Features
Headlines
Search
Loading ...
Archives
I recently rewatched “Julie & Julia” at an industry screening, and came to a pair of conclusions that I hadn’t quite reached the first time. The first is that, as grandly as Meryl Streep holds up her end of the film, it’s Amy Adams’s half of the story, curiously enough, that I found more compelling.
The second is that the truly great performance of the film is given by Stanley Tucci.
Tucci’s dry-sweet delineation of Paul Child is an actor’s masterclass in making a silk purse from a sow’s ear of a character: it’s difficult to imagine any of his lines or gestures popping on the scripted page, but he listens to Streep’s performance with such intelligence and compassion that his listening becomes compelling in and of itself.
And his crisp, unexpected exclamation of “Fuck them!” deserves a line-delivery award of its own.
My mom, who was visiting that week and came along to the screening, asked me afterwards, “Isn’t that what supporting awards are for? I mean, that’s what he was doing … supporting her.” It’s the kind of sweetly logical statement that could only be made by someone sensible enough to avoid awards-watching, but I have to agree.
Of course, it’s not that simple. For looming on the awards horizon is a second much-buzzed (but still unseen) performance from Tucci that couldn’t be more diametrically opposed to the character of Paul Child: paedophilic murderer George Harvey in Peter Jackson’s “The Lovely Bones.”
On paper, the odds favor Tucci getting nominated for the darker role in the weightier December release. The Academy has shown an inclination of late towards villainous performances in the Best Supporting Actor category (a factor that some are also counting in Christoph Waltz’s favor).
And going by Tucci’s statement in this LA Times interview, it appears that his “Lovely Bones” role was a greater personal test for the versatile character actor (who many might not realize was widowed earlier this year):
My wife had read the book … I can’t read anything that’s about a kid that gets raped or whatever. I can’t deal with that. And I had difficulty accepting the role. I really did. I told Peter I may not see this movie. I can’t handle stuff like this. It was such a challenge. It was like the ultimate challenge for me. My wife and I talked about it at length, talked about it with my agents, and I was this close to saying no, and then I was like, ‘I think I’m willing to try it.’
On the switch from light to dark between the projects, he adds:
I think there are all these different people inside of us … Every person is a multiple personality, and people role-play when they go to work, in their relationships. I think of the classic example of the librarian who lets her hair down. There are personalities that everyone has, and actors just have decided we’re going to explore as many as possible before we die — in front of people.
I find it interesting (and somewhat encouraging) that Tucci hasn’t read Alice Sebold’s source novel, as the George Harvey of the book is a fairly thin ‘pervy paedo’ stereotype. I imagine an actor as subtle and sinuous as Tucci has a lot more to bring to the table than that.
We’ll know soon enough if Tucci’s performance in “The Lovely Bones” is the field-beating achievement some think it might be. But even if he lands a nomination for “Julia,” you have to like his chances of winning. Either way, the unnominated performance will simply join a long line of screen credits supporting the ‘body of work’ recognition many feel he is owed.
Everyone has regarded Tucci as a consummate actors’ actor since TV’s “Murder One” in 1995. With such a neatly contrasting pair of roles as his 2009 showcase, few would deny he’s ready for his moment in the spotlight.
21 responses so far
1 11-11-2009 at 5:05 pm
Loyal said...
“The first is that, as grandly as Meryl Streep holds up her end of the film, it’s Amy Adams’s half of the story, curiously enough, that I found more compelling.”
That’s worthy of its own article. I thought Adam’s storyline brought the entire film down. I wanted more of Julia.
2 11-11-2009 at 5:05 pm
Wade said...
Guy,
What was it that you found compelling about Amy Adam’s half of the story this time? I’ve only seen the film once, but the Julie stuff seemed really weak.
3 11-11-2009 at 5:17 pm
Brian said...
Stanley Tucci is, easily, one of the greatest character actors alive.
4 11-11-2009 at 5:26 pm
Morgan said...
I didn’t know he lost his wife recently. How sad.
5 11-11-2009 at 5:38 pm
Marlowe said...
He probably got the least attention of anyone in it, but I thought Tucci’s scenes in “Road to Perdition” were phenomenal. Definitely a doing-a-lot-with-very-little-screen-time thing.
6 11-11-2009 at 6:29 pm
Nick Davis said...
I’m totally with you on Julie > Julia (but just barely), and on Tucci being best in show. You’re not alone.
7 11-11-2009 at 6:36 pm
moviefan said...
I liked Tucci in Julie and Julia equally as much as I liked Streep. They had one of the most believable relationships on screen I’ve ever seen.
After reading the LAT article I looked up Tucci at imdb and he’s won Emmys, Golden Globes, an Independent Spirit Award and has been nominated for a SAG (TV), but he’s never even been nominated for an Oscar. He easily belongs on the list of the overlooked.
8 11-11-2009 at 7:00 pm
aspect ratio said...
I’d say the Julia parts were my favorite just because they’re showy and has Streep and Tucci, but for all the (comparatively) negative comments towards the Julie storyline I didn’t think that was bad at all, I think the movie worked really well, and it’s made interesting as a comparison of married life then and married life now as well.
Tucci is indeed great in the film, I hope he gets some recognition for it (supporting Golden Globe nom, maybe?). And speaking of Tucci and Julie & Julia, check out a little film he made ten years ago called Big Night. Also a foodie film, an underrated, forgotten little gem of a film.
9 11-11-2009 at 7:09 pm
Speaking English said...
One of the more bizarre criticisms of the year, for me, is that the Julie portion of Julie & Julia “weighs down the film,” or even more ridiculous, “destroys it.” I think it works perfectly fine and is just as delightful as the stuff with Streep. One wouldn’t work without the other.
10 11-11-2009 at 7:29 pm
SJG said...
I can’t say that I prefer the Julie segments to the Julia segments, but they do put Julia Child’s story into perspective in a way that I don’t think would be possible with a straight biopic, so I definitely side with the pro-Julie sentiment.
Also, I think we need to just stop wondering how Tucci performs in The Lovely Bones. He absolutely deserves an Oscar for Julie & Julia. It’s a supporting role in the truest sense of the term: without his perfectly balancing performance, Meryl Streep’s quirky interpretation of Julia Child would have fallen totally flat. But with him in the picture, both roles make cinematic history, IMHO.
I let the theater totally marveling at Streep’s performance, but the role that made the movie “work” for me was undoubtedly Paul Child. I began to feel Tucci’s was an Oscar-worthy performance by about his second scene in the film.
What’s funny is I was certain I would be alone in that judgment… I’m SO glad to see that I’m not.
11 11-11-2009 at 7:37 pm
SJG said...
I *left* the theater…
12 11-11-2009 at 10:06 pm
JHS said...
If his performance in The Lovely Bones lives up to the (admittedly sky-high) expectations, I think that this may be his year. We’ve seen much less of Bones than of Julie and Julia obviously, but he has such respect in the industry and will have given, at the very least, one really, really good performance, holding his own and then some against Streep, and another (we hope/assume) really, really good, potentially explosive, performance in a high-profile film, based on even more popular source-material (arguably) and directed by Peter Jackson. Unless Bones is a real mess (not my prediction), I predict that he will be nominated for it; the Julia component will bolster his chances; and, in the end, he will win.
13 11-11-2009 at 10:44 pm
Glenn said...
While I think Streep (and Tucci, obvs) gave the better performance to Adams, I actually preferred Adams’ Julie storyline more. The Julia stuff was fun to watch, but ultimately didn’t really have much in the way of narrative push since they end her story before she even becomes the JULIA CHILD that people know. Of course, having said that I didn’t know Julia Child at all (being a twentysomething Australian) and so I didn’t have any strong connection to her in that regards.
I do hope Tucci gets nominated for J&J. It’d be lovely.
14 11-12-2009 at 12:34 am
lucy said...
Seems to me that this article is downgrading more of Streep’s chances to finally win her overdue 3rd Oscar, It was the Julia part that carried the film!!, If not for Streep’s powerhouse performance the film woul have been a disaster.
I will say that Streep and Tucci are the film’s saving grace.
15 11-12-2009 at 3:49 am
Erik said...
I’d say that the Julie part worked better for me, but I liked the Julia part more:
The Julie part felt like an episode of a fun, if somewhat toothless, HBO-type of one-hour comedy. It told its entire story in half a movie’s screentime without feeling rushed or incomplete. It had that nice framework of 1 year/1 book mission to work through.
The Julia part tried to cram a whole biopic into half a movie. It didn’t get time to settle in or find its legs. It was good, but the story was rushed and most of the characters underdeveloped.
Had Julia had a whole biopic, her story could have had more breathing room, which it needed. Had Julie been given her own movie, people would be scratching their heads as to why Nora Ephron is still allowed to direct feature films.
16 11-12-2009 at 4:20 am
John H. Foote said...
I had the immense pleasure of interviewing Stnaley during TIFF a few years ago — very fuuny, kooky wild man with a wicked sense of humour — Steve Buscemi (one of his best friends) was in the next room and he was hellbent on going next door and dragging the painfully shy man before the cameras — really a brilliant actor, great article Guy on one of the great character actors in modern cinema –
17 11-12-2009 at 4:20 am
John H. Foote said...
That would STANLEY folks — mind thinks faster than the finers…sorry…
18 11-12-2009 at 5:18 am
j said...
Oh I didn’t even know that he had 2 Emmys & 2 Golden Globes for his TV work. The GG’s might be a very good boost to him this year then.
Will the Academy have any qualms about rewarding a super-villain 3 years in a row?
Apparently she died of cancer in May. Sad.
19 11-12-2009 at 5:42 am
Andrew said...
“Seems to me that this article is downgrading more of Streep’s chances to finally win her overdue 3rd Oscar, It was the Julia part that carried the film!!, If not for Streep’s powerhouse performance the film woul have been a disaster.
I will say that Streep and Tucci are the film’s saving grace.”
———
Great comment, Lucy. I agree. Streep received the best reviews of her career with this movie. Even the negative reviews of the film highlighted and praised to death Streep’s performance. Some of them even criticised other actors that have played real-life people, like Jamie Foxx and Phillip Seymour-Hoffman and put Streep on top of them, outlining that she really became Julia Child.
Would be great if Tucci makes it though. I thought he was outstanding. But supporting actors usually are those in darker roles so I say he’ll get the nom for TLB. Pity.
20 11-12-2009 at 5:47 am
Benito Delicias said...
Very happy to see that somebody else thinks that Julie’s part was also pretty great. I loved the Amy Adams scenes and Chris Messina was pretty great too.
It was a very good movie, but now that I see that everybody was wrong in saying that a less Julie and more Julia would’ve made the film better or that Adams was the negative part of the film.
It’s a perfectly balanced film and it’s thanks to the four actors and both Julie and Julia’s stories.
21 11-12-2009 at 10:08 am
leonardo said...
I really believe that Stanley Tucci has a better chance to be nominated for Julie & Julia, than for The Lovely Bones. The chemistry between Tucci and Streep is great.
Is nice that day by day more people are seeing that.