This Had Oscar Buzz - 096 – Nurse Betty (with Rob Scheer)

Episode Date: June 1, 2020

Renée Zellweger’s three year run with Oscar in the early 2000s makes for oft-discussed trajectory, perhaps so much so that we don’t always remember her near nomination the year before it all began. This week, film publicist Rob Scheer joins us to look back at her Golden Globe winning performance in Nurse Betty, a dark comedy … Continue reading "096 – Nurse Betty (with Rob Scheer)"

Uh-oh, wrong house. No, the right house. I didn't get that! We want to talk to Marilyn Hacks. I'm from Canada. I'm from Canada water. In this business, people who get the calls are good. Not flashy, good.

Boom, boom, boom. Three in the head, you know they're dead. It's a good motto. There's the hitman. This is supposed to be my last job. To a successful transaction. The used car dealer. We can't come to the phone right now because we're out making a sale.

The soap opera star. I just know that there's something really special out there for me. And then there's Betty. Betty is in love with Dr. Rived from the show. I'm trading you in a car dealer. for a heart surgeon. The woman who's chasing her dream.

How are you going to find him? I'll go to the hospital. While everyone else is chasing her. So what I say? Find her. Hello and welcome to the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast, the only podcast that no sexy time with you no more, you're too old. Every week on This Had Oscar Buzz,

we'll be talking about a different movie that once upon a time had Lofty Academy Award aspirations, but for some reason or another, it all went wrong. The Oscar hopes died, and we are here to perform the autopsy and bad Russian dialects. I am your host, Chris Fyle, and I'm here, as always, with my Dreamboat Soap Doctor co-host, Joe Reed. Well, hello. I have to separate these two conjoined twins and then meet up with my long-lost ex-wife and herd evil twin.

Joe, why is everyone calling you David? Oh, I love soap tropes when they are done well, but I think I also love a soap trope when they are done well, but I think I also love a soap trope. and it's done this sort of, like, dramatically. Like, this is, this all feels very tootsy and soap-dish, like the way that they presented soap operas, which was just, like, the most extreme and strange version of them, which, like, I'm sure back in the 80s, that's what they were like, so. I love soap tropes that allow Elizabeth Mitchell to be on my screen.

I was so surprised. I was not ready for her. You should not be surprised. that it took me all of two seconds to bring up Elizabeth Mitchell. Who I love, my beloved Juliet from Loss, dearly departed. Here's what I found the most surprising in this movie was

that I could not recognize Naomi Watts in the role of Betty in this movie. Like, truly, I thought, like, her greatest transformation yet is her lead role in this movie. That's who we were watching, right? We are indeed

on the other end of our Naomi Watts mini-series, wrapped up last week with St. Vincent. And now we're back to regular programming and, Joseph, we have a guest with us here today. We sure do. I'm very, very excited to welcome our guest this week. He is a film publicist, all-around movie, savant. I'm very, very, very excited to get to the IMDB at the end of this episode because I feel like he is perhaps our best equipped guests to take it on. Boy, no pressure. Every time I just, every, there's, I can't remember the last time I mentioned a movie and you hadn't seen it.

So like, truly, everybody out there. Welcome, Rob Shear. Welcome, Rob. Hi, guys. Excited to be here. Very excited. Very excited to have you here. Yeah, I think, I can't remember on what episode.

We were talking about the later forgettable films of Rob Reiner. And I was like, who did I go see that terrible Michael Doug? Diane Keaton movie with and I was just like right okay Rob and it's because when on those occasions when we're just like we should go see a movie and it's just like well what haven't we what's what's a movie that neither one of us has seen yet and the pickings become very slim very quickly and it gets very interesting I don't discriminate yes exactly but we are thrilled to have you here of course to talk about Nurse Betty which is a movie that I I had remembered fondly, and I was, you're the one who sort of came to me with this suggestion, and I'm curious as to what it was about Nurse Betty that made you want to discuss it on our podcast. That's a great question. This movie just made a very strong impression on me when I was younger.

I didn't quite know what to expect. The trailers were extremely confusing. I was familiar with Neil Lebutte. I'd seen his previous films, which were. pretty intense for me at that time, but I like them. And didn't really have an idea of what this was other than that. It was clearly different. I would read lots of movie reviews when I was younger, and I remember Stephen Holden's review in The New York Times, where he called this something like the best American comedy since flirting with disaster, which was another

movie that I really, really loved as a kid and still do. And I just went to see it opening weekend. And, you know, stylistically, it's pretty straightforward, but there just were all these different competing elements and tones. And I just felt like I had never seen anything like it. I mean, I think at that time, we were still in the period where anything that had violence and comedy was still compared to Pulp Fiction, but this just felt like its own unique thing. It's own unique thing to me. I saw it three or four times in the theater. I kept bringing people back, all of whom were fairly baffled. And it's just been many. That's always a good reaction to get from people you bring to a theater. Yeah, why are you taking me to this? But it's, it's, it's, it's been many years since I'd seen it until I rewatched this week. But I always remembered it very fondly, and it was always something that I recommended to people when they were asking for movies that they might not have seen. And I think it's a really fascinating, important movie for Renee Zelliger. And it's by far my favorite performance.

Oh, oh, totally. Yeah. This is like the, the sea change for her, this performance. Um, yeah. in terms of like being an outside performer of like why is she not being considered for something like Jerry McGuire and then basically the entire Oscar campaign for this movie is kind of like falls on her shoulders and this performance and I think the movie to the degree that it works works because of her performance yeah absolutely this is instrumental for Renee Zellberger in terms of an Oscar player but like we never really. talk about this movie anymore? No, it's very true. It's really fallen through the cracks, which is so funny because she came

incredibly close to getting her first Oscar nomination for this movie. She won the Golden Globe for it. We'll obviously get into that. And then I think sort of universally, everybody understood that her nomination kind of got nipped by Juliette Binoche in Chocolat. Everybody at the time kind of took that movie as being kind of muscled in. by Harvey Weinstein, it was the sort of, you know, too light to hang with movies like traffic and Crouching Tiger.

And Nurse Betty really sort of like quickly got forgotten. Well, by that logic, are you assuming that Renee was number six? I think so. I think it's very probable she was number six. Who were the other contenders at the New York for dancer in the dark? Newark was never going to happen. Yeah, I mean, when I, just some informal. I've been having, the general consensus seems to be Bjork and Michelle E.O., but I have a hard time

imagining either of those happening. I think those are things that the people discussing that maybe would have done themselves. I think Bjork did get the Golden Globe nomination, and like there was, uh, that song was nominated for the Oscars. So clearly like that movie was in the discussion, but I think, Chris, you're probably more right about, it being farther off of voters' plausibility radar than we assume. She was nominated in drama for Golden Globe, right, despite that movie literally being a musical. Right, that movie being a legit musical. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Which sort of further goes down the Golden Globe categorization route with drama versus comedy, which is just like, is this movie sad or happy? If it's sad, it's a drama. If it's in any way makes you happy, then it counts as a comedy. And it's like, okay. I just don't know if Bjork was ever going to happen. I feel like all the people who wanted to support an insane, depressing movie all went towards Ellen Burstyn. Right.

I mean, Ellen Burstyn is a screen legend doing the type of thing on screen that we'd never seen her do before. I think, you know, it has like kind of that virtuos element to it. And, like, Ellen Burstyn is always happy to give an interview. To my memory, she did, like, a lot of press for that movie. She's a former Oscar winner. Like, there's, you know, there was far fewer barriers to entry. And I think, and as... And I think the best performance of that year, personally.

Burstyn and Requiem, she's very good. We've talked about this best actress race before, where it's like, you kind of can flip a coin. And, or for me, I have said, you can. flip a coin and I have a different pick each year, but like, having rewatched Aaron Brockovich recently, because it's like the most comforting quarantine movie, I just, it's like every single beat for Julia Roberts in that movie is just fucking sensational. Yeah. But like Ellen Burstyn, not a bad pick for that.

And I am, of course, a Laura Linney devotee, but yeah, I think that's, it's an incredible category, one of the best we've had. We're sort of getting a little bit ahead of things with talking about Oscars, Rob, because you being a first-time guest here on our show, we tend to ask our first-time guests to talk about what we've been referring to as their Oscar origin story, sort of like what was your first experience with noticing the Oscars were like caring however deeply you care about the Oscars? Yeah, I started carrying, I would say, the unforgiven year. I didn't actually watch the Oscars at that point, but I very excitedly would read in the newspaper the next morning who won and try to see as many of those films as my parents would allow me to see. I think I didn't watch a full ceremony until the 1996 Oscars, where I had seen a lot of those films. I loved Fargo. I loved Jerry McGuire. I loved Shine. I hadn't seen secrets I hadn't seen secrets in lies or the English patient but I watched I watched those awards over and over again on VHS. I loved Billy Crystal's Oscar Medley. I loved his monologue even though there were so many jokes I didn't understand. I mean he makes a joke he makes a joke about how violent Fargo is and calls the Cohn brothers Eric and Lyle. My parents had to explain that to me. It's so fun going back to look at those old Oscar monologues. His, And whoopies also, because whoopies were often very topical. And there's all these references to various, like, politicians going through scandals. And some of them you remember.

Like, obviously, like, all the Lewinsky jokes, you remember why they were there. But, like, whoopies talking about, like, various, like, senators and congressmen, whatever. And I'm just like, I didn't even remember that person was a deal. And it's, and all this stuff about, well, 96, so much talk would have been about, like, Bob Dole and how much he was sort of like public enemy number one in Hollywood. And it's very, very funny to go back. But yeah, Eric and Lyle seems like the straight down the middle, Billy Crystal. Yeah, I don't know anything about these guys, but their movie's violent.

And I think I watched Cuba Gooding Juniors acceptance speech over and over again. That was really wonderful for me when I was a kid. And I just really wanted that thing you do to win Best Original Song. Yes, same. But that was my first year where I watched the full ceremony and then shortly after became obsessed. That's awesome. Have you ever seen, I imagine you have the video on YouTube, that's Cuba Gooding Jr.'s Oscar acceptance speech from the control booth of the director of the Oscars, like calling all the shots and whatever. No.

Oh, my God. It's so, I'm sending you a link to it once we're done. And you can watch it. It's so exciting. it's so like halfway through because all of a sudden like Cuba sort of like starts kind of like mellow and whatever and then the music starts picking up to play him off and he like snaps to attention and just like I got to get all this shit in and he just like obviously as we've all seen just starts like shouting out names and whatever and like as this is all ramping up the control room is just like going absolutely fucking nuts and they're like cut to Tom cut to George Foreman and Muhammad Ali were in the audience for the documentary when we were kings. everybody's like everybody's like everybody's like standing up to a plot and the director's like cut to foreman cut to Ali

I remember Woody Harrelson going crazy like they cut to Woody Harrelson like waving his hands in the air and cheering it's a great moment it's a super super super great moment I want the control room footage of when Roberto Benini won I want to see just like the immediate Which time Into hell

Oh god, yes Well no when he's like standing on his chairs Who was he standing over in that moment? Is it anybody famous? I believe Spielberg gives him the hand Yeah Amazing I do remember either at the Oscars

Or the the SAG Awards or one of those where he picks up Helen Hunt and, like, just sort of, like, spins her around. And she was just, like, not ready or eager to be picked up by this man. It's, uh, Roberto Benini truly is the Mimi I'm First of the Oscar race. Drag is not a contact sport. I also remember when, um, they did best foreign language film at the Oscars that year. And that's Sophia Loren is, um, opening the envelope.

And again, everybody knew Life is Beautiful would win. And so they're like, why don't we? get, like, the most glamorous Italian movie star to, um, to hand out this award. And she opens the envelope and someone from in the audience just go, Roberto! Roberto! It's probably, that's probably the most charmed I ever was by the Life is Beautiful Oscar story. And then everything else was just like, talk about instant, who have you talked about this? Chris on our podcast before the instant buyer's remorse of Roberto Benini's Oscar win? The absolute second that he leapt to his feet for that best actor win, immediate

buyer's remorse. Everybody was just like, yeah, you know, this is, we all made this happen for this reason, and yet, like, we're over it now. Oh, yes, we fell for this, and we shouldn't have fallen for this. You know, I... And then he made that Pinocchio movie. I remember liking that movie, and I haven't seen it. in 22 years, so I'm just going to leave it as that I like it.

Right. It's an artifact. Did you see the Pinocchio movie? I did. I think I really hated it. Yeah, everybody really hated it. I never saw it. And now he's in another.

He's in another Pinocchio movie now. Yes. I heard about this. Like, there should be a statute of limitations. Something. But he's Jepetto this time, right? Because he was Pinocchio. But he also directed that Pinocchio.

Am I crazy to think that? No, I think you're right. The new Pinocchio is a Mateo Groni movie. Oh, boy. Just murderous young Pinocchio. It's been seen and liked, right? Didn't it? It played at a festival, yeah.

Yes, I believe Berlin? Yes, I think that's right. Berlin, our final festival. Oh, God, remember film festivals? Truly no. Speaking of which, I think we're talking about one of the few movies. we've done on this podcast that played Cannes. Watching it this movie this time.

It won a prize at can. It won the screenplay prize. The only American movie to win a prize that year. And it is absolutely wild to me watching this movie that it was accepted in competition. It's a little surprising now. Because why? It's just because of the quality of filmmaking? Yeah. But also, I guess maybe my memory of LaBute.

at this time. You brought up his other movies, Rob, before this. I wouldn't have thought that I didn't remember him as having, like, the type of critical prestige that would have gotten him in competition a can. Well, maybe it's like the selection committee was really taken with Renee's performance. I don't know. We'll talk about Lebutte when we get on the other side of the plot description, but I do feel. like in the company of men had such an indie trajectory, and it had played in certain regard, I'm pretty sure, in its year. So I do feel like there was definitely a sense of

Lebut as being sort of an ascendant and kind of edgy, dangerous filmmaker, most, almost entirely for his subject matter for his films at the time. And not necessarily, he's never been a too terribly stylistic director. But it's interesting looking at Rob, you mentioned that Nurse Betty was the only American film to win a prize at Cannes that year. And looking at the other American films, the Coens had, Oh, Brother Were Art, though, in competition. James Gray. James Gray had the Yards, which is a movie that I feel like, even though it played Cannes, it really, the appreciation for that movie was a slow burn, I feel like. So it doesn't super surprise me that that didn't win anything it can. I think

O'Brother was seen positively, but still sort of as a kind of a step back from something like Fargo. I remember a response to that being pretty mixed out of Cannes. Even now, like I like O'Brother War Art thou, but it is almost never going to be the Cohen's movie that I just like decide to fire up. I kind of despise it. Do you really? Oh, Yeah. How about that? I mean, I haven't seen it in a long time, but I just remember being so, like, I don't know, grossed out by, like, the vibe of it.

Not, like, physically grossed out, but just being like, I don't want to watch that, like, I don't know. Maybe I would feel differently more in touch with the, like, misanthropy of it, you know. Yeah. But speaking of outside of the, or people, the actresses that maybe just missed the top five, I mean, there was a ton of them that launched. I mean, Dancer in the Dark was that year at Cann. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was that year. And Requiem for a Dream screened out of competition that year. So all of those ladies, those movies were first seen.

I think it played like midnight. I'm not sure. I just know out of competition. Wow. Also screening out of competition, Brian De Palma's mission to Mars. Two months after it opened, yeah. Oh, is that another after it opened? Yeah, Disney was the opener or something.

Disney used their muscle to get that in there two months later. Oh, boy. Good for them. Stupid. Yeah, that's a good, that's a really good can year, though. Dancer in the Dark, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, as you mentioned, in the mood for love, was in competition. Edward Yang's Yee.

Yes, Yie, which was like a huge, I remember. that was a big year-end awards kind of movie that showed up on a lot of lists. What won the palm? It was Dancer in the Dark, very divisive palm winner. Interesting.

Anyway, before we get too far into this episode, as is our custom, we push the plot description. We should get on to a 60-second plot description. We should. So, as we mentioned, we're here to talk about Nurse Betty, directed by Neil LaBute, However, not written by Neil LaBute.

It's written by John C. Richards and Jason Flomberg, starring Renee Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock, Greg Kinnear, Alison Janney, a very skeezy, Aaron Eckhart. Lots of things happening with the hair on Aaron Eckhart's body in the year 2000 on screen. Tia Tissada, Crispin Glover, and my beloved Elizabeth Mitchell, as we mentioned, Nurse Betty premiered at Cannes. And then it opened September 8th. the year 2000. Rob, are you ready to give us a 60-second plot description of Nurse Betty? Okay, this one has a lot of plot, but yeah. All righty, then your 60-second plot description of Nurse Betty starts now.

Betty Seismore is a Kansas waitress with dreams of being a nurse and an obsession with the soap opera or reason to love, featuring the character Dr. David Revelle, who's played by the actor George McCord, who is himself played by Greg Kinnear. Betty is married to a horrible man, a used car dealer Dell, played by Aaron Eckhart, who's vaguely mixed up in some sort of drug deal with two hitmen played by Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock. Betty ends up witnessing the hitman scalping and killing Dell and goes into delusional shock, believing she's a character on a reason to love. She drives to L.A. to try to find Dr. David Ravell, not realizing there's heroin in the trunk of her car, so the hitman follow her there. 30 seconds.

While Morgan Freeman falls in love in an idealized fantasy of Betty along the way, while at a charity dinner that she ends up at Betty meets and charms George, who she thinks is David Ravell while he thinks she's doing some method acting exercise. thinking she wants a job, he brings her to the set of the show, which snaps her out of her delusion, and George freaks out on her just in time for the hit men to arrive in L.A. There's a standoff. Freeman confesses his love for Betty. Chris Rock is shot.

10 seconds. Reveals he's Freeman's son and dies. Freeman asks Betty to kill him. She refuses. He kills himself. Betty self-actualizes, ends up as an actress on a reason to love, goes to medical school and takes a vacation to Rome. And that's time. You got it all in there.

Fantastic. Okay, so Nurse Betty, surprisingly, not the first movie we've talked about with a scalping. Wait, what was the other one? Definitely the missing. Definitely the missing. You're absolutely right. God.

I'm the only person who's, you know, definitely that Rob Howard, Ron Howard movie. Yeah, that's definitely the other scalping movie was the Ron Howard movie, unsurprisingly, so, yeah. I feel like we've maybe done another scalping movie. I, if anybody thinks of it, let us know. I can't, I can't search my brain files for that. one at the moment. Definitely ladies in Lavender. There was a scalping in that. Yes. Oh, 100% sure.

Several. Those ladies really took it to Natasha McElham. That's for sure. Can we use the scalping as a chance to talk about the violence in this movie? We sure can. It's interesting that you brought up Pulp Fiction because, like, that does feel like, this does feel like

third generation, the response to this movie, like a third generation to like comedy and violence as like a thing in the late 90s, you know? I just, I remember the scalping scene I think is probably the scene that if anybody remembers

anything from this movie, that's probably the sequence that they remember. Just because it's the tones and stories in this movie are crashing into each other constantly and it was marketed as a very upbeat kind of fish out of water wacky comedy.

Right, right. look at this this lady thinks she's as the soap star yeah yeah and that scalping scene if you really watch it closely there's very little that's actually graphic and it's a couple of very quick shots but it seems to me as I think every scene with violence in this movie seems like it was heavily edited down well there's definitely that moment where you see very clearly Chris Rock with like a chunk of scalp in his hand and I think that's where you're just like oh okay like we're just seeing this okay all right but it's it's very very brief um it and it happens very very quickly and really if you look at every scene of violence in the movie it feels like

something is a little off um the scene at the end of the movie with with chris rock getting shot the scene where they return to the bar to sort of harass Harriet Harris they sort of grab her arm and say you're not being forthcoming with us and then it just cuts away and we never see them again. I just think there's a darker, more violent cut of this movie, and I've never heard any stories about that, but it just feels that way. It would absolutely make sense. Yeah, it makes a ton of sense. I think also, Chris, when you mentioned that this is directed by Neil Leibout, but not written by him, which I believe this is the first film he directed that wasn't written by him. And his two previous movies were

your friends and neighbors or sorry, in the company of men in 1997, your friends and neighbors 1998, in the company of men was based on a play I think your friends and neighbors was written directly for the screen. And both of those movies, again, when I talk about how

Le Butte had made his mark as this kind of edgy new director, I know in the company of men was a huge indie spirits thing. I think he won best first film. I think he won best first film.

I think that one, like, best first film at New York Film Critics. I think Eckhart got some, yeah, Eckhart got some attention from critics' body. And I think both of those movies become pretty notorious for this sort of darkness at its center, and particularly a darkness in sort of like sexual relationships and sort of sexual truths. Obviously, the big scene in your friends and neighbors is when Jason Patrick sort of describes a gang rape that he took part in in this very kind of like sexually satisfied manner

yeah it's like that's not the Jason Patrick scene I remember from that movie I remember him screaming at a woman for getting period blood on his sheets that that's the that's the scene I remember there's a lot of yes there's a lot of that kind of I think as

Lebutte's career goes on it becomes a sense of him being sort of in love with this idea of these taboo-breaking situations with men and women kind of like telling the shocking, deep, dark, awful things

of what they've done in their lives. And so I think he's sort of cultivated through these first two films, this reputation for darkness and edginess. And it's interesting that he comes across this screenplay not written by him about this woman who sort of dissociates and thinks she is a character in a soap opera.

And I can see Labute being like, okay, but like, how can we like really rough this up and ends up with a whole lot of like violence in it, which like obviously like the scalping's going to be in that script. Like this is stuff that's like in the movie. But I do feel like the tone of it, Rob, you mentioned the sort of like clashing tones of it, does somewhat feel like a director wanting to. sort of like ratchet up the violence in what is ultimately this story about a woman sort of lost within herself and within her, you know, the life she lives versus the life she wants.

Yeah, I mean, Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock genuinely feel like they're in a separate movie from her that occasionally intersects. Like they have very different, they feel like they're in a violent thriller. And she is in this sort of like delightful comedy except for when she intersects with, you know, scalping or a shootout at a holly. spell. And even within that, I think because of the relative disparity in the skill levels of Freeman and Chris Rock, not to disparage Chris Rock, but certainly at this stage of his career, he was not a, he was not an actor on Morgan Freeman's level. I think we can pretty safely say that. And so Freeman, I think, is acting the hell out of this role and doing like such a good job and really like putting, you know, shades of gray into this character and really wonderful. building him.

It's a performance out of a better movie, I think, too, because, like, his whole thing of essentially mirroring, like, Betty's delusion in, like, creating this version of her that he falls in love with in his head and, like, imagines dancing with her, like, and, like, talks to her photo, things like that. It's, it's, this movie has a weird relationship with how whimsical. it also wants to be, because, like, you can kind of imagine, like, the Charlie Kaufman version or even the Alexander Payne version of what this script is. Or the Nealabute version. Or, yeah, or even the Nealabute version that, like, leans into it. It's so, like, offhanded with, like, these, with the character's delusion, like, in a way that, like, makes it not as funny, but you also maybe don't buy it as much.

I don't know. I feel like I ended up liking this movie better than you did, or not ended up because I remember liking it back then, too. But I think you're right about the fact that this, it is kind of all over the place, and it is kind of, it goes for a lot of different, it covers a lot of grounds. Yeah, I would be really interested to read the screenplay for this and see how changed on this way to the screen. But speaking of which, have you

looked into these screenwriters who won best screenplay it can? No, tell us about it. The names are not familiar. Well, they may not be... One of them has a story credit and the other doesn't. So I figured there was definite like drafts being done. Yeah. James

Flamberg might not have registered for you because he has never written anything else. And all his other credits are as a music editor for things as varied as Rain Man and Bugsy and toys and the Goonies and the color purple

Wow John C. Richards. He got his prize at Cannes and said I am done. And John C. Richards has only ever since then written Sahara, the Matthew McConaughey vehicle in 2005. Sure. And the Al Pacino Paterno movie in 2018 and that's it. We definitely remember those movies.

They exist. Paterno is pretty good. I definitely, I was going to say, I definitely saw Paterno. That was Barry Levinson, right? I mean, aren't all of the Al Pacino HBO things? I assume, yeah. The HBO Al Pacino genre, the You Don't Know Jack, and what was the other one? But one of them is David Mamet, I want to say.

Like, one of them is surprisingly David Mamet directing. Yeah, co-writers on the podcast. Paterno, on the Paterno movie are Jansy Richards and Deborah Kahn, who is a name I know only as a TV writer. I believe she's written for Grey's Anatomy, but she also wrote the episode of the West Wing with Glenn Close playing the prospective Supreme Court Justice, which is like one of my very, very favorites. Let's see. You Don't Know Jack, the Jack Kovorkyian movie, was indeed directed by Barry Levinson.

And then Phil Spector, which I believe came later. Yeah, Phil Spector was in 2013, written and directed by David Mamet. Wow. Mamet's interesting, I mean, Mamet's interesting. But, like, Mamet I tend to compare to Lebutte in terms of their film careers and just the way of just like a lot of stuff, like, 80 or 90% of their stuff, their movies is just like, yes, of course. course. That's like, that's a David Mamet movie. Absolutely. That's absolutely a Nealibute movie. But then like, Lebutte will have things where he's just like, he directed Lakeview Terrace. He directed the Wicker Man remake. Right. Exactly. The Death at a Funeral

remake, reuniting with Chris Rock. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Which I've never seen. Is that any good? No. Okay. He also directed the very first Focus Features movie. possession. Is that the very first focus features movie? Yes, it was. Yeah, and Gwyneth and once again, Aaron Eckhart. Aaron Eckhart's kind of his muse, as it turns out.

The one I remember. Nurse Betty, Nurse Betty was one of the final USA films films, but when I rented it to watch, they even replaced the USA Films logo now with the Focus Features. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, USA films Activation Noise, the Focus Features Right What was it before USA Films?

It was Polygram? Is that wrong? Polygram? I think that's right. I think it went from Polygram to USA Films to Focus. God, God, I love Focus. The one Le Butte movie that I remember seeing in the theater and having, like, big expectations for

was the shape of things, which was another one that's based not a play of his, which starred Paul Rudd and Rachel Weiss, Rachel Weiss as this like very cruel and calculating woman who sees this slumpy version of Paul Rudd and wants to mold him into someone attractive and yet also cruel. There's a lot of sort of like, almost like dangerous liaisons vibes there where she's going to sort of like play puppet master and turn him into this sort of attractive

but bad person and then Gretchen Mall plays you know this other friend of his I think who maybe he has romantic designs on I can't remember. Who she essentially like sets them up to have an affair

right because she's seeing this other guy Fred Weller by Fred Weller yeah yeah but meanwhile the whole time Paul Red has enough agency that, like, if he didn't want to already be that person, he could say no to her.

So it's like, she never forces him to do any of this. She just, like, creates a situation where he can make the choice to be a bad person. And it's one of those movies that even if you didn't know going in that it was based on a play, watching it, you're just like, oh, my God, this is absolutely was a play. Because it essentially stops in its own tracks by the end of it. and, like, faces the audience and sort of challenges the audience to, you know, redefine your perceptions or whatever. Like, it's very much, it's one of those, like, confrontational movies about just, like,

aren't you the villain in this all along for wanting Paul Rudd to be attractive? And they were all in the play as well, right? It was, like, directly after they wrapped that production, they immediately shot the movie, I think. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, that sounds about right. His plays, I will say, I haven't, I don't think I've ever seen a Neil Le Butte play on the stage, partially because most of his stuff happened before, or at least most of his higher profile stuff, happened before I moved to the city. But also, the trend with Nealabute plays for me, in my experience, is they're always attracted these incredible casts.

Like, the casts for his plays are always full of actors I'm familiar with and excited to see and whatever. And then by the time it gets to the point that I would buy a ticket to go see it, I've heard from like six or seven people that it's terrible. And I'm just like, well, then it's too much money for me to spend on something everybody's telling me is bad. So I end up not seeing it. But they're always incredibly, incredibly these high profile casts in his plays. And I think they're for the most part pretty interesting. But I can't claim to have seen them all. They all tend to be very sort of idea forward, right?

where it's just like, I have something to say about... Often with a twist at the end. Relationships. Right. Right, exactly. And like a lot of them, again, as I mentioned with like in the company of men and your friends and neighbors, where it's just sort of just like, here is me telling this story about the time I like killed a baby or the time I, you know, whatever, like, raped

an acquaintance. And it's just at some point that became less of a calling card for him and more. of a sort of a call to self-parody a little bit in terms of the way that he was received critically. He tries to push buttons, especially gender dynamic buttons, that it's like, okay, like, some of this is interesting, but also, like, you stand back and you take in the collective of everything, and you're like, you might not be a nice guy. You might be kind of... Well, yeah. He's the kind of... who's going to write a play called Fat Pig about someone dating a plus-size woman.

And it's just like, oh, it seems like I'm being disgusting about it, but really, isn't this all about how you as a member of society treat these people? And it's just like, okay, all right, Neil, I get it. Like, it's also very shocking. Well, he also wrote a play called Rex, uh, W-R-E-C-K-S, that I believe is a just a one-man show that's a monologue by Ed Harris, eulogizing his wife and then spoiler alert, the twist at the end is that the wife is also his mother and the Rex has a double meaning. Oh, it's Oedipus. I get it. I get it. Wow. As soon as you

said Rex and decided to spell it out, I'm like, wait a second. Is that what's going on? I was like, oh, okay. God, Neil the Bute. Yeah, I can't... Also very shocking and button pushing. Yeah. get it, you know, get it. But back to Nurse Betty, though,

which I think, like, the libute of it all is certainly, like, was a part of why this movie had a lot of expectations. But really, I think the story here, both in the movie and, like, around the movie is Renee Zellweger. Because, as Chris mentioned at the top of the episode,

this comes on the heels of, you know, several years after Jerry McGuire. But, like, Jerry McGuire really started that ball rolling of not only Zell Weger as like a movie star, but also somebody who really does, like, have the chops for it. And it's just like, I think by the time we got to Nurse Betty, she almost gets the Oscar nomination. And I think a lot of people were just like, yeah, it's, that's time. Like, she's arrived at that point where we are now sort of expecting what's going to

be the Oscar movie out of her. I think one true thing is a big part of that because she stars opposite Merrill. And she doesn't. She's even better than Merrill in that movie. I was going to say, it's not like she gets, like, swallowed up by Merrill in that movie. She has, and she's got a very difficult role, which is the daughter whose mother is dying, but she's still a bitch about it. Yeah, well, that's the thing. I think she made an attempt to distance herself from the kind of role she played in Jerry Maguire.

You know, she plays a Hasidic Jew in a price above rubies, and she's quote unquote unlikable in one true thing. You know, she did that generic The Bachelor with Chris O'Donnell. But Nurse Betty is kind of like a return to her sort of playing a lovable, charming character. It's impressive to me that she ends up pulling as much agency into her Nurse Betty character as she does, because this is a movie

that sort of repeatedly kind of takes her out of her own story, where it's just, like, they have her kind of, like, go into this dissociative state. But even, like, at the beginning of the movie, she's, like, she's spaced out watching this soap, like, pours coffee from Morgan Freeman, like, without even looking at him. She's, like, so used to doing her job while, like, not really paying attention to doing her job. So, like, this is a character who is very much kind of out of, like, not present in her own life. And I think Zellberger just, such a good job of playing a character

like that without like having her kind of float away. And just like a believability factor. At least, I mean, you don't maybe believe the concept as the movie presents it, but just from the performance, like she's tasked to do

something that could be very silly, right? Or like, make her seem like a buffoon, but like you actually kind of believe it on a human level. And it's also still funny. so it's like I think there's a high degree of difficulty in what she's doing here that maybe she didn't really have in like the Cherry McQuire movie movies or like

even one true thing which is like very emotional it definitely established the Oscar narrative like for her as you were saying but like this movie basically bleeds into Bridget Jones for me which ends up being her first nomination the very next year yeah Hugh Grant presents her her golden globe to her About two, two, three months before that movie comes out. The movie opens the very next month. Yeah. Unless maybe those gloves were in February, because that was a Valentine's Day movie.

And like, to the point where I think Bridget Jones is partly why we forget about this movie in the Renee Zell-Wicker narrative a little bit, or we just don't talk about it, because it's so immediate. Right. And here's a hypothetical, maybe we can chew on. on for a second. If Renee, because obviously with, starting with Bridget Jones, she's nominated three years in a row culminating in the win for Cold Mountain. If she win, or if she does get nominated for Nurse Betty, do we think she ends up winning for Chicago because that is her third consecutive nomination and the momentum sort of like moves everything up here? Or are we still, are we still waiting for it when it comes to Cold Mountain? I think she wins for Chicago.

Yeah. I think she would win for Chicago because that was actually there. She came closer anyway. Yeah. She had won the sag. Yeah. So in that case, then, who wins supporting actress in 2003? Showray, Agdashel. Yeah. Yeah. That's an interesting thing to think about. And then maybe Nicole does end up getting nominee. I still think Charlize wins for Monster. Oh, yeah. But, like, it's interesting because, like, I think at this, like, by 2020, Nicole Kidman would have an Oscar no matter what. But, like, what would it be for if she hadn't won for the hours? That's interesting to think about. I mean, maybe there could have been a case made for rabbit hole to be the winner, but, like, I don't think Natalie Portman was ever not going to win that. I also think it maybe changes the roles she takes.

That's possibly true. Or that birth gets, like, a different kind of a reception. I don't know. Like, there's a lot of, like, that particular what-if universe really spiders out in some interesting directions, I feel like. Yeah, it's tough. I'm looking over her. I don't know that she had gotten nominated for her best performances. So, I mean, I, her nominations are a little odd.

They're not what she would expect it to be given who she is. God, Lion. I think maybe if she hadn't won by that point, she might have gotten that paper boy nomination. She was working for it. But I also, because, but like after she wins the Oscar for the hours, it does seem like she makes a concentrated effort to take on more, uh, sort of risky, less, um, mainstream, even on like the Oscars mainstream, like, she just takes these roles that aren't really ultimately going to get her that kind of attention because I think on some level she knows she doesn't need it.

She already got it. You know, she's got her Oscar. She doesn't need to, you know, chase that anymore. So all of a sudden she can take a role in birth. She can take a role in fur in, um, I'm trying to think of the others. Margo at the wedding. Yeah, yes. Yeah, exactly.

And I wonder if she's still chasing Oscar after the hours, the roles sort of, she takes maybe one or two more, you know, Fox Searchlight roles. She's made a lot of movies, you guys. I'm looking at this. She works a lot. Like, that lady works. A lot of movies that. This is the thing about Renee Zellweger is, like, in this period, Renee Zellweger made a lot of movies. And now, like, this year when she came back, it was like, oh, yes, we haven't seen you in years.

But, like, when Renee Zellweger talks about this period of, like, never taking a break, it's kind of wild. I mean, like, there are people who get nominated three years in a row, but, like, I don't know. It just felt like... That is pretty rare. Three years in row, I think, is... I can only think of Renee, Glenn Close, who lost three years in a row. Like, that's a tough feat to pull to, like, stay in Oscars Good Graces for that long. And she also was making other movies, too.

I kind of think to your hypothetical. Oh, yeah. The other movie in 2000, which I always think is very funny, is me, myself, and Marine, which makes me wonder when she won the Golden Globe. She dated Jim Carrey. I was going to say, when she won the Golden Globe for Nurse Betty, where she and Jim Carrey together, does she thank Jim Carrey from the stage? I want to go with her. The empty seat that they show, if you go back and watch that acceptance speech, is next to Soderberg. Not to say she was dating Soderberg, but, like, she wasn't with, like.

Well, that's the... Nurse Betty people. Well, that's Nurse Betty's only nomination at that Globes. Am I correct? Yes, but wasn't that same year also Traffic, which was also USA Films? I was going to say, yeah. So she would have just been at the USA Films table. If you're the only nominee from your movie at the Globes, it's always very interesting to see where they put you.

And often it is in a studio-by-studio basis. It's an interesting category she wins that year because obviously she beats Benosh in Chocolat. Even though Benoche ends up going on to the Oscar nomination, which is a little bit shades of Madonna beating Francis McDormand for Evita, which would have been a few years before this. And then obviously McDormand goes on and wins the Oscar anyway. And so it's like, sorry, Golden Globes, you tried it. And the other ladies in that category were never coming close, right? Or did Tracy Olman get a SAG nomination? Am I making that up?

I don't think so. I might go look up the SAG nominees that year, but I have a feeling, no. It's Benosh. It's Brenda Bleffen for saving grace, which I don't think really showed up very much the rest of that Oscar season. Sandra Bullock for Miss Congeniality,

which is like a classic Globes. We are going to honor a good performance in a mainstream comedy from an actual comedic actress. We'll do that once in the category. Who I believe was the favorite to win. Oh, is that true? I mean, it was 20 years ago, but that's how I remember it. Because the movie made a ton of money.

It sure did. And the other thing about Chocolat is it took some time for Chocolat to, like, make its money because it stayed in theaters forever. Yeah, that was a movie where you could tell, like, they were bound and determined to make that movie, like, America's sweetheart. And it kind of worked in that, like, even in that, like, semi-ironic way where Chocolat kind of became very briefly shorthand for... artie sort of like I'm going to go see an artie movie I remember there was like a Will and Grace joke about that movie at the time.

It's missing that E. And I was just like, oh, okay. What's that? It's missing that E. So it's, you know, Artie. Yes, exactly. So it sounds very, it sounds very European. It sounds very sort of like fancy, sophisticated,

but also in a way it sounds silly. So it's a good, it's a good joke in that way. And then, yeah, small time crooks, which got like a bunch of precursor stuff for, I want to say Elaine May won Got a bunch of supporting actress Elaine May won the National Society of Film Critics

Yes, that's what it was And so the Globes don't have a Supporting Actress in a Comedy category So Allman ultimately ends up as the lead actress Getting that nomination for the Globes And then Brenda Blethen and her weed movie A Cute movie. Saving Grace Which I

I find it offensive that the movie not called smoking grace if she indeed plays someone named Grace. I imagine it's got to be her name in that, right? Yeah, she does. It's a buddy movie with her and Greg Ferguson. Craig Ferguson, excuse me.

Right, yeah. Does she deal weed or does she just smoke wheat? She deals. She grows it, right? Yeah, her yeah, she's her husband leaves her owing a lot of money to the government or going to lose the house or something

so she has to start growing weed in her garden. from the director of, unsurprisingly, Waking Ned Devine. And not Waking Ned Devine, although that would also make a ton of sense. No, calendar girls and made in Dagenham, which is just like, that's sort of the trilogy of women finding ways to get by, you know, and make money in this world by hook or by crook. And it's either you sell weed, you make a cheesecake calendar, or you unionize. and I like that. I like that about the Nigel Cole universe.

The cheesecake calendar, you said? Yeah, that's the whole thing, right? They're like tart-tarting up for a calendar. Covering their naughty bits with cakes and such. I was not familiar with that term. Yeah. It's an interesting globes year overall as I sort of like scroll down through it. Obviously, I remember Kate Hudson winning supporting actress.

not even nominating eventual Oscar winner, Marcia Gayhartton. Catherine Zeta Jones does get the nomination for traffic, which I honestly think was very good and forward-thinking of them. Like before, because at that point, Catherine Zita Jones isn't really known as like a critically acclaimed actress. She was in the Zorro movie with Antonio Banderas, and like obviously that movie does well, but I don't think everybody was like looking forward to Catherine Zita Jones

as like an awards contender. And then she's in traffic. She probably was pretty close. I think she's fantastic in that movie. She had to have been sixth place. It is kind of bizarre to me that she didn't get the Oscar nomination for that. Like she's the only like headlining woman in a very male movie that Oscar went crazy for. Yeah.

She and Michael Douglas got snubbed that year because Michael Douglas was such a, was so expected to get a nomination for Wonderboys. and he got was the pretty shocking omission for that movie. That was, Paul, Pollock really snatched some wigs that that Oscar nomination weren't. He also was in the conversation for traffic, though. Do you remember which category they pushed him for? It had to have been supporting. I don't think they, because. No, because they gave that to Benicio del Toro.

I'm pretty sure they both went for lead, but I think we all kind of realized that the better performance was Wonderboys, or at least the more different performance that would help him stand out was Wonderboys. Well, and even with Benicio del Toro, he wins the Globe and obviously the Oscar for supporting actor, but I'm pretty sure he was nominated as a lead. I thought he won, yeah. I think he won the side, right? He did. Yeah, because best actor was very unsettled that year because you had Tom Hanks, who was probably like the critical champion of that year, but he'd already won twice. I don't think Hollywood was ready to give him that third Oscar at that point. So he gets. nominated for Castaway, but that's sort of a nomination where he wins the globe, but like everybody was pretty sure that he was probably not going to win the Oscar. Russell Crow was in Gladiator, the prospective best picture winner, but I think a lot of people were like sort of looking down the road for him. He had the beautiful mind coming

the next year and whatever. And the fact that he does win the Oscar always felt like they kind of threw up their hands and were just like, well, that's Russell pro he's obviously like you know a big deal right now because gladiator for as much as that was obviously an oscar contender was still kind of viewed as sort of a blunt object it was an action movie that opened in may right right um and then douglas gets the snub on nomination morning so like geoffrey rush for quills is nominated that's never going to really win and at harris for pollock which was like the nomination was definitely the reward there and i remember at the time, I think it was a red carpet interview where Russell Crow, or maybe it wasn't

after the ceremony thing, but Russell Crow mentions that like, if I had $100 to put on this category, I'd put it on Javier Bardem for Before Night Falls. And part of that was sort of like self-effacing, like whatever. But it was, I do remember that there was a little bit of a, like, Javier Bardem's, this up-and-coming sort of like next big thing. And maybe enough voters will sort of like siphon away and the split between Hanks and Crow would allow Bardem to win. So that category was kind of up in the air

up until the moment they opened the M-V-O. I remember thinking Tom Hanks was going to win. He's very good. It's very good in that movie. Tom Hanks deserved it. But Castaway didn't really get anything else, right? See, the thing is he probably could have won

if the movie itself had been more taken seriously by Oscar. Right. and like considered in like best picture conversations but like everything about that movie kind of fell on Tom Hanks's shoulders and he got a lot of like the credit for that movie which like makes sense it was like seen as a gamble can one man carry this whole movie he was still overshadowed by a co-star but yeah Wilson Wilson really really took all the credit for that movie that movie was also a huge like someone I mean I know Zemeckis has this, you know, history, obviously, but that movie was sort of an unlikely gigantic hit. I feel like that would have penetrated the best picture now.

Yeah. You could say the same thing about Gladiator, and it felt like Gladiator got that credit more so than Castaway did, of being like not expected to be as big of a movie as it was. Well, and Gladiator also, that was one of those things where Gladiator

and Aaron Brockovich both opened in the spring, and then in the early fall, we've talked about this before about how all of the Oscar contenders turned out to suck like Pay It Forward sucked and

what do you mean Bagger Vance sucked and all the pretty horses sucked and everybody was just like what like this entire Oscar year is kind of falling apart and everybody was like yeah but like

remember back in the spring when we all loved Gladiator and Aaron Brockovich maybe those could be Oscar movies and then they were and then I think then at the end of the year Crouching Tiger and traffic kind of like jumped back up into the conversation too. But Castaway, I remember the success of Castaway being like weirdly wrapped up in the success

of Survivor that year where everybody was just like, we love an island, we love stranded on an island entertainment. And I was just like, that's really kind of funny. But yeah, I guess so. Speaking of Aaron Brockovich, Nurse Betty was just a few months after Aaron Eckhart had like a pretty like that was a pretty major role for him. I mean, so many people had heard of him for the first time and fell in love with him

in that movie. And then in this he just is the most nightmarish, horrible human being with Aaron Eckhart's such an underrated with maybe the best entrance, best character entrance in a movie I can remember in a long time.

With his just his ankles bopping around on the couch. I'm just knocking things off the wall. That actress, too, Sheila Kelly, Mrs. Richard Schiff, or at least was at the time, which brings me to, of course, Alison Janney in this movie. This was the first time I saw a movie with Alice and Janie in it and was like, oh, that's Alice and Janie, because the West Wing had just completed. It was just beginning its second season when this movie, when Nurse Betty, premieres. And I think before that, she had been in American Beauty the year before,

but, like, American Beauty opens, like, as the West Wing is, like, just premiering its first season. And I didn't really know, you know what I mean? I saw American Beauty still not really knowing who this, this Allison Jania is. And I think Drop Dead Gorgeous might have been also 99. And she was, so she turns out to be this actress who, once you know who she is, you go back and just like, oh, she's in priming. Mary Colors. Oh, she's in Drop Dead Gorgeous. Oh, she's in, you know, all these other movies. She's this, like, character actress, she's been working a bunch. And I think if I was probably a little bit older and had a little bit more sort of experience watching movies back then,

I would have already known, she would have been one of those, like, beloved character actresses who was, like, finally getting her due. And I'd been like, yeah, fuck yeah, Alice and Jenny. But as it was, like, this was definitely the first movie where I was just like, oh, it's CJ from the West Wing. Like, I love her. She's good. She's good in this movie. I like how she has her little sort of moment of getting her revenge on Keneer or sort of, like, giving him his comeuppance. And she looks, like, very satisfied with herself when he's just like, oh, am I going to, like, how are you going to bring my character back?

You're going to kill him, but you're going to bring him back. And she just sort of gives him this very, like, tight smile. And I was just like, yeah, like, that's... Yeah, I love their dynamic in this movie. It's very soapish, kind of. Like, this movie never really gets quite as well. wacky as Soap Dish does. But I like that, that, you know, the soap opera, the sort of semi-beliegered soap opera

writer behind the scene. Writer and producer. Yes. Yes. What were you going to say, Chris? I was going to mention, do we think it's strange that it, Nurse Betty didn't get anywhere in terms of screenplay past the can win? I think it's a little odd that, like, it's not getting screenplay mentions or original

screenplay mentions anywhere, because the Oscar lineup for original screenplay. Most Famous obviously wins. It's Billy Elliott, Aaron Brockovich, you can count on me, and Gladiator. Yeah, Gladiator getting that nomination, I thought, was always a little bit strange. It's a little dubious, but, like, it's the eventual Best Picture winner, but you, so you can see why it's there, but, like. But there is a history of sort of big spectacle action type best picture contenders that get shut out of screenplay because it's not that kind of a movie.

I'm thinking like Titanic you know Avatar like that kind of thing and it's not like the year is packed with competition too like the Writers Guild has the four that we endorse and not Gladiator they replace Gladiator with Best in Show which best in show you could imagine being like sixth place but like was Nurse Betty just constantly a sixth or seventh place screenplay nominee other than I don't know other than like me and as a 14 year old going to see this movie like four times in theaters. Was there a whole lot of love and for this movie throughout the season or to just kind of go away after September? It was definitely a critical hit, which usually can translate to screenplay, right? Or at least in the history of like quirkier movies that succeed with Oscar, it might just be a screenplay. It also, um, especially in this era, I'm thinking of like election. I think it's also just a factor. in what we were talking about with them sharing the table at the at the golden globes i think usa probably had their focus elsewhere i mean traffic traffic very nearly one that's picture

right yes yeah and i think it was very easy for the oscar buzz to coalesce around rene on her own because she was a movie star so she could sort of like she could shoulder that you know all up by herself you didn't really have to sort of prop up the rest of the movie around her to still have her as a contender. But yeah, the best in show thing, it's funny that you mentioned that, because I remember at the time, that had gotten buzz later on,

A Mighty Wind, gets some Oscar buzz. And I always remember there was this sense of, oh, but is it really a screenplay? Because there's, you know, so much, like, improvising going on, whatever. And I still feel frustrated that we couldn't, you know, ultimately, that that sort of, like, Weird technicality was what got people tripped up and what kept, you know, perhaps kept those

movies from getting screenplay nominations, which is really true. Are there movies that were nominated in those instances where it was really just a treatment rather than dialogue? I mean, definitely. I don't know what the, I mean, it's, I don't know the example, but like it does seem like we are more forgiving of this type of thing and improvisation. now because I don't know

that always even irked me at that time because like there's obviously a very clear structure they go in with a concept it's not like they just show up and start filming

right well it's also the sort of the other side of the coin of how is 1917 getting an editing nomination right you know what I mean like that kind of thing where it really becomes

the sort of like bogged down in a little bit of a technicality Where it's just sort of, you know, our definitions of the skill being awarded is what's tripping up. Or in 1970s case, didn't end up tripping up, but a lot of people thought it should have. Anyway, Justice for Best in the Show all these years later. 20 years, you guys, it's been 20 years since Nurse Betty, since all the films have time. Wild.

This movie definitely feels like it is 20 years old. I don't know if some of the other movies that we're talking about feel that way. Shock-a-lot is as fresh today as it was back then. See, see what I mean? Shock-a-Lot is a good punchline movie. It just sounds... It's one of those unwritten rules of comedy.

I was just going to ask where you guys are on the performances overall in this movie, Beyond Renee. I think Morgan Freeman's fantastic. I think Freeman's fantastic. I think Chris Rock is probably out of his depth a little bit. and I really like the character actors in this movie. I think I mentioned Janney. It's one of those movies that you don't think of as being like the stacked cast,

but like I think Pruitt Taylor Vince and Crispin Glover make for a curiously kind of fun little pair of characters together. Were you guys clear on who Crispin Glover is in the movie? No. I could not tell what his character. Maybe I didn't follow. Like Pruitt Taylor vince's friend? Or like, I just didn't really understand who he was. I think they were trying to sell us on the idea of that it's this sort of like small town.

So like the police chief and the sort of muckraking reporter are, you know, friends because it's a small enough town where like that's the case. And everybody knows each other. They're friends with Betty. And I think it was trying to sell us this kind of small town existence that Betty was coming from. Right. But yeah, it's obviously any movie where Crispin Glover isn't playing like an escaped mental patient or whatever. It's very strange to see him. Yes. He's always playing some type of cuckoo. I'm with you on Morgan Freeman. I just think he is wonderful in this. He would have made my short list that year. I don't know if it would have been supporting or leading, but I basically agree with you about Rock. But I think Greg Kinnear is fantastic in this. I think it's kind of the perfect. utilization of him. He's just so

charming and handsome and this ideal of this heartthrob actor and then completely turns on a dime into being like a horrible, verbally abusive prick. And I love this. Well, it's a performance that sort of lures you in the audience into what Betty

sees in him and kind of like in a very kind of Nealabute way pulls the rug out from under you and was just like, you know, jokes on you forever, you know, falling for this guy's charm. And I love that he's kind of, like, getting off on this improv acting exercise that he thinks she's doing, like, he says something like, I haven't felt like this since I was with Stella Adler in New York or some, like, pretentious thing like that.

Yeah. It's interesting to look, I sort of brought up his filmography. He gets the Oscar nomination for as good as it gets in 97, and then is in, you've got mail as the, like, you know, the doomed, whatever, not Tom Hanks. he's in Mystery Men He's in What Planet Are You From? Which is the Mike Nichols movie

I have one of the Mike Nichols movies I have not seen And I'm sort of most afraid to I say it's good Yeah I don't know how well it's aged Very morbidly wanting to watch that movie Yeah so all of a sudden his 2000 is What Planet Are You From Nurse Betty? He's in Loser

He's the college professor who's dating Mina Suvari In Loser That Jason Biggs is trying to sort of win her over. And he's in The Gift, which is a movie that we've talked about on this podcast before. I even forget that movie. He was the killer in that movie, right? Pretty sure, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, he's playing, like, some bad dudes in 2000. Like, he's really, I think, I think, Rob, you're right in that, like, he is, because his type for so many of those early films is handsome. Like, what's the Greg Kinneyer role? It's just like, he's incredibly. handsome, you guys. And it's just like, yes. And I think now is that on the trajectory that many very handsome actors do, which is, how can I use this handsomeness to make me a villain, which I mean, he was about to play Atticus Finch on Broadway, but that got canceled. Oh, is that true?

Yeah, he was, um, he was set to replace Ed Harris into Kill Mockingbird on Broadway, but, oh, oh, oh, I, oh, you mean now. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Before everything got shut down. Sad. At this time, in Nurse Betty, he was two years from his big play for Best Actor's success, which was autofocus, which I remember getting a ton of Oscar box before anybody saw that movie. The Paul Schrader movie, yeah, where he plays... Yeah, he's good. Bob Crane, yeah.

Defoe's really good in that movie, too. Not too terribly surprising that he doesn't end up getting an Oscar nomination, because I think that's a movie where Hollywood loves to mythologize itself, and this movie kind of, like... like, sticks a, you know, sticks a knife into the guts of that kind of tendency. No one in Hollywood wants to see that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think you're right, Rob. I think Kinnear is really, really good in this movie.

I think the whole cast is generally pretty good. I think Elizabeth Mitchell playing, you know, the sort of semi-resentful soap actress. Like I love all the times where she's just, like, giving you, like, really angry takes just because she's over it like whatever is happening and yeah she's wonderful justice for juliet from lost i think a lot of people are doing lost watch during quarantine i think yesterday was was an anniversary of the finale of lost and i think a lot of people are sort of you know delving into that show since we're all stuck at home and just gives me another

excuse to scream from the hilltops about how juliet was the best character on my show Best character on the show. Amazing. The show improved when they introduced her and then they killed her. Yeah, that's true. Very sad. Can we talk about the National Border of Review special recognition lineup that Nurse Betty is a part of, which makes absolute sense that it is? Is special recognition in this case just like we had more movies besides this top ten that we wanted to?

Right. We want people to come to our dinner, so hello, we like this movie too. Yeah. fully very stereotypical of them but also most of these movies have been lost at time

or at least about a good half of them the special recognition movies from National Border Review American Psycho Best in Show Chuck and Buck they also gave their supporting

actress to Lupe Antivaros we love her may she rest Chuck and Buck was a really was kind of a presence in that award season for a little while there and kind of a presence

in my life at that time, which we probably shouldn't go into. Oh, yeah, you were a big Chuck and Buck fan? Yeah, it meant a lot of different things to me when I was 14. Sorry, continue, Chris. I should see it. That sounds about right. Yeah, that sounds about right. Karin Kusama's Girl Fight, we love John Kusama.

Yeah. The Hamlet starring Ethan Hawk. Digital Hamlet. Technological Hamlet. Yeah, love it. uh nurse betty obviously requiem for a dream um an asian film about a bathhouse but they're straight called shower shower i'm in sold uh and it's also a movie about a bathhouse that is pg 13 very interesting um so it's basically straight spa night um snatch guy richie which is weird because i don't think snatch i don't think snatch comes out in the u.s until the following january

I want to say. Maybe there was a qualifying run, but I don't even think of that as a 2000 movie. I think it got a qualifying run, but I think it definitely did not open in any real way in the United States until... Yeah. Yeah, it did.

It opened in L.A. in December, early December of 2000. But yeah, that opens wide more than a month ago. All right, my bad. And then the last one is Sundance Winter Two Family House. Have you guys seen that movie? I've never heard of that.

I have Joe Jr. from while you were sleeping. Oh, right. He was also on The Sopranos. Yeah. Oh, yeah, I'm looking at that, and I think there's a few, because Catherine Narducci is also in this movie, and she was also on The Sopranos. Yeah, it's the sort of movie that would win Sundance in the year 2000.

And Vincent Pastori and Sharon Angela. Yeah, there's a lot of Sopranos cast members in this movie. I will not be surprised if the writer-director worked on the Sopranos. It's a sweet little movie, if I wrote. remember correctly. Yeah, NBR that year, does that, did Quills win their best picture? Yes, Quills won best picture, and it was, it stayed the stat for forever that, like, if, uh, National Border Review says your best picture, that it'll be a best picture nominee

with Oscar, what broke that recently? That was the one that people always threw around to make National Border Review more important than they are. I mean, finding Neverland always jumps to mind, but that did get the best picture nomination. It did, yeah. Doing research for this episode, I kind of got compelled. I want to watch Quills again just to see if that holds up as in any type of artifact.

That was the movie at the time that I was like, this is great, this is fantastic, and I don't know if I could still endorse that. Okay, so National Border Review. A Most Violent Year won National Border Review in 20,000. 14. That's really interesting. That's the one. That's the one that broke it. Yeah, that would make sense.

Most recently, yeah. Good old NBR. What was the nominee? What was the top 10 movie this year that really stood out? I guess Richard Jewel. And waves. They were the last one off of the waves train. I remember waves.

It does feel like waves happened eight billion years ago. That one. day in Toronto where all of a sudden waves was going to happen and then it didn't. And like by the time I saw it, which was late in Toronto, it was already not going to happen. That was a movie where different screenings of waves were like there was the screening of waves where everybody liked it and then there was the screening of waves where everybody hated it. And I was just like, this has like been a day. Like the buzz on that movie moved so quickly. It was really interesting.

Anything else we want to talk about with Nurse Betty? There must be Well, okay Something I read, which I don't know if it's true Is that this is Morgan Freeman's first on-screen kiss Wow Interesting That's super fascinating

And probably an indictment of Hollywood In terms of just like the kinds of The kinds of roles that the Let Black Act that's really interesting yeah Freeman's fantastic in this I absolutely had him on I remember having him on my supporting actor ballot that year

and now I'm going to torture you all by bringing up my ballot that year I was categorize him as a lead though I probably should have back at the time but I think for the very few instances of

precursor attention that he got. I think they were in supporting. He got a satellite nomination. It's not really an exciting supporting actor year. He is a top bill. He does get top billing above Renee. That is,

that's some good, that's some good agenting. I feel like when the movie is called Nurse Betty and you get top billing and you are not playing. Morgan Freeman is nurse Betty. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Freeman gets a black reel nomination as a best actor And then a satellite nomination as

Supporting Actor And NAACP Image Award nomination as a supporting actor So two out of three I'm going to go with I can sandsis on that Oh and just I was wondering if this movie Works emotionally For you guys

Particularly in this parallel These two people captive to their Romantic idealism like the Morgan Freeman and Renisa Ligeras sort of mirror characters. And then the revelation, literally five minutes before the movie's over, that Rock and Freeman are father and son. Does that stuff work for you guys? I'm not sure why that was held till so late in the movie for us as almost like a gotcha. I'm not sure that was as effective as they wanted it to be.

Beyond the performances, very little in this movie kind of works for me. Like I think the movie's fine, but like emotionally, definitely not. like not moving the needle at all. Guys, I had some interesting supporting actor nominees that year. So when it gets, when it gets this far back, I will say that like these probably have not

been tinkered with very much in the intervening years. So like this was pretty close to probably what I thought at the time. Nominees that were also Oscar nominees were Benicio del Toro and Albert Finney, Finney for Aaron Brocovic. My number

one that year, which I kind of do stand by, because I do think it's a performance that's more than meets the eye is Billy Crude Up in Almost Famous. I think he's fantastic. It's a good one. In that movie? I think he should have been nominated twice that year

because he's in Jesus' son also that year and he's really good at that. Although that's a movie that I have not seen since then. So I don't know. Maybe that would play differently for me now. Freeman for Nurse Betty. And then my final slot was a kind of a toss-up.

I think I had six as nominees because I was chaotic back then and thought I could make my own role. Gary Oldman for the contender Who I maybe don't nominate this year Really? I think that's a lead I would say Jeff Bridges

Well Bridges got the Oscar nomination And he's fucking great Did Oldman get the sag? I think Oldman's the classic He got something I'm pretty sure he was campaigned in lead But this is when we all still accepted That he was an asshole

And he also was campaigning against the movie Yeah I think so I do think that was a thing I think that was definitely back in the era where people thought he was never getting nominated because too many people didn't like him. Right. He said his character was framed as a villain

without his say-so. Or he saw the movie and was surprised that like the way that his character was framed. Did you read the script? I was going to say. But my other one I had that year was Robert Downey Jr. And Wonder Boys. Oh, yeah.

Really good in that movie. Who else? Oh, you know who was a contender that year that probably finished in like the top eight of Oscar voting, but probably never quite had a shot was Bruce Greenwood in 13 days. I remember a lot of people really like using Wood in 13 days.

13 days would be interesting to do an episode on. It's interesting that Almost Famous got the two supporting actress nominations when, like, there's a ton of action on the supporting actor side as well, crude up, but also Philip Seymour Hoffman, which is like, could not have

been a more like spotlight supporting actor role where he shows up for like three scenes is the best thing. on screen going for like those three scenes and then just sort of like goes away again he was still in that period definitely the one that was discussed the most for yeah male ensemble members for a nomination his greatness was kind of being taken for granted still at that point wasn't it right well that was during his era where it was just like what the fuck does philips seymour hoffman have to do to get an oscar nomination this is post magnolia wasn't his wasn't the magnolia year one of those

years where he had like three or four different performance yeah he's in like because he's in ripley he's in Magnolia. He's just so good in everything. It's funny to think of that before Capote he like, that was his narrative was just sort of like best actor to never get a nomination because for whatever reason.

Oh, 1999 was also flawless, which didn't he get a sag nomination for? Right. I think he did. What a weird movie. Yeah, we'll end up doing that on the show at some point. Directed by Joel Schumacher. Yes, naturally. I think of the names that you did not mention that I would throw on my list,

may he rest, Fred Willard for Best in Show. Oh, yeah. He was definitely one who I remember there was a lot of, if not actual, like, awards momentum. There was a lot of people who were writing about the Oscars being like, should get nominated Fred Willard for Best in time. No, he definitely, he got some things. Maybe another national... He got some critics prizes.

I think maybe National Society of Film Critics, and I think he was a finalist for New York and LA film critics. Yeah, it was a finalist for National Society, a film critic. That's fantastic. Good, good for them. That's a movie I should probably watch

soon. If just, you know, for the Fred Willard of it all, but just because I should never really go too long without seeing that movie. He's really good. Yeah, he won Boston Society of Film Critics. That's a, that's a really good one. I love the Boston Society of Film Critics.

They're always, they're always just independent enough where it's not like you don't feel like they're just being showy for showy's sake, but they'll have some independent thought. I like that. Yeah. Fantastic. Nurse Betty, should we move on to the IMDB game? I think we should. All right, Joe, explain the IMDB game to our listeners. Sure, every week we end our episodes with the IMDB game where we challenge each other with an actor or actress to try and guess the top four titles that IMDB says they are most known for. If any of those titles are television or voiceover work, we mention that up front. After two wrong guesses, we get the remaining

titles release years as a clue and if that's not enough it just becomes a free for all of hints Rob we asked you to come prepared with an IMDB challenge for one of us would you like to challenge me or Chris oh that's tough um I'm gonna challenge Chris all right okay challenge Chris Chris Chris will challenge me and I will challenge you exciting okay so this is an actor who actually came up in our conversation earlier who starred in Your Friends and Neighbors, written and directed by Neil Abute, Jason Patrick.

Jason Patrick. Can I tell you something really funny? Rob, this was also who I had earmarks to give to you. I have a backup. I can go. So now while you guys are doing this, I'm going to go find my backup. Okay. I sense that Joe, you might have to help me with Jason Patrick, but we will get there. Yeah, there's some doozies on this one.

I'll save. It's not that hard. Okay, so there's a lot of stuff in the 90s. Problem about Jason Patrick is he so, like, tough to distinguish on screen because he always looks the same. I know Sleepers has to be there. It sure is. Sleepers. Sleepers was the one I thought you'd have a real hard time with, so good job. Okay.

The Lost Boys? Yep. Okay. I'm trying to think of some of these 90s movies. Maybe they're all just sleepers. There's no TV, right? Wasn't he on a TV show? Didn't he play a doctor or some?

He did play a doctor on Wayward Pines, but that is not one of them. Wayward Pines! Oh my God, amazing. Wait. This movie has shown up before. I'm pretty sure it showed up for Ray Leota is NARC on there. It is not. It should be.

It's a good chance. I'm trying to think of movies that he is on the poster for. It's a good guess. Why can't I remember any Jason Patterson? I'll just say your friends and neighbors. Throw it out there. Yes. No.

No. Okay. Well, that's my two wrong guesses. What are my years? Your years are 1997 and 2010. 2010? He's still working? Well, I guess that was a decade ago.

I will say the 2010 one I would never get. Ever. Yeah, 2010's the sticking point. That's for sure. Wow. Yeah, but I have hint. Okay. So 97.

Few years before what we're talking about. And it's not your friends and neighbors. I would say Joe, probably technically the biggest movie he's ever been in, right? Yes. Although not necessarily a great friend. thing. Oh, so it's a bad movie. Debatable.

Really? I would love to have that debate with you. Okay, so probably bad, like, seen as a bad movie. Seen as a failure. And a bad movie. Seen as a failure.

It's a big movie. Is it actually big, or is it just big by Jason Patrick? It's a big budget event movie. It was a big summer movie when it opened. oh okay um and very likely a big undertaking to make it as well why am i just thinking of the godzilla movie that he's not in i'm trying to think of late 90s big summer movies that are bad the director oh my god no wait it's speed two uh i need the full title please

Speed 2 Colan Cruise control Yes The best part of that movie is the subtitle of that movie I was looking forward to giving the tagline But it's okay Wait what is the tagline

Rush hour hits the water Stupid Sorry I just probably blew out my mind That's fantastic Amazing 2010 Damn maybe I'm going to go watch Speed 2 today Okay, so 2010, neither of you seem to think that it would have been there.

I'm going to guess that I don't know that he's in this movie. I've seen it. I didn't remember that he was in it. Okay. Wow. It's one of those movies that it's just like, oh, it's an ensemble full of junk, which is not necessarily to say that everybody who's in it is bad, but it's just like, this ensemble makes no sense of them.

No, but. that's the ballpark Yeah, not totally far off It's based on a comic book series That you've never heard of Ah I'm making assumptions there I'm guessing the comic book thing

Is not going to get me there It's Wow Okay so what are movies that are like Smokin Aces? It's not going to be like a Robert Rodriguez movie No

Again you're in you're in the ballpark you're in the ballpark for type of movie you're circling the parking lot of the type of movie that this is I wonder if I have even seen this I'm gonna guess no I would be shocked if you saw it can I give you the two others like when Joe gave me

Joan Allen and I got Death Race 2000 is it Death Race 2000 it is not I can give you the writing credits the writing credits on this movie are insane yes they are two people I would have never assumed would have worked together one of whom wrote two movies we have covered on this at Oscar Bus.

Interesting. Directed one of them, wrote both of them. And the director of this movie. Is it James Vanderbilt? He is one of them. One of the writers. I'm still not going to get it. The other writer is a writer who only seems to work with Mark Wahlberg these days.

Peter Berg. Yes. Yes. And the director directed Stomp the Yard and Slend. I know you're a fan of both. Oh, I think the star of Stomp the Yard is in this particular movie. Yes. I never saw Stomp the Yard.

Y'all, I am not anywhere close. Well, you're probably not going to be a winner on this round of I and D.B game. So if you're not going to be a winner on this, what are you going to be? A failure? Can I give you a couple cast members? Would that help at all? Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Idriselba. And it's not Smokin Aces.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, not a winner, but a... A loser? Is it called Loser? It's called The Losers. The Losers.

Great. A movie that I don't know what it is. Amazing. I mean, it's what you think it is. It's smoking. It's smoking aces, the other words. one. Sure. A CIA special forces team are betrayed and left for dead by their superiors, galvanizing them to mount an offensive on the CIA. It's kind of the A team, but like, with women. Well, with Zoe Saldon. Rob, you stumped me. Yay. Love it. All right. So Joseph, for you, I went the Neal-Labute route. One of the movies we talked about is the shape of things. Who is the supporting actress in that movie, as we mentioned.

Machen Mall. Oh, boy. There is one television show. Okay, so, uh, boardwalk empire. Boardwalk Empire. All right. Um, The Notorious Betty Page.

Notorious Betty Page, one of her few starring roles. Okay. Rounders. No, Rounders is not there. It's no sense. That rounder is a cover for, for all for not. That's crazy. Okay.

Okay, Gretchen Mall. One wrong guess, two. I'd be shocked if the shape of things is one of them, but you do do that to me a lot. I think you read into that more than it is a thing. I've never intentionally done so. Right. Okay. Miss Gretchen.

What else has Ms. Gretchen been in? Oh, she's such a small role in this movie, but it was a big success, so I will say Manchester by the Sea. No, not Manchester by the Sea. She plays the, she plays, uh, Lukie Hedges' mom, right? Yeah, that's what I thought. And she's got this, like, cuck of a husband, too, and I can't remember who it is. Matthew Broderick.

Yeah, it's Matthew Broderick. Right. Because it's Lonner again. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. He only played cuck. So obviously I used the term. I was going to say, obviously, I used the term cuck ironically, because people who don't use it ironically are bad. Okay. Anyway. Your years are 1999 and 2007. 1999. So 99 is right after Rounder, so she's still sort of the hot property a little bit. And then what's the other year? 2007.

Oh. I know movies from 2007. Okay. 99. 99. So, like, she makes rounders. She didn't really make, like, a critically acclaimed role until Betty Page. So it's probably something, like, commercial.

But she was never in, like, an action blockbuster movie. Not a blockbuster. You are in the right neighborhood with the genre. It's also an Oscar nominee. It's also an Oscar nominee, huh? You're talking about the 2007 one. Yes. Oh, I'm on 99.

Oh, sorry, 99. 99 is more of, like, a genre movie. It is fully forgotten now, but it at the time was definitely seen as bad. If I may chime in on that one, there was a movie with a pretty similar premise out around the same time from a more substantial, from a more notable director. Oh. And it's commercial. Like comedy commercial or like sci-fi horror? commercial.

Sci-fi horror genre. Okay. It was a summer release that bombed. Oh. Oh, she's in... Is it House on Haunted Hill? Is she in that? No.

No. I don't know if she's in that. She might not be. House on Hotted Hill kind of rules. Oh, is it... 13 ghosts Not 13 ghosts 13 something else

What is 13 ghosts the movie though Or did I just make that? It is a movie It is also one of the dark castle movies Like House on Honod Hill was Which she is not in by the way She is not in You do have the number correct

13 floor 13th floor Yeah 13th floor What is that movie about It's about a computer scientist running a virtual reality simulation of 1937, who becomes the primary suspect when his colleague and mentor is murdered. So is that sort of Dark City-esque? Is that what you're trying to...

I was thinking more Existence. Oh, Existens. A great movie. I love Existence. All right. So the 2007 movie you said is an Oscar nominee. Yes, it is an Oscar nominee. Also very specific genre. This movie's come up on other IMDB games. I am positive. Because this is also a movie that, like, you don't realize, you know who the two stars of the movie are,

but, like, you don't realize there's, like, other famous actors in it if until, like, I personally didn't remember there were women in it. Yeah. Oh, it's a very male movie. She's definitely a wife. Oh, is it a Western? Yes. Is it 310 to Yuma?

It is 310 to Huma I liked that movie But yeah Not a very Not very many women in that movie She's what She's got to be His wife

Is it Christian Bale Probably Is it Christian Bail in that movie? Yeah Yes Yeah His wife Logan Lerman's

Mom Sure Sure Isn't that the deal Logan Lormin's in that movie Ben Foster's in that movie Peter Fonda is in this movie Right

It's Christian Bail And Logan Lerman is his son Russell Crow is the villain Or villain? Yeah, she's, she's, yes. Well, isn't he like the prisoner? Right. They have to.

Ben Foster's the villain. And isn't like, Ben Foster's so good in that movie. I love Ben Foster in that movie so much. Yeah, this cast is amazing. Ben Foster only continued to play that character. Oh, so good, though. Love him. Yeah, she's got to be his wife

because her name is the same. This is her last name is the same. Anyway, that was good. All right. So I have, for, for Rob I have a backup Also someone who was in

a Neil Lebutte movie This person was in Death at a Funeral And it is Peter Dinklage So Rob Peter Dinklage Obviously one of which is television Right, okay

So Game of Thrones Yeah Is Elf one? No Although I would have 100% guest out. The station agent? Correct.

Okay. Yeah, I was considering Bobby Knavali for one of mine earlier, and I was surprised that was in his. Nice. So, yeah. I'm looking at this now. This known for is very unwell. Isn't he in Avengers movie? Infinity War? He's in Infinity War, but it's not that. But yes, he is in Infinity War.

So what are my years? Fully forgot he's in... Oh, yeah, your years are 2014 and 2017. 2017? Oh, really? Three billboards, right? Yes, three billboards. Weird.

Yeah, I'm very surprised that that made his note for. I'm going to need some sort of hint. on the other one. You're definitely, speaking of guesses that are in the right ballpark, you are absolutely in the right genre ballpark when you went with Infinity War. Okay.

Not the MCU, but like, what's another vast superhero universe in film? A vast superhero universe that isn't Marvel. Right. It's Marvel. Yeah, it is Marvel, but it's not the MCU. Oh, oh.

Um, uh, X-Men, uh, something, something. Right. Exactly. Do you remember which one? Oh, I, um, it, it, it is one that, um, that Brian Singer directed, right? Yes. Yeah, it's when he, it was, I think it's the last one that Brian Singer directed. Uh, uh, Days of Future Past. It's Days of Future Past. Yes.

Yeah. that movie, which I remember liking, but I also, like, don't remember what, if anything, specifically I liked about it. So that was the one that's sort of like, well, I also, I do love a movie that will just like, it's the fast five concept of just like we're going to bring the whole band together. Just like everybody from both of those X-Men timelines got brought in together. And I was like, okay, this is fun. Anyway, very good. Well done. Rob.

on that. I really do wish I had been able to see how you would have done on Jason Patrick and whether you would have gotten the losers. My backup, by the way, was Allison Pill. Just FYI. Oh, don't even tell me who's there. Because

I want to keep her in my pocket I think I've looked her up before for for IMDB and it is interesting indeed. All right. But Rob, thank you so much for joining us. This was so much fun.

I had so much fun. We love having your encyclopedic knowledge on here and giving us an excuse to talk about Nurse Betty, which is a really interesting artifact that feels 20 years old. That, Chris, even though you're not a fan, you would recommend people see it, right? Or seek it out or no? I mean, definitely for Morgan Freeman and for Renee Zellweger, sure. Okay, I'll take it. And you should absolutely watch her.

winning Globe speech listeners. It's lovely and a million years long. People who were complaining about her acceptance speech at the Oscars this year being too long. Watch this Globe speech. It's forever. This is also the Globes where she was in the bathroom when she won. And like she had to charge up there. Oh, an underrated bathroom one.

Yeah, she pulled a Christine Lottie. Gets all the attention. Yeah. Yes. How soon into the speech? Does she thank John Carabino because that is the constant in her, yeah. Yeah. That's a super cut I would make, is all of Renee Zellweger thinking John Carabina. And having everybody who'd be like, who?

And I'd be having to remind them that like, yes. This was three years after. That was the award season comeback. I was, what's it? I was saying this was three years after the Lottie bathroom situation. Oh, the best. The absolute best. Robin Williams comes up to vamp. It's a whole thing. That's really fantastic. But that, I think, is our episode.

If you want more this had Oscar Buzz, you can check out the Tumblr at this had oscarbuzz.tumbler.com. You should also follow our Twitter account at had underscore Oscar underscore buzz. Rob, tell our listeners where they can find more of you if you wish to be found. I guess on Twitter. My handle is

at Clooney Disciple. Your handle is at Clooney Disciple and your name is Rob Plainview and so many people have, like, I've encountered so many people who think that is your actual last name which I think is very funny. And most people think it's so there will be blood reference, but

it's actually the name of the town I grew up in. That's a lie. You're lying. That is true. Jeez. I thought for once I was going to not be pulled in by one of your very, very dry jokes, but apparently, well done. Plainview. Yeah.

Long Island. Cool. All right. Joseph, tell our lovely listeners where they can find more of you. You can find me at Eli Sunday on Twitter. No, I'm at Joe Reed, redispelled, R-E-I-D. I am on letterboxed. also spelled Joe Reed,

R-E-I-D. All right, and you can find me on Twitter at Crispy File, that's F-E-I-L, also on Letterbox, under the same name. We would like to thank Kyle Cummings for his fantastic artwork and Dave Gonzalez and Kevin Miebius for their technical guidance.

Please remember to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, wherever else you get your podcast. Five-star review in particular really helps us out with Apple Podcasts visibility, so please don't scalp us, but Stan, our medical show, our soap, whatever.

That's all for this week, but we hope you'll be back next week for more buzz. Hooray. Thank you.