I can''t believe I waited over 10 years to watch Gods and Monsters.

It IS an excellent movie. Don't be turned off by the title-- it's very well done from start to finish. Beautifully filmed too.

One of my favorites.

Brenden Fraser had agreed to a frontal nude scene in Gods but his people talked him into reneging on it because George of the Jungle was about to premiere during filming of Gods and it was going to make Fraser a huge star. Or so they thought.

there is also one of the campiest lines in film where James Whale's character meets Princess Margaret and intimates that the Consort is a big homo is a bitchy way that would have all of DL in squeals of laughter.

Sir Ian deserved the Oscar for this movie

In this movie and "George" Brendan F was a marble Adonis-god-sex-on-a-stick.%0D %0D Now he is an amiable bundle of flubber.

The story about his lover in WWI had me weeping. So beautiful and real.

I agree with charlie. BF never looked better than in those two movies. Too bad he chickened out on a full-frontal.

Love this movie. I have the DVD signed by Ian McKellen and Lynn Redgrave when they appeared at The Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS Flea Market. Really sad Ian lost the Oscar to Roberto Benigni

Wonderful movie. The music is haunting, the acting fantastic. Loved all the cast.

What I really appreciate about this film is how it captures a real life figure but heightens his story into something much greater. The choice not to be a strict biography is so much more interesting, even if it might play around with facts in this case.%0D %0D Has anyone read Father of Frankenstein, the book the film is based on?

You make me want to see it.

[quote]Sir Ian deserved the Oscar for this movie%0D %0D %0D Indeed. He was robbed.%0D

One of the great Oscar robberies of all time, and homophobia has got to be part of the Academy's reason.%0D %0D I mean, Roberto Fucking Begnini? It's totally inexplicable without some ulterior motive.

Of course a Nazi movie trumps a movie about old Hollywood "glamour".

The movie drags in places. In many places. The similarly-themed "Love and Death on Long Island" is much better.

an intriguing film

Corny climax, but the rest was great. When Lynn Redgrave showed up I thought, "Whoa, that's Lynn Redgrave!" Then when the credits started rolling I thought, "Whoa, that's Lynn Redgrave!" She made me forget!

From what I understand Brenden did do the full frontal nude scene in the film but because George of the Jungle was coming out around the same time, the scene was removed.

[quote]When Lynn Redgrave showed up I thought, "Whoa, that's Lynn Redgrave!" Then when the credits started rolling I thought, "Whoa, that's Lynn Redgrave!" She made me forget!

This describes my exact reaction to seeing her in "Shine." She was fabulous and underutilized.

Yes, it was a great movie, but I want to hear more about OP's lecherous old friend.

[quote]Lynn Redgrave deserved her Oscar

Which she did not receive. She didn't win the Oscar, though she deserved it.

one of my all-time favorite films

and maybe my very favorite of all time

If they had given the Oscar the year before to Judi Dench for Mrs. Brown (instead of Helen Hunt) then they wouldn't have had to give her supporting for Shakespeare in Love - and Lynn could have had her Oscar.

I heard Lynn talk in public about her fight with breast cancer. She was brave but charming and funny. She was always someone it would have been fun to go out drinking with. Imagine the stories that Georgy Girl could have told.

And, yes, Ian's loss is one of the great robberies. Panini wasn't even in a good Holocaust movie. I was hoping he would have fallen when he was walking on top of the auditorium chairs to receive his fraudulent award.

Lynn Redgrave was a wonderful actress, and, unlike her sister, she brought a great sense of humor to her work. As good as she was on film, she was even better on stage. Her performance as Vivie in Mrs. Warren's Profession was one of the most enjoyable I've ever seen: crisp, fierce, and delectable. More recently, in a program of short Alan Bennett monologues among some terrific actors, she ran away with the evening as a middle-age shop clerk whose feet excite a chiropodist. I saw Patricia Routledge in the same role, and as talented as she is, Redgrave was just as funny and even more moving. She was also supposed to be a very nice person and as an easygoing pro. Everyone who worked with her loved her.

McKellan not winning is probably the biggest blunder in Oscar history.

McKellen was robbed, and probably deliberately.

And does anyone else remember Fraser and McKellen holding hands as they waited for the winner to be announced? I swear I remember that Fraser was in the seat behind McKellen, and he reached over and held Ian's hand. It was so sweet.

Lynn is the only person in history to lose an Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy

A negative EGOT. That's pretty sad.

My thoughts exactly, OP. I waited forever to watch this, convinced it was overrated and would just tease and frustrate me with Brandon's sex appeal. And the exact opposite turns out to be true, never has a straight male sex object in a gay movie felt more accessible. Not literally, since it's just a platonic friendship, but it deepens into love by the end anyway, and Brandon doesn't withhold himself or in any way tease Ian. And it's nice that Brandon doesn't have a girlfriend he's seen slobbering all over at regular intervals. A definite must-see for any gay man who's ever been turned on by Brandon. Everything else about the movie, the acting and writing, is also superb, but I'll be watching repeatedly to relish Brandon in his studly prime.

Plus, naked guys in the pool, including the guy emerging full-frontal from the water.

The guy portraying the lost WWI love was cute and handsome. He was in "Frasier", playing Roz's baby-daddy, but seems to have not done more acting.

World War I centenary bump.

The man's name is Brendan.

I didn't misspell it, his parents did.

Pretty horrible to think that the director Bill Condon ended up directing two Twilight films. I think I haven't seen them, or if I have I've only watched small parts of them. I just remember liking the first Twilight film by that female director a lot, and the sequels were so bad that I probably only watched the Twilight 2 completely and watched only parts of the next ones. IMDb has ratings of 4.9 and 5.6 for the Condon ones so those films apparently suck ass majorly. They were probably great for Condon's bank account, though.

BTW, I remember loving Gods and Monsters a lot when I saw it years ago, although the ending was disturbing. I keep confusing this with Bryan Singer's Apt Pupil and always remember Singer directing this.

I'm still PISSED that Ian McKellen was robbed of the Oscar that year, he really did deserve it and it was withheld because of homophobia.

FYI his competition that year were Tom Hanks for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, Nick Nolte for AFFLICTION, Edward Norton for AMERICAN HISTORY X, and Roberto Begnini for WHATEVER THE FUCK THAT PIECE OF CRAP WAS. Norton was the only one who provided Ian with any competition, and he didn't provide enough.

I loved this film. As everyone else has said, Sir Ian was robbed, ROBBED.

I didn't hate "Life is Beautiful" but I loathed Benigni when he won. I could bitchslap him right now, remembering that stupid climbing over the seats and mugging for the cameras. Idiot.

I remember the Oscar ceremony, Fraser was sitting in the row behind Sir Ian. When the award for Best Actor was about to be announced, I remember that Fraser reached over and held Sir Ian's hand. And then the camera cut away to that fucking ham Begnini making an ass of himself!

I'll try to find a picture, but no luck so far.

Congrats OP. Now, have you discovered "Far From Heaven" with Julianne Moore?

Even as a kid I knew Dr. Pretorius was a big ole Queen and in love with Frankenstein. I had my doubts about him, too. I loved The Bride of Frankenstein. It was stylish and subversively funny and it had it's share of chills. From a kid's point of view the movie was perfect. Like The Thing From Another World. Fuck Carpenter's The Thing.The Monster's iconic;) look is still one of the scariest images put on film. As Minnie put it "he's a nightmare in the daytime, he is". Years later I was talking movies with a friend and I said that it was obvious that James Whale was gay and that the movie was really as much a comedy as a horror film. He said he didn't get any of that from watching the movie. I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out that he was very much like I imagined. I love, love, love Gods and Monsters as much as I do Whales' films. A true original and a fascinating man.

I loved this movie. I still think that Ian McKellan lost the Oscar (which he definitely deserved) because the Academy saw a gay man playing a gay man and didn't see it as real acting. In those days you had to be "brave" (that is, straight) to win an Oscar for playing gay.

I received this film from Netflix this week, but the disc was defective. I couldn't turn the director's commentary off. So I didn't watch it.

[quote]The story about his lover in WWI had me weeping.

Completely and utterly! Ian McKellan was so so good in this.

R3 it did. GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE was a huge hit. And it led directly to his casting in THE MUMMY, which really made him a global star.

R28 not only that, but she never won despite being nominated several times for each. She did win the Golden Globe for GODS & MONSTERS and GEORGY GIRL, so there's that.

I apologize in advance for resurrecting an old thread, but I wanted to discuss this film and this thread came up when I did a search. It's not closed, so I decided to give it a shot.

Anyway, if by some miracle Benigni had lost (I remember he was the favorite, especially after he won SAG) do you really think McKellen would've triumphed? He lost the Golden Globe Drama to Jim Carrey (TRUMAN SHOW); Michael Caine (LITTLE VOICE) won Golden Globe Musical/Comedy.

Incidentally, why wasn't Benigni nominated fora GG? In fact, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL received no GG nods at all! Was this because they didn't know which category to put it in? It really was more of a comedy, but would they have deemed it disrespectful to put a Holocaust film in the Comedy/Musical category?

r44 and OP I too have still not seen this film but I am planning to tag it to an amazon order of a tv series boxset and watch it in the next week. Its rotten tomatos ratings and its general reviews are fantastic. Why I have left it so long I dont know.I recall looking for it after the oscars in 1999 at my local odeon cinema but alas they werent screening it.Considered it to be too niche I suspect and in 1999 I did not have a DVD player. Better late than never anyway. Brendan Frazer is extremly handsome and whilst he did become a big movie star he did not maintain it for very long at all which surprises me. Perhaps a renaissance or second life/second wind to his acting career is a possibility.

[quote] George of the Jungle was about to premiere during filming of Gods and it was going to make Fraser a huge star. Or so they thought.

BF said his career was derailed by a sexual assault on him at a party. Some producer (or something adjacent) pinched his butt and grabbed his weiner. He became depressed and it went down hill from there.

[quote] there is also one of the campiest lines in film

What was it, R4?

I saw this a decade ago and forgot.

r46 Was the alleged culprit pursued or questioned by the authorities?

R46 Did the alleged victim have testimonials and witnesses to this alleged assault at this Hollywood party?

Why can't Brendan blab along with all the other MeTooers?

r49 I think he's accusations were made pre metoo ?

The allegations are from 2018. More interesting is his current film project. He will be portraying a 600 lb. shut in.

r51 Thanks . My mistake.For some reason I thought he went public about this pre 2010.