Casting Coup: Ordinary People

NOMINATIONS

Best Picture, Ronald L. Schwary - WON

Best Director, Robert Redford - WON

Best Actress, Mary Tyler Moore

Best Supporting Actor, Judd Hirsch

Best Supporting Actor, Timothy Hutton - WON
Best Adapted Screenplay, Alvin Sargent - WON

So, when I first started this project, I was still working, and when I announced I was going to watch Ordinary People one night, the reactions were decidedly split. My mentor and friend - let's call him Slim Daddy - was thoroughly in the pro camp, a man who believed every actor in the movie should have been nominated, and who was the right age for identifying with Conrad when it came out. He loved Mary Tyler Moore's performance.

Another camp was formed by the Kanye Fan - my generation, the one that grew up with the internet and could major in film studies. He didn't think Ordinary People was a bad movie, just not very cinematic, said if they made it today, it would be a Lifetime movie. It's fine. It doesn't go deep. It's melodrama.

Glory be, I may be a Raging Bull voter, but Ordinary People has stood the test of time because it skirts melodrama, it goes deep, it's better than fine. It's a story of the privileged, yes, but that's only in social class - there's no privilege in the way these people process death and grief. These are characters any actor kill to play - the mother both monstrous and mourning, the father stepping on eggshells, the son racked with guilt over both his actions and inactions. And those are just the leads!

It's a wonderful film - but could the magic ever be recaptured? Maybe if they had the right cast...

The 1993 Retro Hollmann Awards: Part 3 (of 3!)

Finally, the third and final section of my 1993 Retro Hollmann Awards!

I took a lot more time than I usually do with these -- blame it on the rare quality of films we got this year. Some of my choices changed up to the moment I hit "PUBLISH", and I reserve the right to feel differently in the morning. It says something about this year, though, that my winner kept changing, that my nominees were so difficult to choose, that I still feel like I slighted worthy choices -- Christina Ricci in Supporting Actress, say, or Richard Linklater in Director. Still, as they say: it is what it is.

The final awards for 1993 honor Cinematography, Sound, Song, both Lead Acting categories, and of course...Picture:

Casting Coup: Archie!

*Haha! This was only the second Casting Coup ever, way before it got its name. Of course, this was before Gossip Girl became a popular television program, but it's interesting to see how my Betty Cooper is best-known for playing a rich girl while my Veronica Lodge is best-known for playing the girl next door. Funny. Brand-spankin' new pics, though, since my original hot-links (de rigeur in the LJ days) no longer work. (Now that I think about it, this would make a better series than it would a movie. Damn those teen actors for aging!)*

Ahoy. Walter here, to inform you of his new dream project: Archie. Yes, that's right. I feel it's high time the Archie Universe get the big-screen treatment, properly. Josie made it, as did her Pussycats. The fact that Archie has never been seen on the big screen is a crime.

What I need is a plot. But until that comes along, what about a dream cast? Like always?



Michael Angarano (Sky High) as Archie Andrews. We'll need to dye his hair red, of course, but he'd be great for it. Look at him: dorky, yet attractive. Looks a little like Antoine Doinel from The 400 Blows.




Blake Lively (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) as Betty Cooper. I've never seen her in a movie before, but come on. Look at her. She's Betty.




Margo Harshman (Even Stevens) as Veronica Lodge. Hot. But has she done anything since Tawny?




Anton Yelchin (Alpha Dog) as Jughead Jones. Again, haven't really seen him in much, but he seems like he could play Forsythe P. Jones himself. See him in the upcoming Charlie Bartlett.




Ricky Ullman (Phil of the Future) as Reggie Mantle. Good-looking, and can probably pull off the smarmy cockiness (or cocky smarminess). I've seen Phil let his ego get the best of him.




Donald Sutherland (M*A*S*H*) as Burton/Hiram K. Lodge. A sophisticated elderly man with a distinctive voice playing a sophisticated elderly man with a distinctive scream? Yes, please.




J.K. Simmons (Thank You for Smoking) as Fred Andrews. Mustache? Add it. A couple pounds? Sure. But as far as character and hairline go, he could nail it.





Miranda Richardson (Sleepy Hollow) as Mary Andrews, Bonnie Hunt (Return to Me) as Alice Cooper, and Beth Grant (Donnie Darko) as Hermione Lodge. Three bad-ass chicks playing the awesomest mums the comics have ever had.




Will Harris (also, Sky High) as Moose Mason. Now, I hate to typecast someone, because he's played the bug, dumb jock before. However, he's tremendous at it, so he's Moose. So there.




Olesya Rulin (High School Musical) as Midge Klump. First, what kind of surname is Klump? Secondly, yeah, she's pretty hot. Like, unconventionally, but still, hot is hot. I could see Reggie and Moose going for that. I mean, I wouldn't, but I could see them going for it.




Eva Amurri (Saved!) as Ethel Muggs. Awkward-looking, like Ethel. Ballsy, like Ethel. And Susan Sarandon's daughter...probably like Ethel, too.




Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad) as Dilton Doiley. "Hey, Walter, isn't that the same role he already played?" "Yep."




Chris Warren, Junior (High Schol Musical) as Chuck Clayton. Lord, I love this guy. He's charismatic, good-looking, athletic, but also plays that funny, artistic side. In HSM, he was a cook; in Archie, he's a cartoonist.




Jessica Lucas (She's the Man) as Nancy Woods. She's hot. And black. And age-appropriate.




John Aylward (Down with Love) as Waldo Weatherbee. A pro at playing "the guy with the suit that's in charge of something", Aylward has the build, the presence, and the spare spectacles to play "the Bee".




Jane Alexander (She has done much) as Geraldine Grundy. I always thought Miss Grundy was a classy old broad with a groovy side to her. Jane Alexander is groovy, and classy. Could she be bringing us a sexier of Miss Grundy?




Henry Gibson (Nashville) as Professor Flutesnoot. Admit it, he's perfect, despite the lack of lack of hair. I also just want to say, Flutesnoot is apparently drunk.




Ian Gomez (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) as Coach Kleats. It's my attempt to keep with the miage of a goofy-looking bald fat man teaching gym.




Harry Lennix (Titus) as Coach Clayton. Dear God, he looks like the comic! What the fuck???




Ellen Albertini Dow (The Wedding Singer) as Miss Beazly. Of course she's going to be in the movie. Not only was she an awesome school cook, but it's Elen Dow.




Paul Dooley (Sixteen Candles) as Pop Tate. "But, Walter, he's so old! He's close to death!" Yeah, but I'd trust Paul Dooley with my malts any day.




Emma Stone (Superbad) as Cheryl Blossom. Emma Stone is hot. Cheryl Blossom is hot. Emma Stone as Cheryl Blossom is hot.


With special guest stars:
Jon Lovitz (Rat Race) as Mr. Cooper.
David Moreland (Donnie Darko) as Mr. Jones.
Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle) as Mrs. Jones.
Denis O'Hare (A Mighty Heart) as Mr. Mantle.
Fionnula Flanagan (Four Brothers) as Miss Haggly.
Mina E. Mina (Eastern Promises) as Svenson.
and
Bob Hoskins (Awesome shit) as Smithers the Butler.


That's Archie: The Movie. Now, I just need to think of a plot.