A Tale of Two Mildreds

Hollywood just can't resist doing a remake when often the old adage of "some things are better left alone" will do. Perhaps this won't be the case when HBO takes a turn at the remake of the classic Mildred Pierce. From the initial look, the stellar cast and director Todd Haynes, the five part mini-series is a must-see.

The original was pure film noir with Joan Crawford at her best. The shoulder padded screen icon plays a divorcee with a spoiled and selfish daughter who goes back to work as a waitress to make ends meet during the depression days of the thirties. Eventually she opens her own restaurant, remarries an heir to a real estate fortune and soon the film turns into a murder mystery.

Daughter Dearest: Joan Crawford and Ann Blyth

Directed by Casablanca's Michael Curtiz, the film is filled with shades of expressionism -- lots of dark menacing shadows contrasted with the bright California sunlight. Production designer Anton Grot and set decorator George Hopkins designed some memorable interiors such as Mildred's Spanish style bungalow and the Bergaron beach house in Malibu's Latigo Beach (which was owned by Curtiz and eventually fell into the ocean during a storm in 1983).

Ann Blyth  plays the dreadful daughter Veda along with  Zachary Scott as the second husband, Monty Bergaron. Crawford won an Oscar for her performance and was almost replaced by Barbara Stanwyck after shooting began as her off screen antics can best be described as Diva-esque. Imagine that.

Sets for Mildred's Bungalow above and below

The film also delivered one of the best movie lines in years by her bff Ida (played by Eve Arden below) "Personally, Veda's convinced me that alligators have the right idea. They eat their young."

The remake stars Academy Award winning actress Kate Winslet with Evan Rachel Wood as her daughter Veda. Guy Pearce as the dashing yet somewhat seedy Bergaron, Mare Winningham and recent Oscar winner Melissa Leo are also in the cast. The mini-series will follow the original novel by James M. Cain instead of the l945 film. Cain also wrote The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity.

Kate Winslett

Evan Rachel Wood

Director Todd Haynes gave us the highly stylized Far From Heaven which was greatly influenced by the films of Douglas Sirk and is a master at recreating this genre of melodrama. The sets were designed by Mark Friedberg (who also worked on Heaven) who had the task of creating a thirties Los Angeles in New York's Westchester County (right down to importing palm and orange trees from Florida). They found an area in Long Island called The Gables which has the perfect Spanish architecture needed for Mildred's world. Award winning costume designer  Ann Roth designed the costumes for up to 2000 plus extras which meant alot of girdles and seamed stockings.

Ann Roth's Costume Design

Winslet and Wood

Guy Pearce

The Gables

Set your Tivo for Sunday, March 27th. And be sure to see the original...better still, read the book!

Photo Credits: Warner Brothers, HBO

The Other Red Carpet

While the lion's share of award attention this weekend goes to the Oscars, one of the more interesting awards shows took place tonight inside a beachfront tent in Santa Monica. Currently in its 26th year, the Independent Spirit Awards honors the top achievements in indie film -- Best Feature, Actor, Actress, Screenplay etc. and often does not follow the trends of the other awards which makes it immensely more interesting.

The winners tonight included:

Best Feature: Black Swan

    Best Director: Darren Arronofsky, Black Swan

Best Female Lead: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Male Lead: James Franco, 127 Hours

Best Foreign Film: The King's Speech

Best Screenplay: The Kids Are Alright

Sponsored by Elle Magazine, Piaget and and the Independent Film Channel (along with a host of others), the vibe is much more low key and relaxed as seen by the red carpet arrivals.

Nicole Kidman

Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt

The Fighter's Melissa Leo

 Amanda Peet (right)

Private Practice's Kate Walsh

Jennifer Lawrence

Indie favorite Terrence Howard

Photo Credits: IFC

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The Oscar Speech

The Academy Award  acceptance speech is a funny thing. It can be spontaneous (ok, you have had several months to prepare so don't act like you jotted it down on a napkin on the limo ride over), cringeworthy (Angelina Jolie and her brother), boastful (director James Cameron's "I'm king of the world" fell a bit flat), short and sweet (Joe Pesci uttered six words) or grateful to the point of thanking everyone in the family tree. Here are a few classic moments that were not drowned out by the orchestra:

Cate Blanchett (above) as she accepted the Best Supporting Actress for The Aviator (2000) "Thank you to Martin Scorsese. I hope my son will marry your daughter."

Adrien Brody lays on one a startled Halle Berry when he won the award for Best Actor for The Pianist in 2002. Audiences gasped. "I bet they didn't tell you that was in the gift bag," Brody quipped.

"You like me, you really like me" was Sally Field's exclamation when she won Best Actress for Places in the Heart in l985. The comment was the butt of Oscar jokes for years to come. To her credit, it was a reference from a line from her first Oscar winning role in Norma Rae. Unfortunately, no one got the point.

Grace Kelly said "This is one of those times I wish I smoked and drank"upon acceptance for her Best Actress award in 1954 for The Country Girl.

Robin Williams won Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting in 1998 and humorously remarked,
"It's like winning the golden dude. A great honor. Before I didn't have the chance of the Jamaican bobsled team of winning...now I do."

While he was actually introducing Elizabeth Taylor and not accepting an award, who could forget David Niven's priceless observation as a streaker ran past him...."Well ladies and gentlemen, that was almost bound to happen. But isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?"

Tom  Hanks chose the moment to thank  a former teacher who was "one of the finest gay Americans" when he accepted his award for Best Actor in Philadelphia. Problem is the teacher had not come out of the closet. Oops. Wasn't this recreated in a film with Kevin Kline years later?

"Hello Gorgeous." Pure Streisand as Babs accepted her Best Actress award for Funny Girl in l968.

"This is the only naked man who will be in my bedroom" noted Melissa Etheridge for her Best Song win ("I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth).

Forget the speech...  City Slickers actor Jack Palance chose to do push-ups instead.

And while it the moment didn't involve speeches, I would have to vote for Rob Lowe and Snow White's opening number at the 1989 Oscars possibly the most cringeworthy moment in Oscar history. The twenty minute dance number of Proud Mary was excruciating and left audiences wondering, "what were they thinking?" Thankfully Lowe's career survived.

Only in Hollywood...

Happy Oscar weekend and many thanks to The New Yorker for the Designs on Film review!

And the Losers Were...

While the award winners are at the core of next week's Academy Awards celebration, the red carpet fashions always run a close second. Much will be written, photographed, critiqued (and knocked off the day after) about Hollywood's version of fashion week. One thing continues to puzzle me -- with all the loaned jewelry, couture dresses and stylists available, why are there so many disasters and missteps? To paraphrase Sanford Blatch in an old Sex and the City episode, "it's fashion roadkill."

Here is a walk down memory lane to some of the most controversial appearances on the red carpet. And it begs the question, what were they thinking?

Barbara Streisand wore this "at first glance it's conservative but on second look it's see-through" number when she accepted her 1969 Best Actress award for Funny Girl. As it often happens in these cases, the outfit gets as much coverage as the win! Arnold Scassi was the designer.

Cher is a perennial favorite on the worst dressed list and perhaps she likes it that way. One thing is for sure -- she will always be covered in the press. According to the LA Times, Cher wore this Bob Mackie number in protest of the Oscar dress code. Her ostrich-feather headdress reportedly weighed 50 pounds.

John Galliano of Dior designed this backwards tuxedo suit for Celine Dion in 1999. Sadly this was not interesting from the front or the back but certainly drew attention.

Christian Lacroix concocted this gown for Uma Thurman and it does nothing for her whatsoever. It appears to be a combination toga/shirtdress/mess.

Lara Flynn Boyle was skewered by the fashion critics for her pre-Black Swan ballerina ensemble.

Kim Basinger wore this homemade frock at the 1990's show. The white satin gown had cryptic lettering down the arm of the sleeve that was no doubt influenced by Prince (who was her boyfriend at the time).

Gena Davis often lands on worst dressed lists and 1992 could not have been a worst time to be singled out as she was nominated for Best Actress for Thelma and Loiuse.

Angelina Jolie took her cues from the Addams Family's Morticia in 2000 and went total Goth in this Versace gown. She took home the Oscar for Girl, Interrupted.

In terms of sheer originality, I actually rather liked this dress worn by Lizzie Gardner that was made of gold American Express Cards.  Gardner is a costume designer and won for her work in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in 1990. Amex used the photo in their ads with the tagline "You Only Need One in Your Wallet."

And last but not least, singer Bjork in yet another ballerina got bad look. At least the bird wasn't real. Enough said.

More to report next week as we hear the phrases "You look amazing" and "Who are you wearing"ad nauseum!

The Gatsby of Agents

Superagent  Ed Limato passed away last July and was blessed with loyal, dedicated clients. His roster while at William Morris and ICM included Michelle Pfeiffer, Steve Martin, Richard Gere, Denzel Washington and Steve Martin just to name a few. His Oscar parties were legendary -- so much so that Variety's Peter Bart coined him "The Gatsby of Agents."  He was a throwback to the days of Old Hollywood, acting as a full service hand-holding agent. He talked a reticent Gere into starring in Pretty Woman, landed Pfeiffer the Scarface role that put her on the map and conducted damage control due to the overactive mouth of Mel Gibson.   "Great legends," he infamously said, "are usually people who die young because they didn't live long enough to spoil their image."

His Coldwater Canyon estate -- known as "Heather House" -- was built in l936 by actors Dick Powell and Joan Blondell and later owned by George Raft. Apparently his screening room was named "Marlene Dietrich and the game room was lined with Hirschfeld caricatures from the old MGM commissary.

A.N. Abell Auction Company will auction some of Limato's incredible treasures this Sunday, February 20th. (You can see the exhibit now  through the l9th from 9 am - 4 pm). Some of the items include gifts from his clients:

Vasily Kafanov: Winter Scene Landscape (Lot #475)
This was a gift from Michelle Pfeiffer when she filmed Russia House. Very fitting!
Estimate 2500/3500

Roman Scene Capriccio - Attributed to Antonoi Joli (Lot #274)

Old Masters painting was a gift from Mel Gibson.

Estimate 20,000/25,000

Antique Mallard Decoy (Lot #146)

Richard Gere presented Limato with this during the filming of An Officer and A Gentlemen.

Estimate 400/600

Marlene Dietrich Signed Photographs (Lot 599)

From Limato's personal collection.

Estimate 700/1000

For more details, see the auction's website here.

And many thanks to the Wall Street Journal for their piece Highbrow Trivia, Elle Decor's Designed for Drama and Variety's Pros Setting Vetting coverage on my book Designs on Film! Also check out my interview on LA's NPR KCRW station along with their very interesting piece on The Black Swan.
Most appreciated!

Photo Credits: A.N. Abell, The Inside Pitch (Limato shot)

CatWomen

Actress Anne Hathaway has not only added Oscar host to her resume, she has also joined the ranks of Catwoman, signing on for "The Dark Knight Also Rises" last month. (Story has it she beat out Keira Knightley and Jessica Biel for the role). The film is directed by Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale returns as Batman. Here are some of the many women who have previously bared their claws on both the small and silver screen as the infamous Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman:

Anne Hathaway

Julie Newmar was the first woman to don the catsuit, starring in television's Batman in 1966-1967.
Her costume emphasized her hourglass figure and  now resides in the Smithsonian.

Model Lee Meriwether joined the Dynamic Duo in the 1966 film version of Batman...

while Eartha Kitt soon followed in the feline role for third and final season of the television show.

Michelle Pfeiffer took the role to the screen in 1992's Batman Returns and the scene where she voraciously laps up milk is priceless. Annette Bening was slated for the part but her pregnancy intervened. Pfeiffer was excellent as the mousy secretary who is thrown off a building by her boss (Christopher Walken) and brought back to life by a herd of feral cats.

Halle Berry did not fare so well with the critics for her turn as Patience Phillips/Catwoman and won a Golden Raspberry in 2004.  At least she looked the part.

For now, I am looking forward to Anne's appearance on the Oscars. That could potentially be a much harder role than Catwoman!

The Contenders

I just got back from Los Angeles for a week of book promotion events and was honored to attend the Art Directors Guild Gala for Excellence in Production Design awards last night. The event was held at the Beverly Hills Hilton (same place as the Golden Globes), red carpet, celebs and all.  Designs on Film was honored and the evening was magical. 

The awards went to Inception, Black Swan, The King's Speech, Saturday Night Live and Mad Men among many others. Congrats to all! I will post photographs and blog  at a later date as jet lag is setting in!

In the meantime, here is my two cents on the Oscar race as covered by Variety. You can read the article here.