Tag Archives: Michelle Williams

3rd-Annual Limité Honors – Celebrating Careers in Film, Television, Music, and Lifestyle

(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

July 12, 2012

If you know anything about Limité, you know that we don’t follow the norm, nor do we care what the “others” glorify. Awards and recognition are usually given out to those who’ve sold a certain amount of music albums or for their performance in a big budget movie in the last fiscal year, but what about celebrating someone’s entire career and being recognized? That’s what we’ve done in our 3rd Annual Limité Honors. The individuals below have entertained us on more than one occasion and we deem it necessary to give respect when respect is due. Enjoy!

Jessica Chastain

by Daniel Quitério

Don’t tell Jessica Chastain that Rome wasn’t built in a day, because you’d be speaking to the one person who proved that all wrong in 2011. Chastain’s list of film credits and honors that one year surpasses most actors’ entire careers.

Born Jessica Howard, the would-be actress grew up in Northern California. She began as a dancer in her early teens before acting in local Shakespeare productions. The entertainer eventually enrolled at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York as a drama major, where during her last year, she was offered a holding deal by TV producer John Wells (ERThe West Wing) and worked on three of his shows.

Film was a logical next step. Chastain went on to debut as the title character in Jolene (2008). A few years later, moviegoers were watching the blossoming-yet-seasoned actress in an astonishing seven films in 2011, including The DebtTake Shelter, and The Tree of Life. She went on to receive multiple breakthrough artist awards and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for The Help, in which she played a sympathetic and domestically challenged housewife. Thanks to her meteoric rise, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

This year, Chastain’s credits threaten to nearly trump her 2011 filmography. She’s set to star in six more films, including a second collaboration with Malick (To the Wonder) and a film about Navy SEAL Team 6—the soldiers that killed Osama bin Laden—entitled Zero Dark Thirty, directed by Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker).

Chastain may very well be the most prolific actress in the movies today, but let’s not forget that film is just one of the media in which she has proven herself. With a background in theatre and television, Chastain’s versatility makes her an actor among actors.

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5 Reasons This Year’s Oscars Are Worth Watching

It’s close. It’s so close. I can taste it. And it tastes awesome. The 84th annual Academy Awards is less than two weeks away. Take my birthday. Take Christmas. Give me the Oscars and remain silent during the show. I must not be disturbed. If you want to know my thoughts, follow me on Twitter (@suddenlydog), as I’ll be live tweeting for my third year.

There’s always plenty to get excited about each year, but here are my top five reasons the Oscars are worth watching this year:

5. A Pig and a Frog Walk into a Bar …

Though nothing has been confirmed, the prospects of Muppets appearing at the Oscars is enough to get me excited. “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets is nominated for Best Original Song. It would be a hugely missed opportunity if the Jim Henson creations of my youth didn’t appear on stage for the number (that is, assuming the songs are performed on stage this year—there’s only two, so why not?). And don’t forget—Miss Piggy is a fashionista. Could she be strolling the red carpet? Joan Rivers did leave some shoes to fill. I think our porcine friend could cram her hooves in them with little effort.

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MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Press Conference at New York Film Festival

I caught a screening of the Michelle Williams-starring My Week with Marilyn, prior to its world premiere at the New York Film Festival today. This true story stars Williams as Marilyn Monroe during the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) in England. Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) is a 23-year-old film enthusiast who pushes his way into working with Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) on his new film, which he’s directing and starring in opposite Monroe. Throughout filming, Olivier finds it difficult to work with the struggling Marilyn (she’s not the great actress she wants to be), who is newly married to famed playwright Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott). When Arthur leaves Marilyn’s side to be with his children in New York, the delicate and troubled Marilyn begins to confide in young Colin, who grows close to her despite the advice of everyone around.

The film is Simon Curtis’s feature directorial debut and also stars Emma Watson, Julia Ormond, Toby Jones, Dominic Cooper, Derek Jacobi, Zoë Wanamaker, and Judi Dench, with a script by Adrian Hodges, based on Clark’s diaries. It opens in theatres on November 4, undoubtedly with an awards push for Williams’s stunning performance.

Here are a few clips from today’s press conference at New York’s Walter Reade Theater, featuring Curtis, Williams, and Redmayne. (The sound quality is acceptable, but not ideal.)

[CLIPS HAVE BEEN DELETED.]