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The Herald Scotland
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Why rock fans can't get enough of classic music documentaries
Recent other documentaries have focused on subjects as wildly diverse as Led Zeppelin, Cyndi Lauper, The Beach Boys, De La Soul, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan's mid-70s Rolling Thunder Revue, and the 'Yacht Rock' genre. Netflix alone has films about Wham!, James Blunt, Elvis Presley, Quincy Jones and the making of the 1985 celebrity recording of the single 'We Are the World', while Apple TV's roster currently includes documentaries on Sparks, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow and The Stooges. Coastal, filmed by Neil Young's long-term partner, Daryl Hannah, will be of considerable interest to Young's fans as well as acting as a curtain-raiser to his gigs at Glastonbury in June and at London's Hyde Park in July. Shot in arty black-and-white, it has footage of Young on stage and amiably chatting with his bus driver as he makes his way from gig to gig. In a new interview on Young's website, the point is made to Hannah that, given that Young is a 'storied, mythologised figure' while also 'quite inscrutable', the off-the-cuff moments in the documentary are valuable. 'I think you're right', she responds. 'People do find him this mysterious, inscrutable figure. That's why I decide ultimately to include those moments, so people get to see what a sweet and open person he can be. You see more of his humanity and less of the myth'. Writing in the Guardian, Peter Bradshaw notes that the film 'tests the fanbase loyalty to the limits by being pointlessly and uninterestingly shot in arthouse black-and-white (though it exasperatingly bleeds out into colour over the closing credits) and by including an awful lot of material on the tour bus which is – how to put this? – not very interesting'. 'Part concert film, part home-video-on-wheels - Neil and bus driver JD, perfectly happy nattering about nothing in particular like two old blokes on a road trip - it has the same warmth and chattiness as the gigs', said the reviewer in Mojo magazine. 'Hard to think of another live Neil Young movie where he seems both a little unsure of himself and so contented'. Over the years, magazines and critics have devised lists of the greatest-ever music documentaries. It's not exactly an easy task, given the vast number of films that have been made about a dizzying range of subjects. As the film critic Mark Kermode once explained when embarking on his own list, 'What I have tried to do is to chart an admittedly erratic course from early milestones such as Jazz on a Summer's Day to more modern offerings such as Dig! and Moonage Daydream to give some sense of the vast and unwieldy scope of the genre and its subjects – from low-budget obscurities to Imax-friendly blockbusters; from cool blues to frantic post-punk via unearthed Afro-Cuban history'. Here are 13 great music documentaries worth tracking down (if you haven't already seen them). * Gimme Shelter (1970), by cinema verite trailblazers Albert and David Masyles and Charlotte Zwerin, is a riveting look at the Rolling Stones' US tour of 1969 - the tour that ended in the infamous outdoor concert at Altamont Speedway, at which the band hired local Hells Angels to provide security. It didn't end well. Mick Jagger at one point asks the crowd: 'Who's fighting, and what for? We don't want to fight'. One man, Meredith Hunter, who drew a revolver, was stabbed to death by a Hells Angel. It was the end of the Sixties, in more ways than one. * Moonage Daydream (2022), by Brett Morgen, was an immersive and mesmerising documentary about David Bowie. As A.O. Scott remarked in the New York Times, 'it's less a biography than a séance. Instead of plodding through the chronology of Bowie's life and career, Morgen conjures the singer's presence through an artful collage of concert footage and other archival material, including feature films and music videos'. Morgen's previous documentaries included Crossfire Hurricane, about the Stones. * Woodstock (1970), Michael Wadleigh's Oscar-winning documentary of the August 1969 Woodstock festival, a counterculture landmark, features music by such acts as Crosby, Stills & Nash, Santana, Janis Joplin, Ten Years After, Jimi Hendrix and The Who, as a vast crowd descended on Max Yasgur's farm at Bethel, New York. Mick Richards's 2019 features documentary, Creating Woodstock, fleshes out the story. A two-disc 'Ultimate Collector's Edition' Blu-Ray set - Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music: The Director's Cut' - includes many never-seen-before performances from Joan Baez, Grateful Dead and others. * The Beatles: Get Back (2022) is Peter Jackson's three-part documentary series, based on footage and audio recorded in January 1969. Variety magazine sums it up thus: "What's startling about 'Get Back' is that as you watch it, drinking in the moment-to-moment reality of what it was like for the Beatles as they toiled away on their second-to-last studio album, the film's accumulation of quirks and delights and boredom and exhilaration becomes more than fascinating; it becomes addictive". Also featured: the Fabs' rooftop concert in London's Savile Row. * Laurel Canyon (2020), by Alison Ellwood, is an excellent two-part documentary series about the musicians who inhabited Laurel Canyon, 'a rustic canyon in the heart of LA' and made it a hotbed of musical creativity. Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt and Don Henley are among those interviewed. * It Might Get Loud (Davis Guggenheim, 2009), showcases three guitar virtuosos - Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White - to scintillating effect as we trace the development of careers and their signature sounds. Uncut magazine: "It Might Get Loud is about the way the electric guitar and the amplifier combine to create a kind of superpower, transforming the player into a sonic god". * Buena Vista Social Club (Wim Wenders, 1999), is a brilliant retelling of how the American musician Ry Cooder assembled a diverse, mostly elderly, group of veteran Cuban musicians and steered them to global popularity. "Filmed in Amsterdam and New York, the concert scenes find the stage awash in such intense joy, camaraderie and nationalist pride that you become convinced that making music is a key to longevity and spiritual well-being", as the New York Times described it. * Oil City Confidential (Julien Temple, 2010) is a celebration of R&B specialists Dr Feelgood - Wilko Johnson, Lee Brilleaux, John B. Sparks, John Martin - and the distinctive Canvey Island environment from which they sprang. * Muscle Shoals: The Greatest Recording Studio in the World (Greg Camalier, 2013) tells how a small city in Alabama became home to the Fame recording studios and the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, which were established by Fame's former house band. Among those featured are Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge and Keith Richards. * 20 Feet from Stardom (Morgan Neville, 2013), deservedly won an Oscar for its sympathetic look at the careers of notable backing singers such as Merry Clayton, who duetted with Jagger on the Stones song, Gimme Shelter. Archive footage and new interviews combine to thrilling effect. Simple Minds: Everything is Possible (Joss Crowley, 2023) is a comprehensive look at the rise of Simple Minds, the Glasgow band who rose from art-rock beginnings to become the most successful Scottish group ever. Among the talking heads are band members as well as Bob Geldof, Bobby Gillespie and James Dean Bradfield. Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland's Girl Bands (Blair Young, Carla J Easton, 2024) cleverly unfolds a story of Scottish pop music from the 1960s onwards through the recollections of those far-sighted women who helped make it; among them are Strawberry Switchblade, Sunset Gun, His Latest Flame and the Hedrons. Big Gold Dream (Grant McPhee, 2015) is a fascinating, award-winning account of two hugely influential Scottish indie record labels - Edinburgh's FAST Product and Glasgow's Postcard Records. Bands featured include Fire Engines, Scars, the Rezillos and Aztec Camera. Two years later, Grant took up the story again in Teenage Superstars, featuring The Vaselines, BMX Bandits, The Pastels, The Soup Dragons, The Jesus and Mary Chain, amongst others. Recommended.
CBS News
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Bob Dylan's earliest-known recording, other memorabilia up for auctio
Bidding is underway for dozens of Bob Dylan memorabilia items, including his earliest-known demo recording described as "a revelation." New Hampshire-based RR Auction has more than 70 items available through early Wednesday evening, including the original master of the demo Dylan recorded at The Gaslight Café in New York City's Greenwich Village on Sept. 6, 1961. Dylan was 20 at the time and had only arrived in New York from his home state of Minnesota less than eight months earlier. The recording was made by Dylan's first manager, Terri Thal, with the hope of getting him more gigs. As of Wednesday morning, the demo has 23 bids and stands at more than $31,000. The item with the highest estimate — nearly $40,000 — is a handwritten and signed copy of Dylan's lyrics to "All Around the Watchtower." Most of the items are from the collection of Bob Neuwirth, Dylan's friend from his first year in New York who went on to be his musical collaborator and road manager. Neuwirth, who's most famous for co-writing Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz," is also featured on the cover of Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" album from 1965 — well, the lower half of his body, that is. A shimmering, country-western suit worn by Neuwirth in 1976 during Dylan's epic Rolling Thunder Revue tour is also on the auction block, with bidding up to $20,000 as of Wednesday morning. Other items include a harmonica Dylan played during his divisive 1966 world tour, when he and his backing band first used electric instruments. RR Auction says proceeds from the sales of Neuwirth's collection will go to help fund a documentary on his life and influence. The auction ends Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. CST. Dylan, now 83, was born Robert Zimmerman in Duluth and raised in Hibbing. He studied for a year at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where he entrenched himself in folk music. He started performing at a Dinkytown coffee shop and embraced his new moniker before moving out east. The Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown" was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Timothée Chalamet, but won zero. Last month, Minnesota lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill in the state Senate to make Dylan's "Girl from the North Country," and "Purple Rain" by fellow Minnesota luminary Prince, Minnesota's official state songs.
Boston Globe
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Joan Baez on her Boston roots, a new exhibit about her life, and ‘A Complete Unknown'
Artwork aside, the exhibit showcases photos and ephemera: Martin guitar. young Baez and Bob Dylan photos, the March on Washington, anti-war protests. Dress and jewelry worn on the album cover of 'Diamonds and Dust.' Advertisement For Baez fans, this looks to be a walk through her life. For Baez herself, 84, the items and the location of the exhibit itself are a trip back in time. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Mostly all of this just brings me back to Cambridge, my Boston days, because they were such an important part of my life. It was the beginning of the folk boom, and I was the right person at the right place at the right time,' says the former Belmont resident, Cambridge Folk scenester, singer and ('for about six hours') a Boston University College of Fine Arts student. I called Baez to comb through her memories of the exhibited items. We also talked 'A Complete Unknown,' painting with lipstick in France, and 84 years of attempting to save the world. Q. I love that you agreed to do this exhibit. People must ask you to do things like this all the time like this. A. Well, yes. Q. [laughs] A. One of my [assistant] Nancy's jobs is to figure out amusing, polite, interesting ways of saying 'no.' It's almost always 'No.' Artwork by Joan Baez. Courtesy Q. So most of these items are from your home? A. Most of them came from my home. Like the Einstein thing I gave my mom — I don't know where Nancy found it. Q. The Einstein drawing is from 1957. So Nancy really looked through your archives. Advertisement A. And my mom kept everything. Q. What are a few items that stand out from this exhibit? Do any bring back particular memories? A. Anything written in my original handwriting — those remind me of different eras of my life and what I went through. I think probably the most interesting is the photo of me in a bathing suit on the beach. I remember the photo; I don't remember the day. We were gonna start a revolution and have world peace. How'd that work out? Q. The March on Washington photos must strike a chord. A. Sure. I mean, that's one of those universal things that will always be top of the list. I'm looking at the list now to see. Oh, you know what? 'Military Man with Angel Child' I painted with food on the wall of a French cafe. All the dark stuff was chocolate. I squished up vegetables to try to make green. I used my makeup for skin tones. Lipstick for the reds. Q. Also on this list: 'the Rolling Thunder Revue bath towel.' I didn't even know there were concert towels. A. You know, I don't remember that, but apparently there were. At least it means some of us took baths. The Rolling Thunder Revue towel. Matthew Pacific Q. What did you think of 'A Complete Unknown'? A. I thought it was a good movie. It was a fun movie. I couldn't get involved with people who are fact-checking and all that stuff, because it's a movie. The music was fantastic. I've become friends with Monica [Barbaro, who played Baez]; she's a sweetheart. I think people did a fairly good job in it. [Ed Norton as] Seeger was fantastic. Advertisement Q. Did Monica ask to study with you? A. I offered. I wanted to make myself available. I got to know her a little bit. She was a little shy. She came to Q. You must be getting peppered with questions about the movie and accuracy. A. Well, yeah. Yourself, for instance. Q. [laughs] Exactly. A. It's front and center. If there's any criticism, it's that the Civil Rights Movement was going on at the same time— there was no real mention of it. On the other hand, Dylan was a bubble. You were either in it, or you weren't. And when you're in it, nobody's paying attention to anything else. I managed to keep feet in both camps for a long time. Q. True. I interviewed Elijah Wald, who wrote 'Dylan Goes Electric!,' which the biopic is based on. A. Awww. Yeah, I didn't move to New York. That's a whole fantasy. I was a Boston/ Cambridge girl until I moved west with my boyfriend. We bought a Corvair and drove cross-country, to the dismay of my father. Q. Since the last time we talked, you were A. It's always lovely to go back to that area, my stomping ground. I have different little stomping grounds, but the Cambridge/Boston area is really a big home-base. Advertisement I mean, the first night I sang at Club 47, my family was there — that was it. My boyfriend was outside, walking back and forth in the snow. He didn't want to come in. He didn't want me to do all that commercial stuff — like singing for my family. [laughs] Then by the next week, there were plenty of people there. That was my beginning. Q. Any cause that you're feeling right now? A. It's a world. Almost everything else is irrelevant at the moment. I'm making a [protest] t-shirt and sign. I'm just gonna f—g walk around with it. What have I got to lose? We're losing everything. Might as well go down with some grace. Interview has been edited and condensed. Exhibit information at (Children $17 - Adults $25) Lauren Daley can be reached at ldaley33@ She tweets
CBS News
01-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Behind the scenes with the best supporting actress Oscar nominees at the 2025 Academy Awards
Watch scenes from the performances nominated in the category of best supporting actress at the 97th annual Academy Awards, as well as interviews with the nominees below. The 2025 Oscars will be presented on Sunday, March 2. Monica Barbaro, "A Complete Unknown" In James Mangold's Bob Dylan biopic"A Complete Unknown," we follow the path of the young singer-songwriter beginning with his arrival in New York City in 1961. Dylan's rise to fame is not immediate, being in the shadow of another star in folk music circles, Joan Baez (best supporting actress nominee Monica Barbaro). But the two soon connect and share a passionate affair, despite Dylan living with another woman (Elle Fanning). In this scene, Dylan and Baez sing a duet of a song in Dylan's notebook. Their easy musical chemistry just might lead to something more: As the film advances, their rocky relationship becomes the subtext of their public performances. In this scene, they sing a duet at the Newport Folk Festival of Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe," a song with hidden undercurrents, in particular for Fanning watching from off-stage: Baez would record several Dylan songs, and their relationship continued for a few years. She would later tour with Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue in the mid-'70s, and the two collaborated on projects into the '80s, with their '60s romantic association becoming fodder for memoirs, music treatises and documentaries. (Baez herself recalled her first impression of Dylan in her 1987 autobiography, "And a Voice to Sing With": "His eyes were as old as God, and he was fragile as a winter leaf.") Barbaro told the Los Angeles Times she understood Baez's attraction to Dylan. "She fell in love with the poet, the person willing to say what he was willing to say. I think she fell in love with the words themselves and how he was saying things she was trying to find the words for," Barbaro said. "And they were so young. If I try to unpack my relationships at 20 ... I can't imagine that being inspected on a public level for decades to come." To play Baez, Barbaro studied the guitar and took vocal lessons for a year to match Baez's incomparable soprano. "Every conversation about Joan's voice, you hear about her vibrato, the key she sings in and the angelic quality. It was about getting those things so it was recognizable," she told the Times. "I leaned into getting as close to her as possible. And on the day, you put the preparation on the shelf and receive the person in front of you in a real authentic moment." In this interview for Variety, Barbaro, costar Timothée Chalamet and Mangold discuss the singing sequences. Barbaro said, "In terms of the music, I mean, it was important to all of us to not have a bunch of sort of carbon copies of these musicians, or any sort of sign of mimicry in the film, and yet they have to be recognizable versions of these musicians." Of the movie's message — how art used to address issues like social justice and war — Barbaro told the Times, "The coolest thing about this film is getting to see audiences who lived then and [see them] feel like their time was understood." Barbaro studied dance and ballet while growing up in the Bay Area. She graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, and acted in "Chicago Justice," "The Good Cop," and the Tom Cruise blockbuster "Top Gun: Maverick," as Lt. Natasha "Phoenix" Trace. This is her first Oscar nomination. She also received two Screen Actors Guild nominations for her performance. Nominated for 8 Academy Awards, including best picture and best director, "A Complete Unknown," released by Searchlight Pictures, is playing in theaters and is available via VOD. Edward Norton on becoming Pete Seeger in "A Complete Unknown" ("Sunday Morning") How Timothée Chalamet studied Bob Dylan for "A Complete Unknown" ("60 Minutes") Ariana Grande, "Wicked" Based on the long-running Broadway musical, "Wicked" is a prequel to "The Wizard of Oz," presenting the origin story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. What was her relationship with the Good Witch of the East, and how did it turn so bad? The story is told in flashback through Glinda, the ravishingly popular student at Shiz University, where the two meet. Initially an outcast, Elphaba attracts the attention of a professor of magic, Madame Morrible — and Glinda finds herself eagerly trying to get into both their good graces, for her own advancement. Watch this excerpt of Glinda selling herself as a tutor to her new charge — best actress nominee Cynthia Erivo — in the ways of becoming "Popular": In 2018 Grande appeared alongside the stars of Broadway's "Wicked," Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, in a televised concert celebrating the show's 15th anniversary, "A Very Wicked Halloween." Grande sang "The Wizard and I" (which in the show is sung by Elphaba). Three years later, Grande had her first audition for the part of Glinda in the movie version. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Grande discussed her audition process for "Wicked," for which she sang "No One Mourns the Wicked" and "Popular." "Even though it was very clear that I was going in for Glinda, I also sang 'The Wizard and I' and 'Defying Gravity' twice. … I just remember leaving buzzing," she said. The casting of Grande as Glinda, and Erivo as Elphaba, was universally praised, as they were seemingly born for the parts. Chenoweth, the actress who originated Glinda on stage, told "Entertainment Tonight" that when Grande won the role, the young singer called her: "And we both squealed. She said, 'I need your help.' I said, 'You don't need my help. Just do you.'" In December Grande was interviewed by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation about her performance in the film. "I've loved these songs since I was 10 years old, and I've sung them for fun in the car, in the shower, growing up," she said. "Even when I got older, when I was nervous to perform or something, I would turn to the soundtrack for comfort when I was warming up to do a show. It's just funny because when you spend time with the lyrics and dig into what's happening in-between the lines, you get to know what's happening in a very different way than just singing in a car." Grande described the questions she asked of her character: "Why is she so fascinated with Elphaba? What is the magic that [Elphaba] has that Glinda doesn't? And what are her insecurities? And what's not on the page — what's motivating her to give [Elphaba] the hat, when deep down she doesn't want to?" Months before her first audition, Grande worked with her vocal coach to prepare: "The vocal cords, like any other muscle in the body, they're habitual; you have to train them to do new things. And I naturally have a high range and I sing whistle tones and I sing high notes, but it's very different than singing coloratura soprano, a classical operatic. I knew I wanted to go in for Glinda, so I wanted to train my voice as much as I could so that by the time my first audition came around it sounded authentic and warm and fully and truly like what's required of Glinda." Grande, who has won two Grammy Awards and reportedly sold more than 90 million records, previously appeared in "Don't Look Up." This is her first Academy Award nomination. Nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture, "Wicked," from Universal Pictures, is in theaters and available via VOD. See also: Felicity Jones, "The Brutalist" In Brady Corbet's post-World War II drama "The Brutalist," best actor nominee Adrien Brody stars as László Tóth, a Hungarian Jewish architect, who emigrates to the United States and finds that his efforts to resume his career are hampered by antisemitism and classism in America. The first half of the 3.5-hour epic tracks Tóth's journey from Ellis Island to a plum commission: designing and constructing a massive community center in Pennsylvania. Years after his arrival, he is joined by his wife, Erzsébet (supporting actress nominee Felicity Jones), and their marriage must accommodate both a new country and the distance that has grown between them – strangers in a strange land. In this scene, Erzsébet is being welcomed by Toth's patron, industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (best supporting actor nominee Guy Pearce), whose propensity for belittling others comes across even in a supposedly friendly dinner: Erzsébet's physical limitations don't seem to constrict her emotions, with which she challenges László, both in their own relationship and in his service to Van Buren. "This script, when it came through, I think all of us involved knew that it was special," Jones told BBC Radio's "Woman's Hour.""It was unusual to read something that had this depth of character in it, and this huge epic sweeping story that's underpinned by these very intimate, domestic, very precisely drawn moments. "I was incredibly moved by it fundamentally, and I felt that Erzsébet was this magnificent character. She was someone who is completely unafraid of who she is. When we meet her, you realize she's been through incredible trauma; she's been through concentration camps alongside her husband (in different camps, but they've been through very similar experiences), and I felt there was a great challenge in conveying this woman's experience. She's incredibly accomplished; I do particularly like the line where, 'Did you not tell them anything about me?' I think that could have only been written by a woman!" Though physically weak and malnourished, Erzsébet exhibits a powerful forthrightness, and a willingness to challenge others. "You get to learn actually that she's exceptionally strong throughout the film," Jones said. Shooting on film ("The Brutalist" was produced in VistaVision, to be blown up to 70mm) was an added element of her performance versus shooting on digital, Jones told the audience at a New York Film Festival screening last fall. "It gives more value to what you're doing because it feels somehow more precious," she said. "It doesn't feel like you can just keep going and going for hours and hours. You know, in that moment when it's 'Action!' you do feel like you've got to make, you've got to perform in that moment. And everyone does — cast, crew, everyone has to give their best, because it's not limitless, and [celluloid] costs a fortune!" Jones, who was previously nominated for best supporting actress for playing the wife of physicist Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything," starred in the "Star Wars" prequel "Rogue One," "On the Basis of Sex" (playing a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg), and "The Aeronauts." Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including best picture and best director, The Brutalist," released by A24, is playing in theaters and is available via VOD. Adrien Brody on "The Brutalist" ("Sunday Morning") Isabella Rossellini, "Conclave" "Conclave," based on the Robert Harris thriller, dramatizes the intrigues inside the Vatican as the College of Cardinals meets to select a new pontiff following the death of the pope. Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (best actor nominee Ralph Fiennes) leads the conclave, and serves both as a calm, guiding presence, and as an investigator of disturbing allegations involving several candidates to lead the Holy See. In this scene, Sister Agnes (best supporting actress nominee Isabella Rossellini) interrupts the cardinals' uproar over a secret report about one papal candidate's activities with information of her own. Polite but also passive-aggressive, Sister Agnes' attitude undercuts the patriarchal stance of the Church, by providing a moral counterweight to the cardinals' deliberations: Rossellini's character has few lines, but a great presence. In an interview on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," Rossellini said, "In the Catholic Church there is a very strong hierarchy, and women, they have a role of really serving the cardinals. That doesn't mean that even if you have a subservient role they don't have authority. And so, it was fantastic to play a role where I don't have any lines, but everybody's a little bit afraid of me!" She told the Los Angeles Times that she used the limitations of her character to her advantage: "We had three or four days of rehearsal, but I was nervous," she said. "I thought maybe Sister Agnes would be nervous, too, so I used that. I didn't have to repress it. She's not part of the brawl with the men. She doesn't get into the opinion of who should be the next pope. When she does speak, she speaks what she knows and goes back to her vow of being silent and invisible and obedient. ... "I don't think she would have spoken up on any other aspect of the church," Rossellini said. "But where the pope was going to be elected, she was going to be faithful to her vow. She just wants it all done correctly." The daughter of actress Ingrid Bergman and director Robert Rossellini, she made her first film appearance in "A Matter of Time," opposite her mother, and then starred in the Taviani Brothers' "The Meadow." Her subsequent films included "White Nights," David Lynch's "Blue Velvet," "Tough Guys Don't Dance," "Siesta," "Cousins," "Wild at Heart," "Death Becomes Her," "Fearless," "Wyatt Earp," "Immortal Beloved," "Big Night," and "The Saddest Music in the World." She received an Emmy nomination for a guest appearance on "Chicago Hope." This is Rossellini's first Oscar nomination. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. "Conclave" is playing in theaters and is available via VOD. Zoe Saldaña, "Emilia Pérez" In the crime drama "Emilia Perez," Rita, a defense attorney (best supporting actress nominee Zoe Saldaña), is introduced despairing about her client, about corruption, and about her own values (she basically lies to help the defendant skate off a murder charge). And since this is a musical, Rita's emotions and inner conflict are presented via song and dance: Directed by Jacques Audiard, "Emilia Pérez" leads this year's Oscar race with 13 nominations, including best picture, director and screenplay. Its melodrama — a Mexican drug lord transitions to become a woman, and then seeks to reconnect with their wife and children — is served up with flashy choreography and 16 songs by Camille and composer Clément Ducol. Saldaña's Rita is hired by the drug lord to help fake his death and secure his transition from Manitas to Emilia. But four years later, Emilia reenters Rita's life, and seeks her help in reuniting with her family in Mexico. Rita is thrown back into a miasma of corruption and hypocrisy, which she sings about in "El Mal" (nominated for best original song), along with best actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón and the artist Camille: Saldaña's performance — acting, singing and dancing, in three languages — has already earned her the Golden Globe, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild awards. She told the Hollywood Reporter the most challenging aspect of the role was "not getting in my own way! And sort of just being in Rita's skin and understanding her journey. You know it takes discipline to not sort of, like, judge a character as you're approaching it and you're putting it together. You kind of go, 'Well, I wouldn't do what she did,' and it's like, 'Well there's no, it's not a she, it's an I, it's a me, and where am I? I'm desperate right now, I need a way out. I'm over worked, I'm burned out' — I'm talking as Rita, and I needed to be sort of like in that head space. And once you're in there, then all of a sudden, this whole story takes on a brand-new life." It's her dance moves (from her early training in ballet), as seen in her early film appearances "Center Stage" and "Drumline," that resonate in her "Emilia Pérez" character. But Saldaña is best-known for starring in blockbuster franchises, from "Star Trek" (as Uhura), to "Avatar" (as Neytiri), and "Guardians of the Galaxy" (as Gamora). She's also starred in "Columbiana," "Nina," "Amsterdam," and the series "Lioness." "When you are a part of projects that are so big and they become so successful, yes, you reap the benefits of it and you are grateful," she told The New York Times. "But there is a part of me as an artist that just stopped growing and accepting challenges." When Audiard (whose previous films include "A Prophet" and "Rust and Bone") asked to talk with Saldaña about "Emilia Pérez," Saldaña was hesitant, as the character was originally written to be in her 20s, and would require extensive singing. But after an hour-and-a-half Zoom call, during which Saldaña even sang, Audiard rewrote the part for her — and postponed shooting to accommodate Saldaña's schedule. And once she arrived in Paris for filming, she found the director drawing on the actress' own perspective for Rita. "It felt like an experiment where we were finding things as we went, and that's how the first 'Avatar' was shot," she told The Times. "Ever since then, I've been searching for that high again of being with a seasoned, prolific director and having the director look at you going, 'I don't know, what do you think?'" The jury at last year's Cannes Film Festival thought enough of "Emilia Pérez" that they awarded the festival's best actress prize to the film's four leads (Saldaña, Gascón, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz). This is Saldaña's first Oscar nomination. "Emilia Pérez" is streaming on Netflix.
