Discuss Wild at Heart
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Diane Ladd - weirdest Oscar acting nominee ever?
posted by rudely_murraySTAFFMOD on December 17, 2019 at 5:23 AM
I can't think of a more offbeat acting nomination at the Oscars than Diane Ladd's scenery-chewing bad momma in David Lynch's weird (and to me mostly tiresome) Wild at Heart. A truly bizarre choice, a far cry from anything one would expect to see turn up at the Academy Awards.
The only other contender who comes to mind is Ann-Margaret, who writhes on the floor as baked beans rain down on her in Ken Russell's Tommy.
I guess the non-human nominees are worth noting -- Cecil Kellaway as a Leprechaun in The Luck of the Irish, Jeff Bridges as an alien in Starman, Ian McKellen as Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Ring... not sure if I missed any there.
Can anyone suggest any unusual nominated performances that I have not mentioned?
Reply by tmdb53400018
on December 17, 2019 at 7:23 AM
I can't think of any other performances like you mention, as I don't follow the Oscars. However, I'd like to state that Wild at Heart is one of my favorite films. One thing that makes Ladd's performance perhaps more interesting is the fact that she played Lula's mother, and in real life, she is the mother of actress Laura Dern, who plays Lula.
This movie is chock full of great moments. One of my faves is when Lula finally surrenders to her mom, who wants her to reconcile with her crooked buddy Santos. He says something like, "Hey, want to give your old pal Santos a hug?" then embraces Lula, and she screams a completely honest scream of horror.
Reply by rudely_murray
on December 17, 2019 at 6:32 PM
I much preferred Ladd and Dern acting as mother and daughter in Rambling Rose. While I get what others love about Wild at Heart, I think it's easily one of Lynch's weakest films, self-indulgent and showy in mostly bad ways. Harry Dean Stanton is the saving grace, a lovely performance.
Reply by tmdb53400018
on December 17, 2019 at 10:41 PM
I love the showiness of it - the Wizard of Oz references and the symbolic destruction of characters' heads, for example - but it seems you have something against the film. That's fine. To each their own.