4
Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 29, 1989
Me & Jed
Continued from Page 7
Hollywood and found ourselves this
bush, which ain't no more than a
horseshoe's throw away from where
the stars get out of their fancy cars
for the Oscar show.
"Eddie's comin', I just know he
is," Jed says.
"Uh-huh," I say..
"Say, why do you reckon they
have four thousand cops swarmin'
around here?" Jed says.
"Safety purposes," I tell him. "In
case Rambo doesn't win, he's gonna
be pretty pissed and might whip out
his Uzi andhurt some people."
"Oh," Jed says.
The first limo pulls up and some
guy starts talking into some bullhorn
or somethin'. Ladies and gentlemen,
nominee for Best Actress... Glenn
Close!
"Who the hell is she?" Jed says.
"Ah, uh..."
More limos pull up. Meryl
Streep! Frances McDormand! Max
von Sydow! Martin Landau!...
Jed is lookin' a might unhappy.
He pulls the string wrapped around
his finger and still finds the carrot on
the other end. Roger Rabbit still
ain't come to take a bite.
"I don't get it," Jed finally says.
"Charlene done tell me the five most
popular movies last year were Com-
ing to America, the Rabbit movie,
Big, the Bruce Willis deal and Cock-
tail. Now, I've been lookin' real
hard and I don't see no - Omigosh."
Tom Hanks! Signorney Weaver!
Jed can't believe it, so he stands
up to get a closer look - and that's
when one of L.A.'s finest sees him
and grabs him and throws him in an
unmarked van. When they come back
for me, I start yelling as loud as I
could, "I LIKE BULL DURHAM ! I
LIKE ROGER RABBIT ! I LIKE
DIE HARD ! I LIKE COCKTAIL! I
LOVED TIE NAKED GUN ! I IS
NOT AN IDGIT!"
But no one listen to me. And now
I is in jail with Jed. This is a stoopid
town they got here. These Oscar
people bring Doritos to the party but
they never open the bag.
Nominee gains power of choice
BY MARK SHAIMAN AND TONY SILBER
MISSISSIPPI Burning has been nominated for
seven Academy Awards. One of those nominations is
for a cinematic newcomer who has been overwhelmed
by her immediate success. Her first role was in Blood
Simple, in which she co-starred, followed by a smaller
role in Raising Arizona. But things have gotten bigger
and better for Frances McDormand because her third
film role in Mississippi Burning has won her acclaim
and exposure.
When we spoke to McDormand in January, the
nominations had not yet been released, but the film
was certainly involved in a storm of controversy.
Many criticized the film's alleged distortion of facts as
well as its unfavorable treatment of Blacks. McDor-
rnand defended the film and tried to clarify the contro-
versy.
"I think the movie that (Alan) Parker made is a
good movie," she said. "We never claimed to be mak-
ing a documentary." She addressed the issue of contro-
versy cautiously, adding "this is not fact, and if people
want a better representation, they should go to a doc-
umentary like Eyes on the Prize."
Frances McDormand was first approached by direc-
tor Alan Parker who was begining to assemble his
Mississippi Burning cast.
"When I first read the script, I had trouble with it.
As far as Gene (Hackman) and I were concerned, that
attraction that's built into the story was gratuitous to
the relationship. So when I read the script, I had prob-
lems with the ending. I felt it was a compromise to
what the filmmaking community thought an audience
expected." She questioned the nature of the relationship
between her Mrs. Pell character and Hackman's Agent
Anderson:
"The scene where she gives him the information
about her husband and where the bodies were buried -
the first script I read they slept together and then she
told him. The second time I read it, she tells him and
then they sleep together. The third time... she tells
him and they fall to the floor in a passionate embrace.
By the time we did it, we even thought the kiss was
wrong but (Alan) Parker felt it was necessary."
Nonetheless, Mississippi Burning was a rewarding
and educational experience for McDormand, and she
has vivid memories of particular moments in the pic-
ture:
"The most powerful, visual image in the movie...
is the very first shot of the two water fountains on the
wall, clear demarcation - colored and white. Within
white, southern America, (Mrs. Pell) thinks she has
this relationship with Mary, the lady that does her
laundry, but the fact is she can't go to a restaurant
with her, she can't go over her house."
When asked about the possibility of being nomi-
nated for an Academy Award, she was hesitant, but
hopeful that this role could open up a prosperous act-
ing career for her and give her the opportunity to
choose her own genres in which to work.
With her nomination sewn up, she has achieved her
desire to have "the choice to do a totally frivolous
comedy as opposed to a socially significant drama. It's
all about choice."
Picks
Continued from Page 7
Edwards contends, "Close might
have the inside track because for the
past few years she has continually
given excellent performances. Unlike
Streep, Close has not yet been hon-
ored with an award and thus the
Academy might decide she's due to
win."
The next category may throw a
wrench in the works because the
Oscars are so predictable as to al-
ways have one category that is a toss
up. This time it is the Best
Supporting Actor. Four of the five
chosen are first time nominees. So
will it be Kevin Kline for a comedy?
Or Dean Stockwell for a comedy? Or
Martin Landau, because he's been
around forever? Or River Phoenix, at
his young age? Or Alec Guinness, at
his old age?
Alec, Alec, Alec! The key words
are "old age." Not that we have any-
thing against Sir Alec - he is un-
questionably one of the greatest ac-
tors of this or any other time. But
he'll get the Oscar because he's old.
There is no reason to go on about
those souls and films that should
have been nominated but weren't
because we all agree that Jeremy
Irons and Dead Ringers, Stephen
Frears, Wings of Desire, and various
other names and titles have been ig-
nored.
But what can you expect? Too
much, and that's the problem with
the Oscars!
I w
Take a look into the future.
Compufair '89
Thursday and Friday,
in the Union
Films raise lesbian, gay male issues
E __________________________________________
DROP IN
C
00007
-ON
BY MARK SHAIMAN
F OR those of you who want to
avoid the hoopla of tonight's Oscar
ceremonies, and the whole structure
of Hollywood films in general, there
is a perfect alternative. Tonight
marks the start of the first ever
Michigan International Lesbian and
Gay Male Film Festival, a presenta-
tion of diverse films dealing with a
subject that Tinseltown tends to
avoid. The works shown in this se-
ries are more important socially than
almost anything that will come
away with one of those little gold
statuettes by the end of the night,
and deserve attention as such.
The Fest begins tonight with two
films about the most pressing prob-
lem facing the gay male community
- AIDS. This disease which domi-
nated the newscasts of a year ago has
fallen to the back pages of the
tabloids today, but the problem is no
less significant as shown in the
films tonight.
First is A Death in the Family, a
documentary accounting which fo-
cuses on Andrew Boyd, the fourth
person in New Zealand to die of
OPEN HOUSE
Albert Terrace Apts.
1700 Geddes
AIDS. This will be followed by A
Virus Has No Morals, the outra-
geous product of Germany's Rosa
von Praunheim who is known as the
"enfant terrible of gay filmmakers."
This off-beat, unconventional treat-
ment of the delicate subject matter
includes scenes such as nurses
rolling dice to see which AIDS pa-
tient will die next of AIDS. Still,
this black comedy brings many peo-
ple's worst fear into daylight.
This double feature is just the
first of the six nights in the Lesbian
and Gay Male Film Festival which
is presenting more than a dozen full-
length and short films altogether
over the next two weeks. Other
highlights include the Ann Arbor
premiere of Virgin Machine, about a
journalist researching romantic love,
and two gay classics by world-
renowned film director Rainer
Werner Fassbinder.
The Film Fest provides a unique
opportunity to see films of a nature
rarely dealt with in cinema, but with
enough support from the Ann Arbor
area, this will hopefully become an
annual event.
I
761-1717
THURSDAY, MARCH 30,
2- 10 p.m.
A DEATH IN THE FAMILY will
be shown tonight at 7 p.m. and A
VIRUS HAS NO MORALS at 9:20
p.m. at Nat Sci Auditorium. Tickets
are $2.50.
Sunday and Monday, April 2 and
3:
Riffs, a theater and blues cabaret,
the 2nd annual spring benefit for
Performance Network, is seeking 6-8
actors. No prepared monologues
neccessary. Auditions are at 408 W.
Washington St., Sun., Apr. 2 at 2
p.m. and Mon. Apr. 3 at 7 p.m.
Auditions and Opportunities ap-
pears Wednesdays on the Michigan
Daily's arts page. If you have any
auditions or theater-related activities
you would like publicized, contact
Theater Editor Cherie Curry at 763-
0379.
n
Everything you've always
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Sunday
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