A Plea to AMPAS

I don't care if The Social Network loses, only that David Fincher wins Best Director. Please, Oscars, uphold a shred of dignity by giving the award to that man, because you know he deserves it. I have a feeling they will even if he did lose the DGA (because members of the Director's Guild are poopy phonies), and even if the directors won't vote for Fincher, he's still universally adored by actors, and actors make up the biggest proportion of AMPAS.

At the Globes, when Fincher went up onstage to give his acceptance speech, all the actors had these looks of very serious attentiveness and longing as they watched him talk, in a kind of "do whatever you want to me, I will serve you as a footstool on the set of your next movie if only you'll let me bask in your genius" kind of way, and besides, he's worked with so many big and respected names. Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Edward Norton, Cate Blanchett, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker. Like, some *very* big names. He is probably one of the most appreciated directors working right now, especially for his (in)famous reputation as an actor's director. Or maybe I'm just trying to rationalize why he'll still win. Just pleaseeeeee give it to Fincher. COME ON. Kthanksbye.

Casting Case: The Great Gatsby

Baz Luhrmann is supposedly arranging workshops for his possible future project, "The Great Gatsby", the news of which just made me roll my eyes skeptically because he's someone who's obviously more visually gifted than he is in terms of telling an effective or nuanced story. His movies, "Moulin Rouge", "Australia", "Romeo + Juliet" are all about the razzle-dazzle and elaborate screensets. I'm really afraid that he's drawn to "The Great Gatsby" for the allure of rollicking 20's decadence and operatic mansion parties, instead of the magnificent quiet power of its literary genius. I'd really prefer someone like Stephen Daldry behind this, one with a dab hand for acting and dialogue.

To add further insult, Luhrmann has supposedly workshopped the movie with Tobey Maguire, Leonardo Dicaprio, and Rebecca Hall. Ok. Ok. Ok. I just have so many issues with each individual choice, I don't even know where to begin. Firstly, at least kudos to the producers for considering a brunette actress for Daisy. Most people forget that Daisy, like all of Fitzgerald's muses, is a brunette, not a blonde. But if he's casting Rebecca Hall for her trademark traits - shy, English-rose loveliness and inner refinement - then he doesn't get the character at all. A wide misconception that's far worse than Daisy's hair color is who the character is supposed to be. Despite her elegance, easy manners, and captivating charisma that makes her such a prize for men like Tom Buchanan and Gatsby, Daisy is not a fundamentally refined person. That's what Nick Carraway has always known about it, and what Gatsby finally, fatally realizes. "He must have found what a grotesque thing a rose is." Daisy is a china teapot - just as pretty and effervescent, and just as empty. When you look at Rebecca Hall, she's the epitome of everything Daisy isn't - soulful and serene, a total class act through and through. Daisy isn't any of these qualities. She's fickle, disloyal, vain, shallow, and careless. A callous flirt. The source of her magnetic power stems from the false confidence she feeds from her loveliness and a lifetime of privilege and wealth. Think about how easily she breaks when Tom and Gatsby finally demand that she choose one of them. Like I said, just like a teapot.

So no. The idea that Daisy is much more than a charming, pretty girl is one of the most repetitive fails in movie history. Mia Farrow? Mira Sorvino? So gentle and sweet! So wrong for Daisy. They need to cast Daisy essentially in the same mode as Zelda Fitzgerald - that's who Daisy is based off, after all. I think Keira Knightley is a good choice, not just because her career has stemmed mostly from her ability to look good in period-wear, but because aside from actually playing Zelda in a future adaptation of The Beautiful and the Damned, I think Keira Knightley's onscreen persona closely resembles what I think of Daisy - they're both stunning and precocious women, with that je ne se quais casual air of entitlement that's natural for someone who's practically aristocratic - but with a hint of vulgarity underneath. Whenever I watch a character of hers, like the Duchess of Devonshire or Cecilia Tallis, I never come away with a admirable impression. There's always a languidness to her movements that suggests a flexibility in moral character, something about her infamously pursed lips that suggest flirtation or smugness, etc. End line, I think whoever they consider for the role of Daisy should be more Keira and less Rebecca Hall. Keira Knightley is so indisputably beautiful to look at, but she would also be able to arouse the audience's disdain for her, as Daisy does in the book.

Daisy: Rachel McAdams

I think Rachel McAdams would be appropriate - she's just so good at portraying indecisiveness. A lot of her characters are always fluctuating; soulful or shallow, love or hate, and she always does it so beautifully. The scene that comes to mind is when she tries to leave Ryan Gosling in "The Notebook" after their seven-years-later reunion, and she's crying in the car as she drives away. You hate her for leaving and yet you feel her anguish and conflict of feelings. Also, she managed to convince us that infidelity is true love in that movie.

She has an incredible ability to bring sympathy and understanding to the most selfish and superficial of characters (Regina George of "Mean Girls" is another great example). She would totally get my vote - these qualities would be essential for a convincing Daisy.

**My theory is that she's one of the greatest criers in recent acting history. She does all this bitchy and shallow stuff, but then a single tear of pathos and longing fills her eye, and then you're hers for the rest of eternity.

Jordan: Michelle Williams

And for some weird reason, I feel like Michelle Williams would do a really good Daisy as well. I'm thinking of a cross between her glamour puss Edie Sedgewick-proxy in "I'm Not There" and every other heartbreakingly vulnerable character she does...my only problem with her as an actress is this quality of detachment and dourness she always has. But for the next best role she could be Jordan. Michelle Williams just needs to be in bigger movies, period, and that little fashionista would probably rock 20's wear to pieces. But is she capable of frothy and fun?

As for Tobey Maguire, do I even need to say anything? Nick Carraway is already notoriously tricky to cast since he's basically a narrative vehicle for the audience - and Luhrmann wants to compensate for that by casting a complete charisma vacuum like Maguire? He seriously thinks it's a good idea to subject the audience to Maguire's dead eyes and dead droning voice for two hours? Tsk tsk.

Nick: Andrew Garfield

Someone on an IMDB thread mentioned Andrew Garfield, and I thought it was an excellent suggestion. For once, Garfield is actually more of the right age than Maguire, even more so when they get around to shooting. It is important to note that everyone in "The Great Gatsby" is under 30 - I think the extreme youth of the characters is very underrated element. It's part of an emerging American theme, most recently manifested in "The Social Network" - kids who got rich too fast too soon; smart enough to make money but lacking in the necessary qualities to manage it. Nick is 29 in the book, as is Tom, and Gatsby is presumably the same age. Daisy is 23, as I recall, and Jordan 21. Andrew Garfield is 27 right now, so he's totally the appropriate age, and would handle his character's job well, which is to arouse natural sympathy and be a nonjudgemental moral ballast for the rest of characters. He's someone you can easily imagine being everyone's confidante because he's so easily likeable and upstanding. *Ha! The irony of replacing Tobey Maguire with his Spiderman successor just hit me.

And Leonardo Dicaprio. Well obviously I hate him and all that. He specializes in artificial loud-mouth intensity, so I don't know how that's more wrong for Gatsby. He's a dreamer, and Dicaprio is just too....solid and practical for Gatsby, I suppose. In fact, I'd say Dicaprio would make a better Tom Buchanan - he's actually too confident for Gatsby. Gatsby's like the opposite of Daisy in some ways - at heart he's actually a very good, meek guy who has both insecurity and optimism in spades - but he tries way too hard to acquire that sort of effortless elegance and ease that Tom and Daisy both have. Gatsby is only mysterious because he deliberately shrouds himself in isolation and hearsay, but as a individual, he fails to have any real influence over anyone who actually matters. No one ends up being convinced by his flashy persona, not Nick or Tom or any of the partygoers who can't even be bothered to show up to his funeral. Back in his hometown he'd be the shizzle fo sho, but standing upright next to the ultimate blue-blood Tom Buchanan, Gatsby just wilts.

Gatsby is basically F Scott Fitzgerald Fitzgerald incarnate. So the conclusion is, if the producers should cast for Daisy like they're casting for Zelda, they should cast for Gatsby as if they'd cast for Fitzgerald. So I went to IMDB to see who would be playing Scott in the aforementioned production of "The Beautiful and the Damned" with Keira Knightley - and alas, no one seems to be cast yet. The movie's one piece of trivia did mention that "Leonardo Dicaprio was supposedly rumored for the role of F Scott Fitzgerald." GAHHHHH. The universe is totally against me.

Either way, I really can't think of who could play Gatsby. There's no way they'd go with an unknown actor though; not everyone can be David Fincher and just create three or four new stars within the span of a single movie.

Tom Buchanan: Armie Hammer/Tom Hardy

Actually, I really just want half the cast of "The Social Network" to be in another Great American movie. Rooney Mara can play Jordan, or if she can even play Daisy if she's really harboring that unseen reservoir of edgy talent that Fincher claims she does. Andrew Garfield can be Nick and Armie Hammer can be Tom Buchanan. He'd be perfect for it, too. Tom Hardy would also be a good choice for Buchanan, since being a cocky badass is like a contractual requirement for each of his roles. It would be totally believable that anyone would choose that sturdy mass over even a long-lost childhood love who's pined over you for five years.

Jay Gatsby but not really: Ben Whishaw

After some thought, I realized that this is one of those times when I wish Ben Whishaw was thirty pounds heavier and a bit stockier - i.e. normal-sized, because Whishaw's two trademarks are 1) wistful romantic sincerity and 2) nervous inadequacy, both of which fit Gatsby to a T. There's always something so heartbreaking, valiant, and/or pathetic about the various characters Whishaw portrays. If only he wasn't so slight and fragile-looking....

Ben from "Brideshead Revisited", center. And he looks so dapper in 20's garb, too.....sigh.....

"Like" Button? Give Me "Love"

I must say, after reading Armand White's critique of The Social Network, I have to agree with most of the things he says, but that doesn't stop me from loving the movie any less. The movie nailed exactly what it set out to do, and I think White should look into the reasons behind our admiration for Zuckerberg instead of criticizing the movie itself.

I know everyone's going on about Andrew Garfield this and Garfield that, and I admit he was fantastic, but Jesse Eisenberg definitely cinched it for me. He has the most difficult job out of anyone - being an unrepentant asshole, screwing over his best friend, and still we admire him.

You still root for him despite him being an "asshole" (as he's called several times, notably, throughout the movie) because he's brilliant, straightforward, blunt, and completely unapologetic about it. There are no social redeeming qualities to him, but that's part of his appeal. Much like Sue Sylvester and Ari Gold, we can't help but admire that aspect. He doesn't say things specifically to hurt people, he just has no mind filter. And I admit, we wouldn't like him as much if he didn't say such clever things all the time.

And Eisenberg's great delivery definitely helps.

But overall, I'm not sure it's a terrible thing if American begins to worship at the alter of the geek instead of the altar of the jocks (as represented by the Winklevi). But I hope people realize that a great deal of the movie is fabricated and one key character doesn't exist in real life at all. Before they assume that it's a 100% accurate biopic, I hope they Google that shit.

Some great, insightful articles on the real, and may I say, definitively less ruthless and wiseass Mark Zuckerberg:

Sillicon Valley reacts after seeing The Social Network

A great profile on him in "The New Yorker"

Pics of his real girlfriend to whom presumably he is not an asshole towards otherwise they wouldn't have moved in together, Priscilla Chan

I'm praying that it won't fade on me. Please? So far, I haven't been feeling the unease after seeing The Dark Knight, when my original declaration that it was a masterpiece slowly ebbed as I began to grow less enamored with it every second I spent thinking about it. The adrenaline of the ride was not enough to sustain the aftermath. But The Social Network is so well constructed. Here's to hoping that it will age like fine wine, or better yet, like Fincher's other tour de force, Fight Club.

*Postnote: Part of the reason why I'm so impressed with Eisenberg is because I had pretty low expectations all along. I read an interview several months back when he said he enjoyed playing the asshole for once, meeting my condescending disapproval ("that's simplistic and no one will care about your character if you do that!") and the endless promo photos of his unsmiling Zuckerberg led me to worry that his acting would merely consist between one-note expressions that alternated between poker-face and constipated, as is generally the result when many actors attempt to be "stoic". I didn't have any faith. But again, he nailed everything. I'll need to see it again but I'm a bit in love with the performance for now. Full apologies for Mr. Eisenberg for having considered him a less appealing version of Michael Cera, though I'll wait for him to demonstrate his full range before I commit to him.

The Last Breath Before the Festivities Come

Bye-bye, September. Goodbye, last month of bipolar weather (tornados, heat waves, sudden drops and spikes, assholery weather in general), and looking forward to the cooling breath of October. It's raining ferociously today and I'm LOVING it.

Best of all, the fall season means that it's officially time to start speculating Oscar. Of course, it's an yearly ongoing discourse. Bloggers and movie fans briefly sojourn in a state of sickened exhaustion after the Oscars take place, barely taking time to return to a state of normalcy before Sundance comes along and revs them back up. But most early speculation consist of potshots. I came across an Oscar prediction article in April (for God's sake) that predicted The American to win Best Picture for 2011. (Er, just to put it out now and forever, any movie that has the competent but uninteresting Mr. Clooney as its leading man will never win Best Picture. He's charismatic but also an emotional vacuum, and there's always an overly-complacent vagueness to his charm that counteracts any force of conflict of depth. Hence, it's difficult to be invested in him. We like 'em outlandish)

*Dammit! I really did lose half this blog entry. Quick re-write:

September deaths: RIP Sally Menke, editor and MVP to Quentin Tarantino. She was a hero of mine, especially during a short period briefly back when I wanted to become a film editor. Her untimely and tragic death already sparked whispers about whether Tarantino can retain the same level of quality without her. I think he can, but all the same, it's surely a creative and personal blow for him. Menke left big shoes to fill.

Wonderfully funny and (now sad) tradition QT did for Sally Menke:

RIP to Tony Curtis and Gloria Stuart as well.

"The Social Network" marks the beginning of real-time Oscar season, especially with the reviews nearing a hysterical peak. It only makes me more anxious for this to be a Great Movie. Please let it reinvigorate the movie industry into writing great dialogue again, and please let it mark the auspicious beginnings of a better movie decade than the last.

September trailers amp up the growing Oscar excitement: The King's Speech, and True Grit.

Love the song. Love the unknown girl they picked, especially her deliberate line delivery. Cinematographer Roger Deakins is so finally winning his due with this.

Audience members who have already seen it at Toronto are falling over themselves left and right to assure people that it's much better than its pandering trailer. Will rightfully cement Colin Firth's status as one of the best actors of his generation, and perhaps begin a career revival for the unfailingly great Helena Bonham-Carter (no, Harry Potter and her husband's bad movies don't really count, though she was awesome in them).