Chaotic season Oscar subject of the new book “The Talent”

The ingenuate. The sinking. The British stage actor. The matriarch. The oppressed. These are the archetypes at the heart of the first novel by the Variety correspondent, Daniel d'Adario, “The Talent”, focusing five female actors in the running for an Oscars.

But the same descriptors could apply to this year's candidates – a group that includes the former Brat Packer Half moore“Anora” Mikey Madison And the “bad” star Cynthia Erivo as well as Fernanda TorresMatriarch of “I'm still here” and the controversial role “Emilia Pérez” Karla Sofía Gascón.

“I told people that if I had written a novel about the best breed of this year's actress's Oscars, it would have been rejected as unbearable and beyond the belief,” Addario's grousy of his home in Brooklyn.

D'Addario was inspired to write “The Talent”, arriving in bookstores a week before the ceremony, imagining the areas of the life of artists who are inaccessible to him as a writer and moderator of famous profile on Variety “Actors on the actors” series.

“It was very fun to map this and imagine the closed doors that I am not aware,” he says.

Just as fun: discuss who we want to win, who we think will win (we both shoot for “anora” and moore) and – the denigration of racist tweets from Gascón apart – by savoring an “optimistic and funny Oscars season” which is also the most chaotic chaotic of recent memory.

The following interview was slightly published and condensed for duration and clarity.

A novel about the drama and the nominee scandal with the Oscars of the best actress could not have arrived at a more timely moment.

I'm a bit shocked. I told people that if I had written a novel about this year's actress 'Oscars' race, it would have been rejected as unbearable and beyond belief.

What inspired you to write “Talent”?

Anyone who pays attention to the Oscars or the prices in general knows that there are people who, over time, have a reputation as a sustainable losers. There are several people for whom this is true. I have thought about what it takes, if you have lost the price (several) times to continue to come back knowing that the probability is, because you are one of the five, you will lose again. What inner force does it take on the one hand, and what desire does it take on the other hand? I thought it would be an interesting conflict that could feed interesting characters.

How was it to write fiction, coming from a journalistic environment?

As a journalist, I am presented with a set of facts. I cannot change them, but with my writing skills, I can make them as interesting as possible. Using fictional tools, I could use the scenarios I made and make them touch more explicitly on the themes that interested me, such as parents and children, class differences and other things that are at stake in the book. I felt very liberated in a way that I do not do as a journalist, even if I love to bring them back.

Here are five personalities who were recognizable as types of actresses that would create friction between them. It was very fun to map this and imagine the closed -door conversations that I am not aware. When I write a profile, I am lucky to spend two hours with someone, but it is in a very publicized context.

Was there real stories that inspired some of the scenarios?

I saw a documentary about eight years ago at the New York Film Festival on the life of Maria CallasAnd I just put it down to do something with something. So when I thought of the films I could put (my characters), I said to myself, a Maria Callas biopic would be a very good film! Obviously Pablo Larraín had the same idea. I planned to change it in something else because I didn't want to seem to copy it, but I had almost finished when Angelina Jolie was sunk.

I don't want to say too much, because I want readers to find their own links between the characters and who would be their real world counterparts. Throughout the book, there are these moments when we get out of the story and we see how the world perceived these women, and my intention was to be funny and satirical, but also offering an overview of the idea that, ultimately, this race is completely out of their control, no matter what extent they are trying because they will always be seen through other eyes. Before he reaches voters and viewers at home, he must be interpreted by the media, who will always have his own agendas and bias.

What do you think of the real list of nominees for the best actresses, which looks like a really exciting harvest and it is the game of anyone, not only in this category but at all levels. Do you agree?

I think this year's Oscars have been extremely exciting. The best film seems so unstable and as so many different films could win. That's what you want. You want to feel like it's a healthy competition and everything gets its moment. When it's just a coronation, it's just boring.

As with the best actress, and really all the actor categories, between real newcomers and nominees for the first time with a big story, it seems banal, but it is honestly comforting. Aside from the elephant in the room, it looks like a really positive, optimistic and fun Oscar season, which serves as an answer to the question of why we do this at a time when so many people suffer in Los Angeles. But in a world where the spectacle must continue to help the economy of Los Angeles and to work for everyone to which it provides, there are so many beautiful stories that have come out.

Let's move on to the elephant in the room so – you said earlier than if you include scenarios like what happened in the breed of the best real actress in “The Talent”, you would be accused of being unrealistic, but really, the Karla Sofía Gascón of all this writes himself.

Where to start? According to all the indications, Karla Sofía Gascón really seems to regret that this has happened. I don't want to plunder it anymore. It was a double education for her in a way. She had a very fast increase and a very fast fall. These two things are difficult in different ways. I feel for everyone, because it cannot be easy to be one of his co-stars and be constantly asked about the tweets that you have not written and that you do not know. Gascón took a provocative attitude on social networks that did not serve it well. Someone should have intervened and clean it for her. It really turned everything and (the Oscars campaign for “Emila Pérez”) seems to be without it. I thought that we always think of it until the night of the Oscars, but retrospectively, it is only another point of data in the seasis of the chaotic Oscars that I remember.

On a more positive note, one of your characters says that the way the campaign circuit is configured is to deliberately isolate nominees for each other and encourage them to compete. One thing that I found really refreshing is the apparent camaraderie among the nominees.

Beyond the whole drama, it is definitely to note that this year, the vibrations were really good. He thinks that there is a level of respect among candidates who is really rewarding to see. I am lucky to be part of the “actors of the variety on the actors” – I am here when we film them – and it was particularly charming this year. There was a ton of camaraderie. It may be that there is no favorite in relation to it. If there was a film that won everything, it would seem more punitive for those who were there to go and lose each time.

Who do you want to win the main actress?

It's difficult. Basically, “Anora” is my favorite film of the year and “Anora” is not “Anora” without Mikey Madison. It is remarkable. Part of me wants her to win, and the part of me who wrote this book which is wrapped in career stories and that pretends to be half. If one or the other wins, I will be very happy.

And who will you think will win?

Half Moore.