The Big Picture · Review · Discussion
November 18, 2022/ 70 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda bring in PressBox's Brian Curtis to review 'She Said,' weigh its Oscar odds against the rest of the fall slate, and open the mailbag on the best and worst journalism movies.
44 films across 3 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
'She Said'the Weinstein reporting, on screen
Maria Schrader directs Rebecca Lenkiewicz's adaptation of the Kantor-Twohey book; Carey Mulligan as Megan Twohey, Zoe Kazan as Jodi Kantor. Shot inside the actual New York Times building. Praised for the Samantha Morton and Jennifer Ehle source scenes; dinged for over-explaining and keeping Harvey Weinstein off screen (a Gwyneth Paltrow soundalike turns up on one phone call).
Where 'She Said' sits in the Oscar racePlan B, category fraud, and the adapted-screenplay field
The constant touchstone: the greatest journalism movie, per Brian, and the model 'She Said' both borrows from and lives in the shadow of.
Cited for Beatrice Straight, who won Best Supporting Actress on roughly two scenes: the precedent for a Samantha Morton or Jennifer Ehle push.
Angela Bassett floated as a strong Supporting Actress contender likely to crowd out 'She Said'.
Jamie Lee Curtis named among the crowded Supporting Actress field.
Sarah Polley's adaptation of the Miriam Toews novel; multiple eligible performances and an adapted-screenplay rival.
A play adaptation, so it counts in the adapted-screenplay conversation.
Netflix's $400M sequel; premiered at the Academy Museum and looms over the adapted-screenplay category.
The original. Brian's the dissenter, calling it too mannered and weird.
The Sundance film adapting Kurosawa; Kazuo Ishiguro's script is an adapted-screenplay entry.
The Kurosawa source 'Living' remakes.
Eligible for adapted screenplay as a legacy sequel; a Top Gun win would 'tell you everything' about the category.
The characters 'Maverick' is adapted from, hence the adapted-screenplay eligibility.
The doc that makes the real Times newsroom recognizable, a useful reference for how 'She Said' films the building.
The journalism-movie mailbagbest, worst, and the writing that never happens on screen
Held up as the model editor movie: Michael Keaton looking at you and distracted at once.
William Miller getting fact-checked; a rare on-screen nod to the process.
Brian's pick for the best film on magazine process, thanks to the opening monologue on how a story moves from writer to editor.
Brian's nominee for worst journalism: Sally Field's reporter takes wildly unethical shortcuts against Paul Newman.
Drew Barrymore goes undercover at her old high school; the ethics do not survive scrutiny.
Sean's bad-journalism pick: William Atherton's reporter exposes McClane's wife and endangers her.
The payoff: Holly McClane decks the same reporter on the plane. 'That's called arc.'
Brian's counter to the 'old movies sanitized journalism' premise: it's about manipulating the press.
The screwball newspaper comedy Brian says the genre lost, alongside 'His Girl Friday'.
The other screwball-newsroom touchstone for a genre that migrated to TV and ad-agency stories.
Meg Ryan's character is a journalist, one of the '90s rom-com reporters.
Kate Hudson at a women's magazine, running the Matthew McConaughey stunt: the reporter-sleeps-with-the-subject trope.
Hitchcock's; Brian loves the opening's run of jokes about how useless foreign correspondents are.
Amanda's recurring cause: the orphaned stepchild of the Pakula paranoia trilogy, with Denzel Washington's reporter.
Amanda's case for a great magazine movie: the book, the run-through, advertiser pressure, and Stanley Tucci's 'take it seriously' speech.
Sean's media-satire pick: Robert Downey Jr.'s tabloid host as a TMZ precursor.
The other over-the-top media satire: a murderous weather woman clawing toward serious anchoring.
Media manipulation as a tool of power.
The tabloid-newsroom movie, again with Keaton. 900 things happen in two hours; ripe for a series remake.
Offered, half-joking, as real journalism: Christian Slater's reporter is why we have Louis's story.
Humphrey Bogart as a sportswriter, top of Brian's sports-journalism list.
Oscar Madison, sportswriter.
The George Clooney football movie packed with sportswriter characters.
George Plimpton's participatory sportswriting, adapted.
The forgotten detail: Julia Roberts's character is a restaurant critic.
Robert Wuhl as sportswriter Al Stump, chronicling Ty Cobb.
Adapted from Jessica Pressler's story; Julia Stiles plays the reporter, the framing device done well.
Tom Junod's real relationship with Mr. Rogers becomes the story, a framing device that earns its place.
The tonal model Sean imagines for a Michael Lewis movie: episodic, a bit Peter Sellers.
Amanda never saw it; guesses it's 'all just documents' and not more cinematic than 'She Said'.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In passing Barbie
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV / series Inventing AnnaUntold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't ExistThe WireThe Morning Show
Podcasts PressBox22 GoalsJMO
Books Confidence Man
Games FIFA World Cup Launch Edition
Ads Boar's HeadFanDuelNetflixPepsiBotoxWhite Claw