178 – October Sky (with Esther Zuckerman)

What this episode covers

Moving along from Maggie Gyllenhaal’s breakthrough last week, this week we are dis cussing her brother Jake’s! Senior Entertainment writer for Thrillist Esther Zuckerman joins us to talk about middle school classroom mainstay and union-agnostic true story, 1999′s October Sky. The film starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Homer Hickham Jr., as young West Virginian who bucked the pressure to join the mining industry to study rockets, leading to a career at NASA. With Laura Dern as his doting teacher and Chris Cooper as his gruff unsupportive father, the film was sold as a family film early in the year and gained some momentum before becoming ultimately forgotten by Oscar. This episode, we look at Jake’s career evolutions from awkward love interest to older actresses to action to lovable weirdo and back to action star mode. We also discuss the career of director Joe Johnston, WGA nominees that were not nominated by the Academy, and Chris Cooper’s evolution from noteworthy character actor to noteworthy stern dad. Topics also include, Universal’s 1999 awards slate and the Best Supporting Actor lineup that year, Peter Parker’s landlord, and Esther’s upcoming Oscar fashion history book Beyond the Best Dressed (Preorder HERE!). Follow Us on Twitter! @Had_Oscar_Buzz Joe: @joereid Chris: @chrisvfeil Esther: @ezwrites