happy Leah Remini's Scientology show got a nomination for Outstanding Informational Series or Special. Good for Leah Remini.

BIG DEAL ALERT: in this year of Chip and Joanna Gaines being EVERYWHERE, will Fixer Upper win the Emmy for Structured Reality? I think they might. This would be huge for HGTV. And yet another puzzle piece in the Gaines world domination plan. I wouldn't necessarily mind that, but I don't want to live in Texas, and I don't want my furniture to have chipped paint on it, so maybe I do mind actually.

I think Born This Way is likely the lock for Unstructured Reality, but I wasn't even aware Gaycation had aired a second season to make it eligible and... I should give it another chance, probably. But why is this getting nominated when States of Undress is also on Viceland and it is fantastic? I know, I should shut up about States of Undress, but it's just so goddamn thoughtful. Even if Hailey Gates doesn't always get it quite right in her ending narration, I think there is something about her that makes the show so much more compelling than Gaycation. I think it goes to more interesting places--not on the map, but just with what it chooses to explore. I'm always enchanted by it, I always learn something. I just want it to have a million seasons forever.

oh my god am I almost finished please

Writing in a Comedy! This is a definite toss-up between "B.A.N." and "Streets on Lock" from Atlanta. I could see "B.A.N." winning just because of the sheer variety of what composes the episode, and because Donald Glover wrote it and the Emmys like to reward the mastermind of the series here. But I think "Streets on Lock" is actually the stronger episode, so Stephen Glover could get a win here. I don't think Silicon Valley or Veep have a shot, and Aziz won last year, and this category (unless you're a 30 Rock who stays around forever) likes to inject fresh blood. So this is an Atlanta win, but the episode has yet to be determined.

(Though if Veep DOES win the comedy writing, it'll have to be for Georgia, which is the most heartbreakingly painful episode of the season, and also the best one.)

I genuinely don't know where Drama Writing is headed. Stranger Things? Let's guess Strangers Things.

I can't believe I'm rooting for David E Kelley but--Big Little Lies for Limited Series writing, please! Please. Charlie Brooker has a nom here for San Junipero again, and that would be a pleasing result as well. And I even like the Oscars episode of Feud, but I think that would be a better win for direction than writing (was it even nominated for direction? I'm not going back to look now). Fargo, again. The Night Of, again. This could be a really good night for The Night Of, I'm thinking.

Seth Meyers gets his first Emmy nomination for Late Night in Variety Series Writing. (Sidenote: Vox wrote a thing about snubs and said he got no noms, which I tweeted them about, and then got a "we'll make it more clear." Which they then changed from "Seth Meyers--HOW DID IT GET ZERO, it needs to be recognized, it's so good, blah blah blah, why hasn't it made a breakthrough" to "SETH MEYERS--ONLY ONE?" which is not making it clearer, it's re-writing it, it changes your original point even when you don't change the text. I know people make mistakes but if you are a tv critic, and it's Emmy nominations day... read the longlist! Please! This is like when, oof what was it, Vanity Fair? I forget. But I think Vanity Fair--no, it was Harpers Bazaar--did an Emmys write-up and totally made up history by saying "oh, remember when Fargo controversially beat True Detective for best miniseries a few years ago" when THEY WEREN'T EVEN IN THE SAME CATEGORY. OK, these aren't the same, but I just get annoyed by things that can be very easily cleared up.) I think this is going to Colbert, Oliver, or SNL though. Probably SNL unless we're just staying in the John Oliver lane, or rewarding Colbert for overcoming Jimmy Fallon. (I realize I talk about Jimmy Fallon like he's a dragon, but I really don't like him.)

Now Variety Special Writing--here's where Samantha Bee has a very good chance with her Not the White House Correspondents Dinner.

And that's it! I did it! Like four hours... but I did it. And we'll be back next year, guys! My tenth edition then! But before that, we'll have Emmy night. :) Thanks for reading!

[mrmichaelchadler]

Oscar Predictions 2019: Who Will Win, Who Should Win, and Who Should Have Been Nominated

The craziest awards season in … maybe ever will finally come to a close on Sunday when the winners for the 91st Annual Academy Awards are announced. As weird as the year has been in terms of the actual show (Kevin Hart! Awards During Commercials!), the awards themselves have reflected the WTF nature of the program. Usually, Oscar pundits can look at what are called the precursor awards – the critics groups, the Golden Globes, the guilds – and have a pretty good idea what’s going to win. Not this year. Good luck using the guilds to win your Oscar pool because, for the first time ever, all of them went to a different film. The actors went with “Black Panther,” the directors went with “Roma,” the producers went with “Green Book,” and the writers went with “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” and “Eighth Grade,” which wasn’t even nominated for Best Screenplay at the Oscars. 

To say this year is unpredictable would be a massive understatement. With that in mind, my predictions below (with some of my thoughts all the way down to technical categories) of what “Will Win” are as conservative as they can possibly be. When things get this haywire, it’s often logical to try to take the only clear route you can see. In other words, some of these will be wrong. Probably more than most years. And if you really want to win your Oscar pool, you should use this as a base and then try to find the 2-3 that go unpredictable. Good luck. 

BEST PICTURE

Most years, this race comes down to two, maybe three, films that could possibly win. Think “The Shape of Water” vs. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” or “La La Land” vs. “Moonlight.” This year? There’s legitimately SIX movies that could win this. A win for “Bohemian Rhapsody” or “Vice” would be a stunner, but the other six would not. The Screen Actors Guild has the most in-common body with the Academy and they went with “Black Panther.” The producers loved “Green Book,” and it feels like an Oscar winner from a half-century ago. Could you really deny the possibility that the crowd favorite “A Star is Born” sneaks through and takes the big prize? It’s possible. And yet I come back to the idea that when things are this close that overall quality will win out. I hope so. I’m not strong enough for what it means if “Green Book” wins.

Will/Should Win: “Roma”

Should Have Been Nominated: “If Beale Street Could Talk”

BEST DIRECTOR

For a very long time, it was safest to bet that director and picture would align, although that’s been notably different in recent years. “Birdman” won Director; “Spotlight” won Picture. “La La Land” won Director; “Moonlight” won Picture. If there’s a split here, I suspect it’s to Spike Lee, who Academy members will want to finally recognize, although I think that urge comes more strongly in the writing categories, and we have an old-fashioned match this year with Cuaron’s deeply personal vision winning over voters enough to take the top two prizes.

Will/Should Win: Alfonso Cuaron, “Roma”

Should Have Been Nominated: Ryan Coogler, “Black Panther”

BEST ACTOR

Of the big six (Picture, Director, and the four Acting ones), this one feels like the strongest lock as the man who played Freddie Mercury has been building up steam to this award for a few months now. The Academy loves it when actors play real people and this award almost certainly comes down to Malek or Christian Bale, and there just seems to be more goodwill toward “Bohemian Rhapsody” than “Vice” at this moment, even with the allegations against the latter film’s director. Play a real person, win an Oscar. It’s a depressingly reliable formula.

Will Win: Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Should Win: Willem Dafoe, “At Eternity’s Gate”

Should Have Been Nominated: Ethan Hawke, “First Reformed”

BEST ACTRESS

If the biopic is the most tried-and-true Oscar narrative, a close second would be the “overdue” award, which has helped people like Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Kate Winslet, and Julianne Moore win their only Oscars for films that practically no one would argue contain their career-best performance. Riding that wave this year is Glenn Close, nominated a stunning seven times, including this year. In a year with no other clear frontrunner, Close will get a Lifetime Achievement Award in the form of a Best Actress one with a wave of support for the very-well-liked “The Favourite” the only thing that could spoil her party.

Will Win: Glenn Close, “The Wife”

Should Win: Melissa McCarthy, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”

Should Have Been Nominated: Toni Collette, “Hereditary”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

People can’t seem to agree on so many things about Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book,” but they all come to common ground on one thing: not only is Mahershala Ali phenomenal in the film, but he’s handled this controversial awards season with class. It doesn’t hurt that he’s also got a likely Emmy winner unfolding right now on HBO too in the third season of “True Detective.” He’ll barely squeak out a win over who I think should win the award.

Will Win: Mahershala Ali, “Green Book”

Should Win: Richard E. Grant, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Should Have Been Nominated: Steven Yeun, “Burning”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

In years this unpredictable, we often get a total shocker in the supporting categories (think Marcia Gay Harden for “Pollock”), and so there’s a part of me that thinks this goes to Rachel Weisz for “The Favourite” instead of the perceived, well, favorite. As I said in the intro though, I’m sticking with the general consensus picks for this feature, and that seems to be Regina King. Although literally nothing would surprise me here.

Will/Should Win: Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk"

Should Have Been Nominated: Claire Foy, “First Man”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

It’s finally time for Spike Lee to get that Oscar, nearly three decades after he should have won every prize for which he was eligible for “Do the Right Thing.” I expect him to give one of the best speeches of the night too. Don’t miss that one.

Will/Should Win: “BlacKkKlansman”

Should Have Been Nominated: “Burning”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Some people seem to think this is where “Green Book” gathers steam, and if it does win here, there’s reason to be nervous that it has enough support to take the top prize too. However, I think the last couple of weeks of bad press were enough to sink it, and allow a film that even its detractors agree is strong in this department to sneak in and take it.

Will Win: “The Favourite”

Should Win: “First Reformed”

Should Have Been Nominated: “Eighth Grade”

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

For most of the year, it looked like Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” would be a slam-dunk winner here. Not only was it a relatively weak year for animation, but the Pixar hit made a bajillion dollars on the back of rave reviews. And then a little movie about Miles Morales came along. Since the release of “Spider-Verse,” the narrative has changed so much that it would actually be a surprise to see Disney take this prize this year.

Will/Should Win: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”

Should Have Been Nominated: “Teen Titans Go! To the Movies”

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

The non-fiction category at the Oscar remains one of the toughest to predict. Honestly, you could throw a dart here among the three most widely-seen nominees, “Free Solo,” “RBG,” and “Minding the Gap.” I’m going with the safest pick, but crossing my fingers for Bing Liu.

Will Win: “Free Solo”

Should Win: “Minding the Gap”

Should Have Been Nominated: “Bisbee ‘17”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Would I be surprised if something really weird happened and “Roma” won Best Picture but lost here to “Cold War”? Nope. People putting Cuaron and his film at the top of their ballot may also want to spread the wealth to another clearly-loved film. It could happen – but I’m not quite ready to predict it.

Will/Should Win: “Roma”

Should Have Been Nominated: “Burning”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The winner of the American Society of Cinematographers Award has matched up with Oscar five of the last eight years. That would mean that this goes to Łukasz Żal for “Cold War.” Again, that wouldn’t surprise me, but I can’t go there. I just think there’s too much love for the look of “Roma,” and fellow directors will take the chance to give this award to the director of his own film for the first time in Academy history.

Will/Should Win: “Roma”

Should Have Been Nominated: “First Man”

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Never count out Sandy Powell, especially for a film as gorgeously designed as the one by Yorgos Lanthimos. Not only did she win the “Excellence in Period Film” award from her guild this week, but she’s won the Oscar for costume design three other times, but not since 2009’s “The Young Victoria.” She’s been nominated a stunning 14 times, including twice this year. Oh, that’s the third time she’s been a double nominee in a single year, by the way. She’s a legend and she’s getting her fourth Oscar.

Will/Should Win: “The Favourite”

Should Have Been Nominated: “If Beale Street Could Talk”

BEST FILM EDITING

It’s eye-rolling to consider that the two frontrunners here are films that most critics derided for their shoddy editing. Even the Twitterverse lost their mind over the quick-cut approach of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and I personally couldn’t stand the rhythm of “Vice.” However, it’s likely one of them wins here. Why “Bohemian”? A narrative has built up in Hollywood that John Ottman had to save the film when Singer walked away. This will be his prize for doing so.

Will Win: “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Should Win: “BlacKkKlansman”

Should Have Been Nominated: “Widows”

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Will Win: “Vice”

Should Win: “Border”

Should Have Been Nominated: “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Will Win: “The Favourite”

Should Win: “Black Panther”

Should Have Been Nominated: “Hereditary”

BEST SCORE

Will/Should Win: “If Beale Street Could Talk”

Should Have Been Nominated: “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Will Win: “Shallow” from “A Star is Born”

Should Win: “All the Stars” from “Black Panther”

Should Have Been Nominated: Anything from “Vox Lux”

BEST SOUND EDITING

Will/Should Win: “First Man”

Should Have Been Nominated: “Mission Impossible: Fallout”

BEST SOUND MIXING

Will Win: “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Should Win: “A Star is Born”

Should Have Been Nominated: “Annihilation”

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Will Win: “Avengers: Infinity War”

Should Win: “Ready Player One”

Should Have Been Nominated: “Annihilation”

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[acsversace-news]

Welcome to Career Watch, a vocational checkup of top actors and directors, and those who hope to get there. In this edition we take on global star Penélope Cruz, who’s delivering lauded performances on multiple platforms, in English and her native Spanish.

Bottom Line: Cruz is a Goya and Oscar-winner (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”) who chases challenging material around the globe. This year she and husband Javier Bardem not only opened Cannes with Asghar Farhadi’s Spanish mystery drama “Everybody Knows” (Focus Features) — which went on to rack up over $6.5 million in France — but Cruz transformed herself into blonde Italian fashion icon Donatella Versace for her first-ever foray into television. Ryan Murphy’s “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” (FX) scored 18 Emmy nominations last week including Supporting Actress in a Limited series for Cruz. Next, she’ll play her sixth role with mentor Pedro Almodovar, playing his mother in autobiographical drama “Dolor y gloria” along with Antonio Banderas.

Career Peaks: The brunette actress has been an international star since her first movie with Almodovar, 1997’s “Live Flesh.” That was followed by “All About My Mother,” and Almodovar’s small-town semi-autobiographical “Volver,” for which she shared the Cannes Best Actress award with the female ensemble, and became the first Spanish actress to earn a Best Actress Oscar nomination. She won the BAFTA and Best Actress Oscar for her warm and witty role opposite Bardem in Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” She also scored an Oscar nod for her supporting performance in musical “Nine” (2010).

At Cannes 2018, “Everybody Knows” debuted on opening night, instantly sold to Focus Features, and became a big hit in France. Spain’s power couple Bardem and Cruz (who have been working together since “Jamón Jamón” in 1992), helped Iranian Oscar-winner Asghar Farhadi (“A Separation” and “The Salesman”) develop the mystery family drama over five years as he sent them treatments for their feedback. “Every day is an adventure,” said Cruz, who accepted equal pay with Bardem for the movie. “Asghar got in my dreams; he didn’t let me rest even when I was sleeping. He’s a poet. He could work anywhere. He is very humble. He asked a lot of questions. Like all his movies, the universal theme is about exploring the complexity of human relationships and behavior. We always have more to learn.”

Assets: The ballet-trained actress can do anything in three languages: her native Spanish, English, and Italian: comedies (“To Rome with Love,” “Vicky Christina Barcelona,” “Waking Up in Reno”), thrillers (“Gothika,” “Elegy”), westerns (“All the Pretty Horses”), melodramas (“Everybody Knows,” “Twice Born”), tragedies (“Ma Ma”), musicals (“Nine”), big-budget studio pieces (“Spectre, “The Counsellor,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and “Murder on the Orient Express”), and costume dramas (“The Queen of Spain”).

Latest Awards Play: With “The Assassination of Gianni Versace,” showrunner Ryan Murphy wanted to show Donatella Versace “in a serious light,” he told TV Guide last January. “What we did with Penelope was show her with heart. In many ways it’s a tribute to Donatella.” Over twenty years of working with the Versace fashion house, Cruz had met Donatella several times at parties, she told me on the phone. “She has always been kind to me; they have dressed me over the years for the Oscars. I felt a lot of responsibility to play her, I like and respect her and am a huge fan of her work with her brother.”

After Murphy called, she said she felt she needed to call Donatella and ask her, “or I couldn’t move forward. She was not involved the development in any way. She said, ‘if somebody is going to play me I’m happy it’s you.’ I felt in that call, that she knew I respect her and like her.”  Cruz told Murphy: “I’m going to do it, as long as we treat her with respect.”

Murphy based the series on Maureen Orth’s 1999 non-fiction book “Vulgar Favors: The Assassination of Gianni Versace,” which Cruz did not read. “I didn’t want to read the book,” she said. “I went by the script, and doing my own research in terms of Donatella and the relationship with her brother.”

The accent was a challenge for a Spanish actress playing playing an Italian character speaking in English. It took three to four months of prep. Already knowing Italian made it easier. “For me the key was trying to find the way she speaks,” Cruz said, “so different, a pitch lower, with an Italian accent. She does a rock and roll thing in the way she speaks. I tried to have something of her in there, hopefully some essence of that person.”

Cruz’s Donatella is strong and determined to save her brother’s empire after his death, the only woman surrounded by men, sticking to her guns. “She’s emotionally in such a sad difficult place,” said Cruz, “and has to start making difficult decisions. She’s going to do this in the name of her brother, keep her brother alive through Versace. She got a lot of strength from that love, to keep the empire going in such a difficult time.”

If Cruz got hung up on some dialogue or wanted to add some research she had found, she felt free to discuss it with Murphy. Shooting television was “so different from film,” she said. “They’d make some new dialogue changes the day or two before. You have to be ready for it, you have to have the character in you to be able to improvise. It’s a great exercise for actors, there’s no other way to follow the rhythm of TV.”

She worked with her costume and hair and makeup teams from “Volver” and “Broken Embraces” and went for Donatella’s cigarettes. “We didn’t want to do caricature,” she said. “It’s the wig and very little makeup, my eyebrows were like no eyebrows because they’re so blonde, which changes the expression. We made my lips a tiny bit fuller on top with makeup. The costume was a corset for her tiny waist; she has an amazing body, she exercises a lot, even today her body is incredible.”

Cruz doubts that Donatella has seen the film, but she did send Cruz flowers the day of the premiere, “with a beautiful note to wish me luck,” she said.

Latest Misfires: Despite good reviews for her performance, Cruz couldn’t save 2016 cancer drama “Ma Ma,” which topped out at $1 million worldwide, nor poorly reviewed period epic “The Queen of Spain,” or little-seen “The Brothers Grimsby” and “Zoolander 2.”

Current Gossip: While she put in three years in the starlet spotlight (2001-2004) as the girlfriend of Tom Cruise after his breakup with Nicole Kidman (Cruise and Cruz co-starred in ill-fated “Vanilla Sky”), she left him, hooked up briefly with her “Sahara” costar Matthew McConaughey, and then in 2010, Bardem; they have raised two children together. Bardem and Cruz have learned not to take their roles home with them. “We both started very young in our twenties,” said Cruz. “Then, I felt that to torture myself and stay in character for months, the better the result would be. I have discovered that’s not true. To jump from reality to fiction many times in one day, I love that beautiful dance back and forth between both dimensions. This is work that we do, it would not make your life better if you use things from your private life. The fact that we know and trust each other so much really helps.”

Next Step: Cruz is currently filming her supporting role in Almodovar’s “Dolor y Gloria.” Banderas plays Almodovar. “Life is funny,” she said. “I’m Antonio’s mother in the part when he’s a little kid. It’s very beautiful. A lot of things are obviously about Pedro, others are more fiction. I think he’d agree this is an homage to his mother.” Coming up is the Simon Kinberg spy thriller “355,” which she helped producer and costar Jessica Chastain to sell to Universal at Cannes, along with Lupita Nyong’o, Marion Cotillard and Bingbing Fan. Also in the works is the Todd Solondz fable “Love Child,” co-starring her “Versace” costar Edgar Ramirez.

Career Advice: Hollywood often sees Cruz as a luscious attachment to a male star, but as Woody Allen and Pedro Almodovar have proved, she is capable of so much more. More often than not, Hollywood fare offers less than meets the eye, with limited range. She’s probably best off chasing world-class auteurs, whether or not the films are in English. As she ages, more character roles will come her way. And she should keep grabbing rich roles on television. “I want to do more,” she said. “I can get security with experience and some validation, but at the same time, I feel as insecure as the first day of a new film. I don’t want to lose that. Every character is new, you have a new challenge, that is what is so addictive about acting. I imagine when I’m 80 I will feel the same way. Insecurity has to be there to keep an actor growing and enjoying and hungry for knowing.”

[blackkudos]

Wayne Brady

Wayne Alphonso Brady (born June 2, 1972) is an American actor, singer, comedian, and television personality, known for his work as a regular on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? He was the host of the daytime talk show The Wayne Brady Show, the original host of Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics!, and has hosted Let's Make a Deal since its 2009 revival. Brady also performed in the Tony Award–winning musical Kinky Boots on Broadway as Simon and as drag queen Lola from November 2015 to March 2016.

Early life

Brady was born in Columbus, Georgia to West Indian parents, and moved to Orlando, Florida, as a young child to live with his grandmother and aunt. Brady refers to his grandmother, Valerie Petersen, as his "mom", since she raised him. Brady is second cousin to professional footballer Jozy Altidore who currently plays for Toronto FC. At 16, Brady started performing in community theater and at the Orlando improv troupe SAK Comedy Lab, where he first started developing his improv skills. He attended Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, where he graduated in 1989. In 1990, he enrolled at the University of Miami. In 1996, he moved to Los Angeles, where he continued developing his acting skills.

Career

Brady's career began as one of the improvisational theater performers in the original (British) version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, along with Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, and host Clive Anderson in 1998 when the last season was filmed in Hollywood, after which he became a regular on the American version, hosted by Drew Carey, which was his first stateside television exposure. In 2003, Brady won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety, Musical or Comedy Series for his work on the show, the only person to win the award for a television series, as opposed to a special, since Dana Carvey in 1993.

He went on to star in his own ABC variety show in 2001 called The Wayne Brady Show, and a daytime talk show of the same name in 2002, which lasted two seasons and won four Daytime Emmy Awards, two of which went to Brady for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Brady guest-starred on The Drew Carey Show in 1999 and 2000 to take part in "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II". On the show, Brady played several games taken from Whose Line Is It Anyway? for the two episodes with other characters.

In 2004, Brady joined the Broadway revival of Chicago, playing the role of lawyer Billy Flynn. He appeared briefly in the final episode of the 2004 season of the comedy Reno 911!. He guest-starred on the Sci Fi Channel's hit series show Stargate SG-1 as Trelak, the first prime of Goa'uld System Lord Ares. He made an appearance on Chappelle's Show, poking fun at his squeaky-clean persona.

Brady wrote and sang the theme song for Disney's animated series The Weekenders. In 2005, he sang and recorded Jim Brickman's original Disney song "Beautiful" (a cover of All-4-One's 2002 hit "Beautiful As You") and its Christmas version.

In 2006, Brady became the host of TV Land's That's What I'm Talking About, a talk show discussing the role of African-Americans in the entertainment industry. From August 29 to September 29, 2006, Brady hosted the Fox show Celebrity Duets.

Brady made several guest appearances on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, playing James Stinson, the gay brother of Neil Patrick Harris's character, Barney Stinson. Brady has also appeared as a guest star for the MTV show Wild 'N Out, and lent his voice to the Adult Swim show Robot Chicken.

Brady has also guest-starred in the CBC comedy, Getting Along Famously, alongside his Whose Line is It Anyway? costar Colin Mochrie. He has also appeared on the episode "You Don't Know Jack" on the television show Dirt and also guest-starred on the show 30 Rock, where he played the role of Steven Black, Liz Lemon's date for the Source Awards.

Brady was the co-host of the short-lived VH1 show Vinyl Justice in 1998. In 2007, he starred in the ABC Family film The List. He starred in Flirt, a comedy pilot developed for The CW Television Network, which, if it had been picked up, would have aired in the 2006–07 television season.

Brady guest-starred as Julius Rock's gifted younger brother, Louis, in the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, and hosted a singing game show called Don't Forget the Lyrics! on Fox until its cancellation in June 2009. He also performs "Wayne Brady: Making $%!^ up" at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada four nights a week. He was also on two episodes of Kevin Hill. Brady's debut album was released on September 16, 2008. Brady's version of Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" earned Brady a Grammy nomination in the Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance category.

Brady started hosting an updated version of the game show Let's Make a Deal for CBS in October 2009, which taped at the Tropicana Resort and Casino in Las Vegas and currently tapes in Los Angeles. The show replaced the soap opera Guiding Light, which ended its long-time run. The original host of Let's Make a Deal was Monty Hall, who serves as consultant for the new show. Drew Carey currently hosts The Price Is Right, and thus, both game shows in the CBS daytime lineup (as of May 2013) hold the distinction of being hosted by an alumnus of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.

Brady was the guest host on the May 3, 2010, episode of WWE Raw, where he was involved in an in-ring segment with Edge and Randy Orton, eventually getting RKO'd by Orton. Later that year, in August, Brady played the role of Tom Collins in a staged production of Rent at the Hollywood Bowl. The production was directed by Neil Patrick Harris.

Brady appeared alongside Let's Make a Deal announcer Jonathan Mangum in two episodes of Fast and Loose, a new improvisational series on BBC2 hosted by Hugh Dennis, in January 2011. Then, along with Holly Robinson Peete, he co-hosted the 42nd annual NAACP Image Awards on March 4, 2011.

On May 3, 2011, he appeared on Dancing With The Stars as the lead performer in a tribute to James Brown, celebrating what would have been Brown's 78th birthday in the Macy's Stars of Dance segment. He has also been a special guest of Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza on GSN.

Brady made a cameo in the 2011 song "Dedication To My Ex (Miss That)" by Lloyd featuring Lil Wayne and Andre 3000, narrating Lil Wayne's section of the song. He also appeared as a special guest star in the March 14, 2012, episode of the TV series Psych.

Brady starred in the 2012 ABC improvisational comedy series Trust Us with Your Life, and returned for the revival of Whose Line Is It Anyway? in the summer of 2013.

Brady guest-starred as Don in the Phineas and Ferb episode, "Where's Pinky?" on June 7, 2013, and for one week February 9 to 13, 2015, guest host on The Late Late Show on CBS.

In November 2015, Brady replaced Billy Porter as Lola in Kinky Boots on Broadway.

Brady assumed the lead role of Aaron Burr in the PrivateBank Theatre production of Hamilton in Chicago from January 17 to April 9, 2017.

Personal life

Brady has been married twice. He married Diana Lasso on December 31, 1993. They divorced on September 21, 1995. On April 3, 1999, he married dancer Mandie Taketa. He and Taketa have one child, a daughter named Maile Masako Brady, born on February 3, 2003. Brady and Taketa separated on April 5, 2006, and Taketa filed for divorce on July 2, 2007.

In 2007, Brady became an official supporter of Ronald McDonald House Charities and is a member of their celebrity board, the Friends of RMHC.

In 2013, Bill Maher compared Brady to President Barack Obama, in that they were both supposedly "not black enough". Brady took issue with this statement, suggesting that Maher should "be careful when you make statements like that because it will allow his viewers to make the same stereotypical assumptions about black people."

As a child, Wayne struggled with stuttering due to a great deal of anxiety he felt from being bullied by other children. Wayne stated in a November 2014 Entertainment Tonight interview that he suffers from clinical depression and that he suffered a mental breakdown on his 42nd birthday. He credits Taketa for helping him recover.

Wikipedia