Why there will never be another Joan Crawford

With the first two parts of Mildred Pierce airing last Sunday, it got me thinking about both Kate Winslet and Joan Crawford (well duh, that makes sense!). Obviously, any comparison of the two is totally unfair, as many generations between them and a different Hollywood system would make it almost impossible. That being said, and with Kate taking on a role that won Crawford her first and only Oscar, I still can't help but wonder what Crawford's legacy will be.

I didn't know that much about Joan Crawford until I first saw Mommie Dearest when I was about 12 years old or so. Crawford will forever be known more for her distaste for wire hangers and axing down trees in her garden than for her acting, which is quite unfortunate. I wasn't old enough to truly understand most of the films I watched as a youngster, but I knew it was something special. When I finally got around to watching the original Mildred Pierce about a year or so ago, Crawford's performance was nothing short of extraordinary. My first thought was that it's hard to imagine that someone as glamorous as Crawford would be this stay-at-home frumpy housewife. However, she plays it off pretty well given the circumstances. [It's interesting to note that Angelina Jolie was claimed to have been miscast by many critics, commenting that no one would believe Angie has a neglected housewife. I don't necessarily agree with that, however]. Crawford was one of few actresses who made the successful transition from silent films, and even continued to prove her worth after being labeled "box office poison" in the late 1930s.


The best part about Crawford, however, was the fact that you couldn't take your eyes off her. I re-watch Mildred Pierce to this day, and I'm still mesmerized in the same way that I will always bow down to Bette Davis after watching All About Eve. There are only a few actresses throughout the modern era, in my opinion, that this can be said about. Crawford, Davis, Katherine Hepburns, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Judy Garland, Audrey Hepburn, and Marilyn Monroe. (Though Monroe's acting accomplishments are much less than the rest of that list). They were all great actresses who were able to mix their beauty with their talent. It's hard to think that the same can be said of actresses right now.


Meryl? Not particularly. Cate Blanchett? Meh. The only ones that come close, in my opinion, are Angie and Kate Winslet. Angie more for her looks, Winslet more for her ability to just light up the screen whenever she's on it. I watched the trailer to Winslet's last three big films- Little Children, Revolutionary Road, and The Reader, and I begin to remember why Winslet is one of the greatest actresses of our time. But it's not her beauty that catches us (though she is quite stunning). Its the way she is able to become the character. She was Hanna Schmitz- you felt for her, you believed her, and sympathized with her. Any actress who can make you sympathize with a character that is not written with that intention is doing something right.
Actresses unfortunately have to work harder now than ever before to win over critics and audiences a like. Looking at what Winslet is doing now on HBO, it's hard to imagine that the critics won't absolutely fawn over her performance. Reviews have proven most already are, and an almost certain Emmy win will solidify that. But she is no Joan Crawford. Then again, no one is. No one ever will be. Just like people are saying that there will never be another Elizabeth Taylor, I think, even more so, there will never be another Joan Crawford.


*just as a side note and rant, Faye Dunaway has been totally crucified for her role in Mommie Dearest, and her career would never recover. In my opinion, she has been so unjustly criticized for that role. THe performance may have been camp at its best, but that was Joan Crawford. Her life was camp, and she was a true force of nature. Why critics would punish Dunaway is beyond me, especially after her unmatched filmography at the time. But at least we can still revel in the fact that we have Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, and Network to keep us satisfied.

And for some fun, re-watch this amazing trailer for the 1981 film.

Does Natalie Portman Deserve the Oscar?

We heard rumors today that might question whether Natalie Portman deserves her Oscar. According to Sarah Lane, Natalie's stunt double in last year's "Black Swan," Natalie only did 5% of the actual dancing seen in the movie. "All the other shots are me," Lane claims.

What about the claims that Natalie trained for over year for her role as ballerina Nina Sayers? When a lot of the discussion around Natalie's performance centered around her ability to transform herself into a seemingly professional ballerina, it puts her performance into question... or does it?

"Physically, I trained starting a year ahead of time, and then the six months prior to [shooting] the film, went into a sort of hypertraining, where I was doing five hours a day of both ballet and crosstraining with swimming," Natalie told reporters at a press conference at the Venice Film Festival late last year.

It's hard to believe that Natalie would lie about something like that. And there's no taking away from the real method acting that took place on this film. Her body, her mannerisms, her demeanor- you believed that Natalie was going through everything a real ballerina would go through. So what's the real problem with this?

Well, according to Lane, Fox Searchlight explicity told her not to speak publicly about her role in the film, so as not to take anything away from Natalie and her Oscar campaign.

“They were trying to create this facade that she had become a ballerina in a year-and-a-half,” Lane commented to Dance Magazine in December. “So I knew they didn’t want to publicize anything about me.”

One person that Portman has on her side, however, is fiancee and father of her child, choreographer Benjamin Millipied. Lane “just did the footwork and the fouettes and one diagonal in the studio,” Millipied in an interview with the L.A. Times. “Honestly, 85 percent of that movie is Natalie,” he said.

So, should this take away from Natalie's Oscar win? What about other actors and actresses who have had similar issues? Should Marion Cottilard give back her Oscar, considering she didn't do most of the singing as Edith Piaf in "La Vie En Rose?" What about Adrien Brody's performance in "The Pianist?" He won an Oscar back in 2002, while only learning the exact keystrokes so it would seem like it was him playing the piano.

"They wanted to create this idea in people’s minds that Natalie was some kind of prodigy or so gifted in dance, Lane said. “It is demeaning to the profession and not just to me. I’ve been doing this for 22 years…. Can you become a concert pianist in a year and a half, even if you’re a movie star?” It's tough to imagine that anyone really though Natalie became a world-class ballerina in less than a year, but who knows with the Academy bunch.

Regardless, I don't think one can argue that Natalie didn't deserve that Oscar. "I just want to be perfect," Nina proclaims throughout the film. And for almost 2 hours, Natalie Portman came pretty darn close.

But what do you think? Would Natalie still have won the oscar had people known she only did 5% of the dancing (if that is even true).

UPDATED: Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky has finally released a statement regarding this situation. He said he got an editor to count the number of shots Natalie is dancing. "111 are Natalie Portman untouched. 28 are her dance double Sarah Lane," Aronofsky wrote. "If you do the math that's 80% Natalie Portman. What about duration? The shots that feature the double are wide shots and rarely play for longer than one second. There are two complicated longer dance sequences that we used face replacement. Even so, if we were judging by time over 90% would be Natalie Portman." Continued the director, "I am responding to this to put this to rest and to defend my actor. Natalie sweated long and hard to deliver a great physical and emotional performance. And I don't want anyone to think that's not her they are watching. It is."

Fox Searchlight has also released a statement, basically saying the same thing. "We were fortunate to have Sarah there to cover the more complicated dance sequences," Fox said, "and we have nothing but praise for the hard work she did. However, Natalie herself did most of the dancing featured in the final film."

However, I think film critic Roger Ebert summed it up best, when he tweeted: "Let us not forget Natalie Portman did ALL of her own acting in 'Black Swan,' and that's why she deserved her Oscar." Well said, Roger, well said.

Image Credit: Niko Tavernise; Inset: Joe Schildhorn/PatrickMcMullan.com