MovieChat Forums > The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2007) Discussion > GoldDerby Rave

GoldDerby Rave

posted 19 years ago by andrewfeldmann
3 replies | jump to latest

http://www.goldderby.com/articles/insidetracksept.asp

A JINGLE FOR THE BEST ACTRESS RACE:

Julianne Moore has looked like a champ
in lots of great films in the past,
but The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio,
could win her an Oscar at last!

At a recent sneak-peek screening in Manhattan of The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, GoldDerby discovered great news for Julianne Moore fans: she should have an acceptance speech ready next March 6 when she arrives at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. Just in case.

Moore is no slam-dunk, guaranteed winnah, but this year she has real hope to snag an overdue Oscar, which academy voters and film critics have, allegedly, been conspiring to give her for years. But there was always a problem. Two years ago academy voters were so eager to hail her that they gave her two nominations — Best Actress (Far from Heaven) and Supporting (The Hours). Moore was so divine in Far from Heaven that she was voted Best Actress by many other award groups, including the Los Angeles and London film critics, Broadcast Film Critics Association, National Board of Review, Indie Spirits and the Venice Film Festival. But she didn't have any big, emotionally flashy Money Scenes in Heaven or Hours so she lost to Hours costar Nicole Kidman and Chicago's scenery chewer Catherine Zeta-Jones. Moore had been nominated for Best Actress earlier, back in 2000, but her subdued role in The End of the Affair got upstaged by the dynamics of Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry. She was much more edgy as a porn star/mother hen figure in Boogie Nights, but academy members, always an uppity crowd, wanted their prostitutes in the Supporting Actress race to be a bit more classy in 1998, so they opted for Kim Basinger as a Veronica Lake-look-alike hooker in L.A. Confidential.

In Prize Winner, Moore gets several knock-your-block-off scenes as a downtrodden-but-unflaggingly perky housewife cursed with 10 hungry kids and a thirsty hubby who never brings home the bacon. Strapped for cash, she enters jingle contests staged by companies to promote Dr. Pepper, washers and dryers, flashy chrome bikes and fantasy cars.

"It was a way for overworked housewives to use their under-used wits," Moore explains about the phenom common during the 1950s and 1960s, addressing the film's audience during one of the many times she steps out of character to set the scene. When she merges back into the role, we see her let loose passions deprived her in past films: Moore bursts with joy upon winning a deep freeze for her kitchen, and her heart breaks with dread when she realizes her booze-guzzling hubby will never support her and the kids, financially or emotionally, despite her constant devotion to him. This role affords her another big plus, too: it's based upon the life of a real gung-ho gal, Evelyn Ryan, whose daughter recorded her struggle in a book published years after mom's death. Oscar voters love roles based on real-life characters, of course, especially when they're inspiring and heroic. Voters love Julianne Moore, too. Add to all of that the fact that Defiance is a real winner of a film, expertly honed by first-time director Jane Anderson, who wrote The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom.. Every audience member with a heart hits the jackpot at the end of Defiance when Anderson suddenly pulls a Schindler's List and showcases Evelyn's real surviving children, now senior citizens. Just like Spielberg, she merges the two realities magnificently, leaving viewers with goosebumps and an inner glow that lingers for hours after Defiance fades to black.

Moore faces tough competition in the crowded Best Actress race — including Felicity Huffman (Transamerica), Charlize Theron (North Country), Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line) and Ziyi Zhang (Memoirs of a Geisha) — but she wins over the hearts of filmgoers utterly in Prize Winner. And looking ahead to one more contest she still must play next March, you can't resist cheering her on to victory again. Long overdue. Richly deserved. And if she's summoned up to the podium late that night to claim, at last, Hollywood's Biggest Prize of All, it would be perfectly OK if she chooses to recall a line of Evelyn's dialog, "I have to sit down and have myself a happy cry!"

[–] v_friendly_alien 19 years ago

Thanks so much for that! The early buzz on this is so strong, I just hope it lasts. The film sounds excellent, and looks it from the trailer. I think that were the above names to be the nominees, though it would be tough, Moore would come out on top. I can really see her winning. Probably being a tad too optimistic, but I can't help it... And comparing Anderson to Spielberg, woah... Quite an honour for a first time director.

President of the IST*cough* Smarty Love *cough*

[–] reginac23 19 years ago

As someone who grew up in Defiance, and who had Terry Ryan as my camp counselor at Camp Palmer one summer when I was 8 or so, I am so excited to see this film! I was the same age as Betsy Ryan and we went to high school together, but never did I suspect the hard life the Ryan kids went through. If you look at the DHS yearbook for 1964, Terry Ryan is in the thick of things: school newspaper, Choir, band, class play, GAA, Thespian society, National Honor Society, etc. Not a hint of the tough times she weathered w/ a resume that thick.

I am delighted that advance word is so good. The trailer was fabulous and it looks like they filmed on location. Cannot wait to see it.

[–] vickiann1 19 years ago

I too am someone that grew up in Defiance, OH and lived on the same street as the Ryan family. My great uncle, Harvey Ward was the manager at the Chief Supermarket at the time Mrs Ryan won the shopping spree there. Since I no longer live in Defiance, I too am delighted with the trailor and can't wait for the movie in the theaters.