Mail Day for Mr. T or Get the Critic!
Welcome to ASK TRAVERS, a forum that lets me answer your movie questions, respond to insults that aren’t gratuitous (OK, those too), and maybe even sneak in a few nosy questions of my own. Plus, if you catch me screwing up my movie facts, it’s you’re chance to yell BUSTED!
Speaking of which, here’s a question from Ian C who gently rips me for my Monday blog on the Oscar show:
Photo: Universal
Q: “I’m sure you’re getting a lot of people saying this, and you maybe already knew, but… You said “…get these two a movie,” about Steve Martin and Tina Fey. They had one. Of course, they could always have another one, where Martin’s role would be bigger, but he was definitely a highlight of “Baby Mama.”
A: You busted me, Ian. I did already know that Steve Martin played Tina Fey’s ponytailed boss in Baby Mama. But the role was merely a glorified cameo, so much so that Martin took no onscreen billing in the credits. Still, Martin damn near stole the movie (along with Sigourney Weaver in another small role). So I should have been more careful. Doesn’t stop me from wanting to see Martin and Fey team up in a real romantic comedy. No Pink Panther 3, thank you, but something where Martin’s physical comedy can play off Fey’s verbal fireworks. Maybe a sequel to Dirty Dancing, with Steve as an aging dance instructor and Fey as a grownup Baby that nobody puts in a corner.
Photo: Dimension Films
Q: What films are you looking forward to seeing this year? And what book that you’ve read would you most like to see adapted into a movie. I just finished “Shantaram”. I don’t think I’ve read a more awe-inspiring book, or a book so rich with amazing dialogue. Just loved it./Nathan C./em>
A: Well, Nathan, I can’t wait to see what Johnny Depp and director Michael Mann do with the John Dillinger gangster saga Public Enemies. But there’s lots more: Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, Joel and Ethan Coen’s A Serious Man, Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones, Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock, Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant, Paul Greengrass’s The Green Zone, Clint Eastwood’s Playing The Enemy, Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life, Rob Marshall’s Nine, Judd Apatow’s Funny People, Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Homes (with Robert Downey, Jr.), Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces, Jim Jarmusch’s The Limits of Control, Mira Nair’s Amelia, Lone Scherfig’s An Education, Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are, Todd Solondz’s Forgiveness, Woody Allen’s Whatever Works, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Biutiful, Wes Anderson’s animated The Fantasic Mr. Fox, and James Cameron’s decade-in-the-making Avatar. It’s looking like a hell of a year (at least on paper).
As for book question, I agree about Shantaram — Johnny Depp has been trying for years to get it made (so far no luck). As for me, I’ve been waiting to see what kind of trip director John Hillcoat takes with Cormac McCarthy’s masterful novel The Road. I’ll finally get my wish this year.
Photo: D’Alessandro/WireImage
Q: Did Oscar spit on Loki’s grave?/Abbey G
A: I wouldn’t go that far. But it’s for sure that Mickey Rourke’s chihuahua, who died just a few days before the Oscars, isn’t smiling in heaven now that Sean Penn beat her master for the Best Actor Oscar.
Photo: Chase/Getty (Pacino), Meritt/Getty (Winslet)
Q: In your Oscar blog you said you were happy that Kate Winslet finally won her Oscar after six tries, but you also said it was for the wrong movie, “The Reader.” Can you think of any other examples? /Tom W
A: Can I? Are you kidding! How about Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman? The Godfather I & II, and Dog Day Afternoon were the right choices. Russell Crowe should have won for The Insider instead of Gladiator. Denzel Washington for Malcolm X not Training Day, Paul Newman for The Hustler instead of The Color of Money, Jack Lemmon for Some Like It Hot instead of Save the Tiger (i know, what?), Dustin Hoffman for The Graduate and Midnight Cowboy instead of Kramer Vs Kramer and Rain Man. I could go. And so could you. Send me your own travesties of Oscar justice.
Got a question? Just shoot me an e-mail at [AskTravers@rollingstone.com](mailto:asktravers@rollingstone.com).
“