ACCEPTANCE OR DENIAL `FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION' CHARACTERS HAVE AWARDS-SEASON STARS IN THEIR EYES.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer `People want more red carpet, not less.'' So says a producer in the latest offering from Christopher Guest For the Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, see . Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948), is a British/American comedian, actor, writer, director, musician and Grammy Award-winning composer known as Christopher Guest. , ``For Your Consideration,'' which shines a light on the absurdity of the Hollywood ritual we now find ourselves in -- awards season. The comedy -- featuring Guest regulars Fred Willard This biographical article or section needs additional references for verification. Please help [ to improve this article] by adding additional sources. Unverifiable material about living persons must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. , Catherine O'Hara Catherine Anne O'Hara (born March 4, 1954) is a Canadian-American actress and comedian. She is well known for her comedy work on SCTV and the roles as Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice, Kate McCallister in Home Alone, Sally in , Parker Posey, Eugene Levy and Jennifer Coolidge Jennifer Coolidge (August 28, 1963) is an American comedic actress. Biography Personal life Coolidge was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Paul Coolidge, a plastics manufacturer.[1] She was raised in Boston and has a sister, Suzanne. -- follows the fallout when a period melodrama, ``Home for Purim,'' begins to generate unlikely Oscar buzz. Like Guest's other movies (``Waiting for Guffman'' being the best example), we watch our ragtag rag·tag adj. 1. Shaggy or unkempt; ragged. 2. Diverse and disorderly in appearance or composition: "They're a small ragtag army of racketeers, bandits, and murderers" , delusional bunch get their hopes up, only to have reality cruelly crash the party. Guest, who co-wrote the movie with Levy, isn't even sure he'd call it a comedy. ``There's a tragic part, too,'' Guest says. ``What we're saying is that the awards business isn't just some big joke that it is to some people.'' OK. But just don't tell Willard that. We talked to three pairs of Guest's comic (tragic?) troupe to get their take on awards season. Opinions vary. Read on. Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp@dailynews.com Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy For a couple of funnymen, Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy are deadly serious when it comes to talking about comedy. Here, without coming close to cracking a smile, they ponder the meaning of their fourth writing collaboration, ``For Your Consideration.'' Guest: I remember 30 years ago, working on a film and someone telling another actor halfway through, ``Get your tuxedo ready.'' Subsequently, I've heard that line 20 or 30 times. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the person doesn't get nominated, much less win. Levy: And when someone says something like that to you, you start talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to yourself. Like Catherine's character does in her car, ``Don't be silly. This isn't going to happen ... is it?'' And then your friends start to call ... Guest: It's a virus that enters the bloodstream. We didn't make this movie out of bitterness. We've both been fortunate. We've had good careers. We've won awards. But there's a tragic part to this film, and that's what happens when people get their names senselessly floated and then they're dumped. It's not just a big joke. It's a damaging situation, ultimately. Guest: This movie doesn't come from a cynical place. ... If you were to see what really happens in the movie business, it's so much meaner and so much dumber that no one would believe it. Levy: Like your studio pitch story ... Guest: I was in a pitch once for a movie, and the executive, the president of the studio, fell asleep in the middle of the pitch. I mean asleep asleep. I kept talking, and he'd occasionally open his eyes. Then I stopped talking, and there was about a minute of silence, and he woke up and said, ``Let's do it.'' I am not exaggerating. ... It was unbelievable. And what I'm saying is, you couldn't put that in a movie because no one would believe it. Levy: That's why most people think making a movie about the movie business would be easy. They figure it's like shooting fish in a barrel. It's not. Guest: Any subject is challenging. Donald Wolfit Donald Wolfit, KBE (April 20, 1902 – February 17, 1968) was an English actor-manager, knighted in 1957 for his services to the theatre. Wolfit was born in Newark, Nottinghamshire, and attended the Magnus Grammar School (now Magnus Church of England School) and made , the English actor, said on his deathbed, ``Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.'' People who do comedy take it very, very seriously. Fred Willard, Jane Lynch Jane Lynch (born on July 14, 1960, in Dolton, Illinois) is an American writer, actress and comedienne. Biography Youth Raised in Illinois, she received her bachelor's degree in theater from Illinois State University and her MFA from Cornell University, also in Fred Willard and Jane Lynch play the co-hosts of an ``Entertainment Tonight''-like show. The Guest-movie vets are spot-on as usual: Willard hilariously self-involved, Lynch combatively contemptuous of her co-anchor's inanity in·an·i·ty n. pl. in·an·i·ties 1. The condition or quality of being inane. 2. Something empty of meaning or sense. Noun 1. . A little patter pat·ter 1 v. pat·tered, pat·ter·ing, pat·ters v.intr. 1. To make a quick succession of light soft tapping sounds: Rain pattered steadily against the glass. : < Lynch: Research was easy. These shows are very predictable. I didn't have to watch much. Willard: You can't watch much. Your head would explode. Lynch: There is that information overload A symptom of the high-tech age, which is too much information for one human being to absorb in an expanding world of people and technology. It comes from all sources including TV, newspapers, magazines as well as wanted and unwanted regular mail, e-mail and faxes. . You're blitzed blitzed adj. Slang Drunk or intoxicated. with images. The camera whips around. You've got the scroll. The hosts grab their positions and say their words in a very bombastic manner. The women like Nancy O'Dell Nancy Humphries O'Dell (born February 25, 1966 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina) is an American television host and entertainment journalist. Early years O'Dell graduated from the now-closed Coastal Academy High School in 1984. wear the hottest clothes, but they're all business! It's very serious business! Willard: I just heard today that ``Entertainment Tonight'' won't promote the movie because they think we're making fun of Mary Hart Mary Hart (born November 8, 1950) is an American television personality and a long-time host of the syndicated gossip and entertainment round-up program Entertainment Tonight. She has been an anchor, or "hostess", of that program since 1982. . Lynch: We were. Willard: Yes, but you'd like to think they're good sports. C'mon, I wore lip gloss for this movie. Lynch: Your lips were very glossy. Willard: It's one of the few times working on a movie where I said, ``Put on as much makeup as you can.'' But the hair, that faux-hawk, was not my idea. I got home and my wife looked at me and said, ``Oh dear, we can't leave the house for six months.'' Lynch: That's the kind of surprise you expect with a movie like this. Christopher just threw us together. And, unbeknownst to me, he told Fred to just talk over me all the time. Willard: I asked Chris, ``Don't you think we should tell Jane I'm going to do that?'' And he said, ``No. It will be funnier if she doesn't know.'' Lynch: And it was. But the editor did come up to me on the second day of filming and ask, ``Are you ever going to speak in this film?'' Willard: But those surprises are what I love about these movies. I did a scene with Catherine O'Hara, and she came out in character rip-roaring drunk and took off on this long diatribe di·a·tribe n. A bitter, abusive denunciation. [Latin diatriba, learned discourse, from Greek diatrib . So I had to backpedal. That or break down laughing. But you want to keep going. Lynch: You think we could parlay these parts into second careers? Willard: I keep getting calls from ``Best in Show.'' They'll say, ``We're doing a dog show or dog grooming contest. Can you walk around and say some of those funny lines?'' When you're playing a character, walking around saying stupid things is fun. But it's a little hard to do as myself. The dog owners say, ``Get this idiot out of here.'' Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey Catherine O'Hara and Parker Posey play actresses in ``Home for Purim,'' the movie-within-a-movie in ``For Your Consideration.'' When O'Hara's character, working actress Marilyn Hack, picks up some Oscar buzz through a mention on a Web site, it throws both women for a loop. O'Hara: There's that line in the movie: ``In every actor, there lives a tiger, a pig, an ass and a nightingale.'' For Christopher's movies, you have to get up there and make an ass of yourself. There's no way around it. Posey: I wish the line said, ``Tiger, pig, ass, nightingale -- or poodle poodle, popular breed of dog probably originating in Germany but generally associated with France, where it has been raised for centuries. There are three varieties, differing in size only. .'' Poodles are the most intelligent dog there is, but they have that funny-looking hair, so no one believes them. There is a poodle living inside me. O'Hara: Two years ago, Eugene and I sang at the Oscars. The only way we could pull it off was to pretend we were actually Mitch and Mickey, our characters in ``A Mighty Wind.'' If we were ourselves, we'd be too nervous. It was bad enough at rehearsal, looking out at the seats where they have everyone's names -- Clint Eastwood, Annette Bening Annette Carol Bening (born May 29, 1958) is a Golden Globe-, BAFTA- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning American actress. Biography Early life Bening was born in Topeka, Kansas, the daughter of Shirley and Grant Bening, an insurance salesman. . You don't want to think about that. So you're Mitch and Mickey. Posey: I got a little awards buzz for ``House of Yes'' and ``Personal Velocity.'' But that kind of thing, I start to sweat. It's not my idea of a good time. The movie drug infects everyone around you. O'Hara: My husband (production designer Bo Welch) has been nominated four times. He's totally cool about it, but all his friends feel obliged to say, ``You're definitely going to win.'' So by the time you get there you think, ``Yeah, why not?'' Posey: My mom saw something on the news about ``For Your Consideration.'' She was like, ``I heard `For Your Consideration' might get an Oscar nomination. ``No mom, it's about Oscar nominations.'' She didn't understand that part. O'Hara: Marilyn has this bad plastic surgery, which everyone keeps asking me about. ``How did you do it?'' It was all facial muscles facial muscles, n See muscles, facial. , making that long space between the nose and upper lip The upper lip covers the anterior surface of the body of the maxilla. It is referred to as the vermillion. It is raised by the Levator labii superioris. . We put extensions on my bangs. Looks scary, doesn't it? But it's sad, too. Posey: I wanted a fake nose for Rachel. You know, I might win an award with a fake nose. But we didn't have time for that. But we do have some very lesbian eyebrows going. The strong brow. It's very '40s. Strong brow, strong woman ... possibly gay. Should I prepare my acceptance speech now? CAPTION(S): 5 photos Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) Guest's stars The creators and actors from `Best in Show' send up Hollywood awards season Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer (2 -- 3) Above, Harry Shearer Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943 in Los Angeles, California) is an American comedic actor and writer. Shearer, a voice actor on The Simpsons (1989 to present), provides the voices of Mr. , Catherine O'Hara, Jennifer Coolidge, Ricky Gervais and Larry Miller share a scene in director Christopher Guest's new comedy, ``For Your Consideration.'' At left, O'Hara overacts -- in character -- with co-star Parker Posey. (4) Eugene Levy and director Christopher Guest co-wrote and co-star in ``For Your Consideration.'' (5) Jane Lynch and Fred Willard satirize sat·i·rize tr.v. sat·i·rized, sat·i·riz·ing, sat·i·riz·es To ridicule or attack by means of satire. satirize or -rise Verb [-rizing, Hollywood -- well, awards show fever in Hollywood -- in ``For Your Consideration.'' |
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