Remembering

Today is the memorial service for Gee Nicholl, the wonderful woman who endowed the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting.

The writers who have benefited from her benevolence include some dear friends, and also include some amazing writers–two groups that are not mutually exclusive.

Jeffrey Eugenides was named a Fellow in its inaugural year. I hope you’ll forgive me for that bit of name-dropping, but it’s as close as I’ll ever get to a Pulitzer Prize.

Other notable Fellows are listed here.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Every year, thousands of screenwriters plan their lives around the Nicholl deadline. Thousands of writers are fueled by Nicholl dreams. Thousands of writers create new worlds, new universes, and many go onto success without ever achieving that goal of becoming a Nicholl Fellow, yet achieve goals that surpass it.

Mrs. Nicholl was an amazing woman. She wanted to carry on her husband’s dream by nurturing writers. Despite his successes as creator/producer of some of the most loved television series in the US and UK, Don Nicholl always considered himself a writer first, and when he left this world, she decided to honour him by creating these fellowships.

I like to think that they’re together again, and that he is very, very pleased.

May light eternal shine upon them.

Oscar moments.

For some odd reason, I’ve decided to include some favorite Oscar moments from time to time. I hope you enjoy them. Feel free to snark or drool or bask in the shared moment.

To launch this feature, I think we can snark (what WAS she wearing?), drool (oh my, that Victorian splendour) and bask (Dublin! I wish I’d been there!).

This one is about five minutes long because it includes the nominees and film clips, which I rather like.

There were people there who may not get many nods (Cruise and Williams) but having seen My Left Foot that year, I couldn’t deny the masterful performance. However, I’d never seen DDL before and had NO idea what he looked like/spoke like so seeing him collect his golden boy was a revelation in more ways than one.

Eight Things

It’s a meme, thanks to Candace.

***
1. We have to post these rules beore we give you the facts.

2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

3. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
***

Here are eight random facts about me. I’m including some that some of you know, because some of you don’t know them.

1. I once made a pumpkin pie from scratch, meaning, from taking a whole pumpkin and cutting it up and baking it and scraping the pumpkin stuff out instead of using canned pumpkin — and I don’t even like pumpkin pie.

2. I am the only person in the history of the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting who was a finalist twice with two different scripts, and won.

3. An early version of the script that won once had Sissy Spacek, Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina attached with Melanie Mayron to direct, and still didn’t get produced. Sigh.

4. If someone has a few million to toss our way, we could rectify that error. Ahem.

5. My favorite Cowboys are Harvey Martin (may he R.I.P.) and Michael Irvin.

6. My father was at Dealey Plaza when President Kennedy was shot.

7. I have an older sister.

8. I married my high school sweetheart.

———-

I don’t know 8 people who would want to be tagged or wouldn’t mind being tagged, so I won’t tag anybody. But if you want to be tagged, please respond here and let me know and then do the meme!

Tagging Nick!

And the Oscar goes to…

Forest Whitaker.

And I am very sad.

Academy Members, I Beg You

I beg you to do what you have done before, and award an Oscar to someone who deserves it, even though they may or may not have the “best” (whatever that means) performance this year.

So sure, they’re saying Forest Whitaker is the front runner for his performance as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. He’s already won the Golden Globe and from all reports, he deserved it. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it’s on my list. I’ve heard nothing but glowing reports about his performance.

Good God, the man is from Texas! He’s a fellow Texan, and he’s deserving, he’s a terrific actor and this was (again, evidently) the performance to beat this year.

So it pains me, embarrasses me, grieves me to say –

Forget all that.

Give Peter O’Toole his Oscar.

It won’t be the first time you’ve done such a thing, damn it. Does anybody REALLY think John Wayne’s performance as himself — I mean, as Rooster Cogburn — really surpassed those of Richard Burton in Anne of the Thousand Days, Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, both for Midnight Cowboy, and–look, there he is again, Peter O’Toole in Goodbye, Mr Chips?

Defend that with a straight face.

And does anybody really believe Paul Newman’s performance in The Color of Money was better than James Woods in Salvador? Oh come on, did you SEE Salvador? Newman gave better performances than in The Color of Money and deserved to win previously, but he finally snagged it that year. And I am not saying he didn’t deserve it. The Academy has a history of rewarding people after the face. It happens. It’s not rare.

Peter O’Toole has earned his Best Actor Oscar repeatedly. Yes, last year he got a Lifetime Achievement Award, but that’s not the same. Not the same at all.

One night around 2:00 a.m. our entire household was awakened by a CRASH as our front door slammed open — and a bellow down the hall:

“Peter O’Toole was ROBBED!”

The Resident Storm Chaser and I sat bold upright in bed. The RSD confused and, shall we say, peeved? But me? I immediately understood. The bellow came again:

“He should have won the Oscar! I can’t believe it — I can’t believe he didn’t — HE WAS ROBBED!”

My nineteen-year-old son had just returned from seeing a big screen showing of Lawrence of Arabia. And how can one truly say that Gregory Peck shouldn’t have won for To Kill a Mockingbird that year? And maybe, for that year with civil rights an immediate and fiery issue, it was an important performance and movie and to award it was just as important?

But …

Peter O’Toole as Lawrence was brilliant. Have you seen it? Find the biggest screen you can find and rent it. BUY it. Watch it. And be swept away.

Peter O’Toole as Henry II in Becket was tormented, and as a much older Henry II only five years later in The Lion in Winter was an element of nature. And while you’re at it, while you’re watching this O’Toole filmfest, you simply must include Goodbye Mr Chips. And cap it off with My Favorite Year, oh my god, My Favorite Year — My Favorite Year. What can I say? A funny, brilliant, physical, poignant performance. How can anybody forget Alan Swan?

And no, I haven’t seen Venus, yet.

I will. Just as I will See Last King of Scotland. And I hope I can come back here and make the same plea based on information and opinion and not just emotion.

But I ask you, members of the Academy, to do what you’ve done before, and award one of the most brilliant actors in the history of cinema his much-deserved Oscar.

It’s past time.

(And can anybody find this video online?)