Moviefone Editorial

Tag: frances-mcdormand

  • Oscars 2018: 11 Best (and Worst) Moments From the 90th Academy Awards

    The Academy Awards are always among the most memorable Hollywood evenings of the year, and 2018 was no exception.

    We saw some very deserving movies go home with trophies, chuckle at host Jimmy Kimmel‘s antics, and even shed a tear or two when the “In Memoriam” segment started.

    While no one opened the wrong envelope this time, this year’s show had plenty of high and low moments. These are the ones that stood out, for better or worse, at this year’s Oscars.

    Best Acceptance Speech

    Despite Kimmel encouraging winners to open their hearts and speak about whatever causes were important to them, most winners played it pretty safe. Not Frances McDormand.

    The Best Actress winner used her moment in the spotlight to call attention to her fellow female nominees and to remind studios that plenty of women are still struggling to get the opportunities and financing they deserve.In one of the more inspiring moments of the show, McDormand called on her fellow women to stand up and be noticed. Naturally, Meryl Streep was only too happy to lead the charge.

    Worst “In Memoriam” Omissions
    The “In Memoriam” video montage is always one of the more memorable moments of any Oscar ceremony. It’s certainly the most tear-jerking. But even as the Academy paid tribute to those we lost over the past 12 months, it was hard to ignore the fact that there were a few conspicuously absent names.

    The absence of Batman himself, Adam West, understandably drew the most outrage online. But the “In Memoriam” segment was missing several deserving names, including singer (and recent Oscar Nominee) Glen Campbell, Oscar-winning actress Dorothy Malone, singer Della Reese, and actors Powers Boothe and Robert Guillaume. What gives?

    Best Topical Opening SpeechIt’s been a rough few months for Hollywood, with the industry forced to confront its pervasive sexual harassment problem and the need to encourage greater diversity both behind and in front of the camera. It would have been impossible for Kimmel not to acknowledge these topics during his opening speech.

    Thankfully, he started things off strong with a monologue that was both funny and very mindful of the changes sweeping Hollywood. As he said, “If we can work together to stop sexual harassment in the workplace, women will only have to deal with harassment all the time in every other place they go.”

    Worst Viral StuntFor the most part, Kimmel proves himself to be a very capable host. That said, we’re not keen on the recent trend of hosts bringing the show to a halt in order to perform some sort of pointless viral stunt.

    This year’s show attempted to replicate last year’s “Gary from Chicago” bit as Kimmel and a random gaggle of nominees crossed the street to hand out food to moviegoers at a nearby screening. The Oscars ceremony is long enough as it is without these pointless tangents.

    Best Jimmy Kimmel Banter
    Some of this year’s funniest moments came as Kimmel poked fun at famous thespians in the audience. As usual, Meryl Streep was full of good-natured humor and grace as she routinely served as the butt of jokes.

    But our favorite moments involved actors Timothée Chalamet and Christopher Plummer, among the youngest and oldest actors in attendance, respectively. Kimmel informed the audience that Chalamet was missing “Paw Patrol” to be in attendance, while also quizzing Plummer on how well Lin-Manuel Miranda compares to the actual Alexander Hamilton.

    Worst Snubs
    It wouldn’t be an Oscars ceremony without at least a couple deserving films being snubbed by Academy voters. This year was no exception. Despite being among the most critically acclaimed films of 2017 and earning several nominations, “Lady Bird” was completely shut out.

    We’re also disappointed that “War for the Planet of the Apes” didn’t win the Best Visual Effects award. The Academy has never shown much appreciation for the art of motion capture, but we were hoping the final entry in this series would get recognized for its amazing technical accomplishments.

    Best Giveaway
    One of the more entertaining recurring gags of the evening involved Kimmel offering a jet ski as prize to whichever winner delivered the shortest acceptance speech. The fact that The Price Is Right”-style presenter only made the joke more memorable.

    We don’t get the impression the jet ski giveaway actually helped much in terms of making winners shorten their speeches. But the gag did have great payoff when Best Costume Design winner Mark Bridges was rolled back on stage at the end atop his shiny new jet ski.

    Worst Musical Performance
    We doubt many will argue that “Remember Me” didn’t deserve to win Best Original Song. But if the judges were going solely by the quality of the live performances at the Oscars, maybe it would have been a different story.

    The performance started off on a weak note, thanks to Gael García Bernal‘s questionable vocal delivery. Things didn’t improve much when Miguel and Natalia Lafourcade took the stage, with their awkward choreography frequently clashing with the collage of light and color all around them.

    “Remember Me” couldn’t hold up to far more mesmerizing performances like “Mighty River” and “This Is Me” or elegant, stripped-down performances like “Mystery of Love” or Eddie Vedder‘s rendition of Tom Petty’s “Room at the Top.”

    Best Presenter Duo

    You never know quite what you’re going to get with Oscar presenters. For every lively, hilarious performance, there’s at least one more awkward, poorly rehearsed moment of banter.By far the most memorable presenters of the evening were Tiffany Haddish and Maya Rudolph, who showed off their hilarious chemistry and continued the show’s trend of blending laughs with a topical awareness. If the two were auditioning to become the new Oscar co-hosts in 2019, then we’re all for it.

    Worst Video MontageOscar video montages can be tricky, as there’s often a fine line between paying loving tribute to Hollywood’s long history and becoming insufferable and self-congratulatory.

    That problem cropped up with the inexplicable inclusion of a war movie montage. While we appreciate that the Academy is trying to pay its respects to the men and women serving in the armed forces, this montage felt out of place — at best — and tone deaf at worst.

    Best “It’s About Time” Awards
    There are only so many Oscars to go around in any given year, and that means that some highly deserving actors, writers and filmmakers fail to get the recognition they deserve.

    As much as we were sad to see women like Greta Gerwig and Agnès Varda go home empty-handed, this year’s ceremony did right at least two very glaring wrongs.

    We were thrilled to see Roger Deakins finally go home with a Best Cinematography award for “Blade Runner 2049.” Deakins is widely regarded as one of the finest ever to work in his field, and the fact that it took the Academy this long (14 nominations) to recognize him is a crying shame.

    The same goes for “Call Me By Your Name” writer James Ivory, who is now the oldest Oscar winner ever after taking home the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

  • Oscars 2018: The Complete Winners’ List From the 90th Academy Awards

    Awards season came to a glitzy end with Sunday’s 2018 Academy Awards.

    Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Oscars again, and there was no repeat of the “La La Land“/”Moonlight” Best Picture fiasco. (Sadly?) There were plenty of other memorable moments in the nearly four-hour show.

    Here’s the full list of winners from the March 4 ABC broadcast:

    Best Picture

    • “The Shape of Water” — WINNER
    • “Call Me by Your Name”
    • “Darkest Hour”
    • “Dunkirk”
    • “Get Out”
    • “Lady Bird”
    • “Phantom Thread”
    • “The Post”
    • “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

    Actress in a Leading Role

    • Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” — WINNER
    • Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”
    • Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”
    • Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”
    • Meryl Streep, “The Post”

    Actor in a Leading Role

    • Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour” — WINNER
    • Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”
    • Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread”
    • Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”
    • Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”

    Director

    • “The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro — WINNER
    • “Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan
    • “Get Out,” Jordan Peele
    • “Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig
    • “Phantom Thread,” Paul Thomas Anderson

    Original Song

    • “Remember Me” from “Coco” — WINNER
    • “Mighty River” from “Mudbound”
    • “Mystery of Love” from “Call Me by Your Name”
    • “Stand Up for Something” from “Marshall”
    • “This Is Me” from “The Greatest Showman”

    Original Score

    • “The Shape of Water,” Alexandre Desplat — WINNER
    • “Dunkirk,” Hans Zimmer
    • “Phantom Thread,” Jonny Greenwood
    • “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” John Williams
    • “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Carter Burwell

    Cinematography

    • “Blade Runner 2049,” Roger Deakins — WINNER
    • “Darkest Hour,” Bruno Delbonnel
    • “Dunkirk,” Hoyte van Hoytema
    • “Mudbound,” Rachel Morrison
    • “The Shape of Water,” Dan Laustsen

    Original Screenplay

    • “Get Out,” Jordan Peele — WINNER
    • “The Big Sick,” Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani
    • “Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig
    • “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh
    • “The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor

    Adapted Screenplay

    • “Call Me by Your Name,” James Ivory — WINNER
    • “The Disaster Artist,” Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
    • “Logan,” Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green
    • “Molly’s Game,” Aaron Sorkin
    • “Mudbound,” Virgil Williams and Dee Rees

    Live Action Short Film

    • “The Silent Child” — WINNER
    • “DeKalb Elementary”
    • “The Eleven O’Clock”
    • “My Nephew Emmett”
    • “Watu Wote/All of Us”

    Documentary Short Subject

    • “Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405” — WINNER
    • “Edith+Eddie”
    • “Heroin(e)”
    • “Kayayo: The Living Shopping Baskets”
    • “Knife Skills”
    • “Traffic Stop”

    Film Editing

    • “Dunkirk” — WINNER
    • “Baby Driver”
    • “I, Tonya”
    • “The Shape of Water”
    • “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

    Visual Effects

    • “Blade Runner 2049” — WINNER
    • “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
    • “Kong: Skull Island”
    • “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
    • “War for the Planet of the Apes”

    Animated Feature

    • “Coco” — WINNER
    • “The Boss Baby”
    • “The Breadwinner”
    • “Ferdinand”
    • “Loving Vincent”

    Animated Short Film

    • “Dear Basketball” — WINNER
    • “Garden Party”
    • “Lou”
    • “Negative Space”
    • “Revolting Rhymes”

    Actress in a Supporting Role

    • Allison Janney, “I, Tonya” — WINNER
    • Mary J. Blige, “Mudbound”
    • Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”
    • Lesley Manville, “Phantom Thread”
    • Octavia Spencer, “The Shape of Water”

    Foreign Language Film

    • “A Fantastic Woman” — WINNER
    • “The Insult”
    • “Loveless”
    • “The Wound”
    • “The Square”

    Production Design

    • “The Shape of Water” — WINNER
    • “Beauty and the Beast”
    • “Blade Runner 2049”
    • “Darkest Hour”
    • “Dunkirk”

    Sound Mixing

    • “Dunkirk” — WINNER
    • “Baby Driver”
    • “Blade Runner 2049”
    • “The Shape of Water”
    • “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”

    Sound Editing

    • “Dunkirk” — WINNER
    • “Baby Driver”
    • “Blade Runner 2049”
    • “The Shape of Water”
    • “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”

    Documentary Feature

    • “Icarus” — WINNER
    • “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
    • “Faces Places”
    • “Last Men in Aleppo”
    • “Strong Island”

    Costume Design

    • “Phantom Thread” — WINNER
    • “Beauty and the Beast”
    • “Darkest Hour”
    • “The Shape of Water”
    • “Victoria and Abdul”

    Makeup and Hairstyling

    • “Darkest Hour” — WINNER
    • “Victoria & Abdul”
    • “Wonder”

    Actor in a Supporting Role

    • Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards” — WINNER
    • Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”
    • Woody Harrelson, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
    • Richard Jenkins, “The Shape of Water”
    • Christopher Plummer, “All the Money in the World”

    What did you think of the awards this year? Did your favorites win? Here are last year’s winners, for comparison’s sake.

  • Oscars 2018: Frances McDormand Wins Best Actress

    Somebody put up a “Congrats – again!” billboard. (Actually, some folks already did.)

    Frances McDormand — who already has an Oscar for “Fargo” — won a second one in the same Best Actress category during the 2018 Academy Awards.

    McDormand won for her lead role as Mildred Hayes in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” The film itself was polarizing, but McDormand is a goddess, and she was the frontrunner in this category.

    McDormand had all of the women who were nominated stand with her. She told everyone to look around. “We all have stories to tell and projects we need financed.” She left the audience with two words: “Inclusion rider.” Meaning, push for inclusion in your contracts.

    THR goes into detail with more on the idea of inclusion riders.

    Here’s that part of Frances McDormand’s speech:

    Here are the other nominees she beat:

    Actress in a Leading Role

    • Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”
    • Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”
    • Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”
    • Meryl Streep, “The Post”

    Very tough category. Hopefully we see all of those ladies back again in future years. OK, maybe not Meryl. Love you, Meryl, but 21 Oscar nominations might be enough. Plus, we totally believe you tripped Jodie Foster and Jennifer Lawrence.

    Here’s the full list of 2018 Oscar winners.

  • ‘Fargo’: 10 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About the Coen Brothers’ Classic

    Has it really been 20 years since the release of “Fargo?” Yah, you betcha.

    The snowbound crime comedy-drama, released March 8, 1996, marked the first mainstream smash for Joel and Ethan Coen. It also gave Frances McDormand and William H. Macy their signature roles, spawned the acclaimed FX drama series, and sparked a brief fad that had everyone talking with exaggerated Minne-soh-ta accents.

    Still, two decades after the film’s debut, there’s still a lot of confusion about what in “Fargo” was truth, what was fiction, and what was an elaborate in-joke. Here, then, are the far-fetched facts behind the film.1. The opening title card claims the movie is based on a true story, but in fact, it’s almost completely fictional. There was, however, a real-life crime with some superficial similarities. The victim was Helle Crafts, a Connecticut woman who disappeared in 1986. Her husband was ultimately convicted of her murder; investigators determined that he’d used a wood chipper to destroy her remains.

    2. Macy was initially considered for a minor role in “Fargo,” but he so desperately wanted the lead role of kidnap-plot instigator Jerry Lundegaard that he flew to New York to crash the auditions and told the Coens, “I’m afraid you’re going to screw up your movie and cast someone else in this role.” Then the former veterinary student threatened to shoot Ethan’s dog if they didn’t cast him.
    3. McDormand became a mom shortly before filming began — after a decade of marriage, she and Joel adopted a baby they named Pedro — but her massive pregnancy bump in “Fargo” was a prosthetic, filled with birdseed. McDormand did research by meeting with an actual pregnant cop from the Twin Cities. “In St. Paul, I met Officer Nancy, who was seven months pregnant and still working,” McDormand recalled at the time. “She was on the vice squad doing search and seizure. She was going to go into the office and do a desk job in the middle of her eighth month, but until then, she was still out there doing it.”

    4. If you watch the closing credits, you’ll see that “Victim in Field” was played by someone whose name looks suspiciously like Prince’s logo, back when he was using the glyph and calling himself “the Artist Formerly Known as Prince.” But that corpse wasn’t the Minneapolis music legend; rather it was “Fargo” storyboard artist J. Todd Anderson. Explained Ethan, “The storyboard artist formerly known as J. Todd Anderson decided he no longer wanted to go by that name.”
    5. Distributor Gramercy drummed up interest among critics with a promotional gift: a snow globe encasing a diorama of the wood chipper scene, complete with bloody red flakes that would scatter when you shook the globe. By the way, the Fargo, N.D. visitor’s center claims to have the wood chipper from the film on display, and tourists can pose for pictures with the prop and a mannequin leg sticking out of it.

    6. The movie cost a reported $7 million to make. It earned back $61 million worldwide, making it the Coens’ biggest hit at the time.7. At the 1997 Oscars (above), McDormand won Best Actress, while the Coen brothers won Best Original Screenplay. Also nominated were Macy (for Best Supporting Actor), cinematographer Roger Deakins, Ethan (for Best Picture, as producer), Joel (for directing), and editor Roderick Jaynes. Since Jaynes was a pseudonym for the writer/director/producer brothers themselves, the Coens wanted to have their “Miller’s Crossing” star, Albert Finney, accept the award for Jaynes. The point became moot when Jaynes didn’t win.

    8. In 2001, a woman from Tokyo named Takako Konishi was found dead in a field near Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. She had apparently gone there to commit suicide after traveling to Minneapolis, where her ex-lover lived, but a colorful rumor was spread that she had come to the region, believing that “Fargo” was a true story, to search for the ransom-money briefcase buried in the snow by Steve Buscemi‘s character. This urban legend inspired the 2003 documentary “This Is a True Story” and the 2014 movie drama “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter.” 9. In 1997, 17 years before the FX series debuted, there was an early, failed attempt to launch a “Fargo” TV spinoff. Edie Falco was cast as Marge, while Bruce Bohne reprised his movie role as Officer Lou. Kathy Bates, who had lived with Joel and Frances in the 1980s before “Misery” made her famous, directed the pilot episode for the proposed series.

    10. Despite the title “Fargo,” almost all of the movie takes place in Minnesota and was shot on location there. So why call it “Fargo?” Said Ethan, “We just felt [the town of] ‘Brainerd’ was not cool enough.”

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  • Here’s the Star-Studded First ‘Hail Caesar!’ Trailer

    hail caesar, hail caesar trailer, channing tatum, coen brothersThe first trailer for “Hail Caesar!,” the latest offering from the Coen Brothers, is here, and is stuffed with enough stars to make you dizzy.

    The flick is meta from the get-go, focusing on a movie studio making a big-budget spectacle called — you guessed it — “Hail Caesar!” The film-within-the-film is led by the biggest movie star in the world, Baird Whitlock, played by — you guessed it — the actual biggest movie star in the world, George Clooney.

    With Whitlock on board for the epic in size, scope, and budget “Caesar!,” the studio stands to make big bank — that is, until Whitlock is kidnapped by a mysterious group that calls itself The Future, right in the midst of shooting. The studio needs to cover up its star’s disappearance to avoid negative press, while also desperately searching for the man, who wakes up dazed and confused — and still wearing his gladiator costume — in a stranger’s home.

    “Hail Caesar!” is a veritable who’s who of Hollywood, including Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Josh Brolin, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Frances McDormand, and Tilda Swinton, among many, many others. And based on this trailer, it seems like classic Coen cinema: funny with an edge.

    “Hail Caesar!” is due in theaters on February 5, 2016.

    Photo credit: YouTube

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  • After Winning at the Emmys, Frances McDormand Is on EGOT Watch

    67th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Press RoomMove over, Taylor Swift — there’s a new contender for an EGOT in town.

    Last night, actress Olive Kitteridge.” Her only previous Emmy nomination came in 1997, for her supporting role in the miniseries “Hidden in America.”

    With that win, McDormand joined an ever-growing list of entertainers who have the chance the snag the illustrious title of EGOT (someone who’s won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony). In addition to that shiny new Emmy, McDormand already has an Oscar on her shelf (for 1996’s “Fargo“), as well as a Tony (for 2011’s “Good People”).

    That means that McDormand is only a Grammy win away from EGOT status, and as HitFix notes, she’s in good company: Helen Mirren, Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Vanessa Redgrave, and Geoffrey Rush also need that “G” to join the EGOT club. Here’s hoping one (or all) of them makes it in soon.

    [h/t HitFix]

    Photo credit: Getty Images

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  • ​’Almost Famous’: 15 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About Cameron Crowe’s Oscar-Winning Film

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    ​Fifteen years later, that tour bus group singalong of Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” still rings in our ears.

    “Almost Famous” may not have been a hit when it first opened on September 15, 2000, but over the years, it’s come to pluck the heartstrings and echo in the eardrums of millions of fans. It made a star of Kate Hudson, gave an early career boost to Zooey Deschanel, and won writer/director Cameron Crowe (of “Say Anything” and “Jerry Maguire” fame) his only Oscar to date.

    In honor of “Almost Famous’” fifteenth anniversary, crank up Stillwater’s “Fever Dog” and check out these facts you may not know about Crowe’s semi-autobiographical film.