TMI (3-14-12)

March 14, 2012

TMI (Today’s Movie Info)

Oscar trivia

Who is the only Oscar to win an Oscar?
 
 Oscar Hammerstein II won two Oscars for best original song—in 1941 for “The Last Time I Saw Paris” in the film Lady Be Good (shared with Jerome Kern), and in 1945 for “It Might as Well Be Spring” in State Fair (shared with Richard Rodgers).  This Oscar was also nominated for 3 other Oscars, and currently has 342 song credits for movies and TV. The last song he wrote was “Edelweiss” from The Sound of Music (he passed away in 1960). 

Pictured (Hammerstein, right and Richard Rogers, left)

 

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Posted by David Ferguson

TMI (3-7-12)

March 7, 2012

TMI (Today’s Movie Info)

Oscar trivia

Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro are the only two actors to win Oscars (Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor) for playing the same character in different films: Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather, Part II (1974), respectively.

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Posted by David Ferguson

TMI (3-6-12)

March 6, 2012

TMI (Today’s Movie Info)

Oscar trivia

There are five writers who have each won 3 Oscars for their screenplays:

WOODY ALLEN: Annie Hall*; Hannah and Her Sisters; Midnight in Paris
CHARLES BRACKETT: The Lost Weekend*; Sunset Boulevard; Titanic (1953)
PADDY CHAYEFSKY: Marty*; The Hospital; Network
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA: Patton*; The Godfather*; The Godfather: Part II*
BILLY WILDER: The Lost Weekend*; Sunset Boulevard; The Apartment*

*Best Picture Winner

 

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Posted by David Ferguson

TMI (3-1-12)

March 1, 2012

TMI (Today’s Movie Info)

OSCAR TRIVIA

 MERYL STREEP, with her record 17th nomination, earned a third acting Oscar this year.  Only Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman, and Walter Brennan won as many acting Oscars, and only Katharine Hepburn won more, with four. At 62, Streep becomes the fourth oldest person to win in this category, behind only 80-year-old Jessica Tandy (Driving Miss Daisy, 1989), 74-year-old Hepburn (On Golden Pond, 1981), and 63-year-old Marie Dressler (Min and Bill, 1930).

4 – Katharine Hepburn (Morning Glory 1933, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner 1967, The Lion in Winter 1968, On Golden Pond 1981)

3 – Meryl Streep (Kramer vs Kramer 1979, Sophie’s Choice 1982, The Iron Lady 2011)

3 – Ingrid Bergman (Gaslight 1944, Anastasia 1956, Murder on the Orient Express 1974)

3 – Walter Brennan (Come and Get it 1936, Kentucky 1939, The Westerner 1940)

3 – Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest 1975, Terms of Endearment 1983, As Good as it Gets 1997)

 

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Posted by David Ferguson

TMI (2-29-12)

February 29, 2012

TMI (Today’s Movie Info)

February: Director’s Month

 WILLIAM WELLMAN (1896-1975)  was nominated for 3 Best Director Oscars, and won for Best Screenplay on the original A Star is Born (1937).  Known as “Wild Bill” for his brave and daring work as an aviator in WWI, the name stuck when he hit Hollywood as a larger than life figure.  At age 19, he joined the air wing of the French Foreign Legion and flew for the famed Lafayette Escadrille until he was shot down. In 1927, Paramount hired him, based on his real life experience, to direct its WWI flying epic Wings.  It took him a year to wrap production (unheard of in those days), and the film was over budget and way behind schedule.  However, it went on to become the very first Academy Award winner for Best Picture (and the only silent film winner until The Artist won in 2012) and was a box office smash.  The film starred legendary silent film actress Clara Bow, and also featured a small role for a young Gary Cooper (25 years before High Noon).  Despite Wellman’s reputation as bullying director, he went on to direct The Public Enemy (1931) which is still considered one of the great gangster movies, and also sent James Cagney direct to superstardom. Wellman directed three films famous for their biting satire of Hollywood and stardom: A Star is Born (1937), Nothing Sacred (1937), Roxie Hart (1942). He also continued making westerns and war films including: The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Story of G.I. Joe (1945), Battleground (1949), The High and the Mighty (1954, with John Wayne).  He walked away from Hollywood after the post-production studio tampering of his last film Lafayette Escadrille (1958).  Wellman rarely receives due credit for his place in Hollywood history.  This is usually attributed to his head-strong inability to collaborate with others, as evidenced by his quote: “Get a director and a writer and leave them alone.  That’s how the best pictures get made.”  Wellman was the great-great-great-grandson of Frances Lewis, who signed the Declaration of Independence.

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Posted by David Ferguson

TMI (2-28-12)

February 28, 2012

TMI (Today’s Movie Info)

February: Director’s Month

 WILLIAM WYLER (1902-1981). His 12 Best Director Oscar nominations are the most ever, and he won the award 3 times: Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Ben-Hur (1959).  Wyler put together an incredible streak of 7 consecutive years having films he directed receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.  His other well known films include: Jezebel (1938), Wuthering Heights (1939), The Little Foxes (1941), The Heiress (1949), Roman Holiday (1953), and his final hit, and Barbra Streisand’s film debut, Funny Girl (1968).  In what must be considered one of the more confounding items in Hollywood history, Wyler was so well known for being tough on actors that he was called “Once More Wyler”.  Yet, he was credited by both Laurence Olivier and Bette Davis for his influence in their development as actors, and directed a record 36 Oscar nominated performances.  A great quote from Wyler: “I made over 40 Westerns.  I used to lie awake nights trying to think up new ways of getting on and off a horse.”

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Posted by David Ferguson

TMI (2-26-12)

February 26, 2012

TMI (Today’s Movie Info)

February: Director’s Month

VICTOR FLEMING (1889-1949).  If you were a film director and your resume included The Wizard of Oz AND Gone with the Wind (both from 1939), you would consider that a remarkable career, not just a terrific year.  Interestingly, Fleming was brought in on both films as a replacement for the original directors, each whom had experienced production difficulties.  With these two films, he is the only director with two in the Top 10 of AFI’s Top 100 American films of all-time.  Fleming began his Hollywood career as a stuntman, but quickly moved behind the camera.  His first hit was The Virginian (1929), which was also the film that turned Gary Cooper into a star.  In 1932, Fleming directed Clark Gable’s star-making film Red Dust.  Fleming ’s other classic films include: Bombshell (1933), Treasure Island(1934), Captain Courageous (1937), Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1941). Fleming once served as President Woodrow Wilson’s personal cameraman at the Versailles Peace Conference.  One of his most regrettable quotes was “Don’t be a damn fool David.  This picture is going to be one of the biggest white elephants of all-time.”  That’s what he told legendary producer David O Selznick after being offered a percentage of the profits, rather than a salary for Gone with the Wind (which won Fleming his only Academy Award).

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Posted by David Ferguson

TMI (2-25-12)

February 25, 2012

TMI (Today’s Movie Info)

February: Director’s Month

 UWE BOLL has directed some of the worst reviewed films of all time, and has been labeled as the worst director on the planet. He has many films based on video games that rank near the bottom on IMDb for lowest rated films.  Boll once challenged his harshest critics to a boxing match.  The fights were recorded for the documentary Raging Boll (2010).  After winning all of the matches, Boll said, “You see what happens when people get hit in the head?  They like my movies!”  Though you have probably never seen one, his movies include: Alone in the Dark (2005), In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2006), and let’s not forget Postal (2007), which is a comedy-thriller featuring a characterization of Osama Bin Laden.

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Posted by David Ferguson

TMI (2-24-12)

February 24, 2012

TMI (Today’s Movie Info)

February: Director’s Month

FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT (1932-1984) dropped out of high school in France to “self-educate”. His curriculum included watching 3 movies each day and reading 3 books each week. While still a teenager, he formed a movie club and became a film critic. At the Cannes Film Festival in 1959, he was presented as Best Director for The 400 Blows (1959).  It was quite an honor for a French director, especially for his first feature film.  He also received his first Oscar nomination for his work on the Screenplay.  The 400 Blows ushered in the French New Wave in cinema, which brought a wider audience to other French directors like Jean Luc Godard and Claude Chabrol. Truffaut’s third film, Jules and Jim (1962), received critical acclaim and remains a classic today.  In 1966, he wrote the screenplay (based on one of his favorite books) and directed his first English speaking film, Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit 451 (1966).  His 1973 film, Day for Night, brought Oscar nominations for Directing and Screenplay, and it won for Best Foreign Film.  Truffaut also acted in a few films, including playing a scientist in Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).  His final film, Confidentially Yours (1983) was a tribute to his film idol, Alfred Hitchcock.  Truffaut was such a cinephile and lover of films that legend has it, he once kicked a hitch-hiker out of the car when he realized the man knew nothing of movies.  His troubles in the real world are clear from his famous quote: “I have always preferred the reflect of life to life itself.”

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Posted by David Ferguson

TMI (2-23-12)

February 23, 2012

TMI (Today’s Movie Info)

February: Director’s Month

 PRESTON STURGES (1898-1959) is known for writing and directing screwball comedies that feature rapid-fire, sometimes overlapping dialogue.  His best known films are The Lady Eve (1941), Sullivan’s Travels (1941), The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1942).  He won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for The Great McGinty (1940).  Sturges is regarded as the first successful screenwriter who went on to a successful career directing Hollywood films.  As a young man in 1920, he invented a “kiss-proof” lipstick called Red-Red Rouge.  The lipstick was used in the films of the era, and had mass consumer appeal.  Sturges stated his golden rule for comedies: “A pretty girl is better than a plain one. A leg is better than an arm. A bedroom is better than a living room.  An arrival is better than a departure.  A birth is better than a death.  A chase is better than a chat.  A dog is better than a landscape.  A kitten is better than a dog.  A baby is better than a kitten.  A kiss is better than a baby.  A pratfall is better than anything.”

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Posted by David Ferguson

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