At Z Movies

Hollywood Hearts Afire: Spicing Things Up This Awards Season

In “A Complete Unknown” Chalamet (shown here with an unrecognizable Elle Fanning) is transformative as Bob Dylan, singing, speaking, moving, even playing guitar as if Dylan himself posessed him. (Courtesy photo)

“Power over spice is strong but power over belief is stronger. ” Dune

The devastating firestorms that have ravaged the Pacific Palisades and Altadena communities around Los Angeles are beyond heartbreaking. In deference to the unimaginable loss of life and property, the film community has rallied to support the fearless firefighters and generously raise funds to begin to rebound and rebuild.
The Academy Awards nominations have twice been delayed as the voting body was recovering from home and work displacement. The annual Oscar nominee luncheon has been canceled with the $250,000 event expense being donated toward fire relief causes. There’s even been talk of postponing the March 2nd Oscars event.
Many question the merit of hosting award ceremonies in light of such pervasive tragedy. Recent years have been challenging for the film industry economy. The SAG-AFTRA and writers strikes followed the pandemic and crippled filmmaking, which recently began showing signs of recovery. Hollywood’s credo has long been the show must go on. So the Oscars will have a fundraising component to the ceremony and the TV broadcast.
Handling the curves of film production and awards ceremonies amid a crisis is hardly new by Hollywood standards. World War II saw a renaissance of resistance themes in film. The Oscar award statuettes were made of plaster for three years as metal was being allocated for the war effort due to shortages of plating materials. The Academy deliberated whether or not to cancel the Oscars after Pearl Harbor. In the end, a more austere ceremony was held after all.
Assuming the show does go on a month from now, we may still see the controversy surrounding the RAISE (Representation and Inclusion Standards) DEI mandate, set a few years ago to guarantee more diversity and inclusion, not only in filmmaking but in Academy membership – the people who decide which films and filmmakers are most notable each year.
So if I were a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, what films would get my vote?
In my honest opinion, Dune Part 2 remains the best picture of the year. Dune Part 1 was debatably the best picture of 2021. While garnering 10 nominations and earning six Oscars, Denis Villeneuve’s masterpiece (although not nominated for Best Director) lost Best Picture to the unassuming and far less ambitious CODA.

AtZMoviesFeb1 Danielle Deadwyler received the Breakthrough Actor Award at the 2024 Middleburg Festival for her commanding and nom-worthy performance as Berniece Charles in The Piano Lesson. Photo Kelly MacConomy

Oscar loves films that spotlight personal triumphs and challenges. It just hasn’t kept pace with inclusivity in nominating with respect to direction by women and a more varied representation across the spectrum of humanity. Danielle Deadwyler’s portrayal of Berniece in Malcolm Washington’s film adaptation of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson should have swept the Best Actress award nominations. Hardly a nod was sent her way via nominations for Best Actress.

Timothée Chalamet delivered a captivating portrayal of Paul Atreides in both Dune Part 1 and Part 2. (Courtesy photo)

Getting back to Dune Part 2….. Oscar also unofficially awards gold statuettes for a body of work. Think The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in 2004. Christopher Nolan should have won for Dunkirk over The Shape of Water in 2018. Instead, his Oppenheimer opus took the top kudos in 2024.
Timothée Chalamet’s impeccable portrayal of music icon Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown remains a top contender for Best Actor, neck and neck with Adrian Brody’s compelling performance in The Brutalist. Chalamet was so convincing that when I saw it, viewers stayed during the entire credits, which hardly ever happens. Will Chalamet’s work in the Dune dynasty be a tipping point over Brody’s plaintive roles? He has twice portrayed a Holocaust survivor. Oscar also gets a kick out of making Academy Award history. Brody currently holds the title of youngest Best Actor winner for The Pianist in 2002. Should Chalamet take home an Oscar, he would take it, having turned 29 in December. He is another consideration for Dune winning more than the technical and production awards.
Hollywood lost visionary filmmaker and one-time Alexandrian David Lynch last month. Lynch, who directed the original Dune from 1984, was a graduate of Hammond when it was still a high school. Twin Peaks fans will recall that Alexandria was given a shout-out in Lynch’s Twin Peaks redux in 2017.
Dune aficionados will surely have more than once screened the film of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi epic novel by the same name. In celebration of the film’s 40th anniversary, it returned to the big screen last year in anticipation of Dune Part 2.
The two film adaptations cannot be compared. The 1984 Dune has a dedicated cult fan base, but parts are so bad they are eminently entertaining. Actor Kyle MacLachlan’s career was kickstarted playing Paul Atreides, and Lynch continued to cast him in film roles. Sean Young as Chani was cast predicated upon her seductively cool, film-noiresque femme fatale role as Rachael in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner from 1982.

“Dune 1984” director David Lynch with the orignal Paul Atreides, Kyle MacLachan, at the premiere of “Twin Peaks 2.0” in 2017. (Courtesy photo)

During his distinguished and varied career, Lynch also made The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Eraserhead, and Mulholland Drive.

Alan Smithee’s Star on Hollywood Boulevard. Courtesy photo

Here’s a bit of movie trivia. While filming the original Dune the director was thwarted relentlessly by Dino De Laurentiis’s studio interference. He was so vexed and mortified that he had his name removed from extended cuts of the film. It was replaced with the name “Alan Smithee,” the pseudonym used by directors and actors when they disavow their involvement in a project. Lynch also had his name replaced in the writing credits with “Judas Booth” in both the extended and television versions.

Next month, if we get to enjoy the Academy Awards, let’s pause to honor one of Alexandria’s most famous former residents. As MacLachlan put it when thanking Lynch for “plucking him from obscurity to star in his first and last big budget movie,” “What I saw in him was an enigmatic and intuitive man with a creative ocean bursting forth inside of him. He was in touch with something the rest of us wish we could get to.”
Good journey to you, David Lynch.

One-time Alexandrian David Lynch’s Francis C. Hammond High School Yearbook portrait from 1964.

ICYMI: New Exhibit Opens at Van Landingham Gallery in Alexandria

Kelly MacConomy

Kelly MacConomy is the Arts Editor for The Zebra Press.

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