Nikki Finke exposes Vanity Fair for pulling article critical of Jessica Chastain

This is why I love Nikki! Only she would do this!

http%3A//www.deadline.com/2013/03/vanity-fair-pulled-jessica-chastain-criticism-while-she-chased-best-actress-oscar/



• Seems like a pretty harmless article filled with valid criticism. Count me as someone who doesn't quite get the Chastain appeal. Nikki Finke is the worst, but then so is every power player in Hollywood.

• Well I for one don't get Jennifer Lawrence's appeal and don't understand the fawning she gets on here, especially by gay men. And I disagree with the article. Chastain has talent. I have seen her in three very different roles (Mama, The Debt and Tree of life) and each time she was good in them.

• The original VF article was bitchy claptrap. It should have been pulled because it never should have been posted in the first place.

• [quote]Well I for one don't get Jennifer Lawrence's appeal and don't understand the fawning she gets on here, especially by gay men. Me too.

• I don't understand it either, r2.

• I happen to really like Jessica Chastain and think she's very talented, but I would gladly read that article. Does everything have to be a puff piece showering its subject with platitudes? After all, talking about movies is a matter of taste.

• Jennifer Lawrence's Oscar win was the most undeserved acting Oscar since Ginger Rogers in "Kitty Foyle". I also don't get her supposed beauty at all. I could look out my window right now and see better looking women.

• The author really thought Mama needed an actress with more "personality" and then names Kristen Stewart as a better candidate?

• [quote]Does everything have to be a puff piece showering its subject with platitudes? Barbara, PLEASE. PLEASE, Barbara. Leave us alone, Barbara. If you need anything, ask Carol Ann.

  Joan%20Crawford

• She stole my fucking career!

  Bryce%20Dallas%20Howard

• The author really thought Mama needed an actress with more "personality" and then names Kristen Stewart as a better candidate? Surly and ungrateful are personality traits, R8.

  KStew%2C%20like%20whatever%20...

• [quote]She stole my fucking career! There was another thread devoted to this. And no she didn't she's far superior and slimmer than you.

• Jennifer Lawrence is playing a role for the public: the plucky, rough-around-the-edges underdog (no drama school or formal training) who doesn't bullshit us, is appreciative of her success but keeps her feet on the ground, and doesn't take "ivory tower" Hollywood too seriously. Whether or not she's really like this, who knows. But it works. This also is why Channing Tatum is successful. The ex-stripper made good. Those two are going to dominate Hollywood for the next decade. If they make a movie together, it will be a huge event. Really all that I require of a celebrity is that they give a good performance if I pay to see them in a movie. Which Jessica Chastain has always done. The writer of the article is a cunt.

• I think a big part of Chastain's appeal is that she IS this creature that we don't know. She has only been in films for a few years. We are sick of all the other actresses and we hardly know anything about her as a person, or her personal life. We know too much about the others. She also has a kind of retro quality to her that is appealing. So she is a rejection of the present.

• The frustrating thing about VF is that they will publish no holds barred exposes about political and business personalities and events but will provide a rimjob for almost any entertainment personality with only exceptions being way too easy targets (Kardashians, Paris Hilton, etc.) They even labeled Mel Gibson's rants as "unfortunate" and "un-PC" instead of racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic.

• "The ex-stripper made good. Those two are going to dominate Hollywood for the next decade." Jennifer Lawrence? Yes. Channing Tatum. Not so much.

• OP = Finke

• Is her name pronounced FINK or Finkee?

• German would be "Fink-ah".

• I don't really think Jessica Chastain is a movie star. Mama opened well because it was a PG-rated horror film - all my nieces and nephews went to see it not because of Jessica Chastain but because they could get into the film. ZD30 was a topical polemic. I don't think its box office appeal was based on Jessica Chastain so much as it was based on the interest in the events themselves. I seriously doubt Jessica Chastain could open a film.

• I hate the faux relatability of modern Hollywood. I'd love another Joan Crawford or Katharine Hepburn.

• But, R21, strong women are banned from the movies and all media now. Especially strong, intelligent women.

• [quote]I happen to really like Jessica Chastain and think she's very talented, but I would gladly read that article. Does everything have to be a puff piece showering its subject with platitudes? In VANITY FAIR it does -- as long as the subject is a celebrity.

• See? And here, again, is another example of people with good publicists or good agency representation making sure to go thru back channels to provide " the encouragement" to pull a legitimate critique of a performance. That criticism was rational legitimate and correct, too. Yet it was deleted. If only AnnE Hathaway had people like this we wouldn't have know anything about her cress. Of source who ever advised her would've had her in Valentino. A different Valentino.

• The elephant in the article was that Chastain was their September 2012 cover, with glowing profile and photographed in the latest couture. Subsequently criticizing her in VF may have been seen as contradictory.

• Nikke Finke is a nasty cunt. I can't wait until she falls from grace.

• Chastain has shown some interesting versatility onscreen so far and I suspect she'll continue to impress. In films that is - based on THE HEIRESS, she should think long and hard before she comes crawling back to Broadway. I like Lawrence and don't get the hate here at all, unless it's just the usual "someone that young shouldn't have an Oscar" mentality. Yes, Emmanuel Riva should have won without a doubt, but at least Lawrence was solid in PLAYBOOK. And no one would ever say that the Oscar usually goes to the most deserving people.

• R22, did you *see* Lawrence in Winter's Bone? A stronger, more intelligent woman character, and stronger performance you would be hard-pressed to find in 21st century film (thus far). Or do you only like strong intelligent women characters who are upper middle class, well educated and well positioned?

• Jessica did steal the career of her secret younger half sister Bryce. Let's remember Bryce put on a lot of weight. Bryce also knows that her father Ron has a lot to make up for in regards to love child Jessica.

• I agree with the comment saying we've seen everything Lawrence can do. I know she's the IT girl right now, but I honestly don't expect her to dominate the way some want her too. I think this will be her peak.

  Hype%20

• A regular performance does not deserve the Oscar r27. It was not an outstanding performance worth of it.

• R28, would you put her performance and character with those played by Hepburn, Davis, Streep, Foster, weaver etc? Of course not, right? Just because the bench mark of the 21st century is low, you cannot place that film with those labels. She did a great performance but you are over reaching with its category.

• [quote]I agree with the comment saying we've seen everything Lawrence can do. I know she's the IT girl right now, but I honestly don't expect her to dominate the way some want her too. I think this will be her peak. Although I'm no fan of AnnE Hathaway she does have a certain star quality to her, whilst Lawrence doesn't. I think Jennifer will become the next Reese Witherspoon or Jennifer Aniston.

• [quote]I think Jennifer will become the next Reese Witherspoon or Jennifer Aniston. Judging by her film choices, she isn't going in that direction at all.

• [quote]Judging by her film choices, she isn't going in that direction at all. She does have an X-Men movie in which she plays a character called "Mystique" (rolls eyes). She could go either way at this point, only time will tell.

• Every time I see the name Finke I always think "Funke" from "Arrested Development". So sue me.

  Maebe

• She also has Serena, in which she plays a woman driven to murder in 1929, two David O. Russell films and she's supposed to film the Glass Castle sometime in there too. And I don't believe Reese Witherspoon or Jennifer Aniston would be able to play a stoic, withdrawn (and sometimes unlikable) teen forced to kill other kids, like Katniss in The Hunger Games. The only time Reese ever excelled was in Election where she was essentially playing herself. And Jennifer A is nothing more than an OK comedic actress who has somehow parlayed a hit TV show and marriage into an A-list career.

• JLaw has TWO big budget film franchises and she's practically David O Russell's muse. Girlfriend not going away. I wouldn't be shocked if Woody Allen comes swooping in next, she's totally his type.

• Nike Finke is nothing more than the press release copy machine for the bitter. I'd like t see her in a 15 round cunt-off with Bar Bush.

• R28, Yes, I did see Winter's Bone - and I do agree with you. She was great in that and it was a great role and it was a strong female role - VERY, VERY RARE. Also rare about the film and her character/performance was despite the poverty and poverty-related issues in the film the Jennifer Lawrence character was allowed to be dignified and capable - extremely, extremely RARE. That movie was quite exceptional. In general, women are not allowed to be strong or intelligent and I think it has been worse in recent decades than in the 1940s. Started with the 80s/90s backlash against feminism.

  R22

• [quote][R22], did you *see* Lawrence in Winter's Bone? A stronger, more intelligent woman character, and stronger performance you would be hard-pressed to find in 21st century film (thus far). I though she was perfectly adequate in that. Honestly, I do not get the admiration. You can, maybe, say that in her age group Lawrence is top of the list, but to say that in 21 century that's the best performance by an actress... what a joke.

• Kind of amazed that the Ron Howard dad rumor is growing legs...

• It seems as though "chick flicks" where women fawn over men have replaced "women's pictures" as where women were strong central characters.

• The problem is that VF went astray from their editorial policy of never saying anything negative about currently popular celebrities. The only time they've gone after someone well-known and popular is the series of Tiger Woods exposes after his downfall. I can't really think of another. The issue for them is that publicists will keep their larger stars from appearing in or giving interviews to VF in the future. You can be sure her people were on the phone threatening Graydon Carter.

• I agree, R43. They have.

• Mainstream Hollywood wouldn't touch a script dealing with working class people with a shitty pole and, in that regard, something like Winter's Bone is a rarity. I remember reading how much bullshit Courtney Hunt and Melissa Leo went through to get any kind of financing for Frozen River. It would probably be a good exercise to try to even come up with a list of actresses, younger or older, who can even play working class women convincingly. Lawrence was very good in Winter's Bone but she'll probably end up wasting her talent on franchises and romcoms. If she manages to avoid that, more power to her.

• One may or may not agree with the article in question, but it is an opinion and as valid as any opinion out there.

• Face it, that "Zero Dark Thirty" performance looked like something we'd see on an episode of "J..A.G." Especially that embarrassing "explosion" they used in her Oscar clip. Don't get it. Not yet, anyway.

• Lawrence is doing The Ends of the Earth with Russell and Christian Bale. No rom coms in her future I hope. [quote]Penned by the newly Oscar-minted Chris Terrio (“Argo”) and based on a true story, Russell's latest film follows Lydie Marland (to be played by Lawrence), the adopted daughter of '20s oil tycoon Ernest Marland, to whom she is soon married after Ernest's brother -- Lydie's real guardian -- passes away. Obviously a tricky start to a complex plot -- one that extends into the couple's eventual love and political maneuvering -- and Harvey Weinstein obviously sees Lawrence as paramount to making the material work.

  http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/david-o-russell-wants-christian-bale-to-team-with-jennifer-lawrence-for-the-ends-of-the-earth-20130304

• [quote]It would probably be a good exercise to try to even come up with a list of actresses, younger or older, who can even play working class women convincingly. Most modern actresses in Hollywood are better at playing working class women than their Old Hollywood contemporaries

• It's weird and lame that VF would pull that article, but it is after all, just a blog post about the relative strengths and weaknesses of a Hollywood actress. Nikki Finke is hardly Woodward and Bernstein for exposing its removal, OP, and I kinda doubt that "only she" would have the nerve to commit such a bold and transgressive act ...

• Dear Vanity Fair or Nicki Finke, First, why did the writer for Vanity Fair, who profiled me and my cancer, describe me as having a "lone weirdo affect" I hate her. But, still you guys don't need to tolerate this negativity. Call my lawyer, Allison Hart. The law firm is Lavely and Singer. She will send threatening letters to the webmaster and this harrassement will be deleted immediately.No one needs to be so abused like this. Take care, Tig Notaro

• I don't get the big deal about the article. Actors get criticized all the time, including the all-time greats. Streep was once called on the carpet for much the same reason, she disappears into roles, doesn't have star appeal or looks, she's a cipher, does too many accents, etc. Now she's a big money draw, LOL, and almost beyond reproach. Chastain's publicists should have just ignored it. That being said, a lot of what's in the article is bizarre. I haven't seen Mama, but from what I've read the character is supposed to be a 30ish musician who isn't interested in kids, but is forced to take on a motherly role with her boyfriend's young nieces. Lawrence and Stewart would NEVER work in that role, they simply aren't old enough to be believable, Stewart has less personality than any actress on the A-List today, and she can't hold a candle to Chastain talent wise. The movie is a hit with talk of a sequel, so Chastain is working for the audience of the film, and that is all Hollywood cares about. If her performance isn't among her best, so what? It's not like everyone is great in every role. The writer compares Chastain to Cate Blanchett, and he thinks this is a BAD thing? Most actresses would kill for Cate's resume, and frankly, from the interviews I've read from Chastain, a Blanchett type of career is exactly what she wants. I don't even think she's interested in being a big time star or celebrity. Not all actors are stars, in fact, most these days are not. And I don't get why she's being compared to Lawrence (and Stewart) at all. JL is 22, KS is 23 and Chastain 35. They are not in competition for the same type of roles based on age alone. I agree that Lawrence is the more charismatic performer and she is going to have a big career, but Chastain is actually charming in interviews, IMO, and she has rarely had roles to showcase her personality, The Help being a notable exception. She could easily do some of the more commercial parts that Amy Adams has had if she wanted to. The article also strikes me as something you rarely see with male stars. Women are nitpicked to death, but no one is tearing down Leo or Ryan Gosling to prop up one or the other, and those guys aren't being compared to Rob Pattinson or Josh Hutcherson. It's like there's only room for one woman, but men can have different types of careers, and we can have male stars at all ages.

• Actually Lawrence is playing roles meant for women in their 30s. Stewart not so much.

• R42, why are you surprised? The more I look at pix of Chastain, the more I feel it's like I'm looking at a picture of Ron Howard!! I think this is one rumor that is spot-on.

• That article was pretty weak as far as criticism goes. It makes me miss Movieline magazine in the 90s. They had consistently good writing about film and especially Hollwywood. They would do intelligent assessment of actors and their careers and the things written in Movieline about these stars were much crueler (and wittier) than anything in that Chastain story. I've only seen her in THE HELP and I thought she was perfectly fine, no more, hampered by a really bad wig.

• [quote]If only AnnE Hathaway had people like this we wouldn't have know anything about her cress. I don't need anyone to tell me; I can just guess her cress is organic and cruelty-free (to the ducks).

• She ate only watercress sandwiches to lose weight to play Fantine.

• [quote]Kind of amazed that the Ron Howard dad rumor is growing legs... So is her real bio-father, James Hewitt.

• [quote]She ate only watercress sandwiches to lose weight to play Fantine. Just like me! (Although they [italic]do[/italic] taste like buttered grass!

  Infamous hatchet murderess Evelyn Holmby

• I just think it's interesting how both Lawrence and Chastain pretty much came out of NOWHERE to land at the place they are now. Not even two years ago I had never heard of either one of them before and almost literally overnight they go from obscurities to Oscar-nominated (and now -winning) actresses. Amazing.

• I was sitting here reading R60 thinking WTF is he talking about and why does it sound so familiar? I Googled Evelyn Holmby and found out why. I haven't seen that episode in over 30 years and I don't think I saw it more than once. Damn!

• Finke likes to go after other pubs to massage her ego. She is sometimes very juvenile and unprofessional about it (calling The Wrap, the Crap, for example). Some of her posts on the Hollywood Reporter are petty, too. This seems to fall in the same category.