I’m sure this admission will be viewed as total blasphemy, but I must confess that I actually prefer Cate Blanchett’s impersonation of Katharine Hepburn (“… I’m so vulgarly referred to as “outdoorsy.” Well, I’m not “outdoorsy,” I’m athletic.”) to any performance by Katharine Hepburn. Truthfully I generally find Hepburn’s pompous personality to be unbearably irksome (dare I say, both “snooty” and “snotty”). I assume this entirely bias perception of Hepburn probably explains why I find some small amount of satisfaction while watching Huston’s movie, since most of the filmmaker’s effort appears to be devoted towards dishevelling Hepburn’s hair … and yet her locks are still annoyingly steadfast.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: PVR/Turner Classic Movies
30 Jun 2008 5:38 PM | Comments (5)
You’re certainly entitled to your opinion and, while I clearly see why you would feel as you do about Hepburn’s personal bearing, I completely disagree with you. I do give you a tugboat full of points for the humor of your observations, however, which should be more than enough to compensate for the disparity in our viewpoints.
Next you’ll be saying you prefer Cate Blanchett’s impersonation of Bob Dylan. The woman will not rest until she’s reappropriated all our icons.
You would have joined those who dubbed her “box office poison,” too. Sadness.
Jit: I curse you to an eternal purgatory of watching The Philadelphia Story, only to be released when you’ve fully learned the breadth and depth of Hepburn’s snooty, snotty steadfastness.
Joking aside, I must say that I do prefer watching Hepburn in her youth when she appeared for vibrant and energetic (I guess that’s when she was considered “outdoorsy”), so I do enjoy The Philadelphia Story more than most of her other projects. Of course, it helps to have her sparring with Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart.
Also, to get way off topic, I actually thought Blanchett’s performance as Dylan was rather ordinary in comparison to the other impersonators. I think the attention she received was mostly a function of the novelty of the casting choice. It also helped that Haynes devoted so much attention and creative energy towards her sequence. I was more a fan of the impersonations done by Marcus Carl Franklin and Christian Bale, though I thought the most notable performance was by Bruce Greenwood.
spitball
30 June 2008
3:47 PM
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