While the debate will certainly go on for the better part of the award season as to where Anna Karenina will land in categories such as Best Picture and Best Actress, one category it will certainly be viewed as a major contender is Best Costumes. Getting an early start on the campaign trail, costume designer, Jacqueline Durran, who has nominated for an Oscar for her work on Joe Wright‘s Atonement and Pride and Prejudice, spoke with The Genteel about her work on Anna. Here’s a snippet:
[Director] Joe [Wright] wanted me to trace the shapes of the 1870s but to make them completely unfussy. He wanted me to take away all the trimmings of the clothing and keep a very stark silhouette. And the way he explained it to me was: “Look at ’50s couture, how it’s all about silhouette and apply that approach to the 1870s.”
So, that’s how it [the designing and creation of the costumes] all comes together. Because I was referencing the 1950s, I tried to emphasise the ’50s element of the clothing within the 1870s silhouettes so that people understood that I didn’t think for a moment that I was being accurate, but [that] I was [actually] stylising the costumes.
Get the full interview here. [via The Film Experience]
Adam Sternbergh at the New York Times has written up a fascinating interview with Looper writer/director Rian Johnson exploring his inspirations for the film which include Chris Marker’s La Jetee, Peter Weir’s Witness, “Four Quartets” by T. S. Eliot, Casablanca and more. Give it a read and trust me, it’s a good one. [New York Times]
Like anyone that loved Silver Linings Playbook in Toronto (read my “A+” review here) there is fear the hype will raise expectations too high. Well, Jeff Wells has written up a piece in which he discusses his frustration with two friends that had that very reaction. He doesn’t name anyone, but as a result of the post, Tom O’Neil at Gold Derby cops to being one of the people Wells was referring to.
Wells, clearly angry at what he heard, wrote the night before, “One actually described Silver Linings as a ‘made for TV movie.’ Another compared it to Herbert Ross’s The Goodbye Girl.” And that’s the tamest part of his rant, but what is even more interesting is O’Neil’s response in which he writes:
What was behind Jeff Wells’ meltdown last night in that parking garage? Why does he adore this film so much? I have a cynical answer that will probably get Jeff mad again, but I think it’s pertinent to this film’s place in this Oscar derby. The Silver Linings Playbook is the ultimate masturbatory fantasy of mature str8 guys. They feel like they can have a failed marriage or two behind them, they can even be a bit loopy in the head and cast off by the world, but, hey, somewhere, on some back suburban street, there’s a hot chick chasing him relentlessly, begging for sex.
Uhhhhh, okay. I wonder why I liked it so much given I have zero failed marriages to my name. A very strange and almost personal response that could only incite more rage rather than constructive conversation.
My two cents… Silver Linings Playbook (there is no longer a “The” in the title) is a fantastic film with heart, humor and a remarkable level of honesty in a film that is admittedly cliche and easy to see where it’s going. It’s greatness, however, is in its characters and performances, which allow you to overlook any formulaic plotting. As for failed marriages and the sex-starved “hot chick” around the corner, that seems like a completely different conversation.
