The Hours

So I'm watching the film The Hours, and for the life of me I can't figure out why Nicole got the Oscar, when Meryl and Julianne was just breathtaking. Nicole is great as Virginia Woolfe, but I think it was more of a nod to her not getting the award for Moulin Rouge. Meryl is brilliant as always, and Julianne should be getting the same awards and roles Nicole is getting.

(Personally I think they gave Renee the Oscar this year for the same reason, she had a nice performance in Cold Mountain, but it's was more a consolation for Chicago.)

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I agree. Nicole's forte seems to be as the oh-so-depressed dare I say, heroine of the movie. Only this time, there are two other oh-so-depressed heroines. *Sigh* And yes, the world of Academy Awarding is very unfair.

I agree.

how many times can the nominate juliana. i thought she was great in boogie nights.

Should have been Meryl!

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Meryl has a very good chance of getting nominated for THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. But, of course, this early in the "season", you never know.

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I have a bone to pick with the Oscars. Let's see, Halle Berry de-glamorized to a plain Jane, Nicole Kidman with a prosthetic nose, Charlize Theron as a very unattractive psycho. Why do they seem to give the Oscars to beautiful women who play unattractive women in their parts? Do they think they were so dedicated because they didn't mind not looking perfectly gorgeous for a change? In that case, they should have given Renee Zellweger one for Bridget Jones' Diary because God knows there's not many actresses who will actually gain 20 lbs. as opposed to wearing a fatsuit.

Jesus, now that I think about it, Halle Berry has won an Oscar. Halle Berry has won an Oscar. Why does that sound so wrong?

Updated On: 8/1/04 at 11:15 PM

I don't know how they nominated Nicole, and did not nominate Stephen Dillane for supporting actor for his role as Leonard Woolf. I thought it was his performance that made that train station scene so riveting.

Well, actually, I can take a guess. The film was released in late December to qualify for the upcoming Oscars (nominations were announced a few weeks later), and Mirimax had to start the Oscar campaign in the late fall before the film was actually released, and before the critics or public or academy got to see or review the film.

For the Oscar campaign blitz, the producers promoted the usual suspects -- Nicole, Meryl, Julianne, and Ed Harris. However when the film was released (for anyone taking notice, LOL), the best reviews in the supporting category actually went to Stephen Dillane. As much as Ed Harris' work was praised, and he did do a wonderful job, he was also criticised. Not everyone was blown away by his interpretation of Richard. However, virtually every critic praised Stephen Dillane's performance, and some industry insiders had listed him as a dark horse candidate. But Mirimax had already put their money on Ed for months, so he got all the publicity, and the nomination.

I must be having a senior moment, because at the moment, I can't recall who won that year. :-/

Eponine79, Charlize Theron won the Oscar for a lot more reasons than gaining weight and applying prosthetics. Her performance in Monster is absolutely explosive and she truly deserved to win.

As for Nicole, it's a very weird thing that she was nominated in the Leading Actress category as she has much less screen time than Meryl and Julianne. Julianne being shoved into Supporting cost her a win on both her nominations that year. Had there been any justice, she would have won Leading Actress for her flawless turn in Far From Heaven and Nicole would have taken Supporting Actress for The Hours.

And as for Renee winning this year for Cold Mountain, her performance was very good and very different from anything she's done which is why she got it, along with it being a consolation prize for missing out the previous year. I was very happy for her to win until the weekend of the ceremony itself when I saw Shoreh Aghdashloo give the most incredible performance in House Of Sand And Fog. Renee can win an Oscar anly old time. How many more chances will Shoreh get?

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I doubt it, really, given the fact she's a 52 year old Iranian woman with no movies in the pipeline and Renee is a 35 year old American woman with 4 movies in varying states of production, two of which (Piece Of My Heart and Edge Of Reason) are potential award winners.

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Ah, well, I love Chris Cooper and Adaptation, so I won't complain.

But of the three female leads in The Hours, Kidman impressed me the least. And the fact that she didn't win for Moulin Rouge wasn't exactly a rip-off, either. I do think she's a good actress, though.

And eponine, for some bizarre reason media types think that it's "courageous" for gorgeous actresses to uglify themselves for a role. Pffft. As if that'll make us forget how beautiful they are off-screen. It's called, acting, folks. Lots of people do it.

Oh, and my favorite actress in The Hours, outside of Moore, was Toni Collette. Man, she's good.

Do 'media types' vote on the Oscars?

I just have a hard time buying that the voters felt this huge need to own up to Nicole Kidman and/or Renee Zellweger this early in each lady's career. Sure, John Wayne won an Oscar for one movie that was *really* for his entire legacy. I'm not sure I think the Academy felt *that* strongly that Renee Zellweger needed an Oscar but hasn't felt the same way about, oh, let's say Martin Scorcese.

Why did they feel the need to make peace with 'Moulin Rouge' for Nicole but not Ewan McGregor? They could have nominated him for 'Big Fish' if making peace with 'Moulin' was such an overwhelming priority of the voters.

Well, don't get me started on that whole 'Forrest Gump' thing :)