FAYE - AN APPRECIATION THREAD

She’s FABULOUS. Shes the greatest actress of all time. From period dramas to kabuki-esque performances, there’s never been one greater.

Why must EVERYTHING be a contest??

You homosexual boys make me sick.

I don't know her.

R4 / Mara, you always were a hanger on.

ful·some /ˈfo͝olsəm/ adjective 1. complimentary or flattering to an excessive degree.

Honestly, I haven’t thought much about her since the OJ trial, but yes Opee I guess I appreciate her!

Can you please leave? You are right in my eyeline.

op It's Miss Dunaway to you salad boy.

She’s a tough one to understayand

Big bitch, and I LOVE it

Not much actual appreciation for her here, so I'll add some.

I think that Faye Dunaway was one of the great talents of her generation. All 3 of her Oscar-nominated performances -- BONNIE & CLYDE, CHINATOWN and NETWORK -- hold up today, and each is in a distinct vein.

She had tremendous presence -- that elusive thing called star quality -- and who knows what might have been had MOMMIE DEAREST not dealt her career so crippling a blow? (I think she's brilliant in that part, actually; Frank Perry did nothing to modulate the performance, but how would YOU play that script? To me "operatic" was the only way to go, and she was all in.)

MARY! But I love her without apology.

Recent threads! There's nothing like them!

Is the one who played her son in Mommie Dearest a little homosexual boy?

Remarkable cheek bones, they fascinate me.

Agreed, Faye Wray is the OG.

R6. Thank you for reminding people that “fulsome” is not a compliment—that’s one of my pet peeves.

Most of Hollywood was jealous of Jack Nicholson for his chance in that slapping scene in "Chinatown."

I've studied her methods.

Her success, beyond her amazing appearance, stemmed from her always maintaining an interiority that kept her from being fully present in any scene requiring stong emotion. Her mysterious allure seems to have been an inability to convey a completely focused emotion outside of anger. That part of her that kept out of things gave the appearance of depth or internal conflict.

Faye was always there. And that's why older actresses saw something in her familiar from their own eras. But because Faye was playing in a more realistically driven era than the earlier personality-driven days, audiences saw something that actually was an artifact of her seeming limitations.

Remember her last appearance on Kelly & Mark where she had missing teeth? On national television. Have some dignity dear.

R20 this is FOCUSED on POSITIVE things!!!

Missing teeth is a positive when you’re from floriduh

She plays against type in BARFLY and she's very good.

Never saw the Kustrica movie, but is it as good as she says it is?

There’s nothing positive to say about Faye. Nothing.

Lee Grant was wonderful in this. It was supposed to be an adult sitcom but the network insisted on a 8:30 PM (family hour) time slot so the censors butchered it.

One of her best and least-known musical moments, from NOW I'LL TELL, released a few months before the Production Code came in. She's only twenty years old! One of Spencer Tracy's last Fox films before he moved to MGM.

She's a great actress in many ways. I actually think her performance in Mommie Dearest was worthy of an Oscar, but the whole package and presentation made it too campy for that. Plus I wouldn't change a single thing about it because I love it the way it is!

My criticism of Faye is that she plays almost every role the same way. Whether it's China Town, Network, or The Eyes Of Laura Mars, it strikes me as being basically the same performance. I think it harkens back to an older style of acting, in a way. There's nothing wrong with it, really, but it stands out a bit in more modern projects.

*Chinatown even

I don't know her.

R23 The Kusturica movie is actually a fun little oddity. I don’t think it adds up to much but it’s an in interesting film with strong performances from Faye, Johnny Depp, Vincent Gallo, Jerry Lewis and Lili Taylor. Faye actually looks like she’s having fun playing this part. I recommend it.

She did a tv version at her height in the 70s of “After the Fall” and I’ve never been able to find it. I would love to see it.

I can’t believe Arthur Miller wrote the play in 1964 when Marilyn Monroe had only been dead for a year. I heard even Jackie Kennedy was upset his lack of loyalty.

R30, I believe it was the hit of Cannes, but was not sold well in this country.

No one does power and balls of steel like Faye.

She would have been great in a movie like The Post. Upper class glamour is Dunaway's stock and trade. Meryl was a housewife playing dress up. Dunaway would have owned that fucking room the moment she walked into it. You would have smelled the elegance and glamour through the screen.

There was a story years back about a photoshoot with her that started out abysmal, but Dunaway pulled rank and started giving orders as to what angle to shoot her at and what lighting to use. The results came out great.

The lady knows her shit.

She needs one more great role.

R31, I believe that Miss Dunaway was in the original stage cast of AFTER THE FALL, as a nurse or something.

I know what you mean, R27, but I don't think that it's quite as true as you think. In CHINATOWN she's a simmering pot that's ready to overflow but not there yet; in NETWORK, by contrast, it's guns blazing from the get-go -- ruthless ambition seething from every pore.

Posted before on DL, but always worth another listen....

What IS the fish of the day?

I want to see a hagspolitation horror with Faye playing a downtrodden housekeeper in MAGA stain Senatoress Chrissy Metz's Nashville Mcmansion.

Michael McDonald has high praise for her.

R12 Honestly, if Faye’s performance was modulated (even by just an ounce) during the wire hangers meltdown as well as the “BARBARA PLEASE!” and its ensuing fight scene, the movie would’ve been better received (not to the point it would be Oscar worthy but it would’ve been respected).

Can we start a go fund me for a Lee Daniels remake of Driving Miss Daisy with Billy Porter and Faye in the leads??

R12, she absolutely has some incredible films on her résumé — most actors would be lucky to have even one — but I’m not convinced Mommie Dearest was the career-killer she’s made it out to be. By that point, she was getting older, had a reputation for being a pain in the ass on set, and wasn’t a reliable box office draw. Her taste in projects could be questionable, too — she famously turned down several strong roles after Network that went on to be big successes for the actresses who took them (Vanessa Redgrave in Julia, for one).

Driving Miss Dunaway

[quote]R31 She did a tv version at her height in the 70s of “After the Fall” and I’ve never been able to find it. I would love to see it.

A fan wrote there is a copy at the Museum of Broadcasting or somewhere - I think in L.A. But it was not labeled clearly when the visitor made the request. I don’t think it’s simply filed under “After the Fall (1974)” But if you’re ever in L.A. that would be a possibility.

The TV movie was probably made under old contracts stating it would only be broadcast once, and that’s why no one’s ever seen it again?

By the time Faye did Mommie Dearest (where she was a replacement for Anne Bancroft), she had already been doing tv movies and played a supporting role in The Champ with Jon Voigt, in a thankless role. Mommie Dearest just expedited a career decline that was already occuring and inevitable regardless of her choice of roles.

I miss Blockbusters .

She’s such a cunt.

Faye IS the Beverly Hills Madam!!