A Write-In Campaign For Ben Affleck? It's Happened Before

After winning the Golden Globe for Best Director on ARGO, Ben Affleck's absence from the Oscar nominations list is proving even more baffling in H'wood. I was talking with a friend during the Globes and we joked that maybe he could mount a write-in campaign. Today there is a think piece in the Hollywood Reporter on just that idea and how that could be possible, if highly improbable.

The big shock to me was that it's possible at all and, actually, had been done two times before. There was a campaign for Bette Davis's performance in OF HUMAN BONDAGE which was unsuccessful as she came in third. Even more shocking is the fact they used to release the voting tally!  The second campaign was a cinematographer of MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM, Hal Mohr, who actually won an Oscar based on his write-in effort.

However, since then, the Academy has banned write-in votes so it would involve a huge revision of Academy rules to make it happen. Also, the simple fact that voting is online for the first time this year makes a write-in on an electronic ballot kind of impossible. So Ben might have to settle with his Globe win and maybe hope to slay the ZERO DARK THIRTY & LINCOLN dragons for Best Picture.

Jodie Foster In Her Greatest Role...Herself

Last night's Golden Globes featured an instantly legendary speech by Hollywood icon Jodie Foster as she received the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award. The speech, which brought the crowd to its feet even before it started, has been classified by some as her coming out speech. However it was so much more than that.  It was something like a loose monologue/sololiquy about her life in general and her unusual career in show business since the ripe young age of 3.

I just watched it again and the honesty and the eloquence of it are just so striking. And the emotions, unlike some acceptance speeches, completely unguarded. When she talks about her mother, who seems to be suffering from Alzheimers, it is such a intense moment and a beautiful sentiment, (made with a movie metaphor no-less) as she says "I Love You" three times in hopes that restorative magic may happen.

I first saw Jodie in a Disney movie FREAKY FRIDAY, when I was a youngster. I not only had the hugest crush on her....I wanted to be her. Now I see why. Her enormous talent is just the surface. With her heartfelt eloquence and deep emotion in receiving that award she showed that she is an incredible human being, and one with a rich sense of humor too.  She is not Honey-Boo-Boo, as she memorably noted. (That was the understatement of the night.) She is Jodie Foster and maybe the next 50 years will feature her reprising last night's role and simply playing herself. Who knows? Maybe that could be her greatest role.

GLEE Rocks The Globes

That's GLEE creator Ryan Murphy at the center of the love scrum after the show won Golden Globe for TV's best Musical/Comedy.  I believe it's the first time an actual musical has won that award since the 70's heyday of variety shows.  Anyway, seeing the GLEE gang win was my favorite moment of the Globes this year. 


Today there's a roundup of GLEE news over at Andy Towle's blog.  I'd heard about the inevitable all-Madonna episode but it has been revealed that Jane Lynch will finally get to to a little song & dance herself in that episode, with her take on "Vogue". There's also upcoming guest stars galore, including Neil Patrick Harris and maybe even J-Lo. Genius!  


There is also some big news about casting for the recently greenlit Season 2.  Kurt is going to get a boyfriend, and not just some 3-episode arc kinda deal but the real thing.  With creative choices like this, Ryan Murphy and co. are cranking out the most unusual and groundbreaking show on TV in years.  April can't come soon enough. Go GLEE!