136 – White Oleander (with Nathaniel Rogers)

What this episode covers

Pfor this week’s episode, we’ve invited The Film Experience creator and Michelle Pfeiffer superpfan Nathaniel Rogers back to discuss one of our listeners most requested films, 2002′s White Oleander. Based on the beloved novel by Janet Fitch, the film stars Allison Lohman as the teenage Astrid, who is plunged into the foster care system after her manipulative artist mother Ingrid (a phenomenal Pfeiffer) kills her boyfriend and is sent to prison. The film suffers from moving too briskly between Astrid’s foster homes (with Robin Wright and Renée Zellweger cast as various mothers) and met poor anemic reviews that left the film and Pfeiffer’s work forgotten in a backloaded awards season. This week, we talk about the 2002 Supporting Actress race including who we think placed fifth in the nominations and the performance Nathaniel thinks derailed her chances. We also look at Oprah’s Book Club, Pfeiffer’s reticence with doing press, and personal Oscar grudges over Pfeiffer’s best work. Topics also include Melissa McCarthy as an EMT, Robin Wright pronouncing the word “virus”, and Sheryl Crow’s The Globe Sessions (which, yeah, Chris misremembers instead of C’Mon C’Mon). Follow Us on Twitter! @Had_Oscar_Buzz Joe: @joereid Chris: @chrisvfeil Nathaniel: @nathanielr